My family at one point held multiple ducal positions which brought multiple cities as well. And this was when I was most active too. But even then I only paid attention to 2 at most.
I actually think 2 characters per new family is fine IF we reduce the number of playable islands down to 4 (colonies, stable, testing, war island).
Also, the testing island should be used for testing as well to get feedback for the game and let people know that bugs can occur often. I've heard some people complaining about changing game mechanics on testing islands that affect their realms.
