Next of Kin is a story written by LettuceBacon&Tomato, with f-22 "raptor" ace also credited for story. It was posted from November 13, 2018 to November 17 2018 and can be found can be read here.
Synopsis
This story picks up around 15 years after Ship of State. The Gamanians and Sapaar have merged into the single colony of Vurna.
Characters
- Sophie Donitz
- Werner Donitz (anti-matter)
- Hans Donitz (anti-matter)
- Seska
- Menken
- Trano
- Ayla
- Reavan
- Aron
- Shakespeare clone
- Ernest
- Corey
- Whittaker
- Jake Moby
- Steven Johnson
- Oscar Shelton
- Carol Smithson
- Thomas Stern
- Jesyca (mentioned only)
- Kixoo (mentioned only)
- Donald Tennes (mentioned only)
- Richard Anderson (mentioned only)
Trivia
- Less than a hundred words shorter than its predecessor, Ship of State, this story is the third-longest in the Darwin's Soldiers canon. Despite this, it holds the record for fastest story posted, taking only 4 days due to very large chapters.
- With a death count of zero, this story is tied with Schrödinger's Prisoners and Gamer for the lowest kill count of any story. This is also the only story of the three where no Artificial intelligences are killed.
- (In fact, by resurrecting the Shakespeare clone, it can be argued this story has a killcount of negative one)
- This story's origin traces back to Seska Donitz, an abandoned video game project LetttuceBacon&Tomato attempted to make in RPG Maker. Later, f-22 answered a question in Ask the Characters detailing a rough plot, and the two then worked together to flesh the plot out into a full story.