The New Kin Arc was a story arc that took place starting mid-July through early August. It involved three major groups: the Nogans, the Neo-Darkbringers, and the New Kin (not to be confused with the original).
The New Kin arc
Prologue
- With their home near Protobot Industries gone, the Nogans go to the Citadel to seek asylum from the Administration. However, a deranged Toa named Ariz sees the Nogans and decides to attack them. He kills a few Nogans, taking a corpse to his hideout to eat, as well as a hostage. Finding Nogan meat delicious, Ariz returns to the Citadel to attack the Nogans again, but this time is defeated and captured.
- The Nogans make it to the Administrative building with the help of a reporter, and are told to attend that night's Loyalist meeting. While there, the Nogans pledge their allegiance to the Administration, and are given a reservation in Mi-Kiri. The Nogans begin their new life there, hoping to find a future of peace and prosperity.
Chapter 1: The Kin
- Various posters put up all over the Spheres (See Gallery)
- Neo-Darkbringers/Former Agents of Anarchy plot their response to this new development
- One of the richest Matoran in Derrum loses his entire fortune to the Kin...giving them financial power as well as social power.
Chapter 2: Tragedy
- Inspired by Sareas's speech, a gang of Toa starts a fight with a Titan. A foreign Toa attempts to intervene, but unwittingly kills two of the gang Toa in the process.
Chapter 3: On the Run
- Professor Thornak contacts Professor Lazok, who is in the Citadel for Kastus's speech, about the incident, and Lazok and Jolek's friend Obsidius take Jolek into hiding in Mi-Kiri.
- Meanwhile, the Agents of Anarchy gather information about the New Kin, and Flask, the Matoran who lost his fortune to the Kin, goes to their HQ to confront them. Several other foreign or non-Toa/Matoran individuals are also " discriminated against.
- Lazok, one of the only original Kin left, discovers a poster advertising the New Kin...raising the question of why a racist/nativist group would take the name of a foreign organization that was so different from them.
- Krayzikk, the Titan, goes to Mi-Kiri, somehow finding Jolek's group. He gets into another fight, destroying their chances of hiding out in Mi-Kiri and forcing the four to relocate to Se-Kiri.
- The four 'refugees', Jolek, Obsidius, Krayzikk, and Lazok, relocate to Se-Kiri. After a few hours, Lazok discovers that an old friend, Zezak's, mansion in Se-Kiri is empty, and they move in for the night. Lazok then leaves to begin preparing his plan to counter the Kin, leaving care of the two refugees to Obsidius.
Chapter 4: Unstoppable
- While Raines is given a tour of the Kin HQ, Lord Flask confronts an officer of the Kin about their embezzlement of his finances. But when he questions the motive behind the Kin needing so much money when they claim only to be a political organization, and begins to deduce their possible reason for all that extra money, he is told that there is no stopping what the Kin has started...and that the old 'era' is over.
- In Me-Kiri, Talli and Lucira discuss the reasons why people seem to be so susceptible to what Sareas is preaching, but decide that enough is enough, and it's time to do something about this.
- In his second speech of the day, Sareas reveals Jolek's and Krayzikk's identities, and the former's affiliation to the Towers of the Scholars. He accuses the Towers for harboring criminals and even being made up of criminals, but before he can go further, a disguised vigilante interrupts. Assaulting a guard and putting a blade to Sareas's throat, the vigilante demands to know his true motive.
- However, this only serves to make things worse. Using fancy rhetoric to manipulate the public into thinking the assailant is also from the Towers (which, ironically, he is), Sareas presents this attack as live proof that the Towers are made up of nothing but criminals and murderers, the lowest of the low. The stunt has completely deteriorated the Kin's perception of the Towers.
- All over Derrum, people react to the development. Krayzikk freaks out at being the initial cause of all this; Professor Altedor realizes that his prized student was the one who betrayed Jolek's identity to the Kin; Chief Secretary Kazul publicly condemns the Kin's actions. But Serling, a Vortixx lawyer, decides that the best way to fight the Kin is through the law, and begins to prepare a speech. (News Post)
- Meanwhile, in the Towers, Lazok, Ranok, and Arkady have gathered up former members of the Coalition of Charity (a guild that the original Kin was a part of), as well as recruited a new member into their group: Lord Flask, the man who lost his fortune to the Kin, who has sworn to expose the Kin for their shady dealings to get revenge. They decide on two things: 1) to have Lazok contact Zakloth Dyrnn of the Loyalists and organize an anti-Kin, pro-unification rally, and 2) to slip spies into the Kin in an attempt to change their mindset from within. Meanwhile, scholars in the Towers begin to organize: among them, Professor Altedor, angry at his former student's betrayal; Thornak, friend and teammate of Ackaron, the 'vigilante' who assaulted Sareas and destroyed the Towers' reputation; Arkrak, a student with an extensive knowledge of explosives; and now possibly Midnight, another student.
- Back in the Citadel, Serling is contacted by Lazok and recruited into their anti-Kin operation. Meanwhile, Sareas reveals why he isn't afraid of Serling's speech.
- Ero disagrees with Zakloth about allying with Lazok, citing the Towers' support of Kastus. However, Zakloth states that helping the Towers clear their name will make them indebted to the Loyalists. Nevertheless they decide to go to the Towers to appeal directly for their support.
- Zezak sees a Kin poster and, mistaking the new Kin for the original he joined, runs wild throughout the HQ in search of Saeras. Sareas begins his third speech in front of the HQ, discrediting Serling on account of his supposed bias. His speech is interrupted by Zezak who literally drops in on them. Sareas takes advantage of this, introducing Zezak as the foreign man who set a farmer's house on fire days ago and was later pardoned. He accuses the government of unfairly favoring the foreigners when it comes to their crimes, and asserts that they can no longer rely on the Administration; they must take matters into their own hands.
Chapter 5: Converted
- Obsidius updates Mora on recent events, but Mora, confusing the current Kin to be one and the same as the old one, accuses him of lying. They get into an argument.
- Talli admits to a fellow Kin that she doesn't believe Sareas's words to be true -- unfortunately, Sareas is in earshot, and asks to show her something.
- Azrael of the Neo-Darkbringers completes his recon of the Kin and decides that Sareas is too dangerous to be left alive. He returns to the Forbidden Realms to report on his findings.
- Sareas takes Talli to an observation tower where they can see the slums of the Citadel, where most of the foreigners live. Talli argues that this is a result of discrimination, and that if they were given a chance to integrate into society, the foreigners could contribute. However, Sareas tells her that the foreigners live there because they choose to -- their culture dictates that they live like beasts, and worst of all, they are spreading their violent culture to Aensetr Derrum. He cites the riots and murders and jump in crime rates, as well as the presence of foreign lawyers who pardon those criminals and let them roam free.
- Listening in on the conversation via a device hidden in Talli's mask, Ranok and Arkady of the Towers are frustrated by the way Sareas keeps his 'mask' on even when not in front of a crowd. This, they feel, will hinder their efforts to find something incriminating about Sareas to discredit him. Meanwhile, Lucira and Flask reconcile their differences.
- Encouraged by Sareas's call to take things into their own hands, the Kin begin violent riots against the foreigners in Bo-Kiri and Me-Kiri.
- In Mi-Kiri, Marin, a Toa, kisses Serg Cloudwalker, a Nogan. A nearby Matoran takes a picture of the staged kiss, then goes to the Kin Headquarters to report it. Meanwhile, Creil Fleetfoot, frustrated with what he perceives as discrimination against the Nogans by the Administration, confronts Noc'eri Soulguard, Chief of the tribe, about his supposed 'weakness'. After a brief argument, Noc'eri agrees to take Creil to the Administration to voice his complaints.
- Azrael reports to the New-Darkbringers, who decide to be proactive in dealing with the Kin to gain more of Zakloth's trust. They gather up the rest of the Neo-Darkbringers.
- Meanwhile, Professor Altedor begins to recruit scholars to the Anti-Kin cause.
- Back in the Citadel, Zezak has been taken to an elegant room until Sareas finds time to talk to him. They begin a conversation that culminates in a debate between the two, after which Zezak is led out of the Kin HQ.
- A mysterious man in white begins killing Kin members and leaving bloody messages behind.
- Meanwhile, Sareas continues to slowly corrupt Talli, convincing her of the threat that foreigners present. He eventually takes her to No-Kiri and the slums near Protobot Industries, where they are attacked by a group of foreigners. Sareas orders Talli to kill one of them, and, startled, she does. Seeing that her conversion is now complete, Sareas reveals that he has known all along that she belonged to the original Kin, and has been jamming the signal from the device in her mask for the past hour. He has one of his guards destroy the mask and hand her a new one, then takes his newest disciple back to the Citadel. The Commons Bureau has no idea of what just happened, but Regis, who was also spying on Sareas, does and tails them back to the Citadel. The man in white kills a few of Sareas's guards, then also hurries to the Citadel.
- Noc'eri takes Creil through the slums of the Citadel, and Creil begins to understand that the Nogans are in fact the luckiest ones of the foreigners...though neither of them can predict that this won't last much longer. Sareas makes a final speech showing the picture of Serg and Marin to the Kin, condemning the foreigners for 'stealing' their kind, and declaring that this is the last straw. He reveals racks full of weapons from the black market, purchased with the money stolen from Flask. Armed with these weapons, the Kin begin their march on the Mi-Kiri Nogan reservation.
Chapter 6: Massacre
- The Kin march to Mi-Kiri and the Nogan reservation, attacking them and ruthelessly slaughtering all of them, young and old, the sick and the weak.
- Jolek and Obsidius as well as some others put up a stand to help the Nogans, fighting the Kin.
- Serg and even Marin are killed as the Kin spread out to surrounding villages to drag foreigners from their beds and brutally murder them. Regis attempts to stop this, but is shot by a brainwashed Talli.
- Morph, a subordinate of the Judge, attempts to defuse the situation, but fails when, in all the confusion, the reservation is engulfed in a firestorm, roasting Nogans and Kin alike. Lazok manages to rescue Jolek and Obsidius. Sareas walks among the ruins, mocking Yeneq Moonstrider, a Nogan witch at death's door. She curses him with his last breath, and, angry, he shoots her full of bullets, even after she dies. The Judge arranges for the incident to make it to the news.
Chapter 7: Revelations
- Vyres arrive on the scene and apprehend any Kin still there, making mass arrests, including several Kin officers. Sareas and five of his officers, as well as a small group of Kin, manage to escape with Regis as a prisoner.
- Ranok, Arkady, Altedor, Lucira, and Flask speculate on Sareas's motives: if he truly believed in what he preached, he wouldn't have allowed such a massacre for fear of losing the public's trust.
- Public opinion about the Kin reverses overnight, with many now condemning the faction as an extremist cult. (News Post)
- The murders by the man in white are reported. (News Post)
- Lazok gets into touch with Zakloth and changes their original plan from a rally into an outright vigilante-like assault on the Kin. Zakloth refers him to the Neo-Darkbringers.
- The Anti-Kin faction at Towers also prepares to move in at Lazok's word.
- Noc'eri and Creil return to the reservation, finding it in ruins. They mourn for the loss of their kin.
- The Double Assassination of Bellicus Kastus and Commissioner Vylikus happens around this time.
- Detective Luap Mecker reveals that the black market weapons the Kin used were Protobot Industries tech, and that the three figures who had somehow gotten their hands on this pirated tech after PBI's collapse are now dead, leaving them at a dead end.
Timeskip of a few days
- The remainders of the Kin are hiding out in a building in Se-Kiri. Morale is low. However, rather than boost the Kin's spirits with another speech or two, Sareas instead visits Regis in his prison. He tells Regis that he chose the name 'Sareas' on purpose for his persona, and that he doesn't care enough to even use the right name, rather, a perversion of it.
- Later on, Sareas reveals to Regis that he got all his information about the old Kin from a fellow member of the original group: Sufik Siate, who is also being held in a prison room of the building. Sareas tells Regis that his only motive is himself -- he wants to be adored and revered, and he doesn't care how many people die or are corrupted in order for him to enjoy that blind adulation.
Chapter 8: Justice
- Lazok finds the hideout, and rallies the Anti-Kin and Neo-Darkbringers to the location.
- The man in white is the first act, infiltrating the Kin, killing an officer and sending a flare into the sky as the signal. Both groups move in, and the battle begins.
- Sareas, his guards and his guides flee.
- Lucira and Flask encounter Talli, and Lucira manages to bring Talli back to her senses. Meanwhile, Regis's White Madness manifests, and he breaks out of prison, defeating a guard in a process. Regis runs into Lazok and tells him about Sufik Siate. They go to his prison cell, and Sufik Siate dies in Lazok's arms.
- Regis pursues Sareas to Me-Kiri, and kills him.
Epilogue
- Zakloth Dyrnn contacts Lazok and breaks off their alliance, on account of the Concilium's occupation of the Towers making the latter an anti-government region. Zakloth warns Lazok to reconsider his allegiance to the Towers.
- The Anti-Kin return to the Towers, where Talli decides to deal with her problem herself. Lucira and Flask share a talk on the balcony of the 'conference room', where Flask decides to work as a financial consultant for the time being and in the future as a Professor of Business at the Towers, and Lucira decides to work in the revived Commons Bureau led by Ranok. Ranok and Arkady decide to see which side is in the right before joining their side, and Altedor decides to resign himself to helping the Concilium for the time being, hoping to keep the Towers standing after all this.
- Noc'eri Soulguard meets Serling and asks him to help change Aensetr Derrum from the inside using legislation and the courts. Serling initially hesitates but ultimately agrees. Meanwhile, Letus reflects on the darkness that exists in everyone's hearts and their potential to do evil.
- The man in white talks to Lazok, helping him overcome his insecurities and return to the Inheritance.
=END=