The Kosharv Development by Marien Rojeck was met with a mixed reception among elves but it evidently did its job because it’s already started to spawn its own offshoots, with authors directly naming TKD as their main inspiration.

The inspiration comes from the generally happy tone and low stakes present throughout TKD.

Sebastian Szarek, born 039 ASU, was exactly who TKD appealed to. Happy endings, everything works out, personal growth and ambition over existential terror.

Wonders of the Cosmos follows a diverse crew on the Merchant Vessel Pioneer as they go around an old, decaying empire to peddle their wares and solve conflicts.

The Kosharv Development situated itself in a single small village in the middle of an endless world, and the farthest we saw was a trip to deliver grain to a nearby town.

In Wonders of the Cosmos, the crew actually gets to visit these alien peoples and cultures. Characters enter and leave the crew at random intervals, and they all have their own stories, dreams, and desires. Characters almost never die, but sometimes their personal journey will cause them to leave the ship, and we just never see or hear from them again. But while there is sorrow at the farewell, there’s always a hopeful tone that makes you pray for their success.

We only receive snippets of the wider setting, but it isn’t an alternate reality like The Far Reaches. It’s the Peldak Protectorate in 40 or 50 thousand years. There are conflicts, wars, diseases and poverty, but these things get solved, often by the Pioneer’s crew.

It’s a hopeful setting, but not naïve. The stars are beautiful and wonderous and full of adventure, but also wild and dangerous.

It’s not that problems don’t exist, it’s that we are strong enough to resolve them.