Spacetime Oddity II: Lore of the Kerbals

[Tex]

Hello everybody, welcome to my little fanfic here!

This is meant as a little creative supplement to my mission report: Spacetime Oddity II: Kerbal Rising. Here, I am writing a little bit of lore that is completely non-canonical and is meant solely to explain the origins and workings of my save game that I'm using for the Oddity.

Please enjoy my works!

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Little Creatures, Big Dreams

Chapter 2: Flying First

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Chapter 1: Little Creatures, Big Dreams

Imagine, if you will, you were a Kerbal.

A tiny, green, big-headed organism, born with an unnerving, unfulfilled, and undying dream of one thing and one thing only: Going into outer space.

A long, long time ago, Kerbals were destined to live out their lives on the ground, on Kerbin, their lush green and blue home planet. They could walk around and do things, for sure- Their three-fingered hands were deft enough to manipulate tools, dig in the dirt, and of course open the little plastic wrappers on snacks. They could walk and talk and dream big about such things as flight, operating ground vehicles, and most importantly of all, going into space. However, it seemed that Kerbals could do no more than look up at the starlit night sky, watching the bright dots soar far overhead and lay just out of reach, and watch in awe as Kerbin's two moons dance in everlasting celestial harmony.

That is, until Wernher von Kerman came along.

Von Kerman was a revolutionary young Kerbal, with a knack for things that go boom. Intelligent and charismatic, von Kerman had the sense about him to do what no other Kerbal could: Actually do something about going to space. It was, after all, the Kerbal's birthright. Von Kerman came up with the idea for the rocket, a great fire-spewing hunk of metal and dangerous explosive chemicals that theoretically had the power to punch through the atmosphere and send a payload into space.

Von Kerman assembled a team of the greatest Kerbal minds of the age (which is really saying something). Some childhood friends, some like-minded business associates, and some who were just along for the ride. One, however, had exactly what von Kerman needed: Funds. Glorious, glorious Funds.

Maxwell Kerman was a true businesskerbal. The owner of a successful franchise of snack bars, he was drawn to von Kerman's big dreams and big plans, and luckily followed von Kerman's words and promises. With the help of a collaboration of savvy Kerbals the world over, the Kerbal Space Program was formed.

Located on a flat, seaside plot of land on the southeastern tip of an empty continent, the Kerbal Space Center was built to house the fledgling Program, complete with all the necessary amenities: A launchpad for launching rockets, a Vehicle Assembly Building to assemble them, a runway and accompanying hangar for jet aircraft, a Mission Control facility to oversee operations, a tracking station to pin down where all their rockets ended up, a Research and Development laboratory for analyzing mission data and coming up with cool new space stuff, and to top it all off an office building for housing important Kerbal functions known as the Kosmonaut Complex.

Maxwell Kerman, as the primary financial benefactor, was delegated the position of Chief Executive Officer of the Space Program, and as such made von Kerman his second in command. He promptly hired a board of directors, overseeing the several departments of the Program.

And so the Kerbal Space Program was born! Its facilities constructed, its objectives set, its snacks delivered and categorized by name and color, the Program has already garnered the attention of the Kerbal press and promises the entire Kerbal species a new place in the universe. Only time will tell if things will work according to plan!

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Chapter 2: Flying First

So the Kerbal Space Program was set up and constructed. But who was going to fly first?

This was the question that was on everybody's mind when the doors to the Kosmonaut Complex opened up to the public. There were crew quarters set up and all the facilities in place to support them, but the fact of the matter was that there were no Kerbals ready to go to fly yet.

Wernher von Kerman, of course, would dearly have loved to fly into space, but he himself deemed his eyesight too poor to reliably function during a space mission, particularly in the early days when things were sure to go wrong had a higher chance of failure.

Also not flying was the staff of the Kerbal Space Center, who were either too afraid to fly first or simply did not possess the correct qualities for operating such advanced and revolutionary technology. One day, however, von Kerman found two little résumés sitting in his inbox. Two résumés that would forever change the Kerbal flight crew roster.

The first belonged to Jebediah "Jeb" Kerman. Jeb was a Kerbal who knew exactly what he wanted to do, but nobody else seemed to know what he wanted to do. Jebediah was more than a little crazy, but he wasn't afraid of anything. On the contrary, Jebediah loved explosions just as much as Wernher von Kerman did, and knew how to make things blow up better than anybody. He reveled in danger and new opportunity, and signed up without hesitation. It wasn't to prove a point, or to damage himself, he signed up because he wanted to, and it's as simple as that.

The second résumé belonged to Valentina "Val" Kerman. Valentina was almost the polar opposite of Jebediah: Calm, collected, always professional and always pretty. She had the capability to work with and analyze mechanical faults, and had been interested in science and engineering from a young age. More than anything, though, she wanted to fly. Normally, female Kerbals had next to no place in the so-called "hard sciences," but she was here to prove them wrong, and wouldn't take no for an answer.

So von Kerman signed both of them up immediately.

However, the board of directors felt that the first edition of the Kosmonaut Roster needed something else, something more. The Program had two capable pilots ready to go, but needed Kerbals to head up a different side of things. Two more picks were picked: Bill and Bob Kerman.

Bill Kerman was a very smart Kerbal. He was the appointed head of the Research and Development center, and knew how to do science. He loved collecting samples and looking at data, that wonderful data! He was the perfect choice for the job.

Bob Kerman was just as intelligent, but headed up the Engineering department instead of the Science one. He loved to build things, and was especially interested in wheeled vehicles. He helped design the majority of the little roving vehicles seen transporting materials around the Space Center.

These additions to the Kosmonaut Roster were vital ones, and to designate their significance in the future of the Kerbal species, these four Kerbals were given orange spacesuits, indistinguishable from other spacesuits in everything except color. The Program was excited to have such an accomplished and eager crew, and nothing was going to hold them back!

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Edited April 27, 2015 by Maximus97