"Kerbal" or "kerbal?" Capitalization of species name in stories and dictionaries

[Gordon Fecyk]

I'm revising my Kanadian Dictionary to correct a lot of mistakes since my last release, notably some autoLOC values changed between KSP 1.3.0 and 1.3.1.

I noted that for the most part, the en-us dictionary capitalizes "Kerbal" when referring to our eager green creatures. However, species names in video game fiction look like common nouns rather than proper nouns, and are not capitalized in subtitles or documents. My most recognizable examples come from BioWare's Mass Effect series that refer to "asari," "turian," "human," and most recently, "angaran" and "kett."

However, "Kerbal" is a real world trademark as well, and is a proper noun as such.

Is there a consensus on capitalization for this? I want to follow Canadian grammar, which Mass Effect most likely uses, but also I want to respect Squad and Take Two's intellectual property.

[JK_Kerbineer]

I think when referring to kerbalkind in general use Kerbal, and kerbal for just a single kerbal.

[Gordon Fecyk]

Does "kerbalkind" then refer to species members in plural, which would also be "kerbals / Kerbals," or a monolithic entity such as "humankind?" The plural forms of the Mass Effect species weren't capitalized either; "humans" and "turians" weren't capitalized. The "asari" or "angara" plural forms also weren't capitalized. The asari plural form is like "moose" in the real world to describe more than one moose.

I'm sorry if I'm treating this like a big deal. I'm maintaining a localization dictionary after all, which needs to be Squad canon. Would I face an onslaught of critics if I released a localization dictionary that didn't always capitalize "kerbal?"

[steuben]

Probably not. Though you'd need a probably need a pronouncement from the mount on the question.

Leaving aside the Kerbal as TM issue, which is trivial case. My take is:

Kerbal  (with capital) would be used like you use Man, Woman, etc. so the monolithic collective

kerbal (without capital) would be used like you use man, woman, etc.