I, Jebediah Tangard Fersel, am a Colonian. As in, I was born in one of the Stellar Nations’ colonies. But I wouldn’t have been born on Duna if it weren’t for a war. I went back to my species’ homeworld, Kerbin, to interview a few soldiers from the war. They are by now nearing the end of their life. They have seen three empires fall, and four new ones rise from their ashes. The first is Elrigh Kerbright, a Retrogradian fighter pilot known for daredevil moves in her RG-2 plane, later in the war, as the Retrogradian Front devolved into a stalemate. And yes, Retrogradia is the origin of the term retrograde. They would always launch their rockets backwards, so they landed in Kermenian seas. But enough of the preposition.
I met Elrigh in her home city, Apoapsis, which is also Retrogradia’s capital. She was soon to head off to a Four Power veteran conference in the Northern Kerbin Union. Elrigh invited me north to both interview her and possibly catch some other veterans. And so I joined her on a Kerb-3 at Apoapsis Airport. Only a few minutes later, we were flying over the Retrogradian countryside.
“So, where should I start?” Elrigh asked me. “Preferably as tensions rose.” I replied.
Elrigh Kerman, 85. To humans reading this, Kerbals mature quicker, but age slower.
Elrigh began right from the real beginning. The first aircraft, the Aerovisia, built by one of the three powers. The Elidan Empire. It launched from their first test site, located shortly south of their capital, Eagle. It was an airship. Two crewmembers and two scientists flew on it. It only crossed the distance between two islands in the Eagle archipelago.
Aerovisia, a few months into the Great Kerbin War.
And so, the story of empire’s rise and downfall begins.
A map of the various nations at the beginning of this story.
Hopefully, this story actually gains momentum.