What is Kerbal Society?

[SpaceCannon46]

What would the society of the Kerbals be like? Would be a democracy, a communist world, a union, it could be anything. What would it be to you?

[Othuyeg]

I like to think it is based on the ideals of exploration. The leaders are the ones who have gone where no kerbal has gone before.

[SpaceCannon46]

What would that be called? An "exploratory society"?

[cecilkorik]

If it's really "the leaders are the ones who are the best at exploration" then it would be called a meritocracy. Which sounds like it should be wonderful, but the reason it's really hard to make it work in real life is that nobody can ever agree who has the most "merit" as it's a vague and subjective definiton.

Maybe it would work on Kerbin though!

[r4pt0r]

Well I used to think of it like a hive, with the male drones going above ground to explore space, as that was the queens will. The addition of females has ruined that.

[gmpd2000]

Well I used to think of it like a hive, with the male drones going above ground to explore space, as that was the queens will. The addition of females has ruined that.

As in the Aliens? I can't imagine a Kerbal Chestbuster honestly.

Or for that matter, a Jeb-Facehugger.

[r4pt0r]

As in the Aliens? I can't imagine a Kerbal Chestbuster honestly.

Or for that matter, a Jeb-Facehugger.

lmao no like bees. but instead of gathering pollen, they explore space.

[Master Tao]

Moderator message:

First, this thread is mostly discussing your ideas for the setting for Kerbal narratives, I'm moving this to Fan Works.

Second, I'd like to remind everyone to avoid political discussions. There's a fine line between describing your thoughts about a fictional society and turning this into a political discussion.

Mostly, remember this is fictional, so don't let personal beliefs become to involved.

Keep calm, and carry on.

[sumghai]

My headcanon depicts a Kerbal Federation world government, composed of a council of representatives from all nations throughout Kerbin - while each nation may have their own government (complete with their own executive, legislative, judiciary and military branches), they ultimately answer to their Federation counterparts. This world government was formed in the aftermath of the first (and only) global war that led to an armistice when Kerbals realized the futility of war.

Each nation is likely to have their own cultures and customs, and while they may vary wildly, said customs do not infringe on the universal rights of each Kerbal (mostly equivalent to our own Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

Kerbal society is essentially atheist, although Kerbals were polytheists in antiquity (worshipping deities named after celestial bodies) and briefly dabbled with monotheism until the relatively modern era. That being said, Kerbals do often use exclamations such as "Oh my Kod!" rather liberally, again with no religious connotations.

Kerbal economies are mostly capitalist; whilst not ideal, there have been worse economic systems attempted in the past.

Both the Federation and its nation states still maintain military forces, although their primary purpose is now peacekeeping and disaster relief operations.

Furthermore, I've envisioned my Kerbal Space Program as under the juristiction of the Federation Science Council; the amount a member nation contributes annually to the program determines how many astronauts from each nation may join. For example:

- The Confederacy provides the primary KSC launch facilities and technical expertise, so most Kerbalnauts are Confederates

- The Krussian Republic and Honko Co-Prosperity Union manufacture most of the boosters, so both countries are also represent fairly well in the Kerbalnaut ranks

- On the other end of the scale, the Kashkeree Republic only contributes a half a million √ each year, and so only on Kerbalnaut from the Kashkeree Republic is permitted to join

(I have an entire history, nations, flags and so forth worked out, but I won't bore people with the details).

[dryer_lint]

Kerbal Conspiracy Theory:

They actually are aliens. They came to Kerbin (which is future, dead Earth) from their home planet but then a disaster cut off all communications before they could really colonize Kerbin. Now the KSC (which was supposed to be used as a spaceport to receive supplies) is their only base, so they're using it to explore the rest of the system and hopefully find some way to return home.

P.S. This is why they always wear spacesuits. Kerbin's outside air is toxic to them

P.P.S. Oh, and remember NovaSilisko's old concept for an advanced "before the Kerbals" race that placed all the Easter Eggs? Yeah... those were humans.

DUN DUN DUN PLOT TWIST CONFIRMED

[zxczxczbfg]

In my opinion, Kerbal society is ultimately whatever you envision it to be, because it's a sandbox game

[KSK]

My headcanon depicts a Kerbal Federation world government, composed of a council of representatives from all nations throughout Kerbin - while each nation may have their own government (complete with their own executive, legislative, judiciary and military branches), they ultimately answer to their Federation counterparts. This world government was formed in the aftermath of the first (and only) global war that led to an armistice when Kerbals realized the futility of war.

Each nation is likely to have their own cultures and customs, and while they may vary wildly, said customs do not infringe on the universal rights of each Kerbal (mostly equivalent to our own Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

Kerbal society is essentially atheist, although Kerbals were polytheists in antiquity (worshipping deities named after celestial bodies) and briefly dabbled with monotheism until the relatively modern era. That being said, Kerbals do often use exclamations such as "Oh my Kod!" rather liberally, again with no religious connotations.

Kerbal economies are mostly capitalist; whilst not ideal, there have been worse economic systems attempted in the past.

Both the Federation and its nation states still maintain military forces, although their primary purpose is now peacekeeping and disaster relief operations.

*snip*

(I have an entire history, nations, flags and so forth worked out, but I won't bore people with the details).

That's not too far off my headcanon. In my version, the proto world government arose during the Age of Sail - the first major expansion era on Kerbin. There were... pressing reasons, for that expansion, which naturally led to conflict and the Council (led by one Jebediah Kerman ) was convened to stop the whole thing escalating any further.

Kerbal economies are capitalist, but rather more restrained (or less dynamic depending on your point of view) than a typical Terran capitalist economy. For a variety of reasons there are very strong social and economic security nets in kerbal society and its a very unlucky or recalcitrant kerbal that can't access the very basics of civilised life (food, water, shelter, the company of other kerbals). Everything on top of that they have to work for, but when the basics are covered, money becomes less of an all-consuming imperative. Hence the kerbal labour market tends to be extremely flexible, which in turn tends to curb (heh) the worst excesses of capitalism. Any kerbal captain of industry who lays off half the workforce to pay for his/her yearly bonus, is likely to discover that a captain without a crew isn't going anywhere at all.

The flip side of all this, is that kerbal society, tends to be rather conservative (with a small c) and bureaucratic. The government doesn't respond quickly to change, which can be a cause of frustration and tension between the Regionalities. They are at peace but it's an actively maintained peace, although nowhere near the level of a cold war.

There's also a very strong spirit of volunteerism in kerbal society. Again, with the basics of life covered, a kerbal may decide to work on something for free simply because it looks fun. Which is essentially how their space program got started...

Sumghai - I'd definitely be interested in reading the longer version of your headcanon! If anyone is interested in reading more about mine, my ongoing fanfic (link provided in my signature) goes into it all in more detail.

Edited February 17, 2015 by KSK

[sumghai]

That's not too far off my headcanon. In my version, the proto world government arose during the Age of Sail - the first major expansion era on Kerbin. There were... pressing reasons, for that expansion, which naturally led to conflict and the Council (led by one Jebediah Kerman ) was convened to stop the whole thing escalating any further.

Kerbal economies are capitalist, but rather more restrained (or less dynamic depending on your point of view) than a typical Terran capitalist economy. For a variety of reasons there are very strong social and economic security nets in kerbal society and its a very unlucky or recalcitrant kerbal that can't access the very basics of civilised life (food, water, shelter, the company of other kerbals). Everything on top of that they have to work for, but when the basics are covered, money becomes less of an all-consuming imperative. Hence the kerbal labour market tends to be extremely flexible, which in turn tends to curb (heh) the worst excesses of capitalism. Any kerbal captain of industry who lays off half the workforce to pay for his/her yearly bonus, is likely to discover that a captain without a crew isn't going anywhere at all.

The flip side of all this, is that kerbal society, tends to be rather conservative (with a small c) and bureaucratic. The government doesn't respond quickly to change, which can be a cause of frustration and tension between the Regionalities. They are at peace but it's an actively maintained peace, although nowhere near the level of a cold war.

There's also a very strong spirit of volunteerism in kerbal society. Again, with the basics of life covered, a kerbal may decide to work on something for free simply because it looks fun. Which is essentially how their space program got started...

Sumghai - I'd definitely be interested in reading the longer version of your headcanon! If anyone is interested in reading more about mine, my ongoing fanfic (link provided in my signature) goes into it all in more detail.

I quite like how you've fleshed out the nature of the Kerbal economy in great detail, as well as the strong spirit of volunteerism.

I'll PM you some stuff sometime this week.

[Thomas988]

Here's my own Kerbal culture canon:

Kerbals are a sympathetic and respectful civilization, and although Kerbals formed much as humans did, Kerbalkind was much quicker and more passionate about ending violence in the world. This has led to the Kerbals becoming very peaceful, and many frequently seek their own adventures and happiness in their lives. The Kerbal Space Program was the offspring of this craving of exploration, and their sheer success was due to the responsibility to their ancestors they felt had been long since waiting for the day that they could explore the cosmos.

One stark contrast between human and Kerbal government is it's sheer size and method of holding leaders: Kerbal government is a strong democracy that influences all of Kerbin, led by several dozen leaders. These leaders are first elected from voters reigning from the same location of origin as the one being voted for. This election is commonly known as the "Sworn In" election. If they pass this election, they are brought into an "international circle" of leaders, and come the international voting day each family is allowed to vote for whomever they feel comfortable leading them. Each family if independent of their vote, and only their choice can make decisions that influence them. For example: family A votes for candidate A, while family B votes for candidate B. Candidate A will govern over family A and those who voted for him, and candidate B will govern over family B and those who voted for him. Leaders lose their position as government leader by failing to achieve the minimum amount of votes in the "Sworn In" election. All this has led to a vastly less apathetic political crowd amongst Kerbals, as well as increased approval the average citizen has over their government and its leader.

Global industry invests itself in developing and better future technologies. Some of the largest corporations on Kerbin is Rockomax Conglomerate, C7 Aerospace Division, Kerbodyne Rocketry, and Experimental Engineering Group, all of which work hand-in-hand with the Kerbal Space Program to create new space exploration technology. Of course, many smaller and more nationally-local organizations are also runners in the future technology industry. Many of these organizations have led to advanced robotics, cheap, powerful supercomputers, eco-friendly solutions to mass power production and transportation, as well as aerospace technology, such as those used regularly by the Kerbal Space Program in interplanetary missions and settlements. These powerful technologies have given rise to a powerhouse of a global market in all fields, which in turn benefits with increased potentiality to create new technology.

The Kerbal Space Program has maintained to be the sole effort of space exploration and colonization for decades. The Kerbal Space Program was founded in a relatively violent time of Kerbal history, as well as one when other, larger, space programs existed. This new space program was the first space organization not to be formed not by a government of that time, but rather a private organization. A passionate, brilliant assortment of leaders led the Kerbal Space Program beyond what other space programs had accomplished. Since the Kerbal Space Program has strived not only to be Kerbalkind's greatest explorers, but also to reach out across Kerbin and its people to teach the necessity of space exploration. With countless strong points and an inspiring tale of courage, space exploration soon became respected, acknowledged, and supported by those all across Kerbin. The Kerbal Space Program shot ahead, and in one hundred years had accomplished exploring every celestial body in the solar system, as well as lay the foundations of permanent settlements on Duna, Laythe, Vall, and Tylo. To this day, space exploration is believed by many to be the greatest frontier and source of a greater understanding and purpose in life.

Sorry if there's any grammar mistakes. I looked back and realized how much I had written and did not want to read it all over again.

[Owensey]

I've been thinking about this recently and here's my own version:

The Kerbals started out much like us Humans did. Hunter gatherers that eventually came together to form societies and different countries, molding over time. This is when they differ from ours. The Kerbals have a natural curiosity, just like we do, but theirs is much stronger and more powerful. Each "country" expands out, not looking for anything specific, just looking around, finding out about themselves. Of course, each "country" would eventually meet each other, and this would no-doubt cause some friction between them, but I believe that they would quickly learn and realise that they are not so different, that they both have this deep and powerful curiosity to discover. The age of sail would come relatively faster than in our own world, leading to the unified Kerbals of each separate landmass, discovering each other. I believe that because each Kerbal group on each landmass have developed so differently, this would lead to a larger conflict, one that would stay in the history books as a lesson to all Kerbals. This would be a series of longer wars, but eventually, like when the smaller states met, they would see they are not so different, and the wars would soon be over. Their curiosities ultimately lead to each landmass group mingling together and a global society slowly forms out of the embers of the past wars.

Each "country" would be known as a "landmass state" with each different group inhabiting their own landmass. Their societies would be based on cooperation and sharing, with currency being used for trade between each independent state. The curiosity that once drove each Kerbal to look around them for something new starts to slowly disappear with Kerbals accepting that what they have is all that is. The "landmass states" don't have any particular assigned leaders or representatives, so the Kerbals really have no-one to look up to so they eventually grow isolated and the vast trade-routes that inter-connected each society collapse and each state grows independently, building up with what they have, trying to best what the other states have accomplished. It would be an age of great scientific discovery, but each state would have no one to share these new technologies with.

Generation after generation of this isolation and scientific discovery led to a particular group of Kerbals to come together after reading about the Kerbals of old and how they used to share with all. This lit a spark in each of these Kerbals hearts, one that hadn't been lit in centuries. They rediscovered what it meant to be Kerbal; Curiosity. They work together, forming so-called governments to help light this spark in the hearts of all Kerbalkind. It works and the kerbals come together en masse, public rallies are held and they rediscover their shared curiosity. Trade is re-established, this time on a global scale, the public cheers at this new-found cooperation and they look to the sky. The kerbals realise that they have run out of places to discover so they look up. They realise that this petty squabbling they had between each state is only a tiny tiny part of the universe and the whole species turns to Astronomy to fulfill their desire to discover.

I realise now that after writing this, I've just basically made my own history of Kerbalkind. Meh, whatever, it's like my first post so forgive me.

[Rath]

I think that kerbals were an experiment by humans after they ecame a class 3 civilazation and started playing with the laws of physics.