Talk:Kerbal

This seems more like fan-fiction than actual information. UmbralRaptor (talk) 05:54, 20 October 2012 (UTC)

Feel free to add/delete/change it, my goal was in giving us a starting point with basic conjecture based on what we see in-game. I got rid of everything that was silly conjecture, not sure what I was thinking, obviously I got carried away, sorry! =) Jlmr (talk) 18:52, 20 October 2012 (UTC)

Kerman

Is it potentially of note to mention that to date all Kerbonaughts appear to be from the same family? PD (talk) 16:03, 20 November 2012 (UTC)

Ok, huge new theory - humans evolved to be similar to Kerbals today, not needing much leg or brain power as the technology does it for them. A nice planet was found, and the decision was made to colonize it. A huge ship was sent, and it was attacked by the Kraken. All the people in it were fine, unlike the spaceship (which may have caused the huge crater in Kerbin). Multiple recon missions were sent, all being devoured by the Kraken. The humans used basic knowledge (Such as processing iron ore makes iron) and made basic technology akin to ours today.

CaptainObvious (talk) 05:06, 4 June 2013 (CDT)

Maybe the Kerbals have a caste system where each caste is bound to a specific profession, and "Kerman" is the name of the pilot caste? --Crush (talk) 06:49, 4 June 2013 (CDT)

In Kerbal's video game "Return to Kerbal Space Program" humans' names are all in form of "First name + Earman" to show they are human. Other part of the name is omitted. ——Cesrate (talk) 07:47, 4 June 2013 (CDT)

There be a list of all of the Kerbonaughts' names

I think that there be a list of all of the Kerbonaughts' names on the page. I don't know if there is a full list of names in the game files, but if not, people could add new names as they find them.

Proof of concept:

• Jebediah Kerman
• Bill Kerman
• Bob Kerman
• <Name> Kerman

And so on...

Just a thought,

Quietsamurai (talk) 13:32, 3 August 2013 (CDT)

There was already a list on the Crew article. But I don't think this is helpful. I don't know how the names are generated, but the existing list was already pretty long and didn't provide that much information. And the first three standard crewmen are already listed. — xZise [talk] 18:47, 3 August 2013 (CDT)

Valentina's name because of Valentines day

Hi, I have my doubts about the reference to the Valentines day. If they really wanted referring to it, shouldn't they post it on the actual day and not a week later? I'd like to see an official comment which shows that both are related and it's not because of Valentina Tereshkova who was actually the first woman in space? — xZise [talk] 03:33, 24 February 2015 (CST)

I have no doubt at all that it's a reference to Valentina, not St. Valentine and not Valentine's Day. Her name is "Valentina" and she is suited up to go to space. There are no hearts or lovey-dovey symbols around her. I expect the original commenter of this theory wasn't aware of her (neither was I until recently). --Brendan (talk) 17:00, 24 February 2015 (CST)

Some little long (somewhat scientific) treatise on our little green friends

The Kerbals are a very unique species. Their society, history, and evolution is a very fascinating thing which I wish to dissect now.

Let us start with the few things we know about their biology:

-they are able to sweat: This indicates a system that processes temperature similar to humans, relying on water. However the Kerbals seem to have a vastly different water management, given that they can go without drinks for a very long time.

-they can withstand g-forces different than humans: Humans usually fall unconscious at around 5-6g. Since 1g on Kerbin is the same as 1g on Earth (9.81m/s²), we can correlate the observations. Kerbals have been seen not even suffer motoric limitations at 10g (two thirds of the g-force meter), still being able to operate the spacecrafts. The maximum level of g-force, 15g is known to "reach the g-limits". The maximum survivable g-limit to an uninjured human is 100g (according to tests with dummies in crash-tests), which means that while Kerbans have a higher g-tolerance than humans, their absolute resistance is lower than that of humans. This points to a different circulatory system that can transport their blood more efficiently, countering blackouts.

-they lack irises and eyelids: the lack of irises means a sensitivity towards bright light, and the lack of eyelids means they cannot shield their eyes from dangerous particles such as dust. Henceforth, this points to the fact that Kerbals evolved from a species that does not need to shield its visual sensors from dust. The fact that they have no irises may also point to the concept of an aperture that does not rely on focussing on distance, which would mean that the eyes themselves are muscles that flex to visualise objects at various distances by prolonging the liquid in the eyeball to serve as lense. However, they do seem to have a weakness for certain shapes or hues of colours. This can be seen when Kerbals are on Minmus, they commonly attempt to lick ground samples, mistaking it for dessert. This means that the colour difference between Minmus and Mint (or the Kerbal equivalent thereof) is too minimal for a Kerbal to recognise. This would also explain why Kerbals often fail to realise the difference between specks of dust and actual planets.

-they have gills: This fact comes from the constant statement that Kerbals tend to "get green around the gills" when feeling uneasy. It is not know, if the term gills is meant amphibious or mycelian.

-they seem to have very little teeth (2 are known): The teeth of the Kerbals seem to consist of two teeth that seem to be seamlessly changing from central incisors to first or second premolars, without including a prodtruding canine. This is not a known formation in the physiology of any terran species, albeit invertebraes, lacking anything that could be describled as teeth, have so called radula which is essentially a mouth with a "sharp" ridge. What this means for the diet of Kerbals is that these 2 teeth are more stable than the many teeth of humans, yet also are less effective at taking food apart. Also the lack of any canines means they do not eat meat. Kerbals as herbivores would also help explaining the green complexion.

-they love to eat: Food is energy. Since the Kerbal torso is comparatively small, their digestive tract must be extremely small and hence has a very small storage capacity. This means that the digestion and procession of nourishment does not require either a stomach or a lengthy gastrointestinal tract. This would also explain why Kerbals in space don't appear to need a toliet. They process their food with such a high efficiency, that little to no excrements are produced. The lack of nourishments on space missions is often bemourned by the Kerbals, who seem to mistake anything for food that even looks remotely like something edible. This desire for food further means that food is important.

-they can survive for long periods without food or water: When Kerbals are sent in space, consumables don't seem to be included. They seem to be able to store food and water in their bodies, similar to camels or cacti. It is possible that a Kerbal who is chosen to go on a space-mission indulges in an eating orgy prior to launch.

-they have a green skin: A green skin can have several reasons. Their blood is not copper-based such as human blood, or their melanin which regulates skin pigmentation has evolved different. Let us look at the possibilities. Green blood is actually known even here on Earth. A certain genus if skinks have an excess of the bile pigment biliverdin, causing their blood to be green. Humans also produce this, resulting in a greenish hue of bruises. Sulfhemoglobinemia is a condition where the red hemoglobin is replaced with a green derivate that has sulfur atoms incormorated instead of copper atoms. The condition is irreversible, but very rare. Hemocyanins are the protein version of hemoglobin that is common in invertebrae. Unlike hemoglobine of vertebrae, hemocyanin is not in the cells but the fluid that transports the cells. A melanin-disorder that turns skin green is unknown in humans. A human with very little melanin has a very pale, whitish complexion (albinoism), while an overproduction of melanin can cause local blackening, to the point of actual pitch-black spots. The tan and afro-black complexion is a natural result of melanins adaption to the stronger UV-radiation closer to the equator. Kerbals likely also have a form of melanin, however unlike human melanin, it is probably using a vastly different molecular setup, probably including copper or magnesium. At this stage, it is most likely, that Kerbals are rather hemocyanids with magnesium-based melanin.

-they exist as a bigender species: Kerbals have a male and female gender, however, aside from a different haircut, there do not seem to be a different body structure or appearance. This lack of dimorphism means that the gender does not require a mating ritual that is based on the difference between the male and female part. Meaning for them, sex may be nothing more than reproduction.

-they walk at about .87m/s and run at around 2.35m/s: The average human walks at around 1.4m/s or 2.5m/s top speed, and can run up to 7m/s (with the record currently being 12.4m/s). This means that Kerbals are extremely slow, running almost as fast as the fastest (human) swim record for 50m freestyle swimming. Considering that they have rather short, stubby legs, this speed is understandable. Their legs, speed, and walking motion hint to the fact that walking seems to have been a relatively new to the Kerbal physiology, and that most of their evolution they were either totally stationary, or used other means to travel.

-they may have hair, albeit rare: Hair is a general protectiomn against harsh climate, especially colder temperatures. This points to the fact that Kerbals seem to primarily have evolved at average to warm temperatures. Wernher von Kerman might come for a more colder climate.

-their head is about half their body-volume: This points to an incredibly great brain with a great computational capacity. There is also a chance that Kerbals have at least rudimentary psionic abilities. This would explain why their speech is less developed that their writing. It would also explain why some Kerbals appear to have a lethal weakness towards technological innovations - the technology is "not computable" by the psychology of the individual. This would also explain why "Stupidity" is such an extremely pronounced trait. "Stupid" Kerbals may simply have a less-efficient brain. This intensive mental capacity resulted in a total lack of understanding basic technology, such as telescopes. Another possibility is that their skull also houses the speech aparatus. The neck is very small and unlikely to contain the required systems to produce comprehensive speech. Hence the speech-system needs to be stored elsewhere, and a skull is the most likely place. This would also explain why their speech seems fairly basic.

-they can survive in space without the drawbacks that humans might suffer (weakening muscles, psychoses, etc): This means that their muscles work far different than human muscles as they can contract and retract without diminished stregth in lower g-force. It also means that their body emits large quantities of adrenaline or serotonine. Both can cause high mood and hence can block out negative effects. This would also explain why "Courage" seems to be a very vital trait. People with an overproduction of either are considered courageous or bold, while the rare genetical condition of an overproduction of both is called a Badass-condition.

CONCLUSION:

Summing these things up, we can reason that Kerbals are neither reptiles nor insectoids, but mammals also seems to be rather unlikely. Mammals are prone to have hair and require a steady supply of nourishment. It is quite possible, however, that the Kerbals evolved from plants, probably fungi (gills!). This would explain a great amount of differences. Plants are known to use photosynthesis and are green, plants have photoreceptors, but no real eyes, hence a rather weak eyesight would result when evolved into higher, sentient organisms. Plants do not need hair as much as animals would, nor do they need teeth as such (not even carnivorous plants have teeth). Plants are Earthbound (or Kerbalbound in their case) and thus would prefer to live on or inside the earth, instead of building on the surface. This would explain why we don't seem to see houses, cities or other landmarks, yet Kerbals regularly spot "their houses". Their houses are architecturally so well integrated into the natural landscape that it becomes indistinguishable for people not accustomed to this level to bio-architecture. Since it is a common known fact by now, that plants do have advanced sense, and can communicate without words, it is quite possible that an evolved, sentient sucessor of plants would develope some sort of psionic abilities to communicate with other individuals without the means of speech. The evolution to a walking organism would require a new form of energy-supply, which would mean that the mouths (and teeth) of this organism would evolve after the walking mechanism.

Kerbals are sentient plants!

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Evolution

So Kerbals evolved from plants, one of the first complex things that evolves after multi-cell organisms exist. Now let's look at the evolution from the point the first Kerbal reached self-sentiences and became the first kerbo sapiens sapiens.

Obviously, they already had a mouth to digest. But because of the highly avantageous psiosis, a speech was not needed. Communication was done by transmitting thoughts or images, it did not require words. However, with the invention of technology and thus measurements, a mere image was insufficient. It is easy to give the image of ore being placed in an oven to express the concept of smelting, but the specific temperature cannot be expressed by an image, it is not precise enough. Hence, language among Kerbals may have evolved as an aide for technology, not as the basis of conveying intentions and meaning.

It is possible that the Kerbals began very quickly calculating davanced sciences with their brain, reaching a scientific standart of industrial age sciences at an era of the Egyptean high culture of Ramses II. They used this to build a monument, called the Tut-Un Jeb-Ahn. Probably at that time, they also began developing rudimentary computational aides such as abaci, however, unlike human abaci, their frames probably were more designed to calculate power fuctions and binomic equations. However this is only conjectual...

But with such a rapid advance, it is very feasible that the primary drive for scientific advance in Kerbal society was (the curiosity of) understanding, contrary to the human advance due to (the curiosity for) warfare. Kerbals were always curious, working with experiments and designs, yet content with scientific exploitation of their home planet.

Early scientific discoveries were communications through radio and video emissions, cloning, power generation through electrical change, renewable energies, combustion, and nuclear fission. It is also very likely, that the discoveries of alloyes and refining processes allowed for constructing very advanced buildings early in their existence. One of the specialities that Kerbal technicians decided to incorporate in every device is modulability, making every design to be exchangeable with other parts, allowing for easy exchange or replacement.

However, due to the Kerbals natural habitat being grassy meadows and Earth in general, such overworld structures were very rare and only done by "outcasts". Such constructs being the "Old Airfield", where the brothers Wilbur and Orville Kerman first cast off the bounds of gravity and became airborne. A "developement" for which they were scorned at first, but eventually loved after the scientific applications were realised. Hence the Airfield became a museum. It seems that the Wright brothers also experimented with basic concepts of extra-atmospheric flight in their latters days as can be seen by the defunct capsule, and tank and engine in the hangar.

One of the most fascinated aspirants of the Brothers Kermans achievements was the young Wernher von Kerman, who disected every bit of information and experimented with the models of this capsule as soon as he could compute the capacities. He would go to use their designs to create his own systems, and later even advance the athmospheric flight systems of the Brothers Kerman to design planes that could reach space. One of his first testlabs was a smaller space center which he built near a mountain range of the Highlands after he flattened the area in the shape of a K, for Kerman. After receiving state-funding, he opened the Kerbal Space Center and moved his research there.

Rare templates of very extraordinary genes were stored in a gene-base to be reproduced if a clone got lost. Original templates were kept in statis ensuring that the base template would never decay. The best known template, Jebediah Kerman, was among the first explorers. The original was the constructor of an ancient observatory, which was considered a temple by later generations, yet being the very first Kerbal to look to the stars. Cloned from that template, a newer one circumvented Kerbal in a ship, another was the first to create a nuclear power plant, a third was the first Kerbal to reach supersonic speeds, and so forth. Hence it was compulsory for Wernher von Kerman to request a Jebediah-clone for his Space Program. Another very well known, albeit younger base template is Bob Kerman, a scientist wh discovered physics and chemistry. Among the achievements of elder templates was the developements of various vaccines, another discovered nuclear fission, and a third theorised the concepts of relativity. Another template that Wernher von Kerman requested was Bill Kerman, a clone of an engineer. The orinial was developing steapowered systems. Later templates were developing power-plants, cars, engines and many other things.

THE ANOMALIES

There are several somewhat odd things throughout the Kerbol system.

-A crashed flying saucer at the Northern Ice Cap and on the Mun. -Several Monoliths throughout the Kerbol System. -Munar Arches. -An odd Monument to a person called Neil Armstrong on the Mun. -The Giant Kerbal face of Duna. -The Temple-like rock-formations on Vall, the Satellite of Jool. -A strange multipod creature on Bop, another Satellite of Jool.

Two Flying Saucers can be found in the Kerbol system, one on the Mun and the other on the northern polar ice cap of Kerbal itself. The technology so far eludes Kerbal scientists and engineers, who try to decipher its advanced system for their own exploration. But one thing that the Kerbals were able to salvage and utilise was a green slimey goo that appears to be semi-sentient.

The vessels have a striking similarity to the C-57D Interstellar Cruiser used by the Humans in the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet. It is obvious, that humans exist in the universe of Kerbals, and that they have reached a very high level of stellar exploration. Combined with the idea that Kerbals are "little green men", this may be another pun going along the lines that Kerbals eventually unravelled the mysteries of the Flying Saucers and built some of their own, actually begin the Roswell Aliens.

The Monoliths appear at various locations, most of them on Kerbal itself, each one of them near the two Space Centers. Two are on the Mun and one on Minmus. Kerbals still wonder about their purpose. Many great minds are often drawn towards them.

They are solid black rectangular objects with the image of a chimpanzee and the scripture SQUAD on them (the games developers). They are an hommage to the monolith(s) of Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey where they were responsible for human evolution in the first place. This means that in the universe of the Kerbals, the monoliths have "mutated" and caused the mutation of plants into sentient beings.

Munar Arches, found on the Mun, are a highly unusual formation of rocks. Upon discovery, all Kerbals agreed that they are not natural. But who, or what made them, is unknown. The same applies to a strange monument with an unknown object that is generally believed to be a lander of unknown origin, and a flag of an unknown nation. There is a signature inscribed, calling this "NEIL ARMSTRONG 1930-2012" While Kerbans agree that the numbers appear to be a live-range signature of birth-to-death, of a being called Neil Armstrong, the naming convention is totally unknown to Kerbals. Since the discovery, evolutionary science has received several blows and has split into factions two factions. One believes that Kerbal has previously been inhabited by a ifferent species that somehoe vanished after they reached the Mun, while the other, more conservative faction believes that this has been created by a extrakerban species to mark their farthest reach beyond their system.

The Memorial, while obviously not -yet- a real-life object, is another proof that humans exist in the universe of Kerbals, yet how such a memorial (which likely would've been placed on the Moon) would end up on Kerbins Mun, can only be speculated to be done by the Monoliths.

The Giant Kerbal Face on Duna. Since the first closer observations of Duna, Kerbals believed that the face is on artificial origin. When the first Kerbals reached Duna and investigated the face, they discovered that while it was build entirely of natural Duna rock, it's designing was definited not natural. Another mystery that Kerbalkind has not yet uncovered.

Obviously a ja(e)b at the "Marsface", a rock formation with losely human shapes that was observed on Mars. After better cameras were discovered it was found out that the shape were just rocks, casting shadows, which resembled a human head in low resolution.

When the first Kerbonauts reached Vall, they noticed an unusual formation of rocks on the otherwise flat surface. Scientists deduced that it is a primitive Kerbolic obervatory, just like ancient Stonebal. However, it is not known who built this. The group of evolutional scientists believing that the monument of the strange NEIL ARMSTRONG thinks that this prson could be an explorer from Vall, or belong to a group of explorers who visited Vall and then continued system-inwards to Kerbal.

Obviously a hint at the idea of Stonehenge being a prehistoric observatory.

As the secondfarthest moon of Jool, Bop was first visited, and the crew discovered a dead hexapod. Also green, Kerbals biologists were eager to get their hands on samples. The DNA is only marginally similar, however, it is clear that the creature dtems from Kerbal. THis again was used by the evolutional scientits who believe that Kerbal once was habitaat to another race. It has since then often been considered that this species might be the one that built the NEIL ARMSTRONG building. Supporters of this point to the fact that only a massive species with many appendages could possibly be able to build such high without machines.

An obvious hint at the player-made idea of the "Kraken"-glitch.

CONCLUSION:

The Kerbal system has at least been visited before by humans, probably surveying it for possible habitatable planets. It seems that either the survey team consisted of only 2 saucers, or that the survey force lost 2 saucers and thus abandoned the system. Whether or not this has sparked life on the planet or primitive life already existed is unknown. But the life seemed to be able to reach space-travel without the constrictions of space-suits, and probably also without propulsions. The Dead Kraken ight as well have started as airborne species and soon emigrated -by chance or on purpose- to Vall. Latter is possible with the aid of the Monoliths. They could have discovered the Kerbal Kraken, nutured it to sufficient intelligence by taunting it to Mun and Minmus. It is unknown what happened to the Kraken population, why the left Kerbal and the Kerbol system, and how the Dead Kraken died on Bop. However the Kerbolic formation was probably a last monument of their existence before vacating the system forever. --Asragin (talk) 17:08, 20 June 2015 (CEST)

Hibernation

There are non-human alternatives to hibernation that would fit the Kerbal's observed behavior. Burst sleep is sleeping frequently, 4 to 60 seconds at a time, and sleep states are easily interruptible. Reflexive sleep is a state of sleep that does not need to be interrupted by basic survival actions and training could allow the brain to define certain actions as basic survival reflexes. For example, a Kerbal pilot might be able to start, hold, and stop a targeted burn while in a reflexive sleep state because these require reactions but not reasoning and years of training has caused their brain to see maneuvers in orbit just as essential to not dying as say, breathing (or whatever it is that Kerbals need to survive). Note, they would need to be fully awake to create the maneuver but could sleep and through its execution. Fractional brain sleep is when only part of the brain sleeps while the rest is fully active. In a similar way, body systems and parts can hibernate this way. Record depth free divers (humans) experience this when their bodies extremely slows blood flow and nerve activities to prioritize taking care of the brain and heart. But, back to fractional brain sleep, as is typical in earth creatures that can do this, one hemisphere of the brain is awake while the other sleeps. One could speculate that creatures with non-bilaterally symmetric brains could shut down fractions other than 1/2. On Earth, Cetaceans demonstrate all these type of sleep/hibernation states.