Mandrake Kerman and Rutherford Kerman - WhirligigGirl/Whirligig-World GitHub Wiki

This is a Lore Page, describing some of the Kerbals in Whirligig World Lore

#Mandrake and Rutherford

Mandrake and Rutherford were born in the southern city-state Gippgon. They were born conjoined, a rare event for a Kerbal birth, the survival of which is even rarer. Their mother very nearly died during childbirth, and the two Kerbals had been born premature. Their bodies grew together and could not be severed--Mandrake had no functioning stomach of his own, Rutherford had an undersized heart. Conjoined twins are not entirely unheard of on Kerbin, but on Mesbin where the birthrate is low and all Kerbals are created by live birth, Mandrake and Rutherford are totally unique.

They were raised in the nation of Mesomesbin, an equatorial nation with lower gravity that would strain Mandrake's heart less. Growing up in an upper-middle-class family, Mandrake and Rutherford would help in the gardens. Mandrake particularly enjoyed learning about biology and botany. Rutherford, an artist with an analytical bent, would often draw the plants in his sketchbook. Rutherford's favorite subject at school was Physics, which Mandrake also enjoyed to a lesser extent.

The twins were bullied in school, but they didn't mind it so much--they always had each other to talk to so they wouldn't get lonely.

One fortnight, during a visit to an above-ground biodome with their family, Mandrake and Rutherford first discovered the wonders of astronomy, as they watched the bright disk of Graymun rise up above the horizon, and then Kerbmun emerged from behind it. They soon learned all they could about astronomy, but in their city there was a lack of good astronomy resources. Some time after they graduated high school, they took a trip a quarter of the way around Mesbin's circumference to the city of Gaffald, and visited the Gaffald Heights Public Observatory. It was a small tracking telescope that allowed a single user at a time to sit in a chair and observe the planets and some of the brighter deep-sky-objects.

Despite the difficulties in actually using the telescope, the two were immediately convinced that they would be observers. On Mesbin, amateur astronomy is much more difficult, as all observations have to be made from inside an airtight observatory--they would have to join an Observatory to get any experience.

During college, where they went at Gaffald, they interned at the Suddery Institute of Astronomy, where they worked with photographic plates to catalog stars. After growing tired of shuffling around photographic plates, Mandrake took on a greater role in the observatory as assistants, and later as astronomers. Rutherford maintained that he was always fine with shuffling around photographic plates--but he enjoyed the promotion anyway. They soon earned a reputation among local astronomers as serious observers with a comical relationship, bickering like a married couple and with so many inside jokes you'd think they were speaking in a different language.

Mandrake and Rutherford's mentor sent a letter of recommendation for the position of Director of the Donklan Equatorial Binocular Observatory. Mandrake received a letter telling him he'd gotten them job, and was quite the surprise when observatory staff discovered they'd gotten an extra astronomer in the deal. Rutherford took the job of archive management and astrophotographer, while Mandrake would be the director. These jobs complimented eachother and, importantly, could both be done at the same time. Rutherford would deal with the camera while Mandrake was making visual observations, and during Mandrake's paperwork, Rutherford could manage the archives. The binocular instrument was a wonderful instrument for the two, since with only minimal modification it would allow the two astronomers to observe at the same time!

It was through the Donklan Observatory that the two discovered their famous namesakes, the planets Mandrake and Rutheford, and later two of the four satellites which orbit them. Mandrake was hired by the Mesbin Space Probe Commission as director of science and astronomy operations. He would be tasked with creating and managing scientific objectives for missions. Rutherford meanwhile was put in charge of the MSPC's tracking station as a radio astronomer, a job which was a fascinating change of pace that offered him new challenges. (Chiefly among them was splitting time with work that now conflicted with Mandrake's)

Mandrake and Rutherford still occasionally use time on the Donklan Observatory to look for new planets orbiting Gemmema, and distant Kaywell-orbiting planets beyond Gememma. They haven't found any yet, but they're sure they'll find one eventually.