Title: Pack Bonding my battery is low, and it is getting dark -- Opportunity Rover, Feb 27, 2019 _-- sign above section of the Terran Museum of Stellar Expoloration titled "the early starfarers"_ To say that the humans can be… sentimental… about their robots can be a massive understatement. In their earliest days of space exploration, they undertook tremendously hazardous rescue missions to recover their early synthetic explorers - even ones that, objectively, had less cognitive ability than a Terran pocket watch - a 20th century one. While some were refitted and sent back on their way (Pioneer-11 and Voyager-1 being the most famous examples) as a sort of... fitting tribute... to their success and 'nature', the rest were returned to Terra, and housed in their Museum of Stellar Exploration, on their Orbital known as O'Neill One. While only a handful are on display, they have recovered dozens of them, a testament not just to the early Terran desire to find out more about their star system and local neighbors, but their incredible search to find other sapient life. They still have open bounties or rewards for the return of any probes that made their way into non-Terran hands somehow. They want their first explorers to come home. But, I suppose that is part of their charm - the humans will pack-bond with nearly_ anything. Other sapients, near-sapient droids, sentient or semi-sentient pets and beasts of burden... even favorite tools or weapons, by Gort. To anyone who has spent time with them, it is as plainly obvious that they would attempt to recover these inefficient, early probes as it is that they would attempt to make Retrieval almost no matter the odds - it's just what they do. "No Person Left Behind" - with Personhood sometimes sketched very very broadly, it seems. -- Tak Mran Velshorak, Pitaran philosopher, 2273 - "Pairbonds and Presumptions - the Terran experience", excerpt below is a picture of the Opportunity Rover on Mars

Bits for my campaign setting - pt 2/N
#alienviewpoints #packbonding #humanslovetheirbots #terranspace2442

The Grim of Orbits In some Terran mythologies, the first being buried in a graveyard was doomed to defend that hallowed ground forever - to act as a ghostly watchman for all the souls who would come after. Naturally, no-one wanted to relegate this job to a human, so instead they buried as the first creature in a new graveyard a hound - one of their best, most faithful friends. This Black Hound, this _Grim_, would steadfastly guard the graveyard in a human’s stead, keeping it safe just as it had kept their flocks and hearth safe in life.  The first being the Terrans sent up into space was a dog. Space travel was in its infancy - they had no way to bring her home. She orbited Terra four times, until overheating killed her. Even a few years later, this would never have been tolerated - it was the early days of ethics in many respects as well - but despite that, Laika lives on in the hearts of most spacers.    On many starships of Terran origin - not all of them, but a good majority - you will find a… shrine, of sorts. Often it’s just a small statuette tucked away in a corner of the bridge, an icon or an illustration - sometimes hand-drawn, and ranging from quite crude to remarkably exquisite. Occasionally it’s a very very old twodee or bit of holography.  A small dog - sometimes in a ancient space suit - helmet closed or open, skeletal or ‘living’ , sometimes just a dog, varying in appearance and breed. In this way, the Grim of Orbits flies with every spacer, it is said, and watches over them as they navigate the stars. {at the bottom of the text is a picture of a human in an ancient Soviet space suit, holding a small dog in their arms, the dog looking lovingly up at the human - the Grim of Orbits still loves her People.}

Bits for my campaign setting - pt 1/N
#laikathespacedog #thegrimoforbits #terranspace2442