What happened during Kaspa's pre-deflationary phase at launch?

Kaspa's pre-deflationary phase ran from mainnet launch on November 7, 2021, through May 8, 2022 — a period of roughly six months. When the network first started, block rewards were random, ranging anywhere from 1 to 1,000 KAS per block, for the first two-plus weeks. After the first hardfork, that randomness was replaced with a fixed rate of 500 KAS per second; because the block rate was also 1 block per second at the time, each block paid exactly 500 KAS. Understanding this early phase matters for beginners because it explains why Kaspa's coin supply grew quickly at first before the network transitioned to a more predictable, declining emission schedule.