Colony ships - a short history

Colony Ships - a short history

This short (5432 words) piece of sci-fi is written as a historical report by a far-future academic on Colony Ships. It's a familiar concept, but I hope that my take on it is something unique. I'm uploading a PDF copy here, which includes 2 images, a schematic/design of the ship, and one of the Defender class Subship mentioned in the text. I'm also uploading the writing and the first and second images separately to dA.

Colony Ships - a short history. Second Draft PDF version - 240kb

I also have a couple of images, scenes inspired by/inspiring the work, planned for the future. So keep your eyes out for those on my deviantART account.

This piece and the accompanying images have been brewing in my mind for months now. The initial thought was raised by the Second August RPG on the Earthsong Forums, but it has developed a long way from there into its own entity altogether. I envisioned this first as a short story, but I couldn't work out how to include all the technical and design details i wanted to in the space. So I went with a different format, this 'paper' layout. To make it more realistic i intend to go through and 'reference' the final version, both in the text and, putting in a references section at the bottom naming 'sources'. There's also a mild ulterior motive, as i could really use practive writing in this format.

As for the setting, I see it as something hugely far in the future, a galaxy-spanning human empire which believes it has moved on from its roots - the Protohumans mentioned in the text - to something bigger. But perhaps, as I hope is clear, they've not moved so far. The author is a scientific historian, working with old records and files, in some case with common knowledge stories, in some cases other authors' papers.

Anyway, enough rambling. If you've any questions, drop me a comment on the dA version if you're a member, or feel free to email me.