Colonising Minds: Challenge #1
You’ve read the setup and got your colony in mind.
Let’s go back to the colony’s first beginnings. Not the first foot on the soil or landing, but before that: let’s go back to the thing that drove it into being. There was, at the start of it all, a reason. Ask why: why would a group of people choose to leave on a long road leading to the longer job of setting up a new colony? Why would someone pay for such an endeavour?
It’s also worth asking whether these colonists are moving to or away from something, or both. Are they fleeing oppression or discrimination, seeking a newer, freer life? Are they moving from an overcrowded world into uncharted – or at least un-congested – lands? Are they looking for new resources, or exploring new frontiers?
Consider the effort to bring this project to bear. How public was it? Did it have to be conducted in secret? Was it crowdfunded? Was there a single benefactor, or a heap of government funding?
How were the colonists recruited? Was everyone welcome, or did they have to apply? Was there a lottery? Did they have to be invited explicitly? What about families?
Behind it all, who was driving it? Think about this person – or, if it was a group, think about a single person in that group. Why are they not only a part of this project, but also a leader of it? What is driving this specific person to push this colony into being?
Follow that person home. Think about where they live and how they conduct their time. Now tell us the story of that person, of how they came to be a leader of colonists in this brave new endeavour, and how this project came to be.
Tell us about the genesis of it all.
Next up: Challenge #2
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