Colonizing New Worlds
This is part of a collaborative science fiction fantasy ai-image-driven storyboard, all projects are ongoing works in progress. Add to the fantasy, share your imagination;
The Planetary Department
The Planetary Department, was established as the colonization of local planets started, as the control and regulatory body within the Council of Five Honoured leaders of the people. The department’s mandate was to create the rules and procedures for safe space travel and regulate how new worlds are developed. Later, the department expanded by appointing the Space Standards Bureau, who, along with other responsibilities, established navigational corridors for safe commercial space routes.
The worlds of this system grew quickly once planetary travel was commercialized, the people expanded to the surrounding worlds like a flood. Industriously building together, small communities grew into amazing grand metropolises. Several spanning kilometres, seemingly endless rows of buildings stretching outward to the horizon.
Centuries of peace and prosperity had become a double-edged sword, peace had helped the populations grow, but, so much so, they were at the edge of sustainable limits. Projections show, without a dramatic change, the population growth will reach the tipping point during this generation. The point where resources are exhausted faster than they can be replaced.
All the planets in this system have become overburdened, there was nowhere to go to avoid the throngs of people. Something monumental was needed to relieve the problem. The leaders of the system, had logically concluded the best choice was to follow a remarkably simple plan. Centuries earlier their civilization had reached a similar point, the successful expansion then had saved them. Now the Council desperately needed a repeat of the past.
Project: Expansion and Colonization
Much akin to a Bee colony, dividing once the population has grown too large. The bees form a large group that when ready flies away, expanding into another area, the hope is: Both groups can thrive. Like bees, our plan is to fly away to find an unoccupied world, then build another civilization.
It was that decision that brought the Planetary Department to the creation of the Planetary Expansion Project. An interplanetary cooperative, backed by the Leaders and Elders of the Council of Five, as well as the Commerce sectors of all five worlds. Their goal was to assemble an enormous space flotilla, to safely house and move the many thousands of people possible for the project to be a complete success.
The popularity to join the Planetary Expansion Department project was incredible, so many people had the same hope, and shared the same goal. Colonization of a new world with plenty of open land, of course. But, many just wanted to escape the congestion, they would do anything to be free. They were confident they would successfully travel thru space to discover the world of their dreams. A place where they can live, build a new home, prospering, where their families can continue to thrive and grow.
That simple idea was the greatest undertaking of the kind, ever. After that beginning, followed years of preparation, organizing a space flotilla is no small task. Many of the parts required for the journey, started as soon as possible, took many years to finial assemble.
Still, uncertain of the outcome that lies before them, ready regardless of the hardships waiting, these brave and determined people are excited to find that perfect world and ready to get going.
The Journey Begins
The list of occupations, for the people boarding is nearly endless, more astonishing, the astronomical number of individuals boarding the ships, enough to colonize a world. The Planetary Expansion Department Project to search for a new world was ready for departure. The project had taken on the unofficial nickname of the ‘Search for Dreamland’.
The ships are well-equipped, there are several enormous ships, we class as Generational Colony Ships. Each of the Colony Ships has thousands of passengers and crew. Loaded with surface equipment and supplies able to support the crew via regeneration equipment and living gardens. The Colony Ships are designed to remain in orbit and become stations for orbital operations.
Furthermore, many specialized cruisers, varying in size from a crew of hundreds, to thousands of people. All the ships were required to have emergency life pods or smaller ships for each person on boards safety. Survival equipment was everywhere, and yearly certification training is required of all on board the flotilla ships.
Even before the preparations were completed, the people started arriving from all five planets of their solar system. Five planets, and five distinct, and unique types of people as well, all working together towards a common goal. We all breathe the same air and drink the same water, sort of eat the same foods, we should get along.
The ambitious settler flotilla continued to grow until the day of the departure. Before departure, there had been numerous astrophysical observations with long-range probes of potential nearby systems. Intent on finding the best flight path to follow to cover the greatest possible number of planet’s to settle.
Known as the Travellers
After a decade of space travel, the mundane nature of repetitive schedules and repetitive routine tasks left the travellers of course anxious to find their destination. On board, the living quarters were specialized to suit the occupants of the ships, providing some comforts. The giant Colony Ships were the best, they contained gardens, bodies of water, food of all kinds at all hours. The entertainment was available in large sectioned areas, with lots of variety and fun to watch. Many artists had decided to join the flotilla, so creative ideas flowed freely, the result being new art music and other shows presented regularly.
The Travellers, as they became known, were the ones who spent their time in space years before landing on their Dreamland. The Leaders, Commanders, pilots, builders, crew members, vessel support staff, many of the colonizers, farmers, medical personnel, administrative, security, entertainment, were all in space years and years.
Centuries ago, when interplanetary exploration discovered the four nearby planets were habitable, plans were immediately made to colonize them. The Council of Five, the governing body of world leaders of the people, decided to have each planet be controlled by each continent’s peoples. Ever since that decision, the people have lived together as space colonizers for centuries. Five continents, five leaders, five planets, it was meant to be.
Our Differences
Our most significant differences are in our outward appearances, language and of course local customs. Their thoughts and desires are similar, for the most part. We agree on many things, and cooperation comes easily to us as a whole. We had all begun on the same first world, evolving for millennia on separate continents. Completely isolated from each other before world exploration and later discovery of the others. The leaders of the five continents had banded together for their mutual benefit, keeping peace and trade open throughout the world.
Dreamland Discovered
Their journey leads them to investigate several systems along their flight path, years pass until one day they arrived at a system with a green-blue planet. Could this be our own new home, they hope? Intently focusing their surveillance equipment on the new world ahead, they thought, could this place we were searching for? It seemed like an eternity to compile and analyze the long-range data. The leaders all gathered on the command deck, all the people of the colony ships, waiting, hoping their long voyage was over. The screens of the scientist’s scanners flashed one result after the next, details reviewed on the fly. Excitement was building, this wasn’t the first set of long-range tests the crew had made, but this time it felt different. The reports were made to the leaders, then instantly the hesitation changed to ecstatic cheers. The leaders announced the long-range preliminary results confirmed their visual observations, both indicated the new world looked perfect.
The view from one of the convey ships as the fleet arrived in the new system was breathtaking, with the blue-green ball, what would become the planet Dreamland, in the distance. The people on board, for the most part, had been born on the ships. The excitement throughout the fleet was overwhelming. They had longed for freedom after prolonged years of space travel, confined in the small living compartments of the ships!
As a standard practice, they sent scout ships to collect more information, before changing the flight path of the main group. They generally spend a great deal of time, analyzing even the smallest course change cautiously.
The large ships in the main group were so huge that to change course took enormous amounts of energy and were only changed if absolutely needed. The scout ships moved from the group and further into the system, they began scanning and sending data to the main group.
Upon receiving the detailed mid-range data, scientists were able to confirm the atmosphere, water, and other parameters matched the long-range observations. There appeared that there was no other technologically advance life there, as no transmissions were received.
The Council of Five Leaders looked at each other, this was our world to take, the leaders all agreed. At this point, the planet was a close match to their original home, as perfect as any planet could be. After searching and cataloguing so many other planets, there was a definite air of excitement in the air control room. It had been years in space with nothing as clearly intended for the people to colonize.
The leaders became increasingly sure this was to be their new home, the place their people will colonize and thrive. They could see with their own eyes the beauty of the watery blue and living plant green world before them, there was nothing to fear, nothing to go wrong.
System Failures Grow
The leaders felt there was no further reason to wait to complete the formality of the remaining scientific scrutiny. They made their historic announcement of the planet’s discover and their decision to colonize this world before they knew of the final surface investigations.
The leaders ordered the entire group to enter orbit of the Dreamland planet. Enormous generational colony ships, hundreds of other vessels, all change course to enter orbit around their new home. A sigh of relief and joyful anticipation were felt across the flotilla. The years spent searching were finally at an end and building a civilization will begin.
The leaders were committed, commanding the fleet to continue. Congratulating each other on the efforts each of their section of personnel had made to the journey. Everyone was happy, jubilant, ecstatic, full of cheers for their success.
While they drew closer to their new home, everyone had become so excited about the possibilities ahead that within the colony ships it was easy to ignore the systems errors, just little nuisances at first. The closer they moved their ships to the new world, the more system errors and overloads were affecting operations. Their scouts, knew before the others had changed course that this system was not as good a choice as it first seemed. They had been deployed to assess the situation but lost contact with the main group shortly after they started transmitting data. Their proximity to the new world had impacted the communication before they could warn the main vessels. Communications went down throughout the group. The group was committed to enter the system, perfectly positioned to go into orbit. They never heard the orders to abort. They had discovered too late that they were not the first to inhabit this world.
Explosive Arrival
The explosion shocked everyone into the awareness. They could only look at the ship in the distance as it was destroyed. The largest of their vessels had been attacked. As it exploded, the others could see a hole torn in one side and out the other. Everyone on board the enormous vessel had perished instantly. All they could do is watch in horror as the situation got worse. The system failures increased throughout the vessels, the ships had no choice but to land before navigation control and propulsion began to fail. The excitement they had felt was quickly turning to fear as their choice to escape was lost. The ships started to land before they found the same faith that had destroyed the largest of them.
The arrival to Dreamland had been well planned with a balanced scientific approach. Best to have a cautious, detailed plan for landing on an alien planet for the first time. Instead, their arrival had an explosive opposite effect trying to orbit this planet, literally, in the blink of an eye, their situation changed from optimistic excitement into a terrifying emergency.
The scouts saw relics in orbit and ruins on the ground, they had information that would have saved so many. This had been the home of a highly advanced civilization. There were no markers of the dangers, however, no transmitters in orbit to stop the unwary from approaching. The main group of ships manoeuvred into orbit before the threats were apparent. The artifacts in orbit held a devastating surprise for our travellers, with communications down, each ship had to face the attack alone. When the first explosion occurred, there was no warning. No one was aware of the terrible situation they had entered.
Their overall course had been planned well in advance. They had already had an opportunity to make close observation of two other possible planetary systems. In both cases, the systems were considered incompatible due to the various conditions on the planet. Not containing sufficient percentages of the necessary aspects for life. The planets appeared to be still developing the green blue, oxygen rich environment the settlers wanted to find.
When the travellers moved into range of the third planetary system, there was an increase in the amount of excitement throughout the people. Preliminary observations had shown a perfect atmospheric mix. Furthermore, visual observation showed well advanced plant life, obviously covering large areas of the surface. Global mapping also determined several potential landing areas. The Council uses the strictest caution choosing locations to land, they must have the greatest safety margin. Those locations will also become the centres for new cities. Picking a location with natural resources and access to others is an essential part of survival and the colonization process.
The Survivors
People of all types arrived on Dreamland from the flotilla, as they settled the land and time past, they changed. Something here affects everything. It alters the DNA of all who live in this fantasy world. The changes brought about fantastical fast evolution of appearances with amazing skills and abilities. Some became magic users seeing the future, other magical users began creating and building. Others became the defenders, Knights and Warriors in their frightening helmets and masks for protection. There were two choices, conquer the world or fall victims to the fear, the choice was simple. Only the strongest and most determined people had the bravery to explore the new world, risking their lives in the process. Scars so deep that they continue even today in their descendants.
Generating AI Images
Images of fantasy lands far and away from reality, lands that exist only in our imaginations. The Adobe AI generator can produce astonishing results, with reactions ranging from WOW… to EWW…
Using the Adobe AI feature to create these images has been remarkable. You direct the image generation, but; generating new images with the same settings renders different results each time. Some images are exciting, but others can be just awful or silly. You never know what you will get next.
As you use the feature it encourages you to try again, re-generate another batch if you do not get the results you were expecting. The depth of a scene the balance of colours, the fantastic blending of shapes creating a new reality out of an image. The reason we use AI is to go farther, see more, and to bring the power of imagination into reality. We should never let AI take away the thinking we can do, without our imagination there would never have been an AI. Use AI as an asset to build on your ideas, never stop thinking for yourself.
Dreamland AI
The Distinguished Leaders of the People of Dreamland AI, these are the Honoured Elders of the Governing Council of Five. Their guidance and bravery helped the first settlers survive.
“These are the Honoured Elders, their guidance has kept the newly arrived people to Dreamland alive for many years. They have built the domes that became the centres of civilization and housing for generations of descendants.”
Honoured Elders Project
Share Your Thoughts
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Dreamland AI, a hope for Collaboration
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