Have you played the computer games Outpost or Outpost2? These contain (or a least the original was -- I haven't played the sequel) detailed and realistic colonization scenarios. You could probably get some good ideas from these. There's also a new version of Civilization that's supposed to be a realistic interstellar colonization scenario. Don't know if it's out yet, but if it's anything like Civ3 it should have a wealth of useful info.
The RPG Traveller2000 also was loaded with plausible near-future tech, alien ecologies, etc., but I haven't seen it in the stores recently. I ran a Traveller2000 campaign a while back with a lot of tech from the CyberPunk game supplements thrown in. Very cool.
Steven
-----Original Message-----
From: Anders Sandberg [mailto:asa@nada.kth.se]
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 1999 12:46 PM
To: extropians@extropy.com
Subject: Colonize Atlantis!
Some semi-serious worldbuilding:
I'm working on a roleplaying scenario (possibly even a novel) about a number of interstellar colonies that develop isolated from each other. I have had great fun writing them up, everything from national colonies like New America and Penglai over a planet settled by fundamentalist christians to a planet inhabited by clones of the original settlers. The real interest is of course what happened after colonization - in one or two centuries the original memes have mutated quite a bit. In the scenario FTL is eventually invented, and cultures begin to mix with explosive results. Great fun!
However, one of the planets is Atlantis, and a lot of the story will likely deal with it. Atlantis was colonized by a libertarian foundation; the colonists who joined in had tired with what they considered a statist, bureaucratic solar system. So they signed a contract about non-initiation of force etc, pooled resources, bought a colonization ship and set off towards Zeta II Reticuli 3, christened Atlantis, going sublight with cryonic suspension.
Now, what I want to hear from you are ideas for various teams,
organizations and groups that might want to go on this expedition, and
what equipment, knowledge and other stuff they might bring with them
(valuables? what species of plants and animals? culture?). What
systems would they like to pool together to buy? Assume a near-future
technological level with fusion power and well developed space
systems, no truly dramatic transhuman technology - yet (guess what
some colonists want to develop in peace?). Atlantis is known to be
terrestrial, not too unlike the Earth given what can be observed by
Hubble IX but has an unknown ecology.
The reason I ask is that I would like to have a broader input on the Atlantis colony; so far my would-be-coauthor has been far too fond in suggesting things and I want to spring some suprises to him.
Most likely the finished scenario will be posted to the web in a few months, after we have played it. It does involve a lot of transhumanist ideas, although maybe not in the way many people think...
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