Colony: Alchibah
Is this your first visit to Colony: Alchibah?

WELCOME! Thanks for stopping by!

Please take a few moments to read the first part of this page. Otherwise, trying to make sense of the site will only leave you confused.
(Last updated 7/12/2008)

Colony: Alchibah is a group sci-fi blog novel. It's meant to be a fun diversion for the participants. Please don't think that we consider this to be great literature. All of us consider Colony as just creative escapism from real life. The overall name for this series of science fiction blog novels is The Ex-Earth Colonies. This is the first of them.

The Plot:

In the middle of the 21st century, a ship of dissidents seeking freedom from the oppressive world government of Earth land on a planet circling the star Alchibah. There, these colonists begin a new life, a new world, a place where the limited government is subordinate to the citizens. First they had to create that government. Actually, first they had to escape Earth! As in any sci-fi story, there are plenty of other problems as well...

"Yeah, well, the blog entries make no sense to me!"

And well they wouldn't because you're stepping into the middle of an ongoing project. It would be sort of like starting a book on page 172.

A quick reader's guide:

So, I (as Historian) write a chapter of the story. Stuff happens and then the other creative folks here react to it.

The actual story chapters are listed on the side under -- Story Chapters -- and are numbered in order. Mouse-click a chapter to read such as "1. Prologue", "2. Escape", etc.. This is the best place to start. Read chapter 1. Then...

...Well, then you can read the colonists' responses to what has happened in that chapter in the form of diary entries by the colonists themselves in the next category on the right sidebar -- Colonist Diaries -- by selecting the corresponding chapter name.

Then, read chapter 2, and again, the corresponding colonist diaries, etc. Remember that while the colonists (these are real people who are taking part in this experiment) are acting out in response to what I wrote in the story chapter, I am also reacting to their ideas and actions in their posts when I compose the following chapter.

The home page (index page for the site) displays the newest diary entries in the form of a blog with the most recent ones first. Reading those is fine for regulars but will only leave first-timers confused.

On the other hand... When you select an archive of the colonist's diaries (which are corresponding responses and actions to a chapter) the entries are shown in the order posted, in ascending order, which will make much more sense for you.

This probably isn't the most logical layout for a project like this but I had to work within the limitations of Word Press, a wonderful -- especially since it's free -- software program that runs many a blog.

All of the "Colonists" listed on the sidebar and their posts are written by individual people. Some of the accomplices (heh!) are writing as more than one of the "colonists" in this story. As I write this (12/30/06), there are six of us writing as 16 characters. Often, we collaborate with one-another on posts. Naturally, we each have our own writing style. I write the actual chapters as well as the posts by Historian and Travis. Some participants are writing a lot of diary posts as other characters and "sub-characters."

There's also a collaborative encyclopedia of information by all of us over at Colony Universe for our creative fun and your elucidation.

Go to / Return to Colony: Alchibah.



I started up Colony: Alchibah by registering the domains in February of 2006 when I conceptualized the project and started recruiting other writers/enthusiasts/participants. The first chapter was posted in March of that year. The project was completed in 2008.


For those who are interested in the technical stuff, I create most of the graphics using a combination of Bryce 5.5 (from DAZ) and Photoshop 7.0. By the way, the maps were created in Blizzard's World Builder program that comes with WarCraft which I then mess around with in Photoshop. Some of the Bryce "objects" were purchased on Renderosity; Renderosity and PayPal receipts are on file. Header art for Colony: Alchibah, Universe, and this "about" page were by Canadian artist Gary E. Mont, who offered them for use on his website, which seems to have disappeared, unfortunately.

Bart prefers Terregen for the graphics he creates.

My own writing is influenced by many of the greats of the SF field, and this series is especially dedicated to the late A. Bertram Chandler, creator of the marvelous Rim World series of books.

Money Matters...Not!
None of us make any money from this and we're not asking for any. You'll notice that there is no "tip-jar" or advertising here on Colony. Your kindly spreading of the word about this project (*hint*) would be appreciated.


Go to / Return to Colony: Alchibah.

Incidentally, it's pronounced: "Al-ki-bah," with no long vowels.
And yes, it's a real star located about 49 light years away in the constellation Corvus.



All writings, art, images, and music on this web site, Alchibah.com, and on the companion web sites, ColonyUniverse.com, Ex-Earth.com, TheColoniesofEarth.com, and TheOrionWars.com, as well as all related websites of mine, are (C)Copyright 2006-2011 by Jeff Soyer of Fairlee, VT. All rights reserved. Any reproductions or distributions of them by others, by any medium including the web, are prohibited without prior permission. Email me at jeff [at] ex-earth [dot] com.


Ex-Earth Colonies,Colony: Universe, The Orion Wars, The Colonies of Earth