Worldbuilding / worksheet
Sci-Fi Colony Questions
Sci-fi colony questions for survival systems, governance, resource limits, technology, isolation, and social tension.
A science fiction colony becomes interesting when survival systems and social systems pull against each other. Air, food, power, repair parts, authority, distance, and hope should all create pressure.
Colony premise questions
Start with the reason the colony exists:
- Was it founded for science, mining, refuge, prison labor, religion, military reach, terraforming, profit, or escape?
- Who chose to come?
- Who had no real choice?
- Who funds the colony, and what do they expect in return?
- What promise was made to settlers before arrival?
- Which part of that promise is no longer true?
Survival system questions
- What system keeps people alive minute by minute?
- Who knows how to repair it?
- Which spare part is almost gone?
- What routine maintenance task is boring until it becomes urgent?
- What alarm does everyone fear?
- What does the colony ration during a quiet week?
- What does it ration during a crisis?
Governance questions
- Who has legal authority: elected council, corporate director, mission commander, religious leader, ship captain, remote sponsor, or local emergency committee?
- What power does that authority not actually have?
- What rule is sensible in theory but cruel in practice?
- What crime is unique to this colony?
- Who can appeal a decision, and who cannot?
- What information is kept from residents to prevent panic?
Isolation questions
Distance changes behavior.
- How long does a message take to reach home?
- Can rescue arrive in time?
- What cultural habit has changed after years away from Earth or the homeworld?
- Which skill is more valuable here than it was back home?
- What old holiday feels different in the colony?
- What does the second generation believe that the founders do not?
Conflict seeds
- A repair crew discovers the official supply records are false.
- A child born in the colony cannot survive the place everyone calls home.
- The founding contract requires a dangerous quota before evacuation rights are granted.
- A remote authority orders a sacrifice locals consider unforgivable.
- A scientist wants to protect the planet; the colony needs the resource below it.
- A failed habitat becomes a forbidden district with evidence inside.
Revision check
Pick one colony system and answer:
- Who depends on it?
- Who controls access to it?
- What happens when it fails quietly?
- What happens when it fails publicly?
- Which character has the worst possible reason to hide the truth?