Gorham's Colony was a Weyland Corp colony located on the planet KOI-2650.01 in the Far Spinward Colonies. Originally a thriving mining outpost, a downturn in fortunes and isolation from wider civilization saw the colony shrink to a single settlement staffed by a mere two families.
History[]
Boom and bust[]
Gorham's Colony was established by Weyland Corp pioneer J.V. Gorham on the Far Spinward Colonies planet KOI-2650.01 in 2069 after a decade–long terraforming effort. The colony was the site of the deepest mining excavations in existence with shafts reaching depths of twenty–three kilometers, and boasted a population of a million colonists in its prime.
Following the formation of the Three World Empire in 2088, Gorham's Colony became a province of the 3WE along with the rest of the FSC. By 2100, the colony's populace had dwindled to 120,000, and was reliant on outsiders for provisions and basic supplies; more colonists left around that time as trade ceased. In 2108, J.V. Gorham planned to increase productivity by importing the Harvester, a breed of subterranean creature from the Outer Rim Territories planet Tartarus.
Isolation[]
- "We found the outpost on Gorham Colony, no resistance. The people made a dash for their storm cellar the minute they realized we'd spotted them. Only one functional ship. The job is done, no problem—one less set of navigation data for those bastards to get their hands on."
- ―Communication data left by Gorham's Marauders aboard the HMCSS Janku (from Alien: The Roleplaying Game — Building Better Worlds)
In 2110, a team of scouts led by Daran Bako departed Aboki settlement at the colony to investigate the planet KOI-1966.01. Shortly after, Gorham's Colony and the rest of the FSC were isolated from wider civilization by a panoply of freak cosmic occurrences. Reduced to a total of 25,000 as of 2150, a series of storms and insect attacks prompted another exodus as many of the colony's inhabitants were killed. Trading vessels from other worlds no longer visited Gorham's Colony as of 2160, and a scant number of settlements remained, with the population standing at 350. As society began to fragment, colonist Shaniah Morino confiscated Gorham Colony's Long Data Disc and secreted it in a vault at the Tontas Ravine settlement.
A year prior to 2186, Gorham's Colony had been reduced to the Morino and Parks families, both of whom resided at Tontas Ravine. Around that time, the pirate organization Gorham's Marauders traveled to Gorham's Colony to erase any navigation data in their campaign against the Fulfremmen, an ancient race that had overwhelmed several other colonies in the FSC sector. To that end, the Marauders boarded the HMCSS Janku, an old freighter docked at Tontas Ravine, and wiped its memory banks. They met no resistance from the families, who had retreated as the Marauders arrived.
In 2186, Gorham's Colony was visited by the crew of the UNCSS Solovetsky Island, an exploratory ship attached to the United Nations Interstellar Settlement Corps' Great Mother Mission. Amid a feud between the Morinos and the Parks, Tontas Ravine was struck by a wave of the alien insect species known as The Swarm, forcing the residents and UNISC personnel to fight back.
Behind the scenes[]
Gorham's Colony appears in Alien: The Roleplaying Game — Building Better Worlds and is the setting for the first campaign mission, "Home Sweet Home". The colony can be repopulated using resources given in the book.