Colony Grandeur
From FABT
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| Location: |
Horizon / Iera / Shadow Sea |
| Built: |
17 April 2168 CE |
| Population: |
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| Affiliation: |
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Colony Grandeur was one of the many subcolonies located on Horizon. Colony Grandeur was one of the first subcolonies founded on Horizon during its colonization by Alliance third-wave colonists in 2168 CE, quickly becoming one of the more well developed colonies that served as a satellite to Horizon's capital, Discovery, being the fourth of six total subcolonies that were placed on the outskirts of the capital city. Colony Grandeur's population steadily climbed over the years until it hit a steady four thousand, with large swaths of farmland and prefabs used for housing: as the settlement continued to expand, more prefabs were used in lieu of permanent structure. Colony Grandeur, along with much of Horizon's population, was established in an effort to escape the Alliance and its governance, either to get away from the constant conflict in Alliance space or the Alliance's policies itself, not wanting the troubles of intrusive government. In late 2183 CE, just as resident Lilith Abraham was elected mayor of the settlement in a landslide, the Alliance initiated its outreach initiative in an attempt to better protect its outer colony worlds as a response to a couple of human worlds mysteriously being abducted: Horizon was one of many planets part of this initiative, with the 88th Expeditionary Company under Kaidan Alenko overseeing the establishment of a Horizon Colonial Guard unit and to begin installation of a large GARDIAN anti-aircraft battery. Encamping themselves outside Colony Grandeur, the 88th maintained a presence within the colony where they were training the new Colonial Guard, and their presence was viewed as heavily suspicious by the inhabitants. Despite this, Mayor Lilith Abraham struck a rapport with Kaidan Alenko, and the two established a working relationship where Lilith would look out for the colony's interests while Kaidan gave her updates on their progress. After two years though, Colony Grandeur only grew more and more suspicious as excuses regarding the GARDIAN's lack of completion led to accusations that the Alliance had another motive behind their presence on Horizon.
The Alliance's concerns proved valid however when, in mid August 2185 CE, the Collectors launched a surprise attack on Horizon, specifically targeting Colony Grandeur. The 88th fell victim to the seeker swarms just as the rest of the colony did, and after the entire colony was paralyzed and unable to move, the Collectors began moving captured colonists into pods and loading them onto their ship. Minutes after their attack however, Cerberus intervened and deployed the Normandy Squad who began attacking Collector forces, disrupting their operation. By the end of the raid, the Collectors were forced to abandon the rest of the colony, taking the half they had already loaded onto their ship and hastily withdrawing once the GARDIAN was activated and fought them off. Unfortunately for Colony Grandeur, half of the colony was still successfully abducted, with two thousand colonists lost (among them their mayor, Lilith), half the 88th and some of the Colonial Guard volunteers. Colony Grandeur would take a while to recover from the attack, with dozens of colonists either moving to the capital or leaving Horizon entirely, not feeling safe on the colony anymore, while those that stayed found it difficult to move on, holding out hope their people could be saved or lost to despair. A new mayor, James Barker was elected a month later and tried to steer the colony back on track, but was unsuccessful. Despite this, Colony Grandeur's population was demonstrating minor recovery in 2186 CE when the Reaper War hit. After the Reaper War, Colony Grandeur continued to recover, with many surviving refugees choosing to make a permanent home there. In time, Grandeur's population returned to pre-abduction levels, and by 2225 CE, had expanded sufficiently to surpass it, and by the end of the Dominion Civil War, Grandeur's population was 18,000. In 2280 CE, Colony Grandeur was merged with subcolonies Colony Violet and Colony Skyhigh to become the city of Pioneer.