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More city than vehicle, Colonial Landers are the foundation of [[Reach]]'s civilization.

== Design ==

Colonial landers were the seeds of a new civilization.  Each lander carried one million young, human volunteers in good health, taken from cultures all over the world.  It was thought that even one lander contained the genetic diversity necessary to begin the human race upon a new world, but the [[Colony Ship]] sent to [[Reach]] brought one thousand landers.  Upon touchdown, each lander became a settlement, using the [[Colony Ship]] as a communication satellite.  Landers carried with them tremendous resources to assist the colonists in the new world: pre-fabricated homes, seeds from all sorts of Earth plants, vehicles, weapons, technology, everything they would need.  They also contained the tools for terraforming, with each lander bringing specific equipment to turn [[Reach]] into a new paradise.

== Locomotion ==

Colonial landers are fitted with four massive rocket engines, and literally hundreds of stabilizing thrusters.  The primary purpose of these is to guide the ship from orbit to a precise landing zone, relatively gently.  While it would be theoretically possible for a lander to be refueled on land and move to a different location on [[Reach]], landers cannot generate the necessary thrust to escape the planet's gravity.  No settlement has ever attempted such an enormous project.

== Cost and Maintenance ==

Landers all over [[Reach]] are in various conditions.  Some of the more prosperous colonies have kept their landers in mint condition, others have let them decay, and still more have re-purposed them into permanent structures.

== Miscellaneous ==
Settlements built on landing sites are referred to as "prime" settlements, while later settlements are referred to as "satellite" settlements.

Most colonial landers were named after major cities on earth, some examples: New Beijing, New Plymouth, and New San Francisco.