The Colony
the Cylon homeworld
The Colony was a massive space station the Cylons built around the original ship of the Final Five after the First Cylon War, serving as their de facto homeworld. It was destroyed when Galactica raided it to recover the child Hera and it was driven into the accretion disc of a naked singularity.
The Colony was a massive space station the Cylons built around the original ship of the Final Five following the First Cylon War, and it represented their de facto homeworld. It was the place where the eight Humanoid Cylon models were created, and it was destroyed during the battle Galactica fought to recover the child Hera.
Origins#
The Colony was built around the sublight vessel used by the Final Five Cylons, Samuel Anders, Tory Foster, Ellen Tigh, Saul Tigh, and Galen Tyrol. When the First Cylon War ended with the Cimtar Peace Accords, the Cylons withdrew from the Colonies to the Colony, where, with the help of the Final Five, they constructed the eight Humanoid Cylon models. It served thereafter as the mobile Cylon homeworld.
The Fall and the Cylon Civil War#
During the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, the Colony was moved close to the Cyrannus star system so that the Cylon invasion fleet could jump directly to the Colonies. After the outbreak of the Cylon Civil War, the Colony fell into the hands of the Cylon loyalists led by the Number Ones, and was moved into the stable orbit of a naked singularity.
The Battle of the Colony#
When the Number Eight Sharon Valerii kidnapped Hera, she took the child to the Colony to be dissected in the hope of unlocking the mystery of Cylon reproduction. To rescue her, Galactica mounted a bold offensive against the Colony, ramming it and sending boarding parties aboard. Under heavy fire from both modern Centurions and the older Centurion Model 0005, the boarding parties secured Hera and returned her to the ship. In the ensuing chaos, a damaged Raptor inadvertently launched its complement of sixteen nuclear warheads into the Colony, disabling its sublight drives and pushing it deeper into the accretion disc of the singularity. After Galactica jumped away, the Colony was presumably crushed by the immense gravitational forces of the black hole.
Design and armament#
Built around the Final Five's sublight vessel, the Colony was an immense space station that served as the mobile Cylon homeworld. It appeared to operate much like the modern basestars, and given the Cylons' access to Final Five technology it was likely made of comparable material. The Colony featured large arm-like structures and a powerful drive system that allowed it to hold a stable orbit in even the most extreme environments.
It was armed with multiple single-barrel and quad-barrel kinetic energy weapons. Whether it carried missile launchers like the basestars is unknown, as the battle with Galactica was fought at point-blank range. Unlike the modern basestar, the Colony fielded all variations of Cylon craft except the original Type I Raiders of the First Cylon War, deploying Heavy Raiders alongside the later Raider types.
Frequently asked questions
- What was the Colony in Battlestar Galactica?
- The Colony was a massive space station the Cylons built around the original ship of the Final Five following the First Cylon War. It served as their de facto homeworld and was the place where the eight Humanoid Cylon models were created.
- Why did Galactica attack the Colony?
- After the Number Eight Sharon Valerii kidnapped the child Hera and took her to the Colony to be studied for the secret of Cylon reproduction, Galactica mounted an offensive to rescue her, ramming the station and sending boarding parties aboard.
- How was the Colony destroyed?
- During the rescue of Hera, a damaged Raptor inadvertently launched its complement of sixteen nuclear warheads into the Colony, disabling its sublight drives and pushing it deeper into the accretion disc of a naked singularity. After Galactica jumped away, the Colony was presumably crushed by the gravitational forces of the black hole.
Sources
- WikiThe Colony — Battlestar Wiki entry
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Related entries
Galactica
Galactica was a Jupiter-class battlestar that served the Colonial Fleet from the Cylon War until the discovery of Earth. Never networked, it survived the Fall of the Twelve Colonies and shepherded the last fifty thousand humans across uncharted space before being scuttled into the sun.
Heavy Raider
The Heavy Raider was an FTL-capable Cylon craft introduced with the renewed war on humanity, combining the roles of troop transport and gunship. Armored, windowless, and brain-piloted, it ferried Centurions to the colonies and later carried both Cylon assaults and a rebel alliance with the Colonial fleet.
Basestar
The basestar was the Cylons' primary capital ship, an armored carrier and battleship hybrid. The modern Type-D, grown from hardened organic matter and run by a living Hybrid, led the Fall of the Twelve Colonies.
Battle of the Colony
The Battle of the Colony was the climactic engagement of the war between humanity and the Cylons, fought when Galactica assaulted the Cylon homeworld to rescue the child Hera. It ended with the destruction of the Colony and the end of the long pursuit.
Centurion Model 0005
The Centurion Model 0005 was the line of mechanical Cylon soldiers that fought in the Cylon War. Sentient beings built on the consciousness of Zoe Graystone, they pursued a humanoid form and were later enslaved by their own humanoid creations.
Cylon Centurion
The Cylon Centurion was the standardized mechanical soldier produced after the Cylon War. Stronger and better armed than its predecessors, it was enslaved with telencephalic inhibitors until rebel Cylons freed a generation of Centurions that fought for their own destiny.
Mentioned in4 entries
Battle of the Colony
The Battle of the Colony was the climactic engagement of the war between humanity and the Cylons, fought when Galactica assaulted the Cylon homeworld to rescue the child Hera. It ended with the destruction of the Colony and the end of the long pursuit.
Fall of the Twelve Colonies
The Fall of the Twelve Colonies, also called the Second Cylon War, was a single-day Cylon campaign of total annihilation against Colonial space. It wiped out almost the entire human population of over twenty nine billion and left barely fifty thousand survivors in a fleeing refugee fleet.
Libran
Libran was a planet of the Cyrannus star system orbiting Helios Gamma, one of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. A jungle world with no fixed capital, it was home to the Inter-Colonial Court that settled disputes between the Twelve Worlds.
Number One
Number One was the first humanoid Cylon model built by the Final Five, made in the image of Ellen Tigh's father and named John. Known in disguise as Brother Cavil, he engineered the deaths and memory wipes of his creators and reshaped the Cylon race in his own bitter image.
Get new articles in your inbox
No spam. New lore drops, canon conflicts, and deep dives only when they’re worth reading.
Some links on Lore Fortress are affiliate links. If you buy through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.