Memory backstory & timeline

Terminology.
'47 riots: Widespread protests and violence after the Presidential election was proved rigged. The president was killed, and greater protections were set for future. The greatest violence and disturbance the colony has faced.
Cardinal, the: Leader of the Church. Acts in the position of the Pope in his absence, but does not assume his title.
Church, the: An offshoot of the Roman Catholic Church. Holds a fairly constant forty percent of the colony as its followers.
City: The central city of the colony, built by and from the colony ship that landed there. Contains the high technology of the colony, unreplicatable without manufacturing capabilities they do not possess. Built up over the years; the original centre is termed the Core.
Eidetic: Those who possess the capability to pass their memories to their children. Term preferred by the Eidetics themselves; their opponents prefer to term them reborns. (Grammar here being subordinate to insult.)
Josephs: Descendants of Joseph the Eldest, possessing his memories. Most common terminology for 'lines' of reborns (see also Heathers, Marlows, etc.), though it may change as the reborns become the majority and the lines mix.
President: Elected leader of the colony. Shares power with the legislature (monocameral). Rumors of corruption are rife, but change seems unlikely in the near future.
Reborn: See Eidetic.
Stormfarms: High-altitudes megakites/wind turbines, used to generate power in outlying regions and to supplement the aging fusion reactors in City. Major factor in the technological development of the colony.
University: First institute of high education in the colony, founded within a few years of landfall. Highly prestigious.

Timeline.
0 After Founding: Colony founded, population ~6000.
1 AF: Joseph the Eldest born.
2 AF: Casey born.
9 AF: Casey and Joseph first meet.
25 AF: Joseph diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
26 AF: Joseph meets Annabel.
29 AF: Joseph gains his PhD in xenobiology.
30 AF: Joseph marries Annabel.
31 AF: Events of Part One.
32 AF: Joseph II born, Casey ordained as a priest in the Church.
35 AF: Events of Part Two.
44 AF: Annabel evicts Joseph II.
53 AF: Joseph II marries Elspeth; Patrick born; events of Part Three; the Cardinal issues a bull against the so-called reborn/Eidetic.
55 AF: Sarah born; six volunteers for the University have the Memory genes written into them, becoming a new wave of Eidetics.
56 AF: Stephen born.
65 AF: Casey promoted to the post of Western Bishop.
71 AF: New laws pass, discriminating against the reborn financially. Few protest.
79 AF: Elspeth dies in a fire that burns down her house. Arson is suspected, but the perpetrators are never found. Joseph II dies months later of disease. They are buried together.
86 AF: Eidetic population reaches one-thousand.
88 AF: Casey becomes Cardinal of the Colony.
96 AF: Events of Part Four. (Tina is Sarah's daughter; Kevin and Thomas are Patrick's children, and Eric is Stephen's eldest son.)

Backstory.
This is, oddly, a mixture of two different books in my mind. In one section of school reading, in a book called Beloved, there is a discussion of memory: "Memories never leave", one character claims, saying that they remain everywhere, lurking in ambush. (It's a strange book.) In the other, a species of aliens possess mutable DNA, which they mix through mating (in addition to reproduction), like bacteria.

A lot of the repercussions of Joseph's decision came later, as I explored possibilities, but the core of the story (and the four-part structure) was all there from the beginning.

And, yes, he is Joseph Smith. Originally, he was going to be Joseph Young, and Casey was to be named Brigham Smith. Then I did some digging, and found out that there already was a Joseph Young - Brigham Young's brother! So, feh. It made more sense in my original conception of Joseph's character - he was to be a crotchety, half-crazy old scientist who created something far better than he was. (Better as a technology than he was as a person, that is.) Then I actually wrote someone likeable.

Looking back at that last sentence, I realize that it actually doesn't make any sense at all.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed Memory. If you want more stories set in that colony, just let me do and I'll do my best to whip something up. When I finished Part Four, I was certain that I was done with the colony, but now I'm not so sure. Depends on reader feedback.

EDIT: Oh, yeah! I have some other stuff queued up, stuff I'm pretty excited about, so if I manage to write them December should start off with a bang. Stay tuned!