Royal Order of Tharsis

Flag of the Royal Order of Tharsis

The **Royal Order of Tharsis** is a Martian faction. It is the sole superpower among the few nations established on the Red Planet, enforcing its influence throughout its homeworld with a capable army and a large space navy. Tharsis is regarded as Mars’ main representative in the Interplanetary Stage as it was not only the first nation there to be granted independence from Earth, but also because of its sheer dominance over Martian affairs. The Royal Order aims to unite the rest of Mars under a single banner, putting a definitive end to Terran colonialism and establishing the planet as its own self sufficient, independent entity, a goal many of Earth’s powers, including the few that succeeded in founding colonies on Martian soil view as a threat to stability between the two worlds and a hindrance in the path to fully integrating that planet into Humanity as a whole. Tharsis is considered one of Earth Reborn’s Antagonistic factions along with the Austrian Stae, the Roman Megacorp, the Michigan State Militia, and Noachis.

Tharsis is the largest nation on Mars by land area. The Order’s territories encompass several regions of the Martian surface: Tharsis Montes, Olympus Mons, Alba Mons, Tempe Terra, Lunae Planum, Xanthe Terra, Syria Planum, Sinai Planum, Solis Planum, Daedalia Planum, Valles Marineris, Amazonis Planitia, Bosporos Planum, Ophir Planum, and Aurorae Planum. It is bordered to the North by the Northern Lowlands, to the West by the Phlegra Montes and Elysium Planitia, to the South by Aonia Terra and Terra Sirenum, to the East by Chryse Planitia and Ares Vallis, and to the Southeast by Argyre Planitia and Thaumasia Planum. The only nation Tharsis shares a physical border with is the Noachian Machine Theocracy.

## History

### Establishment

Tharsis was initially established on Mars as a colonial settlement by a joint effort between NATO member-states, most notably the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, at the beginning of the second half of the 21st Century in the year 2051. NATO’s colonization initiative eventually developed the technology necessary to revive the planet, allowing Martian colonists to pioneer a Terraformation program which would succeed in the decades following, resulting in he creation of arable and fertile soil, a magnetosphere, a self-sustaining breathable atmosphere, and an entire ocean on Mars. Such feats caused the colonization initiative to rapidly progress and achieve many of its core goals, among them being the establishment of permanent Martian population in excess of 100,000. Life had been breathed into a dead world, marking the golden years of human space exploration.

### Independence

Many years following the triumphant success of the NATO Mars Colonization Initiative, off-world colonists had began to develop a nationalist sentiment for Mars, and especially the region where most of NATO’s colonies were established, the Tharsis Volcanic Province. As time progressed, this sentiment grew stronger, and Martian thinkers began to conceptualize the vision of an independent Martian state ran under a monarchist regime. With the distance between Mars and Earth growing larger as efforts to support Terran colonies on the planet were relocated to colonize Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, and the Martian population formed Assemblies to discuss plans for an eventual secession from Humanity’s home, NATO approached the colonists of the Red Planet in a diplomatic summit offering them a series of accords which would grant them enough Autonomy to elect their own governor and gain limited sovereignty over areas under colonial influence, a proposal which was obviously accepted by the colonists. As the years passed, however, the Martians demanded higher degrees of autonomy from Earth, requesting additional meetings with the NATO Space Administration Command, many of which would never take place. Though in the few that were successfully arranged, Mars achieved significant progress on laying the groundwork to becoming independent.

On March 1st, 2150, NATO and Mars entered talks for the final time regarding the colony’s automomy, and following a lengthy diplomatic session, the Royal Order of Tharsis was granted independence from Earth through the Duisburg Pact and Mars’ new, own constitution, the Olympian Letter, in what became a historical moment for Humanity at large. The Olympian Letter established Tharsis as a monarchy led by an Emperor or Empress, and gave the newly formed nation full sovereignty over all colonial territories previously under NATO administration.

### Expansion and Growth

A now independent Mars, under the banner of the Royal Order of Tharsis, continued the advances made by its founders in Terraforming the red planet’s harsh environment, helping to improve air quality and increase the oceans’ water volume. Tharsis also began investing heavily on automation technology in order to compensate for its limited available worforce, a decision pivotal to the development of the nation’s modern militaristic system, as many of the automated factories built by this initiative would go on to help Tharsis build a technologically advanced army and navy to retaliate against whatever threats could arise against Mars in the future. At the same time, the momentum of the colonial expansion led by NATO propelled the Order to explore and claim more Martian lands, remarkably at Amazonis Planitia. With Mars pursuing so many objectives, its population also grew in size, breaking the 10,000,000 milestone in 2173, and 15,000,000 in 2212. The future of the Martian people seemed bright as they aspired to achieve the same triumph conquered by their pioneering fathers.

### Earth’s Return

By 2240, Earth’s ecosystems had been critically damaged after years of rampant pollution and urban growth everywhere on the planet, and, combined with the many issues brought about by overpopulation, millions of Terrans saw themselves forced to live under conditions akin to those described in works of Cyberpunk fiction. Resource scarcity across the planet caused widespread famine and water crises throughout entire countries, and geographic studies confirmed an unprecedented retreat of polar ice shelves. Humanity was threatened with extinction should nothing be done to preserve the species’ future, and many countries hoped that gambling on space exploration again could secure a bright future for the human race. But with Superluminal (Faster-Than-Light) propulsion technology still taking its first steps and few candidates for permanent settlement within the Solar System, the Terrans saw returning to Mars was perhaps the only choice available to them, as even Titan was not yet suitable for colonization despite the efforts pushed to terraform the moon. However, while Earth eyed the red planet with colonial interests, the Royal Order of Tharsis remained adamant on defending an independent and self-sufficient united Mars, free from foreign interference, policies that would thrust the two worlds into hostilities when in 2241, the Xiphos Conglomerate established an outpost on Hellas Basin, a Martian region harboring one of the planet’s largest underground ice shelf pockets. Water was a precious and scarce resource for Martians and Terrans alike, and so Tharsis attempted to bring the Basin back into its area of influence with little success, instead creating more tensions. By 2242, the Order had abandoned that goal and focused its might elsewhere, encouraging more Terran powers to establish their own colonies in the future.

### Mars, The Bringer of War

After the successes demonstrated by the Xiphos Conglomerate in what came to be called the “Recolonization”, Terran powers drew plans to succeed in reclaiming Mankind’s footholds on Mars, though only a handful possessed the capability to bring those plans into fruition, among them, the Northwestern European Federation. In early 2245, already within the events of Earth Reborn, the NWEF publicly announced its Martian colonization program, with preparations for a manned mission well underway. However, it would take three consecutive attempts to send a mission to the red planet before any success was achieved on setting foot on Martian Soil after the first two missions catastrophically failed mid-orbital transfer and during launch. Yet the third mission would not go entirely as planned; on February 25th, upon approaching Mars, the NWEF spacecraft experienced a minor systems failure in its navigational computer, a glitch which altered many of the mission’s course parameters and would result in the computers severely miscalculating the thrust inputs intended to help guide the spacecraft on its final descent and land it on the site selected for settlement. This failure would go unnoticed by the mission’s crew until it was far too late. The craft touched down on Arabia Planitia near the borders of the Royal Order of Tharsis many hundreds of miles off its intended landing spot at Gill Crater. The region was affected by an intense dust storm at the time of landing, and thus even when NWEF colonists exited their landers, they were unable to tell where they actually were, prompting reconnaissance parties to be deployed around the site’s immediate vicinity. One such party, sent westwards towards Tharsis, inadvertently trespassed the Order’s borders, its members not realizing so until spotting the bright red light of a Tharsian watchtower in the distance through the clouds of dust and powder. Meanwhile, the Tharsians, who had kept track of the NWEF ship’s trajectory since its approach to Mars, realizing it would land very near or at their borders, mobilized troops to the predicted landing site of the spacecraft, who were tasked with expelling the foreigners from rightful Martian lands. By the time the party were aware of their location, these troops were already closing in on the colony, and were spotted shortly after the watchtower was, prompting the team to retreat back to the colony. The Tharsian forces chased them through the raging dust storm, pulling back as the weather grew fiercer to cover their advance towards the NWEF settlement from another direction while the recon team maintained course, making an arduous journey towards safety. Due to heavy interference generated by the storm, they were unable to contact the rest of the colonists and tell them of their findings, further aggravating the situation.

At sunset, the recon team managed to find their way back to the colony, but by that time it was too late. Unbeknownst to the colonists, Tharsian forces had already reached them, and were in hiding around the edge of the crater they’d built their settlement in. A few hours would pass before the Martians made their presence known, coming out of hiding and demanding that the NWEF should leave the region or be forced to leave three times, though in none of them were the demands met, prompting the Tharsians to open fire on the colony. destroying it completely and killing all personnel running it. The destruction of their first colony on the red planet then prompted the NWEF to take drastic measures against the Royal Order of Tharsis by establishing a second colony one week later, this time located in Gill Crater, a crater in Arabia Terra, much farther from Tharsian territory than before. It was also larger and had a proper self defense garrison comprised of warden battalions and brigades, but most importantly, it featured three Keystone Artillery Platforms originally intended for the NWEF’s coastal defense grid on Earth but were instead shipped to Mars for installation in the new colony. The NWEF hoped to force Tharsis into submission by shelling Martian cities from afar using the devastating firepower of the Keystones, thus allowing them to continue their colonization efforts unimpeded. The second colony was completed in a matter of days, and the platforms were rendered operational not long after. With the Keystones online, the NWEF decided to test them on a Martian watchtower using napalm shells before launching strikes against cities. Their testings were successful, leaving the watchtower all but a burning wreckage, giving them the green light to attack and destroy the nearest Tharsian city using all three artillery guns shortly after. In what came to be known as the “Opportunity Incident”, the city of Opportunity was annihilated after being shelled from Gill Crater with heavy napalm ordance fired from the Keystones, resulting in the horrific deaths of all 6 thousand of its inhabitants in the scorching inferno that consumed the city. Following the incident, the NWEF threatened to destroy another city in 24 hours should the Tharsians not back down from their “Anti-Imperialist” campaign, escalating tensions between the two powers.

After 12 hours passed, however, an intense dust storm formed in Arabia Terra, and was predicted to make landfall at the NWEF’s base, forcing the Keystones to be shut down for the duration of the storm to prevent damage. This gave the Royal Order a window of opportunity to invade Gill Crater and neutralize the threat it posed, and so two entire divisions adding up to a total of 20,000 men were mobilized to attack. Taking advantage of the storm to make their way towards the base undetected, as even satellite imaging couldn’t map the surface through the whirls of dust clouds blanketing Mars, the Tharsians ambushed the crater in a surprise attack during the middle of the night. The first offensive, though unsuccessful, weakened the NWEF garrison enough to allow a second offensive to succeed, letting Tharsian forces break through the enemy defenses set up on the crater’s edge and mount a siege against the colony that would last through the entire night, ending with the destruction of the Keystones and the evacuation of any remaining NWEF personnel to Earth. This event marks a major victory for Mars in the beginning of a new conflict between the it and the rest of humanity.

## Military

### **Royal Tharsian Army [RTA]**

The Royal Tharsian Army is the largest military force assembled on Martian soil, counting with a total contingent of 678,000. Tharsis employs a predominantly automated ground army given the size of its population, with only 150,000 men accounting for the combined strength of the RTA. The backbone of its infantry force are the Androids, sophisticated humanoid robots designed for modern warfare. They are capable of performing skills with the same or sometimes greater proficiency (depending on the variant and function) as regular organic personnel, and of communicating through their own neural network. This makes them not only superior at coordinating complex military operations, but also better at analyzing the battlefield and planning adequate responses to enemy actions.

The RTA’s Infantry force is supported by vast and powerful Mechanized Divisions. Tharsis’ most prominent and recognizable armored units are the Armored Rovers. Equivalent to Terran Tanks, these are heavy combat vehicles designed specifically for the harsh Martian environment, fitted with advanced technology developed from the exploratory rovers initially sent by NASA to Mars in the early years of space exploration. Armored Rovers can vary vastly from each other depending on their mission profile and function one is designed to fulfill in combat. They are often powered by Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators, granting them the autonomy required to traverse the vast crimson plains that stretch over the Martian surface, and are usually armed with 60mm-120mm cannons, though larger “Siege” variants are fitted with Carbon Diode Lasers. The Armored Rover fills a variety of roles, ranging from troop transport to armored warfare against enemy units, making them versatile and ideal for the RTA.

### Royal Tharsian Navy [RTN]

The Royal Tharsian Navy is perhaps among the most powerful in the Interplanetary Stage. Unveiled during the escalation of tensions between Tharsis and the NWEF, it currently fields 122 vessels, including the largest warship ever constructed in the entire Solar System, the 927-meter long SWSC-01 Olympus Mons. The RTN is supported by several underground facilities on Mars, such as shipyards, supply stations, offices and research complexes. However, there are plans to build a space elevator from the red planet to connect with a future Orbital Shipyard, so as to turn fleet operations more efficient.

## Foreign Relations

The Royal Order of Tharsis is the official entity representing Mars in the Interplanetary Stage. Despite this, it has never maintained strong foreign relations with any factions outside of Mars, especially following the collapse of the United States and the United Kingdom before the events of Earth Reborn. The Tharsian Government fields two majpr organs dedicated to diplomatic efforts: the National Diplomatic Committee and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As of now [2247], Tharsis has shut down all of its embassies on Earth, with the exception of its offices in Duisburg, Germany, where Mars’ Terran Affairs Department (a division of the National Diplomatic Committee) is headquartered. In addition, Tharsis and Earth are at a state of escalating hostilities, most notably following the destruction of a Tharsian major city and two NWEF colonies in the ongoing conflict sparked between the two nations. Contributing to this is the Order’s anti-colonialist agenda, which emphasizes the Martian people’s duty to repel foreign interests from the red planet and frustrate any Terran attempts to recolonize it.

The only faction the Royal Order has developed strong ties to is the Noachian Machine Theocracy, the second and last Martian nation to have declared independence from Earth before the events of Earth Reborn.