Venus

Venus is the second planet in the Sol system from the Sun, home to the Venusian race and its various historical governments. Venus's atmosphere is toxic to many other races, but the gasses that make up this atmosphere are highly valuable for their purpose as energy sources. Historically, Venus has been Mars's main rival in the Solar System, leading to multiple conflicts both major and minor between the two over the course of multiple centuries.

## History

Venus is an extremely old planet compared to the others in the Solar System, and its origins are not known.

### Early Civilization

The earliest Venusian civilization is the Free Cities of Ishtar, dating back to as far as 602 B.C., which was formed by a union of multiple city-states that funded a mercenary force for mutual defense. It's generally believed that the extreme prosperity of the Ishtar civilization instilled a strong mercantilist tradition in the Venusian people, which extended to long after its collapse in 493 B.C..

### Federation of Venus

Post-Ishtar civilization on Venus was highly chaotic for over two centuries, with the prosperity and unity of the Free Cities swept away by multiple global conflicts between warring tribe-states. City-states, whose mercenary armies were either annihilated or succumbed to barbarism, were forced to live as vassals for various warlords. At some point around 240 B.C., the cities and regions of Aphrodite in the south, which had barely managed to independently resist warlord invasions, began to strengthen their alliances with each other.

On 233 B.C., the Aphrodite Alliance formed the Federation of Venus, uniting into a single nation that could stand strong against raiders and warlords. Over the course of a half-century, the Federation fought back countless attacks from the North, eventually liberating the land of Ishtar once more. On 187 B.C., the Federation had united the entirety of Venus, bringing an era of world peace to the planet. Once more, great works of culture and science began to breathe new life into the planet and its people, and the Venusian people began to master space travel at an astonishing pace.

The Federation of Venus made contact with the Kingdom of Mars in 131 B.C., hoping to form a trade pact with the constitutional monarchy. Relations were initially friendly, but once Prime Minister Aventus Nero visited the world of Venus during a diplomatic trip, it became apparent just how rich Venus was in Vespene gas, which could be used to bring Mars out of a slow but steady economic decline. Aventus, a supporter of imperialist policies, attempted to use the Martian Royal Navy to intimidate Venus into becoming its vassal, which the Federation rejected vehemently. This soured relations considerably, and the two nations would remain rivals for several decades.

### Martian-Venusian War

By 92 B.C., the Federation of Venus had managed to continue the slow rise of their Vepene-based economy, while the Kingdom of Mars suffered from both a major energy crisis and a bankrupt economy. The Venusian Senate debated constructing a trade agreement that would allow Venus to assert economic dominance over Mars, while also allowing Mars to reap enough from trade to remain content with Venus. However, the exact details of the agreement would remain contested in Senate and never be offered to Mars.

On 91 B.C., an asteroid from the asteroid belt was hurdled at Mars, devastating the city of Neo-Olympus. Venusian spacecraft were seen in the area the asteroid came from, and Prime Minister Kratius Cerelius used his emergency powers to declare a defensive war against Venus. The Venusian Senate disavowed the attack, claiming no responsibility or knowledge of it. The accusation resulted in the Mars-Venus trade agreement being near-unanimously being struck down by the Senate.

The Venusian military was both young and less numerous than that of Mars, but highly outclassed it technologically. Thus, Venus chose to fight a defensive war and wear down Mars's fleet over time before ultimately launching a massive counter-strike. Unfortunately, the Martian economy entered a total war mode, with all resources being forcibly redirected to the Martian war effort. Venusian fleets won nearly every major engagement with high kill ratios against those of Mars, but nonetheless Mars continued to outnumber them.

The Martian-Venusian War entered a state of stalemate for years, often going months without an engagement. The Senate became complacent, and often ignored requests from the military for increased funding. This left the Venusian fleet understaffed, and often spread too thin for comfort. On 82 B.C., the Martian Navy suddenly launched a massive attack on the Venusian defensive line. Though caught off guard, the Venusian defenders managed a victory, losing 17 ships while the Martians lost 103. This prompted the Senate to finally draft an emergency funding bill for the military, but by this time a second Martian offensive resulted in the Venusian fleet being overwhelmed; the Grand Admiral of the Fleet was killed and most ships were destroyed or retreated blindly.

At this time, the Senate and the Chancellor of Venus met to discuss in Ishtathens, but this was interrupted when the Martian fleet began indiscriminately firebombing the city along with many other cities on Venus. Within minutes, the leadership of the Federation was dead along with millions of civilians. Without any leadership, surrender was impossible and the Martian fleet continued indiscriminate bombardment. It seemed Venus was fated to be destroyed, until the main bulk of the Martian fleet bombed Venus's largest gas facility, resulting in a chain reaction that set the local area aflame, destroying the mining facility as well as the Martian fleet.

After this catastrophic event, Martian ships did not again approach Venus, effectively ending the war. Shortly afterwards, Venusian radicals of unknown origin used a Vespene bomb on Mars, resulting in the planet being devastated.

### Era of Chaos

After the war, the Federation of Venus began to dissolve almost immediately. Ishtathens was destroyed, including the leadership of the country, and many Vespene harvesting facilities were destroyed. Economically and politically, Venus was in near-ruin, but nonetheless the major remaining cities attempted to form a provisional government, using what remained of the Venusian military to restore order. Unfortunately, the military did not have adequate numbers or supplies to maintain peace, and many regions fell into chaos.

For centuries, Venus remained divided and stagnating, with the Federation Remnants losing control of their territory slowly over time, until they ultimately remained confined to the city of Babylonia-Avera. Eventually, cities and regions began to become isolationist and hoard their resources, maintaining order within their borders but allowing chaos to spread elsewhere.

### The Venusian Confederacy

By 1679 A.D., Venus had mostly recovered environmentally from the devastation of the war with Mars, but still did not stand united. At this time, however, a new political order began to creep into the governments of Venus's independent regions. The Vespene Mining Guild, which held the majority of Venus's Vespene harvesting facilities, began to slowly take over major cities of Venus economically. Within a half century, most of Venus's major cities and regions were puppets of the VMG. Only Babylonia-Avera, still considered Federation territory, managed to resist take over until 1742.

By 1790, the VMG had largely transitioned into the government of Venus, and established the new Venusian Confederacy as the global government. Similarly to the Federation, the Confederacy was democratic in nature and allowed regions to self-govern to an extent, but in secret the government was almost entirely on the payroll of the VMG. This led to a divide between the political elite and the majority population, which became wider over time, and ultimately led to the establishment of the Black Hand in 1844.

The Black Hand, which was not known about to the public, held responsibility to maintaining order in the Confederacy at any cost, often including the use of assassination, blackmail, and false flag attacks. The Black Hand's influence eventually even spread to the elite of the VMG, who were occasionally blackmailed by Black Hand leaders in exchange for exorbitant sums of money. Chitzok, a mercenary from Titan, was among the deadliest of the Black Hand, but he chose to depart in 1982.

The Venusian Confederacy maintained nominal support among the Venusian people for a great deal of time, but eventually the Confederacy's leaders became to enamored with their own power. The Confederate Constitution, which originally allowed for a great deal of individual freedom, was slowly eroded over time to make way for greater governmental power. Venusians slowly lost important rights to privacy, regions lost more and more power to the Confederal government, and the Black Hand was deployed more and more, to the point that the public began to realize its existence. This led to mass discontent in several cities, as many Venusians stopped tolerating the Confederacy's civil rights abuses.

### Venusian Civil War

In 1993, the city of Babylonia-Avera rose up in riot against Confederate authorities after Governor Relven Montevoux was arrested on accusation of harboring criminals. Montevoux was extremely popular among the populace of the city for his commitment to upholding individual freedoms, and most saw his arrest as purely political. When the local garrison was ordered to contain the riot, the soldiers mutinied and detained the commander, joining the rebellion. Two hours later, a mob attacked the Confederate military base in the city, freeing Montevoux after a bloody battle. Immediately, the governor publicly announced the region's secession from the Confederacy, citing the numerous violations of the Confederate Constitution.

Though the Confederacy attempted to censor the broadcast, it managed to slip through and inflamed tensions across the planet. The regions bordering Babylonia-Avera rose up and joined the rebellion, while other riots of varying strength sprung up across the planet. Meanwhile in the Confederate capital of Persiania, the loyalist military instituted martial law, using extreme means to prevent any kind of uprising. Chancellor Ademon Geralt, panicked, ordered the Black Hand to contain the rebellion with any means.

Two weeks later, a team of Black Hand assassins attacked Montevoux and his escort in Babylonia-Avera, but were caught before being able to strike. This resulted in a firefight that led to the deaths of Montevoux, most of his escort, and all but a single assassin. This inflamed the populace of Venus, who were spurred on even more by the rebel military publicly executing the surviving assassin. This intimidated members of the Black Hand, who pressured the Confederate government for extreme payments to continue operating.

By 1995, defectors from the Confederate government exposed multiple Black Hand agents, leading to them being attacked by rebel mobs and arrested or killed. Following this, the remaining members of the Black Hand left Venus to pursue mercenary work, leaving the Confederacy's leaders to fend for themselves. By this period, much of the Venusian military had turned to the rebellion, which had established a provisional Republic of Venus in Babylonia-Avera and multiple other provinces.

Despite rising numbers of supporters, the rebellion still faced multiple challenges, and the VMG invested ludicrously in mercenary assistance. Much of the planet was in stalemate, but the tide was slowly turning towards Republican victory. In 1998, a group of Republican special forces launched an assault on the VMG orbital headquarters, capturing over a dozen high-level executives and forcing them to reveal their political corruption under threat of execution. The details prompted many loyalists to fully turn rebel, leaving only central cities under the control of the Confederacy.

In late 1998, the Republic's forces attacked Persiania with multiple armies and air units, doing battle against the bulk of the loyalists' remaining forces. The battle was long, taking three weeks before the city was under Republican control and Chancelllor Geralt was arrested. Confederate Remnants continued to fight guerilla warfare throughout the Venusian countryside, but the Confederacy itself was destroyed, giving way for the Republic of Venus.

### Republic of Venus

Shortly after the Battle of Persiania, Prime Minister Sirellan Cioux ordered the arrest of multiple Confederate officials, mainly Geralt's inner circle, as well as the VMG executives responsible for funding the Black Hand. After this, their trials were handled by the Venusian High Court. Most were sentenced to life, with some officials getting lightened sentences in exchange for information on the Black Hand. Ultimately, the Confederacy was officially dissolved by the Republic's actions, leading the new leadership with the responsibility of maintaining order.

In 2000, Prime Minister Cioux began to strengthen economic ties to Earth, notably selling Venusian technology to the world's budding space programs. This aided the young planet in the construction of their own space elevator, and eventually the creation of their own star navy. Cioux attempted to establish trade with Mars in hopes of putting the two rivals' pasts behind them, but Emperor Bog refused all offers. Later, the Senate of Venus condemned Mars's invasion of Earth, strengthening the two worlds' relationship even more.

For most of Cioux's term, he prioritized anti-criminal measures, earning a high approval rating among commoners in Venus. Cioux founded the Oracle Guild, an intelligence agency that countered Mars's S.I.X. as well as took on the responsibility of hunting down the remaining members of the Black Hand. Additionally, Sioux's administration made many major arrests of Jupitriad drug traffickers, frustrating Rob greatly.

In 2017, Prime Minister Edimonth Parel met with the United Nations to found the Solar Alliance, a defense pact between Earth and Venus meant to deter Martian aggression. This caused Mars to build up its military in response, refusing to be intimidated, which in turn led to Venus lending more and more military technology to Earth.