Lore

On midnight of January 1st, 2000, The third planet from the sun’s New Years’ Eve fireworks were interrupted by a violent rain, under skies with no clouds.

Thousands of aircraft appeared in the clouds that night, and hurtled towards the world with terrifying speed. The flying objects caused untold damage across the planet, crashing into buildings, roads, people, and anything else that happened to be underneath once the ships made their grand, devastating, and accidental entrance into Earth. Humans were completely blindsided by the invasion, but no one was less prepared for it than the Martians who came crawling out of their mangled, steel coffins during the aftermath.

Years before this invasion, there was worry on Earth about a possible bug in the planet's computer infrastructure. It was said that the bug could cause anything from widespread technical hiccups, to complete blackouts in urban areas. Caused by the planet’s dating system, the bug was set to take effect at the start of the new millennia, on January 1st, 2000. The threat here was serious, and despite the predictions that Earth’s brightest technicians had made to help prepare for it, there was much more to the Y2K bug than anyone realized.

For thousands of years, the underground people of Mars had been spying on Earth, copying every advancement that humans had made. Cultures were emulated, languages were absorbed, and a mirror was held up to history. Most important of all though, Martians reproduced human technology so precisely that even the smallest of technical bugs could be kept intact, with ramifications that were unknown until the first night of the year 2000.

After the invasion, both planets were sent into chaos. On Earth, world leaders were completely unprepared for war in space, dazed Martians were fighting terrified, confused humans, and the rest of the world was bracing for extinction from inside their bunkers. But back on the red planet, Mars’ four Clan Houses were scrambling to remedy the situation. House leaders and politicians were at each other’s throats, debating the best course of action to take. It was unknown to them what had caused this complete failure of their technology, but once the dust settled, a rescue plan was well on it’s way to fruition.

Isolated light signals from Earth reported back to the red planet that every stranded Martian ship had lost all power, including any access to emergency reserves. These ships, known as Observers, were Egg-shaped surveillance vessels known on Mars (and now Earth) for their ability to move quickly and siphon power from nearby sources, rendered completely useless by the Y2K bug.

Quickly it became apparent to the Clan Houses that the stranded Observer fleet could not return to Mars on its own, and their only still functioning Martian mothership would have to be sent to Earth for retrieval. Leaders in Mars’ House Tegol argued that sending a ship of that size would further alarm Earth’s governments, get more Martians killed out of fear, and further damage future relations with Earth that would now be necessary to build. After considering this, it was agreed that the mothership could be cloaked on the journey there, and moved between remote locations to keep knowledge of the mothership’s existence on Earth to a minimum.

The problem with this plan was that the Mothership only had enough power for a one way trip between the worlds. It would need to be stationed near a power source in order to recharge enough power to cloak the ship and fly it. For their efficiency and easy ship access, nuclear power plants were almost always the best option for quickly recharging Martian aircraft on Earth, and so work began to scout out the nearest one facing Mars. Among Mars’ brightest planetologists, it was decided that the Sequoyah Nuclear power plant in the United States’ deep south was the best, closest hope.

In the troubled skies over the once quiet town of Silo, Tennessee, a great mothership suddenly appeared in the atmosphere and loomed over thousands of horrified countrymen. After idling for a minute that seemed like a lifetime, the unnatural sound of the ship’s engines boomed through the valley as the vessel began inching toward the town’s nuclear power facility. Once the massive, disc shaped craft was in position over the plant, a swirling beam of blue light blasted down from it’s underside into the top of the plant’s cooling tower. The townsfolk of Silo stood with bated breath, waiting for the power source that the town had grown from to bloom into a fire that would destroy it. Tense seconds turned to restless minutes, and the blue beam whipping and churning in the tower slowly stabilized. The Martian plan to quickly charge the craft was a success. Silo then fell into an uneasy silence, as the stranded Martian Observer pilots in the area slowly made their way to the recharged Martian mothership that, unknown to everyone, would never fly again.

Inside the mothership, Captain Obidar had ordered his men to send out light signals to attract stranded Martians for rescue. Things were going as planned for the Martians on Earth, until the refugee-filled mothership sputtered and stopped, dissolving its beam of light and going dark. The ship’s batteries, while charged, had been completely fried by the low quality of the Tennessee nuclear power, stranding the hulking alien behemoth in a town of churches and farms. The ship’s crew now had to explain the situation to their livid captain, who would need to address the panicked, violent townsfolk now gathering outside the plant.

Later that evening, exhausted of escape options and instructed only by faint light signals from Mars, Captain Obidar decided to introduce himself to the town, and later the world, as President Obidar, of Clan House Obidar. This would be the start of diplomacy between Mars and Earth, as through Obidar’s negotiations, a ceasefire treaty was signed, and a personally addressed apology was broadcast on behalf of Mars through human radio and TV. Once the fighting had finally stopped, and Martian technology was brought back online, interplanetary trade began. Martians were allowed safe refuge on Earth, Clan House opinions became relevant in Earth’s politics, and Mars was allowed to construct a capital city on Earth in a place of their choosing. In an effort to keep up the illusion that everything had gone as planned, President Obidar chose Silo as the Martian capital city, seeing as the mothership could not be moved from the location anyway.

Once Silo had become Mars’ earthly crown jewel, it was renamed Daria Minor, and immediate construction began on Martian housing and city design. During this renovation, the town’s human residents were left in the cold, estranged inside their hometown while it was remade into something they could never understand. Years passed, and Silo had become a frankenstein of a city, scarring the landscape of the valley with alien skyscrapers encroaching on the old town. It became a battleground where companies that no man could pronounce danced with flying saucers that no man could afford, warring for domination of the ruined skyline.

The stubborn rednecks who stayed in what was once Silo came to live under the cold, red rule of the Martian elite. They slept in their disrepaired homes, where they sat on their porches every morning, and watched the sun they now shared roll behind the hull of the mothership.