Martian Confederacy

> "*From this moment forth, to my final stand; I defend my people and my world! For liberty, justice and the Constitution! Ave Mars!*"
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> — Military Oath of Allegiance to the Martian Confederacy

## Social Information

### Language

79% English
12% Chinese
5% Hindi
2% Lunar Creole
1% Other

### Religion

63.4% Christian
31.1% Irreligious
2.3% Islamic
4.2% Other

### Ethnic groups

62.1% White
12.8% East Asian
8.5% Black
7.6% South Asian
6.9% Mixed
2.1% West Asian
0.9 Other

## Economic Information

### Currency

Martian Dollar ($)

The **Martian Confederacy**, officially the Confederated States of Mars, is a sovereign nation located on Sol IV (Commonly known as Mars). It is the most populated nation outside of Earth, with over 91 million citizens, placing it as the 6th largest nation in the Intersolar Assembly. Mars is a planet-spanning nation, meaning it has no direct neighbours by land, although it allows several embassies access to its territory, and maintains a select number of foreign-owned spaceports and shipyards

Mars was the second planetary body to be set foot on by humankind; the landing of *Ares I* taking place in 2031. Over the 2030s and 2040s, permanent settlements on the Red Planet were established, mainly by the United States of America. However, due to many of these settlements being owned and run by large corporate entities, living conditions remained extremely poor.

In the aftermath of the Third World War, growing wealth inequality between Earth & Mars lead to radicalism - many began to advocate for independence, although the US government heavily supressed those views, largely due to the outcome of such protests on Luna. However, in 2070, a bomb exploded on a rail line in Nova Olympia, killing 31, including governing officials. This incident began a 6 year nationalist conflict, known as the Martian Troubles. The conflict claimed the lives of over 2000 people, resulting in the US abandoning Mars. With the planet de-facto self-governing, conflict began against the remaining independent company cities in a relatively brief conflict known as the Martian Unification Wars. By 2080, Mars was functionally independent, and established a presidential democracy.

As such, Mars has a thriving local economy unlike any found elsewhere in the Sol system. Mars also has one of the largest mercenary economies in the system, with its lack of restrictions on civilians bearing arms or warships. Mars also has a strong export economy, mainly consisting of ores and rare earth metals, the largest exporter outside of Earth itself. It also exports a large number of biological and food resources, mainly to the barren and infertile areas of the outer system.

Mars finds itself in a unique geopolitical position; being one of the foremost powers beyond the Belt, even holding a permanent seat on the International Security Council in the Intersolar Assembly, but having little tangible influence in the inner system. It owns a notably small fleet; although it has many dozens of capital ships and hundreds of smaller vessels - all privately owned - to call upon when threatened.

## History

### Settlement

Martian history began in 2026, when the first manned missions landed on Mars; establishing temporary research outposts for limited periods, mainly funded by NASA and smaller private companies. Simultaneously, permanent infrastructure began to appear on and around the planet - communication relays, space stations and even a permanent scientific outposts on Phobos and Deimos - the first bodies outside of Earth's gravity to be colonized.

Permanent settlement on Mars did not take long to appear afterwards; with the first true Martian cities appearing in the late 2040s. Initial populations remained relatively low - only in the tens of thousands - although as time went on, many began to leave Earth, seeking a new life on the red planet. Many poor and impoverished citizens of the US took contracts, mainly promoted by companies seeking to exploit Martian resources, to migrate to Mars on a permanent basis to live and work. However, living conditions for many within these corporate cities remained critically poor; with widespread poverty, hunger and disease. Despite these drawbacks to Martian life, effective advertising successfully swelled the Martian population into the low millions.

Outside the American colonies which claimed sovereignty over much of the planets surface, smaller colonies founded by China and India also gained a respectable size and populace

### Pre-Troubles Period

The Third World War was relatively quiet on the Martian front, with few military installations in Earth colonies at this point. However, it did lead to increased demands for raw resources, leading to further resentment towards Earth. In the postwar period, focus on reconstructing Earth meant Martian infrastructure was not as closely inspected or maintained, which along with the heightened strain on the populace, inevitably led to disaster. On March 21st 2060, SpaceX owned Dyson Dome suffered complete decompression, killing an estimated 64,000. The disaster of Dyson Dome would prove to be a watershed moment for the independence campaign - disaster relief efforts organized by the nationalists shoved the movement into the limelight, and with the drafting of *The Martian Constitution* in 2061, polls indicated that the majority would support independence.

Protests against Earth occupation largely fell on deaf ears - Mars was seemingly written off as a failed, unprofitable project. This further drove up support for the independence movement. However, this anger towards Earth drove the previously peaceful protests towards violence, and full-blown riots ensued in many colonies. In 2064, protesters temporarily occupied the administration building, communication complex and transport hubs in New Leeds proclaiming the colony independent. Within 6 hours however, riot police rapidly reoccupied the colony, and over the next few months, the US tightened its grip on Mars, suppressing protest peaceful or otherwise. This further radicalized some nationalists, believing that Earth would simply abandon the colony to die

The pivotal moment would come on January 3rd 2070, when an IED detonated on the Nova Olympia Local Rail Line, killing 31 Earth government and corporate officials as well as 211 civilians. This sparked the Martian Troubles, a 6 year campaign of terrorism and guerrilla conflict

## Demographics

### Population

The population of Mars is among the fastest-growing in the Solar System, with a domestic growth rate of 18.44% per decade, while also attracting millions of immigrants from Earth, and to a lesser extent Luna. Its strong evangelical Christian culture, low taxation rate and cheap property promotes large family planning, with the typical Martian family having 5-7 children (although this is gradually decreasing as Mars urbanizes and exploits its available real estate)

### Urbanisation

Mars currently is host to roughly 1000 urban areas, with a rough population of 100,000 each. Due to the very compact nature of the dome cities, the vast majority of Mars' surface is still undeveloped. Due to Mars' rapid population growth, a new city is founded roughly every 6 months, and existing cities grow outwards to include more domes. Mars' largest city is Nova Olympia, with a population of 230,000. It is host to the largest dome on Mars - the Gaia Dome, with a diameter of 400m, with a large network of domes surrounding the main dome.

Mars also has one of the most developed intercity public transportation networks - one of the few areas maintained and directed by the government. Maglev bullet train lines connect more than half of Mars' cities, with further expansion planned soon. Surface-to-orbit transport is also subsidized and launch platforms are prominent across the planet, allowing Martian citizens to reach space cheaply.

### Language

Mars has no official language - although English is by far the most widely spoken language, and has been called the unofficial official language. It is the language of government, and administration. However, both Chinese and Hindi are both significant languages in parts of the planet roughly corresponding to former Chinese and Indian colonies. While English is a popular second language there, they nonetheless retain their separate identities, and local government generally operates in the local language

### Religion

Mars is a heavily Christian nation - with its initial colonists being strongly evangelical, and the hardship of Martian life proving to be fertile ground for missionary activity. By the time Mars achieved independence, the blending of different Christian traditions has created a unique creole Church, known as the First Martian Congressional Church, mixing traditions from mainline Lutheranism, Southern Baptism, Mormonism and Quakerism. As Martian life has improved, Christian participation has gradually decreased.

Additionally, other Christian denominations such as mainline Methodism, Orthodoxy and Catholicism have gained a small following in recent years. Non-Christian religions such as Islam, Budhism, Sikhism and the Church of the Outer Worlds have also maintained a small following, with their rights enshrined in the constitution. Nonetheless, discrimination against non-Christians is present and not infrequent.

## Economy

### Overview

Martian culture has a large emphasis towards self-reliance, which pushes citizens towards creating private enterprises. Many choose to create companies in which they are the only employee, and gain employment as freelance workers. Although this does lead to worker exploitation by some companies, the extreme competition of the Martian economic scene quickly ensures bankruptcy or improved ethical standards. Very low taxes allow many of these enterprises to survive long-term. Although most of these companies only operate on the individual to family level, many companies have grown to become very significant to Mars' government and populace. Olympia Industries, Rosa-Dowels and Independence Shipyards all represent noteworthy enterprises.

Despite the competitive domestic scene, Earth companies are very underrepresented on the planet, partially due to lingering resentment towards Earth-based corporate dominance, and partially due to Mars' extreme taxation on foreign corporations operating in its territory. Thus, companies such as Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon are completely absent, replaced with home-grown Martian analogues. However, in recent years, an increased presence of both state and private Lunar corporations has been seen - Williams-Smiths, Gray Fusion and Francis-Perkins Extraction have all gained a notable presence, largely due to Mars granting Lunar companies a generous tax remission.

### Imports & Exports

Mars' import economy consists mainly of resources which cannot be found domestically - most importantly Helium-3 and complex biological resources from Luna and Earth respectively. Its export of its mineral resources was significant during the early years of independence, but the sale of military resources has proven to be a far more lucrative market in recent years, with both the uptick in conflict, and the need to have space-based combat capabilities in modern warfare.

### Mercenary Economy

Mars' limited official military, and its liberal stance towards PMCs means Mars is a large exporter of military equipment, both to foreign nations, as well as domestic PMCs. Private Martian marine squads can be found in battlefields across the system, and private navy flotillas provide a quick and experienced force to those without the capability of producing one domestically, capable of standing up to squadrons of inner-planet vessels. This has made PMCs such as the Dusters, Black Company, and Rhea's Raiders billions. However, this mercenary economy has also been criticized for abandoning their contracts when an opposing force threatens to overwhelm them, and has been accused of propping up piracy within the solar system.