Mars

The Red Wanderer

### Population Centers

Crater Domes; Lava Tube Colonies; Yurt Cities; Mobile Desert Isles; Glacier Cities; Artificial Vaults; Martian Cisterns

### Special Features

Planetary Ring "Martian Rim" ; Orbital Lifts; Nergal Nexus

## Affiliation

### Major Factions

Red Dragon; Olympus Mons; Cult of the Red Wanderer; Planitia Poleis ; Nexus Guilds ; Deimosian Avari ; Laputa

### Minor Factions

Dust Nomads, Glacier Dwellers, Submartians

**Associated pages**

* Martian Civilization
* Martian System
* Martian Factions
* Martians

## Red Wanderer

As one of the five wandering stars known since the earliest days of the humankind, Mars has held indomitable sway over the human mind. Over countless millennia the red planet was omen and harbinger of all things good and all things bad. Its reddish shine made it a sign of blood, of conquest and ultimately persuaded humanity to name it after their god of war.

When humanity looked onto the sky and ventured first into the Void, it recognized Mars as not a mere speck of light, but a world of its own. And soon emerged instinctive fear and in innumerable stories, Mars was made a home to grand and mysterious civilizations, menaces and ruthless invaders, mirroring the darkest side of the humankind.

Ever since those earliest days, Mars grew to become the focus of a search for life and dreams of utopian colonies. The attainment of these dreams was to decide the future of civilization.

After several early colonization projects and campaigns, scientific endeavors and pioneering steps, the Century of Departure brought about an unprecedented influx of colonists and industrialization on Martian soil.

Mars was not conquered easily. The Red Wanderer, the god of war, demanded blood in return for sustaining the humankind. Entire cities vanished in unexpected quakes, colonists were choked in dust storms and deprived of their supplies by whims of destiny. And when civilization had finally taken a hold on the red world, Mars was to become the first site of major wars on an extraterrestrial world.

Indeed, Mars has done right by its name and the Red Wanderer still looms over the inner solar system. It remains unforgotten and a place of mystery, tainted by the enternally churning wheels of war.

## World of dust

To the days of the Final Century, the Martian surface remains a dominion of dust. Endless deserts, cold and dry, stretch between the icy poles, where glaciers are mined for precious water. Cut into the desert plains are valleys and canyons, endless seas of primordial oceans and where now are only endless seas of basalt.

### Olympus Mons

Volcanoes tower over these endless planes, mountain ranges of the scarred world, telling of times long gone when the glowing heart of Mars was still beating. In those glorious days was risen **Olympus Mons**, king of all mountains under the light of sol. A giant beyond human recognition, the towering mountain represents all things vast on the red wandering world.

### Hellas Planitia

No less imposing is the **Hellas Planitia**, greatest among the innumerable impact craters left on the Martian surface. Scarred by debris throughout the Solar System, Mars bears the marks of destruction with resilient pride. Scathing the crust of the red planet, craters upon craters form unique landscapes, valleys, and plateaus all over.

### Storms

Thin, is the atmosphere of Mars, and brittle, torn away from the red planet relentlessly by the sun. Even still, the red wanderer is infamous for vicious storms. Every few years they come about when the Martian atmosphere and dusty seas combine. **Martian Duststorms** may encompass the entirety of the planet, darkening the sky whole for days and weeks on end. Such times are dire for travel and life but at the same time resemble the undying breath of the warrior god.

## Humanity's conquest of Mars

*The fate of the humankind faces is judged on the surface of Mars*

In the old days humanity looked up to the wanderers in the sky and believed they foretold the paths of destiny. When humanity first ventured into the Void, its fate truly faced judgment at whims of the Red Wanderer.

At the turn of millennia, Mars became the focus of interplanetary colonization, driving humanity to another race for the stars. The success or failure of the Martian Conquest would decide whether or not the peoples of Earth would strive for interplanetary civilization.

Many times the fate of the Heliopolis hang in balance when the denizens of Mars faced great peril and those on the Cradle Earth asked for the worth of expansion. But ultimately, ever since the first soul had set foot on the Red Wanderer, humanity never truly left. The humankind remained, resilient and unyielding before the testing nature of Mars. The Red Wanderer was the great trial for humanity to master.