Mars (planet)

## Mars • Sol IV

**Mars**, also known as *the Red Planet* or *Sol IV*, is the fourth planet of the Sol system, and one of its four terrestrial worlds. The second-smallest planet in the solar system, larger only than Mercury, it has a distinctive reddish appearance visible to the naked eye. It is the first and only planet that has been broadly colonised by humanity (the rest of Earth's colonies being on moons, asteroids, or city stations). It is governed by the Martian Colonial Congress, a sub-government to the United Nations.

## History

### Colonisation

Humanity's efforts at reaching Mars began largely with a constant stream of unmanned spacecraft and drones, that progressively evolved into manned missions. The first of these missions, Ares I, a joint effort by NASA and ESA, landed on the Red Planet in 2029, and continued with a series of missions that would eventually lead to the construction of permanent bases on the planet's surface.

The first colony ships would land in the Mariner Valley in 2043, bearing the first settlers: a large contingent of chiefly leading scientists and military personnel. At this point, large-scale colony flights would be scheduled to leave Earth for Mars every eight years, with benefits being offered to such settlers in an effort to ease overpopulation as global crisis levels continued to climb.

### Terraforming Project

Considered by some the greatest engineering project in human history, the primary goal of the first waves of settlers was the terraforming project. This would, as a result, become the driving force of the growing Martian society, involving most of the population of Mars either directly or indirectly.

With the start of the Third World War back on Earth, many refugees that were not scientists or engineers would flee to the planet, raising the population dramatically. In order for the colony to survive under the sudden stress, infrastructure had to be rapidly expanded, and most refugees became skilled laborers out of sheer necessity.

This expansion of population would not slow down, and by 2188 Mars had reached a population of 100 million people. Executive and economic infrastructure of the Mariner Valley settlements, and the new settlements beginning to crop up around the planet, continued to rapidly expand to accommodate the growth.

By 2196, the colonies on Mars had become entirely self-sustaining due to the combined effort and toil of the population. Unlike Earth, there were no idle consumers on Mars. Everyone had a part to play in the grand scheme of building a new home for humanity. It was also becoming a leader in environmental science and research, as well as a hub for advanced manufacturing and engineering projects.

Many of the colonists of this period wanted to secede from the rule of Earth, no longer really needing its constant aid to sustain themselves. Secessionists of the time compared their plight to that of the American colonies in the 1700s.

### Operation: Broken Sky

*Main article: Operation: Broken Sky*
Things would come to a head when Mars declared itself a republic, and demanded independence from the United Nations claiming to be a self-sufficient nation its own right. The newly formed Martian Congressional Republic had already begun work on establishing its own navy in order to maintain a suitable defence of its planetary space.

In response, the United Nations would invoke the "breakaway province rule" and launch Operation: Broken Sky, a full-scale first strike aimed to cripple the rebellion its infancy. In 2199, Deimos, the smaller moon of Mars and an important orbital military construction platform, was destroyed by planet-buster nukes as a warning. Immediately following that, a number of United Nations Navy fleets moved to blockade Mars and its nearest dependencies, bombing several key ports and naval bases from orbits and closing all supply and trade lines to the ports.

The periodic bombardments and the blockade continued until the Martian Congressional Republic surrendered, having lost the capacity to construct its fleet in the sudden assaults. In the wake of the unconditional surrender, the Congressional Republic was disbanded and its chief perpetrators summarily executed for treason. In its place, the Martian Colonial Congress was founded as a subordinate government to the United Nations, and under far stricter governmental restrictions than had been previously allowed for the colony.

## Geography

### Notable Locations

* **Mariner Valley:** A four thousand kilometre long canyon into which were constructed the first large-scale settlements of Mars. Five neighbourhoods, housing a few billion people, are buried into the sides of the vast canyons, connected by a network of bridges, metros, and high-speed rail lines to other cities.
* **Olympus Mons:** The largest mountain in the solar system, an ancient volcano that now houses a massive industrial city. It is home to many major manufacturing plants and research facilities, as well as important shipyards for the UNN.
* **Londres Nova:** The capital city of the Martian Colonial Congress, and by extension Mars itself. Though not densely populated it houses most of the administrative offices and government buildings, mostly buried beneath the permafrost in vast underground domes and tunnel networks.
* **Dhanbad Nova:** A large domed city to the Mariner Valley, host to a wide variety of universities, research facilities, laboratories, and government-funded institutions. It is a hub of research and learning that is widely considered amongst the finest and most advanced in the system.

## Society

### Population

The people who first settled on Mars during the initial colonial stages were either ambitious and talented, or desperate and eager to build a new home for themselves. In either way, all these people were unified in seeking to use their talents to reshape the planet into a second Earth, but without making the same mistakes.

Followed the failed secession of the Martian Congressional Republic, and the swift retaliation by the United Nations, that talent was quickly put to use instead to develop military and space tech for megacorps to exploit in the hopes of getting an edge on their competitors. Instead of a garden, Mars became a laboratory and factory all in one, but its people still take pride in the technological advancements they continue to work toward, and still strive to make a better planet for the generations that follow. To Martians, Earthers are lazy and indolent, living off the government dole without faith and without drive. Earth is the dying past, and Mars is the bold future, one last glorious attempt to beat the ticking clock of extinction.

### Government & Politics

The government of Mars is the Martian Colonial Congress (MCC), which is more of a colonial government rather than a standalone government in its own right. It was founded following the events of Operation: Broken Sky as a subordinate to the United Nations, which remains the only true government of the system at large. Nonetheless, the MCC is responsible for the day-to-day control and governance of Mars, implementing its own laws and policies as long as they do not conflict with those of the UN.

As a colonial parliamentary state, the MCC's government is divided into two branches. The Governor is the principal executive leader, and is appointed directly by the United Nations Security Council. The office heads the government cabinet and serves as the representative of state in the absence of a superior from the UN, which includes Fleet Admirals of the United Nations Navy. The Senate serves as the bicameral legislative branch, though any legislature they pass must first be approved by the Governor, or occasionally by the Secretary-General of the United Nations themselves, who reserves the right to veto any bill.

### Language

Mars’ large population centres required a standardized language of military and government, and even today many Martians default to English. However, immigrants from Eastern and South Asia, the Americas, and other parts of Earth in the first and second generations led to a riotous variety of accents, maintained with characteristic Martian pride and equally characteristic stubbornness.