///From the author: Mars has always held a special place in my heart, and a unique place in the story of the Spacers Saga. Originally the main enemy of Earth in the original take on the Solar Civil War, it became the primary world in Solar Space in later drafts, after I decided to toy with global catastrophe which rendered the Earth uninhabitable, a lá Cowboy Bebop. In current drafts of the stories, however, Mars is sort of the "second-best" world in the solar system - number one in military spending, but behind the eight ball in many other metrics, including population and press freedoms. But still the mystique of the legendary Red Planet holds true, and as we will see in this record of the world and its history, the Martians do still have very much to be proud of in 2389
The Red Planet in the 24th Century

(Physical map of Mars circa 2389)

Critical Stats:
First reached by humans: December 1971 (uncrewed); October 2035 (crewed)
Current gov't: United Nations of Mars, est. July 2169
2389 Population: approximately 71.3 million (estimated per the 2388 census)
Capital: Aldrin City, Federal Capital region; metropolitan population: approx. 6.2 million
Affiliation: the Interplanetary Cooperative Administration (ICA)
Government: federal parliamentary constitutional republic (seat of government is the Federal Compound in Aldrin City); primary government authority rests with the Martian Federal Senate - chief executive official is the Prime Minister (Rela Tenris - since 2384)
Primary industries: heavy industry/manufacturing (ICA’s main industrial hub, and a major manufacturer of civilian & military products); shipping (Mars is the mercantile hub of the inner system, often referred to as "the gateway to the outer system")
Historical Notes:
The race to conquer Mars heated up following the adoption of the Brookenden Accords in 2062, and by 2162, more than half a million people lived there. This thriving population grew quickly over the centuries that followed, fueled by the expansion of Martian industry which was in turn bolstered by the long collapse of industrial society back on Earth (often referred to as The Fall) beginning in the second half of the 21st century.
In 2063, the denizens of the Red Planet signed their own founding treaty, the Marineris Accords, itself a precursor to the creation of the United Nations of Mars in 2169. This unified Mars rose quickly as an industrial power throughout the 22nd and 23rd centuries, riding a tide of prosperity fueled by its successful partnership with the mining and shipping barons of the Asteroid Belt. The terraforming program also flourished, and as of 2389 there are several sizable bodies of water on the Martian surface.
Notable among these are the Hellas and Argyre Seas and the Marineris Waterway, all of which are banked by fertile zones where Martians farm the land as a means of filling their bellies. Much of the southern highlands, meanwhile, as well as the Elysium Mons region, have been transformed into sprawling industrial tracts, where the various subsidiaries of the Mars Industrial Conglomerate builds, fabricates, or otherwise stamps out the various mass-produced necessities of life in the solar system, all made possible by partnership with Ceres.
As the industrial might of Mars expands, so too does the strength of the Martian military: roughly one in six spacers in the Interplanetary Defense Corps calls Mars their homeworld. This belies the grave threats to Martian prosperity which have emerged over the years, especially in light of a longstanding rivalry between Mars and the worlds of the outer system.
Chief among these threats is the Alliance of Free Worlds, a federation of rebellious frontier colonies dedicated to dethroning Mars and Ceres as the primary political players in Solar Space. As the Alliance rises to threaten Mars’ role as the system's main military power, the demands placed upon the Interplanetary Defense Corps (aka the Spacer Corps) to defend Martian interests alongside those of the ICA continue to intensify.
The rivalry between Mars and the outer system dates at least as far back as the Solar Civil War (2294-2299), wherein UNOM fought against the warlords of Titan for control of Titan's precious precursor artifacts. In the years since, with Mars leading the charge to clamp down on frontier nationalism, movements such as Draconism have only exacerbated the situation.
This ultimately led to the Frontier Wars, which plunged Solar Space into chaos between 2371 and 2381, and only ended when the Zharan Collective, another political newcomer, entered the war on the Alliance’s behalf and forced the ICA to agree to ceasefire negotiations.
Now, with UNOM and the Alliance posturing and the ICA caught up in an ongoing series of tense peace, it seems that the only catalyst needed to plunge Solar Space back into war will be a single spark. And as Mars celebrates their 100th anniversary of the UNOM’s founding, there is evidence mounting that the Alliance Armada may have just such a spark in mind…
The Political Map of Mars circa 2389

Nation-States (ordered by population):
Republic of Marineris & Chryse
Population: 18.6 million
Founding date: 5 March 2139
Initial sponsor nations: United States, European Union
GDP per capita: approx. $63.6 thousand
Argyre Republic
Population: 11.7 million
Founding date: 4 November 2137
Initial Sponsor nation: United States
GDP per capita: approx. $61.3 thousand
People’s Republic of Hellas
Population: 9.4 million
Founding date: 23 May 2138
Initial sponsor nation: People’s Republic of China
GDP per capita: approx. $56.4 thousand
Miyamoto Kyōwakoku (“Republic of Miyamoto”)
Population: 4.2 million
Founding date: 31 January 2143
Initial sponsor nation: Serene State of Nippon
GDP per capita: approx. $62.4 thousand
Union of the Bosporus
Population: 3.8 million
Founding date: 17 August 2138
Initial sponsor nations: Turkic Federation
GDP per capita: approx. $47.2 thousand
People’s Republic of Tharsis
Population: 3.4 million
Founding date: 4 June 2146
Initial sponsor nation: People’s Republic of China
GDP per capita: approx. $57.6 thousand
Dimokratía Odysséa (“Odyssey Republic”)
Population: 2.8 million
Founding date: 16 September 2146
Initial sponsor nations: European Union, Greece
GDP per capita: approx. $48.5 thousand
República Occidental (“Western Republic”)
Population: 2.5 million
Founding date: 9 July 2148
Initial sponsor nations: Latin American Federation
GDP per capita: approx. $51.7 thousand
Adawlat Alsamawia (“Heavenly Nation”)
Population: 2.1 million
Founding date: 21 June 2152
Initial sponsor nations: United Arab Republics
GDP per capita: approx. $59.2 thousand
Free State of Noachis
Population: 1.9 million
Founding date: 3 August 2147
Initial sponsor nation: N/A (established by provision of SADI)
GDP per capita: approx. $56.7 thousand
Republic of Alemania
Population: 1.7 million
Founding date: 25 April 2149
Initial sponsor nations: European Union, Germany
GDP per capita: approx. $58.5 thousand
Union of the Paraná
Population: 1.6 million
Founding date: 13 July 2154
Initial sponsor nation: Federal Republic of Brazil
GDP per capita: approx. $55.3 thousand
Federal Republic of Cimmeria
Population: 1.4 million
Founding date: 6 December 2151
Initial sponsor nations: Russian/Turkic Federations
GDP per capita: approx. $46.2 thousand
Respublika Prometeya
Population: 1.2 million
Founding date: 29 September 2157
Initial sponsor nation: Russian Federation
GDP per capita: approx. $49.7 thousand
Republic of Sidra
Population: 1.2 million
Founding date: 5 May 2154
Initial sponsor nations: United Republics of Kemet
GDP per capita: approx. $48.7 thousand
Commonwealth of New Timbuktu
Population: 1.1 million
Founding date: 19 March 2153
Initial sponsor nations: West African Union
GDP per capita: approx. $52.4 thousand
Additional Polities:
Utopia territory
Population: 900 thousand
Established: 28 February 2186
Status: unincorporated federal UNOM territory
Elysium territory
Population: 700 thousand
Established: 3 November 2224
Status: unincorporated federal UNOM territory
Arcadia territory
Population: 600 thousand
Established: 12 June 2217
Status: unincorporated federal UNOM territory
Arabia territory
Population: 500 thousand
Established: 8 September 2246
Status: unincorporated federal UNOM territory
Borealis Designated Conservation Area
Centered on: Northern Ice Cap Conservation Zone
Established: 30 June 2231
Status: federal national recreation area
Australis Designated Conservation Area
Centered on: Southern Ice Cap Conservation Zone
Established: 6 July 2231
Status: federal national recreation area
Olympus Mons Designated Conservation Area
Centered on: Olympus Mons National Monument
Established: 19 August 2233
Status: federal national recreation area
Solis Planum Special Military Zone
Centered on: Martian Military Complex
Established: 23 May 2254
Status: federal military operational exclusion zone
Elysium Mons Special Military Zone
Centered on: Elysium Mons Special Activity Region
Established: 11 June 2258
Status: federal military operational exclusion zone
Aldrin City - The Capital of Mars

Notes:
The urban expanse referred to as Aldrin City emerged from the earliest Martian outpost, dubbed Aldrin Station in honor of the late Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin of Apollo fame, himself a longtime proponent of Martian colonization. As of the late 24th century, this metropolis is home to nearly fourteen million people, or around ten percent of the Martian population.
The majority of these people live in the Melas Chasma, which has been extensively terraformed in the two three hundred and fifty years since the region was first settled in 2038. Many modern historians compare the Aldrin City metro area to that of Los Angeles in the early 21st century, complete with many of the same environmental and economic shortcomings.
It is also home to a number of prestigious colleges, including Marineris Technical University, and a very vibrant commercial and service economy. Among the many millions of working class citizens eking out a more or less prosperous living here are best friends Sam Taskaro, Devon Wastani, and Matt Cavanaugh, all of whom are students at MTU.
They are also reservists in the Interplanetary Defense Corps, which keeps the peace across space governed by the Interplanetary Cooperative Administration. This role will soon dominate their futures, as war breaks out between the ICA and its longtime nemesis, the Alliance of Free Worlds. A war in which the trio will shape much more than their own destinies…
Additional Notes - The Rise of a Green Mars
Late in the 21st century, the denizens of Mars initiated a campaign aimed at transforming the vast, dusty desert of the Red Planet into a second Eden. At the centennial of the Brookenden Accords in 2162, this project was unified under a new name: the Mars Project.
Over the next next two centuries, the people of Mars devoted substantial economic resources and effort to cultivating the barren Red Planet into a new garden world through methods which would have seemed fantastical only as far back as the middle of the 21st century.
From the creation of the Great Magnetodyn in orbit at Mars’ L1 point to the engineering of the omnipresent Hypnodendron martialis (commonly referred to as “Mars Moss”), the scientists of the United Nations of Mars worked wonders to suit the needs of humans living there. In the 24th century, these efforts have brought forth a new era - the era of Mars, the Tricolor World.
We should use this in Shadowplay!