///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 freedom of speech and other civic freedoms. But 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)
2389 Population: approximately 297 million, including orbitals (est. per the 2388 census)
Capital: Aldrin City, Federal Capital region; metropolitan population: approx. 14.3 million
Current gov't: United Nations of Mars, established September 2227
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 (Rodolfo Tevari - 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:
Following an incident at a Martian science outpost in the Arabia Terra overseen by the Scientific Advancement & Development Initiative (SADI), the pioneering citizens of the Red Planet signed their founding treaty, the Marineris Accords, in 2063. This was a precursor to the creation of the United Nations of Mars in 2228, which remains the Red Planet’s main, centralized governing body over two centuries later.
Following the Brookenden Accords of 2064, the race to explore Mars heated up quickly. Thanks to a population boom after the Great Migration (2099-2119), when roughly three hundred thousand people immigrated to the bustling settlements on Mars, almost two million people lived there by 2227. Mars rose quickly as an industrial power in the 22nd and 23rd centuries, riding a tide of economic prosperity fueled by its successful partnership with the mining barons of the Asteroid Belt. The terraforming program also flourished, and by 2389 there were several sizable bodies of water on the Martian surface.
Notable among these are the Hellas and Argyre Seas, and the Mariner Valley Waterway, all of which are banked by great fertile zones (shown in green on the map above) where Martian citizens have taken to farming the land as a means of filling their grocery carts. 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 build, fabricate, or otherwise stamp 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 its military: by 2389, roughly one in three spacers in the Interplanetary Defense Corps was from Mars, mostly as part of the Martian Command. This belies the threats to Martian prosperity that have emerged both from within and without, especially in light of a longstanding rivalry between Mars and the outer system for control of resources.
Chief among the challenges to Martian power is the Alliance of Free Worlds, a federation of rebellious colonies dedicated to dethroning Mars and Ceres as the primary benefactors of the Solar System’s vast wealth, and to establishing a sovereign empire of the outer system. As the Alliance rises to threaten Mars’ role as the second power in Solar Space, the demands placed upon the IDC (aka the Spacer Corps) to defend Martian interests alongside those of the rest of the ICA will only continue to intensify.
The rivalry between Mars and the outer system dates back at least as far as the Mars-Titan War (2292-2297), wherein the UNOM fought against the warlords of Titan for control of the outer solar system’s wealth. In the years since, as Mars has led the charge to clamp down on outer system nationalism, movements such as Draconism only exacerbated the situation, leading to the rise of the Alliance.
This ultimately led to the Frontier Wars, which plunged Solar Space into chaos from 2371 to 2381, and only ended when the Zharan Collective entered the war on the side of the Alliance and forced the ICA to agree to peace negotiations. Now, in 2389, with the ICA caught up in an ongoing series of tense peace talks that seem to go nowhere, it seems that the only catalyst needed to plunge Solar Space back into war will be a single spark. And evidence is mounting that the Alliance Armada may have just the right spark in mind…
Political Map of Mars circa 2389
Surface Nation-States (ordered by population):
Republic of Marineris & Chryse
Population: 44.5 million
Founding date: 15 July 2138
Initial sponsor nations: North American Union, European Federation
GDP per capita: approx. $63.6 thousand
Argyre Republic
Population: 39.4 million
Founding date: 4 November 2137
Initial Sponsor nation: United States
GDP per capita: approx. $61.3 thousand
People’s Republic of Hellas
Population: 37.1 million
Founding date: 22 May 2142
Initial sponsor nation: People’s Republic of China
GDP per capita: approx. $56.4 thousand
People’s Republic of Tharsis
Population: 24.7 million
Founding date: 31 January 2143
Initial sponsor nation: People’s Republic of China
GDP per capita: approx. $57.6 thousand
Union of Wele Xakaba
Population: 18.6 million
Founding date: 23 October 2138
Initial sponsor nations: East African Federation
GDP per capita: approx. $52.9 thousand
Miyamoto Kyōwakoku (“Republic of Miyamoto”)
Population: 16.8 million
Founding date: 4 June 2148
Initial sponsor nation: Serene State of Nippon
GDP per capita: approx. $62.4 thousand
Dimokratía Odysséa (“Odyssey Republic”)
Population: 14.6 million
Founding date: 16 September 2146
Initial sponsor nations: European Federation, Greece
GDP per capita: approx. $48.5 thousand
República Occidental (“Western Republic”)
Population: 14.3 million
Founding date: 9 July 2154
Initial sponsor nations: Latin American Federation
GDP per capita: approx. $51.7 thousand
Adawlat Alsamawia (“Heavenly Nation”)
Population: 13.7 million
Founding date: 21 June 2158
Initial sponsor nations: United Arab Republics
GDP per capita: approx. $59.2 thousand
Free State of Noachis
Population: 11.6 million
Founding date: 3 August 2173
Initial sponsor nation: N/A (established by provision of the ICA)
GDP per capita: approx. $56.7 thousand
Republic of Neu Alemania
Population: 10.8 million
Founding date: 25 April 2165
Initial sponsor nations: European Federation, Germany
GDP per capita: approx. $58.5 thousand
Union of the Paraná
Population: 9.6 million
Founding date: 13 July 2174
Initial sponsor nation: Federal Republic of Brazil
GDP per capita: approx. $55.3 thousand
Commonwealth of New Timbuktu
Population: 8.2 million
Founding date: 6 December 2179
Initial sponsor nations: West African Union
GDP per capita: approx. $52.4 thousand
Federal Republic of Cimmeria
Population: 7.1 million
Founding date: 6 December 2183
Initial sponsor nations: Russian/Turkic Federations
GDP per capita: approx. $46.2 thousand
Respublika Prometeya
Population: 5.7 million
Founding date: 29 September 2194
Initial sponsor nation: Russian Federation
GDP per capita: approx. $49.7 thousand
Republic of Sidra
Population: 5.3 million
Founding date: 5 May 2203
Initial sponsor nations: United Republics of Kemet
GDP per capita: approx. $48.7 thousand
Additional Surface Polities:
Utopia territory
Population: 3.1 million
Established: 28 February 2186
Status: unincorporated federal UNOM territory
Elysium territory
Population: 2.3 million
Established: 3 November 2204
Status: unincorporated federal UNOM territory
Arcadia territory
Population: 1.9 million
Established: 12 June 2219
Status: unincorporated federal UNOM territory
Arabia territory
Population: 1.4 million
Established: 17 October 2231
Status: unincorporated federal UNOM territory
Borealis Designated Conservation Area
Centered on: Northern Ice Cap Conservation Zone
Established: 30 June 2226
Status: federal national recreation area
Australis Designated Conservation Area
Centered on: Southern Ice Cap Conservation Zone
Established: 30 June 2226
Status: federal national recreation area
Olympus Mons Designated Conservation Area
Centered on: Olympus Mons National Monument
Established: 8 November 2247
Status: federal national recreation area
Solis Planum Special Military Zone
Centered on: Martian Military Complex
Established: 20 August 2254
Status: federal military operational exclusion zone
Elysium Mons Special Military Zone
Centered on: Elysium Mons Special Activity Region
Established: 9 June 2261
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 more than fourteen million people, or around five 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 2164, this project was unified under a new name: the Mars Project.
This program the brainchild of one Dr. Franklin Meier. Meier was a descendant of early Martian settlers who studied biology and agriculture in the hopes of supporting the Martian settlement program, but ended up championing the full-scale terraforming of Mars. By the time he retired in 2187, the groundwork was laid for Mars to be a second Earth by the end of the millennium.
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 Magnetodyne 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!