Mars (Classic Journeys Era)

Mars is the fourth planet in the Sol System. It was the second planetoid visited by the Human race, after Luna, Earth's moon. It is currently the seat of the Solar Rebuplic, and was formerly the homeworld of the Martian Republic, before the Moebius Effect swept over it.

Snapshot
A reddish-brown planet with a single large ocean covering about a quarter of the world's surface. Most major cities on the terraformed planet are nestled along the shoreline or on islands of the Glacial Sea, although there are a significant amount of towns outside this central zone. One of the most significant landmarks on the planet, the monstrous mountain known as Olympus Mons, is now forested on its lower slope. Terraformed, the rusty red planet is growing greener, with forested mountain slopes and a large saltwater sea.

Some 158 million humanoid life forms dwell on the terraformed planet, in major cities and in the wastelands known locally as the Outback. The planet is also home to non-indigenous wildlife introduced during the post-terraformation phase. The planet is rich with carbon, iron and other useful metals. Some sources of geothermal energy are detectable, but their depth beneath the planet's surface makes access problematic although not impossible.

History
Originally, Mars was lifeless, at least from the point of view of humanity. However, since around 2001, a significant exile community of Zangali from Grimlahd had lived under the surface of the planet in its vast underground cave system, after fleeing the Nall invasion of their home planet. This, of course, was unknown to humanity, busy with its own Earth-based problems. In 2053, the Consortium Space Agency, acting for the Earth Planetary Consortium sent its first explorers to Mars and established the Ares Station on planet as a scientific outpost. In the wake of the Genetic Devolution Virus on Earth, the Consortium decided that to make sure than mankind survived colonization of Luna and Mars was important; in 2137, the Eden Terraforming Complex was opened.

However, construction of the complex required detonation of explosives, explosives which inadvertantly collapsed the cavern where a Zangali subterrenean city was. This sparked the Mankind-Zangali War, which would culminate in Zangali terrorists setting off nuclear devices in Washington D.C., London, Capetown, Beijing and Moscow. The war ended in 2145 with heavy loss on both sides, with the end result being that both races were allowed to continue living on Mars, as long as the humans ceased terraforming operations. This, of course, began the construction of colony domes (most notably Nicholson Colony Dome) all over Mars as large amounts of humans emigrated from Earth, and would lay the foundations of modern Martian civilization.

As the Solar Consortium gave way to the Stellar Consortium, Mars's many domed cities became stopover points for travellers heading to and from Earth. More importantly, however, were the vast mineral resources which became apparent as Martian prospectors drilled carefully underground. Soon, operations had been set up and Mars was on its way to become one of the premiere mineral exporters in the Consortium, alongside the reserves of the Alpha Centauri system which were becoming depleted as Centauri joined the Consortium. As the Consortium itself grew to encompass more worlds, both alien and humanoid, so did the planetary economy of Mars. Its citizens, despite having to mostly live in protected city domes (besides the forgotten Outbacker terraformers) had a very high standard of living. Other industries developed included controlled agriculture and technology manufacturing.

During this period, Martians culturally began to blossom into the unique planet that they would later become, with many aspects of later Republican institute and society visible. This included the adoption of Romanized names, adoration for classical values and to a lesser degree, the Religio Romana as well. Finally, the use of Martian Latin, which is in many way similar to classical Latin with a few key variations, begun to appear on the red planet. Many of the later big Martian families have their history rooted in this period.

Unfortunately, the centuries of unrestricted economic growth which Mars had experienced were abruptly terminated when the Kretonians invaded in 2651 CE. Almost immediately, the Kretonians set about terraforming the world with alien technology, which within the span of half a century would make Mars's atmosphere breathable year round and within a century would create the Glacial Sea. The Glacial Sea area would be further populated by greenery around it. Many Martians were enslaved by the Kretonians and worked in the mines, while others were left alone (including the Outbackers) and still others fought to resist the invaders, joining up in the Solar Consortium with Earth. Human troops made significant gains on Mars and Earth during the mid and late 28th centuries, and by the 29th century, with the rise of the Nall and destruction of the Kretonian Fleet, Mars was once again liberated. This would ushur a new era of prosperity for the Martians after one hundred and fifty years of slavery and resistance, especially due to the newly created agriculturally productive and extremely temperate lands.

In the euphoria surrounding the liberation of the Solar Consortium, birthrates skyrocketed and new cities were founded on the planet. These included the capital of Hesperia on the eastern end of the Glacial Sea, Hellas on the northern coast of the Pontus Hellas (Hellas Sea), Alexandria on the shores of the Lacus Argyre, Lavinium and Carthage. The economy was speedily rebuilt, given the war footing which the Solar Consortium constantly kept itself on and the gleaming cities were soon the equal to some of those on Earth. An age of prosperity had oncemore dawned on Mars.