Mars

The very first Earth colonists arrived on Mars in 2035; three generations later the population of Mars, fuelled both by immigration from Earth and a generous demography, had risen to over half a billion.  The numerous domed cities of Mars and its two moons, Phobos and Deimos, were, by that time, largely self-sustaining despite relying on Earth for certain supplies.  The planet was also a leader in environmental science and at the cutting edge of spacecraft design and manufacture.

Mars had only limited self-government at this time, and inevitably voices began calling for independance from Earth.  Their demands were met with constant and growing hostility.  War was narrowly averted in 2072, when a fleet of 40 Earth warships only turned back after intense diplomatic negociations.  It was once again on the cards when, in 2074, the Martian Solomon Epstein pushed Mars' starship technology one step further when he accidentally stumbled over what would come to be known as the Epstein Drive.

At this time, Mars was a six month journey from Earth and the Martian government had ample time to fit its fleet with the new technology.  Earth was now facing an adversary with massively faster and more economical warships.  Mutually assured destruction seemed a real possibility, until Mars reached out to the mother planet and offered to share the Epstein Drive in return for independance.  Cooler heads prevailed, independance was granted and in 2075 the Martian Congressional Republic was formed.

Over the two and a half centuries that span 2075 and the present day, relations between Earth and Mars have blown hot and cold.  The Epstein Drive, thanks to its enormous fuel efficiency, made colonisation of the rest of the Solar System possible, and to avoid a new conflict in a rush for resources, Earth and Mars determined their spheres of influence, shared them on certain key moons or asteroids such as Ganymede and Ceres, and even formed a Coalition Navy during much of the 22nd century so as to be able to patrol the space lanes without concern over the exact placement of frontiers.

Mars was, all in all, less interested than Earth in colonising the Solar System, for three distinct reasons.  First of all, its population was considerably less, and demographic and environmental pressure non-existent; secondly, Martian society was and is intrinsically based around optimal ressource use, which is facilitated by the highly centralised and directive nature of its government.  Wastage is estimated to be five times less than on Earth.  Last of all, what Mars desires above all is to dedicate its resources to the Great Dream, one of the greatest engineering feats in human history : terraforming their planet.

Surface land terraforming is almost complete in 2350, but all Martians still live under domes.  The planet is cloaked in a very thin but insufficient atmosphere; however Martian belief in their technological expertise - which is far from unfounded - has some young adults claiming that they will
see an ocean on Mars in their lifetime.  On the other hand, the social burden of the terraforming project is crushing, and many Martians, especially of the latest generation, accept dome-life as a perfectly acceptable alternative.  Over the last two generations, there is increasing contestation of centralised government policy and an obvious wish for greater freedom and individual choice.

Since about 2250, relations between Earth and Mars are generally tense.  Earth's population crisis has reached dramatical proportions, and the research for independance among Earth's solar system colonies has led to a much harsher foreign policy.  There is also a growing feeling amongst Earth politicians that Mars is about to pull ahead, and that this is the very last occasion to bring them to their knees : Martian stealth technology is pointed to in this context.

These tensions spiralled into a Cold War, ongoing since 2322, in which year Earth and Martian vessels, in an unfortunate border incident, traded shots for the first time in centuries.  The flash point is generally the Jovian system, which is important to both planets, who have each stationed a fleet there.  On the breadbasket of Ganymede, now split in half, Earth and Martian marines have stared at each other for eighteen years from their respective strongholds.  As of 2340, the Cold War went hot, with Deimos destroyed, then fighting - initiated in secret by MKM - starting on Ganymede, leading to a declaration of war by both sides and intense combat around Jupiter; in 2341, in response to Earth attempting to annihilate their first-strike capability, several Martian nuclear warheads were fired, killing hundreds of millions of Earthers on their home planet and essentially bringing Terran civilisation on Earth to an end.

Earth responded by firing at Mars the sum of the proto-molecule hybrids they had acquired from MKM, a few hundred in all.  Although the immediate damage was insignificant, as they began to seek energy sources to feed the proto-molecule bound to their DNA, they caused widespread destruction.

Hybrids are virtually indestructible, even for Martian marines, especially as the proto-molecule continuously learns and instantly communicates with its entire mass.  Killing a Hybrid also causes proto-molecule to spread, meaning entire domes need to be quarantined.

After nine years of combat, containment has proven to be the best approach, sometimes combined with scorched earth policies; but that means that Mars is slowly losing ground.  Coordinating the terraforming effort is increasingly difficult, whilst abandoning it would mean that the planet regresses to its original state, and that the Martian Dream dies.

This increasingly desperate situation does not stop Mars from waging war on MKM with all the resources it can spare.  The planet boasts the best navy in the solar system, even if it no longer has the monopoly on stealth technology, and the spirit of the Martian Marine Corps is undaunted.

Geographical information :
Planet Diameter : 6,779 km
Population : 2.65 billion
Gravity : 0.376g
Length of Day : 24 hrs 39 minutes
Length of Year : 1.90 years
Natural Satellites : 2
Surface temperature : -143°C to +35°C