MARS

The Red Planet and Earth's more popular stellar neighbor. For centuries, the colonization of Mars was seen as the first major goal for Humanity as it spread into the stars.

But Mars was never truly a great location to colonize. It couldn't hold a survivable atmosphere. Its resources were trapped at the bottom of a gravity well. It would take thousands of years before humanity could walk on the surface of mars unaided... if it ever happened.

While such things would cause Humanity's best and brightest to focus on other locations, Humanities wealthiest were focused on the Red Planet. Over the centuries, habitable domes have been constructed, tunnel cities have burrowed under the Martian surface, and a mostly service economy has been created around supporting the population. Mars has earned a reputation as the place to live for the ultra-wealthy, but its status as the most important of humanity's colonies has long sense been eclipsed by more profitable ventures in the solar system and beyond.

Mars also once stood as the political center of Humanity. The sprawling complex on Olympus Mons hosting embassies from all major space-fairing powers within the Human Sphere. The events of the Olympic Summit of 2321, with the Tian Zao Gongheguo placing the Daqin empress under arrest, would lead to a loss in trust of Martian leadership. The Olympic Summits never recovered in importance or attendance.

Continents and Landmarks

The surface of mars looks much the same as it has for millions of years, icy polar caps and dry red deserts cover the entire surface. There have been a few domed cities created that cluster together on the surface of the planet, often providing green spaces for people to enjoy. Most of the population of Mars lives underground in sprawling tunnel cities that are buried deep enough to protect against radiation.

excerpts from RP

There were a few major exceptions to the land grab. Mars was one, but it was, and still is, a scientific and engineering curiosity, the biggest, most expensive symbol of human cooperation, a continuous attempt to create Earth 2.0 within the Sol system despite the existence of perfectly habitable worlds in other systems.

-- Fortune Favors Chapter 2: Gathering

Two centuries of terraforming efforts have turned Mars into a world with climate akin to the tundras of Earth. It was cold and arid, with little in the way of running rivers, much less oceans, but at the minimum, the air now had an appreciable amount of oxygen, and mossy vegetation grew besides puddles of liquid water at the equator. The thick atmosphere and a magnetosphere allowed humans to traverse the landscape with winter clothing and an oxygen mask. A large, climate controlled dome sat on top of Olympus Mons next to a great lake that filled the old volcano's crater. The whole region was turned into a tourist destination and land of opportunity for Earth citizens who couldn't afford to leave the Sol system. More importantly, it was a prime location for the Human Community Peace Summit, given the international cooperation required to terraform Mars in the first place, with Phobos and Deimos transformed into both interplanetary and interstellar transportation hubs, carrying great skyhooks that flinged vessels inwards and outwards of the solar system. A kilometer out from the Olympus Mons City Dome were several landing pads and their caretakers, awaiting the arrival of the diplomatic teams of the human factions.

-- Vows of the Olympians Chapter 2: First (Re)Contact

The city complex of Olympus Mons was made of domes connected together by generously spaced channels and tubes. The magnetosphere allowed the architecture to be lavish, thin, reckless. A rupture in the walls nowadays was a far cry from the violent explosive decompressions of old where it was a quick asphyxiated and freezing death for the poor souls caught in the vicinity. Now it amounted to a cold breeze and simply reaching for the closest oxygen mask until the whole thing could be patched by duct tape.

The boldness then, reflected in the sizable minorities of people walking outside the dome in oxygen masks and Earthly winter clothes, a passive aggressive “fuck you” to what was once a barren rock, a testament to human cooperation and ingenuity. If only it could be seen nowadays as Caxia was stopped before she even came close to the HFR embassy in the domes.

...

Despite humanity’s best efforts, they never could keep a new slate completely clean. The statistical reality always entailed that there were going to be people who fall through the education and healthcare systems, who turn to scum and villainy, even on Mars, whose population largely consists of people, scientists and engineers who’ve ignored the political divisions on Earth and sought to build a second terrestrial home for humans in the Sol system. Thus, it was wise for Caxia to keep an eye on everyone she passed by, staying away from people with criminal records or shady profiles, who saw Caxia as a treasure trove of exotic electronics to be sold on the black market.

-- Vows of the Olympians Chapter 3: The HFR Connection

Mars Printable version

Continents and Landmarks

excerpts from RP