[[File:Sol Navy.png|thumb|alt=Flag of the Navy of the Sol Alliance.|The ensign of the Solarian Navy, once flown from Earth to the Solarian Frontier.]]
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Following the Collapse and the start of the Solarian Civil War an effort was undertaken by reformists in the Solarian military, such as Minister of Defense Lucien Courtois, to reform the SAF and cut out much of the decay and rot which had taken root over the years. While their purges of the Navy’s ranks — and of many SAF staff — hampered a quicker response to the conflict their efforts have been vindicated by the SAF’s success in bringing a decisive end to the Solarian Civil War in summer 2465. Now the SAF has a new mission: defending the Reconstruction Mandates and protecting the borders of an ascendant Alliance.
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[[Image:Mars_Biodomes.jpg|thumb|250px|A view of pre-Violet Dawn biodome complexes in Olympia.]]
Mars (Sol IV) is the fourth planet out from Sol. Often called “The Red Planet,” it has a surface area the size of Earth's entire landmass. It had a stable population of 4.5 billion people, and its current population is estimated to be anywhere from 1.5 to 2 billion. Around 4% of the population is non-human, a significant reduction caused by the Third Tajara Deportation Act and the Violet Dawn catastrophe (Mars’ non-human population previously stood at 12%). There is a significant minority of synthetics on the planet; a hold-over from Mars' early years of harsh criminal justice allowing corporations to cyborgify criminals responsible for major crimes.
Some, however, believe the SAF will soon be used for more sinister purposes, and many in Biesel and the Coalition look upon it with alarm as the Alliance begins to exert itself in the Spur once again.
Despite its proximity to Earth, during the early years of interstellar colonization Mars was only home to small scientific expeditions and outposts that etched out a meager existence until the 2200's, when terraforming technology was finally able to slowly reintroduce water and atmosphere to the planet. Currently the atmosphere is breathable but incredibly thin, which makes strenuous efforts outside the arcologies very dangerous. Many regions also suffer from airborne phoron contamination, adding further danger to already hazardous activities outside arcologies.
==History==
Until recently an Alliance fleet remained in orbit of Mars at all times, ensuring that the planet remains disarmed and free of armed disputes. Following the so-called “Violet Dawn” explosion in 2462, Mars now finds itself worse-off than ever before; in the wake of an ecological catastrophe and plagued by unrest and violence.
<center><i>“The Solarian military is dedicated to [[Mars#The Violet Dawn Explosion|destroying]] [[Xanu Prime|whatever]] it [[Human Wildlands|touches]], and will not hesitate to destroy [[Gadpathur|you]] if you show them weakness. Show them no mercy, for they showed your [[Gadpathur#The War|ancestors]] none!”</i> - Excerpt from a [[Gadpathur|Gadpathurian]] anti-Solarian booklet intended to be distributed to children age 8-10.</center>
== Demographics ==
<center><i>“In terms of population on Mars itself I don’t think we’ll ever see a return to pre-Violet Dawn levels. Martians, particularly rural Martians, have fled in the millions since it happened and show no sign of returning soon,”</i> - Solarian sociologist Doctor Richard B. Kemp (2418 - ) in an unaired interview with the Alliance News Network.</center>
While Martians may have previously been divided into urban and rural demographics the catastrophic aftermath of Violet Dawn has rent these past divisions asunder. With millions - perhaps billions - dead in the disaster and its immediate aftermath, billions displaced, and millions having fled the planet Martian demographics have permanently - and irreversibly - changed. For the sake of convenience, the two primary Martian ethnic groups prior to Violet Dawn are listed below.
The Solarian Armed Forces have a history which stretches back to 17 July 2143, shortly after the founding of the Solarian Alliance. Its origin was not a happy one. While it took almost a decade to agree to the terms of the Alliance and most parties, Switzerland excepted, on Earth agreed to join it by 2140, the idea of surrendering military autonomy to a supranational government was a point of concern for many members of the newly-formed Alliance. In particular the two superpowers of Earth, the USA and USSR, were extremely hesitant to surrender their spacebound military capabilities to the Alliance. Further compounding issues, both argued that they deserved to be the location of the Alliance’s military command structure.
[[Image:Mars_destruction.png|thumb|250px|A map of Mars immediately following the Violet Dawn explosion. Note that this map displays the wrong capital, as a result of incorrect information received during the Solarian communications blackout.]]
It took three grueling years of back-and-forth negotiations between the Alliance and its members to resolve the issue of the SAF. Ultimately a compromise was reached regarding the Alliance’s military command which settled the pressing issue of who would host the admiralty, and thus be able to influence, what was now known as the Solarian Navy. The compromise placed the admiralty on a place where no Earth nation could, in theory, influence it: Harmony City, Luna. While the US and USSR were not happy, they were both content to accept it. While they weren’t able to control it, their rivals weren’t either. The position of the admiralty on Luna and the relative independence offered to it due to this would, in the decades and centuries to come, have had dire consequences.
=== The Urban Martians ===
In the century between the Alliance’s formation and the Interstellar War the SAF experienced an interservice rivalry between the Solarian Army and Solarian Navy which, while never turning to violence, defined much of the SAF’s trajectory before 2275. The Navy claimed it was of more importance due to securing Sol’s interstellar lanes of commerce and policing piracy, while the Army claimed it was of more importance due to protecting the colonies themselves and ensuring the Alliance was internally stable. The Army-Navy conflict prior to the Interstellar War has been viewed by some Solarian scholars as a microcosm of the future civil war: the Navy tended to be dominated by Inner Ring citizens, particularly those from Luna, and the Army tended to draw its personnel locally, leading to a large proportion from the Outer Ring and further afield colonies.
The vast majority of the Martian population is urban, living in arcologies, sometimes referred to as “hives”. A miracle of engineering for early colonization times, they are designed to support as many residents as possible, while conserving space and construction costs. The lower part of a truncated pyramid-shaped structure is dedicated to apartments with the occasional amenity such as a hospital or grocery store, while the upper one is dedicated to various malls and offices. Finally, the top part, covered by a transparent dome, usually hosts entertainment and hydroponics facilities, as well as a gravity generator. This section of the arcology is heavily maintained by the arcology's habitants, with many of them coming to do volunteer work here due to the section's importance to the arcology as a whole. Many of these arcologies were destroyed or abandoned during the Violet Dawn catastrophe, with some now serving as little more than mass graves for their previous residents, the arcologies now twisted and warped by the heat of phoron fires.
This conflict, and the broader schism in the Alliance, would be brought to its bloody conclusion in 2275 with the start of the Interstellar War, the SAF’s largest and most costly conflict even two centuries later. It would tip the Army-Navy struggle decisively in the Navy’s favor as many Army units, recruited locally and unpaid for months due to the ongoing financial crisis, defected to the Coalition while few Navy units did the same, and those that did were often swept under the rug or otherwise disowned. While the Navy, and loyal units of the Army, fought fiercely — and in some cases, such as Gadpathur, committed horrific crimes in the name of Solarian unity — they were unable to defeat the Coalition due to its dogged defensive fighting and a peace treaty, the Treaty of Xansan, was ultimately signed in Geneva in 2287, bringing over a decade of warfare to a close and permanently shattering Solarian hegemony over humanity.
All surviving arcologies on Mars are concentrated around liquid water. Due to the unique mineral content of Martian soil, unfiltered Martian water is incredibly acidic and unsafe to drink. Very few fish can survive in the Martian lakes and seas, and none of them safe to eat or fish. Phoron contamination has worsened the issue following the Violet Dawn explosion, and water has quickly become the most important resource on Mars - to the point where small-scale “wars” are fought between surviving arcologies over it. The largest source of surviving drinking water is the northern ice cap, controlled by what remains of Mars’ Solarian government.
Two centuries later, however, obvious problems with arcology designs have come to light. Stacking thousands of tiny apartments into a relatively small space has led to the structures being nigh impossible to navigate without a GPS or decades of experience, which especially cripples the local law enforcement. The cramped flats often do not possess basic necessities, let alone amenities, such as kitchens or bathrooms, with later attempts to expand upon them only making the complexes into ugly, over-engineered structures that require almost constant maintenance. Because only the outer part can be built upon, the verge, or “surface,” apartments tend to be the most expensive to live in.
The refugee crisis caused by the Violet Dawn catastrophe has only worsened the conditions in many arcologies. Overcrowding, already a typical issue, has skyrocketed out of control to levels only before seen on planets such as Konyang and New Hai Phong. Services are stretched to the very brink in many of Mars’ surviving cities as well, and crime has become an even greater problem, with criminal gangs acting as the de facto authority in many neglected sectors of Martian arcologies . It remains to be seen how much the arcologies of Mars can bend before they break.
To the Navy, which believed it could have won the Interstellar War, the Treaty of Xansan was seen as a betrayal of the venerable Navy by spineless politicians — a slap to the collective faces of Navy officers who had put their lives on the line defending the Alliance by cowardly politicians obsessed with their careers who had never spent a day in uniform. It incensed them, and they began to plot against it in secret. Decisive action was needed to ensure Sol remained intact, and who better to take it than the Navy, its most venerable institution?
=== Rural Martians ===
While it ultimately failed in its goal of revoking the Treaty of Xansan the Revolt of the Officers on 18 May 2289 forever ensured the Navy would have a voice in politics. The coup attempt’s goals were simple: overthrow the civilian government and declare the Treaty of Xansan null and void, then resume the Interstellar War and fight until the Alliance’s hegemony was once again established. It began to fall apart almost immediately due to one factor the Navy officer in charge of it, Admiral Terrence Hopper, had not accounted for: that the Army guard stationed at the Alliance’s then-capital in New York City did not go along with their conspiracy, and that an active gunfight began outside the capitol building between Army guards and Navy marines. Ultimately the Army, with support from local member state forces and ordinary civilians, repulsed the attack and the coup was seemingly aborted. But it was not as simple as it seemed as the admiralty, in the days after the coup, cut a backroom deal with the civilian government: the Revolt of the Officers would be swept under the metaphorical rug by being blamed on radical elements and the Navy would be given a political voice. In exchange the Navy would continue to protect the Alliance from interstellar threats. Hopper himself, the Butcher of Gadpathur, would avoid justice once again and remain active in politics until his death on Luna in the 24th century, and ultimately shaped Solarian fascist thought up until the present day.
Rural Martians, as a demographic, have disappeared in the aftermath of Violet Dawn. For all the pride they held in their sense of self-sufficiency and hardiness, they have been unable to overcome the scorching, toxic aftermath of Violet Dawn. Their hydroponics bays now sit poisoned by phoron, their mines have no markets to export to, and their hamlets have been torn apart by desperate raiders seeking to make off with what supplies they need to survive. Many rural dwellers of Mars have resorted to armed banditry to survive, but most have bitten down on their pride and moved into arcologies - often contributing to already extreme issues of overcrowding.
The same traits that made many rural dwells of Mars excellent survivalists - such as their adaptation to the harsh environment of the Martian plains - have made them excellent raiders and bandits in the post-Violet Dawn Martian environment. The reputation of rural Martians as bandits is so widespread that some rural refugees taking shelter in arcologies find themselves brought under suspicion purely by association.
Effectively, the Navy had used its position to extort the government. Emboldened by this, and how close they had come to controlling the government through violence, the Navy became more and more influential as the decades continued on. It also became more corrupt and less efficient as political connections became more important than ability and Caesarism infected its ranks. Ultimately the decision to place it on Luna, where it could not be controlled by a power on Earth, had made the Navy accountable primarily to itself rather than the civilian government based upon Earth and, post-2300, Unity Station. Its pet project, the Solarian Marine Corps, was hardly any better. For many Solarians the Navy has failed them time and time again as an institution, and nowhere is this more clear than in the Solarian Collapse of 2462. Rather than protecting the Alliance many Navy forces, more loyal to their Admirals than their nation, defected and have rampaged across the Middle and Outer Rings.
[[Image:MarsLabelled.png|thumb|250px|Despite the harsh and arid environment, many urban areas have developed. This map represents Mars before the Violet Dawn catastrophe.]]
The Army, meanwhile, did have civilian authorities to answer to due to being headquartered on Earth. Post-Interstellar War the Army was placed through multiple reforms which transformed it from a sluggish, inefficient institution which lost much of its strength to defections into a force capable of defending the Alliance’s planets and government from all enemies — whether they be foreign or domestic. Where the Navy failed the Army has succeeded, particularly upon Mars where it — in mere weeks — brought the red planet back into nominal Solarian control.
== Culture ==
<center><i>“Martians have no ‘culture,’ aside from a desire to cause trouble and rabble-rouse. Now thanks to their synthetic phoron escapades we have to fix their problems yet again. I’d rather we send them all to the mines of Eridani,”</i> - Unknown Solarian Navy admiral in a conversation recorded via wire on 22 October, 2463.</center>
Mars was home to the Sol cultural underground prior to the Violet Dawn catastrophe. The tensions with the greater Solarian Alliance combined with the planet’s wildly different features and cultural mindsets have, over centuries, produced cultures and traditions unique to Mars. Of course, with the damage wrought by the recent catastrophe, high culture has fallen to the wayside in favor of the day-to-day struggle of survival that defines much of life on Mars now.
One artistic movement that has endured is ktipita, translated simply as “plainness”. Fiction, music and film of this genre aims to simply encapsulate “life as it is”, being extremely grounded and dealing with very simple stories and concepts that an average Martian can relate themselves to. The simplistic nature of these tales allows them to often be recited orally from books, instead of requiring advanced technologies such as holographic televisions.
As the Alliance bleeds following the Collapse its military is, in many sectors, in desperate need of reforms.While the Navy, under the direction of a now-dominant reformist school of thought, has begun the slow and often-painful process of reforming itself, only time will tell if the SAF shall weather the storm. But most know that to restore some of the territories lost in the humiliation of 2462, some reforms must be undertaken, lest the SAF simply collapse under the weight of its own faults.
== History ==
<center><i>“The Solarian government has taken everything from us. Our autonomy, our identity, and now our planet. What are we supposed to do? Lay over and die? Step outside and let the phoron claim us? I don’t know. Leave me alone, I don’t want to continue this interview anymore,”</i> – Anonymous Martian resident interviewed by the Xanu News Service, 18 June 2464.</center>
=== Early Colonization ===
==Non-Humans in the Solarian Armed Forces==
Despite Mars being a barren planet, a mixture of desperate living conditions on Earth and a bold commitment to exploration and colonization caused it to experience small scale colonization in the 2100's. After the terraforming efforts of 2200 began and with the discovery of massive fossil fuel deposits (therefore confirming Mars once held life), optimistic nations and corporations attempted to set up a foothold on it, causing tens of thousands of colonists to arrive during the first waves. After it became clear that Mars would remain hostile for quite some time, was passed over for more suitable, distant worlds for a long period, leaving the original settlers to etch out a meager life. The byproduct of this is that many issues, national and cultural, that plagued humanity at those times were brought over to the red planet, causing tensions between its inhabitants and new settlers. Despite the one world government of the Alliance, individual nations on Earth would finance and support colonies on Mars, pitting them against one another. Wars and skirmishes between the colonies, although rare, were not unheard of. The ones that survived have long since grown into large, independent arcologies, which are for the most part friendly competitors under the watchful eye of Sol Alliance.
<center><i>“As far as I’m concerned? The Ban didn’t go far enough! We should carpet bomb their whole [censored] [[Adhomai|planet]], really give them a [censored] taste of what they did to us [https://forums.aurorastation.org/topic/2816-sol-alliance-news-network/?do=findComment&comment=141866| here]! Send the Navy in and have them clean it up! Get those [censored] [[Unathi|lizards]] too!”</i> — Anonymous [[New Hai Phong|New Hai Phonger]] speaking to the Solarian Alliance News Network in the aftermath of bombings carried out by the [[Tajaran Emigration#Tajara Revolutionary Army|Tajara Revolutionary Army]]. Unaired due to foul language.</center>
The fossil fuels found on Mars were quickly put to use. Power plants, large factory complexes were constructed outside the arcologies, and the planet was becoming industrialized, which later on played into the terraforming process of the planet. Most of construction was done by crew-operated behemothian industrial machines, which are still used to this day in limited capacities for work outside the domes. Primarily cyborgs and programmed robots worked in these buildings outside the safety of the arcologies, until later on when the planet's atmosphere stabilized in 2400.
No branch of the Solarian Armed Forces aside from rare System Defense Forces has, at any time, recruited an alien species into its ranks. The reasons for this are rooted in both simple practicality and the entrenched xenophobia common in much of the Solarian Alliance, which contributes to a belief that aliens are simply not to be trusted. Practically speaking the three SAF branches are massive organizations which would only marginally benefit from alien recruits and would have to incur an expensive cost as different species demand wildly different equipment, such as fitted voidsuits and armor, and different accommodations.
=== History of Terraforming ===
On the less practical side the Solarian culture of alien distrust has been applied to each species and also argued. To the typical SAF official even the most trustworthy alien is less reliable than the worst human recruit . The SAF is not, and will never be, a force for alien tolerance in the Alliance. From an outright less xenophobic perspective, the Solarian Armed Forces' traditions place a great deal of ideological and cultural importance on the idea of the military as the protector of Solarian humanity. To allow aliens into its ranks has long been considered a betrayal of that ideal, and that compromising this deeply-held tenet would be an unacceptable transgression against the Alliance itself, its human citizens, and the fundamental values of the Alliance's military.
The terraforming process started during the late part of the 22nd century, with massive terraformers designed to turn Mars’ natural minerals into gasses and legions of cyborgs put into action. The idea was to replicate the Global Warming process humans have inadvertently done on Earth, but in a more controlled environment with goals of increasing both air pressure and temperature. The process was incredibly slow and expensive, and dogged by a major catastrophe in 2298 that nearly ended the entire process and caused untold amounts of human suffering and economic damage.
[[Sol Alliance#IPC in the Sol Alliance Military|Positronics]], on the contrary, are highly valued in the SAF. Having had a long history of using [[San Colette#Drone Warfare|drones]], the adoption of positronic intelligence was viewed as the next step in a long line of military robotics. For the longest time, however, IPC and other synthetics have been relegated to support and logistics roles due to mistrust and concerns over their ability to survive in combat scenarios. The collapse has led the SAF to begin looking at IPC in order to fill the gap in its manpower, with the Navy in particular eagerly adopting them in combat roles, placing the machines as both gunners and pilots, and employing traditional shipborne AI to assist and in some cases replace crewmembers. Although assuring the public that combat IPC are a temporary measure given the crisis, some observers note that funding towards further research of combat AI has increased since their adoption.
Although controversial for both its cost and dangers, the terraforming project of Mars is considered a success. The air, until recently, was still slightly toxic, but it effectively raised Mars' near zero pressure to slightly tolerable, along with the average temperature. Furthermore, the vast amounts of polarized iron dust now flowing around the planet’s lower orbit created a makeshift electromagnetic shield, reducing harmful radiation by a large degree until it was disrupted by the massive ecological disruption of Violet Dawn. Limited efforts are being made to restore it, but these have mostly been unsuccessful. This difference meant that by 2400 a space suit was no longer needed to traverse its surface. Instead, pressure suits or thick clothing, along with eye, mouth and ear protection are enough to stop the worst effects of a low pressure environment. Single-cellular life prospered as well, due to an atmosphere now rich with organic particles, but does no longer due to the wide-spread poisoning of the Martian atmosphere from the fires ignited in the Violet Dawn disaster. Due to this, Mars’ famous red colour has been replaced with patches of black, deep, burned orange, and violet in some places.
==The Solarian Navy==
Mars has a relatively long history of colonization, as well as destructive events. This has resulted in many colonies, facilities and arcology covering the wastes of the planet. One such arcology was Divitae, an independent mining colony established during the early gold rush that failed because of aging storms and lack of funds for redevelopment.
During the period of terraforming, Mars received an immense number of [[IPC|cyborgs]] to serve as its workforce. In the late part of the 22nd century, Humanity has achieved the ability to produce heavy cyborgs. Being able to function and work freely in the harsh environment, Martian terraforming firms pressed for more and more cyborg workers, but volunteers for this process were few and far between due to the risks around the procedure. Eventually, to meet demand, cyborgification was implemented as capital punishment for crimes, less and less severe as time passed. In total, between 2204, when the implementation of cyborgs started, and 2260, when it stopped, over 35 million cyborgs have been sent to Mars to serve as a workforce. The terraforming project started to backfire soon after.
<center><i>“Before the Interstellar War, the Solarian navy was the largest and most perfect fighting force in the galaxy. That is, on the surface level. The admiralty of those years made the greatest mistake of pursuing strength in infinite numbers – a decision that would culminate in the Solarian Civil War.”</i> – Excerpt from Lucien Courtois’ graduation thesis, <i>How David Defeated Goliath: The First Interstellar War</i>.</center>
The extent of the crimes Martians caused, as well other problems the synthetics caused, resulted in an overall negative view of AIs and cyborgification among the populace. Sometime after, Mars Senate constructed a large monumental graveyard for victims of forced cyborgification sometimes referred to CyTomb. Cyborgification, along with the use banned in several larger arcologies such as Crest Olympia, Greater London, Elysium and Red Gaia.
The largest single branch of the SAF is the Solarian Navy. With millions of uniformed personnel scattered across dozens — if not hundreds — of planets, garrisons, starbases, fleets, and other facilities it may very well be the largest organized fighting force in the galaxy, and has the influence to match. The Navy has long held significant sway over Solarian politics due to both its size and its vital role in securing safe interstellar commerce and travel in the Alliance. This sway has long ensured the Navy is well-funded, perhaps overfunded, and viewed positively by most citizens of the Alliance with some notable exceptions such as Callisto, which has long been at odds with the Navy over the policing of trade and commerce flowing in through the moon’s spaceports.
=== The Catastrophe of 2298 ===
But despite this approval not all was well in the Navy prior to the Solarian Collapse in 2462. The broad powers granted to the Navy to ensure the vast Alliance remained safe and secure combined with limited oversight of the Navy allowed for a culture of graft, corruption, and rampant Caesarism to take hold in its ranks. These problems only worsened as one traveled further and further from the Inner Ring as more reliable officers were inevitably kept in the more strategically important (and influential) Inner Ring while less reliable officers, and underperforming ones, were sent to the Outer Ring to keep them out of public view. These admirals were given similarly poor troops and nearly no oversight from the admiralty, which effectively allowed them to become their own masters — and to shape their assigned fleet into a force loyal to them first and the Alliance second.
The first of two major catastrophes in Martian history was the abrupt failure of its terraforming infrastructure in the winter of 2298. The entire infrastructure was linked to a single network, which suffered a serious melt-down as a result of human error. The network either shut down areas of terraforming or spit out wild algorithms that put the entire project into a tailspin. The network was restored after several days, but the result was catastrophic swings in the climate. For the next 10 years Mars experienced climactic storms that severely damaged or even destroyed arcologies and utterly wiped out smaller settlements. The atmosphere was flooded with excessive C02 that smothered people in the open without internals. Billions of credits of property damage was recorded, and millions were killed as a direct result of the disaster. It was estimated to have put back terraforming efforts by a century.
Recent events have shaken much of the Navy’s historical public approval. Defections and attrition associated with the Solarian Civil War have taken the Navy from 200 fleets to 100. Recent scandals, such as a discovery many officers were funneling supplies to radical warlords, have further impacted the Navy’s reputation in the eyes of the public. But reforms by Navy command, particularly under recently-appointed Minister of Defense Lucien Courtois, have done much to solve the Navy’s ongoing issues. The Navy’s rapid defeat of warlords in the Northern Reaches has vindicated Courtois and the reformists, and its announcement that it will soon relinquish power to civilian government has brought it much praise — though some doubt it will truly change its ways.
Despite the damages, an investigation by SolGov saw only three technicians arrested, with all three later acquitted despite anger and protest from the Martian population.
In modern times, the ruins of arcologies lost to the catastrophe remain popular spots for scavengers, explorers, and tourists. The polar canyon regions of Mars started to serve as scrapyard for obsolete and abandoned machinery. Starting in the early 2370s, megacorporations began to dispose of their obsolete lineups by storing them in gargantuan “lots” for later retrieval when the manpower needed to sustain them returned. This would never be the case, and for years to come other megacorporations would do the same in haphazardly tossing their waste electronics into the canyon regions as time went along. In 2405, legal action was taken to prevent the excessive usage of this disposal, and it quickly halted. What was left were what would be referred to as the [[Synthetic_Origins#.22Metal_Dunes.22|Metal Dunes of Mars]], endless electronic scrapheaps as far as the eye could see.
===Solarian Navy Structure===
=== The Martian World War ===
The Solarian admiralty has long devoted a significant amount of its time to the logistics and operation of the increasingly-massive Navy, which peaked at 200 fleets — each, in theory, consisting of 100 ships — shortly before the Solarian Collapse of 2462. These fleets were, prior to the Collapse and Courtois’ reforms which followed it, organized into battlegroups of five fleets for greater cohesion in the event of war, with each fleet led by an Admiral and each battlegroup led by a Fleet Admiral. However, many “battlegroups” in the Outer and Middle Rings were spread across vast distances or contained disloyal elements which prevented them from functioning properly, with only a few — such as the [[Human Wildlands#The Southern Solarian Military District|Visegrad-based 1st Middle Ring Battlegroup]] (1MRB, sometimes referred to as a “Battlefleet” locally) — able to maintain both cohesion and loyalty as the Alliance spiraled towards the Collapse. Reforms by Courtois have reduced the total number of battlegroups by increasing the number of fleets per formation to ten, which has greatly assisted in command due to reducing the number of often-bickering Fleet Admirals by half.
Considering Mars' strong ties with Earth governments and its dependence on Sol Fleets, Mars never had unified interests or tools to openly fight against the Sol Government during the [[Timeline of Humanity| First Interstellar War]]. Despite this, many Martians felt sympathetic to the Coalition of Colonies, as they felt they shared the resentment towards a growing, authoritarian oppression within the Alliance.
Navy fleets themselves are divided into three categories by the admiralty to represent their readiness in the event of an interstellar conflict. These categories are combat battlegroups, patrol battlegroups, and garrison battlegroups. Combat battlegroups are, as the name implies, fully-equipped and ready for combat at a moment’s notice. This classification generally only applied to Inner Ring battlegroups in the months before the Collapse. Standing slightly below combat battlegroups are patrol battlegroups: understrength, but otherwise combat-capable, formations fit for patrol duties but not for engaging full enemy formations. Below this swells the garrison battlegroup: an understrength formation so named as it is only trusted to hold a position and is not expected to perform complicated maneuvers. A fourth, though officially unrecognized, formation is the “ersatz” battlegroup. These formations are improvised and consist of whatever units were available at the time for the area’s Fleet Admiral. Last seen in the Interstellar War, ersatz battlegroups have returned in the Wildlands.
In the early stages of the war in 2278, the Alliance quickly pressed the small Martian self-defense force into service, merging the tiny Martian fleet into the Alliance navy. Anti-Solarian factions on Mars calling themselves the Red Coalition began rallying popular and political support based on many “injustices,”committed by the Alliance against the Martian people, an alliance which had also shown casual disregard for Mars. Financially backed by the Coalition of Colonies (CoC), on 18th of January, 2279, many Martian cities seceded from Sol Alliance and launched a coordinated, surprise attack on the rest of Mars.
[[File:Navy graduation.png|A Lunarian officer of the Solarian Navy at her graduation ceremony.|thumb]]
Unlike the Army the personnel of the Navy are heavily divided by class and background thanks to the Luna-centric nature of its admiralty and officer class, and are even further divided based upon the Ring they are located in — an ironic echo of the Interstellar War. High-ranking officers are almost always Lunan by birth, and graduation photos from the Solarian Naval Academy are dominated by the tall, thin, and pale appearances of Lunans who have grown up in the moon’s characteristically lower gravity. These Lunan officers generally settle into command roles in the Inner, and sometimes Middle, Rings due to their perceived loyalty and familial connections — some families on [[Luna]] have served the Navy since its conception and hold significant influence over it. Officers of “lesser” importance, such as those in the Middle and Outer Rings, such as Fleet Admiral Klaudia Szalai, are often recruited and educated locally, and can be of wildly varying quality and loyalty.
[[File:Navy loading.png|350px|A Solarian Navy petty officer loading a Zavodskoi-produced "Longbow" naval gun. A common sight on smaller vessels which cannot easily fit larger coilguns.|thumb]]
Much of the Navy’s enlisted personnel is recruited locally out of convenience and its enlisted ranks are overwhelmingly dominated by those of poorer economic backgrounds, particularly when compared to its Lunan officers, such as Martians, Jintarians, and residents of the Outer and Middle Rings. The men and women which make up the vast majority of the Navy’s fighting force are, like their officers, often of debatable quality due to corruption, graft, and the megalomaniac tendencies of many officers. Prior to the Collapse most of the best enlisted— regardless of their origins — were eventually transferred out of the Outer and Middle Rings and into the Inner Rings due to the Admiralty placing a greater emphasis upon the Inner Ring.
Fleet formation was, prior to the Collapse, marred by similar issues. Some fleets were recruited using the “Alliance-wide,” model where ships and personnel were recruited from across the Alliance and trained in the Sol System and its surroundings in order to ensure the best performance. These fleets were then deployed to strategic areas (generally in the Inner or Middle Rings) and placed under the command of a Solarian Naval Academy graduate to ensure the greatest possible quality. While expensive and often taking an extended period to train, these Alliance-wide fleets proved their mettle during the Collapse: no systems garrisoned by them were lost and none defected.
The loyalist arcologies became known as the Sol Coalition, or more popularly, the Blues.
But most Solarian fleets were not recruited using this method and were instead mobilized through the “system-wide,” method wherein a fleet’s personnel and officers were recruited and trained in the same system, and generally stationed nearby this system. In theory this was not a horrible idea: logically, military forces would fight harder for their homes than for another system. However, it did not result in the expected outcome: system-wide fleets were often shuffled from system to system and their shared origin made them more loyal to their admirals than the broader Alliance. Though many stayed loyal to the Alliance, and some managed fighting retreats to the Inner Ring, all defected — or otherwise lost — fleets during the Collapse were of the system-wide recruitment model.
With the mighty fleets of the Alliance out fighting in the frontier, the Blue Coalition saw very little aid from the Alliance, material or otherwise. Red Rangers, special forces under the Red Coalition, seized lightly defended orbital Alliance military stations, including nuclear-equipped missile platforms. The Red Coalition threatened to use these weapons on any planet or fleet that attempted to intervene, effectively isolating Mars and throwing it into a Cold War with Earth.
===Notable Facilities===
As military conventions prohibited direct bombing of population centers, the Red conquest consisted of prolonged sieges while unrest, terrorist attacks, and counter-offensives began to sap their ability to wage war. In the face of growing losses, the leadership of the Red Coalition gained the dubious honor of being the fourth nation in human history to use nuclear weapons in warfare. In 2284, the Red Coalition arcology of Terra Nova, facing capitulation in the face of advancing Blue forces, successfully appealed to an orbital missile platform to launch a nuclear missile on a nearby Blue arcology of New Dresden in an attempt to turn the tide of war.
Located on [[Luna]] in Harmony City, the '''Solarian Admiralty''' serves as high command for the entire Solarian Navy. While it started its existence as a small building mostly responsible for managing armed platforms tasked with destroying asteroids and other potentially harmful celestial objects, the Admiralty has grown over the intervening decades into a massive complex which is a city District unto itself. Solarian Naval Central Command (SNCC) looks over the district at nearly a hundred stories tall and stands as one of, if not the, most important buildings in the modern Alliance. The Admiralty is rumored to have dozens, if not hundreds, of underground facilities scattered across the Admiralty containing everything from mundane paperwork to intelligence on the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate to blacksites for especially infamous prisoners. Though its reputation has been tarnished by the Collapse, the Admiralty remains an unshakable feature of Luna.
This action immediately fractured the entire Red Coalition, with most of its members distancing themselves from the action and its perpetrators. Within days the majority of arcologies in the Red Coalition abandoned the alliance, and within weeks the remainder had surrendered.
Located on [[Luna]] in Hangzhou, the '''Solarian Navy Academy''' is the premier — and to Lunarians, the only — institute of naval military education in the Alliance. Established in 2115 continuously functional ever since this point the Academy, as it is often simply known, has long had a reputation of producing only the finest naval officers in the Alliance. But this reputation for excellence has made the Academy an extremely difficult institution to gain entry into — particularly if one is not from the Inner Ring. Certain Lunarian families, such as the ancient Varnhagen und Langenburg family, have long held sway over the Academy’s curriculum and membership in such a family — either by blood or covenant — is a near-certain way to gain access to its halls. Academy officers, in addition to their renowned quality, are generally more loyal to the Alliance than their non-Academy counterparts. Few Academy graduates defected during the Collapse and those that have, such as the Solarian Restoration Front’s Florentina von Keyserling, have been stricken from its graduation rolls.
The Treaty of Olympus was signed on 5th of April, 2284 featuring unconditional surrender of remaining Red Coalition states. The Alliance, negotiating on behalf of the loyalist Blues, used the treaty to place harsh restrictions on Mars. The entire planet was disarmed and all factions on it surface were banned from fielding a standing army, navy, or engaging in armed conflicts with one another. In addition, the planet was put under "indefinite" martial law, with an Alliance Admiral permanently stationed in orbit of the planet to enforce indirect martial law, overriding any local laws or ordinances.
In the orbit of Uranus lies the mundanely-named '''Solarian Naval Maintenance, Regeneration, and Repair Facility''' which is, thanks to its awful abbreviation of “'''SNMRRF'''” (occasionally phoneticized as “'''Smurf'''”), commonly referred to as “the Boneyard.” The Boneyard is a massive facility filled with outdated and mothballed hulls ranging in size from fighter aircraft to battleships which remain on the official Navy registry but are, in reality, either too outdated or too damaged to effectively operate alongside their counterparts. Boneyard vessels are, particularly since the Collapse, often cannibalized for parts or — in rare cases — “refloated” and pressed back into service. The pirate raid which brought Frost into power as Prime Minister targeted the Boneyard and stole multiple warships the former Admiral later returned with, eventually catapulting himself into popularity. Many have long theorized this “raid” and Frost’s success after was an inside job planned by Navy officers to place one of their own in power and have pointed to a multitude of “coincidences” as evidence. The fact that the raiders were never caught but were “engaged and destroyed,” the sensors monitoring Boneyard and its defenses being off at the same time, the raiders only hitting the Boneyard rather than any civilian targets or the nearby Navy sensor stations, the fact that the raiders were able to spoof a brand-new Solarian Navy ID code, and the fact that the leaker — a reformer — was one of the only deaths in the raid.
=== The Violet Dawn Explosion ===
===Notable Navy Forces===
On the seventh of November, 2462, an unprecedented disaster came to Mars in the form of the Violet Dawn explosion. Initially an attempt by the Sol Alliance to produce synthetic phoron in response to an ongoing phoron shortage crisis, the Violet Dawn program would be remembered for much more. Safety standards were neglected in Violet Dawn facilities, located on Mars’ south pole and as a result, the synthetic phoron grew out of control before igniting. The resulting conflagration completely destroyed the southern pole of Mars, demolished a multitude of arcologies in the southern hemisphere of Mars, and spread toxic - and highly flammable - phoron particles throughout the Martian atmosphere creating massive firestorms the size of entire cities combined. The official death toll of the Violet Dawn catastrophe is unknown - and will likely never truly be known - but is estimated to be in the billions. Billions more were displaced from their arcologies, creating the largest refugee crisis in recent history and straining the already-overburdened government of Mars to its breaking point. The Mars of the post-Violet Dawn Orion Spur now bears little resemblance to what came before, and how the crisis evolves remains to be seen.
'''1st Battlegroup, “The First”'''
Prime Minister Frost, before his death, issued orders and directives to be released when Operation “Violet Dawn” began and despite his death prior to the event, much of the upper brass of the Navy was still loyal to his cause. They ordered his instructions be carried out, threatening those who disobeyed with desertion and treason. Even so, some captains disregarded these orders to let the burning planet’s billions of desperate sapients, some friends and family to the crew, burn in phoron fire. These brave men and women plunged into the Red Planet’s atmosphere and filled their cargo holds with as many people as they could cram in, dumping weapons and munitions out to make room. A few rogue ships even dove into the phoron-dense areas of the planet that could’ve still potentially held survivors. Tragically, most who attempted this found their engines rendered inoperable in the exotic atmosphere and crashed before clearing the danger zone.
The most venerable and oldest of the Alliance’s battlegroups, the First has fought in every major interstellar conflict the Alliance has officially participated in. It is responsible for decisively destroying the Coalition’s naval forces in the Battle of Xanu and has long preserved the Xanusii naval battle standard captured during the battle in the Admiralty. The first five fleets of the First are overwhelmingly Lunan. The next five, which were integrated into it following Courtois’ reforms, are five of the highest-quality Alliance-wide fleets in the Alliance. Officers of the First can easily be identified by their distinctive oak leaves, which are typically placed in the side of their caps. The First is currently commanded by Fleet Admiral Ingrid von Varnhagen und Langenburg, a Lunan graduate of the Solarian Naval Academy firmly in Courtois’ reformist faction. The Fleet Admiral of the First is issued a saber as their badge of office and is expected to wear it at all times while commanding, regardless of practicality. The sword itself, while unnamed, is a priceless heirloom which has been passed down from Fleet Admiral to Fleet Admiral since the founding of the First, and to lose it is simply inconceivable.
After the Violent Dawn had effectively run its course, Frost’s staff ordered those who had defied orders quietly imprisoned and stripped of rank. After the junta took over and ousted the Frost loyalists, many of these “rogue” captains and crew managed to regain their positions. But, many more of them became disillusioned about Sol and fled the Alliance for nations such as Biesel or the Coalition.
The First was the Alliance’s vanguard force during the Solarian Intervention in San Colette, with its flagship — the SAMV ''Gunnhildr'' — the first Navy vessel in the [[San Colette|Nueva Patria System]]. After destroying the Solarian Restoration Front’s forces in the system and accepting San Colette back into the Alliance, the first went on to free much of the central Northern Reaches from Front occupation and was the first Navy battlegroup to reach the Coalition’s border. The First has since returned to its berth in the Sol System, but remains ready to deploy anywhere in the Alliance upon short notice using its advanced warp drives.
A brutal information campaign was waged against the Navy defying Frost to maintain his loyalists' control over the Alliance. Outside of eyewitnesses testimony, any hard evidence was destroyed. Though Biesel may have known some captains betrayed Frost, choosing not to report these facts when revealing the whistleblower would vilify their main rival. The administration after Frost have uncomfortably ignored the consequences of Frost’s actions, instead opting to focus on stabilizing the territory the Alliance retains. As a result, those outside the Sol System at the time of Violet Dawn may never be fully convinced of the truth.
'''[[Human Wildlands#The Southern Solarian Military District|1st Middle Ring Battlegroup]]'''
===The Solarian Army’s Reunification Campaign===
Regarded as one of the highest-quality battlegroups prior to the Collapse, the 1MRB under Fleet Admiral Klaudia Szalai, despite never formally defecting from the Alliance, spent much of the Solarian Civil War cut off from the broader Alliance and struggling against difficult odds. The five fleets of the 1MRB were understrength prior to the Collapse and were worn down by fighting against pirates, defected Solarian Navy personnel, and — at times — the Tau Ceti Foreign Legion, which it has engaged during cross-border raids by the 1MRB and border disputes with the CRZ until 2464. The 1MRB was never defeated upon the field of battle and remained steadfast in its loyalty to Sol, though many of its personnel — almost all of which hail from Visegrad or its surrounding systems — became concerned at the Navy’s non-intervention in the Southern Reaches prior to 2465.
In May of 2464 the Solarian Army under the command of Governor-General Tereza Varzieva launched an effort to “stabilize the planet and restore order to regions south of the northern pole,” thus effectively bringing Mars back under Solarian control. The Governor-General’s offensive was ultimately quite successful and the sections of Mars outside of the government’s control mostly surrendered to it or were seized by force within two months, and the expedition was declared officially over near the end of June 2464. Control and relative stability has brought Einstein Engines and other companies into the planet’s economy in an effort to assist the planet and some believe Mars could, against all odds, have a future yet.
Following the Solarian reunification the 1MRB has been folded back into the Navy’s roster of active-duty fleets alongside Myo Yunso’s nearby 6MRB, based in Sankt Frederick. The return of Visegrad to the Alliance has seen the 1MRB rearmed and restored to full strength, now equipped with modern Navy vessels and warp drives. It is now one of the major Navy forces in the Southern Reaches, and remains based in Visegrad.
== Economy and Government ==
<center><i>“What is built on sand will eventually return to dust.”</i> – Unknown.</center>
Mars' economy was previously developed and mixed, with its largest industries being orbital construction, mining, refining, energy and a small but rapidly growing hydroponics industry. Mars also enjoyed being a center of trade, prior to the catastrophe on its southern pole. In the post-Violet Dawn environment of Mars, the economic state of the planet has shrunk dramatically and is, on many parts of the planet, completely collapsed. Many areas have entirely abandoned traditional Solarian Credits for a barter system and the provisional government, despite its efforts, has made little progress in restoring a once-vibrant economy.
One of the most infamous Solarian fleets in the Navy’s history, the 35th was formed after the Interstellar War and stationed near Tau Ceti in order to keep the strategic system safe. Tau Ceti’s defection — which many 35th officers hailed from — was viewed by the Fleet as a betrayal, and its rapid embrace of aliens after the defection was viewed as a further compromise of Solarian values. This hatred has, over the years between Tau Ceti’s defection and the Collapse, twisted the 35th into what it was prior to its invasion of Tau Ceti: one of the most xenophobic, fanatical, and nationalistic Solarian fleets. The losses it suffered during the invasion and its seeming betrayal by the broader Alliance further radicalized the 35th, which returned to its berth in Lycoris and declared the Solarian Restoration Front in 2462, and rapidly set about purging aliens — who they blamed for the Collapse — from the area they controlled. Though the Navy has officially disavowed the 35th and declared its officers traitors to the Alliance many, particularly those formerly loyal to Frost, flocked to its banner.
With over half of the planet rendered uninhabitable by the aftermath of Violet Dawn and many of its richest cities - such as Olympia - turned into smoldering ruins heavily contaminated by phoron, much of the Martian economy now lies in literal ruins. Even cities not immediately destroyed by the Violet Dawn explosion have been damaged by it, with trace elements of phoron in the air often sparking flash fires around electronics, previously relied upon water sources contaminated by the same phoron that now causes numerous flash fires around Mars’ remaining arcologies, and the contaminated air chokes the engines of shuttles that once enjoyed easy flights through the low gravity of the planet. The wealthiest - and largest - of the remaining arcologies is now Kunlun, the center of the planet’s official government.
In 2465 the Front began the War in the Northern Wildlands through an invasion of the nearby Middle Ring Shield Pact. Though it initially found success the 35th Fleet and its fellow Front fleets were defeated by the Solarian Navy during its intervention and have been officially struck from the Navy’s fleet roster. Many of its flag officers now await trial at the hands of the Solarian Department of Justice for the crimes they committed during the Solarian Civil War.
While Mars may have, before Violet Dawn, been known for its energy and orbital construction sectors, the most valuable resource on the planet is now something most residents of the Orion Spur take for granted: water. With the secession of Konyang, one of the Solarian Alliance’s primary providers of fresh water, and the destruction of its southern ice cap along with contamination of open-air water sources by airborne phoron, the water situation on Mars has become quite dire. [[Einstein Engines]] has stepped into this market as of 2464 and intends to terraform some areas of Mars to be less contaminated and more readily able to provide clean water and food to those who remain on the planet.
'''25th Fleet'''
=== Government ===
When the 25th, primarily consisting of Silversunners, was ordered into Biesel to stop rogue Admiral Michael Frost it could have never anticipated the consequences its orders would have for the Spur. Despite the apprehension its officers and enlisted felt when they were ordered into what was, at least officially, a rebellious Solarian system ruled by an illegitimate government, the 25th followed its orders. The 25th was badly mauled by the 33rd in one of the first engagements between Solarian Navy vessels since the Interstellar War, but it pushed the 33rd out of the system and returned Biesel to a modicum of normality. The population of Biesel was understandably cold towards them, but the Admiralty promised rewards for the deed. But no rewards appeared as, nearly as soon as he had been imprisoned, Frost was swept back into power and became Prime Minister. The new PM punished the 25th severely, and sent them to an ignominious duty: to serve as an auxiliary for one of the worst battlegroups in the Navy, the 10th Middle Ring Battlegroup. But the 25th was not broken by this and, thanks to its superior equipment and training, they fought their way back to their original berth of Silversun, arriving battered and bruised — yet unbowed — in summer 2463 to a hero’s welcome. Now the 25th has a new home: the prestigious 1st Battlegroup.
[[Image:ASSN-PGM_V2.png|thumb|The flag of the Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations' Provisional Government of Mars, the sole remnant of Mars' pre-Violet Dawn administration.]]
The 25th Fleet was the first Solarian Navy force to engage the Solarian Restoration Front in 2465 and was present during the Navy’s intervention in the Nueva Patria System, where it served as the screening force for the dreadnought SAMV ''Gunnhildr''. Perhaps no Solarian Navy force fought harder than the 25th did, and they were the first fleet to reach the Coalition’s border.
The Martian government was, like its economy, devastated in the aftermath of the Violet Dawn catastrophe. The antiquated, bloated, and corrupt Martian government - with its highly-decentralized nature - was unable to handle the unparalleled crisis posed by the Violet Dawn disaster and quickly collapsed under its own weight, leaving much of the planet without a government beyond surviving local arcologies in the days immediately after the disaster. As the aftermath of Violet Dawn - columns of terrified refugees, imploding economies, and contaminated water - became apparent more and more of these local governments, already stretched thin by widespread civil unrest before the Violet Dawn explosion, began to collapse - thrusting more and more of Mars into a state of anarchy.
With a collapsed civil government and widespread damage due to the Violet Dawn explosion, much of Mars existed in a governmentless anarchy where the strongest group ruled over a petty statelet. The one region of the planet with a semblance of traditional authority esd the Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations’ Provisional Government of Mars (ASSN-PGM), a military-led transitional authority that controls the largest remaining non-contaminated drinking water source on Mars: the northern ice cap. The ASSN-PGM was led by the recently-promoted Governor-General Tereza Varzieva from her headquarters in the newly-unified Kunlun and represents the only government officially recognized by the greater Solarian Alliance. The military government also controlled some of the only functional shuttleports on Mars, with southern ports often having air too contaminated by phoron for typical air and spacecraft to fly. The ASSN-PGM has absolute control over Unified Kunlun, the northern ice cap, Mysteron, Marvinia, Chicago, and Draka - making it the largest single government on the Martian surface by far. While the ASSN-PGM was referred to as “yet another," example of Solarian repression by some Coalition of Colonies member states, its region is - in part due to one advantage it has over other warlords: orbital naval support - became the most stable on Mars.
===Solarian Ship Classes===
As such it should come as no surprise that the ASSN-PGM launched an offensive in 2464 to retake and reclaim what regions were still inhabitable but dwelled out of its control. The expedition was successful and the ASSN-PGM now controls the majority of the planet’s surface, though that control is often tenuous and sometimes debatable due to the resources required to maintain Solarian Army control and the difficulty of shipping materials via aircraft or shuttle as a result of phoronic contamination. As a result of this the Governor-General has not yet called for elections due to “continuing instability in many regions,” of Mars. Some outside observers believe this is nothing more than an attempt by the Governor-General to retain her power and to prevent a Martian government — which will almost certainly be opposed to the current junta — from forming.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
'''Carrier'''
== Major Martian Remnants==
<center><i>“I’m gonna die, aren’t I? I’m so cold, and I’m never gonna see home again,”</i> — Rebecca Martins (2440-2462), former resident of Olympus and victim of phoron poisoning, in a hospital in Red Gaia on 09 December, 2462.</center>
'''Crest Olympia''' was, until the establishment of the ASSN-PGM government zone, the seat of government on Mars following the immediate aftermath of the Violet Dawn explosion. However the arcology’s status as the most important city on Mars was not to last for long as the capital was shortly transferred to the newly-unified Kunlun. Now, stripped of Sol Alliance patrols and facing a mounting refugee crisis, Crest Olympia struggles to remain a functional arcology in the Martian anarchy. One bright spot in the darkness is the arcology’s good relations with the remaining government forces on Mars, which often send cargo shuttles laden with direly needed humanitarian supplies to its still functional ports.
The carrier occupies a critical role in Solarian operational doctrine along with the battleships it supports. Carriers are often the largest and most important ships in a Solarian fleet and typically serve as flagships. The largest of this class are hundreds of meters long and are often regarded as floating cities due to the size of their crews. Carrier classes are generally named after geographic features.
'''Red Gaia''' was, prior to the Violet Dawn catastrophe, an arcology that proudly rejected the Sol Alliance in its official rhetoric. Its government, having witnessed the seeming abandonment of Martians by Sol following the catastrophe, threw open its doors for any and all refugees that could prove their loyalty to Mars above their loyalty to the Alliance. This stance, coupled with the arcology’s almost fanatical dedication to broadcasting it, was disastrous for it. With an extremely overtaxed government, huge overcrowding, and absolutely no outside assistance arriving from other arcologies, Red Gaia, despite its dedication to Martian nationalism, effectively collapsed under its own weight. The arcology surrendered to Solarian Army forces in May, 2464, and was nearly destroyed by rioting following the surrender. The arcology remains heavily patrolled by the Solarian Army, and few believe it will ever reach its former glory.
'''Supercarrier'''
'''Unified Kunlun''', previously known as Kunlun and Free Kunlun, is the technical capital of Mars and the planetside headquarters of the ASSN-PGM. Both arcologies were torn apart by civil unrest as a result of the Third Tajara Ban and placed under martial law in the days leading up to the Violet Dawn explosion. In a twisted way, this allowed the arcologies to weather the effects of the catastrophe better than perhaps any other arcology on Mars. Unified Kunlun, thanks to its location in the far north of Mars, has no overcrowding or refugee issues and is one of the few locations where shuttles travel freely between space and the Martian surface. If not for the large numbers of Solarian troops in the arcologies, or the fact that most tajara have disappeared to repatriation centers, life would seem almost normal here.
With only a few ever built the supercarriers of the Solarian Navy are very rarely seen outside of the Jewel Worlds. These gargantuan vessels are nearly a kilometer long and stand as some of the largest vessels ever constructed in the Orion Spur. A supercarrier is always the flagship of its fleet and none have ever been lost in combat. Supercarriers have a near-mythical reputation in the Alliance due to their rarity and Navy-funded media, which often promotes them as the peak of Solarian military might. Some in the Navy grumble at this deification, instead viewing the tried-and-true dreadnoughts as the peak of the Navy. Ships of the only active supercarrier class used by the Navy, the Thule-class, derive their names from mythological geographical features.
'''Dreadnought'''
The most well-armed and heavily-armored of the Solarian Navy’s battleship classes are designated as dreadnoughts by the Admiralty. To many the dreadnoughts are the unbeatable pride of the Navy which helped it win victory after victory in the Interstellar War before cowardly politicians snatched it from them. To others they are a reminder of how backwards-facing the Navy can be at times, and how obsessed many of its officers have become with its former glories. Recently reformers have chipped away at much of the dreadnought’s mythical image, and the classification may very well be on its last legs due to recent naval reforms. Fitting their near-mythic reputation, ships of these classes are generally named after mythological figures.
'''Battleship'''
Solarian battleships are heavily-armed and heavily-armored testaments to the unchallenged naval supremacy of the Alliance. Battleships were commonly seen in all three Rings of the Alliance prior to the Collapse and now often serve as flagships of defected or rogue fleets. These ships-of-the-line are often in disrepair due to having been run ragged by their warlord masters and are, generally speaking, outdated compared to contemporary examples still loyal to the Alliance. Both battleships and fast battleships are typically named after cities.
'''Fast Battleship'''
A post-Interstellar War innovation, the fast battleship classes of the Solarian Navy are intended to fill gaps in patrol fleets where a full battleship is unnecessary but a cruiser is insufficient. Fast battleships trade armor and firepower for speed and operational range, making them ideal for patrols in the former Alliance Neutral Zone. Following the Collapse many ships of this class ended up in the hands of warlords due to the class primarily serving in the Middle and Outer Rings. Here they have excelled at a role they were never meant for: raiding and terrorizing the civilian populations they were built to protect.
'''Cruiser'''
Cruisers have long served as the backbone of the Solarian Navy. These vessels are typically divided into two classes: light and heavy. Like their larger counterparts, both categories of destroyers are generally named after cities with light cruisers favoring the cities of the Middle and Outer Rings. Many heavy cruisers are instead named after prominent Solarian figures, perhaps due to their captains wishing to imitate the larger and grander battleships of the Navy.
'''Heavy Cruiser'''
Heavy cruisers such as the Taipei-class represent the peak of Solarian cruiser design. These heavily-armed and heavily-armored vessels closely resemble the battleships they escort but are significantly less expensive due to their smaller size. Many prospective future admirals seek to command a heavy cruiser for both this reason and for the prestige commanding one brings.
'''Light Cruiser'''
While less prestigious than their heavier counterparts, light cruisers fill a valuable niche in the Solarian Navy. Light cruisers are fast vessels which can operate for long distances without resupplying, which easily allows them to serve as the lead vessels of patrols when fast battleships are not available. However, most officers who one day aspire to command a fleet avoid light cruisers for this very reason: while it may mean command of a squadron, it is a command which affords very little prestige and is often assigned to those who lack the money or connections to play the Navy’s influence game. With most commanded by officers of debatable ability or loyalty (and at times a lack of both) it should come as no great surprise that this ship class often forms the backbone of warlord fleets in the Wildlands.
'''Destroyer'''
Destroyers are well-armed but small vessels designed to assist the Alliance’s battlegroups and to protect the ships that truly matter: cruisers, battleships, and carriers. Prior to the Collapse destroyers were a common sight in the Middle and Outer Ring’s anti-piracy patrols, where they often commanded groups of smaller vessels. Now they are commonly seen in the fleets of warlords, where they serve much the same purpose. Destroyer and destroyer escort class ships derive their names from stellar objects, though exceptions exist due to the sheer number of destroyers in the Solarian Navy.
'''Escort Destroyer'''
Only barely larger than a frigate, escort destroyers are intended to provide a modicum of protection to civilian and military convoys across the Alliance. Faster and fitted with better warp drives than many larger ships, a surprising amount of escort destroyers stationed in the Middle and Outer Ring opted to evacuate to the Inner Ring rather than remaining to assist warlords. Some naval scholars believe this is due to most destroyer escort captains and crews having been local recruits in their systems, and there are many stories from shortly after the Collapse of ships of this class limping into systems such as Sol filled with terrified refugees and exhausted sailors.
'''Frigate'''
Smaller than both destroyer classes and yet larger than a corvette, Solarian Navy frigates were a common sight in all three Rings prior to the Collapse. Though originally intended to serve exclusively as escort vessels for larger ships, frigates have, particularly in recent years, been pressed into a variety of roles they were never meant for such as pirate-hunting operations. Up-gunned variations of common frigate designs were often the best ships available in the Outer Ring for anti-piracy patrols and system defense. These ships have proven ill-equipped to fight off the forces of defected warlord fleets, and most have been destroyed or themselves defected. A sad fate for the ships of a class of little importance to the Lunan-dominated Admiralty. Due to their sheer number, frigates follow no clear naming scheme.
'''Corvette'''
The smallest rated combat vessels in the Solarian Navy, corvettes are often commanded by new officers or officers deemed failures by their superiors. Few officers wish to command a corvette for long, rightfully viewing them as career-killers in a Navy obsessed with larger ship classes. The Wildlands is covered in wrecks of this ship class as a result of constant squabbles between petty warlords over territory. With much of the support structure these warlord fleets rely on gone, corvettes are often the first vessels scrapped for spare parts — and some desperate scavengers plunder these plundered wrecks, hoping to find even tiny scraps of useful materials. Like frigates, corvettes follow no consistent naming scheme.
'''Support Craft'''
The unsung and unappreciated wheels which ensure the Solarian Navy continues to turn, support craft and their crews are typically looked down upon by “real” warships and their crews. The classes found under this category are stunningly diverse and include everything from massive Hephaestus-produced fuel tankers to small courier vessels designed to carry the small-scale cargo required to keep a fleet fed and happy. Many smaller warlords have very limited access to these support vessels, which has made them a target of raids and assaults as the struggle to fuel defected ships continues.
'''Carrier-Launched Aircraft'''
Covering everything from multi-crew bombers to unmanned drones, carrier-based vessels are a cornerstone of the Navy which has long fought battleships for influence. Most of the time battleships have won this battle of influence, but some believe — particularly with recent reforms — that carriers and their craft will have their day in the limelight soon enough.
</div></div>
==The Solarian Marine Corps==
<center><i>“Look like you know the joke right like you have to know it come ooooon. The whole joke of like ‘you don’t have to worry about asking if somebody’s a marine since they’ll tell you!‘”</i> - Unknown Callistean bartender speaking to an Sol Alliance News Network reporter regarding the Navy’s presence on [[Callisto]] (2458).</center>
[[File:Marines training.png|250px|thumb|In order to become a full marine, a Corps recruit must first pass one of the most rigorous EVA training programs in the Spur. Many do not.]]
Though technically an independent branch of the SAF the Solarian Marine Corps (SMC) is regarded by most as simply an extension of the Navy. They travel in Navy ships, fight the Navy’s battles alongside it, and generally do whatever they are told to do by the Navy. Marines rarely do any operations without the assistance of the Navy and rarely set foot on planets, instead reserving such duties for the underfunded Solarian Army. The SMC’s unofficial status as a vassal state of the Navy has brought boons to it such as funding, prestige, and eager recruits thanks to multiple lucrative deals with [[Venus|Cytherean]] media moguls. Many Solarian children and teenagers see marines as heroes who are capable of doing anything they are asked to do as long as it benefits the Alliance.
But the reality is often different from the glitzy, Cytherean image projected by popular culture. Marines are often recruited from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and are looked down upon by many Navy officers for this reason, and Marine officers are expected to defer to the judgement of their Naval counterparts even if they are of the same rank. The Army looks down upon Marines for a different reason: it views them a “toy army” subordinate to the Navy due to marines rarely seeing extended periods of ground combat like the Army has. The Army’s bitterness has been further compounded by the Marines consistently receiving more funding, and thus better equipment, due to Navy influence.
But despite this the morale of the Marines remains high. Most wholeheartedly view themselves as elite infantry of the SAF which do what others will not, and view the Army as an organization of complainers and losers who simply lack the gung-ho attitude needed to fight a modern spacefaring conflict. Their extensive funding has ensured most negative press, such as the amount of marines currently fighting for various warlords and the Army’s opinion of them, has remained out of the public view. Connections, and greased palms, in the Cytherean entertainment industry have served to make the reality of the situation something only the dedicated are aware of.
===Notable Marine Formations===
[[File:Marines SRF.png|300px|thumb|Assembled marines of the 15th Marine Regiment, now serving as part of the Solarian Restoration Front.]]
'''1st Marine Division'''
The 1st has, for countless years, been the Marine division assigned to guard the ships of the elite 1st Battlegroup of the Solarian Navy. Well-trained and well-equipped, the 1st served with distinction during the Interstellar War but has not fought in a major conflict since. Its marines are primarily recruited from the Lunan working class and are generally looked down upon by the upper and middle class Lunans which serve as the 1st Battlegroup’s officers. However, as most enlisted sailors come from similar working-class Lunan backgrounds, there is a great amount of camaraderie between marines and enlisted Navy personnel. The Army often holds the 1st Division as an example of how the Marines receive immense funding but do nothing at all as the Division was stationed near Mars but not a single member participated in the Mars Campaign.
This marine regiment, which defected to the Solarian Restoration Front, served as the Marine detachment for the 35th Fleet of the Solarian Navy. Even before their defection the 15th was plagued by rumors of corruption and Caesarism in addition to a documented history of abuse towards non-humans. The 35th Fleet spent a great amount on ensuring these rumors were quashed while it was still loyal to Sol. However during the 35th’s incursion into Tau Ceti the 15th’s behavior became so open it could no longer be hidden, and flickery videos of its marines executing Legionnaires became a common sight on the Biesel extranet during and immediately following the incursion.
During the War in the Northern Wildlands the 15th became infamous for its brutality against civilians and opposing forces, but was ultimately destroyed during the Battle of D’Anzin by the combined forces of the Colettish Civil Guard and 2nd Venusian Air Cavalry Division. Few marines of the 15th surrendered and most fought to the death, and what officers remain are currently awaiting trial by the Solarian Department of Justice. Like the 33rd, it has been officially struck from the Solarian roster.
'''33rd Marine Regiment'''
Prior to his ascension as Prime Minister the 33rd served under the command of then-Admiral Michael Frost. They participated in his invasion of [[Biesel]] and, despite an internal inquiry by the Solarian Armed Forces, escaped all charges levied against them. The 33rd’s loyalty to Frost intrinsically tied their fate to his, even after his imprisonment, and saw their trustworthiness decline in the eyes of the broader SAF. Even Frost’s ascension to power, which saw him restore his loyal regiment to power and use them — at the protest of the Army — as personal guards, only served to temporarily stop the regiment’s fall from grace. After Frost’s death the regiment was pounced upon by reformist actors in the Navy and promptly disbanded, with many of its former officers shipped off to undisclosed prisons for poorly-defined crimes. Even before Frost’s body was cold the 33rd was formally struck from the Corps’ register, and will likely never return to it again.
==The Solarian Army==
<center><i>“I don’t give a rat’s ass what your Admiral says marine! Unless you can get the PM down here and order me to stand aside, I’m not gonna be letting you into the building! You’re gonna stand down, now! I said now goddammit!”</i> - 1st Lieutenant Anthony “Andy” Bonaccio moments before the Revolt of the Officers devolved into a gunfight. Bonaccio would later go on to become the Alliance’s Secretary of the Army.</center>
[[File:Army embassy.png|400px|thumb|Solarian Army soldiers stationed as guards outside of a Solarian government building.]]
The second-largest SAF branch is the often-neglected Solarian Army. Chronically underfunded, the Army has existed in the shadow of the Navy since the Interstellar War and must often make do with hand-me-down equipment passed over or otherwise discarded by the Marines. A culture of bitterness towards the Navy and the Marines, which the Army views as a subordinate branch of the Navy, has engendered a desire in the Army to do better than the Navy despite the challenges. As an institution it is significantly less corrupt and prone to Caesarism than the Navy is and, thanks to reforms undertaken after the Interstellar War, has long been viewed by the civilian government as an ally instead of an enemy. Army troops have long been used as guards by Solarian government institutions aside from Navy facilities, which utilize Marine guards, due to their loyalty to the government.
Unlike the Navy the Solarian Army generally recruits entire divisions from individual planets and trains them in local facilities. These units typically serve as the local garrison of a Solarian member state until they are needed elsewhere, at which point they are mobilized and shipped — much to the ire of Army command — by the Navy to wherever they are needed. Army Central Command itself has long been headquartered on Unity Station and is located within walking distance of the Prime Minister’s office. Interestingly, Central Command has no fixed unit to guard it: instead, in order to avoid favoritism, the division tasked with protecting it is rotated on a two-year basis. At the time of the Collapse the chosen unit was the 37th Martian Mechanized Division, more popularly known as the “Red Devils.” Due to the mysterious nature of Prime Minister Frost’s death and his seeming lack of care for Mars, rumors that the 37th killed him have swirled since before his body was cold. The 37th has since rotated back to Mars, where it served with distinction during the reunification campaign. While currently a volunteer-only force the Solarian Army is, in theory, able to petition the government to institute a draft in times of emergency. This draft has not been used since the Interstellar War, and few imagine it would ever pass unless a second were to begin.
While Army equipment and training, unlike their SDF counterparts, is standardized across the board certain member states have gained a reputation of supplying the Army with higher-quality units than others. Despite its poor reputation with many figures in the broader Alliance the Army generally views [[Mars]] as providing the best units due to many seeing it as one of their only ways to get off-world. [[Silversun]], with the [[Silversun#The Originals|Originals]] forming a similar group, is similarly prized as are units recruited from [[Venus#Jintarian Culture|Venusian Jintarians]]. On the contrary Luna is viewed by most as providing some of the poorest-quality troops for the Army. Many have speculated as to why this is, and some Army officials have gone as far to accuse the Navy of deliberately sabotaging Army recruitment efforts on the moon. Pluto provides similarly poor-quality troops as its ruling government zealously guards its best troops for its internal security forces and only provides the Army with wash-outs and other poor troops. Very few [[Pluto|Plutonian]] or [[Luna|Lunarian]] units are trusted with anything other than garrison duty.
Recently the Army-Navy struggle seems to be shifting towards a more even playing field due to Army successes and Navy failures. During a period where the Navy was at its lowest before recent reforms the Army proved itself effective in a decisive campaign where it [[Mars#The Solarian Army’s Reunification Campaign|regained control over much of Mars]]. Army Central Command has viewed this as a massive victory and it has secured a great amount of positive press for the long-beleaguered and underfunded Army. Whether or not this wave of success will continue with the Navy’s recent reforms, and a promise of return to civilian government, remains to be seen.
===Notable Army Divisions===
[[File:Army Mars.png|400px|thumb|Soldiers of the 37th Martian Mechanized Division during the Martian Campaign of 2464.]]
'''1st Earther Infantry Division, “Big Red One”'''
One of the oldest continuously-serving divisions in the Alliance, the 1st Infantry Division has fought in every major war the SAF has become involved in. In addition to service in the Interstellar War and the recent Mars Campaign the 1st was the Army division which thwarted the Revolt of the Officers and, as a result, has long been one of the first divisions the civilian government pulls guards from. This division is recruited from Earth and primarily draws its recruits from the United States, though it contains Earthers from across the globe in its ranks.
'''2nd Venusian Air Cavalry Division, “Jintaria’s Claws”'''
Formed slightly after the Interstellar War from primarily-Jintarian units recruited on Venus during the Interstellar War, the 2nd Venusian is an elite Army division intended to be deployed from dropships into extremely tough situations. The 2nd is primarily made up of Jintarians, though some Cytherean crashouts are present. Traditionally, Jintarian 2nd Venusian recruits will give themselves a cheek scar to symbolically note their separation from appearance-obsessed Cythereans. The 2nd was not deployed to Mars due to concerns phoron in the air would choke the engines of its dropships and gunships, which has left the elite division bitter and eager for action. It received this action in 2465, when it was deployed to D’Anzin and assisted Colettish Civil Guard forces in the defeat of the Solarian Restoration Front’s invasion. The 2nd Venusian is, aside from their scars, well-known for their distinctive “cavalry” hats.
The oldest continuously-serving Martian division, the “Red Devils” were originally formed from an amalgamation of pro-Sol SDF units during the [[Mars#The Martian World War|Martian World War]]. The 37th served with distinction during the Martian World War and earned its nickname from the large amount of dust its units would kick up on the open plains of Mars. Following the War it was formally integrated into the Solarian Army as a division and has served with distinction since. It was one of the most-engaged divisions during the Mars Campaign of 2464. Few members of the division perished in the Violet Dawn catastrophe thanks to its garrison being located in Kunlun, far in the Martian north. Despite this performance rumors that the 37th assassinated Prime Minister Frost have continued to swirl, and may haunt the division for decades to come. The traditional 37th sleeve patch is a red devil on a blue background, and is intended to show Martian unity with the Alliance.
Recruited primarily from the [[Callisto#Government|Port Authority of Callisto]], the Commonwealth Marines are the Army’s only unit which specializes into zero-gravity combat in spaceborne objects such as stations, ships, and EVA environments. The Commonwealth Marines and the Solarian Marines have an infamously poor relationship due to the 3rd Callistean’s use of the term Marines in their name, and those of the division are known to get into off-duty brawls with Navy Marines in the Ringpole District. Callistean military police and CMPD officers generally let the Commonwealth Marines, who are quite popular on Callisto, go with barely a slap on the wrist. The division is easily recognized by their black berets with gold-and-red badges — a color choice deliberately designed to resemble the Callistean flag.
'''4th Haiphongese Armored Division, “Habs on Wheels”'''
Many [[New Hai Phong|Haiphongese]] divisions become hopelessly stuck in the quagmire of corruption which defines so much of life on the planet. Not the 4th, which has proven to be stunningly resistant to corruption since its founding in the mid-2300s. 4th tankers are primarily recruited from the crime-riddled Ton Gwai Pei, which many young Haiphongers are eager to escape. They are then trained in armored drills in the harsh deserts outside the megalopolises of New Hai Phong in the operation of the Army’s standard M35A6 tank modified for the environment of New Hai Phong. Typically of shorter builds to fit comfortably into their modified tanks, their gas masks — which they almost always wear while in their vehicles — are typically customized in the traditional Haiphongese style. Some are intended to call back to the hab the tanker came from, while others use the colors of gangs the tankers were previously affiliated with. The 4th was a major participant in the Mars Campaign, where its harsh-environment training and NHP-adapted tanks proved an unbeatable force on the Martian plains.
A relative oddity in the 2400s, the 12th is a unit specialized into waterborne operations due to its origins on [[Silversun]]. In addition to waterborne operations the 12th is trained to fight in harsh environments such as the jungles and rainforests of Silversun, and is often used by the local governor to track down and apprehend criminal elements — such as poachers — who believe the dense undergrowth can hide them from Solarian authorities. This duty has caused them to sometimes be referred to sarcastically as “the Army’s Park Rangers,” by other units, and this is a surefire way to become involved in a brawl if said to most 12th soldiers. Though most commonly known for the green camouflage “Silversunner” boonie caps they often wear on patrol, 12th officers prize their distinctive blue-and-silver kepis they are issued when commissioned, though few wear them in the jungle due to fears of spoiling the cap’s fabric.
===Notable Army Equipment===
The '''M469 assault rifle''' is the standard assault rifle of the Solarian Armed Forces and is used by both the Army and the Marines. The rifle is rare for being designed for the Army first and then adopted by the Marines, who became fond of the design. The M469 was originally produced by [[Zavodskoi Interstellar]] but, since the founding of the [[Sol Alliance#Economics|Solarian Corporate Authority]], has started to be mostly produced by nationalized Solarian factories. It has a vast number of variants and is used by every Solarian Army and Marine unit, and has found use in many of the Alliance’s better-equipped System Defense Forces. Those SDFs which cannot afford it often make do with local designs or surplus weaponry, which can range from relatively recent to decades old.
One of the most powerful tools available in Solarian Army operations is the '''M35A6 main battle tank'''. Though a nearly thirty year old design at this point, the M35A6 has gone through six updates which have kept it on the level of other, competing tanks such as the [[Dominian Imperial Military#Imperial Army|Dominian Imperial Army’s]] JA-57/2 breakthrough tank. It is, however, fairly dated compared to Marine equipment, particularly in its targeting matrix, and consumes a frightening amount of fuel. However, the relatively simple construction of the M35A6 has allowed a multitude of variants to be produced. One of the most notable is the M35A6/NHP (New Hai Phong) used by the 4th Haiphongese Armored Division, a slightly smaller variation of the typical M35A6 which notably features a large atmospherics filtering system on its rear. The M35A6/NHP’s filters, originally designed to survive the environment of New Hai Phong, allowed it to excel on the Martian surface.
Primarily associated with the 2nd Venusian, the '''AH-52 “Tarantula Wasp”''' multi-role helicopter is one of the Solarian Army Air Force’s most beloved designs. First used in 2452, the AH-52 is a relatively modern design and was rapidly produced for the 2nd Venusian to replace its aging helicopter fleet. It is capable of carrying up to a squad of troops and supporting them with a vigorous array of weaponry while easier enduring hits thanks to judicious armor and an on-board shield generator. While not deployed during the Mars Campaign the AH-52 proved its worth during the Solarian Intervention in the Northern Reaches, where it was used to devastating effect by the 2nd Venusian.
The '''Basilisk Armored Exosuit''' is one of the most common Solarian Army “vehicles” in operation. Though dated in its design, as the Basilisk’s original frame dates to the late 2420s, it is capable of being surprisingly mobile thanks to its four-legged design and can be equipped with a vast array of weaponry and equipment, effectively allowing it to serve in any environment. Basilisks are also used by the Solarian Marine Corps and the Navy, and these variants are almost always more modern designs than their Army equivalents. Thanks to its flexibility and armament the Basilisk is easily capable of handling most ground-based threats short of heavy tanks on the battlefield and readily outclasses the improvised exosuits of the [[Tau Ceti Foreign Legion]], which it demonstrated itself as easily capable of destroying during the 35th Fleet’s incision.
==System Defense Forces==
<center><i>“Nowhere is the state of our armed forces more obvious than in the miserable condition of many local forces. They are, seemingly as a rule, under-equipped, under-funded, and under-motivated. What I would give for every one of them to resemble [[San Colette]]!”</i> - Fleet Admiral Ingrid von Varnhagen und Langenburg, commanding officer of the First Battlegroup, in an interview with the SANN recorded on 16 August 2462. </center>
[[File:Militia Visegrad.png|400px|thumb|Many local military forces, such as those on [[Visegrad]] found themselves sorely tested by the Collapse. Many collapsed, unable to endure the pressure.]]
An institution that predates the Interstellar War, System Defense Forces (SDFs) are intended to serve as local military forces when the Navy is either unavailable or in need of additional forces to support its operations. Many SDFs defected during the Interstellar War, which greatly reduced their prestige in the eyes of the Navy and their importance in the eyes of the admiralty. Loyalist and Coalition SDFs sustained some of the highest rates of losses during the Interstellar War due to their poorer training and equipment, and many on both sides simply dissolved at the war’s end due to these losses.
Modern Solarian SDFs suffer from much of the same problems their Interstellar War counterparts did: due to being funded primarily by the system they are stationed in, many have outdated equipment and poor training which causes a lack of respect from the Navy. While there are some exceptions to this rule, such as the well-funded and, as a result, well-trained and well-equipped [[San Colette#The Civil Guard|Colettish Civil Guard]], most existing SDFs prior to the Collapse were barely able to patrol and secure their immediate surroundings without Navy assistance, let alone fight off serious threats. Compounding these issues is a regulation which impacts all SDF vessels: due to the mass defections of many during the Interstellar War no SDF vessels are equipped with warp drives capable of warping without a warp gate’s assistance. Though originally intended as a safeguard against further SDF defections, this regulation has greatly limited the capabilities of SDFs, and has rendered them only able to patrol areas with ready access to warp lanes.
During the Solarian Collapse these faults were laid bare for the entire Spur to see. Most SDFs stood no chance against [[Human Wildlands#The Southern Fleet Administration|emboldened pirates]] or [[Human Wildlands#The Solarian Restoration Front|rogue Navy forces]] as, for many of them, the largest ships they had access to were outdated and often poorly-maintained frigates, one of the smallest classes of combat-capable ships in the Solarian Navy. While some SDFs possessed larger vessels such as cruisers only a handful possessed anything capable of challenging capital ships. Faced with destruction or defection, many SDFs opted to join local warlords or occupying forces, such as Biesel, for protection and, much like their Interstellar War counterparts, steady pay. Some, motivated by patriotism or a desire to ensure the safety of those they protected, fought to the bitter end or managed to retreat to the Inner Ring.
The SDFs that survived the Collapse relatively intact, such as the Civil Guard and other forces of the Middle Ring Shield Pact or the Visegradi NDF, or successfully retreated to the Inner Ring now stand as some of the most battle-hardened naval forces of the Alliance, and many vessels which retreated to the Inner Ring have been retrofitted and integrated into the Navy itself. Though they could not stabilize the Wildlands on their own the SDFs of the Northern and Southern Reaches performed more effectively than almost anyone imagined, and have vindicated themselves in the eyes of the Solarian military. Those which have survived — and remained loyal to Sol — are rapidly being rearmed and modernized. For the first time in modern history, SDFs are being equipped with independent warp drives which will — in theory — give them a greater degree of autonomy and free up Navy assets from patrols.
This location is centered in the Jewel Worlds region.
Centered in the heart of the Sol Alliance and largely safe from any common galactic dangers, the Jewel Worlds are the pride of Humanity to some, and a massive bane to others. Here is where the first colonization from Humanity arose, and where the Interstellar War was powered, producing an extremely polarized mindset against it amongst the Colonial territories. Nearly sixty billion Humans can be found here with an undetermined amount of aliens. Among the Jewel Worlds are the entirety of the Sol star system, Epsilon Eridani, New Hai Phong, and Silversun. The Jewel Worlds possess two bluespace gates, one from Sol to Konyang - which is in the process of being dismantled - and another from Epsilon Eridani to Qerrbalak.
A view of pre-Violet Dawn biodome complexes in Olympia.
Mars (Sol IV) is the fourth planet out from Sol. Often called “The Red Planet,” it has a surface area the size of Earth's entire landmass. It had a stable population of 4.5 billion people, and its current population is estimated to be anywhere from 1.5 to 2 billion. Around 4% of the population is non-human, a significant reduction caused by the Third Tajara Deportation Act and the Violet Dawn catastrophe (Mars’ non-human population previously stood at 12%). There is a significant minority of synthetics on the planet; a hold-over from Mars' early years of harsh criminal justice allowing corporations to cyborgify criminals responsible for major crimes.
Despite its proximity to Earth, during the early years of interstellar colonization Mars was only home to small scientific expeditions and outposts that etched out a meager existence until the 2200's, when terraforming technology was finally able to slowly reintroduce water and atmosphere to the planet. Currently the atmosphere is breathable but incredibly thin, which makes strenuous efforts outside the arcologies very dangerous. Many regions also suffer from airborne phoron contamination, adding further danger to already hazardous activities outside arcologies.
Until recently an Alliance fleet remained in orbit of Mars at all times, ensuring that the planet remains disarmed and free of armed disputes. Following the so-called “Violet Dawn” explosion in 2462, Mars now finds itself worse-off than ever before; in the wake of an ecological catastrophe and plagued by unrest and violence.
Demographics
“In terms of population on Mars itself I don’t think we’ll ever see a return to pre-Violet Dawn levels. Martians, particularly rural Martians, have fled in the millions since it happened and show no sign of returning soon,” - Solarian sociologist Doctor Richard B. Kemp (2418 - ) in an unaired interview with the Alliance News Network.
While Martians may have previously been divided into urban and rural demographics the catastrophic aftermath of Violet Dawn has rent these past divisions asunder. With millions - perhaps billions - dead in the disaster and its immediate aftermath, billions displaced, and millions having fled the planet Martian demographics have permanently - and irreversibly - changed. For the sake of convenience, the two primary Martian ethnic groups prior to Violet Dawn are listed below.
A map of Mars immediately following the Violet Dawn explosion. Note that this map displays the wrong capital, as a result of incorrect information received during the Solarian communications blackout.
The Urban Martians
The vast majority of the Martian population is urban, living in arcologies, sometimes referred to as “hives”. A miracle of engineering for early colonization times, they are designed to support as many residents as possible, while conserving space and construction costs. The lower part of a truncated pyramid-shaped structure is dedicated to apartments with the occasional amenity such as a hospital or grocery store, while the upper one is dedicated to various malls and offices. Finally, the top part, covered by a transparent dome, usually hosts entertainment and hydroponics facilities, as well as a gravity generator. This section of the arcology is heavily maintained by the arcology's habitants, with many of them coming to do volunteer work here due to the section's importance to the arcology as a whole. Many of these arcologies were destroyed or abandoned during the Violet Dawn catastrophe, with some now serving as little more than mass graves for their previous residents, the arcologies now twisted and warped by the heat of phoron fires.
All surviving arcologies on Mars are concentrated around liquid water. Due to the unique mineral content of Martian soil, unfiltered Martian water is incredibly acidic and unsafe to drink. Very few fish can survive in the Martian lakes and seas, and none of them safe to eat or fish. Phoron contamination has worsened the issue following the Violet Dawn explosion, and water has quickly become the most important resource on Mars - to the point where small-scale “wars” are fought between surviving arcologies over it. The largest source of surviving drinking water is the northern ice cap, controlled by what remains of Mars’ Solarian government.
Two centuries later, however, obvious problems with arcology designs have come to light. Stacking thousands of tiny apartments into a relatively small space has led to the structures being nigh impossible to navigate without a GPS or decades of experience, which especially cripples the local law enforcement. The cramped flats often do not possess basic necessities, let alone amenities, such as kitchens or bathrooms, with later attempts to expand upon them only making the complexes into ugly, over-engineered structures that require almost constant maintenance. Because only the outer part can be built upon, the verge, or “surface,” apartments tend to be the most expensive to live in.
The refugee crisis caused by the Violet Dawn catastrophe has only worsened the conditions in many arcologies. Overcrowding, already a typical issue, has skyrocketed out of control to levels only before seen on planets such as Konyang and New Hai Phong. Services are stretched to the very brink in many of Mars’ surviving cities as well, and crime has become an even greater problem, with criminal gangs acting as the de facto authority in many neglected sectors of Martian arcologies . It remains to be seen how much the arcologies of Mars can bend before they break.
Rural Martians
Rural Martians, as a demographic, have disappeared in the aftermath of Violet Dawn. For all the pride they held in their sense of self-sufficiency and hardiness, they have been unable to overcome the scorching, toxic aftermath of Violet Dawn. Their hydroponics bays now sit poisoned by phoron, their mines have no markets to export to, and their hamlets have been torn apart by desperate raiders seeking to make off with what supplies they need to survive. Many rural dwellers of Mars have resorted to armed banditry to survive, but most have bitten down on their pride and moved into arcologies - often contributing to already extreme issues of overcrowding.
The same traits that made many rural dwells of Mars excellent survivalists - such as their adaptation to the harsh environment of the Martian plains - have made them excellent raiders and bandits in the post-Violet Dawn Martian environment. The reputation of rural Martians as bandits is so widespread that some rural refugees taking shelter in arcologies find themselves brought under suspicion purely by association.
Despite the harsh and arid environment, many urban areas have developed. This map represents Mars before the Violet Dawn catastrophe.
Culture
“Martians have no ‘culture,’ aside from a desire to cause trouble and rabble-rouse. Now thanks to their synthetic phoron escapades we have to fix their problems yet again. I’d rather we send them all to the mines of Eridani,” - Unknown Solarian Navy admiral in a conversation recorded via wire on 22 October, 2463.
Mars was home to the Sol cultural underground prior to the Violet Dawn catastrophe. The tensions with the greater Solarian Alliance combined with the planet’s wildly different features and cultural mindsets have, over centuries, produced cultures and traditions unique to Mars. Of course, with the damage wrought by the recent catastrophe, high culture has fallen to the wayside in favor of the day-to-day struggle of survival that defines much of life on Mars now.
One artistic movement that has endured is ktipita, translated simply as “plainness”. Fiction, music and film of this genre aims to simply encapsulate “life as it is”, being extremely grounded and dealing with very simple stories and concepts that an average Martian can relate themselves to. The simplistic nature of these tales allows them to often be recited orally from books, instead of requiring advanced technologies such as holographic televisions.
History
“The Solarian government has taken everything from us. Our autonomy, our identity, and now our planet. What are we supposed to do? Lay over and die? Step outside and let the phoron claim us? I don’t know. Leave me alone, I don’t want to continue this interview anymore,” – Anonymous Martian resident interviewed by the Xanu News Service, 18 June 2464.
Early Colonization
Despite Mars being a barren planet, a mixture of desperate living conditions on Earth and a bold commitment to exploration and colonization caused it to experience small scale colonization in the 2100's. After the terraforming efforts of 2200 began and with the discovery of massive fossil fuel deposits (therefore confirming Mars once held life), optimistic nations and corporations attempted to set up a foothold on it, causing tens of thousands of colonists to arrive during the first waves. After it became clear that Mars would remain hostile for quite some time, was passed over for more suitable, distant worlds for a long period, leaving the original settlers to etch out a meager life. The byproduct of this is that many issues, national and cultural, that plagued humanity at those times were brought over to the red planet, causing tensions between its inhabitants and new settlers. Despite the one world government of the Alliance, individual nations on Earth would finance and support colonies on Mars, pitting them against one another. Wars and skirmishes between the colonies, although rare, were not unheard of. The ones that survived have long since grown into large, independent arcologies, which are for the most part friendly competitors under the watchful eye of Sol Alliance.
The fossil fuels found on Mars were quickly put to use. Power plants, large factory complexes were constructed outside the arcologies, and the planet was becoming industrialized, which later on played into the terraforming process of the planet. Most of construction was done by crew-operated behemothian industrial machines, which are still used to this day in limited capacities for work outside the domes. Primarily cyborgs and programmed robots worked in these buildings outside the safety of the arcologies, until later on when the planet's atmosphere stabilized in 2400.
History of Terraforming
The terraforming process started during the late part of the 22nd century, with massive terraformers designed to turn Mars’ natural minerals into gasses and legions of cyborgs put into action. The idea was to replicate the Global Warming process humans have inadvertently done on Earth, but in a more controlled environment with goals of increasing both air pressure and temperature. The process was incredibly slow and expensive, and dogged by a major catastrophe in 2298 that nearly ended the entire process and caused untold amounts of human suffering and economic damage.
Although controversial for both its cost and dangers, the terraforming project of Mars is considered a success. The air, until recently, was still slightly toxic, but it effectively raised Mars' near zero pressure to slightly tolerable, along with the average temperature. Furthermore, the vast amounts of polarized iron dust now flowing around the planet’s lower orbit created a makeshift electromagnetic shield, reducing harmful radiation by a large degree until it was disrupted by the massive ecological disruption of Violet Dawn. Limited efforts are being made to restore it, but these have mostly been unsuccessful. This difference meant that by 2400 a space suit was no longer needed to traverse its surface. Instead, pressure suits or thick clothing, along with eye, mouth and ear protection are enough to stop the worst effects of a low pressure environment. Single-cellular life prospered as well, due to an atmosphere now rich with organic particles, but does no longer due to the wide-spread poisoning of the Martian atmosphere from the fires ignited in the Violet Dawn disaster. Due to this, Mars’ famous red colour has been replaced with patches of black, deep, burned orange, and violet in some places.
Mars has a relatively long history of colonization, as well as destructive events. This has resulted in many colonies, facilities and arcology covering the wastes of the planet. One such arcology was Divitae, an independent mining colony established during the early gold rush that failed because of aging storms and lack of funds for redevelopment.
During the period of terraforming, Mars received an immense number of cyborgs to serve as its workforce. In the late part of the 22nd century, Humanity has achieved the ability to produce heavy cyborgs. Being able to function and work freely in the harsh environment, Martian terraforming firms pressed for more and more cyborg workers, but volunteers for this process were few and far between due to the risks around the procedure. Eventually, to meet demand, cyborgification was implemented as capital punishment for crimes, less and less severe as time passed. In total, between 2204, when the implementation of cyborgs started, and 2260, when it stopped, over 35 million cyborgs have been sent to Mars to serve as a workforce. The terraforming project started to backfire soon after.
The extent of the crimes Martians caused, as well other problems the synthetics caused, resulted in an overall negative view of AIs and cyborgification among the populace. Sometime after, Mars Senate constructed a large monumental graveyard for victims of forced cyborgification sometimes referred to CyTomb. Cyborgification, along with the use banned in several larger arcologies such as Crest Olympia, Greater London, Elysium and Red Gaia.
The Catastrophe of 2298
The first of two major catastrophes in Martian history was the abrupt failure of its terraforming infrastructure in the winter of 2298. The entire infrastructure was linked to a single network, which suffered a serious melt-down as a result of human error. The network either shut down areas of terraforming or spit out wild algorithms that put the entire project into a tailspin. The network was restored after several days, but the result was catastrophic swings in the climate. For the next 10 years Mars experienced climactic storms that severely damaged or even destroyed arcologies and utterly wiped out smaller settlements. The atmosphere was flooded with excessive C02 that smothered people in the open without internals. Billions of credits of property damage was recorded, and millions were killed as a direct result of the disaster. It was estimated to have put back terraforming efforts by a century.
Despite the damages, an investigation by SolGov saw only three technicians arrested, with all three later acquitted despite anger and protest from the Martian population.
In modern times, the ruins of arcologies lost to the catastrophe remain popular spots for scavengers, explorers, and tourists. The polar canyon regions of Mars started to serve as scrapyard for obsolete and abandoned machinery. Starting in the early 2370s, megacorporations began to dispose of their obsolete lineups by storing them in gargantuan “lots” for later retrieval when the manpower needed to sustain them returned. This would never be the case, and for years to come other megacorporations would do the same in haphazardly tossing their waste electronics into the canyon regions as time went along. In 2405, legal action was taken to prevent the excessive usage of this disposal, and it quickly halted. What was left were what would be referred to as the Metal Dunes of Mars, endless electronic scrapheaps as far as the eye could see.
The Martian World War
Considering Mars' strong ties with Earth governments and its dependence on Sol Fleets, Mars never had unified interests or tools to openly fight against the Sol Government during the First Interstellar War. Despite this, many Martians felt sympathetic to the Coalition of Colonies, as they felt they shared the resentment towards a growing, authoritarian oppression within the Alliance.
In the early stages of the war in 2278, the Alliance quickly pressed the small Martian self-defense force into service, merging the tiny Martian fleet into the Alliance navy. Anti-Solarian factions on Mars calling themselves the Red Coalition began rallying popular and political support based on many “injustices,”committed by the Alliance against the Martian people, an alliance which had also shown casual disregard for Mars. Financially backed by the Coalition of Colonies (CoC), on 18th of January, 2279, many Martian cities seceded from Sol Alliance and launched a coordinated, surprise attack on the rest of Mars.
The loyalist arcologies became known as the Sol Coalition, or more popularly, the Blues.
With the mighty fleets of the Alliance out fighting in the frontier, the Blue Coalition saw very little aid from the Alliance, material or otherwise. Red Rangers, special forces under the Red Coalition, seized lightly defended orbital Alliance military stations, including nuclear-equipped missile platforms. The Red Coalition threatened to use these weapons on any planet or fleet that attempted to intervene, effectively isolating Mars and throwing it into a Cold War with Earth.
As military conventions prohibited direct bombing of population centers, the Red conquest consisted of prolonged sieges while unrest, terrorist attacks, and counter-offensives began to sap their ability to wage war. In the face of growing losses, the leadership of the Red Coalition gained the dubious honor of being the fourth nation in human history to use nuclear weapons in warfare. In 2284, the Red Coalition arcology of Terra Nova, facing capitulation in the face of advancing Blue forces, successfully appealed to an orbital missile platform to launch a nuclear missile on a nearby Blue arcology of New Dresden in an attempt to turn the tide of war.
This action immediately fractured the entire Red Coalition, with most of its members distancing themselves from the action and its perpetrators. Within days the majority of arcologies in the Red Coalition abandoned the alliance, and within weeks the remainder had surrendered.
The Treaty of Olympus was signed on 5th of April, 2284 featuring unconditional surrender of remaining Red Coalition states. The Alliance, negotiating on behalf of the loyalist Blues, used the treaty to place harsh restrictions on Mars. The entire planet was disarmed and all factions on it surface were banned from fielding a standing army, navy, or engaging in armed conflicts with one another. In addition, the planet was put under "indefinite" martial law, with an Alliance Admiral permanently stationed in orbit of the planet to enforce indirect martial law, overriding any local laws or ordinances.
The Violet Dawn Explosion
On the seventh of November, 2462, an unprecedented disaster came to Mars in the form of the Violet Dawn explosion. Initially an attempt by the Sol Alliance to produce synthetic phoron in response to an ongoing phoron shortage crisis, the Violet Dawn program would be remembered for much more. Safety standards were neglected in Violet Dawn facilities, located on Mars’ south pole and as a result, the synthetic phoron grew out of control before igniting. The resulting conflagration completely destroyed the southern pole of Mars, demolished a multitude of arcologies in the southern hemisphere of Mars, and spread toxic - and highly flammable - phoron particles throughout the Martian atmosphere creating massive firestorms the size of entire cities combined. The official death toll of the Violet Dawn catastrophe is unknown - and will likely never truly be known - but is estimated to be in the billions. Billions more were displaced from their arcologies, creating the largest refugee crisis in recent history and straining the already-overburdened government of Mars to its breaking point. The Mars of the post-Violet Dawn Orion Spur now bears little resemblance to what came before, and how the crisis evolves remains to be seen.
Prime Minister Frost, before his death, issued orders and directives to be released when Operation “Violet Dawn” began and despite his death prior to the event, much of the upper brass of the Navy was still loyal to his cause. They ordered his instructions be carried out, threatening those who disobeyed with desertion and treason. Even so, some captains disregarded these orders to let the burning planet’s billions of desperate sapients, some friends and family to the crew, burn in phoron fire. These brave men and women plunged into the Red Planet’s atmosphere and filled their cargo holds with as many people as they could cram in, dumping weapons and munitions out to make room. A few rogue ships even dove into the phoron-dense areas of the planet that could’ve still potentially held survivors. Tragically, most who attempted this found their engines rendered inoperable in the exotic atmosphere and crashed before clearing the danger zone.
After the Violent Dawn had effectively run its course, Frost’s staff ordered those who had defied orders quietly imprisoned and stripped of rank. After the junta took over and ousted the Frost loyalists, many of these “rogue” captains and crew managed to regain their positions. But, many more of them became disillusioned about Sol and fled the Alliance for nations such as Biesel or the Coalition.
A brutal information campaign was waged against the Navy defying Frost to maintain his loyalists' control over the Alliance. Outside of eyewitnesses testimony, any hard evidence was destroyed. Though Biesel may have known some captains betrayed Frost, choosing not to report these facts when revealing the whistleblower would vilify their main rival. The administration after Frost have uncomfortably ignored the consequences of Frost’s actions, instead opting to focus on stabilizing the territory the Alliance retains. As a result, those outside the Sol System at the time of Violet Dawn may never be fully convinced of the truth.
The Solarian Army’s Reunification Campaign
In May of 2464 the Solarian Army under the command of Governor-General Tereza Varzieva launched an effort to “stabilize the planet and restore order to regions south of the northern pole,” thus effectively bringing Mars back under Solarian control. The Governor-General’s offensive was ultimately quite successful and the sections of Mars outside of the government’s control mostly surrendered to it or were seized by force within two months, and the expedition was declared officially over near the end of June 2464. Control and relative stability has brought Einstein Engines and other companies into the planet’s economy in an effort to assist the planet and some believe Mars could, against all odds, have a future yet.
Economy and Government
“What is built on sand will eventually return to dust.” – Unknown.
Economy
Mars' economy was previously developed and mixed, with its largest industries being orbital construction, mining, refining, energy and a small but rapidly growing hydroponics industry. Mars also enjoyed being a center of trade, prior to the catastrophe on its southern pole. In the post-Violet Dawn environment of Mars, the economic state of the planet has shrunk dramatically and is, on many parts of the planet, completely collapsed. Many areas have entirely abandoned traditional Solarian Credits for a barter system and the provisional government, despite its efforts, has made little progress in restoring a once-vibrant economy.
With over half of the planet rendered uninhabitable by the aftermath of Violet Dawn and many of its richest cities - such as Olympia - turned into smoldering ruins heavily contaminated by phoron, much of the Martian economy now lies in literal ruins. Even cities not immediately destroyed by the Violet Dawn explosion have been damaged by it, with trace elements of phoron in the air often sparking flash fires around electronics, previously relied upon water sources contaminated by the same phoron that now causes numerous flash fires around Mars’ remaining arcologies, and the contaminated air chokes the engines of shuttles that once enjoyed easy flights through the low gravity of the planet. The wealthiest - and largest - of the remaining arcologies is now Kunlun, the center of the planet’s official government.
While Mars may have, before Violet Dawn, been known for its energy and orbital construction sectors, the most valuable resource on the planet is now something most residents of the Orion Spur take for granted: water. With the secession of Konyang, one of the Solarian Alliance’s primary providers of fresh water, and the destruction of its southern ice cap along with contamination of open-air water sources by airborne phoron, the water situation on Mars has become quite dire. Einstein Engines has stepped into this market as of 2464 and intends to terraform some areas of Mars to be less contaminated and more readily able to provide clean water and food to those who remain on the planet.
Government
The flag of the Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations' Provisional Government of Mars, the sole remnant of Mars' pre-Violet Dawn administration.
The Martian government was, like its economy, devastated in the aftermath of the Violet Dawn catastrophe. The antiquated, bloated, and corrupt Martian government - with its highly-decentralized nature - was unable to handle the unparalleled crisis posed by the Violet Dawn disaster and quickly collapsed under its own weight, leaving much of the planet without a government beyond surviving local arcologies in the days immediately after the disaster. As the aftermath of Violet Dawn - columns of terrified refugees, imploding economies, and contaminated water - became apparent more and more of these local governments, already stretched thin by widespread civil unrest before the Violet Dawn explosion, began to collapse - thrusting more and more of Mars into a state of anarchy.
With a collapsed civil government and widespread damage due to the Violet Dawn explosion, much of Mars existed in a governmentless anarchy where the strongest group ruled over a petty statelet. The one region of the planet with a semblance of traditional authority esd the Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations’ Provisional Government of Mars (ASSN-PGM), a military-led transitional authority that controls the largest remaining non-contaminated drinking water source on Mars: the northern ice cap. The ASSN-PGM was led by the recently-promoted Governor-General Tereza Varzieva from her headquarters in the newly-unified Kunlun and represents the only government officially recognized by the greater Solarian Alliance. The military government also controlled some of the only functional shuttleports on Mars, with southern ports often having air too contaminated by phoron for typical air and spacecraft to fly. The ASSN-PGM has absolute control over Unified Kunlun, the northern ice cap, Mysteron, Marvinia, Chicago, and Draka - making it the largest single government on the Martian surface by far. While the ASSN-PGM was referred to as “yet another," example of Solarian repression by some Coalition of Colonies member states, its region is - in part due to one advantage it has over other warlords: orbital naval support - became the most stable on Mars.
As such it should come as no surprise that the ASSN-PGM launched an offensive in 2464 to retake and reclaim what regions were still inhabitable but dwelled out of its control. The expedition was successful and the ASSN-PGM now controls the majority of the planet’s surface, though that control is often tenuous and sometimes debatable due to the resources required to maintain Solarian Army control and the difficulty of shipping materials via aircraft or shuttle as a result of phoronic contamination. As a result of this the Governor-General has not yet called for elections due to “continuing instability in many regions,” of Mars. Some outside observers believe this is nothing more than an attempt by the Governor-General to retain her power and to prevent a Martian government — which will almost certainly be opposed to the current junta — from forming.
Major Martian Remnants
“I’m gonna die, aren’t I? I’m so cold, and I’m never gonna see home again,” — Rebecca Martins (2440-2462), former resident of Olympus and victim of phoron poisoning, in a hospital in Red Gaia on 09 December, 2462.
Crest Olympia was, until the establishment of the ASSN-PGM government zone, the seat of government on Mars following the immediate aftermath of the Violet Dawn explosion. However the arcology’s status as the most important city on Mars was not to last for long as the capital was shortly transferred to the newly-unified Kunlun. Now, stripped of Sol Alliance patrols and facing a mounting refugee crisis, Crest Olympia struggles to remain a functional arcology in the Martian anarchy. One bright spot in the darkness is the arcology’s good relations with the remaining government forces on Mars, which often send cargo shuttles laden with direly needed humanitarian supplies to its still functional ports.
Red Gaia was, prior to the Violet Dawn catastrophe, an arcology that proudly rejected the Sol Alliance in its official rhetoric. Its government, having witnessed the seeming abandonment of Martians by Sol following the catastrophe, threw open its doors for any and all refugees that could prove their loyalty to Mars above their loyalty to the Alliance. This stance, coupled with the arcology’s almost fanatical dedication to broadcasting it, was disastrous for it. With an extremely overtaxed government, huge overcrowding, and absolutely no outside assistance arriving from other arcologies, Red Gaia, despite its dedication to Martian nationalism, effectively collapsed under its own weight. The arcology surrendered to Solarian Army forces in May, 2464, and was nearly destroyed by rioting following the surrender. The arcology remains heavily patrolled by the Solarian Army, and few believe it will ever reach its former glory.
Unified Kunlun, previously known as Kunlun and Free Kunlun, is the technical capital of Mars and the planetside headquarters of the ASSN-PGM. Both arcologies were torn apart by civil unrest as a result of the Third Tajara Ban and placed under martial law in the days leading up to the Violet Dawn explosion. In a twisted way, this allowed the arcologies to weather the effects of the catastrophe better than perhaps any other arcology on Mars. Unified Kunlun, thanks to its location in the far north of Mars, has no overcrowding or refugee issues and is one of the few locations where shuttles travel freely between space and the Martian surface. If not for the large numbers of Solarian troops in the arcologies, or the fact that most tajara have disappeared to repatriation centers, life would seem almost normal here.
