Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and first for humans to colonize. It serves as the main setting for the Red Mars Trilogy.

History
Before human colonization, Mars was a largely empty desert-like planet. Complete with dried riverbeds, huge polar ice caps, rugged valleys, dead volcanoes, mountain ranges, craters and canyons. It also had two moons, Phobos and Deimos. Although Mars had been seen for as long as humans have looked into the stars, the first photographs were taken by the Mariner and Viking spacecraft. It had long been speculated to hold life, ranging from an advanced alien civilization to microscopic bacteria, but no evidence for life has ever been found. The first manned mission to Mars occurred in 2020, and John Boone was the first person to set foot on the planet.

Red Mars
In 2026, an international mission to create a Martian colony was launched, with most of the resources and personnel coming from the USA and Russia. After a lengthy period of training in Antarctica, the giant spacecraft Ares was launched containing 100 people. After landing, they created the colony of Underhill, a sealed habitat complete with sleeping areas, bathrooms, kitchens, communal entertainment spaces as well as surrounding infrastructure including several greenhouses, factories, quarries, transport and storage areas.

Following the success of Underhill, UNOMA authorized the terraforming of the planet and construction of three new settlements on Mars each containing 500 people each. Terraforming began with the drilling of giant moholes into the Martian crust to release heat and gases from deep inside the planet, construction of giant mirrors orbiting the planet to focus light and heat from the Sun onto the planets surface.

TransNats became increasingly interested in the rich metal supplies on Mars, and thanks to Frank destroying any stable political opposition to them, they sent tens of thousands of people via space elevator to do extremely hard labor in extremely bad conditions. This led to a wave of unrest, protests, riots, strikes, sabotages and rebellions. Culminating in The First Martian Revolution.

The Revolution through Mars into utter chaos, as the space elevator was destroyed, Phobos was crashed into the surface of Mars and entire cities were annihilated with fire and nuclear weapons. Underground aquifers were also released, created vast sections of ice across the planet and changing the surface.

Settlements

 * Acheron
 * Boone Harbor
 * Bradbury Point
 * Burroughs
 * Cairo
 * Carr
 * Christianopolis
 * Dao Vallis
 * Da Vinci
 * Dolmen Tor
 * Dorsa Brevia
 * Echus Overlook
 * Gamete
 * Gramsci
 * Harmakhis-Reull
 * Hell's Gate
 * Hiranyagarbha
 * Kasei Vallis
 * Korolyov Prime
 * Mangala
 * Mauss Hyde
 * Montepulciano
 * Moreux
 * New Vanuatu
 * Nicosia
 * Nilokeras
 * Nirgal Vallis
 * Odessa
 * Overhangs
 * Prometheus
 * Rhodos
 * Rumi
 * Sabishii
 * Senzeni Na
 * Sheffield
 * Sukhumi
 * Tharsis Tholus
 * Underhill
 * Vishniac
 * Zygote