Mars

Mars is the industrial heart of the Sol system. While its terraforming process is far from complete, Mars still hosts the largest human population of any planet outside of Terra, largely owed to its status as the first human space colony.

Characteristics

Education

The Mount Sharp Academy is the preeminent military academy within the Solar Union, training officers from all three branches within its chambers. Graduates from Mount Sharp are widely renowned due to the academy's grueling regimen.

Infrastructure

Mars has the most expansive surface infrastructure in Sol outside of Earth; notably, it is the only planet with overland railroads. Its population is highly concentrated into a handful of cities, the largest of which is Olympia. These cities stand within low domes, typically built over or within craters and connected by subterranean tunnels. Within the domes, stacked urban development concentrates industry, commerce, and habitation into a dense mixture; not suitable for claustrophobes, but quite efficient for space. Once filled with breathable air, they provide a safe haven for residents, and are mostly self-sufficient.
Where these cities cannot produce their own resources on-planet, they instead turn to the Olympian Column, the space elevator anchored to Olympus Mons. The Martian rail network distributes precious cargo across the surface, including to remote polar terraforming sites.
Not all who live on Mars live in these cities, however. Scattered prefabricated homesteads dot the Tharsis plains, and small communities carve out niches in canyons and caves. These homesteaders are officially Union citizens, but their main contact with the Union is periodic supply shipments. Homesteads like these also host some of Mars's criminal element, who network them together with each other and with local railways or subterranean highways.

Culture

Diet

Staple Foods

While the Martian desert has repeatedly proven inhospitable to plant life, city-dwellers and homesteaders alike have met with great success in the field of hydroponics. Complexes of algae tanks and air processors intertwine, turning waste air into precious oxygen and food alike. The algae produced here forms the backbone of the Martian diet, processed into myriad forms and made barely-palatable. For those with little wealth, algae can often form the entirety of one's diet, barring the occasional seasoning.
Rice is another staple crop, first taking root in New Kyoto and spreading alongside the city's influence. Southern Martian cuisine, owing to its colonial roots, is based around rice as a staple, often mixed with dried algae, strong spices, and vegetables. Meat is an uncommon side dish.
Seafood is surprisingly common on Mars; catfish, among others, coexist well with algae production. The catfish has grown to be an iconic symbol of Mars by 2278, owing to its widespread presence in Martian habitats. Hyperborea's Grand Aquarium doubles its seafood source as a work of art; sunlight filters through banks of water into a network of tanks and tunnels, filled with a spectacle of fish variety. While the Grand Aquarium is less-than-efficient in and of itself, the value it brings for Hyperborea's ecological mission outweights its costs.
Chicken is less common, but the other major meat product on Mars. Welfare laws limit the proliferation of factory farms, which has pronounced effects on a planet like Mars with no breathable atmosphere. As a result, poultry is often reserved for the upper class who can afford it.
Alcohol is, naturally, commonplace; yeast vats used to supplement algal growth are often used to brew wine and brandy.

Cuisine and Events

Soup is one of the main dishes reserved for special occasions.

Fashion

Martian fashion bears some resemblance to traditional Earth attire, but has been tailored into a new art form entirely over Mars' 200-year history. Blending its Japanese and Chinese colonists' traditional clothing with practical outfits suited for cool habitat domes and frozen surfaces, Martian fashion is one of the most commonly-exported elements of Sol culture, often found on other cold deserts and temperate worlds alike.
One defining aspect of Martian fashion is its aversion to displaying skin below the neck outside of private circumstances. Contrary to the Terran style's current preference for open and flexible design, Martians tend toward all-over layered clothing, kept controlled enough to be safe but loose enough to move. Tops tend to have high collars, particularly for women; pants are the preferred bottom, though more traditional clothing often takes the form of flowing ankle-length skirts or kimono-style robes. Gloves and work boots are commonplace, owing to Mars' “working class” environment.
Clothing is typically made of synthetic silk, as other fabrics have proven less durable, significantly more expensive, or- most often- both. Designs and patterning on cloth is one of Mars's most prominent forms of art; while solid colors or basic patterns are universal among the working class, Martian high fashion puts as much emphasis on intricate detailing and free-handed design as it does on the cut and styling of the outfit itself. One near-universal maxim holds true: “plain grey” is never to be seen. As a result, surface-bound Martians appear almost dazzling alongside their more drab counterparts in local space.
Environment suits produced on Mars, while based on the same broad designs and cuts as Earth suits, inherit Mars' color and patterning preferences, producing a different yet distinctive method of visual identification. Some favor UV-protective shawls or cloaks, as worn by earlier generations, over their suits.
Hair is typically kept short for both men and women, due to the restrictions of environment suit helmets. Within those length limits, a wide variety of styles and colors are common. Dyes are fairly well-accepted, especially with younger generations. By contrast, one more dated aspect of traditional dress is the hood; though it has become less common as time goes on, hoods were formerly quite in fashion, and are still often seen among homesteaders.
Tattooing is generally frowned upon but tolerated, regarded as a low-class art at its most sympathetic. Facial tattoos are exceedingly rare, while neck tattoos are slightly more common; the vast majority of tattooing is done under areas typically covered by clothing or environment suits. Designs are tailored to the buyer's preference, often nature-based in subject matter. One recent shift has been the rise of “holo-tattoos” that can be rendered invisible with ease; these avoid the stigmatization of tattoos while still allowing for self-expression.

Locations

Olympia

Olympia is the capital of Mars, home to its main spaceport and the vast majority of the population.

Hyperborea

Hyperborea is the northernmost permanent settlement on Mars, lying nearly at the northern pole. Hyperborea is a terraforming station first and foremost, but has evolved into a research collective directed towards biological and geological sciences as a whole.

Ofira Station

New Kyoto

Type

Planet

Included Locations

• Hyperborea

Included Organizations

• Union Naval Corps

Owning Organization

Solar Union