Mars

"Mars will break before Martians kneel." ~Rifanid Skullcrusher Neamhan

A World of Homesteads

Martians nearly all serve in the Martian Militia at some point, or work for them at least tangentially as support. When they've fulfilled their obligations, they are generally left alone, and most the population is in small towns and homesteads on their individual clan's territories. The sprawling population gives a sense of desolation, though in reality it's relatively densely populated at 35 people per square mile with 10% urbanization, largely in the metropolis surrounding Olympus Mons. Additional populations of Martians live on floating barge cities on the northern ocean (particularly the Terryders), in cave systems beneath the Noachis Plains (crowded with Urgoes), and Deimos, which is largely populated by Shrikes. A population of Haruspex live on Phobos, though it would be extremely rare for Martians to include them in any sort of census.

Miracles in the Sky

Martian terraforming depends on orbital lenses. More traditional terraforming was accomplished early on in Martian history; The ground was seeded with fungus and plants, comets were pulled from the Oort Cloud and brought to flood the northern Hemisphere, and an artificial Ozone layer was established and then backfilled with an Earthlike atmosphere from materials harvested from the Asteroid Belt. For heat, solar energy, and gravity, they mounted the orbital lenses. These are a complex array of satellites that feature layered monocrystal lenses that gather sunlight, much of which would pass by Mars, and centralize it before beaming it to the surface in a carefully calculated amount. Among these lenses are pressor sattelites, which focus gravity onto the surface, pushing down and focusing so that the surface gravity of Mars is roughly 1G. This can be disorienting for some individuals, something that Martians typically find hysterically funny.

A World in Search of a War

After the Gobi Horror was dropped on Mars, the surviving population devolved over generations into bestial 'monsters' in a vast array of forms. These eventually stabilized into 'clans,' which were perpetually at war with each other. The Neamhan and Nemain clans eventually banded together, which was the first alliance since the plague; most of the clans simply didn't trust or like each other enough. With two of the most powerful clans uniting, most of the world polarized between two groups. The Nemean Nemain Alliance prevailed, and their alliance forms the dominant and most common clans; the Nemean, the Nemain, the Terryders, the Urgoes, the Shrikes, and the Pesmine. Shortly after unification, they were conquered in a surprise attack by the Solar Commonwealth. Antimony Neamhan, the daughter of the leader of the Nemean Clan, was instrumental in the coup that brought down the Solar Commonwealth. Well into the Age of Convergence, Mars regularly erupts with violence and world wars, largely the 'out clans' or 'minor clans' asserting seditious intent or attempting to force more privileges for themselves. In times of peace, however, Mars will often assert threats against other planets, and send their meager fleet out on expeditionary operations to distant stars on rumors of Rigelian incursions.

Geography

Most of Mars' northern hemisphere is covered by a freshwater sea.

Ecosystem

Mars has a thin coastline of lush greenery and fertile, nitrogen rich soil. North of that is a thriving freshwater sea thriving with life, and south of that is a vast, cold desert tundra dotted with thick-bodied taigas around water sources. Orbital lenses deliver solar energy onto the surface to compensate for the distance of the sun.

Climate

Mars is cold, but livable. The solar lenses and the artificial Ozone of Mars keep the temperature between -23 to +26 degrees (C).

Fauna & Flora

The world ocean of Mars is freshwater, and teaming with descendants of Earth's freshwater fish. Of particular note are the so-called 'catwhales,' massive catfish 30-40 feet long. The only predators of these enormous fish are large freshwater-adapted cephalopods engineered thousands of years before. They're harvested for their cuttlebones and for their ink, which is the key ingredient in Martian Silk.