Mars Bleeds Red - A Red Planet Rising Quest

Integrate Loyal Communities​

There are a number of regions where Station governance is new, rather than established over the course of decades. Some of them are settlements created by Station citizens moving out to new frontiers as expansion dictated, some are existing settlements that agreed to integrate into a far larger polity, and some were born from the fires of revolution with Station's aid. A brief synopsis of the major regions within Station is necessary to understand the context of many:

Cu Sith Gorge - One of the first sites of major Station expansion, Cu Sith Gorge is widely considered to be one of the safest regions in Station, due to only bordering ODIN in a highly guarded chokepoint. This has led to it becoming the primary source of agricultural development and resource extraction within Station, which, while not as impressive as Biodyne or Hephaestus at their heights, are sizable and consistent enough to provide us with what we require. It lacks major industrial or urban development, though it has a thriving cottage industry, which provides a major source of handcrafted and niche goods for our overall economic network.
Important Characteristics:

1. The Docile Frontier - Cu Sith was, at one point, the primary focus of Station expansion, due to the lack of competitors seeking to expand in the region and the abundance of useful land out there. Many existing communities who were out there were sympathetic to Station's goals as well, or were willing to overlook mild differences for the security and infrastructure Station brought with it. While placid and free from disruptive warfare due to this integrationist policy, it is also considered to be the most conservative region in Station, though that was widely considered to be still radical in any non-socialist polity pre-Unification. For many regions, it still is.
2. Land Border With ODIN - For all that Station was able to expand into Cu Sith without competition, it still shares a land border with ODIN's claimed territory. This is, luckily for us and them, a chokepoint passing through mountainous territory. It is tightly guarded at the best of times, and this is not the best of times, though the demilitarized zones have kept their guards back. In the event of any military conflict with ODIN, seizing control of the other side of the pass, through a push from other regions or by marching through it, will enable a new logistical throughline for Station to further funnel resources and manpower into ODIN from an area that wasn't already on the frontline, and may be key to forcing a swift conclusion to any conflict.
3. The Breadbasket - While Station holds some of the most overall abundant land in Melas Chasma, and some would argue all of Mariner Valley, Cu Sith is the cream of the crop in this regard. A long-time focus of terraforming efforts pre-Collapse due to scrapped plans to transform it into an urban area, as well as being home to several governmental initiatives focused on agricultural production following that, Cu Sith Gorge provides much of the raw material needed for Station's industry and people. One of the key ways it has been kept that way is due to the surrounding mountains, as they shielded the area from dust storms.

New Ys - Birthplace of Station, New Ys is the heartland, home to the Depot and the most urban and industrial development in Station. This area has long been prominent in Station politics, some argue overly so. Pre-Collapse, it was a widely undeveloped area, though it benefited in livability by proxy to other terraforming foci. However, it was one of the primary rail hubs of Mars, acting as a pass-through for trains on the way to Candor Chasma or Mariner City, carrying resources extracted from the various mining corporations based in Melas Chasma, weapons, and other goods produced in the factories of ODIN and other corporations, and people heading to and from various locations. For this reason, it was the home of the Martian Rail Depot, the central hub for trains on Mars, which wound up sheltering thousands post-Collapse as the engineer team on duty enacted an emergency recall protocol on all trains currently in service when the nukes began flying.
Important Characteristics:

1. The Beating Heart - In more ways than one, New Ys is the heart of Station. With the longest-established history, the largest population, and being the home of Station's capital, it is natural that it holds a significant amount of purpose. However, beyond that, New Ys is the home of Station's culture, economic, and political scene as well. The prominent inter-regional unions all base their administration out of the Depot, so as to best keep an eye on incoming economic policy changes coming out of the Stationmaster's office. The trains flow forth with supplies according to the schedules and quotas of the Depot-based departments and committees that manage the economy. Propaganda about and cultural stereotypes of Station's citizenry also focuses heavily on New Ys, presenting the average Station citizen as an urbanite factory worker, typically in a field related to the railway, as well as making them out to be a model socialist, for good or for ill. While this is all a tad over-exaggerated, and in no way reflects every citizen, the average resident of New Ys tends to be considered progressive for Station - Which in non-socialist polities, and even some of the more conservative regions of other socialist polities, is considered to be ultra-radical.
2. The Shield of Station - For a long period of time, New Ys was the largest land border Station had with unfriendly polities, holding borders with Shanxi, ODIN, and the Barony. While this changed with the Unification War, the borders remain relatively fortified, even with some of the armories and manpower stripped for operations elsewhere given the collapse of the Barony and Shanxi's re-alignment. Even now, it has the largest land border with ODIN, meaning that it still sees significant investment of military resources.
3. The Industrializing Revolution - While the most industrialized zone of Station by far, there is still much work to be done, and New Ys is the place to do it. With expansion into Rocabarraigh and Cu Sith relieving much of the burden, industrialization has gone well in New Ys, though the rapid growth of civilian industry has been curbed in recent years due to wartime necessities and the cutting off of resources from various polities, such as Hephaestus. With the resumption of peacetime allotments, the recent influx of labor, and the plans to re-establish Hephaestus, however, the future looks bright for the industry of New Ys.

Rocabarraigh - The most recently added territory, so to speak, until the Water Wars, Rocabarraigh was a contested area between the Barony of Rocabarraigh and Station, which eventually erupted into all-out violence. With the overthrow of the Water Barons and integration into Station, Rocabarraigh has become fully unified under the banner of socialism and the Martian Popular Authority. However, this leaves it with the question of what it will become in the future, as well as how its existing culture will mesh with Station.
Important Characteristics:

1. The Cultural Matter - For a significant period of time, Rocabarraigh was part of an entirely different society, one that developed from entirely different principles and backgrounds. Without going too in-depth - The Water Barons were formed from a less benevolent association of engineers than those who initially commanded Station, who had taken control of water purification and reservoir systems located outside of Mariner City, and used that to build their post-Collapse paradise, where they could do as they wished, using their abundant supplies as both a trade resource and a chip to hold over those who came seeking the needs of life. Many of the residents of the new socialist territory are adjusting to their new circumstances, and many of them are unsure of how best to handle changing or integrating their traditions into Station. At least we don't have to worry about them being politically unreliable - While the populace is unsure of exactly how things will work, they are very enthusiastic about the transition to socialism, making them moderate for Station.
2. The Junction - Rocabarraigh has a few small border zones with ODIN, but it is primarily bordering friendly powers. However, it does face a more significant risk from raiders emerging from the less controlled parts of Melas Chasma, as well as theoretical attacks from MUC Remnants, the Dead Crusaders, or other such hostile forces, being further from the core of Station. In turn, militarily, many fortifications were damaged by changing hands during the Water Wars, and though the Unification War never saw significant advances into Station territory, during the Long Retreat, MUC forces launched several assaults on Station positions in Rocabarraigh. It'll likely require at least some rebuilding, though the mobilization of the Inspector Corps has reduced the risk heavily.
3. The Future of Rocabarraigh - Rocabarraigh is positioned such that it acts as an excellent hub for the MPA, serving as an in-between for Shanxi, Stadium, Station, and perhaps Hephaestus when it's re-established. Quite a few think they should lean into this, acting as something of a trade hub, while others think that the territory should focus more on being something of a front for expansion towards the rest of Melas Chasma, both in terms of settlers and in terms of expanding industrial and agricultural capacity. Rebuilding from the wars takes priority, of course, but people are already thinking about the future.

All of these regions have various settlements that, for one reason or another, aren't hooked into the main network. Perhaps they simply don't have a rail connection, and thus are less beholden to the Depot's policies. Perhaps they already existed, and loose integrationist policies from prior Stationmasters saw them simply continue to do so in a mostly unaltered form. Perhaps they were only recently added to Station. Regardless, a concerted effort has seen the vast majority of these already loyal communities added to the ever-growing Station network, and we've certainly got a list of improvements and issues to get started on - starting with linking them all into the rail network as best we can.

New options have been unlocked related to internal development.

The Station Broadcasting Service​

Lydia Rivers had been the radio operator for the town of Oglala, going on three years now, though she was only seventeen. The old one had volunteered to serve in Station's armed forces, and hadn't yet returned from that, if he would at all. To hear her describe it, it wasn't a particularly difficult job, mostly monitoring the airwaves for any emergency calls, tuning into MBC on the side, and passing up reports and news to other towns along the way every so often. She spent most of her time fiddling with and maintaining the radio equipment itself, making sure it was properly aligned and attuned to the Martian atmosphere. The range wasn't great, and the clarity was worse, but it was getting better with every little tuning session, from the way she talked about it. Some of the folks up in the Citadel, where the capital of the old Barony had been, were talking about setting up their own radio station, now that the war was over, and she'd been talking about going to help them out with it when she was a bit older.

Lydia Rivers noticed that Ruby, a nearby settlement, hadn't called in like they were supposed to, which was unusual. She'd told her father, one of the town's militiamen, and he told her that Oglala's garrison couldn't spare the manpower to send out a party to check on them, what with most of the town's militia having gone off to fight in the Unification War. When the army responsible for the silence arrived on their doorstep, calling for them to surrender in exchange for a quick death for the socialists and soldiers among them and honest labor for the rest, she must've wished dearly she'd done more to convince him. Clad in power armor, they called themselves the Dead Crusaders. They were marching on Station, open about their intent to carve their way to the Depot. The town wouldn't be able to evacuate and they didn't have enough time to assemble much of a defense, either. Some suggested they surrender - Others simply sat down and wept, sure they would die.

It was Lydia Rivers who spoke up, then. Perhaps they wouldn't be able to save their town or their lives - But with the time they had left, they could do their damnedest to save others. Every town further out, every small settlement in Rocabarraigh and New Ys, they'd get the warning out to them, so they could prepare and spread the news, to warn them of the approaching death coming towards them. As the young and the old alike took up arms, as children were hidden away in basements dug deep, as the militia dug in to make their final doomed defense, Lydia stayed in her position, operating her radio and sending out a message as far as she could, alerting every town that she could of the Crusaders and their advance, even as the sound of gunfire and screams intensified behind her. Not a person who was on duty that day, who had tuned into that emergency channel, could forget the waver in her voice as she repeated her warning until the broadcast was cut off.

It is in honor of Lydia Rivers and those like her, who served not just their communities, but who chose to serve all of Mars in the past century through the maintenance of the radio network, that we establish the Station Broadcasting Service.

Local news has been improved. The Station Broadcasting Service is now a National Bonus.

Outreach To Frontier Communities - Phase One​

While we have never lived under the boot of the Dead Crusaders, we are home to those who have, both refugees and the government in exile. While we have long decried them for the practices we have heard of, it is another matter to be told of them directly from those who suffered under them. The practice of raids, not just for resources, but for labor, stealing away men to serve as conscripts and serfs in their fields, the brutal fates inflicted upon those who resist or who spread 'subversive ideology', the luxury enjoyed by the nobility and soldiery while those they forced to labor for them starved - It is brutal. The defectors tell us stories of standard practice for MUC raiders as well, of contingency plans and operating procedures, as well as some of the lengths bitter and desperate men will go to. And so, when our teams go out on the newly repaired rails, and they return to communities once connected to Station, they are marginally more prepared for what awaits them.

It has only been a few months, they think. Of the MUC running rampant across former Hephaestus territory and the frontier. Of the Dead Crusaders. Of the toll Shanxi's mechanized warfare took as they relentlessly pushed into Hephaestus. It is better then it could have been, had we done nothing. But that is cold comfort to them, as they gaze upon the cost of the War on a place that had once been our strongest ally and what had once been a thriving network of frontier communities beyond our borders.

Some towns are simply empty. There are graves in most, though in some the dead are left out in the open, in reflection of their life or their death - But there is nothing living there any more. Buildings rest, half-collapsed, perhaps from power armor, perhaps from tank fire, perhaps from simple bad luck. The storage facilities are looted, the machines that once lived there gone silent or vanished. We do not linger in them, once we are sure there is nothing living there and the dead are buried. Mars or Hephaestus will reclaim them, in time.

In a few, the people cheer when they see us. These are the refugee camps, where survivors of Hephaestus's fall have gathered, where the size of the populace has kept raiders away, even if it has drawn the scourge of famine and drought as towns swell above the size they can support, and even further beyond that. Here it is hardest to see, but easiest to fix - We brought many supplies and can make promises of more on the way, as well as transit to safer places. The people are used to rationing already, and there are no issues as our diplomats liaison with the assorted councils and leaders of these places. There will be issues later, with reconciliation - But for now, they are too grateful for the supplies to make much issue of where they come from.

But for most, there are simply a few people who stare at our arrival with cold, hateful eyes. Towns where there are only the old and the young left behind. Some of them take up arms when they see us, only to put them down when we reassure them that we are not there to rob them of what little they have left. Even then, they are never far away from their sides. We sit with them, and we speak, and we try our best. For some, it will never be enough. But we have to try.

For who knows how bad it will be when we pierce further in?

What will we offer these communities? This will determine your general policy towards survivor communities in Melas Chasma as you push further in.

[] A Fresh Start

• These places are doomed. Husks, wrecks of what once was. When the New Council rebuilds, it will be with these places, but with a clean slate, people who did not live in those areas, who do not know the history. With the blood scrubbed away, and the buildings rebuilt. Some of these places will remain husks forever, ghost towns in Mariner Valley. They will join the many others like them - Places where there once were people. And the people will join us. Even the hateful ones know that to remain here in the wasteland the War created is death. And if they still choose to remain - That is their choice.
• The Refugee Crisis will return to Stagnant.
• The Hephaestus Reconstruction Project will be easier.
• Do not vote for any sub-options below.
• The enemy will find no sustenance in Melas Chasma from unprotected communities where you hold sway, for there will be no communities worth taking from left behind.

[] A Lifeline

• Outright evacuation is a bridge too far. We would be destroying what is left out here, of these communities. But we cannot offer more than a lifeline, a few key things that will save as many as we can. We must focus our efforts elsewhere, on Mariner City and on re-establishing Hephaestus. It is a cold calculus, but a necessary one.
• The Refugee Crisis will worsen.
• The Hephaestus Reconstruction Project will not change in difficulty.
• You may vote for a maximum of two sub-options below.
• The enemy may find aid in Melas Chasma depending on what options you choose and how well you fulfill them.

[] A Promise

• We will give them everything. The promise we made, not just to our citizens, but all of Mars, is that of a future free from want, a future free from harm. Those who stand against us with hatred in their hearts, we will embrace them with kindness. To those who are in grief, we shall ease their sorrowful burden. Take heart, comrades, for you have not suffered in vain! The future we have dreamed of is here - Utopia awaits!
• The Refugee Crisis will not worsen, but a new National Situation will occur.
• The Hephaestus Reconstruction Project will be significantly harder...but will have better results.
• You may vote for as many sub-options below as you like, with a minimum of three.
• The enemy may find aid in Melas Chasma if you do not follow through on your promises.
• ??? grows.

What will we give these communities? Pick according to your above choice.

[] Supplies

• Supplies will be shipped through the rails, and humanitarian aid will begin to flow into the overcrowded refugee camps of Melas Chasma, lifting rationing.
• A new Manage the Economy option will become available.
• Refugee Camps will be more likely to support the MPA.

[] Justice

• Raiders will be hunted, criminals found, and justice will be done. Not death, but any we have captured or turned will have their crimes re-evaluated in light of new evidence.
• A new Peacekeeping Action will become available.
• Scarred Towns will be more likely to support the MPA.

[] Closure

• We will make a concerted effort to reconnect refugees in our territory with family and communities out in the areas we've reached. We will also find and bury as many of the dead as we can, connecting names to faces and providing notice to their next of kin as much as we're able.
• A new Governmental and Personal action will become available.
• Refugee Camps and Scarred Towns will be more likely to support the MPA.

[] Rebuilding

• We can offer that most valuable of resources - labor. Volunteers and refugees alike can fill the void in those places where most or all have fled or been taken.
• A new Personal action will become available.
• Scarred Towns will become more likely to support the MPA.

[] Safety

• Guns are in short supply, and we can easily redirect some of our military stockpiles to some of the overcrowded settlements most at risk of raids.
• A new Economics action will become available.
• Refugee Camps will be more likely to support the MPA.

Author's Note: This took a lot longer than I wanted it to, due to the computer issues I talked about above. Well, it is what it is. Please vote in a plan format, the vote will be open for a bit over a day! An important note - These are the communities on the exterior of Melas Chasma, the ones bordering you and Shanxi. There are presumably different types of communities further in, that may require different things, which will have separate votes, if necessary, even though you are setting your general policy towards them now.

Also - While the timeline is purposefully vague (it's hard to tell when things might boil over, and they're heavily dependent on how conditions shake out, as well as what the Dead Crusaders/certain other groups do), you can safely assume you would have about 4-6 months to reasonably fulfill whatever promises you choose to make to these communities before people start seriously questioning you about it. You can also assume that no matter what, Station is providing at least the minimum in humanitarian supplies to these communities and that transit out is available as needed, though the size of that exodus will depend on what Station promises. I'll be around to answer any questions y'all have! Thanks!