MARSLORE: Tales from the Red Planet & Other Stories of Sol

[Penelope]

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NOTICE: This article is affected by an ongoing current event. Some information may be unreliable due to rapidly-evolving circumstances (last updated at 02:59 on November 12, 2471).

Overview

Mars is the fourth planet of our solar system, colloquially known as the "Red Planet." Typical terrains and climates include vast iron-oxide deserts, arid moss-lands, and cold savannahs. It is the second smallest planet by mass and radius. Martian gravity is much weaker than Earth's. Atmospheric pressure varies significantly depending on elevation. Most populated regions have breathable air. All communications between Earth and Mars suffer from signal lag of about 5-20 minutes.

Martians were the first extraterrestrials discovered by humanity. Radio astronomers detected technosignatures from Mars in the 1880s, at a time when planetary observations began showing evidence of a habitable environment. First contact occurred in stages over decades. Earth-Mars relations have historically been complex, with the first century of contact dominated by hostility. During the early 20th century, interplanetary migrations and space age jingoism triggered the Wars of the Worlds. A period of détente culminated in the first manned mission to Mars in 1996.

Expeditions led by the Old Spacers continued diplomatic, sociological, and scientific work on Mars during the crises of the 21st and 22nd centuries. The Second Space Age saw technological advancements in human spaceflight, the commercialization of space travel, and interplanetary economic development. All factions had total freedom in their activities on the Red Planet, with many becoming involved in government and administration. Long-term land leases began being offered in the 2290s, facilitating human colonization.

Since the Great Martian Rebellion in 2384, the Federation has taken a direct role in Martian affairs. Human officials operate as governors, peacekeepers, and advisors, with an international mandate to preserve stability and order. Some have denounced the current state of affairs on Mars as oppressive, while others point to rising standard of living, economic activity, and industrial output as leading indicators of planetary improvement.

Surface Conditions

Martian air is thin and shrouded in ferrous dust. Visitors often report that the atmosphere has a distinct taste of blood or carbonated water. The sky is orange or butterscotch by day, and turns blue during sunset, caused by interactions of elastic scattering of light with the Martian dust. Snow is the most common form of precipitation, being a key source of Martian water during the melt season. Near the poles, temperatures drop so low as to cause carbon dioxide to turn solid, creating blizzards of dry ice.

Surface water found on Mars is often toxic. Standing water in ponds and lakes can be full of parasitic organisms, while streams, creeks, and rivers are usually full of heavy metals or exotic elements. Martians instead farm moisture, mine water from aquifers, or collect snow to melt during seasonal warm spells or over fires. Mars' highly oxygenated atmosphere makes starting fires easy, and wildfires can spread rapidly in the plains. Martian flora are infamous for their quick growth. Trees and flowers are red in summer and black in winter.

Scientific data confirms Mars is in the midst of a geologic death spiral. The Martian core has ceased to produce a magnetic field. Geologists expect tectonic activity, atmospheric stability, and habitability to collapse within the next twenty thousand years. Martian cultures have practiced atmospheric engineering to maintain survivable conditions since the dawn of the post-atomic era. Some earthly corporations have invested in Martian technological development, bringing innovations to temporarily bolster habitability as long-term solutions are developed and implemented. The Terraformers Guild advocates long-term solutions through radical alterations to Mars itself, though some argue that the native biosphere could be harmed or destroyed.

The southern hemisphere is considered generally habitable for humans. Respirator masks are encouraged due to airborne dust, which can cause permanent lung damage in humans if chronically inhaled. Travel in areas such as Tharsis Rise, the Borealis Basin, or Utopia Planitia may require the use of pressure suits or rebreathers. More familiar conditions can be found on the coast of the Hellas Sea: earth-like pressures, high humidity, and limited circulation of dust make the region a popular destination.

Governments & Factions

Civilization developed independently on Mars roughly 14,000 years ago. Martians once possessed a highly advanced culture with ballistic spaceflight, using mass accelerators, railguns, and ramjets to propel craft to orbit and through space. Carbon pollution and atomic warfare led to atmospheric decay in the 1600s. Most societies on Mars had deindustrialized and devolved into authoritarianism by the 1800s, following the general trend of post-atomic cultures.

Since the dawn of the Second Space Age, the Houses of Terra have held great economic and political power on the Red Planet. Bretonia and Vesper, still powerful factions on Mars, were among the first to begin colonial efforts. The Martian world government, the Triumvirate, has been a key ally for the Houses for the past two centuries. Its head of state, the High Empress, has traditionally been selected by the officers of the Martian military. From 2270 to 2385, the now-defunct company Martian Mineral & Water played a key role in electing new Empresses.

In the aftermath of the Rebellion, the Federation gained clear oversight over most Martian governments. The current Empress of Mars is Shianva VII. She is the youngest ever, elected in 2454 at age 12 by a council of Martian officers and Federation advisors. The International Mandate is headed in November City, an isolated and well-defended colony in Syrtis Major near Deshanor. Other human factions, such as the Terraformers Guild and the Water Miners Guild, are led from space stations which encircle the planet in low orbit.

Not all Martian groups are loyal to the Federation or the Houses. The Amunari Stratocracies are a loose coalition of military clans which initiated the Great Rebellion nearly a century ago. They fly the old banner of the Empress throughout their lands in Cimmeria and Elysium: the term amunari derives from a Martian word meaning 'absence', and they believe all Empresses elected since 2270 are invalid. Their primary governing body is the Regency Council, a group of military dictators who issue binding proclamations. They have been at peace with the Federation since 2419.

Life on Mars

For those coming to Mars to stay, employment opportunities can be found throughout the major cities. Most jobs offer training periods, benefits, and high wages to attract applicants. The current economic expansion on Mars has lasted thirty-eight years; limited numbers of colonists has inflated the value of labor. The most common living space for new arrivals are boarding houses. Many of these are modern developments, accredited by the Federation and hosting occupants of multiple species and backgrounds.

For the past two centuries, Mars has experienced rapid economic growth. Injection of capital by earthly businesses revitalized the stagnant Martian economy, which previously operated on a semi-feudal system. This has brought new opportunities for Martians, off-world workers, and colonists. Financial hubs like Deshanor, the Martian capital, and May City, the most populous human colony, are growing cities approaching full employment. Major industries include metal and water mining, agriculture, construction, manufacturing, and tourism. Service sector labor is also found in human settlements.

Government can be complicated on Mars. Most states are members of the Federation, and citizenship is typically respected in areas under federal control. In native Martian regions, most authority for law enforcement is handled by the local government, though some human neighborhoods and businesses may hire private security firms. Travel through independent or rebel-held regions can be dangerous. Security checkpoints at federal borders prevent unsafe movement by regulating outbound and inbound travel.

Long-term residency on Mars may lead to permanent changes in physiology caused by microgravity and low air pressure. Returning to Earth may prove challenging or necessitate physical training. Yearly physicals are recommended for all colonists. Mental evaluations are also recommended, though experts caution that "Martian madness" has no scientific basis.

Travel Information

Spaceports can be found in Deshanor, Usparand, May City, and New London. A port is also under construction in November City. Spacer hives and impromptu landing zones are found throughout Sabaea, Greater Hellas, Noachia, and Syrtis, though safety cannot be guaranteed. Flying through Cimmerian airspace is prohibited by the terms of ceasefire agreements, and may result in being attacked by rebel groups. Penalties for flying through the ceasefire zone include a fine or jail time.

Popular vacation spots are abundant on the Hellas coast, where the hospitality and tourism industry dominates May City and other coastal towns. The Mariner Valley, which the Martians call the Maw of the World, is also broadly habitable for humans. It has remained relatively undisturbed by colonial activities, and has in recent years become a niche destination for visitors seeking a more authentic experience. Hazardous locations like Tharsis Rise or the polar regions can be visited by space plane or with protective suits.

WARNING: Conditions on Mars can be drier than earthly deserts. The thin atmosphere may lead to pressure sickness and hypoxia if mismanaged. Its frigid climate, lack of a magnetic field, and weak gravity all pose significant challenges to colonists, travelers, and workers. Any visitors are advised to plan appropriately. Tourists should limit any "wilderness retreats" outside of populated and habitable areas.

TRAVEL ADVISORY: The International Committee for Outer Space Affairs has issued a general travel bulletin for Mars. Due to ongoing political tensions, freedom of movement may be restricted in certain areas. Some local governments are in violation of one or more international accords. Please contact your local Interplanetary Travel Bureau for further information.

***

AN: Marslore is an original work of science fantasy inspired by planetary romance and the Golden Age of Science Fiction, featuring furry aliens, gender weirdness, queer stratocracies, and casual interplanetary travel.

 

[Penelope]

Thanks y'all!

It sounds like Terra conquered the Martians, but through slow neocolonialism instead of some Edison Conquers the Martians stuff. "Political advisors" and so on. I would imagine local resistance is behind the "political unrest" hinted at. I guess the Great Houses are something like megacorps? Maybe a "neostate" is something like EIC India.

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More like nation-states than EIC India or megacorps, but I'll touch on this in a future update down the line. Earth's Federation is much more like the United Nations than the UFP or other sci-fi supranational unions - powerless and bound by the whims of its constituent countries, who use it more as a means to an end than an actual international union of mankind.

Oh, and it sounds like there are other intelligent species in the Solar System besides Martian and Humans, can't wait till we meet them!

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All in due time.

This is an in-universe encyclopedic article with subtle biases of the writer in favor of the Earth colonization of Mars and inherently skeptical of the native Martians. Weaving these with facts about the planet helps to convey how subtle propaganda like this can be effective in real life, because you start to trust the source, and usually worldbuilding in this format is just the objective truth so this constitutes a clever subversion of that.

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Terralore is owned in part by the Federation and heavily funded by the Houses of Terra and *other interested parties* - so indeed, take much of what you hear there with a grain of salt!

 

[Penelope]

The Martians

"The Martians call themselves the ruuk-amah. The phrase is a preposition applied to a proper noun. It means the collated mind. For an object to be ruuk is to be unified, the summation of a greater whole. Amah is not just any mind, but the Old Mind, the electropsychic and telepathic unconscious of an entire race. How do the Martians see themselves in this context? A Martian sees herself as the porcelain remains of a shattered plate. When you or I look at our fellow men and women, we see brothers and sisters, whether in faith, flesh, or shared history. When a Martian looks at her fellows, she sees parts of her very own self.

Such a perspective can do great and terrible things to a planet and its people. Martian history is proof."
-Comparative Mythology for the Red Planet, by Bretonian psychoanalyst Dr. Meghan Simpson, publ. 2048.

Martians, also known as rooks, derived from the High Martian ruuk-amah, are the native inhabitants of the planet Mars. They are widely renowned for their advanced psychic abilities, displaying telepathy, astral projection, and clairvoyance. During their own Late Space Age, interplanetary migrations from their planet initiated the Wars of the Worlds, a decades-long destructive conflict that led to the dawn of Terran spaceflight and the modern study of extrasensory perception. Today, Mars is home to 1.4 billion Martians, and several million more live on other planets, including Earth.

Industrial civilization developed on Mars around the year 800, at a time when Martian society had begun evolving away from the hivemind monarchism of late antiquity. Hyper-ballistics and low gravity allowed space travel to develop early. By 1400, Martians had mapped and traveled throughout much of the inner solar system. Power blocs engaged in open warfare. Martians would not split the atom until 1598. Almost immediately after the development of atomic weapons, a series of nuclear holocausts devastated Mars. Firestorms and explosions disrupted the sand seas, shrouding the atmosphere in a combination of ash, debris, and sand, which led to a new global ice age.

Since the 2300s, Martians have slowly been integrated into the Federation System. Society on Mars is more homogenous than on Earth, owing to Mars' small size and limited habitability, with most nations and peoples represented by the Triumvirate. Ascetic priests and pastoralist nomads persist outside of Federation authority in Tharsis and Borealis, while rebel stratocracies are held at bay by ceasefire agreements and international peacekeeping operations. Some political scientists have called Mars an emerging power within the Federation, tantamount to a new House of Terra.

Biology

Martians resemble earthly mammals. As with the other intelligent races of our solar system, they are bipedal tetrapods, with a typical humanoid body plan. Thick layers of blubber help insulate their bodies from Mars' frigid climes. Martians often wear masks and facial coverings to protect their narrow, naked faces from the elements. In sandstorms and global dust bowls, exposed skin can be burnt. Cold regions can cause rapid frostbite, and the Martians' wet snouts are especially vulnerable.

Each of their fingers and toes are tipped with sharp claws capable of rending flesh. Fangs help them digest their hypercarnivorous diet. Martians are crepuscular. A typical Martian wakes hours after sunset, remaining active well into the night; most societies are built around these vespertinal waking habits, in some cases causing friction with the more diurnal Terran colonists. Healthy Martian heart rates are usually elevated compared to humans. Their body temperatures are highly variable. In very cold conditions, they may enter torpor, conserving energy and sleeping most of the day. Martians reach adolescence around age 12, when they adopt gender identities and take names for themselves; they are not considered full adults until age 30. They generally live 160 years, though longer-lived Martians are not unheard of.

Scientific consensus on Martian origins remains elusive. The Old Terran Hypothesis suggests all intelligent species of the solar system first emerged as proto-humans on Earth, while the Multiplanetary Hypothesis supposes each evolved on their own planets concurrent with earth evolution. Xenoarchaeology remains a young, ill-developed field. During the industrial era, human anthropologists classified Martians as a newly discovered race of mankind. One scientist even declared them to be part of an evolutionary paradigm he called Gryphic Humanoids, based on the now-discredited misconception that Martians internally resembled birds and reptiles.

In more modern times, Martians are scientifically classified under the taxonomic name Hospes bellax. Broadly, evolutionary biologists consider them to have strong, but not necessarily phylogenetic, similarities to humans.

Appearance

All warm-blooded life on the Red Planet tends tall and gracile. Martians are no exception, being 7 feet tall on average. Their arms and legs are relatively long in proportion to the rest of their body, and digitigrade. Earthbound Martians are usually shorter. Malnourishment, increased gravity, and extraplanetary psychosis causes health defects, shedding of fur, and overhydration of the skin. On Mars, their fur is vibrant, being either brown, auburn, black, gold, or gray. As they age, their fur progressively sheds, becoming shaggy and dulled.

Martians have tails of a variety of forms, shapes, and sizes. Some are long and prehensile, while others have short, stunted tails covered with fur. While they are often compared to earthly cats, they do not have whiskers. In winter, most wear protective robes, hooded cloaks, and other helpful outfits for cold desert life. During the dry, balmy summers, they don thin tunics and carry water in flasks. Wearing or displaying the color blue is a social faux pas, as it is associated with the Empress, her family and household, and royalty in general.

A distinctive line of fur across the cheekbones and nose is present in most Martians. Their ears are pointed; drooping ears are a recessive trait. Some may have an extra pair, and are considered either blessed or sinister depending on their culture. When free of any fur, their skin has been described like sandpaper, with a rough, coarse texture. Typical eye colors include yellow, green, blue violet, hazel, or red. Heterochromia is common.

Psychic Abilities

Extrasensory perception and electropsychism is a universal feature of life on Mars. Among the Martians, this presents in the form of telepathy, precognition, retrocognition, and clairvoyance. Prior to first contact with the Martians, parapsychology was a fringe field with little support from the scientific community. In the aftermath, extended study of earthbound Martians confirmed the existence of electropsychic fields. Martian brains have a structure known as Arthur's region, thought to be responsible for the manipulation of psi energy.

Martian history is full of prophets with visionary abilities, entranced priests speaking amongst one another with thought alone, and mind-scouts using astral projection to map the land around them. Psychic abilities increase in proximity to others. Thoughts and emotions are transferred from person to person, and can spread like viruses, making Martians especially vulnerable to authoritarianism, jingoism, and misinformation. In the past, their psychic gifts have led to religious and ideological zealotry, mass violence, and total warfare.

Psychological warfare takes on a new meaning in Martian war. During the Wars of the Worlds, soldiers often reported auditory and visual hallucinations, disorganized thinking, and increased paranoia when in close proximity to the enemy. Border patrol agents and peacekeepers in the ceasefire zone require regular therapy and mental evaluations. Martians have historically participated in hive minds and mind control; it is generally associated with far-right and reactionary politics in Martian society.

Gender & Sexuality

Martians are simultaneous hermaphrodites, possessing both reproductive systems in one body. Some have advanced the term monoecious, derived from herbology, as an alternative. Self-fertilization is rare and socially discouraged. Resulting children are viewed similarly to illegitimate children in human societies, though in more modern times they have the same social rights as others. The Martian endocrine system produces various sex hormones depending on one's environment, diet, mental state, peer groups, and sexual activity.

In the absence of dioecy or sexual dimorphism, society never developed the discrete gender roles observed in some other intelligent races. Instead, Martian culture follows three broad gender spectrums or axes, called nara, sheon, and tsaan, respectively. Humans have generally associated nara with femininity and sheon with masculinity, with tsaan having no clear human analog. Martians may be expected to align with one or more gender axes depending on their employment, reproductive histories, or social status. Leadership roles are almost always considered nara in gender alignment.

Martians are polygamous by nature, usually forming groups of 3-4 rather than pairs. They do not mate for life, and Martian marriages are usually arranged, political affairs in which one individual has several spouses at once. After the end of such contracts, partners may remain close, continuing romantic relationships of their own volition.

While the base unit of human society is generally the family or the workplace, the base unit of Martian societies is both. Clans, at their most basic, are webs of interconnected individuals who share common bloodlines, histories, locations, and occupations. Clans are thought to be a natural expression of the Martian tendency to organize themselves in packs. All clans have territory, however small.

TRAVEL ADVISORY: Martian and human social mores are radically different in many circumstances. Martian-human communications are difficult as humans do not possess the same telepathic abilities as Martians. Sarcasm, irony, and humor may not always translate, causing misunderstandings. Those choosing to pursue intimate relationships with Martians should be advised that best practices must be observed; Martians have no concept of exclusive monogamy, pregnancy may still be a concern, and certain diseases may still cross interspecies biological barriers. Travelers are recommended to read official Federation materials in order to avoid cultural faux pas or international incidents. Some actions may unintentionally dishonor or otherwise harm the reputation of a Martian, including those not physically present. If a Martian challenges you to a duel, do not accept, as duels to the death are still legal in some Martian jurisdictions.

***

AN: You know how they say every safety poster is there because somebody did it?

 

[Penelope]

EARTH COUPED THE MARTIAN GOVERNMENT TO PREVENT THE FORMATION OF A UNITED STATES OF CUTE GIRLS

CRITICAL SUPPORT FOR THE STRATOCRACIES IN THEIR STRUGGLE AGAINSTT F£DERATION IMPERIALISM

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True and real!

Bretonians are really out there diagnosing entire species with psychological disorders. Also why do Martians mask up, don't they know dust storms aren't real?

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Earthlings in general have never really understood the Martian mind or their culture. Hell, in the early days, a lot of Terran sociologists and psychologists really did just think their whole society was mentally or sexually disordered, and a few even tried coming up ways to "fix" them.

I think the fact hiveminds and the like are this psychic culture's form of authoritarianism is a particularly inspired and creative choice that makes a lot of sense.

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I find the association between authoritarianism and psychic powers really fascinating, it's easy to imagine how such an ability could be abused that way as an even stronger vector for groupthink.

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We haven't even scratched the surface in terms of how deep the Martian far-right's obsession with hiveminds and mind control goes.

I'm especially interested in hearing more about the Empress and the monarchy's history in general, and how dynasties dying out works when you can self-fertilize (even if it's considered socially weird).

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While a lot of very ancient clans still exist thanks to self-fertilization, dynasties - in terms of political power - do die out. In the old days, children of self-fertilization couldn't inherit titles. Often, they didn't even have many, if any, political rights and were considered clanless. They could usually be brought back into the fold by performing great achievements, having offspring when the clan was in low numbers, or both.

 

[Penelope]

The Martian Triumvirate



Flag and banner of the Third Triumvirate of Desuul. Called the "Imperial Eye", the impossible tribar represents the alliance, the two three-pointed stars represent the Moons of Mars, while the six-pointed star represents Sol. The shooting stars represent the Martian clans. Each of these symbols are arranged in an eye, an important religious symbol in Arunism.

NOTICE: This article is affected by an ongoing current event. Some information may be unreliable due to rapidly-evolving circumstances (last updated at 12:51 on November 13, 2471).

The world government of Mars is the Triumvirate, a supranational union and constitutional monarchy. Historically composed of three High Queendoms, all nations of Mars subsequently recognized the power of the institution and joined, whether as members or observers. Deshanor, the ancient capital of the Anharith nation of Syrtis, serves as the center of government and the imperial seat. Since its foundation in 1260, the Triumvirate has become the sole source of international law and a force for peace and diplomacy on the Red Planet.

Executive authority lies with the High Empress, the worldwide head of state of Mars. Traditionally, the Empress has reserved many rights and privileges, and ruled with absolute power: she could dissolve parliament, deny royal assent to legislation, dismiss administration ministers, and during times of crisis, suspend elections and rule by decree with the support of military clans. During the Second Triumvirate prior to Shianvist rule, the Empress was always a military officer elected from among the Triumvirate's armies. Theoretically, under this system, any officer of high rank could become Empress given enough support. In practice, hereditary rule of particular clans became common, as did aggressive scheming. The Empress conducts court from the Obsidian Seat, a throne built from Martian blacksteel in ancient times.

Legislators serve in the Imperial Diet, also called the Fellowship by Martians. Representatives to the Diet are elected from among clans of polities recognizing the authority of the Empress and her government. The total number of representatives in the Fellowship varies and has no limit. At the beginning of the current session, active members numbered 69,452, making it the largest known parliamentary body in the cosmos. Nearly all power is vested in a standing committee, known as the High Council, composed of 2,250 members from among the Diet who choose to run in a global election.

In the aftermath of the Great Martian Rebellion of 2384, Empress Shianva VI sought to join the Federation with the support of the Diet. In 2412, the Martian Triumvirate became an autonomous observer within the Federation system. Full membership has been delayed several times by political concerns. The Houses of Terra have often invoked veto powers to prevent its ascension, based on fears that the Triumvirate and the International Mandate might amass sufficient economic, military, and political power to be considered a House in their own right.

Local Government & Legislative Procedures

Despite the historically authoritarian bent of its national and supranational governments, Martian local governments tend to be democratic and decentralized. On the local and clan levels, direct democracy by consensus is common. Rooks have enjoyed wide freedoms within their clans - clanwide workplaces were governed collectively by laborers during the First and Second Triumvirates, and potentially before. Clans typically have a formal leader, elected by popular vote from among its membership. The typical clan has 80 members and a land grant around the size of city block. Older and more aristocratic clans may have large estates and many members.

Each clan of a sufficient size and rank may elect a permanent representative to the Diet, who may be recalled by the clan at any time. Clan-wide by-elections to the Diet are always happening, shifting and changing the composition of the legislature sometimes daily. Some clans choose not to select a representative. Others select representatives who pledge only to deliberate on matters of special importance to the clan. Regardless, members of the Diet not part of the High Council usually receive committee assignments relevant to their beliefs and clan background. They only vote on legislative relevant to their appointments. High-ranking and especially senior clan representatives may have more authority in practice.

The septennial elections for High Council were once more restrained. In recent years, commercialization of the political process has created big-budget affairs with a significant amount of pageantry. Councilors represent both political regions and their own clans, long seen as a conflict of interest by Terrans. Members of the High Council elect a Premier, who does not have to be a Councilor herself, at the beginning of each legislative session and every time a vacancy occurs. This is a modern reform: prior to 2396, the Empress selected the Premier, and prior to 2275, the Premier did not require councilors' confirmation.

Martians see the Diet, which they call the Fellowship, as a semi-direct democracy where any local representative may attempt to influence legislation. The Council, on the other hand, is seen as a direct descendant of old Royal Councils, which were for learned aristocrats and wise advisors exclusively. During the first Triumvirate, the positions were appointed by the Empress; during the Second, elections were held, but only among military officers and candidates. With Shianvist rule, Councilors and candidates for Council are almost always civilian politicians.

Clans often make endorsements for Council, leading to highly personal, familial politics and dynasties of councilors.

The Empress

Martian concepts of royalty are closely related to their concepts of divinity. In ancient times, queens and empresses were worshiped as gods. Sin Shian, the ancient queen of Sabaea, was declared a goddess; her psychic rule lasted more than a millennium. At the time of the Triumvirate's first foundation, notions of imperial godhood had not entirely faded away. Ravma the Great refused offers of deification, but historians, politicians, and rulers themselves routinely sanctified the royal bloodline, describing the blood and spirit of the imperial family as holy.

Empresses are often chosen in the spirit of their predecessors. Usually, this means blood relation, but may also refer to spiritual or psychic relation. During the Ravmist era, electors decided the imperial succession on blood, mental, or spiritual connection, with similarity in temperament within the Ravma clan believed to show the latter. Ravma the Ill-Conceived attempted to shrug off the circumstances of her birth by means of psychic similarity. Even Empress Teva I, unrelated to Clan Ravma by blood, attempted to show her psionic relation to the Ravmist Empresses, to solidify her rule. A traditional feature of the Martian far-right is they view monarchs and dictators not as individual persons, but rather as vessels of higher-order beings, such as gods, angels, or spiritual guides.

Rulers on Mars, including the Empress of the Triumvirate, are almost always women - that is, participants of nara alone. This is by tradition. The constitution of the Triumvirate does not specify which gender the imperial office-holder must participate in, though it is always assumed to be nara. As gender is participatory in Martian society, Martians not of proper gender alignment may change their alignment, either voluntarily or by the demands of tradition, in order to maintain or protect their rule. It is generally assumed this is true of Ravma V, who was of mixed sheon-tsaan alignment before being elected to the throne. Shianva IV was of pure tsaan alignment prior to their election and again after their abdication. Avishianva Tam, who was considered as a potential successor to Shianva II, actually refused the throne due to his reluctance to participate in nara.

Empresses may only take office at the age of 30, the traditional age of adulthood for rooks. They may, however, be selected as Empress at any time after the beginning of their adolescence, usually around the age of 13, when a rook takes their chosen name and begins formal schooling. The current Empress, Shianva VII, was elected to the imperial seat just six days after her naming ceremony, resulting in a long regency presided over by Terran officials and colonial authorities. She is slated to be crowned next year.

After the death of an Empress, dramatic funerals are held, and a six-month period of mourning known as an Absence begins. Empresses do not typically die in office. Due to their long life spans, rooks generally opt to abdicate once they begin reaching a venerable age, sometimes co-ruling with a preferred imperial candidate for a period. This preference may not be respected by imperial electors; disapproval of the preferred successor led in part to the rise of Shianva II to the throne. In 2119, electors chose Miveo I instead of the preferred candidate, Ajandimuth Ianda, who raised her banners in a failed rebellion.

TRAVEL ADVISORY: While public criticism of the Empress is no longer a crime in most jurisdictions, insulting the Empress remains a civil offense punishable by fines. The line between criticism and insult may be blurred due to translation difficulties, cultural differences, and ideological concerns. All travelers are advised to speak of the Empress in neutral or positive language.

 

[Penelope]

i'm curious as to if genomics and gene sequencing has lagged in TTL compared to our own, since it seems like that would make it easy to determine if humans and rooks share a common origin, and if so, how far in the past it was.

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You might be right about the gene sequencing. But all told, the Old Terran theorists probably have the bulk of scientific evidence behind them. It really just brings up a bunch of stuff nobody is eager to really get into, and raises more questions than answers. Easier to hold out for convergent evolution or something else.

Wow, I just realized how much it must suck to fight Martian infantry. Psychic abilites must means that coordinating small-unit tactics is hella easy.

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Now imagine that those squads have at least one person dedicated to making everyone fighting them feel depressed and have audiovisual hallucinations, and you have a good idea of what Martian warfare looks like on the ground level.

Earth has a population, possibly of some degree of a million, of martians that have grown on Earth, and are suffering from severe health defects and a kind of mental disease comparable to psychosis?

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It used to be a lot worse. In the old days, just after the wars, your options as a first generation earthbound Martian were pretty limited - mostly charitable doctors and/or experimental and potentially unsafe procedures. Now there are established treatment plans and pills one can take to fix or alleviate most of it. Later generations of earthbound Martians have also adapted a lot better than the first few.. still, it's tough out there. The air is too wet, there's too much of it, and the gravity means they can't walk right. They get iron cravings and their psychic abilities have to be dulled by medication lest they get the "interplanetary madness."

Not that the earthling colonists on Mars have it much better. Don't forget your oxygen mask!

Also dear me, the Federation has a veto like the League of Nations or the United Nations Security Council, we're doomed.

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Oh yes, uniting a whole planet under one government is very hard. Simpler really to just pretend you did it and call it a day.

Finally, there's something universally understandable about a child puppet ruler being put on the throne by foreign powers, that's a classic. Don't tell the Martians I said that though, I don't want to be fined.

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Shianva VII is honestly just trying her best - I feel for her.

 

[Penelope]

The Great Martian Rebellion

"Children, be wary, for My voice will return to the world."
-Last words of Tamaranath Gvara, pretender to the Obsidian Seat; quoted from the Wisdom of the Living Goddess, a book of sayings attributed to Sin Shian.

The Great Martian Rebellion was a failed revolution against the rule of the Houses of Terra on Mars. To date, it was the last officially-declared armed conflict between the governments of Earth and Mars, and the first since the Wars of the Worlds. The rebellion began in the aftermath of the assassination of Empress Shianva V Arimana. As separatist fervor spread throughout the Triumvirate, mercenary tripod pilots stationed in Rehan defected and seized a colonial base, southwest of the Martian capital of Deshanor. In the administration chaos of an imperial vacancy, violent unrest broke out across Cimmeria, Noachia, and Sabaea. By January 2384, rebel fighters openly engaged colonial authorities in orbital dogfights and asymmetrical desert warfare.

Many ambitious commanders took the crisis as an opportunity, making themselves into warlords, petty queens, or candidates for Empress. Against the backdrop of the imperial election, ideological coalitions formed, particularly among the Triumvirate's military clans, who overwhelmingly favored separation; a minority opposed the rebellion and remained loyal to Clan Shianva. Other groups advanced alternative rulers or favored the dissolution of the Triumvirate. Radicals advocated Martian republicanism, inspired by the areosocialist writings of Mi-Ka. Fearing an all-out assault to decapitate the Triumvirate's leadership, the Martian navies remained unified, forming a blockade around Martian orbit with the help of freelancers, mercenaries, and other independent spacers.

All colonial citizens and defenders were thus left stranded on Mars. On March 2, militarists seized control of the imperial conclave, electing the populist general Tamaranath Gvara as Empress. She ruled briefly as Ranath I, uniting the majority of rebel groups behind her. Those who refused to accept her rule were largely Shianvist loyalists and liberals. Radicals, republicans, and revolutionaries also decried Ranath's seizure of power, viewing the March coup and her coronation as a dishonorable act of betrayal. Areosocialist partisans fought against Ranath's regime. Dissolutionists refused to fight for her, and rejected any of her imperial commanders.

Fighting during the Rebellion became particularly brutal during the last half of 2384. Ranathist forces besieged November City; local colonial militias fended off their assaults, with many Martian civilians dying in the midst of the fighting. In September, Terran battleships and fighters broke through the Martian blockade, helping transport vessels to land on the planet. The arrival of Terran ground forces led to the swift defeat of the Ranathist regime. A coalition of liberal Martian clans and Terran armies liberated Deshanor in December. The second imperial conclave of the year elected Shianva VI, ending the crisis.

The Assassination of Shianva V

On November 6, Mavitara Rheona assassinated Empress Shianva V during the annual Tuvaro Art & Music Celebration, an open-air festival held outside the city. While investigations by the Houses of Terra and the Imperial Office of Shianva VI found no evidence of a conspiracy related to the assassination, the sudden and ignominious death of the Empress helped to foster revolutionary sentiments throughout Mars, leading almost immediately to the early stages of the Rebellion.

Despite popular belief, Mavitara appeared unopposed to Terran rule. Some of this perception may stem from one of the contemporary writings of Mi-Ka, which lauded the slaying as a revolutionary act, and resulted in jail-time for its author. Mi-Ka had, at that time, been a student at one of Deshanor's universities; the jail sentence meant she missed the entirety of the Rebellion, only to be pardoned shortly after the war's end. Mavitara's friends described her as a Terraphile. Mavitara had no formal weapons training, nor extremist political beliefs. Rather, she was a locally popular musician. She had been previously a volunteer member of the Deshanor City Watch; she scouted for fires and sandstorms.

Having been scheduled to perform for the imperial delegation the next morning, her appearance in the Royal Tent just before midnight attracted no suspicion from guards. In fact, some among the guard recognized her from her days as a volunteer watchwoman, and allowed her entry with no issues. After finding the Empress and her inner circle, she shot thrice in her direction with an antique Terran revolver. Her first shot missed, her second grazed Shianva's shoulder, and her third entered her neck, paralyzing her and causing massive blood loss. Mavitara had purchased the gun from a colonial pawn shop just days before. Her unfamiliarity with the weapon may have caused the fourth shot's misfire.

The ensuing catastrophic malfunction severely burned her hands, sent shrapnel into her chest, and singed the fur on her face. An escape attempt persisted only until morning, when the Royal Guard found her in the basement of a colonial casino. She died before being able to be questioned. Her motive remains unknown. Desire for fame or a personal grudge against Clan Shianva may have played a role. Some have advanced conspiracy theories regarding the assassination, but none are well-supported by evidence.

Regardless of the reason, the Empress lay dying for thirteen hours, immobile, mostly comatose, and unable to speak. Her inner circle spoke to her through thought alone, and attempted to discern her last wishes from half-recovered memory fragments and dreams. She died near noon, after the second passing of the foremoon. The next day, the Regency Council convened.

Ranath I

Tamaranath Gvara came to the throne through bloodshed, cajolement, and insinuation. Hailing from famed Clan Ranath, one of many who dedicated their finest princes to the Wars of the Worlds, she had plentiful allies from among the military hardliners of Mars. Already when the Regents announced an imperial conclave for mid-January, some hoped to crown her Empress. The conclave ran day and night until the end of February with no accession. During this time, the Martian premier, a separatist-sympathizer with support from the right-wing, acted independently, cutting off communication with Terra.

Clan Shianva's succession, traditionally hereditary, remained in doubt. The only adult remaining of Shianva II's core bloodline had been born of one parent alone, a self-fertilized daughter marked by Martian bastardy. Any remaining heirs were young pups. Shianva V's ill-advised marriage to a tsaan of Clan Hranva helped them in no way, creating only the obvious potential for a new dynasty. Hranva's prime candidate, however, proved unpalatable to either radicals or militarists. She favored liberalism, the continuation of Terran rule, and regulations on military clans. A few radicals even suggested several socialist writers, wholly unrelated to any royal bloodline, any one of whom could be made Empress solely so that she might destroy the Triumvirate. This, unsurprisingly, never went anywhere.

Ranath spent much of the conclave coalescing support among hardliners and representatives from military clans. Victory seemed within reach. However, when word reached the conclave that the blockade might be breached, many liberals in the imperial court began spinning tales that Deshanor - and the Triumvirate - might be destroyed by orbital bombardment if no candidate could be reached. Fearing the worst, reformists opened back-channels with the Houses of Terra and began offering generous terms to normalize relations. Hardliners saw a coup in the making, and struck quickly with one of their own. Traitors within the court were slain, the Regents and Shianva V's inner circle imprisoned, and the conclave dissolved in favor of a stratocratic appointment.

Crowned by priestesses at gunpoint as Empress Ranath I, she sent word to all military clans, major politicians, and aristocrats of the Triumvirate to submit to her reign. Many refused. In her first major act, she declared Mars free of Terran influence, and war against any of the Houses who might dare interfere. The Triumvirate broke in two. On one side, the militarists, the supremacists, and the separatists, behind Ranath I, liberator of Desuul. On the other, the disunited coalitions of liberals and radicals. The liberals unified around Taanshianva Tsira, the self-fertilized daughter of Clan Shianva, and the young aunt of Shianva V. A new conclave in the city Taran in Noachia elected her Shianva VI.

Under Ranath's leadership, the government in Deshanor collapsed into stratocratic dictatorship, with military clans at the forefront of administration and rule. In the multi-front war against radical areosocialists, republicans, and Shianva VI's alternative government, Ranath excelled. For a brief moment, it appeared that the old ways of the Second Triumvirate might return. In a moment of heady hypernationalism, the military governor of Sithtan in Syrtis declared her Sin Shian come again. A drunken joke, and a sociopolitical faux pas. Nonetheless, some wondered if there might be some truth to the words.

The Winter of Discontent

As southern hemispheric winter set in, grave news reached the imperial court of Ranath I. Terran battleships, flanked by fighters and transport craft, broke the blockade of the navies. Morale had collapsed among them. The freelancers and mercenaries had fled for better pay. From here on out, the war would be fought on land. Ranath and her core cadre of strategists assured the military that the Terrans could not seize the planet by force alone. Ranath herself declared, in the privacy of the royal council chambers, "How many times did our grandmothers and great-grandmothers attempt to take Earth?" The generals agreed - planetary invasion was impossible in principle, based on ill-tactics and poor theory.

Though some truth might remain, a major flaw in the Ranathist assumptions became evident within weeks. Shortly after the first Terran landings, Shianva VI and her nascent court in the west surrendered to the arriving military forces and sued for peace. The sentiment within the Ranathist court turned to humor: "You see?" The Empress reportedly said, "The ill-born child quits already - the sure sign of the weak-willed and the turncloak." But Shianva VI's motivations were quite different. In negotiations with the Houses of Terra and Federation representatives, she turned the process not into one of unconditional surrender, but alliance. An agreement quickly hashed out provided Shianvists with renewed legitimacy to rule Mars, and laid the groundwork for much of the post-rebellion order.

All that remained was to retake the capital and capture Ranath. Victory would not prove so simple. The winter of 2384 proved harder than any in recent memory. Solar minimums, climatological conditions, and atmospheric haze combined to produce a hellish mixture of snow, sand, and sleet. During battles across Sabaea, dry ice blizzards and fog wrought havoc on armies of all allegiances. Thousands of Terran soldiers froze to death in the dust, and native Martians were not much luckier. Even today, charred remains of tripods still dot the Sabaean deserts. In the final battle of the war, the Liberation of Deshanor, a brief respite of warmth caused the carbon dioxide snow to sublimate into a great fog which blotted out the sun in gray mist. None could find Ranath on the field or in the city. When at last the Palace had been seized, the armies of Terra and Shianvist Mars found Ranath and her inner circle in ill-health, with the Empress herself recovering from frostbite and hypothermia.

Aftermath

Some have called the end of the rebellion a refoundational moment for the Triumvirate. The priestesses, under no threat, crowned and anointed Taanshianva Tsira Empress of Mars, and she went about in no time repairing the institutions of an entire world. Shianva VI's imperial government moved immediately to apply for Federation membership. With the support of the Federation and most of the Houses of Terra, she worked with advisors and peacekeepers to dismantle the previous system of colonial interference in favor of a single, unified body of oversight, staffed with both Martian and Human representatives.

The International Mandate was the result. Corporations and independent representatives of the Houses no longer had free reign to conduct their affairs on Mars without oversight. Likewise, the process of Federation application granted Mars considerably more autonomy in its economic, political, and military decision making. Though rebel lords would oppose her measures, and found the Amunari Stratocracies in response, Shianva VI infamously nationalized all military clans into a single structure, the Imperial Military of the Triumvirate of Mars. The independent political power of the Martian Diet increased; Shianva VI, with parliamentary support, ended the traditional practice of the imperial selection of Premiers. Progressives of the Diet limited imperial powers and privileges through legislative measures.

Shianva VI refused to abdicate the throne, fearing another succession crisis. The other princes of the old blood of Clan Shianva grew into men or tsaan, and she never married or produced a viable heir. For a time, she proposed with reformists to relax norms around gender presentations of the Empresses, though this never fully caught on. In her final years as queen, she yet again denied any intents to abdicate, even as her health failed. As the hour of her death approached, again all of Clan Shian's potential heirs were children. She died of cancer on October 16, 2453, prompting a short - but intense - political crisis that led to the accession of the child Empress, Shianva VII, one of her distant relatives, and the daughter of one of the sons of Shianva V through Clan Hranva.

NOTE: This article is currently locked due to excessive vandalism (last updated at 13:54 on November 13, 2471).

 

[Penelope]

That, and the nightmare blizzards utterly blindsiding and focusing harder on the enemy, that's just a miraculous stroke of luck. Although does say something disquieting about the state of Mars planetary ecology and the local preparedness if a civil war was won on account of an entire head of government being so ill-equipped for a winter so harsh, that their entire cabinet was dying of hypothermia.

That's Climate Change Nightmares+, and feels the real deciding factor.

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Yeah, a big unstated factor here is that Mars has been breaking down for a while in terms of biology, climate, geology. When your planet is entering a global, possibly permanent and ever-worsening ice age, the old standby of turtling up in a heavily fortified, defensible position just doesn't cut it anymore.

the issue is they absolutely didn't need to invade an entire whole, most of Mars was a-okay with just going "Oh hey, we can gang up on the false empress, or just watch from the sidelines" with the Terrans.

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No ideological unity really hurt here. Everyone got ahead of themselves after Shianva V's assassination and sleepwalked into an ill conceived right wing rebellion. Nobody had a plan, least of all Ranath and her cronies, who basically got scared and accidentally a coup.

It makes one wonder, though, what they might be able to achieve with a little forethought and planning.

Still, those types of people can be seen as the Mars equivariant of military filibusters, with a bunch of humans once.

Click to shrink...

You're really onto something with the filibuster comparison.

I wonder if there is a John Carter and Gulliver Jones Expy's in this timeline?

Click to shrink...

Interesting you might think so.

 

[Penelope]

Excerpt from Economic History of the Third Triumvirate, Chapter II, publ. 2456 by revolutionary areosocialist Isaraduun Aevul, known by the pseudonym Mi-Ka.

The Last Century of the Second Triumvirate

From the beginning, the whole project of the Shianvists has been financial perversion. To see its course we must turn back time and follow the chain of events. Its origin is in the latter days of the Second Triumvirate, at a time when the perils and failings of strict stratocracy as a mode of government had become apparent. The forces of military reaction brought about their own ruin within two centuries. The stratocrats, in tearing apart nations and clans, destroyed global rule from within like a virus. Long before its final death at the hands of Shianva II, the Second Triumvirate had been slain by the Wars of the Worlds. Military adventurism on Terra and elsewhere had depleted the royal treasury and fatally damaged the once-invincible institutions created by Ravma I and bolstered through authoritarianism by Clan Teva. With newfound technology, the earthlings had come out from their planet into the void between worlds, to Desuul and even the very City of Deshanor in their ships, capable of returning home within a single season.

In this environment, the pre-Shianvist Empresses perpetrated unimaginable misrule leading to their downfall. Miveo I, having seized the throne from Clan Muth with the Diet's support, spent the entirety of her reign in war against them. The war killed her, leading to the election and coronation of Miveo II, her litter-sister, who reigned only a decade before her forced abdication. Tsadara I, her successor, lasted longer, feuding constantly with the Diet, and placating the military clans who had placed her on the throne with astonishing dealings and pitiful public groveling that degraded the supposed sanctity of the imperial office. Then came Shianva I, who had few of the failings of her later relatives: her reign saw a brief realignment towards reformists in the Diet. She died young, before bearing any heirs of her own flesh.

Clan Miveo then returned to the throne, in the persons of Miveo III and her daughter of her flesh, Miveo IV. As we shall see, Miveo III's casual acceptance of militarism, ardent reaction, and totalitarianism led directly to the political crises which plagued the rule of Miveo IV, whose neglect and general misrule caused the total collapse of the old legal and political order.

The Misrule of Miveo IV

Miveo III, like Tsadara before her, granted ever-greater privileges to the military clans of her day. The sole difference was her competence at ruling, and her strength of will. With the support of the militarists, she dissolved the Diet frequently. So numerous were these dissolutions that, by the time of her daughter's rise to power, the persistent running of the Diet had become a forgotten feature of the past, an outmoded form of government associated with Shianva I and some of her Ravmist predecessors. In spite of this penchant for absolutism, Miveo III balanced with skill the interests of many different military factions to continue her reign. In interplanetary policy, she made a number of deals with the earthling Houses which enriched herself and Clan Miveo, which would soon be a common theme of Triumvirate governance. Only corrupt acumen yet staved off collapse.

The harsh winter which led to her death came on suddenly, with carbonate snows falling as south as Deshanor, which would not occur again until the farcical Great Rebellion against Clan Shianva over a century later. During a retreat to the southern coasts, word reached her that one of her militarist rivals, the head of Clan Gvand, was to arrive before her to the Amunist celebration Tavan Sa. Whether she feared a challenge to her rule or simply being upstaged, history tells us nothing - regardless, she demanded her royal guards set off with her, immediately, to Deshanor in an attempt to arrive beforehand. She died hours later, freezing in the royal traincar.

Miveo IV took the throne days later, crowned quickly to avoid a crisis of succession. She was one of her mother's heirs of the flesh, from the only litter she ever bore - quite controversially - by one of her own clanmates. Though it might be tempting to see the aristocracy's opposition to this union in a moral or ethical light, it was certainly not, and reflected not simple disgust at cousin marriage but classism. This practice had been long associated with the lower clans; that is, the rabble. They saw in all of Miveo III's prospective heirs the same spirit as they did in the world's proletariat - quite wrongly, given their persuasion of politics. This assumption colored much of the next regnal period.

It did not help matters at all that Miveo IV shared none of her mother's skill. Being only 38 at the time of her coronation, she was barely an adult, with no ability to smooth over the concerns of militarists twice her age. The Diet had not been called in nearly thirty years by the time of her reign, so she had no other political body loyal to her but her advisors and the royal guard, and them only by sworn oaths. No allies had been prepared for her. Empress Miveo III simply had not expected to die, perhaps at all. Worse, many of the military clans now were ruled by ambitious women who had lain in wait for Miveo III's passing, and finding it unexpectedly early, immediately pressed the advantage. Clan Muth rose its banners in rebellion, fondly recalling the glory days of their short time on the Obsidian Seat - likewise, Clans Annand, Dejah, and Daegaff refused to recognize imperial authority or legitimacy.

With no support from among the militarists, Miveo had no power at all. She desperately needed the political and legal authority only the Diet might provide to her. Just a year into her reign, she sent out a writ of assembly to gather the lords of the Diet once more to resolve the many crises plaguing the land and her reign. A series of political battles began. Miveo IV held the imperial seat only by tooth and claw alone, always remaining just lucky enough to avoid an open challenge or full-scale revolt. By the winter of her sixth year, she had grown weary ruling indeed. Her hair had begun prematurely losing its color and her fur had become sparse from stress. The anxieties of the imperial office wore heavily on her.

At the dawn of the seventh year of her reign, she aspired to set aside the throne to her litter-sister, Surimiveo Shaan, following every tradition only as necessary. Surimevo had spent time rotating to different positions Miveo IV's royal advisory board and had become a known quantity, and, to the letter of the law, an "experienced ruler." At the end of the following autumn, she announced her sister would become her co-ruler. And quite boldly she took the name Miveo V.

The Year of Two Empresses

While the earthlings might describe Miveo IV as a hardliner, authoritarian, or monstrous - this is only out of association with her sister, the would-be Miveo V. The runt of her litter, she grew up to be an aggressive, confrontational, and violent woman. She smoked Terran-imported cigars, drank heavily of darkwine, held court only in banquets and festivals, and in general seemed the truest incarnation of all the gluttony and excess of the old Sabaean bourgeoisie. In matters of government, she openly insulted and threatened members of the Diet - once even attacking one with her claws - to get her way. She refused, with her sister's support, to renew many contracts with the Terran bourgeoisie that her mother had agreed to.

In the face of this behavior one must ask what possessed Miveo IV to select Miveo V, out of all her litter-mates, as co-ruler. Gender alignment was not the sole concern. Miveo IV had two additional siblings participating in at least some nara, and most, if not all, might have changed alignment in return for being made Empress. Some earthling scholars, stupidly, have suggested Miveo V might have cajoled or threatened her way to the position. This can be tempting only from the outside perspective. In truth, it appears most likely that Miveo IV was simply fond of Miveo V the most, and believed her the most trustworthy. The Empress, though being first-selected by Miveo III among her heirs of the flesh, had never been very charismatic nor skillful, and as a misfit among her litter got on well with her sister the runt.

During the year of co-rule, Miveo IV took no care to curtail the excesses of her sister, preferring to retreat from view entirely, more or less allowing Miveo V to attain total control of the imperial office in quick fashion. She spent her days at cinemas, theater shows, high society parties, and all told avoided the public. Miveo V used her newfound power to enrich herself, her spouses, and her many lovers. In addition, she garnered the support of a limited number of militarists by overseeing the final defeat of Daegaff's Rebellion - her total disregard for the Diet and its officials certainly did not hurt either. The public and proletariat in those days had no ability to differentiate between the two Empresses. One newspaper of the time simply talked of them as though they were the same person, perhaps a Shianic reflex, and others reported the people confused Miveo V for her sister at all public events.

At this time, among the Diet, pre-revolutionary ideas began to spread. Many councilors of the diet hoped to use the instability of the monarchy to force greater privileges and administrative control to the Diet. Indeed, between the apathy of Miveo IV and the violent gluttony of Miveo V, the councilors had taken up much of the bulk of governance along with the royal advisors. In some circles, the idea of republicanism surfaced, though in those days the idea of imperial divinity was much more prevalent than today. Whisperings of conspiracy turned to revolutionary thinking quickly.

During the festivals of the next autumnal equinox, several councilors of the Diet publicly announced they would no longer recognize Miveo V as Empress, denying her legitimacy to rule or wield authority. In the hours after, many more announced support for them. Within days, a majority of the Diet opposed Miveo V's co-rule. The Diet's premier, appointed not one season before by Miveo V with her sister's written support, openly urged Miveo V to abdicate - and suggested that her sister might well have to do the same.

It is likely that neither sister paid close attention to the appointment of the premier. By their time, that office had held no true power since well before the Wars of the Worlds. The advisors who suggested the appointment also likely held no ill-intent; premiers were typically selected based on suggestions from among the Diet, usually based on seniority and progression of rank through committee. The whole process of the premier's appointment may have been simple as an advisor, perhaps not even one of important rank, asking a handful of councilors of the Diet their opinion, writing a name down, and transmitting it to Miveo V, who would drunkenly sign it at one of her many banquets, and to Miveo IV, who might have simply ordered one of her assistants to sign it on her behalf.

The Premier's name was Taanshianva Meos.

The Midwinter of Taanshianva

Within days, Taanshianva held the ear of an entire planet, speaking to the press, in speeches to the public, and to the Diet, demanding the abdication of the Co-Empress. It soon became clear that the Diet might also attempt to force Miveo IV out of office. She had, at the outset of co-rule, assured the Diet she would leave the imperial seat within two years. Thus, the premier dragged Miveo IV out of her life of leisurely apathy in a futile attempt to sway the Diet out of open rebellion. She immediately dissolved the Diet for a period of twenty days in the face of the crisis. Longer would have been politically unfeasible. The military clans would not assent to or support the dictatorial rule of Miveo IV and V.

What followed is one of the most shameful and pitiful acts of imperial cowardice, possibly in all the Triumvirate's history. More contemptible even than Tsadara's placations of the military elite was Miveo IV's campaign to save her sister's rule. It involved banquets and feasts, wining and dining, the screening of councilors' preferred serials, and, allegedly, the arrangement of at least two marriages. A popular folk legend in those days was that Miveo IV had even offered to bed - or wed, depending on the source - Taanshianva to prevent the collapse of her rule. The truth of such legends cannot be ascertained. What is known is that by the beginning of midwinter, Miveo IV was on claw and knee, begging councilors to remain steadfast in support of her reign. Though the sight of the Empress on her knees might have been pleasing to them, no swaying could be done. They had spent the better half of decade obeying the whims of the Empresses Miveo. They were through, and all it showed was a weak and slovenly Empress.

As midwinter drew to a close, Miveo IV met with militarists, loyalists, and any others who might be convinced to come to the crown's aid in time of war. Ironically, many hardliners considered supporting the continuation of Miveoan rule, if only because of their opposition to Taanshianva and their amusement with Miveo V. Taanshianva was a reform-minded legislator, supportive of Terran market reforms, democratization of administration, expansion of the Diet, and limitation of both military clans and imperial powers. Though she had been kin to Empress Shianva I through clan, many were alarmed by her political positions, and afraid she might try to dissolve the Triumvirate altogether in favor of a republic. A loose coalition of loyalists was assembled the day before the reconvening of the Diet.

Miveo V did little during this time, apparently held at bay by her sister, who feared her particular brand of ruling would spark civil war. Midwinter's end brought three things. The first was the reconvening of the Triumvirate's Diet, the second was the return to public life of Miveo V, and the third will become clear later. Over the course of the latter half of the year of co-rule, the threat of war appeared everywhere. Most of the major military clans denied support to either the Diet or the Empresses. Blood feuds resumed between them. During the crisis, the Diet began assembling a private army of spacers, mercenaries, and militiawomen to defend itself, as many believed Miveo V might attempt to gather forces to storm and destroy the legislature.

When the first session of the reconvened Diet began, the collected memories of Miveo IV tell us she felt excellent about her chances. In the royal palace, surrounded by her allies, watching the legislative business from afar, she convened mentally with her friends in the Diet and the bureaucracy there. They informed her of all the goings on, and it became readily apparent that disaster had struck. Proclamations of the Diet arrived, with support from across the political spectrum - including from militarists - that both Empresses must immediately abdicate. With only the barest support from hardline military clans, no support from the Diet, and all their allies well-funded by the earthling houses, a rebellion had little chance of success.

The Shianvist Coup

That evening, Miveo IV assembled her allies and confidants, who suggested she redissolve the Diet. Her sister, ever the firebrand, argued that if the Diet rose in rebellion, they ought to call upon the military clans for aid. "They will be honorbound to defend our rule," she said, "for they will surely be under threat if the Diet comes to rule all of Desuul, either through a monarch or, Arun forbid, a republic." Some among her court cautioned that civil war would surely lead to the collapse of the Triumvirate, and Terran influence or control over Desuul's governments. These statements clearly weighed on Miveo IV.

She remained awake well into the morning, when Taanshianva herself entered the Palace of Deshanor and sought an audience with her. In person, she urged that Miveo IV withdraw her support for Miveo V, abdicate the Obsidian Seat, and give her assent to an imperial conclave to resolve the succession. What else exactly transpired in this conversation, we shall never know in full, as none of it reliably survives in the collected memories or the tellings of the memorists, who have studied her thoughts in full. After the premier left the Palace, Miveo IV called up her advisors and her royal guard, and drafted a writ of abdication, making it clear therein that she no longer accepted Miveo V's rule and gave instruction that an imperial election be held no later than ten days hence.

Perhaps the Empress hoped that in the remaining ten days, she might be able to convince her sister to stand down; nonetheless, Miveo V remained on the Obsidian Seat, demanded that her loyalists within the royal guard hold her sister under house arrest, and sent out letters calling on the support of the great military clans against the Diet's rebellion. At this moment, a great turning point of history came, as some within Taanshianva's council of ministers grew fearful and called on her to deliver their paramilitary forces to the capital to root out the false empress. Taanshianva refused, giving ten days, after which point the sortition of an imperial conclave began.

Earthling financiers and advisors remained at her beck and call, and a few well-placed earthly allies were selected to be given seats on the conclave, a stunning move. This alone might have convinced the militarists to come to the aid of Clan Miveo, but no help came. In this, we can be certain of fraud. Taanshianva instructed that all outgoing mail from the palace be burned, paid criminals to destroy all telecommunication lines, and had all riders and couriers stopped and placed under arrest. Even psychic communication was interrupted. Several well-trained telepaths under the Diet's employ sent out misleading or confusing information and emotions to people within the military clans, blurring their minds.

People within the conclave, earthling and rook, were largely allies of Taanshianva. It came as no surprise to those in the know that within just a few hours, the conclave elected Taanshianva as Empress Shianva II. The priests anointed her in Deshanor's greatest plaza, for all the world to see, and the public celebrated her coronation as they would any. With her word, she now called on the military clans, the royal guard, and all true women of the Triumvirate to come to her aid. With the palace surrounded and her allies now faltering, Miveo V had now choice but to surrender to the will of the new Empress. She sent out couriers to tell of her surrender at morning light; by mid-day, she was in irons.

Miveo IV retired quietly, living on estates north of Deshanor until her death, refusing public appearances or requests to speak with the press. Only when the hour of her death approached decades later did she meet with the memorists and give over some of her memories to them for the public record. Her sister spent a decade in various parts of Shianva II's dungeons before being released; she later became a militarist and separatist within the Diet, and died in a duel at the age of 89.

The Issue of Terra

Now the question remains: how was the Shianvist coup accomplished? What great allies and support did the reformist and overtly liberal Diet have to call forth?

On this point, we can be sure that the Houses of Terra played a significant role. Throughout the whole story of the Second Triumvirate's last century - indeed, long before, since at least the conclusion of the Wars of the Worlds - the earthlings have been behind the scenes, playing an unseen role in the histories that most do not bother to capture at all. No effort is made to tell of their role in the collapse of Muthist rule. Before that, they were becoming advisors to many of the Triumvirate's high queens, warlords, and clans.

During the Dark Age of Terra, only the Old Spacers remained on Mars as their own home went through something akin to our own history. By the time of the first Miveoan Empresses, then, these spacers had become a significant power in their own right already, serving our monarchs and even becoming their lawful subjects. The city of November is the oldest surviving earthling settlement on the planet, and today the capital of their whole enterprise here. It began to arise not three decades after the end of hostilities with their planet many centuries ago. So, when new generations of earthlings came to Mars, in the form of the Houses of Terra, telling of the end of their dark age and offering a return of contact and economic opportunity, many were eager to have the earthly ships return.

Now this occurred during the reign of Tsadara, and neither herself nor her successor, Shianva I - Shianva the Good, we might very charitably, say - brought themselves to sign any undue contracts with the earthlings. However, during Miveo III's reign, as was stated above, many were signed, solely for the enrichment of the imperial office and her clan. When Miveo IV came to power she had grown accustomed to being quite wealthy from the support of earthly companies - the Martian Mineral & Water group among them - and had no intention of dissolving any agreements. Indeed, she signed a great many more deals during her reign until the beginning of co-rule with her sister, Miveo V. While Miveo IV may have had trust and good relations with her sister, Miveo V was of a much different political style and belief system. When it came time to begin renewing old agreements, Miveo V had come into control of nearly all arms of imperial governance, and she quickly and eagerly began to sever ties.

In that moment is the whole of the Shianvist Coup and how it happened - the legitimacy of the Empresses Miveo by then came not from the people, nor the law, the militaries, certainly not the Diet, and not even their royal bloodline. Instead, the entirety of the reason for their rule had become their financial support by the earthling powers. Here the first capitalist economic expansion had begun. For Terra, this was only the beginning of one of many profitable business cycles which followed in the aftermath of their second, much more expansive and permanent, venture into space. For our world, it was the first ever. The transition to industrialized capitalism had never taken place here on Desuul, for feudalism remained ever entrenched into our political systems.

The earthling corporatists arrived with great ships, technology we had once possessed but forgotten, and began the process of taking our resources for their own. The consequence was the end of our own world. Water miners of old became no longer by clans but by money and employment to extraplanetary powers, and paid next to nothing of the gains of their labor. Neither would their labor be fruitful for their neighbors - for their clans had been eradicated by the whims of capital - but would be shipped through the void of space to Terra, for their enjoyment. The same is true of all precious commodities of Desuul: diamond, iron, blacksteel, our animals and plants, even our own communities and our very own minds.

Thus when capitalism arrived, brought by a foreign power, riches of inconceivable quantity began to fall into the laps of the aristocratic clans. All these contracts were of course exploitative, and the supposed riches merely the tiniest fractions of the sheer amount of wealth that had begun to be transferred to Terra. The traditionalists, led foremost in spirit by Miveo V's refusal to renew those exploitative agreements, had no revolutionary motivation whatsoever - we should be perfectly clear upon this point. It is their ideological failings which caused the total collapse of their objective. The age of Desuul's feudalism had ended, and the age of capitalism began in the absence of true revolutionary goals or ideas.

With the rise to power of Clan Shianva, a turning of history had been completed, and the beginning of capitalist exploitation on our planet began in earnest with her reign. Next, in our analysis of Shianvist policies, from the ascension of Shianva II to the recent election of Shianva VII, we will see the political, economic, and cultural effects imported capitalism has had on the Triumvirate...

 

[Penelope]

Excerpt from Interplanetary Traveler's Companion, Fourth Edition, publ. 2412 by Weld-Williams Publishing House.

The family structure of Mars is made up of a center and her circle. Monogamous marriage and romance never developed the way they did on Earth. Instead, Martians practice a form of arranged temporary marriages. The center, traditionally a participant of nara, takes multiple legally-recognized partners, traditionally of tsaan, sheon, or lesser nara alignment. After a predetermined number of years, usually twelve, the arrangement ends. Formerly married partners often remain close friends or even intimate partners. In modern times, it has become common to extend one's marriage by mutual agreement.

In pre-industrial times, the circle held collective responsibility for raising litters, while the center was the head of the household. Despite having a limited role in child-rearing, she was considered the sole legal parent in many cultures; her circle were considered only temporary guardians. Divorce was extremely rare and sometimes illegal. In cultures that allowed divorce, spouses of a circle had considerable difficulty negotiating out of contracts, often only on the basis of wrongdoing which could void it. Social and financial pressure encouraged unhappy spouses to stick through the remaining years of their contracts. Circles sometimes skipped town to avoid dysfunctional marriages, as Martian legal systems never criminalized adultery or bigamy.

The Martian enlightenment and industrialization led to changes in social norms. Barriers of gender alignment began breaking down in the roles of center and circle, leading to non-traditional marriage. One such marriage played a key role in the foundation of the Martian Triumvirate. Beginning in the 13th century, significant cultural liberalization occurred throughout the unified world. Reformists introduced laws granting no-fault divorce and full parental rights to circle spouses. Self-fertilized children received legal and political recognition. Mars' atomic wars further eroded tradition. During the ensuing chaos, most intimate relationships were multi-gender groups of affiliation.

The foundation of the Second Triumvirate saw the reorganization of legal and political systems, creating - in part - a temporary resurgence of the traditional family. Nonetheless, prior reforms continued to have enduring effects on society. More egalitarian polyamorous relationships became the norm. The modern idea of Martian love emerged in this time, contrasting marriage as stuffy and political next to romantic affairs between friends. Overall marriage rates began to decline. Changing economic and administrative realities reduced the pressure to get married. World population stagnated at a little over a billion, where it has remained to this day.

Today, married groups usually live and raise their children together, and the distinction between center and circle is a cultural, not legally enforced. Remnants of a more conservative time still persist. A child almost always takes the bloodline name and clan of the center, and parental disputes - though uncommon - are usually resolved in their favor. Stereotypes portray circles as warm, supportive, and engaged; centers are considered emotionally distant, authoritarian, and absent from the inner lives of their children. Some social pressures still encourage these outdated models.

Children traditionally leave home at the onset of adolescence, the same age at which they take their chosen names and begin participating in gender alignment. Adolescent children are sent as students to institutions of higher learning, as apprentices to skilled teachers, or as wards of noble houses. In pre-modern times, children had a fairly limited relationship with their parents during adolescence, forming family-like bonds with their professors, teachers, or noble benefactors, and returning to their clans in young adulthood. The economic hardship induced by earthly colonialism has led to a rise in multi-generational homes as many old Martian institutions have collapsed.