[hider=Martian Soviet Socialist Republic (WIP)] [centre][img]https://i.imgur.com/XPFbw3x.png[/img] [sub][i]Workers of all worlds, unite![/i][/sub][/centre] [hider=Government Type] The Martian Soviet Socialist Republic (Martian SSR or rarely MSSR) is a soviet democracy assisted by specialist artificial intelligences in accordance with modern cybernetic and informatic theory. The building block of the Martian state is the [i]soviet[/i], a local council of directly elected and instantly recallable delegates. A Martian citizen will be in the electorate of at least two soviets, their residential district and their workplace, but may potentially vote for or even be elected to many more depending upon their education and hobbies. Assignments to soviets, the number of delegates a soviet is entitled to, and running elections for soviets are complicated tasks described in monolithic equations maintained and executed upon by a robust system of AIs, making the Martian model also a case of cyber democracy. A delegate to a soviet operates under a mandate that may be revoked at any time, triggering an immediate election that is typically resolved within the day. A local soviet representing a factory, work place, or mathematically defined subsection of an intellectual community has complete executive and legislative power over its area of influence, save for anything that effects another soviet. Such areas of overlap are handled by having the constituent soviets elect delegates from their own ranks who then comprise a higher soviet. This is repeated across all facets of the state, culminating in the All-Martian Congress of Soviets, also known simply as the Martian Soviet. At the apex of the Martian state is the Presidium, an executive committee elected by and within the Martian Soviet to handle day to day affairs. The Chair of the All-Martian Congress is, ex officio, Chair of the Presidium and is referred to as the Premier, the single most powerful official within the Republic. Parallel to the elected soviets is a professional bureaucracy tasked with implementing the will of the delegates. The paramount body of the bureaucracy is the Council of Ministers, with the Chair of the All-Martian Congress also, ex officio, holding the title of Prime Minister. The same structures, in miniature, are duplicated upon Mars' terrestrial holdings - the territory legally speaking comprised of two sister republics in union with the Martian SSR. By far the more populous of the two is the Maghrebi Soviet Socialist Republic, the African nation acting almost entirely autonomously - except in regards to foreign affairs. In comparison the Saharan Soviet Socialist Republic is nothing more than a legal fiction, the land effectively governed by the Ministry of Terraforming - the same techniques restoring Mars used to greenify Earth's greatest desert.[/hider] [hider=Demographics] All of Panhumanity is welcome on Mars, and of the various forms mankind has taken the vast majority can be found on, beneath, or above its surface. Baseline humanity makes up perhaps a third of the population, mostly descended from those who immigrated from earth after terraforming had been well under way. A slim majority is made up of the so-called original Martians, or Reds, who trace themselves back to one of the earliest offshoots of humanity. [hider=A Red][img]https://i.imgur.com/kY5q9hkl.jpg[/img][/hider] Designed so early as to not have a formal name, the process that created the Reds was above all steeped in practical concerns. A suite of genetic tweaks permitted them to survive indefinitely on the original surface of Mars in only a pressure suit without the need to carry external air or heavy layers of insulation. The modifications made that saw them require far less oxygen, as well as being far more tolerant of carbon dioxide are effectively invisible, aside from cases of hyperoxia in Earth like atmospheres, but the last change is anything but subtle. A high dependence upon iron was purposefully engineered, the metal exceedingly common on the surface, with the excess deposited upon the outer layer, giving them red skin.[/hider] [hider=Economy] Industry is the beating heart of the new Mars, the past two centuries having rapidly rebuilt what was lost in the civil war. Centrally planned and managed by teams of panhuman economists and AIs from the Ministry of Development, the Martian Miracle saw a planet devastated by the whims of nobles come roaring back to life. Information theory is at the heart of this management, with the daily output of individual factories scrutinized by both man and machine to maximize production. In this way, the three great goals of the Martian state shall come to pass. [u]Defend the revolution.[/u] Already, the Martian People's Navy stands ready upon its base at Deimos, and every day its strength grows. The labor of millions working tirelessly have created a massive network of fortresses and defense batteries. Almost every Martian knows someone who is directly involved in the production of weapons of war. [u]Establish a workers' paradise.[/u] With the fall of the Empire, and the Martian nobility fleeing to other worlds in the solar system, great surplus capacity that had once gone to the vanity and gluttony of the ruling class became available to all. The same vineyards and fields that provided bounty to banquets are still worked, if they survived the Collapse at least, but now open to all to consume. Arts and culture began to flourish anew after the first decades of chaos had passed, and though few Martians live in luxury, all are comfortable. [u]Resume terraforming.[/u] The great effort of centuries to terraform Mars was undone in moments by the horrors unleashed during the collapse, and only recently has agriculture started to return to where it was under the Empire. It is a bitter irony that only the great death of the war ensured the battered biosphere was able to feed the remaining the Martians. The last domes and caverns were reopened within living memory, but even so the work continues.[/hider] [hider=Military] The Martian People's Army and Martian People's Navy comprise the military, the former the older but far less funded of the two services. Born in the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darian_calendar]Dhanus[/url] Revolution, the People's Army fought for and won the liberation of the Martian worker. Today however it is little more than a garrison force, the vast majority of its personnel operating the great surface to orbit batteries that defend Mars from any attack. It is a point of pride, and official propaganda, that the Army is utterly incapable of occupying any other stellar power. Indeed, the only force that is even properly equipped for ground fighting is on Earth, defending the Maghrebi and Saharan Soviet Socialist Republics from imperialist powers. Though the chaos of the collapse and revolution saw the Martian state acquire numbers of warships, it was only recently that a formal navy was constituted. With the restoration of the biosphere permitting work beyond that necessary for survival, shipyards that had lain dormant for generations were pressed back into service in the past century. Dedicated almost exclusively to defense, the MPN's vessels are slow and ponderous, designed to fight within the orbit of Mars itself. At that mission, it excels, the seemingly underpowered drives able to precipitously decrease their operating range in order to intercept any threat to the Republic. Its crews remain green however, with little combat experience save for skirmishes in the belt.[/hider] [hider=History] The oldest daughter of Earth, Mars was in many ways the second planet of the Empire. Panhumanity flourished across its surface before the jump gate network was devised, and the riches of the stars flowed towards it in almost as great a flood as the mother world. Within decades, what had once been a hardy frontier became a decadent playground for the wealthy and indolent, the Princes of Mars holding court from the great Olympus Palace. But a storm was coming. The death of Jarus Augustus IV seemed the perfect opportunity for the last Prince, Galatian Augustus, to trade in his crown. A distant cousin of the Emperor, the rulers of Mars were considered a collateral branch of the imperial family, the logical successor to the throne. When Galatian arrived on Earth to be proclaimed Emperor however, such tidy thinking was replaced by horror as SolSec ruthlessly gunned him and his family down - the last Prince of Mars learning too late that the codes Emperor Jarus had entrusted to him were fakes, the defense network programmed to consider him and his line to be traitors to be exterminated if they were ever used. Shock and grief among the nobility provided an opportunity unlike any seen before. In the midst of the chaos, before any serious contender from beyond the jump gates had arrived, the Martian Social Democratic Labor Party made its move. Having long agitated among the workers that toiled for the imperial nobility, their startling success only grew their numbers. By the time a claimant arrived to attempt to have Mars support their bid to the throne, the fleets that had guarded the empire's second planet had already defected or had been captured - and all flew the red banner. Through long conflict and struggle in high orbit, upon the ground, and in the ancient cave cities of Mars, victory was at last secured. It was upon a broken and battered world that the Martians emerged, but one that was [i]theirs.[/i] Two centuries of peace and prosperity have come and gone, and the scars of the past have begun to heal. The Martian people gaze out upon the solar system with despair. Slowly at first, but more and more with each day, the digital and very real forums of the Republic are filled with voices wondering if now was the time to go beyond their fortress, and to spread the revolution to all Sol.[/hider] [hider=Characters] [hider=Ivanova Keqiang] Premier of the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic Chair of the All-Martian Congress of Soviets Chair of the Presidium of the All-Martian Congress of Soviets Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers of the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic Chair of the Central Military Commission of the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic A Red in both senses of the word, Ivanova was originally an engineer from Elysium Mons, specializing in mining equipment. First elected to her soviet without being aware she was running, she is respected as a risk taker who never attempts to deflect blame for when said risks fail. A sprightly thirty-three Martian years old - approximately sixty-two according to Earth calendars - she seems poised to be the longest serving Premier in Martian history despite the checkered performance of the state during her tenure. I is felt throughout the entire planet that the coming days require decisive action, not methodical planning.[/hider] [hider=Julian Olaguer] Marshal of the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic (Martian People's Navy) Vice-Chair of the Central Military Commission of the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic Born on Deimos to a mainline human family that had served in the Martian People's Navy since its formation, with ancestors among the original defectors in the Dhanus Revolution, military life was all but predestined for Julian. Yet his success was anything but, the AI guided double blind merit system on all officer's exams letting him know that it was aptitude and not his name that placed him with the awesome responsibility as first line of defense for the Martian people.[/hider] [hider=Hocine Said] Premier of the Maghrebi Soviet Socialist Republic Chair of the All-Maghrebi Congress of Soviets Observing Member of the All-Martian Congress of Soviets Chair of the Presidium of the All-Maghrebi Congress of Soviets Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers of the Maghrebi Soviet Socialist Republic First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Maghrebi Soviet Socialist Republic Chair of the Central Military Commission of the Maghrebi Soviet Socialist Republic Observing Member of the Central Military Commission of the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic Native to Algiers, Hocine has spent almost his entire adult life within the soviets, winning a recall of a delegate who thought the mundane concern of a broken water pipe beneath his dignity. He retains the humble dignity and servant mindedness of his first election, a tendency that the less charitable would say perfectly suited his Martian masters. The truth of such claims is irrelevant to his people, who see in him only a leader who can ensure that their Martian comrades defend them from the imperial menace on the other side of the Mediterranean.[/hider] [hider=Grigori Mansour] Marshal of the Maghrebi Soviet Socialist Republic (Maghrebi People's Army) Vice-Chair of the Central Military Commission of the Maghrebi Soviet Socialist Republic Observing Member of the Central Military Commission of the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic Grigori's position puts lie to the idea of the Maghrebi SSR as its own state, the man having been born on Mars in Arabia Terra. The composition of the Maghrebi People's Army is at least half Martian, and its senior leadership is almost always from the Red Planet. He is a soldier's soldier, one who grimly accepts the reality that war will soon be upon humanity once more, and that to defend the paradise of his homeworld he must fight upon panhumanity's homeworld.[/hider] [/hider] [/hider]