Badge of Blood
About Mars

Here you will find nearly 200 years of events and backstory that have shaped the Badge of Blood universe prior to the Body Politik's declaration of independence from earth.

2025Russia and the Ukraine are admitted into the EU
2026Second Korean War ends with North Korea crushed by a Chinese invasion. Korean reunification proceeds apace over the next decade, with unified Korea carefully politically balanced between China and the West (and Japan).
2029Hurricane Lalianne, the largest atmospheric event in recorded history, devastates the northern Caribbean and much of the American coast from Nicaragua to Texas. Loss of life approaches the one million mark, with many millions homeless. US, EU, and Brazilian relief efforts are hampered by long-simmering political problems throughout the region. Required are effectively invasions of several island nations in an attempt to restore order. US troops remain in strength in Cuba and Dominica, and Brazil occupies Trinidad, Tobago, and much of coastal Venezuela.
2030A permanently-manned US research station is set up on the Lunar surface, originally to service large telescope arrays, but eventually other science and industrial projects as well. Project Bright Point has 50 permanent residents when it goes online.
2031Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands apply for status as US states. The referendum narrowly carries, and only narrowly is approved by the US Congress once the islands agree to be treated as a single state. The long-awaited 51st star is added to the flag.
2032Violence flares in still-occupied Haiti. A widespread perception that the other half of the island is being treated preferentially is causing incidents not only with US troops and international aid workers, but with Dominicans near the border.
2035A bioengineered blight strikes rice crops in SE Asia, triggering widespread famine and unrest. The governments of Thailand, Burma, Laos, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Vietnam are either toppled or rendered impotent by the scope of the disaster. Help arrives from abroad, but largely the crisis is overcome due to efforts from within. The borders between the countries effectively cease to exist. The source of the plague is never discovered.
2035The first permanent manned commercial space platform is in orbit.
2036Cuba, under a sustained flush of prosperity, votes an openly pro-US government into power. While dismissed by many as being self-serving, the new government appeals to Washington for terms similar to Puerto Rico\'s.
2037Singapore becomes the new capital of the United States of Siam.
2039Cuban statehood is ratified in Washington DC with "indecent haste."
2040An EU moon base is established, for commercial space support rather than science.
2042Steady withdrawal of US troops from the Dominican republic has led to increasing unrest, even protests to keep them in place. Statehood movement, spurred by Cuban affiliates, manages to place a proposition in Washington late in the year. It becomes a contentious issue in mid-term elections, and manages to pass by a narrow margin.
2049Haitians protest that they have been unfairly excluded from the US expansion in the Caribbean. While there is some talk worldwide of Neo-Imperialism, news footage of crowds shouting at the US embassy in Port-Au-Prince demanding recognition and admission is difficult to counter. US Congressmen are openly speaking of establishing a US-Brazilian administration zone for the entirety of Central America.
2050The US moon base has become unofficially named Brightpoint City, though the original project title was replaced several times. It reaches 500 permanent residents, most of whom are associated with non-scientific functions.
2051The EU launches the first successful manned landing on Mars. Six astronauts walk on the Martian surface and return.
2052Haiti admitted as the 54th US state.
2055The US, spurred into sudden action after unexpectedly losing its space lead, launches its own manned Mars mission.
2060A fusion reactor achieves breakeven outside Bunbury, Western Australia.
2061Several nuclear weapons, planted covertly, destroy most of Tel Aviv and Haifa. Over ten thousand instantaneous casualties are quickly compounded as the country is seized in reflexive violence. Outside aid again fails to make much of an impact as the final Israeli-Palestinian conflict is on. Direct participation by the Syrian military threatens to widen the conflict. IAF fighter-bombers and cruise missiles land nuclear strikes against Damascus and Tehran before US, EU, and Egyptian troops manage to lock down the affected countries. A long-overdue Iranian revolution rises in the wake of the attacks, but is over long before the fighting in the Levant subsides. The Second Nuclear War ends with Israel and Palestine no longer viable seperate states, Lebanon and Syria shattered and under foreign occupation to maintain order, and Iran with a progressive democratic government.
2062Casualties mount in the Levant, both due to lingering violence of anti-occupation insurgents and the effects of fallout. The original devices in Israel were heavily bulked with jackets designed to maximize contamination, and large areas in Israel, Jordan, and the BAZ will never be safely inhabitable again. The seperation of Israel and Palestine is effectively over, as the survivors attempt to rebuild.
2063Nocardia e21KT, a mutated strain of an oil-eating bacterium intended for oil spill cleanup, escapes containment and infects the Saudi Arabian oil reserves. Though harmless to human or animal life, the pathogen uses people as a vector. Infected oil is broken down into esters and sugars, which are consumable by ordinary decay microorganisms. Before the extent of the problem is realized, 65% of the world\'s oil is rendered unusable. World economic crisis ensues, starting with the collapse of the House of Saud.
2064Emergency conversion of remaining petroleum-driven power continues. The US and EU are affected, but not crippled by the disaster. Japan is already powered largely by nuclear and geothermal sources, and China accelerates its coal-to-hydrogen program. The rest of the world remains in dire straits, which the UN is largely powerless to affect.
2065The oil collapse hits hardest on an already-depressed Mexican economy. The President and much of the Senate are killed by a truck-bomb detonated by a group of revolutionary terrorists. Mexico is paralyzed by revolt in almost every province; there is no single movement of rebellion or secession, but dozens. The Federal government, attempting to reorganize after being effectively decapitated, fails to respond in any meaningful way. There is an unprecedented surge in refugees at the US border, as well as in Belize and Guatemala. The US Border Patrol is immediately seconded by US Army and National Guard units; they are not ordered to keep the refugees out, but to keep the camps from being used as battlegrounds by the various rebel factions.
2065Venezuela and Colombia are also hit hard by the Oil Depression. The Colombian government changes six times within the year, two of them by assassination. Brazilian troops in Venezuela have to be reinforced to cover the entire country. By December, Sao Paulo has sent peacekeepers across the border as well.
2066In the south of Mexico, the new revolution continues, with breakaway provinces, criminal syndicates, and tribal groups carving out their own substates at the expense of the others. In the north, it is effectively over as US troops have ranged as far as Mexico City in an attempt to suppress the most dangerous elements exporting their war into the southern US.
2068Neuarbeit, a multinational corporation nominally based in Vienna, begins distributing a cheap, portable power generator using cold plasma technology. Using heavily-leveraged credit and voluntary work by employees, they manage to materially alleviate the energy crisis to many remote areas. The monetary losses incurred by the firm are greater than those felt by many nations.
2070Mexican civil war fizzles out, leading to the formation of a new coalition government and draft of a new Constitution. The new nation is exhausted from years of bloodshed, and slowly and quietly begins the rebuilding process. US involvement in northern Mexico shows no signs of letting up, and the former border provinces are generally less-damaged than in the central and southern areas. US occupation administration is still the de facto government in the north, with little pressure by the locals to change things.
2071Former refugee-dominated leaders in Baja California petition to keep US affiliation; within weeks, groups in Chihuahua, Sonora, and Coahuila follow suit. Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, combined into a single district in the occupation scheme, also lean towards US protectorate status.
2072Upstaged in every major crisis in the last fifty years, and starved of contributions from a shattered global economy, the UN is officially disbanded.
2073Monterey (Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon) admitted as the newest state in the USA
2074Brazil formally annexes Colombia and Venezuela
2075NATO unofficially takes up the UN\'s peacekeeping role. Membership is considered for nations world-wide.
2076Brightpoint City passes the 5,000 population mark for the US Tricentennial.
2077Veracruz and Durango become US states within a month of each other. The process of absorbing northern Mexico has created long-standing changes in the demographic makeup of the US; over the next few decades, these changes in US society will be alternately praised or condemned. The 61-star flag remains constant.
2079Japan and Australia join NATO, which is shortly renamed the Global Peace Authority.
2080China lands the first long-term habitat on Mars, rotating a team of twenty scientists and technicians through on a semiannual basis. Regular broadcasts from Hongxing Yi (Red Star One) serve a massive PR campaign as well as the advancement of science.
2083The EU joins the GPA as a single entity, instead of previous member nations\' affiliations with NATO.
2085Widespread border conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa see the first major use of GPA military forces as peacekeepers.
2086Nigeria and South Africa join the Global Peace Authority
2089The Nile Council is formed by Jordan to act as a GPA-like regional defense force, and prevent the chaos of the Second Nuclear War. Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Nubia (formerly the Sudan), Kurdistan, Iran, and what was left of the Levantine countries join.
2090The UAE, Pakistan, Oman, Yemen, and the various Saudi splinter states are invited to join the Nile Council, but none do.
2091China abandons its Hongxing Yi Mars base, which did not prove the commercial success they had expected. Space travel, though advancing rapidly, has still not made the project economically viable.
2092GPA intervention in a Philippine civil war results in a sudden victory unexpected by either side. The GPA Multinational Rapid Deployment Force becomes a permanent institution.
2100Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Peru form the Latin League. This is originally intended as an EU-like economic bloc, but the concept grows based on the success of the GPA and Nile Council to include a pooled military force as well.
2106There are now over 100,000 people permanently living off-planet.
2106As the world’s global economy regains its footing and begins to prosper once more, private entities from the United States and European Union embark on a joint venture to begin construction of what is arguably one of the most ambitious engineering projects in human history: The Transatlantic Tunnel.
2109Planning and research begins on an orbital tether lift. Initially a multinational effort, diverging goals lead to the splitting of the project.
2110Border war between several central Asian countries draws GPA intervention. The conflict is escalated, not suppressed, by the intervention. Fighting drags on for the next four years.
2112Neuarbeit begins construction of a series of artificial island-platforms off the coast of Sinop, Turkey.
2115Japan withdraws from GPA after domestic backlash against casualties from the Central Asian war.
2116The transatlantic tunnel is completed. The first MagLev run travels from the United Kingdom to New York in less than 1 hour and 13 minutes.
2118Khazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan form the Central Asian Republic.
2119The EU places a small-scale rotating tether system in operation in Lunar orbit as a proof-of concept. While successful, a more ambitious solution is seen as necessary for Earth-to-GEO use.
2121Concordat signed between the GPA, Nile Council, Latin League, Central Asian Republic, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and Siam. By default, the GPA becomes the principal military arm of the Concordat\'s Global Senate. Parliamentary structure passes most of the power to blocs of nations, though China, India, and Indonesia command a fair number of votes directly by dint of population.
2122First permanent Mars colony established with Concordat-wide participation. Endeavor Corporation wins the majority of the primary facilities bids to operate the colony. SolarTech Industries nets the largest share of the logistic support contracts, becoming the first interplanetary shipping company without really intending to.
2123Concordat nations are now funding three seperate orbital elevator programs, from the US, an EU-Latin-League consortium, and an Indo-Japanese consortium. The EU effort seeks to anchor a beanstalk in Ecuador, the US to a floating platform near Samoa, and India and Japan on an island in the Maldives.
2124Mars has three hundred permanent residents, mostly mining engineers. The first stirrings of the coming Martian mineral boom are felt only to those reading Endeavor Corp\'s internal communications.
2125The first mass recruitment calls go out for Martian colonists. Not only base support personnel, but those with all manner of backgrounds are screened. Endeavor announces openly the intent to make the Opportunity colony self-sufficient within fifty years. Tens of thousands of volunteers are screened in the first year alone, with less than 0.1% of applicants and their families being accepted into the program.
2127Exploration of the asteroid belt by private explorers yields the predicted quantities of exploitable wealth, though it will be some time before asteroid mining can compete with Martian mining. In a reversal of the usual course of events, scientists exploit pioneering work by commerce, and gather a windfall of data about solar origins.
2130Joint US-EU manned mission to Callisto and Europa is a success, as is a Chinese mission later in the year. The much-anticipated landings on Europa yield ambiguous results; odd chemical compounds found in the subsurface oceans immediately excite speculation on a possible biological explanation. Martian population quietly passes the 10,000 mark.
2131Brazil belatedly joins the Latin League.
2131Further analysis of samples from Europa seem to confirm the discovery of a form of life not native to Earth. The organisms are as simple as Terrestrial viruses, and certain aspects of their metabolisms take place completely outside their tiny bodies, but they are most definitely alive. Opinion is split over whether to classify the Europanites along with the established biological system (creating a sixth kingdom) or create an entirely new phylogeny. Complicating research is the fact that the discovery was made while the expedition was enroute back to Earth. The world scientific community immediately begins clamor for a return expedition, and other probes to promising sites.
2132HeavenStar, the Indo-Japanese lift, is up but not yet ready for work. The smallest of the three, but completed more quickly and cheaply than any other power was willing to admit possible.
2133The official US Europa and Titan exploration efforts are abandoned, amid great acrimony. Private interests take up the cause.
2133HeavenStar becomes operational.
2137EOLB (Earth Orbit Lift Bridge), the EU elevator, completes and goes online.
2138Lunar population reaches two million.
2138The US lift is completed, and named High Road Station.
2139A low-albedo planetoid is discovered on a collision course with Earth. With only a few weeks of warning, the GPA is tasked with its first off-planet mission. A hastily-assembled crew mans the first dedicated manned space warship, which has drives powerful enough to make the intercept in time. The crew of USS Houston successfully places a booster on the asteroid that diverts it from impact. The construction of the ship and her forthcoming sisters is revealed to be the reason for the cancellation of the outer planets projects.
2140A team of Indian astronauts soft-lands on Titan, only days ahead of the EU mission.
2140 Opportunity colony hits the 50,000 resident mark. Martian population doubles every year as Endeavor Corp applies for ever-greater Concordat subsidies. The first press releases about mineral findings are released. With enough of a colony infrastructure, it will be cheaper to mine scarce metals on Mars and ship them to Earth than it will to mine them terrestrially. The Mars Rush is officially on.
2141 The US Space Command is officially renamed the United States Space Fleet, and receives its own seat among the JCS. It borrows heavily from both Air Force and Navy tradition. USSF HQ moves to a facility on the orbital side of High Road Station. The EU, China, and Japan all draw up plans for military forces to protect their commercial space interests.
2142The Abante Group, an American consortium of commercial interests, universities, and private enthusiasts, lands one astronaut on Callisto\'s surface. While of no scientific or commercial value, the exploit holds the attention of the world.
2144The EU lunar colony, now larger than several of the smaller European countries, is granted its own seats in the European Parliament. The Republic of Tycho is recognized by the Concordat as an EU member.
2145A joint NASA/ESA/Japanese manned mission returns to the icy surface of Europa, establishing facilities for a permanent manned presence there. Part of the scientific package includes a probe designed to melt & drill its way through the miles of ice and deploy a robotic underwater probe, “Nemo”, to the moon’s watery ocean below.
2145Martian population hits one million mark; five million people now live off-planet. Opportunity is forced to send out \'seed colonies\' to relieve some of the population pressure. Terrestrial recruitment effort slows.
2146After drilling for almost 4 months, “Nemo” is successfully delivered to the Europan under-ocean. Audiences all over the solar system are riveted to their monitors, eagerly awaiting the first images from the deep. Though the first images of the inky blackness prove somewhat lackluster, the Nemo probe\'s breakthrough becomes the most watched event in media history.
2146Several months into the expedition, Nemo finds active volcanic vents on the Europan ocean floor, prompting what is hailed as the most significant and profound scientific discovery of all time. Nemo project leaders from NASA, the ESA, and JSA hold a press conference to announce the discovery of living, thermophilic xenobacteria thriving in the waters around the vents. With this irrefutable evidence in hand, the announcement sparks years of scientific, cultural, and religious debate around the solar system.
2152Abante Group II places its own starter group on Mars, intending to start their own private colony. Legal, political and economic pressure from Endeavor eventually makes the cost of supporting the outpost greater than the small investors can bear.
2155The first loads of Martian iron, manganese, and aluminum in greater than sample quantities reach Earth.
2156China and the USS study ideas for an orbital lift of their own; Siam backs out of the project shortly, and invests in High Road Station.
2158Parsifal AG, an EU corporation that was a minor contractor in the colony business, is bought out in hostile takeover by Endeavor.
2159Rotating tether lift built at extraordinary cost by Zelight AG, a junior partner in the Mars Consortium. Used to ferry Martian ore into orbit, the lift is successful, but financial strains incurred in construction will topple the company before profits from the lift\'s operation can save it. Legal ownership of the tethers becomes a sticking point between surviving corporations and governments on Mars and Earth.
2161The centennial of the Second Nuclear War sees the creation of the Levantine Republic, encompassing Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine. The new nation\'s capital is established in Beirut.
2165Despite the dramatic reduction in subsidized immigration from Earth, Martian population is over three million. Individual fortune-seekers have been making their way to the Red Planet outside the control of Endeavor, or any government.
2166China begins construction of an orbital elevator, leasing space from Indonesia to ground it on Celebes.
2168China returns to Jupiter and Saturn simultaneously, expanding their base infrastructure on Europa, Callisto and Titan. No plans are announced for settlements of any kind.
2170The first plasma-thrust engine with an efficiency high enough to surpass lightsail propulsion over long distances is tested.
2171A labor dispute in Brightpoint City escalates out of control. Hostages are taken, habitat modules depressurize, and so many casualties are taken by the colony\'s security forces that they send for GPA assistance. The first military combat action off of Earth ends with most the ringleaders of the violence captured alive.
2172Tianding ("Zenith"), the Chinese orbital lift, becomes operational.
2176Plasma-drive ships are now regularly making the Mars run.
2176Quadricentennial celebration in the USA.
2181SolarTech Industries files for bankruptcy protection, after a massive corruption scandal. Their fleet of lightsail packet ships, teetering on the verge of obsolescence, cannot be sold at high enough prices to cover the losses. Concordat money has to pay off investors before a chain reaction sets off a global recession. STI ships, sold at a few percent of their original cost, form the first wave of privately-owned interplanetary vessels.
2192 The Concordat levies a series of taxes on trade coming to and from Mars to recoup some of the subsidies poured into the private sector to encourage Martian Expansion. Many of these private corporations & business have long since failed and/or filed for bankruptcy
2193An unusual spate of civil unrest occurs on the Martian colonies. There is a large amount of discontent over numerous heavy taxes recently levied on trade goods. Without proper representation on Earth, they have no means to voice an opposition.
2193Victor Brennus, CEO of The Endeavor Corporation, arranges for the establishment of a "Body Politik" on Mars. It is composed of a civil legislative body of representatives from all the major colonial provinces, including the establishments on Phobos and Deimos. The Concordat Global Senate votes on whether or not to officially recognize the Martian Body Politik. The vote fails unanimously. Undeterred, the Body Politik continues to establish a Martian Judiciary, and creates a universal planetary security force by uniting the security personnel of the various Martian colonies under a single government agency.
2194The Concordat levies several hard-hitting taxes on hardwood, beef, and grain against the Martian colonies. Though the Concordat claims this is to recoup further losses compounded by Martian "unrest", most Martian Colonists see this as a means of punishing the Martians for establishing a planet side government.
2194Victor Brennus is elected President of the Body Politik. He immediately drafts a secret, emergency executive referendum to establish a weapons research and production program, including small arms, combat vehicles, and armed spacecraft.
2194On Mars, the residential district of the Carmichael Textiles colonial facilities suffers a massive, rapid decompression, resulting in several hundred deaths before safety measures could seal off the affected areas. After much controversy, an independent investigative panel from the Body Politik rules that the event was caused by a meteorite strike. The Body Politik passes a bill requiring that all major Martian population centers be equipped with meteorite interception systems. Synergetic Systems is tasked with the development of the intercommunications framework that will detect, track, and intercept objects traveling at hyper-velocities using cooperatively linked systems across the globe.
2195After a rigorous government sponsored competition, Aberson & Bosche is granted a contract for the design and production of the MARS rifle, to be issued to units within the next 5 months. Mars Security forces are hastily equipped with the weapons, and others are being secretly stockpiled in the various major colonies.
2196 The Phobos Shipyards lay down the hulls for three new vessels: The Pandora, the Gadsden, and the Venture. All three of which are disguised as ore freighters, leaving ambiguously blank hull emplacements for quick conversion to naval weapons batteries upon completion.
2199Victor Brennus summons a special meeting of the Body Politik to discuss the relations with Earth. Arrangements are made for a James Clay, of Spirit Colony, to offhandedly raise the proposition of Martian Independence during the discourse. The open debate is re-broadcast via the most popular news networks to households across Mars, and proves to be extremely popular viewing.
2199The Concordat issues a statement condemning the talk of rebellion on Mars as unnecessarily inflammatory, and hurtful to the relations between the two worlds.
2200Victor Brennus makes an announcement that shakes the solar system: After issuing a secret ballot, the Martian Body Politik has passed a referendum declaring the independence of Mars. The next day, the Concordat holds an emergency session, and passes a resolution condemning the Martian Declaration of Independence. However, Concordat member nations are divided over how to react.
2200A handful of Loyalist colonies with strong economic ties to Earth that voted against the declaration of independence brace for political fallout. Fearing that the incoming fleet would use these colonies as staging bases, Brennus orders the MDF to stage raids on the Loyalist establishments, disband the local governments, and take possession of their facilities. Though no real bloodshed was anticipated, the Deimos security details unexpectedly put an armed struggle. Several dozen men and women on both sides lost their lives in the action, marking the first blood shed of the Martian Independence War. Though uneasy about the loss of life, the Body Politik praises the Martian Defense Forces for their success, using it as a propaganda victory to help unite the Martian people in the face of looming hostilities.
2200The evening after the hostilities on Deimos, Brennus gives a 42 minute long live address to the Martian populous from his presidential office in Opportunity. He tells of the invasion of the loyalist colonies, and the bloodshed that occurred on Deimos. He also briefly explains how some years ago, foreseeing the coming conflict, he and certain members of the Body Politik had ordered the development of a federal Martian Defense Force, whose members participated in the raids the evening before. The address proves to be wildly popular amongst most Martians, who applaud Brennus for his forthcoming, charismatic demeanor. Opinion polls reflect that most Martians are now highly optimistic about their future.
2200A convoy of GPA ships depart Lunar Station 18. They carry the 5,000 troops and several hundred support vehicles & personnel for "Operation Kodiak," the plan to remove the Body Politik. The trip to Mars will take a little over 42 days to complete.
2200The Pandora, after being refitted as a warship, is renamed The Gladius and launched by the MDF without press or fanfare (or the knowledge of the GPA).
2200X-Day, the planned opening of "Operation Kodiak," begins May 4th at 1:29am GMT with assaults on Deimos and Phobos.