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Description

Originally a joint colonial endeavor of the European Space Agency, the history of EuroMars begins with the Aurora mission, which landed two Frenchmen, two West Germans and an Italian on the surface of Mars on April 5th 1982.

EuroMars was, in many ways, intended to serve as a model of European unity back on Earth. The capital of EuroMars, Axiom, was the center of a confederation of sixteen provinces: Gaul (colonized by France, Monaco), Alemannia (originally West Germany, later united Germany), Lotharignia (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg), Suecia (Sweden), Hispania (Spain, Andorra), Fennia (Finland), Helvetia (Switzerland, Liechtenstein), Cimbria (Denmark), Apenninia (Italy, San Marino, Malta), Luxitania (Portugal), Hibernia (Ireland), Noricum (Austria), Asgard (Norway), Graecia (Greece, Cyprus), Anatolia (Turkey) and Thule (Iceland, Greenland). Anatolia is the newest Euromartian province as of 1999. It was originally the Turkish colony of Sakit, prior to the Turkish accession to the EU in 1995.

The flag of EuroMars of course is based off the flag of the European Union (and, post-2006, the European Federation), with the addition of laurels and a hoplite helmet within the circle of twelve stars. The hoplite helmet is meant to evoke the Greek war deity, Ares (whose Roman counterpart lends his name to the Red Planet), who symbolizes not just Mars, but the savage challenges Mars poses to human progress - from toxic perchlorates in the soil, to unrestricted ionizing radiation and bitter freezing cold. The laurel wreath symbolizes Europe’s peaceful intentions for Mars, and the promise that it will tame the jagged heart of Mars and make it a place for humanity to call home. Combined, the laurel and helmet represent the bravery of EuroMars to meet every challenge it encounters, as it blazes new trails for humanity’s prosperous future on the Red Planet.

The flags of the Euromartian provinces all feature blue, yellow and the twelve stars of Europe. Originally, I was going to go the British ensign route, and have the EU flag in the upper left-hand corner with symbols in the field. But I already did that for the flags of Avalon, and I figured the Europeans wouldn’t go for something…so British. So instead, I went with combining the EU flag with elements of the flags of each colonizing nation.

By 1999, the provinces of Euromars are even more closely associated with one another than the member states of the EU were on Earth by the same time, and the Euromartian Commission was historically quite enthusiastic to foster a “Pan-European” identity on Mars that many believe wouldn’t have been possible on Earth. Mars was a blank slate where the follies of European nationalism can be avoided, or so the Eurocrats said. Even as early as 1999, EuroMars was known for its social engineering and political experiments, as a laboratory for solving the “European Question” back on Earth. In practice, however, by eroding European national identities, they were in fact laying the foundation for a wholly new, indigenously-Martian identity.

SOME FAT LORE

By the 2010’s, the new meme on the block was that EuroMars was the distillation of “European values” – those ideals which not even the Europeans on Earth would be able to attain. Some even talked about independence, but most Euromartians regarded that as unproductive; EuroMars, so they said, had the ideas needed to save humanity, and it would serve this goal to maintain ties with “Old Europe”. Among other ideological disagreements, EuroMars was a bastion of the “Red” side of the terraforming debate. By contrast to the pro-terraforming “Greens” of the “TAK” colonies (American Tharsis, British/Commonwealth Avalon, and Japanese Kasei), Euromartians were more averse to destroying Mars’ natural beauty or threatening the local microbial ecosystems (or rather, avoiding further impacting them negatively). Some Euromartians went so far as to biomod their unborn children to survive on the Martian children without suits, giving rise to the “arean” clade on Mars. Martians were no strangers to human augmentation, and, indeed, both cybernetics and biomods were cool on Mars a decade and a half before they were widespread on Earth in the late 2010’s, but many living in the TAK colonies regarded the areans as freaks and “others”, and by the late 2020’s, it didn’t help that those pale, hairless children were now old enough to voice their opposition to terraforming. A lot of weird shit happened, lots of very Martian politics. By the mid-2020’s, EuroMars-TAK relations deteriorated significantly.

So yeah, EuroMars was partitioned after losing the EuroTAK War (2028-2031), in which they engaged in that quintessential European tradition: a charismatic populist declaring it would be best if he ran the planet. Well, if SHE ran the planet, rather. There were already tensions between EuroMars and the TAK colonies, and EuroMars president Bernadette Hoffman got it in her head that EuroMars’ problems would go away if they taught those TAK’s who was in charge. It didn’t help that World War III (2027-2029) was already in full swing and pitted the US and Commonwealth against the European Federation back on Earth. Mars was neutral, but paranoia was everywhere, and both sides started 3D-printing military hardware in preparation for what they knew was an inevitable breakdown in communication. EuroMars believed they’d have an edge in the war and struck first. They even came very close to winning. But alas.

The conflict ended in victory for the TAK coalition, which went on to establish the Martian Assembly after geopolitical developments on Earth effectively ended all relationships between Martian colonies and Earth nations. Namely, the United States, United Kingdom and Soviet Union surrendering unconditionally to the European Federation, the UK being completely absorbed by the EF, Kasei declaring independence from Japan in solidarity with Tharsis and Avalon, and an EFSF warship being repelled from Martian orbit in what very nearly ended up being the first interplanetary war.

The former EuroMars republics took a while to become full Assembly members. They naturally ended up becoming bastions of Reddist opposition to terraforming Mars throughout the late 21st century and early 22nd, during a period of insurgency and counter-terrorism operations known as the Red Wars (2058-2105), which were spurred by, among other things, the Assembly detonating hundreds of nuclear warheads at the poles and slamming hijacked comets into the northern lowlands to generate heat and introduce more water to Mars. But as of the late 23rd century, the polities of the “Euro Coast” (Syrtis, Isidis Bay and the Nepenthe Valley) are for the most part fully integrated into post-independence Martian civilization. The historical victory of the Greens led to the eventual exodus of the areans to specially-built rotating habitats in orbit above Mars, and eventually interstellar colonization as soon as Alpha Centauri opened up to settlement in the 2110’s.

While mostly sidelined by American Tharsis and Japanese Kasei in the grand scheme of things, the Euro Coast remains a very populous and diverse region of Mars, with many different polities, cultures and languages, mixed beyond comparison to their Old World homelands back on Earth. The Euro Coast is a bit like a “Pan-European Papua New Guinea”, with the sheer number of mixed creoles - some natural languages, others botched attempts at creating a single “Euromartian language”. The Syrtisian Euro Coast polities use English as a lingua franca, while Euro Coast polities of the Nepenthe Valley use Japanese, and in the regions in between, it’s pretty blended. Like most things in the Euro Coast in fact, from the cuisine to the festivities, to the ethnicities of the people living there.

While new polities have arisen to replace the original colonies, the flags of EuroMars and the Euromartian provinces remain strong symbols of regional pride for the Euro Coast, and all of them are still in use to one extent or another.

Description

Originally a joint colonial endeavor of the European Space Agency, the history of EuroMars begins with the Aurora mission, which landed two Frenchmen, two West Germans and an Italian on the surface of Mars on April 5th 1982.

EuroMars was, in many ways, intended to serve as a model of European unity back on Earth. The capital of EuroMars, Axiom, was the center of a confederation of sixteen provinces: Gaul (colonized by France, Monaco), Alemannia (originally West Germany, later united Germany), Lotharignia (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg), Suecia (Sweden), Hispania (Spain, Andorra), Fennia (Finland), Helvetia (Switzerland, Liechtenstein), Cimbria (Denmark), Apenninia (Italy, San Marino, Malta), Luxitania (Portugal), Hibernia (Ireland), Noricum (Austria), Asgard (Norway), Graecia (Greece, Cyprus), Anatolia (Turkey) and Thule (Iceland, Greenland). Anatolia is the newest Euromartian province as of 1999. It was originally the Turkish colony of Sakit, prior to the Turkish accession to the EU in 1995.

The flag of EuroMars of course is based off the flag of the European Union (and, post-2006, the European Federation), with the addition of laurels and a hoplite helmet within the circle of twelve stars. The hoplite helmet is meant to evoke the Greek war deity, Ares (whose Roman counterpart lends his name to the Red Planet), who symbolizes not just Mars, but the savage challenges Mars poses to human progress - from toxic perchlorates in the soil, to unrestricted ionizing radiation and bitter freezing cold. The laurel wreath symbolizes Europe’s peaceful intentions for Mars, and the promise that it will tame the jagged heart of Mars and make it a place for humanity to call home. Combined, the laurel and helmet represent the bravery of EuroMars to meet every challenge it encounters, as it blazes new trails for humanity’s prosperous future on the Red Planet.

The flags of the Euromartian provinces all feature blue, yellow and the twelve stars of Europe. Originally, I was going to go the British ensign route, and have the EU flag in the upper left-hand corner with symbols in the field. But I already did that for the flags of Avalon, and I figured the Europeans wouldn’t go for something…so British. So instead, I went with combining the EU flag with elements of the flags of each colonizing nation.

By 1999, the provinces of Euromars are even more closely associated with one another than the member states of the EU were on Earth by the same time, and the Euromartian Commission was historically quite enthusiastic to foster a “Pan-European” identity on Mars that many believe wouldn’t have been possible on Earth. Mars was a blank slate where the follies of European nationalism can be avoided, or so the Eurocrats said. Even as early as 1999, EuroMars was known for its social engineering and political experiments, as a laboratory for solving the “European Question” back on Earth. In practice, however, by eroding European national identities, they were in fact laying the foundation for a wholly new, indigenously-Martian identity.

SOME FAT LORE

By the 2010’s, the new meme on the block was that EuroMars was the distillation of “European values” – those ideals which not even the Europeans on Earth would be able to attain. Some even talked about independence, but most Euromartians regarded that as unproductive; EuroMars, so they said, had the ideas needed to save humanity, and it would serve this goal to maintain ties with “Old Europe”. Among other ideological disagreements, EuroMars was a bastion of the “Red” side of the terraforming debate. By contrast to the pro-terraforming “Greens” of the “TAK” colonies (American Tharsis, British/Commonwealth Avalon, and Japanese Kasei), Euromartians were more averse to destroying Mars’ natural beauty or threatening the local microbial ecosystems (or rather, avoiding further impacting them negatively). Some Euromartians went so far as to biomod their unborn children to survive on the Martian children without suits, giving rise to the “arean” clade on Mars. Martians were no strangers to human augmentation, and, indeed, both cybernetics and biomods were cool on Mars a decade and a half before they were widespread on Earth in the late 2010’s, but many living in the TAK colonies regarded the areans as freaks and “others”, and by the late 2020’s, it didn’t help that those pale, hairless children were now old enough to voice their opposition to terraforming. A lot of weird shit happened, lots of very Martian politics. By the mid-2020’s, EuroMars-TAK relations deteriorated significantly.

So yeah, EuroMars was partitioned after losing the EuroTAK War (2028-2031), in which they engaged in that quintessential European tradition: a charismatic populist declaring it would be best if he ran the planet. Well, if SHE ran the planet, rather. There were already tensions between EuroMars and the TAK colonies, and EuroMars president Bernadette Hoffman got it in her head that EuroMars’ problems would go away if they taught those TAK’s who was in charge. It didn’t help that World War III (2027-2029) was already in full swing and pitted the US and Commonwealth against the European Federation back on Earth. Mars was neutral, but paranoia was everywhere, and both sides started 3D-printing military hardware in preparation for what they knew was an inevitable breakdown in communication. EuroMars believed they’d have an edge in the war and struck first. They even came very close to winning. But alas.

The conflict ended in victory for the TAK coalition, which went on to establish the Martian Assembly after geopolitical developments on Earth effectively ended all relationships between Martian colonies and Earth nations. Namely, the United States, United Kingdom and Soviet Union surrendering unconditionally to the European Federation, the UK being completely absorbed by the EF, Kasei declaring independence from Japan in solidarity with Tharsis and Avalon, and an EFSF warship being repelled from Martian orbit in what very nearly ended up being the first interplanetary war.

The former EuroMars republics took a while to become full Assembly members. They naturally ended up becoming bastions of Reddist opposition to terraforming Mars throughout the late 21st century and early 22nd, during a period of insurgency and counter-terrorism operations known as the Red Wars (2058-2105), which were spurred by, among other things, the Assembly detonating hundreds of nuclear warheads at the poles and slamming hijacked comets into the northern lowlands to generate heat and introduce more water to Mars. But as of the late 23rd century, the polities of the “Euro Coast” (Syrtis, Isidis Bay and the Nepenthe Valley) are for the most part fully integrated into post-independence Martian civilization. The historical victory of the Greens led to the eventual exodus of the areans to specially-built rotating habitats in orbit above Mars, and eventually interstellar colonization as soon as Alpha Centauri opened up to settlement in the 2110’s.

While mostly sidelined by American Tharsis and Japanese Kasei in the grand scheme of things, the Euro Coast remains a very populous and diverse region of Mars, with many different polities, cultures and languages, mixed beyond comparison to their Old World homelands back on Earth. The Euro Coast is a bit like a “Pan-European Papua New Guinea”, with the sheer number of mixed creoles - some natural languages, others botched attempts at creating a single “Euromartian language”. The Syrtisian Euro Coast polities use English as a lingua franca, while Euro Coast polities of the Nepenthe Valley use Japanese, and in the regions in between, it’s pretty blended. Like most things in the Euro Coast in fact, from the cuisine to the festivities, to the ethnicities of the people living there.

While new polities have arisen to replace the original colonies, the flags of EuroMars and the Euromartian provinces remain strong symbols of regional pride for the Euro Coast, and all of them are still in use to one extent or another.