The Martian Congressional Republic (MCR) is the governing body that rules over the four billion inhabitants of Mars and is one of the two human superpowers. The Congressional Republic is often in direct competition with Earth and its governing body, the United Nations. Although Mars has a significantly smaller population than Earth, the ruggedness of the people, as a result of the harsher environment and sparser resources, makes Mars a worthy counterweight to Earth's power. The Martian Congressional Republic Navy, although smaller than its UN counterpart, is considered to be more technologically advanced. The executive branch of the MCR is led by the Prime Minister. Like Earth, they actively oppress the Belt and its people. Their flag is reminiscent of Mars and its two moons, Phobos and formerly Deimos.

History

Early Colonization & Independence

Originally a colony of Earth settlers, about three generations after the first colonists dug into the rock and soil, making Mars humanity’s second home, the colonists began to get restless. While dependent on Earth for some supplies, Mars was largely self-sustaining. It was also becoming a leader in environmental science and research as well as the design and manufacture of a new generation of spaceships.

Many of the colonists of that period wanted to secede from the rule of Earth, and compared their plight to that of the American colonies in the 1700s. Two major events almost led the two planets to war. The first happened when a group of secessionists published their manifesto, leading the UN to invoke the 'breakaway province rule' and launch forty ships towards Mars. Negotiations behind the scenes eventually cooled things down, and the ships turned around and headed back to Earth.

The other major incident came when the United Nations issued a statement that all future Martian ships would be contracted through the Bush shipyards on Luna. The Martian government didn't even reply to that request and work at the shipyard continued. The UN then ordered that all shipyards on Mars shut down until an inspection team could be sent out there, but it would take them seven months to get a team together, and another six to make the journey to Mars (due to the planets' positions at the time). Once again, this request was ignored. Rumors of war started up once again, and if not for Solomon Epstein and his accidental invention of what would come to be called the Epstein Drive, war between the planet and its colony may have been inevitable.

After Solomon invented the Epstein Drive (and lost his life on the initial test flight, due to the unprecedented power), Mars had a major technological advantage over Earth. The new ships could go further and faster than anything that had been built before, while using significantly less fuel, opening up the rest of the solar system for exploration and settlement. The colonial Martian government reached out to the UN and offered them access to the Epstein Drive in exchange for granting Mars its sovereignty.

After being granted the right to rule itself, Mars formed the Martian Congressional Republic to serve as the governing body of the people of Mars, as well as the Martian Congressional Republic Navy to serve as the military arm of the government. The Martian Congressional Republic Navy and the United Nations Navy eventually form the Earth-Mars Coalition Navy, a joint naval warforce tasked with keeping the solar system safe.

UN-MCR Cold War

Vesta Blockade

The Vesta Blockade was a significant confrontation between the UN and MCR during the Cold War at the asteroid station Vesta, during which the situation nearly escalated into war. While a standoff between UNN and MCRN ships escalated, with one MCRN cruiser singlehandedly disabling five UNN destroyers (the UNN Yasijuro being one of them), a battle and subsequent war was avoided by diplomatic talks.

Callisto Insurrection

The Callisto insurrection was an event involving high tensions amongst the inhabitants of Callisto and between factions backed by either the UN and MCR as a proxy conflict. The crisis was notable for causing the death of Charanpal Avasarala, the son of United Nations Under-Secretary-General Chrisjen Avasarala. His commander Cotyar Ghazi blamed himself for the death of Charanpal. While the result of the conflict is unknown, the UN and MCR both established facilities on Callisto and claimed it as their respective protectorate.

In the year 2350

Until the discovery of the Protomolecule roughly eight years prior to the Eros incident, the UN and the MCR remained neutral one towards the other, but continuously oppressed their colonies' inhabitants in the Belt and outer planets. Small insurrections started taking place but were quickly stifled. This authoritarian process continued, which led to the formation of the Outer Planets Alliance, a multi-movement organization that sought the independence of the Belt and outer planets from Earth. Called 'terrorist' by both Mars and Earth, the organization saw itself as opposed by the two superpowers. Eventually, through Tycho Station, Fred Johnson, a former United Nations Marine Corps (UNMC) marine, became the OPA's de facto leader and spokesperson.

Around the mid-24th century, the Martian government issued a project regarding the exploration and eventual exploitation of Phoebe for raw materials, mostly water. Their finding there prompted Mars to prolong research regarding the Saturn moon, establishing a decently large laboratory. They sought partnership with Protogen, a mega-corporation owned by Jules-Pierre Mao. Ultimately, they concluded that the pathogen found there-in the meantime dubbed the Protomolecule, or the 'Phoebe bug'-was extra-solar in origin and must have been implanted there by an alien civilization. The Martian government saw this as an opportunity to finally gain the upper hand over the UN.

After a series of events involving Julie Mao, the eldest daughter of Jules-Pierre, the Protomolecule was let loose on Eros station by Protogen, killing 100,000 people. The biomass of the victims was absorbed by the alien pathogen, which then began manipulating gravity at the quantum level and launched Eros towards Earth. Fear and hysteria quickly spread through Earth's population, while UN officials were already evacuating to Luna. The UN told the MCR it would lauch its nuclear arsenal at Eros to defend themselves, to which the MCR responded it wouldn't consider it a first strike against them but declined to help Earth regardless. Eventually, thanks to former detective Josephus Miller, human extinction on the planet was avoided, with Eros ultimately impacting Venus instead of humanity's homeworld.

Government Structure

The Martian Congressional Republic is mainly democratic, but effective operates as an unitary parliamentary republic under an electoral authoritarian regime. The Prime Minister is the head of the executive branch while the Martian Congress is the legislative. The Prime Minister is elected by and can be dismissed by the Martian Congress. The Martian Military can be considered the ones with true political power, as much of Martian society is militaristic and all Martians are conplusorly required to serve at the age of 18. Despite this, however, Martians are very loyal and nationalistic, with strong sense of duty for the greater good of Mars.