NewOriginalSchwann

Peace on Mars? BREAKING: The Provisional Government of Mars has declared that all arcologies outside of the Violet Dawn “hazard zone,” have been brought under its control. This ends a two month long campaign by Mars’ Governor-General to bring the Red Planet back under nominal Solarian control. “All Solarians should view this as a victory for the Alliance,” says Amelie de Beauchamp, Provisional Government press director. “We’ve taken a situation on the verge of collapse — on the brink of mass starvation and death! — and turned it around. This isn’t just a victory for Mars. It’s a victory for every Solarian, including those suffering in the Wildlands or under illegal occupation elsewhere. The Solarian Army has stated that it will retain control of Mars’ government “until the situation on the surface becomes more stable,” according to an Army spokesman. However, it has promised to return power to the hands of Mars’ people when it is reasonably able to. “Lotta talk ‘bout how this is a victory for allaus, y’know? Big rah-hah Sol victory,” says Bill Kessler, formerly a resident of Red Gaia. “Dunno how they can go an’ talk ‘bout all this ‘victory fer liberty,’ an’ stuff while we gotta junta. But I ain’t gonna go runnin’ my mouth ‘bout the Army, y’know? Ain’t a good idea.” What will become of Mars remains to be seen, but for many the worst seems to be over. The road to recovery, however, will undoubtedly be long. For XNS, I’m Liao Qi.

On the Ground at Kunlun For many, the announcement of a terraforming operation on Mars was a breath of fresh air, and a ray of hope in the darkness of life on the planet after the Violet Dawn disaster. Many in Kunlun have suffered through a year of hardships: flight from the south as refugees, the loss of homes and relatives, water rationing, and martial law. To get the opinions of people on the ground at the center of the terraforming project I, Liao Qi, and my colleague, Odette Noyer, have flown to Free Kunlun from Red Gaia in a Solarian Army cargo plane in order to bring you firsthand accounts of it. “Personally? I’m glad to be here, helping Mars out of this mess,” says Arpit Kapil, an Einstein Engines technician employed by the terraforming project. “I’ve already lost one home, so I’m going to do anything I can to prevent somebody else from losing theirs.” “What do you mean by that, that you lost your home?” asks Liao Qi. Kapil pauses for a moment, considering his words. “I used to live in Biesel, before N-T took it over. My family had lived there since, uh, probably around colonization? A long time. My wife and I didn’t explicitly get kicked out, but we saw the writing on the wall. There was going to be no place for us in Biesel.” “I’m glad that Einstein is here and trying to end the crisis. I just want it to be over,” says Martian Madeleine Wood. “All the suffering, all the pain. I don’t care about nationalism, or Sol, or whatever. I just want to be able to go back home to see my old house and tend to my father’s grave. What good is an independent Mars if we keep having to kill one another over basic necessities like food and water?” “How much more have we gotta lose at this rate?” asks Martian Braxton McDonald. “Lost my son in the riots ‘fore Violet Dawn, lost my house durin’ it, lost my wife to poisoning after. What’s left for me, huh? What are we supposed to do?”

Aside from the Idris warden uniform, which is way too green, I like them! These are a big improvement, and it's nice to see Zavodskoi's black uniform being black rather than a kind of washed-out grey-blue color.

Added to the wiki, moving to fully accepted.

Accepted pending addition to the wiki.

Einstein Engines Contracted to Commence Terraforming Having remained untouched by the sanctions placed against the other megacorporations following their leveraged actions against the Solarian Alliance, Einstein Engines has secured its position as the nation’s dominating corporate force, having just proved so after being awarded the contract for terraforming the scarred Marian surface. Due to the relative stability of the northern territories across Mars, Einstein Engines will commence their terraforming initiatives within the archologies of Capon, Kunlun, Chicago, and Draka. With much of the freestanding sources of water having been contaminated with elements of Phoron, Einstein Engines has stated that it will, working alongside the Solarian Navy, introduce refinery plants designed to filter phoron from water. What will be done with the phoron “runoff” of these plants is unknown, but XNS sources indicate that it will likely be used as fuel for Einstein’s terraforming machines. The elected archologies for the terraforming initiative will have the majority of their workforce directed to these refinery plants, as per the Provisional Government’s ability to redirect qualified workers to fields declare vital to national security while a region is under martial law. Whether or not the terraforming effort is successful remains to be seen. Decontamination of the water sources would be a critical first step towards rehabilitating the Martian environment, and our team on the ground — reporters Liao Qi and Odette Noyer — are currently en route to Kunlun, one of the arcologies selected for the program.

On the Ground at Red Gaia For the roughly past two weeks the arcology of Red Gaia – regarded by many interstellar observers as the least stable arcology following the Violet Dawn catastrophe – has been in a state of emergency due to uncontrolled rioting. Only yesterday at 04:00 GST was the state of emergency declared by the Provisional Government of Mars lifted, due to Solarian Army riot squad teams stating that they had “reestablished government control of Red Gaia in order to allow aid to be distributed.” Myself, Liao Qi and my colleague, Odette Noyer, are in the arcology today in order to bring you firsthand accounts of the arcology. “Ultimately, I think the entire situation here is nothing more than tragic. The human suffering here, the entire disaster, it’s the price we as Solarians pay for not granting more of our attention to Mars,” says Doctor Han, a Solarian Army physician from Luna who declined to give her first name on account of security reasons. “The worst part of it is that so many of them – the Martians – would rather die than accept aid from us. It’s maddening!” “Why do you think they’re refusing to accept aid?” asks Odette Noyer. Han shakes her head. “I’m here to provide aid, and not qualified to give a political opinion. If you want one, you’ll have to speak to somebody other than myself or my staff.” “I’ll tell ya why we don’t want no Blue Solarian aid,” says Maxwell Clarkson, a protestor now in Solarian Army custody. “It’s ‘cuz it was them who gone and blown up the whole damn [CENSORED] planet! I betyer just more Solarians, huh? Come to take and twist my words against Mars! Well, you can [CENSORED my [CENSORED] ya [CENSORED] [CENSORED].” The interview with Clarkson was terminated at this point. “They don’t wanna accept the aid because they think the Alliance blew the planet up. Some say it was deliberate, some say it was accidental. Don’t matter how, what matters to them is that the Alliance did it in their eyes,” says Mitchell Hansen, a Red Gaia policeman who has been on duty continuously for the last two weeks. “I mean, I ain’t a big fan of the Alliance at times. ‘specially Frost, but I’m not gonna candidly describe him on camera, don’t want you guys to have to bleep me out [laughs].” “Why is Sol causing Violet Dawn a common theory?” asks Liao Qi. Officer Hansen shrugs broadly. “It’s a justification. ‘We wouldn’t be killing one another over water if it weren’t for the Alliance,’ stuff like that. It’s a shame, honestly. Whole lotta dead Martians, and for what? Frost’s legacy? Martian independence?” Hansen sighs, pausing for a moment. “I just want it to be over.”

Provisional Government of Mars Continues to Gain Ground The Provisional Government of Mars has continued to establish its control arcologies across Mars. Larkadia, Arcturus, Azura and Red Gaia have either joined with the PGM willingly or surrendered following brief military engagements. The Solarian Navy has intensified its activities in low Mars orbit, despite accusations that its warships have injured and killed civilian refugees during its operations against armed “bandit gangs,” that control much of the non-arcology territory near the Martian equator. The Solarian Navy declined the XNS’s request for an interview. Representatives of the Provisional Government of Mars have announced that despite repeated attempts to peacefully occupy the archologies, inhabitants of Red Gaia have “descended into rioting.” Despite attempts by the Solarian Army to re-establish control over Red Gaia, much of the arcology remains out of government control. Provisional Government representatives have called for the rioting to cease, claiming that an “tragically avoidable humanitarian crisis,” will occur if the PGM is unable to effectively supply aid to the arcology, which has become a refugees hub for much of non-PGM northern Mars. The majority of the northern territories are currently occupied by the Provisional Government of Mars and Hendrik Strom, interim governor of the Sol System, has congratulated Governor-General Tereza Varvzeiva for her successes. The Solarian Navy has announced that it plans to establish additional water extraction plants to be established on the northern poles of Mars, allowing for the facilitation of increased water extraction to fulfill the needs of the remaining arcologies.

Remove this, Necropolis hasn't been a relevant lore entity for multiple years now and mentioning it now is simply going to confuse people.

Completely agree on the Idris labcoats, the ones we have now are a big downgrade. Most of the other labcoats (and the berets, for that matter) are also downgrades and have lost a lot of what makes the unique, with Zeng-Hu in particular now looking incredibly washed-out and dull (see below). The colors have overall become a lot less vibrant, and it looks like they were accidentally put into a washing machine that contained bleach. I'll additionally echo what others have said in the thread: the switch from black being black to being a kind of steel grey/blue tone is really weird to me, and doesn't make a lot of sense. The Zavodskoi black beret and black uniform now look more like PMCG equipment than anything Zavodskoi should wear. In fact, they are essentially almost the same sprite (see below). This makes your argument about the old EPMC paramedic uniform intruding on the color scheme of Zavodskoi hold even less weight, as now we have a nearly 1:1 copy of Zavodskoi's color scheme already in-game. I challenge anybody to tell the berets and caps apart from the back sprite, as I don't think there's a single pixel of difference. Finally, the new security "stab vests" look awful. I don't want to have to cosplay as the VDV every round or select a jacket in order to get rid of them, please remove them from officer spawns and place them in the loadout or completely remove them.

On the Ground at Capon This is Liao Qi, reporting to you from the arcology of Capon. Last week, this arcology was the site of fierce fighting between Solarian and Martian forces over control of the arcology. Now it’s rapidly being transformed into a hub of Solarian Army activity, and Solarian Army forces seem set to launch further incursions into what they have deemed “lawless territories.” Myself and my colleague, Odette Noyer, have been able to interview several people who were there for what local residents are now calling the Battle of Capon. “Honestly, I thought it would be worse. Taking it, I mean,” says Harvey McEwan, an enlisted soldier of the Solarian Army from Venus. “They weren’t very organized, the gangs we were fighting. Most of their guys gave up without a fight, ‘cause they don’t have enough water to keep going.” “Why don’t they have enough water?” asks Odette Noyer. “Phoron contamination, probably,” McEwan pauses for a moment. “Most of the engineers, the skilled technical staff, those guys? They ran north towards security, left everybody else to suffer the aftermath of the explosion, yeah? Fat lot of [CENSORED] [CENSORED], all this talk of ‘Martian solidarity against Sol,’ or whatever. Typical guy here just doesn’t wanna die of dehydration or phoron poisoning.” Emma Madden, a resident of Capon, seems to share McEwan’s opinions. “Honestly? Mom and dad were always gung-ho [CENSORED] Martians, always talking about how we needed to band together against Sol ‘cuz they nuked us,” Madden snorts and shakes her head, taking a moment before speaking again. “But like, come on, can’t they just look around? People in Capon’s been dying for nearly a year now, not like our [CENSORED] rah-rah Martian can-do [CENSORED] attitude helped us out.” More from Mars as this story develops.

Denied following discussion with the human lore team, as this isn't really something we'd like to see added to the setting. Scrunch moment.

Chief Security Officer sounds like a middle-management position between the officers and the actual head of the department, rather than the actual head of the department. It would be like if we renamed Chief Medical Officer to Chief Medical Doctor. Additionally, it's currently used for lore figures as CSO is a real executive-level management position. Chief of Security sounds a lot better and is not used by any currently-existing lore figures to my knowledge.

BREAKING: Provisional Government of Mars Establishes Control of Capon Governor-General Tereza Varzieva has announced the end of formal resistance in the arcology of Capon, with the arcology’s militia commander formally surrendering following a three-day battle throughout the complex. Varieva thanked the Solarian government for sending additional units to support the Provisional Government’s forces. A dozen tajara captured during the battle within Capon have been detained pending deportation to the People’s Republic of Adhomai. Our reporters on the ground claim lack of a unified resistance in Capon, which has long been controlled by several warring gangs, allowed the provisional government to quickly seize control over it. Capon is located within the northern territories of the planet and is in close proximity to the northern pole controlled by the Provisional Government of Mars. The arcology has suffered from water supply issues since the Violet Dawn disaster in late 2462 and our ground reporter team has informed the XNS that the Solarian Navy has landed multiple dropships filled with water supplies for the arcology. Governor-General Varzieva has announced that the seizure of Capon is “first step,” in bringing Mars back to normalcy, even if the turbulent environmental hazards pose a significant threat to the future of the planet. In other news, sources on Mars indicate that the Robinson and Rama archologies have opted to formally surrender to the Solarian government, citing a critical shortage of water due to widespread phoron contamination of their aquifers. Our team on the ground, Liao Qi and Odette Noyer, are expected to arrive in the arcologies shortly.

BREAKING: Provisional Government of Mars to Attempt Restoration of Solarian Control The Provisional Government of Mars has announced that it intends to bring the planet back into the fold of the Solarian Alliance in order to “stabilize the planet and restore order to regions south of the northern pole,” according to its Governor-General. Those arcogies that have remained independent of the Provisional Government of Mars lack formal or unified government and could not be reached for comment. XNS reporters Liao Qi and Odette Noyer, presently in Mars, report a mixed mood on the ground. Some are overwhelmed with joy at the prospect of rescue and stability, yet many —particularly Mars’ “Red” nationalists — remain suspicious of the Solarian government and its intentions. Governor-General Varzieva is currently the youngest planetary administrator within the entirety of the Solarian Alliance, having been promoted to the position shortly after the Violet Dawn Explosion in 2462. Her initial arrival on the Red Planet sparked controversy regarding the use of force on those that had been unable to flee the hazardous environment, with reports circulating of summary executions and group imprisonment — particularly of tajara. She has since managed to expand the oversight of the Provisional Government of Mars from Unified Kunlun to a significant region surrounding the northern icecaps - consisting of Mysterion, Marvinia, Chicago, and Draka. Sol System Provisional Governor Hendrik Strom has publicly applauded the strategies deployed on Mars, and recently hosted Governor-General Varzieva on Unity Station. He has denounced any notions of Varzieva’s supposed bias against the tajara, noting her actions are done to reinforce the Third Tajara Ban, originally established 2462. Sol’s interest in Mars marks a change in police by the military government currently ruling it, which has long ignored Mars.

Onwards to Mars The journey that myself, Laio Qi, and my colleague, Odette Noyer, took to the surface of the Red Planet was anything but typical. Prior to the “Solarian Collapse,” of 2462, one would take an easy enough route: Xanu to Konyang, and then to Callisto, and then to the Martian surface. The main risks on this route were overzealous Solarian customs officers eager to give somebody from the Coalition a miserable experience at their border. While doubtlessly inconvenient at times, this route got somebody from the Coalition to Mars in a fairly short time without many risks. And it wasn’t even that expensive, assuming you didn’t try to buy a flight on a bluespace drive-equipped ship. Of course that’s all in the past now: the current route from Xanu Prime to Sol is much longer, significantly more expensive, and often prone to unexpected risks. The easiest part of our journey was to get from Xanu Prime to the Republic of Biesel’s capital: the gates still functioned, and the price wasn’t terrible. More expensive than before thanks to the crisis, but a cost we were willing to pay for our story. Getting from Biesel to the Sol System was more difficult: much of the space around Biesel is a chaotic space known as the “Corporate Reconstruction Zone,” where underequipped Tau Ceti Foreign Legion – the Republic’s main fighting force – fight alongside corporate paramilitaries against pirates, Solarian mercenaries, and anti-corporate insurgents. Chartering a pilot was difficult, but we eventually found one: a former Solarian Navy pilot named Gao, who requested we only use his first name for our story. After we paid our “flight fees,” Gao took us – with few questions asked – from Biesel, through the Reconstruction Zone, and into the territory the Solarian Alliance still doggedly hangs onto. It took another bribe to get through the Solarian border patrols that police the space near the Alliance-Republic border. After this point our flying became relatively smooth, and the process of landing on Mars itself was, stunningly, a fairly simple manner. Kunlun, the current capital of the Alliance’s Martian government, remains a functional shuttleport, yet the signs of the Violet Dawn crisis are everywhere: signs indicating the way to “refugee processing” can be found throughout it, and the arcology itself is full of often-ramshackle refugee housing. Mars, to the people here, is still bleeding. Myself and Odette, along with Gao, will remain on Mars for some time, reporting on the situation of both it and its people.

Seconding this opinion. Towards the end of your time playing as Goldman, I was actively avoiding rounds in which he was played due to his tendency to hijack rounds and turn them into Goldman Station (also featuring you, the player, as an extra sometimes). Frankly, sometimes it's good to leave a character behind and move on.

Mars: One Year Later The Violet Dawn Explosion forever changed Mars, engulfing a large portion of the planet’s southern hemisphere. Millions died in the initial blast, and millions more in the ensuing chaos that erupted afterwards. Food shortages, overpopulation and ecological collapse are currently being experienced by Martians unable to escape the decaying planet. The Violet Dawn explosion brought with it the near-total collapse of Martian society itself. Arcologies across the Martian dunes lay in ruin, abandoned by their populations as phoronic flash fires continue to spur across regions with high concentrations of the toxic element. Resources previously deemed valuable have since become worthless, with water becoming an almost rare and exotic resource due to it being rationed and restricted by the Provisional Government of Mars that controls its access. The Provisional Government of Mars, which succeeded the previous civilian government after its collapse in the wake of the Violet Dawn Explosion, led by Governor-General Tereza Varzieva, has shown no interest in integrating itself into the Martian political landscape. It is content to control only the region around the northern ice cap — one of the last stable sources of water on Mars — along with, select arcologies, and off-world shuttle ports. Outside of PGM control, anarchy reigns. Criminal gangs and local warlords dominate what arcologies remain stable outside of the PGM’s mandate, and roving gangs of bandits take whatever they want from survivors by force. Reports from Mars are sparse and often hard to confirm. Refugees indicate total chaos: arcologies collapsing, the Provisional Government’s territory launching indiscriminate airstrikes to maintain control of its region, and raging phoron fires capable of covering multiple square kilometers that turn sand to glass in their wake. To investigate these rumors for the Xanusii News Service. I, Laio Qi, an ace reporter with experience in multiple conflict zones including Adhomai, and my colleague, Odette Noyer, will do what no journalist has done before: sneak into the heart of the inferno, and report live from Mars.

Welcome to the Xanan News Service! The Xanusii News Service is dedicated to ensuring that the Orion Spur has access to independent, unbiased, and professional journalism that helps us all understand the galaxy we live in today. We pride ourselves on crafting deeply-reported journalism that is backed up by our team of on-staff experts. Our mission is simple: to seek the truth, and to help people understand the galaxy by uncovering it. The XNS believes that good journalism is key to ensuring a better and more fulfilling life for us all, and we strive to remain unbiased in our work to give our readers the best possible perspective on situations. Our core values — independence, integrity, and excellence — guide our mission, and every article we release. Our staff are a key part of our mission and represent one of the most diverse news teams in the Orion Spur. Our diversity allows us to cover developing stories throughout the Orion Spur, no matter which nation they may be breaking in. From the Jargon Federation to Assunzione, the XNS will always provide the public with accurate, unbiased, and informative reporting.

Hello. I, both in my position as a human lore deputy and as a person, have found your attitude, particularly as it applies towards lore, to be improper. While it was a year ago, your conduct on Danse Macabre's Visegrad application was so inappropriate that it required intervention by the staff team, and required the deletion of every one of your posts. This conduct included accusing the writer of creating a xenophobic and fascist Polish ethnostate. The post I am referencing has since been deleted and hidden by staff. This is conduct that is unacceptable for a normal community member, let alone a prospective member of the lore team's management. Furthermore, I concur with Alb: you are very quick to assume the worst when it comes to the intentions of others, and often bring in-character spats into the out-of-character realm. As one of the main writers of Violet Dawn, I find the allegation that it activated some form of real-world trauma related to a tornado to be flippant at best and outright offensive to those that have survived similar disasters at worst. Your more recent comparison of the Mictlan arc to the Russo-Ukrainian Invasion is, in my eyes, highly disrespectful due to its use of a real and very current tragedy to get a "gotya" over the lore team. With that aside, I'll get into the body of your application. As a member of the human lore team I, much like Alberyk, do not support the re-addition of character examples on wiki pages. They were removed following a discussion with the broader team, and I cannot recall a single member of the entire lore team (at that point) arguing for their retention. To add them back onto the wiki pages would be taking a step backwards. Our setting is a dystopia, bad things are going to happen. War is one of those bad things. To conclude, you have consistently shown yourself to be incapable of the level head required for a managerial position and have not given me confidence in your abilities to do so in the immediate future.

it's over

This is a great response, and shows that you have a firm understanding of what makes playing around with Raskara fun to do. Your application has my full support, and I hope to work with you as a fellow lore writer very soon!

Hello. Like other participants in this thread I have absolutely no questions regarding your passion, competence, or knowledge of tajara lore. Most of my questions have already been asked (praise be to procrastination, I suppose) so I simply have one out of mostly curiosity. We've talked about the minor religions of the tajara, particularly Raskara, at length. Do you have any plans, or anything you'd like to do with them, particularly going into the NBT?

I didn't read a single word of this application. +1 good role player.