Formerly the Federazione Democratica di Marte. As of 27.1.34@6.00 it became, officially The Democratic Federation of Mars to comply with measures in the Confederate Congress aligning member worlds with the official use of Standard.
Mars was first established as an independent nation when war on Earth had escalated during the last half of the 21st century. They were an autonomous colony, already, when the American Second Civil War broke out, the terraforming stations having reached full production. Recognition of Mars’ independence was one of the last acts of the faltering United Nations.
During the worst fighting, on Earth, of the third world war and at the points of greatest political uncertainty Mars’ population increased substantially as refugees sought asylum from various leaders and governments causing it to became a power second only to Luna.
Unlike Earth’s moon, however, Mars’ importance waned as the governments of Earth settled back into a semblance of order and by the time of the Treaty of Tycho, Mars was only important for its microchip and glass production, these are still, in fact, its primary export and industry.
This loss of importance, and population, is due to its less than spectacular climate. The air is still thin as compared to Earth’s or any of the habitat domes and stations throughout the Solar system, though it is breathable (it has, in fact, a substantial population of both Chilean, and Tibetan descent as people from Andes and Himalayan mountain regions tend to find the atmosphere and temperatures more tolerable). It did have a brief vogue from the last decades of the World War to the first decade of the Terran Confederation as a tourist destination. Before and since it has had a minor popularity as an exotic skiing locale.
The Martian constitution was used as a template for elements of the Confederate Congressional Charter, especially their Bill of Basic Rights and Privileges. In the past century the Martians have also found themselves as one of the key customs ports in the Solar system, but a tertiary one to Luna port and the various stations around Jupiter and in transplanetary orbits.
