“It’s a fixer-upper of a planet but we could make it work.”
— Elon Musk

As people became more burdened and suffocated on their Earth in the twenty-first century, they once again looked to the stars for answers and hope. However, many people of the time couldn’t imagine what their efforts to save their planet would lead to in the succeeding centuries. Whilst climate change, depleting oil reserves, and tension in the Middle East served as the principal issues that led science along NASA began an initiative that would be called the Terra Nova Program; a program devised in several stages beginning with financial funding from national governments to research technology to reduce the timeline of terraforming Mars with the hopes that a final resort into interstellar colonization and expansion would be fulfilled. This dream would be one not achieved in the creators of the program’s lifetime.

By the mid-to-late twenty-first century developments in new power sources, warfare, eco-technologies, and other technologies. This leads to the development of early nanomachines, experimental power sources, and the tanks evolution into mechs. It would take years for research to make these inventions cost efficient and cohesive but said developments would lead to NASA’s utilization of new power sources to develop new space shuttle designs and expand on nanomachines for their own benefit in their terraforming efforts. These would all come to fruition in the twenty-second century.

Climate change is the biggest concern of the early twenty-second century, but is shelfed when conflicts in the Middle East, Eastern Asia, and India occur. As Iraq is swallowed by Israel and Iran after ISIL-affiliated control shifts, North Korea collapses after facing an alliance between Japan and the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation’s continued expansion, and conflict between Pakistan and India reaches a boiling point. As new lines in the sand are drawn the United Nations convenes to ensure a Third World War is not on the horizon. Things remain tense and while there is no declaration of war many journalists decree that the world is now living in a second Cold War. Fortunately, this climate causes more nations to invest into technological research; research that leads NASA into sending their first terraforming effort with utilization by an experimental antimatter power generator and the nanomachines they had been developing previously.

In the year 2120, the terraforming of Mars begins with NASA predicting a full terraforming effort due to nanomachine technology having cut the timeframe by more than half. By 2199 “full” terraforming is complete, though it is still primitive with no fauna and flora development in its earliest stages. The Terra Nova Program goes into its second phase: importing fauna and some flora from Earth. Several decades later in 2242, it is decided it is now viable for colonization efforts. Ten major world powers sign what becomes the Terra Nova Act; and NASA’s state of the art shuttles begin transporting the first of colonial populations. They become the first neo-colonists in 2250.

It is now the twenty-fourth century in the year of 2352, one-hundred years (with some change) since the establishment of Mars and the foundations of Mars’ new “great” cities have long been established, but the potential for the planet is still untapped as neo-settlers and frontiersmen create settlements and townships throughout the multiple territories in search for a new way of life. In the American-funded and mandated territory of Apollo we find that Mars seems to be repeating the same trials of the American Wild West as entrepreneurs take advantage of the socio-political landscape, lawless outlaws use their wit to avoid capture, and honest hard-working neo-settlers struggle as they are caught in the middle of it.

But which are you in the township of Marietta, and what are your strifes?

Polaris: Machinations of a Solar Colony is intended to be a dynamic role-playing experience that allows you as the player to take the role of a citizen of Mars and tell their story or interact with other characters. Partly inspired by Outland, Defiance, and a multitude of other science fiction works I have attempted to design a world that is simple yet interesting and worthwhile to be engaged by. Admittedly I’ve had a bad track record of GMing sandbox endeavors in the past, I’ve tried to learn from my mistakes here and take an inspiration I had one morning into a concept I hope won’t be a flash in the pan. To ensure this happens I will not be consumed by character creation, give players more control of their options, as well as setup GM-led events in case some players want a more linear experience whilst not impeding the more sandbox oriented players. I ensure you this is not as daunting as Maximum Comics was during my limited run of that RP series and I will take any input constructively and with an open mind.

As a player you will take the reigns of a character (or characters) that is a citizen within the Territory of Apollo, specifically the township of Marietta. This of course takes us to the question of what you should play specifically, which in a science fiction setting can seem kind of challenging but it isn’t truly that difficult. Look into rural communities and the American Wild West (or the frontiers in the Australian Outback) and you will find a colorful variety of characters including outlaws, ranchers, law enforcers, mining company entrepreneurs, railroad tycoons, con men, and a variety of others. Of course, this isn’t just the wild west with science fiction paint as we can allude to more 23rd century aspects such as power technicians, robotics engineers, “modern” educators, and so forth.

I’m sure myself and others can help you if you need some aid in brainstorming and I’d be glad to help you in any way I can.

Alright, so this RP is something that just hit me this morning after I woke up from a dream that was one part The Revenant and one part Outland. If you aren’t familiar with either, that’s good because it isn’t important since I can sum up the dream I had as basically a farmer’s son fighting a bear with his hands and a plasma torch. Yeah, that does sound something weird to inspire me out of my role-playing slump but it happened. I’ve talked to a few people and it seems like there could some prospective interest to this so I want to see who I can look at. But I’m also going to tag people to see if I can get their two cents in my next post in this interest since I’m gambling if this is a good idea or not.

Polaris is a role-play in a sort of space western setting that as you might have figured out is set on a terraformed Mars. The idea lends itself to a sandbox with influences of slice of life dramas, political thrillers, wild west adventure, and something all between. If you like ANY of these genres then let’s open up a dialogue to see if this is something we can iron out.

So let's start asking questions and such!