<strong><span class="bbc_u">History</span></strong><br/><br/>For the history of the Manned Mars Missions, (affectionately known as the 3Ms or M<sup>3</sup>) please see the cut in the opening post.<br/><br/>This post is dedicated to the backstory of the colonists themselves...<br/><br/>Where each of your profile histories ends, this history takes over, as you will all have undergone the same events.<br/><br/>Two years ago, every candidate for the Mars Colony was interviewed and subjected to extreme physical and psychological testing. The unsuccessful candidates were notified at that time, if they failed on psych or fitness grounds.<br/><br/>All the successful candidates were then sent to the Martian Traning Camp in Antarctica.<br/><br/>While there, they were subjected to rigorous training in safety procedures, suit maintenance, low pressure survival, low temperature survival, etc... One of the structures at the Antarctic base is an atmospheric simulation chamber, and similar to the way trainee soldiers are put into a chamber filled with teargas, and then told to take their gas masks off, so all Mars colony candidates were made to pass through this chamber to experience first hand what the Martian atmosphere would do to their unprotected bodies.<br/><br/>Trips to orbit were also laid on, so the candidates could experience microgravity first hand.<br/><br/>At all stages of training, people dropped out voluntarily or were washed out of the program.<br/><br/>By the time the final selection was made, three hundred candidates had dropped to one hundred and seventy three.<br/><br/>From these the final seventy five colonists were selected.<br/><br/>The seventy five were transported to Branson Station, given the "sterilisation" treatment to remove any viruses or bacteria, and loaded aboard the MCM-1, where they stripped naked and climbed into cryogenic stasis pods. That was the last any of them remembered until they were woken up and told to get dressed and board the shuttles that would take them to the Martian surface.<br/><br/>Our player characters are all aboard the first shuttle.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>RELATIONSHIPS</strong><br/><br/>Obviously, everyone is expected to form some sort of sexual relationship in order to increase the colony's population. And it has been pointed out that, as the colonists have spent a year together in Antarctica, that relationships may already exist.<br/><br/>I feel it is necessary to point out that no-one knew who would be going to Mars, and thus the forming of long-term stable relationships prior to departure would be impractical. There is no reason whatever why player characters can't have formed friendships, friendships with benefits, or even steady pairings during training, however it is HIGHLY unlikely that both partners in every such relationship would be selected..<br/><br/>So, while you are at liberty to form pre-existing relationships with other PCs (or NPCs if you like), I would request that these be on a "friends with benefits" or "fuck-buddies" level, and should probably not be monogamous.<br/><br/>Also, please note that any candidate falling pregnant prior to departure would automatically be washed out, as the effect of  cryo-stasis on an unborn foetus is uncertain and MarsCorp does not wish to be responsible for killing unborn children.<br/><br/><strong>Societal changes to 2120:</strong><br/><br/>Over the next hundred years it is unreasonable to expect human society to remain static. The changes I foresee are as follows:<br/><br/>Same sex relationships are much more commonplace. Gender bias in employment has all but vanished, except in certain fields in certain countries. The oil wars have left the West without a reliable supply of fossil fuels. As such electric cars are the norm. Nuclear power plants have become safer, and there has only been one Chernobyl-like incident in the past hundred years, which was attributed to a terrorist attack.<br/><br/>Organised religion has all but ceased. The rise of the "spoof religions" - The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, The Jedi Order, The Followers of Khalis, etc - has sapped the moral of many of the mainstream religions. The ones that survive have done so by either watering down their beliefs to the extent that they, too, have become spoofs of themselves (The church of England/Anglican/Episcopalian, for example), or by becoming so hard and strict that they only attract fanatics. (Pentecostals, Shiites, Latter Day Saints, for example). These fanatical religions are watched and infiltrated by the world's security services and are frequently raided. This of course simply makes them feel more persecuted.<br/><br/><strong>Marriage:</strong><br/><br/>Marriage on Earth has become a much less formal thing. With divorce becoming more readily available in most countries (as the Catholic and Muslim religions implode) it became apparent that the traditional view of marriage for life was outdated. In its place, many states introduced the Civil Partnership Contract. This was a formal contract of marriage for a fixed term, which could be decided by both parties. Typical terms being one year, five years and sixteen tears.<br/><br/>At the end of the term, both parties would be free to renegotiate their contract, to extend the term or simply walk away from it. The contracts would contain various get-out clauses as mutually agreed by both sides. In effect, Marriage was reduced to a business arrangement.<br/><br/>In the Mars Colony, the situation will remain the same. There will be no obligation to draw up any sort of contract, but if a couple wish to draw one up, they will have the right to do so. Civil partnership Contracts will be drawn up by the Base Deputy Commander and authorised by the Base Commander<br/><br/><strong>Legal matters</strong>: The council will meet to discuss complaints, grievances, criminal matters and the like. If the issue involves a member of the council, that member will be excluded, except to give evidence on his/her own behalf.<br/><br/>Trial by jury may eventually be instituted, but initially the colony is effectively under martial (as opposed to Martian) law.