Mars

Mars, sometimes called Sol IV, is the second most populous world in the Sol system and the industrial heart of the entire United Federation of Planets. (With our sincerest apologies to the fine folks at Tellar Prime.) Currently in the final stages of a 150-year terraforming process, the surface is already habitable - albeit often uncomfortable - to those 140 million souls who call the rocky planet "home." Most of them are humans who have lived there for multiple generations, but they're increasingly being joined by a cosmopolitan assortment from all corners of the Federation who are looking to become involved in Mars' crucial role in shaping the future of the Federation.

Naturally, we're talking about the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards and the assorted programs that have so rapidly sprung up from the project. Although named after the sprawling city on the surface, the yards were actually built around a special slipway constructed to handle the Ares project in the 2290s. Since then, they've expanded to become the second-largest shipyard in the known galaxy and the heart of Starfleet's research into naval architecture and doctrine.

Martians themselves tend to be serious and pragmatic people and have something of a collective (but good-natured) antagonism towards their in-system brethren on Earth and Luna, finding the former to be too obsessed with thoughts of home while the latter are seen as prone towards ridiculous flights of philosophical fancy. In a way, average resident of Bradbury City or Cydonia has more in common with the residents of Vega than Paris or even San Francisco.

Recently, this trait has been perfected in the election of one Solomon Mark Rogers first to the Mayor of Olympus Mons and then to Councillor for Mars itself, in what was clearly as much a poke in Earth's eye as it was an endorsement of the former Commander, Starfleet's legacy. That said, many Martians will happily remind you that it's damn well both. The Ares, after all, was even named for the first manned mission to Mars.