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{{Navbox Lore}}
{{Navbox Lore}}
{{Navbox Human Lore}}
{{Navbox Human Lore}}
{{Infobox Planet
<center>'''YELL AT DAVE TO UPLOAD THE IMAGES ONTO THIS ONCE EDITING IS DONE'''</center>
|Name = Mars
<center>[[File:Solarian Intelligence.png|500px]]</center>
|System = [[Sol]]
<center>''The traditional emblem of the Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations' security services. The gold represents the police and security personnel shielding the Alliance from danger, while the sun represents the Alliance. The sun is blue to signify that justice views all in a neutral, unbiased light.''</center>
|Image = ASSN-PGM_V2.png
|Sector = [[The_Orion_Spur#Jewel_Worlds|Jewel Worlds]]
|Capital = Unified Kunlun
|Species = Human
|Languages = Sol Common, Freespeak
|Demonyms = Martian
|Nation = [[Sol Alliance]]
}}
'''Mars''' is the fourth planet from Sol, and one of humanity's earliest colonies. Often called “The Red Planet,” it has a surface area the size of Earth's entire landmass. It once had a stable population of several billion people, which was reduced drastically after the man-made disaster known as "Violet Dawn".  


Despite its proximity to Earth, during the early years of interstellar colonization Mars was only home to small scientific expeditions and outposts that eked out a meagre existence until the 2200s, when terraforming technology was finally able to slowly reintroduce water and atmosphere to the planet. Currently the atmosphere is breathable but incredibly thin, which makes strenuous efforts outside the arcologies very dangerous. Many regions also suffer from airborne phoron contamination, adding further danger to already hazardous activities outside arcologies.


Until recently an Alliance fleet remained in orbit of Mars at all times, ensuring that the planet remains disarmed and free of armed disputes. Following the so-called “Violet Dawn” explosion in 2462, Mars now finds itself worse-off than ever before; in the wake of an ecological catastrophe and plagued by unrest and violence.
{{TOC Hidden}}
== History ==
<center><i>“Students, for our next class on the history of the Interstellar War we will be covering the Martian theater of the conflict. I want you to have the reading completed by Friday – it’s only thirty pages, and it’s been translated into Freespeak by me. Don’t have a synthetic summarize it for you. I’ll know,”</i> – Laurette-079, professor of history, Municipal University of [[Xanu Prime#Nouvelle-Rochelle|Nouvelle-Rochelle]], during the fall 2465 semester.</center>
=== Early Colonization (2100s - 2190s) ===


The windy desolation of Mars was far from the ideal colonization opportunity for humanity's first steps into the Spur. Still, with poor conditions on Earth, a societal fervor for exploration and discovery, and its simple proximity, humanity found the appetite for small-scale colonization efforts throughout the 2100s. These efforts would go on to discover immense mineral and fuel reserves beneath the surface of the dusty red marble, sparking further interest and investment in the planet. With the forming of the Sol Alliance in the mid 2100s and the cultural zeitgeist and optimism beginning to reach a crescendo, by 2200 the will to undertake a large-scale terraforming project had reached critical mass and the ever-optimistic Department of Colonization began its attempts to make a "red Gaia.”
Policing and security in the Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations is managed by a Byzantine mass of bureaucratic agencies and regulations which, in some cases, date back to the Alliance’s founding in 2140 -- making some Solarian security agencies older than every other human (and most non-human) nations in the Orion Spur. The oldest of these agencies is the massive '''Solarian Interstellar Policing & Crime Prevention Agency (SIP-CPA)''', a system-spanning organization with millions of employees that is responsible for coordinating inter-system policing in the Alliance. Other similar agencies include the '''Solarian Interstellar Security Agency (SISA)''', a more recent agency formed for the purpose of domestic intelligence, and the '''Solarian Interstellar Intelligence Bureau (SIIB)''', a much older agency that serves as the Alliance’s highest security authority.


Despite these lofty ambitions, Mars did not have the unified populace and shared goals of other colonization efforts; the majority of Martian settlers were either private interests or pre-Alliance national extraction efforts with minimal long-term support originally intended. These colonies, focused primarily on self-sufficiency and Martian resources, were unable to provide the infrastructure, and will, necessary for the Department of Colonization to truly fulfill its goals. Further stymieing the Department was the continual redirection of effort, personnel, and funding towards more promising candidates further away from the Jewel Worlds.  
==History==
The history of interstellar policing and security in the Solarian Alliance is as old as practical human space travel itself, although it only became formally institutionalized with the formation of the Solarian Interstellar Policing & Crime Prevention Agency in 2140. Prior to this point interstellar policing had primarily been carried out by individual countries and organizations based upon on Earth, which had become increasingly impractical as humanity branched out first into the Sol System and then beyond it with the advent of practical warp engines in 2130. The SIP-CPA proved itself to be significantly more effective than the smaller agencies that had preceded it and this success would eventually lead to the founding of its sister agency, the Solarian Interstellar Security Agency (SISA), in 2157.


Thus, Mars was mostly left to fend for itself by the nascent Alliance, and its earliest settlers became used to taking care of themselves.
But these two agencies would eventually find themselves overworked and overtaxed by the rapidly expanding Alliance as the 22nd century ended and the 23rd began. The Alliance’s push to expand its borders had clearly overcome their capabilities by the mid-2220s, requiring the creation of an entirely new agency in 2228: the Solarian Interstellar Intelligence Bureau (SIIB), an agency tasked solely with ensuring the security and stability of the Alliance’s distant colonial frontier. Due to the increasingly shaky control of the Alliance over its distant colonies the SIIB was given nearly unlimited authority and almost no oversight in its mission to ensure security and stability, and the Bureau almost immediately turned to what it referred to as “strong methods” in order to ensure loyalty to Sol remained. While the SIIB -- despite its methods -- failed to prevent the outbreak of the Interstellar War and subsequent formation of the Coalition of Colonies it remained active due to its deeply-seeded intelligence networks across the Coalition, effectively proving its usefulness to the Solarian government despite any moral qualms they may have had over its techniques.


It was not, however, all bleak for Mars. The terraforming efforts showed some promise and its proximity and wealth of resources continued to attract attention; as time passed and the planet became more hospitable, more and more industrialization began occurring on the planet. Power plants, large factory complexes, and gargantuan strip mining facilities were constructed around the earliest colonization sites. As the population grew and the planet needed more workers for its industry, the planet's famous arcologies were built on top of and around the original pioneering outposts. Bright and shining new construction surrounded old, red-caked industrial living facilities with immense support beams tunneling through the ruddy soil to support their new bulk. Despite the lack of care or resources the Alliance as a whole had invested in Mars, the far-away officials of the Department of Colonization expected a booming industrial center in the Jewel Worlds.
Following the Solarian collapse after Violet Dawn the Alliance’s security, policing, and intelligence agencies remain as valuable and important as ever for the now-shrunken Alliance, though they now find themselves scrambling to deal with the aftermath of Violet Dawn even a year later. The Alliance’s security -- and its future -- may very well depend upon them, and none wish to be found wanting by history.


=== History of Terraforming (2190s - 2260)===
==Domestic Agencies==
While much of the Alliance’s day-to-day security is managed by local planetary policing agencies such as the Venusian VPPF and Callistean CMPD situations often arise that go beyond the authority a planet or system and require greater authority to resolve, such as issues with piracy and smuggling in the Middle and Outer Rings before the events of late 2462.


The terraforming process started during the late part of the 22nd century, with massive terraformers designed to turn Mars’ natural minerals into gasses and legions of civilian workers put into action. The theory behind Martian terraforming was to create an artificial global warming process to rapidly create a usable atmosphere; the method was incredibly slow, expensive, and prone to major errors. Controversial for both its cost and dangers, the terraforming project of Mars is still considered a partial success. It effectively raised Mars' near zero pressure to tolerable levels, and the vast amounts of polarized iron dust - now flowing around the planet's lower orbit - created an electromagnetic shield that protected the Martian populace from harmful radiation until the Violet Dawn catastrophe and even the parts of Mars where the air was thinnest were easily navigable in just thick clothes and face protection.
===Solarian Interstellar Policing & Crime Prevention Agency (SIP-CPA)===


=== The Martian World War (2278 - 2284) ===
<center><i>“Empires run on information, y’know? Starts at the bottom, then gets funneled up through all the layers until the powers that be can act on it. If you think the only thing the Sippies are doing with that budget and manpower pool is helping planetary cops talk to each other, you’re [censored] delusional.”</i> - Anonymous conspiracy theorist posting on the /sol/ board of 64tan, 2460.</center>


Despite lingering and prolific anti-Solarian sentiment among much of the population, Mars' position in the core of the jewel worlds and its dependence on the Solarian Navy - as well as its fractious populace - meant that it was not prepared to openly rebel against the central Alliance government during the Interstellar War. However, anti-Solarian factions in the southern hemisphere known as the Red Coalition began rallying popular and political support based on many, “injustices and wrongs committed by the government against Mars." Long rumored to be backed by the All-Xanu Republic under a top-secret directive known as "Opération Rouge," the Red Coalition seceded from the Sol Alliance in early 2279 and launched a coordinated, surprise attack on the rest of Mars.
Founded in 2140, the Solarian Interstellar Policing & Crime Prevention Agency (SIP-CPA) is the eldest of Sol’s intelligence agencies, and the one most overlooked by Solarian media. Primarily concerned with rear-echelon administrative and management duties, it lacks the glamor and fame of “field” organizations like the SISA, but loses none of its importance. Without the analysts and number-crunchers of the SIP-CPA its sister branches, and numerous local agencies, would have no reference from which to direct their own talents.


The loyalist arcologies - aligning themselves as the Blue Coalition after the Alliance flag and in opposition to the Red Martians - were caught unprepared with the government support they would have relied on occupied fighting to retake the Frontier. The meager forces available to the Blue Coalition other than their own impromptu militias were the 37th Infantry Division (later to become the 37th Martian Mechanized) and the Navy's 228th Garrison Flotilla, mostly consisting of armed civilian ships and ancient vessels. The Red Coalition took this opportunity to seize many lightly defended Alliance outposts early on in the uprising, including several missile platforms equipped with nuclear warheads as Blue forces were forced to dig into the lowlands, turning the former dusty flatlands around their arcologies into bloody killing fields – staining the red fields with Martian blood.
It first and most pertinent duty is to coordinate, assist, and facilitate the operations of planetary and system police forces across the member states of the Alliance. The first of these tasks is the one for which the Agency is most well-known, and it occupies the largest single chunk of its quarterly budget and manpower reserve. Across the Alliance many thousands of clerks, couriers, and routing staff are in constant communication on behalf of their local departments, both within systems and between stars, transmitting case files, wanted notices, and endless quantities of paperwork through the informational spiderweb tying the Alliance's law enforcement agencies together. This focus on coordination also applies to the planetary police agencies of the Alliance, with SIP-CPA coordinators being found in nearly every large-scale joint security operation.


Bogged down by the Blues' resistance, particularly on the Western Front in the arcologies of Babylon and Karla, and unable to break through defensive lines around Crest Olympia, the Reds began to lose ground as regular Solarian Army reinforcements arrived from the broader Alliance, and Solarian Navy vessels began striking their supply lines. In the face of growing losses the leadership of the Red Coalition took desperate measures and chose to use their nuclear arsenal. In 2284, Red command launched a nuclear missile at a nearby Blue arcology of New Dresden in an attempt to turn the tide of the war, destroying it completely, opening the Pandora's Box of nuclear warfare.
Beyond this primary duty it is responsible for ensuring the Alliance’s member state police forces are up to standard in training, equipment, and in their internal accountability. When a given member state cannot provide sufficient funds to their force it will send supply and material requests up the chain to the Department of Justice, which will fill requests as needed -- though sometimes this replacement material can be old, or out-of-date. Should a department’s performance or behavior prove insufficient, it provides the training personnel and opportunities needed to improve them. And if an officer should betray the law they swore to uphold, it is called to serve as a neutral arbitrator in the case pending referral to judicial authorities. These tasks have given its personnel a somewhat mixed reputation, especially on planets far from the Jewel Worlds, where some independently-minded security forces resist what they see as bureaucratic meddling from the Sol System.


The nuclear obliteration of New Dresden caused a fracturing in the Red Coalition, with many arcologies surrendering to the Alliance at the seeming betrayal of Red ideals by their leadership. The rebellion once so close to conquering Mars fractured irreversibly and capitulated within months, and the Treaty of Olympus was signed on 5th of April, 2284, featuring unconditional surrender of remaining Red Coalition states. The Alliance, negotiating on behalf of the loyalist Blue Coalition, used the treaty to place harsh restrictions on the entirety of southern Mars. Any formerly rebellious arcologies were expressly prohibited from maintaining an armed force beyond a light civilian police department, and large, unfruitful crackdowns against separatist sentiment were carried out by the Blues and the Alliance. With the leaders of the Red Coalition executed for treason, the Martian World War had finally come to an end.
Much less well-known is the SIP-CPA’s third function, that of the largest intelligence-gathering network within the Alliance. Where SISA focuses on targeted investigation and direct action, it instead utilizes a “wide net” strategy of passively acquiring as much information as is possible. Webcrawlers, bugs, and paid informants are only a handful of the methods used by the Agency in the course of its operations outside the public eye. All the while, as is a (legal right of the SIP-CPA, all of the data acquired in partnership with planetary security agencies is dutifully collated, copied, and dispatched to Sol for further categorization and analysis, then distributed back to the same law enforcement agencies through the Inter-Alliance Criminal Information Network (IACIN). While the Agency rarely acts on this information itself, actionable intelligence collated by the SIP-CPA has served as a stepping stone for the other members of the Intelligence Trinity more times than can be feasibly counted.


Outside of Sol it maintains campuses and facilities across nearly every Solarian member world, though with a higher density of infrastructure within the Jewel Worlds. Universally located near command centers of local police units to facilitate rapid communication, SIP-CPA intelligence campuses are typically compact but vertically developed, often including high-rise buildings entirely dedicated to the clerical work which encompasses much of its mandate.


=== The Catastrophe of 2298 ===
The leader of the SIP-CPA is '''Director Almir Fazlić'''. Originally from Novo Igman, Fazlić has led the agency since 2463, when he replaced a Frost-aligned director, and seen it through the upheaval of the Solarian Civil War and its aftermath. A lawyer by training and innately familiar with Solarian federal criminal code, and many local codes, he is a conservative leader who has done little to change the agency's mission and a great amount to ensure its capabilities have remained effective. He was retained by PM Strom after the recent election and is expected to serve as director for the remainder of Strom's term.


The 2298 disaster involved the abrupt failure of Mars' terraforming infrastructure late in the year. Human error caused a widespread meltdown across the sole network responsible for all the terraforming equipment, with the equipment in the southern half of the planet acting in wildly unpredictable ways. The atmosphere was flooded with carbon dioxide that painfully smothered those out in the open unprotected and caused intense, damaging storms that persisted for years after the initial error was rectified. The disaster caused an immense amount of death, suffering, and loss with estimations of the full terraforming process being set back by several decades.
===Solarian Interstellar Security Agency (SISA)===


The Martian Terraforming Authority based in Crest Olympia, a blue arcology, launched an investigation and set the blame solely on technicians based in Red Gaia for not properly catching the error after it was made. With the arrest of the Red Gaia technicians and no single originator for the error found, rioting spread throughout the southern Red arcologies and was so vicious that the Solarian Army instituted a crackdown, killing many and injuring many more.
<center><i> “Protecting The Nation, Upholding The Law, and Securing The Future.”</i> - Motto of the SISA.</center>


=== The Violet Dawn Explosion (2462) ===
The Solarian Interstellar Security Agency, or SISA, was founded as the “action” counterpart to the SIP-CPA. Where the SIP-CPA performs intelligence gathering and administration on the strategic level, SISA was created with the intent of directly assisting and supplementing Alliance member police forces on the ground. As the only member of Alliance Intelligence Trinity to have official law enforcement authority, it serves at the long arm of Alliance domestic security, operating armed field offices on nearly every world in the Alliance. It holds jurisdiction over the Alliance's federal crimes and maintains both the Solarian Alliance Terror & Extremism Watchlist and the list of the Alliance’s most wanted fugitives.


On the seventh of November, 2462, an unprecedented disaster came to Mars in the form of the Violet Dawn explosion. Initially an attempt by the Alliance to produce synthetic phoron, the Violet Dawn would be the single most damaging catastrophe for an already beleaguered Mars. Despite minor progress in the field of synthetic phoron, the unfamiliarity of the staff with the material and the cutting-edge research being done resulted in a catastrophic breach of containment as self-replicating phoron, poisonous and flammable, entered the atmosphere and ignited on contact with oxygen. The self-perpetuating firestorms ravaged the planet and resulted in total destruction of the southern hemisphere of Mars, with more fortunate areas merely having toxic phoron particulate contaminate the soil and water. While the official death toll of the disaster is still unclear - and may never be clear - what can be certain is that Violet Dawn was not only the single most devastating loss of life to Mars, but was also among the greatest disasters to occur to the Alliance as a whole. Arcologies and government alike collapsed in the wake of the purple blaze.
The most commonly seen units of SISA across the Alliance are its Special Agents, federal law enforcement officers entrusted with the rights to conduct investigations, serve warrants, and make arrests, regardless of Solarian jurisdiction, in the case of federal crimes. They are granted significant legal authority in the pursuit of these objectives, being permitted to install wiretaps, search property without notice but with reason, and assume full control over a case should it be deemed necessary. Crimes which will merit the involvement of SISA include terrorism, large-scale drug trafficking, sapient lifeform trafficking, and serial murder, among several others. As a general rule, an intervention by SISA means that a case is of serious importance to both the local jurisdiction and the Alliance as a whole.


Despite dying prior to the disaster, Prime Minister Michael Frost had issued comprehensive orders regarding the Violet Dawn project, and many Navy officers remained loyal to his cause. His orders were that, in the event of a disaster of that scale, Navy ships should not attempt to lend any aid; the predominantly Lunan command structure was often all too happy to oblige. Only a few Navy mavericks were willing to brave the inferno to save their fellow citizens, with many Martians - Red or otherwise - owing their lives to the bravery of the Navy captains. Some officers even ordered their ships into the most contaminated parts of the planet, but while a few were successful in their attempt to rescue their fellow Solarians, many more died as their engines choked and died in the exotic atmosphere.  
Said intervention is not always appreciated by the local forces SISA is ostensibly supporting and agents have developed a somewhat mixed reputation among the Alliance’s holdings. More Sol-skeptical forces see them as haughty know-it-alls who take command over cases and assert their authority at the expense of the local police unit they are assisting, while pro-government individuals see them as Unity Station stepping up to the task of enforcing the Alliance's federal laws. This issue is further compounded by SISA agents often rotating between posts across the Alliance, leading to a degree of separation existing between them and planetary agencies. While the SIP-CPA strives to smooth over such conflicts wherever they arise, a level of distrust still exists between a number of Middle Ring security forces and SISA personnel.


Despite these few heroes, however, the majority of the Navy ships in Martian orbit were content to let the south of the planet choke and burn in a purple haze, and what remains of the Martian people has not forgotten this betrayal. While the Dawn broke the back of Mars, the people and culture carry on as they attempt to put what remains back together.
Like the SIP-CPA, recruiting for SISA agents is a pan-Solarian process, though it places much higher emphasis on physical fitness and practical skills than the SIP-CPA. Once accepted, prospective recruits are transported to one of several expansive training centers within the Jewel Worlds to be educated in the fine art of federal law enforcement. Modeled after the Solarian Navy’s own “Alliance-Wide” system, this method of centralized training is designed to instill loyalty to SISA and the Alliance over one’s homeworld, along with standardizing the training and education of SISA’s personnel. That this method also serves to maintain the gap between SISA and its planetary charges is viewed as an unfortunate necessity in the eternal struggle to guarantee the safety of the Alliance.


After the disaster, Frost's staff ordered those who had defied the late Prime Minister's orders quietly imprisoned and stripped of rank. While many of these individuals would later regain their position after the Frost government had been purged, many more became disillusioned with the Alliance and fled elsewhere.
The current leader of SISA is '''Director Andrii Savchuk'''. Born in New Odesa, Luna, Director Savchuk is a lifelong Department of Justice bureaucrat who became director in 2463 when his predecessor was arrested for public corruption following the anti-Frost coup. He is known to be exacting and demanding in his private and personal life, sleeping very little and spending most of his time at SISA's headquarters in New Odesa, where he is rumored to sleep. Slow to praise, twice-divorced, and quick to criticize anything he perceives as wrong, Savchuk is not a popular man, but is a very effective director: under his leadership SISA has arrested thousands of criminals and handled multiple major domestic incidents, ranging from a major hostage crisis on Visegrad to the capturing of Lycoris' Solarian Restoration Front-aligned governor. He is known to always wear a suit and maintains strict personal grooming standards he has attempted, with some success, to disseminate to the rest of the agency: suits, ties, and cleanly-shaven faces.


====SISA - Counter-Terrorism Response Group (SISA-CRTG)====
<center><i>"To Save Lives and Uphold the Law"</i> - CTRG motto.</center>


===The Solarian Reunification Campaign (2462 - present)===
One of the most decorated and experienced tactical units fielded by SISA, the Counter-Terrorism Response Group (CRTG) specializes in hunting down the most dangerous criminals the Alliance and neutralizing them by any means necessary. It has secured an operational success rate and mission count unrivaled by any other non-military force in the Alliance through a combination of high-end equipment, exacting training standards, and intelligence superiority. It is often said CRTG's trainings are danger-free operations and its operations are dangerous trainings. Over the course of its half-century and counting existence it has proven instrumental in neutralizing major criminal threats across the Alliance, from Martian separatists to Visegradi nationalists to the stay-behind units of the Solarian Restoration Front to triad members in Ton Gwai Pei, New Hai Phong. Despite this record of success it has attracted controversy for its apparent lack of oversight, as the SISA director can make the call on when and where they go in without consulting local authorities -- a measure to guard against insider threats, per the agency -- and a track record of violence towards non-human residents of the Alliance, such as tajara (prior to 2462).


At the start of May 2464, Solarian forces under the command of Governor-General Tereza Varzieva launched an effort to, “stabilize the planet and restore order to regions outside of the Violet Dawn hazard zone”, thus effectively bringing Mars back under Solarian control. The offensive against the various warring remaining factions -criminal gangs, supply raiders, secessionist forces, scavenger bands, and various other bandit groups - had great success and the sections of Mars outside of the government’s control mostly surrendered or were seized by force within two months, with major Solarian Army operations concluding at the end of June. Arcologies within the Moderate Hazard Zone still face extremely difficult circumstances ranging from environmental hazards, supply shortages, starvation, unrest, and violence. Mars after its violet sunrise struggles onwards, and has adapted to the challenge: scavengers pick over the remains of destroyed arcologies and towns, rural dwellers and daredevils scrape phoron from the ground and the air, then sell what they find to Hephaestus or other corporations. What arcologies remain attempt to press onwards, now with Einstein Engines-produced filtration systems sucking phoron from the air around them.
One of its most notable recent operations was its campaign against the Tajaran Revolutionary Army (TRA). Following the New Hai Phong bombings of 2460, which made the TRA the agency's top priority, CTRG was the spearhead of the agency’s subsequent effort to wipe the TRA from the face of the Alliance. Given a blank check by the Frost administration to prosecute and neutralize, “any and all responsible parties,” the CTRG performed hundreds of raids on suspected TRA safe houses and collaborators, often with few arrestees, little evidence, and many bodies. Most of the records for these operations were -- conveniently -- lost in the chaos of the Solarian Civil War, leaving the exact number of casualties unknown, though rumors hold that many of the “terrorist targets” were in reality unaffiliated tajara communities struck as part of the Frost administration’s virulently xenophobic agenda. While very few CTRG operatives sided with the SRF during the Civil War, a widespread purge of its ranks carried out by the provisional government has led some to suspect it was more ATLAS-adjacent than the Department of Justice stated in its 2465 review of the team.


==Environment==
==The Solarian Interstellar Intelligence Bureau (SIIB)==
[[Image:Mars_destruction.png|thumb|250px|A map of Mars immediately following the Violet Dawn explosion. Note that this map displays the wrong capital, as a result of incorrect information received during the Solarian communications blackout.]]
<center><i>"To Grant Freedom Through Truth.</i> - Official motto of the SIIB</center>
<center><i>“It’s drier than a fucking bureaucrat out here. Not a drop of water for miles [both laugh]!”</i> - Unintentionally recorded cockpit conversation between Solarian Army pilots, summer 2465.</center>
Originally created as the SISA and SIP-CPA’s counterpart in the Solarian frontier (now the modern [[Coalition of Colonies]]), the SIIB has since become the Alliance’s primary intelligence service for external concerns. As a result of this role the Bureau is shrouded in deliberate secrecy and few outside of it itself, and the higher echelons of the Solarian government, understand the extent to which it operates within other nations -- or within the Alliance itself. While it is known to operate in the Republic of Biesel '''you should not play an active or former SIIB agent as a non-antagonist on-ship character''', as Bureau operatives often work directly against the interests of NanoTrasen and the [[Stellar Corporate Conglomerate]].


One of the first worlds colonized by humanity, Mars’ terraforming was never successfully completed due to budget shortages, internal conflict such as the Martian World War, and simple neglect by the Alliance’s government. It is a dry, desert-like world with a thin but breathable atmosphere known for its temperature variations; with Martian days being cool and Martian nights being lethally cold, limiting the ability of Martians to travel outdoors without appropriate protective equipment, or a vehicle. Mars is known for the Martian dichotomy: the northern hemisphere is mostly dominated by flat, rolling plains while the southern is home to the Martian highlands. Winds — increased dramatically by terraforming efforts — whip down from these highlands into the northern plains, kicking up great dust storms that can persist for days at a time. More recently these winds have brought a new danger: aerial phoron contamination from areas touched by the 2462 Violet Dawn catastrophe.
Due to its role the Bureau has never had significant oversight, which has led to it developing and adopting a variety of quasi-legal methods in order to achieve its ends. These are typically described as its “strong methods,” in official documents released to the public. The “strong methods” the Bureau employs have contributed to its controversial history, which dates back to before the Interstellar War and its original purpose as an organization designed to ensure stability in the Alliance’s colonies. Its shadowy nature has only enhanced the reputation of these strong methods and much of the information on them is still classified, which has led to rumors about what the exact methods used in its interrogation rooms are.


The surface of Mars is covered in iron-containing dirt, which its winds blow across the northern planes and its highlands. The iron also makes outdoor agriculture infeasible, with metal in the soil often killing any plants long before they grow, and dust contaminating many open water sources. Yet this iron-infused dust is also a source of wealth for many Martians, who harvest the iron using aerial “nets” or sift it out of the surface-level soil. Underground, particularly in the southern hemisphere, rich mines exist for harvesting minerals from the Martian ground, though many have shuttered since Violet Dawn. However, with some having been cut off from broader Mars since the disaster, rumors have begun to circulate that the miners continue to live underground, and now slowly funnel further and further north, seeking to save themselves by their own hands. Some more outlandish theories claim the abandoned miners have formed a parallel society underground, and now plot their revenge against the mostly untouched north.
Over the years of its mandate, it has subsumed much of the authority for overseeing Alliance informational security and data classification. The only branch of the Bureau to be granted explicit permission to perform operations within Solarian territory, SIIB-INFOSEC enforces the sanctity of the Alliance’s classified materials, and was responsible for the creation of the Alliance’s modern six-tier data classification system. Unique among the SIIB’s components for its law enforcement authority, INFOSEC is charged with identifying and prosecuting breaches in the Alliance’s data security, both against internal thieves and foreign hackers. They are responsible for maintaining all '''ROMEO VERMILLION''' classification material, which is the Alliance's highest level of classification. Reportedly, only a few individuals outside of the prime minister and the SIIB's director are aware of all romeo vermillion material.


Mars has two moons: Deimos and Phobos. Both have long served as [[Solarian Armed Forces#The Solarian Navy|Solarian Navy]] outposts with only token civilian populations — mostly the relatives, family, or dependents of military personnel — on them. Known officially as the Martian Orbital Surveillance and Detection Command, or MARORBCOM, most personnel are non-Martians drawn from elsewhere in the Alliance, with specialists from [[Sol#Eris and Dysnomia|Eris and Dysnomia]] managing much of the information systems. These facilities were major processing points for refugees from Violet Dawn, and many Martians now living abroad remember passing through their sterile, military hallways under the gazes of non-Martians as they left their planet behind forever.
Despite the well-known reputation of its interrogation rooms, its primary day-to-day work is centered around gathering intelligence through passive interrogation and observation alongside active infiltrations, which it has become adept at since the Interstellar War. It is rumored to have nearly completely infiltrated the government of the [[Republic of Biesel]] on almost every level despite efforts by Biesel’s local authorities to stop and is alleged to have had a hand in many of the crises the young Republic has suffered, up to and including the infamous Clandestine Incident of 2462. The governments of the [[Coalition of Colonies]] and [[Republic of Elyra]] are said to be similarly infiltrated, as is the nearby [[Empire of Dominia]], where rumored SIIB agents are reported to have met with officers of the Dominian Imperial Intelligence Directorate. While operations in the [[Human Wildlands]] by the SIIB have not been officially confirmed by the Bureau or by the Solarian government, rumors of meetings between officials of the SRF, SSMD, and SPG and unknown actors in Solarian-produced ships can be found across social media. While the SIIB's purpose in the Wildlands is not currently known, it is doubtlessly heavily involved despite its lack of official confirmation.


==Life on Mars==
The Bureau’s infiltration efforts do not stop at other human governments and it has influenced non-human governments across the Orion Spur to further Solarian interests, with its skrellian and tajara branches being the most prevalent of its non-human intelligence wings. The SIIB’s Nralakk Federation branch is the eldest and most built-up of its international establishments, having been created shortly after first contact with the Federation in 2332. Cooperating extensively with the Federation’s various Enforcer organizations, the SIIB’s centuries-long relationship with the nation has been extremely productive for both parties, with ongoing intelligence and technology sharing agreements keeping their relations warm. The tajara branch, however, is no longer present on Adhomai, though its influence can still be felt.
<center><i>“Speaking frankly, mister prime minister, I’m not sure Mars will ever be as habitable as Earth was prior to the climate crisis,”</i> Doctor Azizi Ironsi (2160 - 2254), chief climatologist of the Bureau of Colonization, speaking to an assembly of Solarian government officials, 2238.</center>
[[Image:MarsLabelled.png|thumb|250px|Despite the harsh and arid environment, many urban areas have developed. This map represents Mars before the Violet Dawn catastrophe.]]


Since the events of the Martian World War, the population of Mars has been sharply divided between the '''BLUES''' – Martians aligned with [[Sol Alliance|Sol]] – and '''REDS''' – supporters of Martian separatism. There is a significant amount of “bad blood” between these two groups, to the extent that – prior to 2462 – the planet could roughly be divided at its hemisphere into a Blue half in the north, in the planet’s plains and lowlands, and a Red half in the south, in its more rugged highlands, mountains, and valleys. The Violet Dawn catastrophe shattered this division, and sent millions of southerners fleeing into the north for protection, or to escape their planet entirely, placing immense strain upon the northern Martian settlements. Nowhere is this problem more apparent than in Mars’ arcologies.
The skrellian branch is widely-known throughout the Bureau for its creative approaches to hiding classified information from a psionically-capable species. Bureau facilities (and some facilities that are not affiliated with them at all) are generally aluminium-lined to prevent nlom field interactions within classified areas such as interrogation rooms, and the skrellian branch was responsible for the creation of the first practical mindshield shortly after first contact. While similar corporate mindshields exist, Bureau mindshields are highly-classified and exclusive to the agency itself. Rumor has it that they are capable of turning the psionic energies of a skrell onto the skrell themselves but they, like much of the Bureau, are shrouded in rumors and falsehoods.


Ancient structures built during the original colonization of Mars in the late 2100s and early 2200s, with construction of this style of settlement mostly stopping after the [[Sol Alliance History#25 March, 2278: Outbreak of the Interstellar War|Interstellar War]], arcologies are self-contained pyramid-like structures designed to be economically self-sufficient cities. Intended to be “cities of the future” when they were built, arcologies were designed to provide all of the needs a resident could have without leaving their walls, and to endure the harsh environment of Mars. They often have a large underground section and a smaller aboveground area, leading to the local nickname of “iceberg cities” from northern Martians. More insultingly known as “rat warrens” by non-Martians, these structure-cities can be difficult for any non-native resident to navigate due to modifications over the centuries ranging from the creation of new pathways to the abandonment of entire areas due to damage and neglect. Generally the upper reaches of the arcology – where the sun can reach the outside on clear days and filter down into the upper levels – are nicer than the bottom levels, where the air may be only partially filtered and scavengers try their luck in abandoned zones. Some of these lower levels have been crushed by the weight of the arcology above them, with the huge support beams that keep arcologies secure against marsquakes only built to ensure the upper and middle levels remain intact.
While smaller than its counterpart the tajara branch has a long history of clandestine activities on resource-rich [[Adhomai]] stretching back to the First Revolution, where it was initially active through the use of long-range observation equipment. The People’s Strategic Intelligence Service, the main intelligence organization of the People’s Republic of Adhomai, was trained by the Bureau until the start of the Second Revolution, with the Bureau’s instructors leaving shortly before the war began. While President Hadii’s [[Notable Tajara#Tufir Nazzirai|assassin]] was a PSIS agent, and did assassinate him with a rare energy weapon, the Bureau has repeatedly denied that it had any role in the assassination or chaos that followed. With the breakdown of normal relations between Sol and Adhomai the Bureau’s presence on the planet has allegedly lessened yet some on Adhomai still believe it operates in [[Crevus]] under the cover of the city’s non-tajara population, still manipulating events on the planet from behind the shadows.


===Blue Arcologies===
The leader of the agency is '''Director Shufen Feng''', who has led it since 2463. A veteran of the Department of State's Foreign Service Officer Corps, Feng has spent much of her life abroad and was recalled by Frost in 2461, at which point her activities become unknown until she was appointed Director by the emergency government. She was reportedly present on Unity Station during Frost's assassination but has never confirmed if she was present or what she was doing there at the time. Like most SIIB directors Feng is an extremely private woman with little known about her career or private life. What is known of her career -- postings across the Coalition and Elyra as a FSO -- is so unexceptional and dull that it has led to rumors she has always worked for the agency and her entire history is simply a fabrication and cover for one of the first SIIB case officers to become agency director.
<center><i>“You scumbag asshole! You did this to us! You and all you other fucking Reds! Frost should’ve finished you off!”</i> - Sgt. Mark O’Sullivan, Chicago Arcology Police Department (CAPD), in recorded bodycam footage used during his manslaughter trial.</center>


northern Martian lowlands having been colonized first. While loyal to the Alliance, even after Violet Dawn, these arcologies have been strained by the post-2462 refugee crisis and the decrease in environmental conditions due to trace [[Phoron|phoron]] in the Martian atmosphere — a condition being addressed by Einstein Engines-run redevelopment projects, but not yet fully addressed. Martians from Blue arcologies are more loyal to the Alliance than their planet, and form the basis of both the planetary government and the Martian units of the [[Solarian Armed Forces]]. All elected Martian governors have been from Blue arcologies. Generally, the Blues in these arcologies look down on their Red counterparts. Many have never forgiven the Reds for rising in revolt in the Martian World War, viewing the event as having ruined Mars’ future. Blues blame the Reds for other disasters as well, with it being a common belief in their arcologies that Reds caused both the terraforming disaster and Violet Dawn — after all, both incidents started in the southern hemisphere. It should not come as a surprise the north’s Arcology Police Departments (APDs) are known for their use of force violations against refugees, though these are rarely investigated by the arcology or Martian government – for without the APDs, who would keep the Reds from them?
====Solarian Interstellar Intelligence Bureau - Special Activities Branch====
<center><i>“Your faces have been erased. Your names will be forgotten. Only your deeds will endure,”</i> - SIIB Director Shufen Feng, concluding a speech to a newly inducted cadre of SAB operatives, date unknown.</center>


Most Blue arcologies have long since abandoned their underground levels, instead being wealthy and prosperous enough to justify expanding aboveground. While seen as a sign of progress at the time, these areas have become home to many refugees and otherwise deprived communities since 2462. In these areas the residents of these areas live with limited social services and poor security conditions, with arcology police forces and their supporting mercenary companies — often from the [[Eridani Federation Military|Eridanian Golden Fist]] — more concerned about keeping them away from the good part of the community than helping them. The residents, many of whom having nowhere else to go, are forced into a desperate cycle of exploring these underground areas and staking out salvage claims that are sometimes fought over with guns, knives, or fists. What salvage is not used by the community is often sold to the upper arcology’s factories at a fraction of what it is worth. Some upper-arcology factories have sponsored successful undergrounder salvage teams, viewing them as an affordable — and disposable — method of securing materials.
Charged with utilizing the information acquired by the Bureau for the good of the Alliance, the Special Activities Branch (SAB) is the long arm and closed fist of the Bureau, exerting influence and force abroad. Conducting direct action missions such as raids, sabotage, and targeted killings, it is the paramilitary force of the SIIB and one of the Alliance’s most effective irregular warfare units. The latter speciality also makes the SAB one of the go-to detachments for clandestinely rendering aid to pro-Sol governments and insurgent groups, such as the Alliance’s reported involvement in supporting the Mictlani Samaritans and Founding Movement. It may still be active on [[Mictlan]], though the Alliance has denied these rumors. In any situation where the Alliance wishes to directly and deniably involve itself outside the public eye, the ever-reliable SAB is tasked with addressing the issue.


====Copperheads====
Though the Bureau has been working in the Alliance for over two centuries, the vast majority of the SAB’s operational records remain heavily classified. Their most notable recent campaign (that is available to the public, at least) remains the Bureau’s participation in the Solarian Civil War. As the Alliance’s central government worked to rebuild itself, its agents were the first to re-establish contact with surviving Solarian statelets in the Human Wildlands, escorting Bureau personnel as they performed clandestine meetings with those Solarian patriots who still held out hope for a united Alliance. From 2462 until the defeat of the Front on Lycoris, the SIIB was working to shore up support and strength within the Sol-aligned states of the Middle Ring Shield Pact, with SAB units on the ground ensuring the steady flow of weapons, supplies, and expertise that would allow them to hold out against the onslaught of the Front and League. Persistent rumor even holds that operatives of the SAB can be seen in active combat at various points in the Xanusii News Service’s acclaimed reporting saga of the war, though the Bureau has declined to comment in this regard.
<center><i>“You should walk away before you regret what you’re saying, Tacky. My prospect’s worth more than anything else in this here arc,”</i> - Lemuel Landon, leader of the Lemuel’s Laggards scavenger gang, shortly before his death at the hands of Tacky Jack Rawlins.</center>


Bandits and an urban blight to many Blues, and violent desperados to many, the Copperheads are those Martians poor, unfortunate, or daring enough to live in the underground, abandoned levels of blue arcologies. Their name, originally a derogatory term attached to them by Blue Martians, comes from their habit of salvaging (or stealing) and reselling copper found throughout the lower levels. They also salvage abandoned tools, equipment, and anything that looks slightly valuable. These goods – tools, equipment, and raw metals – can then be resold to upper-arcology factories for a premium, though many times at far less than they would be worth at market value. To be more efficient, and offer themselves mutual protection, they typically form themselves into small groups of one to two dozen and stake out a claim in the underground – one they’ll defend with blood: theirs, or the intruder’s. Many Copperheads live a violent, often short, life where a man’s claim is only as secure as his gun arm’s shooting and fights over claims are not uncommon, with the upper-arcology police departments willing to look the other way if the violence stays far below them – out of sight, and out of mind. Some particularly bold – or foolish – Copperhead desperados have chosen to make stands against arcology police departments, or to attack and attempt to loot the middle and upper areas of an arcology. These excursions are rare, and have universally ended in failure – and often in bloody gunfights between authorities and the Copperheads.
Given the extremely sensitive nature of their missions, personnel of the Special Activities Branch often operate without uniforms. The only known standard uniform used by the SAB are sets of unmarked grey Solarian Army fatigues and accompanying body armor, which their agents have been observed wearing in the scant few operational recordings publicly released by the Bureau.


===Red Arcologies===
==Courts and Law==
<center><i>“What color’s our blood?! (“'''RED!”''') What color’s our planet?! ('''“RED!”''') What are we?! ('''“RED!”''') What will we always be?! ('''“RED!”''') And what’s our home?! ('''“RED, RED GAI-A!”''')”</i> - Traditional Red Gaian anti-Solarian marching cadence.</center>
<center><i>“Military deep state confirms the military deep state does not exist after giving the Supreme Court to the military deep state,"</i> - Headline of the satirical newspaper <i>Fish News</i> following the Solarian junta’s packing of the Supreme Court, 2462.</center>


Red arcologies are newer and were often built near mineral deposits in the Martian highlands, and tend to be laid out more horizontally than vertically, with only their anti-marsquake supports extending far underground. Poor conditions inside these arcologies, and a lack of government support, are said to have formed the Petri dish of Martian nationalism. The lack of outside support for these arcologies led to them having a more pronounced culture of independence and communalism, with neighbors in a zone intended to look out for one another and only call upon the arcology government if needed.
Under the Solarian Federal Constitution the Alliance operates two primary sets of judicial systems: local planetary law and Solarian federal law. Solarian federal law is solely created by the senate on Unity Station and is binding in all Solarian jurisdictions save the Eridani Corporate Federation. Local laws are instead dictated and enforced solely by the member state in question, and can apply to at most a solar system. In cases where Alliance federal law and member state laws conflict, Alliance law will always take precedence, as defined under the Solarian Constitution's supremacy clause.


While this culture of independence doubtlessly has saved many Red Martians from death — particularly during the effective collapse of government in the southern hemisphere during 2462-63 — it has condemned many to it as well. A spat that would have been a stay in the arcology’s government district dentist center in the north becomes mob justice and extrajudicial killing in the south, and revenge killings for criminal acts are not uncommon. Feuds between Red Martian families can last for generations, with sons avenging wronged grandfathers by killing their fellow grandchildren. This culture has carried over into the refugee era, with Red Martian scavenger teams warring over competing claims and past wrongs and slights — from either before or after Violet Dawn. Blues often quip the reason Red Martians are ''red'' is because of their bloody feuds.
Trial by jury is an enforced right of the court system outside of Alliance military mandates, and is generally composed of 13 randomly selected local jurors, though Alliance member states may adjust the exact arrangement for local courts. All judges within the Alliance, regardless of whether they are local or federal, must pass a standardized Solarian bar exam in order to be accredited, which is published by the Department of Justice and updated biannually.  


===Rural Martians===
The Alliance Supreme Court, located on Unity Station, is the highest legal authority in the nation, and the head of the Solarian Judicial Branch. The Court is composed of nine justices who serve for life, barring any extenuating circumstances which would merit their removal. Under the federal constitution justices are typically appointed by the prime minister and confirmed by the senate. The Court’s current roster is an exception, however, having been appointed unilaterally by the military junta which ruled throughout the Solarian Civil War. Consequently the current Supreme Court is staffed entirely by former military judges who are near-invariably aligned with the rightward factions of the SPP and SFP -- a boon for the current prime minister.
<center><i>“Oooooh send me out to Mar-a-gar, send me home from near-and-far, may I wander to-and-fro, where the iron winds blow!”</i> - Traditional iron farmer’s song, origin unknown.</center>


Scattered throughout both hemispheres, rural communities on Mars form a significant minority of the population – a bit under half – generally do not align with either Blues or with the Reds, though they align culturally with Red Martians. They are a proud, fiercely independent people who take pride in their own communities regardless of how poor they may be, and often do not trust the central government of the Alliance. Most rural communities were built around prospects: significant mineral deposits, either in the soil or underground, which they mine resources from for as long as they last. Once the prospect runs dry the community often disappears soon after, as there are few opportunities left in them. Now abandoned, many of these communities have found a second life as scavengers pick over their remains for anything usable after Violet Dawn.
===Correctional System===
<center><i>“Is anyone aware of what 'corrections' the Department is even making? Like, I certainly don’t know anyone corrected by twenty years in a closet-sized metal room!”</i> - Senator Kaylissa Orten (SSUP-CAL), during a speech advocating for prison reform, 2452.</center>


Some communities persist despite their mines closing, and these are often settlements located in exceptionally windy areas that now serve roaming iron harvesters who “scoop” iron from the dusty Martian air. These settlements can be quite small, with only a few dozen or a few hundred residents, but their populations can swell into the thousands when iron harvesters arrive. With southerly winds blowing [[Phron|phoron]] into the northern hemisphere, many of these communities have seen the largest disaster in Martian history turn into a boom for them with the arrival of corporate facilities and permanent phoron-harvesting sails. Few have realized the implication of most [[Hephaestus Industries|corporate buildings]] having extensive filtration systems and mostly [[Sol Alliance#IPCs in the Solarian Alliance|synthetic employees]] while they often walk outside with only a respirator.
While Alliance member states will typically maintain their own local jails and short-term confinement facilities, all prisons and psychiatric detention centers within the ASSN are managed by the Solarian Department of Corrections (SDOC). As a rule, Alliance prisons are more geared towards confinement and security than rehabilitation, with conditions that can be generally described as “functionality first.” While no Alliance prison will go without running water or electricity, they are austere structures designed to meet federal prison requirements as efficiently as possible in both cost and space. The sole exception to this is found in non-criminal psychiatric detention centers, designed to house mentally ill individuals who, despite having not committed criminal acts, cannot be adequately housed within the broader population. These centers are much more comfortable than typical correctional facilities, often being described as, "a country club you aren’t allowed to leave.”


== Economy ==
Though privately-owned prisons made up a significant minority of Alliance facilities prior to the Solarian Civil War, auxiliary bills to the Industrial Reclamation Mandate have seen all such corporate prisons be taken into the custody of the Department of Corrections.
<center><i>“What you’re standing in front of’s [[Phoron|purple gold]], son. And you’re not gonna be standing in front of it for much longer if I get my way,”</i> - Tacky Jack Rawlins, leader of the Maragar Purpletongues scavenger gang, to a rival, c. 2464.</center>


Prior to Violet Dawn much of Mars was an industrial, rather than service, economy; based around the mining, refining, and production of materials and finished goods. Hydroponics and service sectors were a small part of the overall economic landscape, and mostly concentrated in the northern hemisphere. Trade and orbital industries were present, but less developed than in other areas of the Sol System such as Callisto and Titan. Traditional agriculture was almost nonexistent, with a harsh environment and toxic soils making growing crops nearly impossible for typical farmers.
The Alliance also remains one of two major nations in the Orion Spur to practice capital punishment, despite being a signatory of the Luna Accords. Permitted only for a specific list of capital crimes, all executions performed by the Alliance must be authorized by a federal judge and are typically performed via lethal injection, with the firing squad having been prominent during the civil war and its period of unrest. While complaints over this practice have arisen from multiple foreign powers, most notably the Nralakk Federation and the Republic of Biesel, the Alliance has shown no intent of ceasing the use of capital punishment.


Rural Martian, rather than agriculture, made their fortunes from either mining – most commonly in the northern highlands – or '''iron farming''': a process in which specialized machines known as sails are used to pull iron out of the red dust which often blows across the northern plains or down from the southern mountains. This is a dirty, often boring process which gives the sail operator a steady, though often slow, flow of iron dust in the off season, and an abundance of iron during the windier times of the year. To maximize profit many sail operators are semi-nomadic, traveling with the winds and living transitory lives along a route of communities they spend only a few months in at a time. The mining and iron farming industries still exist but have mostly been supplanted by a new, and far more hazardous, one: phoron panning and salvaging.
==Policing in the [[Eridani Federation]]==


'''Phoron panning''' is a process similar to iron farming: a sail operator deploys their device, and gathers up phoron particulate from the air, and often travels along a seasonal route. This phoron is often low-grade – worthless for use in an engine – but can be refined either by hand – a dangerous and inefficient process, owing to the poisonous and highly explosive nature of phoron – or by a device known as a phoronic centrifuge which is able to refine the phoron by removing trace elements of other substances, significantly reducing its mass but burning off the “slag” acquired by the sail. These centrifuges are expensive, complicated devices which can only reasonably be operated by large corporations such as [[Hephaestus Industries]] and [[San Colette#Collettish Phorons (PhoroCol)|Colettish Phoronics]] (also known as PhoroCol) – with both corporations taking a significant cut of the sail operator’s potential income. However, the profits to be made from harvesting phoron from the wind – “purple gold” to sail operators – far outweigh what can be made from iron farming. A good month’s phoron haul for a sail operator can give them as much money as they’d make in a year of iron farming, which has led to a sail-operating crazy, and some prominent operators having to hire mercenaries to keep their operations secure from competitors – some have even gone to [[Medina|Medinian]] [[Medina#The Phoron Bulletin|phoron hunters]] for guards, viewing the veterans of the [[Medina#The Phoron Bulletin|phoron sands]] as more than a match for any rival sail operator. [[Phoron]] panning is most common in the yellow zone, where the environment is suitable for phoron-tainted winds but not uninhabitable, though some view the environment as slowly killing them, and is a major reason for the continued existence of many yellow zone communities. No phoron panning, no community, and no hope.
Though officially a member state of the Alliance, the Eridani Corporate Federation’s status as a de facto independent nation inside of the Alliance extends to its law enforcement as well. Due to several provisions within the labyrinthine mess of contracts and agreements nominally binding Eridani to Sol, Solarian federal law enforcement agencies are forbidden from operating within Eridani jurisdictions, save when they are directly requested by Eridani security forces. Instead, every facet of law enforcement within the ECF is handled by its bevy of private security companies and mercenaries contracted to the state’s ruling megacorporations. As a consequence, Eridanian security forces are generally regarded as unrestrained, poorly disciplined, and untrustworthy by their Alliance peers. This reputation is not helped by the tendency for Eridani PMCs to lack the level of oversight their counterparts in the Alliance do, leading to an endemic culture of corruption and brutality among their rank-and-file officers. The special status of the ECF is a source of immense frustration for the Department of Justice and Attorney General Henri Fontenot, which consider Eridani a wretched hive of criminal activity actively worsening the Alliance around it.
 
'''Phoron salvage''' is a far more dangerous – and potentially far more lucrative – field. Rather than working in the yellow zone to gather phoron from the air, salvagers venture into the orange – and sometimes the red and black – zones, seeking to scavenge phoron from deposits now present on the ground, or valuable materials from abandoned arcologies. A salvage run can last for multiple days, or weeks if it chooses to go to the exclusion zone, and the profit is as high as the risk: the Violet Dawn-spawned phoron, while it is often of a lower grade than natural phoron, is still purple gold, and there are many eager buyers. However, it is an extremely risky business: phoron is explosive in the best circumstances – let alone when it is exposed to the elements – and highly toxic, with many salvagers leaving the red and black zones ill, dying, or with permanent health conditions. Many simply never return, claimed by the hazards present in the area: the more hazardous zones of Mars are wracked by everything from firestorms to phoron-based sandstorms to industrial machinery and military equipment left exposed to the elements and unmaintained for years on end. Despite the risk inherent, corporations on Mars have made a significant effort to promote phoron salvagers as heroic, masculine figures in the best traditions of the Red Martian and rural communities they are often drawn from, braving immense danger to provide for their communities and families, and always triumphing. They do not show examples of phoron salvage gone wrong: twisted bodies burned beyond recognition, men and women coughing up blood from phoron-contaminated lungs, and unlucky salvagers crushed underneath collapsed arcologies. Only the good side is shown, to better encourage the desperate and daring to throw themselves into the fire.
 
The spectre hanging over both industries is phoron poisoning, or more formally '''phoronic pneumoconiosis'''. It is a newly-observed condition on Mars suspected to be caused by aerial phoron contamination. While it can be avoided with personal protective equipment (PPE) many salvagers and panners, let alone broader rural Martians, lack even the most basic PPE. It is a rapidly-progressing disease caused by the inhalation of phoron particles, and these particles adhering to the victim’s lung lining. Initial symptoms involve coughing, shortness of breath, and chest tightness. Some sufferers will have productive coughs that cause them to spit out pinkish-purple mucus, which is often accompanied by a horrific burning sensation as the phoron particles work their way up the individual’s esophagus and throat. Further exposure to phoron worsens the condition as the particulate builds up, and eventually begins to burn through the lining of the lung; causing the sufferer to cough up, or sneeze out, blood as their lungs start to fail. Unlucky victims of phoron poisoning may also vomit blood due to damage to their esophagus. Death will follow after this point without treatment, which typically involves extensive internal augmentation – something unaffordable for many salvagers. Phoron poisoning can become a chronic condition if treated but not entirely cured: while a long-term sufferer can live with productive coughs of phoronic mucus and breathing issues, though victims of the condition are estimated to lose anywhere from 12 to 20 years of their lifespan. Tragically, seeing Martians spit out purple globules of spit is not an uncommon sight in many rural towns and among scavenger groups.
 
Particularly unlucky salvagers may inhale or otherwise absorb enough self-replicating [[Phoron|phoron]] that it begins to crystalize in their lungs, slowly coating the interior before expanding into the esophagus, throat, and bloodstream. This condition, known informally as “purple touch” among scavengers, is a far worse version of phoronic pneumoconiosis and is not a chronic condition: it is always fatal unless treated, generally through the excision of contaminated organs and their replacement with bionic or prosthetic counterparts. After a certain point the condition is guaranteed to be fatal, as too much of the body will have been infected and the sufferer’s organs will begin to shut down, starting with the kidneys and liver. Vomiting purple-tinted blood is not an uncommon symptom of these victims, and they are often ostracized from their communities due to the widespread – and correct – belief the phoron they expunge can infect nearby humans. Some, knowing they are infected, take their own lives or walk away from their groups before they can harm others.
 
==Planetary Governance==
<center><i>“I need you to cooperate with me, sir. The cuffs are procedure – don’t resist and you might get off with a hooliganism charge once you get to court. Yeah?”</i> – Solarian Army military policeman LCPL. Francisco Diego Rodriguez, [[Solarian Armed Forces#Notable Army Divisions|1st Infantry Division (Earther)]], arresting a rioter during the 2464 Reunification Campaign.</center>
Now under an emergency military government, the Martian government was long regarded as one of the weaker planetary governments in the Sol System due to the north-south Blue/Red dichotomy and problems with the planet’s infrastructure dating back to the days of the terraforming disaster. The Martian government bent, buckled, and broke across much of the planet during the immediate aftermath of the Violet Dawn catastrophe in November 2462, though it remained cohesive in the north thanks to the timely intervention of the Solarian Armed Forces and a rallying of Blue arcologies in the face of adversity. Despite this rallying, much of the planet remains outside of the government’s control: the hand of the Alliance only extends into the yellow zones, and not beyond it. Any arcology past the “Orange Line” near the planetary equator has been written off by the Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations’ Provisional Government of Mars ('''ASSN-PGM''') and it is unlikely any civilian authority will move to expand this zone of control.
 
The ASSN-PMG is the current ruling body of Mars: a military led-transitional authority under the command of Governor-General Tereza Varzieva, a [[Silversun|Silversunner]], which rules from Unified Kunlun, it launched an offensive in 2464 that moved the government’s control from a scattered ring of arcologies around the northern ice cap – the heart of Blue Mars – to the Orange Line, successfully re-integrating all remaining Blue arcologies and some Red arcologies, such as Red Gaia, through the use of lightning-fast mechanized offensives supported by [[Solarian Armed Forces#The Solarian Navy|Solarian Navy]] gunfire and extensive humanitarian relief efforts. Despite this success, and the end of the broader civil war in 2465, the provisional government has not called for civilian elections due to the ongoing crisis. Underneath the Governor-General is a civilian authority made up of arcology leaders and the staff of the former Governor, Blue Martian Burt Dwyer, who was killed during the Violet Dawn incident. These bureaucrats are Blue Martians and have been accused of bias against Red Martians, with whom the Blues retain an antagonistic relationship.
 
==Major Arcologies==
<center><i>“My fellow Olympians! We are wounded, yes, but we are not broken! And with our Alliance, we will rise from the ashes like a red phoenix!”</i> - Mayoral candidate William “Willie” Bierce in an election rally, July 2463.</center>
 
'''Crest Olympia''' is the former capital of Mars, and remains the red planet’s largest settlement. Built in the shadow of Olympus Mons, it is a center of Martian governance, culture, and a stronghold of Martian Blues. Prior to Violet Dawn it was one of the hotspots for Martian tourism, with Solarians from across the Alliance traveling to it to visit Olympus Mons, and much of the arcology’s top levels are designed to allow a view of one of the largest mountains in the known Spur. It remains the wealthiest arcology on Mars and has, since 2462, become a hotspot for salvagers, with many runs into the contaminated zone – particularly the destroyed and lost arcologies of the orange zone – starting and ending outside its arcology. The Crest Olympia Arcology Police Department (COAPD) is considered one of the higher-quality ones on the planet, with its officers trained by the [[Callisto#Government and Politics|Callistean Metropolitan Police Department]] and possessing a unique team known as the Lower Arcology Response Unit (LARU) for hazardous police work in the lower, now abandoned and neglected, sections of the arcology. A [[Sol Alliance#Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] audit found few issues in it, though a pattern of surveillance against Red Martians is present. Its mayor is William “Willie” Bierce, a former [[Sol Alliance#Political Parties|Sol First Party]] senator for the planet who was elected in 2463 on a pro-[[Einstein Engines]] platform, which has led to the megacorporation developing more reclamation infrastructure here than anywhere else. Bierce is a professional, shrewd man and noted polyglot, reportedly able to speak every [[Languages#Human languages|human language]] in the Spur at some level. He will likely be the next governor, whenever Mars returns to normal rule.
 
'''Chicago''' is the industrial heart of Blue Mars, having been one of the most productive cities prior to Violet Dawn and remaining one post-disaster. One of the few major arcologies built near a water source, the Chicago arcology derives much of its power from a dam that filters water flowing towards the nearby arcology of Draka, with an artificial lake having grown near it that the arcology uses as a waste dumping area. Most trans-stellar corporations, such as [[Hephaestus Industries]] and [[San Colette#Colettish Phoronics (PhoroCol)|PhoroCol]], have their headquarters in Chicago, and it hosts the Martian Stock Exchange in its upper levels. It has a smaller refugee population than other Blue arcologies due to its northern position and the brutality the Chicago Arcology Police Department (CAPD) is known to use when handling Reds, with Chicago having many residents descended from the survivors of New Dresden – an arcology nuked by the Reds during the Martian World War. The CAPD, and its [[Eridani Federation Military|Ringspire mercenaries]], are known to launch “Snake Hunts” into the underground levels where they round up Copperheads and refugees alike. The [[Sol Alliance#Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] found multiple civil rights violations in the CAPD and has threatened to federalize it, but has found itself opposed by Mayor Richard “R.G.” Gowan – an industrial magnate and longtime opponent of Red Mars. R.G. is a fighter and an advocate for the common Blue Martian who has a sour relationship with Hephaestus Industries. He spent much of 2466 promoting Le Hanh Trang in Chicago, and is a card-carrying member of the [[Sol Alliance#Political Parties|Solarian Socialist Unity Party]].
 
'''Red Gaia''' is one of the few northern Red arcologies, having been founded and settled by Reds after a significant iron deposit was discovered in the mid-22nd century. It was devastated in the Martian World War and much of the upper arcology remains partially abandoned, with most of its citizens living in the middle or lower levels. Prior to Violet Dawn most Red Gaians worked in heavy industry or mining jobs, and the arcology’s residents are known for their rough, independent, and can-do nature. It is said a Red Gaian is one of the few Martians who will fight anyone over slandering his arcology, and that more guns and knives are pulled in anger here than anywhere else in the [[Orion Spur|Spur]]. Red Gaia was hit badly by the Violet Dawn catastrophe, throwing open its doors to refugees to spite the Blue arcologies near it, and nearly collapsed under the weight of its engorged population, with the Red Gaia Common Police Force (RGCPF) unable to keep pace. A brief period of independence from Sol between Violet Dawn and May 2463 was ended by the Solarian Army, which only withdrew in 2466 and remains responsible for humanitarian aid deliveries to the arcology. The current mayor is Amos Gideon, a prospector-cum-politician who presents himself as larger than life and is seen by many as the “face” of Red Mars. Gideon is never seen without his distinctive hats or his brown suit, and has made a habit of throwing his hat into the audience at rallies.
 
'''Maragar''' is the largest still-populated arcology south of the yellow hazard line, and is a center for scavenging raids further into the more hazardous zones. Traditionally, it was viewed as the dividing line between Blue (northern) and Red (southern) Mars due to its position on the edge of the plains-highlands divide. Post-Violet Dawn it retains much of Red culture – the independence, feuds, and distrust of the central government – but has taken on an anarchistic, survival-of-the-fittest mindset: many original residents have fled, and scavenger bands have established bases of operation within their former homes in the meantime. Maragar’s central position has led to it becoming a kind of neutral ground for scavengers, and the ruling Maragar Purpletongues scavenger group – the most powerful gang – enforces an uneasy truce by banning the drawing of weapons in anger. Feuds that do arise, however, are often settled outside of its walls: either by gun, or by blade. The Purpletongues are the largest known scavenger group and can be easily identified by their purple scarfs – sometimes worn around their hats, but most often worn around their necks – and the long coats they wear to both keep out the cold and keep aerial phoron off their skin. Their leader, Tacky Jack Rawlins, is the de facto “mayor” of the arcology. Quick to anger and known for dressing in nearly exclusively purple clothing, Rawlins is reportedly a [[Solarian Armed Forces#The Solarian Army|Solarian Army]] deserter who has killed thirty men in honor duels, and defeated a dozen attempts to usurp control of the Purpletongues using his fists, guns, and knives.


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    The traditional emblem of the Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations' security services. The gold represents the police and security personnel shielding the Alliance from danger, while the sun represents the Alliance. The sun is blue to signify that justice views all in a neutral, unbiased light.


    Policing and security in the Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations is managed by a Byzantine mass of bureaucratic agencies and regulations which, in some cases, date back to the Alliance’s founding in 2140 -- making some Solarian security agencies older than every other human (and most non-human) nations in the Orion Spur. The oldest of these agencies is the massive Solarian Interstellar Policing & Crime Prevention Agency (SIP-CPA), a system-spanning organization with millions of employees that is responsible for coordinating inter-system policing in the Alliance. Other similar agencies include the Solarian Interstellar Security Agency (SISA), a more recent agency formed for the purpose of domestic intelligence, and the Solarian Interstellar Intelligence Bureau (SIIB), a much older agency that serves as the Alliance’s highest security authority.

    History

    The history of interstellar policing and security in the Solarian Alliance is as old as practical human space travel itself, although it only became formally institutionalized with the formation of the Solarian Interstellar Policing & Crime Prevention Agency in 2140. Prior to this point interstellar policing had primarily been carried out by individual countries and organizations based upon on Earth, which had become increasingly impractical as humanity branched out first into the Sol System and then beyond it with the advent of practical warp engines in 2130. The SIP-CPA proved itself to be significantly more effective than the smaller agencies that had preceded it and this success would eventually lead to the founding of its sister agency, the Solarian Interstellar Security Agency (SISA), in 2157.

    But these two agencies would eventually find themselves overworked and overtaxed by the rapidly expanding Alliance as the 22nd century ended and the 23rd began. The Alliance’s push to expand its borders had clearly overcome their capabilities by the mid-2220s, requiring the creation of an entirely new agency in 2228: the Solarian Interstellar Intelligence Bureau (SIIB), an agency tasked solely with ensuring the security and stability of the Alliance’s distant colonial frontier. Due to the increasingly shaky control of the Alliance over its distant colonies the SIIB was given nearly unlimited authority and almost no oversight in its mission to ensure security and stability, and the Bureau almost immediately turned to what it referred to as “strong methods” in order to ensure loyalty to Sol remained. While the SIIB -- despite its methods -- failed to prevent the outbreak of the Interstellar War and subsequent formation of the Coalition of Colonies it remained active due to its deeply-seeded intelligence networks across the Coalition, effectively proving its usefulness to the Solarian government despite any moral qualms they may have had over its techniques.

    Following the Solarian collapse after Violet Dawn the Alliance’s security, policing, and intelligence agencies remain as valuable and important as ever for the now-shrunken Alliance, though they now find themselves scrambling to deal with the aftermath of Violet Dawn even a year later. The Alliance’s security -- and its future -- may very well depend upon them, and none wish to be found wanting by history.

    Domestic Agencies

    While much of the Alliance’s day-to-day security is managed by local planetary policing agencies such as the Venusian VPPF and Callistean CMPD situations often arise that go beyond the authority a planet or system and require greater authority to resolve, such as issues with piracy and smuggling in the Middle and Outer Rings before the events of late 2462.

    Solarian Interstellar Policing & Crime Prevention Agency (SIP-CPA)

    “Empires run on information, y’know? Starts at the bottom, then gets funneled up through all the layers until the powers that be can act on it. If you think the only thing the Sippies are doing with that budget and manpower pool is helping planetary cops talk to each other, you’re [censored] delusional.” - Anonymous conspiracy theorist posting on the /sol/ board of 64tan, 2460.

    Founded in 2140, the Solarian Interstellar Policing & Crime Prevention Agency (SIP-CPA) is the eldest of Sol’s intelligence agencies, and the one most overlooked by Solarian media. Primarily concerned with rear-echelon administrative and management duties, it lacks the glamor and fame of “field” organizations like the SISA, but loses none of its importance. Without the analysts and number-crunchers of the SIP-CPA its sister branches, and numerous local agencies, would have no reference from which to direct their own talents.

    It first and most pertinent duty is to coordinate, assist, and facilitate the operations of planetary and system police forces across the member states of the Alliance. The first of these tasks is the one for which the Agency is most well-known, and it occupies the largest single chunk of its quarterly budget and manpower reserve. Across the Alliance many thousands of clerks, couriers, and routing staff are in constant communication on behalf of their local departments, both within systems and between stars, transmitting case files, wanted notices, and endless quantities of paperwork through the informational spiderweb tying the Alliance's law enforcement agencies together. This focus on coordination also applies to the planetary police agencies of the Alliance, with SIP-CPA coordinators being found in nearly every large-scale joint security operation.

    Beyond this primary duty it is responsible for ensuring the Alliance’s member state police forces are up to standard in training, equipment, and in their internal accountability. When a given member state cannot provide sufficient funds to their force it will send supply and material requests up the chain to the Department of Justice, which will fill requests as needed -- though sometimes this replacement material can be old, or out-of-date. Should a department’s performance or behavior prove insufficient, it provides the training personnel and opportunities needed to improve them. And if an officer should betray the law they swore to uphold, it is called to serve as a neutral arbitrator in the case pending referral to judicial authorities. These tasks have given its personnel a somewhat mixed reputation, especially on planets far from the Jewel Worlds, where some independently-minded security forces resist what they see as bureaucratic meddling from the Sol System.

    Much less well-known is the SIP-CPA’s third function, that of the largest intelligence-gathering network within the Alliance. Where SISA focuses on targeted investigation and direct action, it instead utilizes a “wide net” strategy of passively acquiring as much information as is possible. Webcrawlers, bugs, and paid informants are only a handful of the methods used by the Agency in the course of its operations outside the public eye. All the while, as is a (legal right of the SIP-CPA, all of the data acquired in partnership with planetary security agencies is dutifully collated, copied, and dispatched to Sol for further categorization and analysis, then distributed back to the same law enforcement agencies through the Inter-Alliance Criminal Information Network (IACIN). While the Agency rarely acts on this information itself, actionable intelligence collated by the SIP-CPA has served as a stepping stone for the other members of the Intelligence Trinity more times than can be feasibly counted.

    Outside of Sol it maintains campuses and facilities across nearly every Solarian member world, though with a higher density of infrastructure within the Jewel Worlds. Universally located near command centers of local police units to facilitate rapid communication, SIP-CPA intelligence campuses are typically compact but vertically developed, often including high-rise buildings entirely dedicated to the clerical work which encompasses much of its mandate.

    The leader of the SIP-CPA is Director Almir Fazlić. Originally from Novo Igman, Fazlić has led the agency since 2463, when he replaced a Frost-aligned director, and seen it through the upheaval of the Solarian Civil War and its aftermath. A lawyer by training and innately familiar with Solarian federal criminal code, and many local codes, he is a conservative leader who has done little to change the agency's mission and a great amount to ensure its capabilities have remained effective. He was retained by PM Strom after the recent election and is expected to serve as director for the remainder of Strom's term.

    Solarian Interstellar Security Agency (SISA)

    “Protecting The Nation, Upholding The Law, and Securing The Future.” - Motto of the SISA.

    The Solarian Interstellar Security Agency, or SISA, was founded as the “action” counterpart to the SIP-CPA. Where the SIP-CPA performs intelligence gathering and administration on the strategic level, SISA was created with the intent of directly assisting and supplementing Alliance member police forces on the ground. As the only member of Alliance Intelligence Trinity to have official law enforcement authority, it serves at the long arm of Alliance domestic security, operating armed field offices on nearly every world in the Alliance. It holds jurisdiction over the Alliance's federal crimes and maintains both the Solarian Alliance Terror & Extremism Watchlist and the list of the Alliance’s most wanted fugitives.

    The most commonly seen units of SISA across the Alliance are its Special Agents, federal law enforcement officers entrusted with the rights to conduct investigations, serve warrants, and make arrests, regardless of Solarian jurisdiction, in the case of federal crimes. They are granted significant legal authority in the pursuit of these objectives, being permitted to install wiretaps, search property without notice but with reason, and assume full control over a case should it be deemed necessary. Crimes which will merit the involvement of SISA include terrorism, large-scale drug trafficking, sapient lifeform trafficking, and serial murder, among several others. As a general rule, an intervention by SISA means that a case is of serious importance to both the local jurisdiction and the Alliance as a whole.

    Said intervention is not always appreciated by the local forces SISA is ostensibly supporting and agents have developed a somewhat mixed reputation among the Alliance’s holdings. More Sol-skeptical forces see them as haughty know-it-alls who take command over cases and assert their authority at the expense of the local police unit they are assisting, while pro-government individuals see them as Unity Station stepping up to the task of enforcing the Alliance's federal laws. This issue is further compounded by SISA agents often rotating between posts across the Alliance, leading to a degree of separation existing between them and planetary agencies. While the SIP-CPA strives to smooth over such conflicts wherever they arise, a level of distrust still exists between a number of Middle Ring security forces and SISA personnel.

    Like the SIP-CPA, recruiting for SISA agents is a pan-Solarian process, though it places much higher emphasis on physical fitness and practical skills than the SIP-CPA. Once accepted, prospective recruits are transported to one of several expansive training centers within the Jewel Worlds to be educated in the fine art of federal law enforcement. Modeled after the Solarian Navy’s own “Alliance-Wide” system, this method of centralized training is designed to instill loyalty to SISA and the Alliance over one’s homeworld, along with standardizing the training and education of SISA’s personnel. That this method also serves to maintain the gap between SISA and its planetary charges is viewed as an unfortunate necessity in the eternal struggle to guarantee the safety of the Alliance.

    The current leader of SISA is Director Andrii Savchuk. Born in New Odesa, Luna, Director Savchuk is a lifelong Department of Justice bureaucrat who became director in 2463 when his predecessor was arrested for public corruption following the anti-Frost coup. He is known to be exacting and demanding in his private and personal life, sleeping very little and spending most of his time at SISA's headquarters in New Odesa, where he is rumored to sleep. Slow to praise, twice-divorced, and quick to criticize anything he perceives as wrong, Savchuk is not a popular man, but is a very effective director: under his leadership SISA has arrested thousands of criminals and handled multiple major domestic incidents, ranging from a major hostage crisis on Visegrad to the capturing of Lycoris' Solarian Restoration Front-aligned governor. He is known to always wear a suit and maintains strict personal grooming standards he has attempted, with some success, to disseminate to the rest of the agency: suits, ties, and cleanly-shaven faces.

    SISA - Counter-Terrorism Response Group (SISA-CRTG)

    "To Save Lives and Uphold the Law" - CTRG motto.

    One of the most decorated and experienced tactical units fielded by SISA, the Counter-Terrorism Response Group (CRTG) specializes in hunting down the most dangerous criminals the Alliance and neutralizing them by any means necessary. It has secured an operational success rate and mission count unrivaled by any other non-military force in the Alliance through a combination of high-end equipment, exacting training standards, and intelligence superiority. It is often said CRTG's trainings are danger-free operations and its operations are dangerous trainings. Over the course of its half-century and counting existence it has proven instrumental in neutralizing major criminal threats across the Alliance, from Martian separatists to Visegradi nationalists to the stay-behind units of the Solarian Restoration Front to triad members in Ton Gwai Pei, New Hai Phong. Despite this record of success it has attracted controversy for its apparent lack of oversight, as the SISA director can make the call on when and where they go in without consulting local authorities -- a measure to guard against insider threats, per the agency -- and a track record of violence towards non-human residents of the Alliance, such as tajara (prior to 2462).

    One of its most notable recent operations was its campaign against the Tajaran Revolutionary Army (TRA). Following the New Hai Phong bombings of 2460, which made the TRA the agency's top priority, CTRG was the spearhead of the agency’s subsequent effort to wipe the TRA from the face of the Alliance. Given a blank check by the Frost administration to prosecute and neutralize, “any and all responsible parties,” the CTRG performed hundreds of raids on suspected TRA safe houses and collaborators, often with few arrestees, little evidence, and many bodies. Most of the records for these operations were -- conveniently -- lost in the chaos of the Solarian Civil War, leaving the exact number of casualties unknown, though rumors hold that many of the “terrorist targets” were in reality unaffiliated tajara communities struck as part of the Frost administration’s virulently xenophobic agenda. While very few CTRG operatives sided with the SRF during the Civil War, a widespread purge of its ranks carried out by the provisional government has led some to suspect it was more ATLAS-adjacent than the Department of Justice stated in its 2465 review of the team.

    The Solarian Interstellar Intelligence Bureau (SIIB)

    "To Grant Freedom Through Truth. - Official motto of the SIIB

    Originally created as the SISA and SIP-CPA’s counterpart in the Solarian frontier (now the modern Coalition of Colonies), the SIIB has since become the Alliance’s primary intelligence service for external concerns. As a result of this role the Bureau is shrouded in deliberate secrecy and few outside of it itself, and the higher echelons of the Solarian government, understand the extent to which it operates within other nations -- or within the Alliance itself. While it is known to operate in the Republic of Biesel you should not play an active or former SIIB agent as a non-antagonist on-ship character, as Bureau operatives often work directly against the interests of NanoTrasen and the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate.

    Due to its role the Bureau has never had significant oversight, which has led to it developing and adopting a variety of quasi-legal methods in order to achieve its ends. These are typically described as its “strong methods,” in official documents released to the public. The “strong methods” the Bureau employs have contributed to its controversial history, which dates back to before the Interstellar War and its original purpose as an organization designed to ensure stability in the Alliance’s colonies. Its shadowy nature has only enhanced the reputation of these strong methods and much of the information on them is still classified, which has led to rumors about what the exact methods used in its interrogation rooms are.

    Over the years of its mandate, it has subsumed much of the authority for overseeing Alliance informational security and data classification. The only branch of the Bureau to be granted explicit permission to perform operations within Solarian territory, SIIB-INFOSEC enforces the sanctity of the Alliance’s classified materials, and was responsible for the creation of the Alliance’s modern six-tier data classification system. Unique among the SIIB’s components for its law enforcement authority, INFOSEC is charged with identifying and prosecuting breaches in the Alliance’s data security, both against internal thieves and foreign hackers. They are responsible for maintaining all ROMEO VERMILLION classification material, which is the Alliance's highest level of classification. Reportedly, only a few individuals outside of the prime minister and the SIIB's director are aware of all romeo vermillion material.

    Despite the well-known reputation of its interrogation rooms, its primary day-to-day work is centered around gathering intelligence through passive interrogation and observation alongside active infiltrations, which it has become adept at since the Interstellar War. It is rumored to have nearly completely infiltrated the government of the Republic of Biesel on almost every level despite efforts by Biesel’s local authorities to stop and is alleged to have had a hand in many of the crises the young Republic has suffered, up to and including the infamous Clandestine Incident of 2462. The governments of the Coalition of Colonies and Republic of Elyra are said to be similarly infiltrated, as is the nearby Empire of Dominia, where rumored SIIB agents are reported to have met with officers of the Dominian Imperial Intelligence Directorate. While operations in the Human Wildlands by the SIIB have not been officially confirmed by the Bureau or by the Solarian government, rumors of meetings between officials of the SRF, SSMD, and SPG and unknown actors in Solarian-produced ships can be found across social media. While the SIIB's purpose in the Wildlands is not currently known, it is doubtlessly heavily involved despite its lack of official confirmation.

    The Bureau’s infiltration efforts do not stop at other human governments and it has influenced non-human governments across the Orion Spur to further Solarian interests, with its skrellian and tajara branches being the most prevalent of its non-human intelligence wings. The SIIB’s Nralakk Federation branch is the eldest and most built-up of its international establishments, having been created shortly after first contact with the Federation in 2332. Cooperating extensively with the Federation’s various Enforcer organizations, the SIIB’s centuries-long relationship with the nation has been extremely productive for both parties, with ongoing intelligence and technology sharing agreements keeping their relations warm. The tajara branch, however, is no longer present on Adhomai, though its influence can still be felt.

    The skrellian branch is widely-known throughout the Bureau for its creative approaches to hiding classified information from a psionically-capable species. Bureau facilities (and some facilities that are not affiliated with them at all) are generally aluminium-lined to prevent nlom field interactions within classified areas such as interrogation rooms, and the skrellian branch was responsible for the creation of the first practical mindshield shortly after first contact. While similar corporate mindshields exist, Bureau mindshields are highly-classified and exclusive to the agency itself. Rumor has it that they are capable of turning the psionic energies of a skrell onto the skrell themselves but they, like much of the Bureau, are shrouded in rumors and falsehoods.

    While smaller than its counterpart the tajara branch has a long history of clandestine activities on resource-rich Adhomai stretching back to the First Revolution, where it was initially active through the use of long-range observation equipment. The People’s Strategic Intelligence Service, the main intelligence organization of the People’s Republic of Adhomai, was trained by the Bureau until the start of the Second Revolution, with the Bureau’s instructors leaving shortly before the war began. While President Hadii’s assassin was a PSIS agent, and did assassinate him with a rare energy weapon, the Bureau has repeatedly denied that it had any role in the assassination or chaos that followed. With the breakdown of normal relations between Sol and Adhomai the Bureau’s presence on the planet has allegedly lessened yet some on Adhomai still believe it operates in Crevus under the cover of the city’s non-tajara population, still manipulating events on the planet from behind the shadows.

    The leader of the agency is Director Shufen Feng, who has led it since 2463. A veteran of the Department of State's Foreign Service Officer Corps, Feng has spent much of her life abroad and was recalled by Frost in 2461, at which point her activities become unknown until she was appointed Director by the emergency government. She was reportedly present on Unity Station during Frost's assassination but has never confirmed if she was present or what she was doing there at the time. Like most SIIB directors Feng is an extremely private woman with little known about her career or private life. What is known of her career -- postings across the Coalition and Elyra as a FSO -- is so unexceptional and dull that it has led to rumors she has always worked for the agency and her entire history is simply a fabrication and cover for one of the first SIIB case officers to become agency director.

    Solarian Interstellar Intelligence Bureau - Special Activities Branch

    “Your faces have been erased. Your names will be forgotten. Only your deeds will endure,” - SIIB Director Shufen Feng, concluding a speech to a newly inducted cadre of SAB operatives, date unknown.

    Charged with utilizing the information acquired by the Bureau for the good of the Alliance, the Special Activities Branch (SAB) is the long arm and closed fist of the Bureau, exerting influence and force abroad. Conducting direct action missions such as raids, sabotage, and targeted killings, it is the paramilitary force of the SIIB and one of the Alliance’s most effective irregular warfare units. The latter speciality also makes the SAB one of the go-to detachments for clandestinely rendering aid to pro-Sol governments and insurgent groups, such as the Alliance’s reported involvement in supporting the Mictlani Samaritans and Founding Movement. It may still be active on Mictlan, though the Alliance has denied these rumors. In any situation where the Alliance wishes to directly and deniably involve itself outside the public eye, the ever-reliable SAB is tasked with addressing the issue.

    Though the Bureau has been working in the Alliance for over two centuries, the vast majority of the SAB’s operational records remain heavily classified. Their most notable recent campaign (that is available to the public, at least) remains the Bureau’s participation in the Solarian Civil War. As the Alliance’s central government worked to rebuild itself, its agents were the first to re-establish contact with surviving Solarian statelets in the Human Wildlands, escorting Bureau personnel as they performed clandestine meetings with those Solarian patriots who still held out hope for a united Alliance. From 2462 until the defeat of the Front on Lycoris, the SIIB was working to shore up support and strength within the Sol-aligned states of the Middle Ring Shield Pact, with SAB units on the ground ensuring the steady flow of weapons, supplies, and expertise that would allow them to hold out against the onslaught of the Front and League. Persistent rumor even holds that operatives of the SAB can be seen in active combat at various points in the Xanusii News Service’s acclaimed reporting saga of the war, though the Bureau has declined to comment in this regard.

    Given the extremely sensitive nature of their missions, personnel of the Special Activities Branch often operate without uniforms. The only known standard uniform used by the SAB are sets of unmarked grey Solarian Army fatigues and accompanying body armor, which their agents have been observed wearing in the scant few operational recordings publicly released by the Bureau.

    Courts and Law

    “Military deep state confirms the military deep state does not exist after giving the Supreme Court to the military deep state," - Headline of the satirical newspaper Fish News following the Solarian junta’s packing of the Supreme Court, 2462.

    Under the Solarian Federal Constitution the Alliance operates two primary sets of judicial systems: local planetary law and Solarian federal law. Solarian federal law is solely created by the senate on Unity Station and is binding in all Solarian jurisdictions save the Eridani Corporate Federation. Local laws are instead dictated and enforced solely by the member state in question, and can apply to at most a solar system. In cases where Alliance federal law and member state laws conflict, Alliance law will always take precedence, as defined under the Solarian Constitution's supremacy clause.

    Trial by jury is an enforced right of the court system outside of Alliance military mandates, and is generally composed of 13 randomly selected local jurors, though Alliance member states may adjust the exact arrangement for local courts. All judges within the Alliance, regardless of whether they are local or federal, must pass a standardized Solarian bar exam in order to be accredited, which is published by the Department of Justice and updated biannually.

    The Alliance Supreme Court, located on Unity Station, is the highest legal authority in the nation, and the head of the Solarian Judicial Branch. The Court is composed of nine justices who serve for life, barring any extenuating circumstances which would merit their removal. Under the federal constitution justices are typically appointed by the prime minister and confirmed by the senate. The Court’s current roster is an exception, however, having been appointed unilaterally by the military junta which ruled throughout the Solarian Civil War. Consequently the current Supreme Court is staffed entirely by former military judges who are near-invariably aligned with the rightward factions of the SPP and SFP -- a boon for the current prime minister.

    Correctional System

    “Is anyone aware of what 'corrections' the Department is even making? Like, I certainly don’t know anyone corrected by twenty years in a closet-sized metal room!” - Senator Kaylissa Orten (SSUP-CAL), during a speech advocating for prison reform, 2452.

    While Alliance member states will typically maintain their own local jails and short-term confinement facilities, all prisons and psychiatric detention centers within the ASSN are managed by the Solarian Department of Corrections (SDOC). As a rule, Alliance prisons are more geared towards confinement and security than rehabilitation, with conditions that can be generally described as “functionality first.” While no Alliance prison will go without running water or electricity, they are austere structures designed to meet federal prison requirements as efficiently as possible in both cost and space. The sole exception to this is found in non-criminal psychiatric detention centers, designed to house mentally ill individuals who, despite having not committed criminal acts, cannot be adequately housed within the broader population. These centers are much more comfortable than typical correctional facilities, often being described as, "a country club you aren’t allowed to leave.”

    Though privately-owned prisons made up a significant minority of Alliance facilities prior to the Solarian Civil War, auxiliary bills to the Industrial Reclamation Mandate have seen all such corporate prisons be taken into the custody of the Department of Corrections.

    The Alliance also remains one of two major nations in the Orion Spur to practice capital punishment, despite being a signatory of the Luna Accords. Permitted only for a specific list of capital crimes, all executions performed by the Alliance must be authorized by a federal judge and are typically performed via lethal injection, with the firing squad having been prominent during the civil war and its period of unrest. While complaints over this practice have arisen from multiple foreign powers, most notably the Nralakk Federation and the Republic of Biesel, the Alliance has shown no intent of ceasing the use of capital punishment.

    Policing in the Eridani Federation

    Though officially a member state of the Alliance, the Eridani Corporate Federation’s status as a de facto independent nation inside of the Alliance extends to its law enforcement as well. Due to several provisions within the labyrinthine mess of contracts and agreements nominally binding Eridani to Sol, Solarian federal law enforcement agencies are forbidden from operating within Eridani jurisdictions, save when they are directly requested by Eridani security forces. Instead, every facet of law enforcement within the ECF is handled by its bevy of private security companies and mercenaries contracted to the state’s ruling megacorporations. As a consequence, Eridanian security forces are generally regarded as unrestrained, poorly disciplined, and untrustworthy by their Alliance peers. This reputation is not helped by the tendency for Eridani PMCs to lack the level of oversight their counterparts in the Alliance do, leading to an endemic culture of corruption and brutality among their rank-and-file officers. The special status of the ECF is a source of immense frustration for the Department of Justice and Attorney General Henri Fontenot, which consider Eridani a wretched hive of criminal activity actively worsening the Alliance around it.

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