The United Nations Office for Martian Affairs (UNOMA) was the international political body that dealt with all matters pertaining to human activities on Mars in the majority of the 21st century. UNOMA was answerable to the UNO General Assembly but progressively became a more independent entity as the influence of transnationals in political affairs increased.

UNOMA was created circa 2026 with the Ares mission of the First Hundred and worked in close association with NASA Mission Control and Baikonur, to whom the majority of the First Hundred answered to. In no small part thanks to the public efforts of Ann Clayborne, the initial stance of UNOMA was that human activities should have a minimum impact on the Martian environment, which was greatly challenged by Sax Russell. Things came to a head with the affair of the windmills, designed by Russell to be spread all over the planet and generate heat. After much debate, the UNOMA committee on environmental alterations approved of their dissemination in 2030. It was not long before the subcommittee on terraforming and the General Assembly approved a package of terraforming efforts, among them the distribution on the Martian surface of genetically engineered microorganisms.

In the decades that followed, UNOMA supported terraforming fully. UNOMA approved the launching of other colonies to Mars and acted as the emigration authority for all interplanetary travel. UNOMA assigned Russell as the scientific head of terraforming efforts and financed the creation of the terraforming headquarters at Echus Overlook. In the early 2040s the UNOMA headquarters were moved from Underhill to Burroughs, which triggered Burroughs’ construction boom. German Helmut Bronski was the UNOMA top official at that time.

At that time, with Martian population increasing and the economic prospect of Mars-Terra trade was becoming closer to reality, it became evident that UNOMA’s authority was being undermined by a consortium of transnationals. Security had been the purview of UNOMA, however more and more private security troops were called for and dispatched. UNOMA approved the space elevator project supported by Phyllis Boyle and awarded contracts to transnationals for its construction. Progressively UNOMA was participating in breaking the UN Mars Treaty along with the transnationals, and UNOMA positions on Mars were being filled by officials that had previously worked in transnationals. John Boone attempted to shed light on these happenings and was victim of harassment and a tentative to be framed for murder.

UNOMA and transnational interest were victims of sabotages orchestrated by Martian resistance groups that were organizing themselves and UNOMA had them investigated. The treaty renewal in 2057 under UNOMA supervision rearranged the terms in favor of private exploitation of Martian resources. Frank Chalmers attempted to temper the unrest that was rising and used UNOMA police to make arrests. However in 2061 a revolution violently broke out. UNOMA police and transnational security troops worked in tandem in crushing the revolutionary forces.

In the aftermath of the revolution, UNOMA gave way to a different organization, the UN Transitional Authority.

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Frank Chalmers was an important member of the First Hundred.

Early life

Frank was born in 1979 in the United States of America (in Savannah, Georgia). His parents divorced when he was seven; he lived with his father, an alcoholic, in Jacksonville, Florida, where he grew up. He graduated from Harvard. In his young years, he was hardworking, optimistic and idealistic. He joined the National Service Corps and ran a project for the integration of Caribbean immigrants in Florida. He married Priscilla Jones. In 2004 the NSC was terminated because its excessive success threatened local interest and Frank was embittered. He joined NASA’s astronaut program in Huntsville, Alabama, in 2005 and broke up with Priscilla. In 2007 he became an astronaut; he and John Boone were teamed in the American space station. During those years his character changed completely; his dreams of social justice disappeared, he became a pessimist withholding a deeply rooted anger, obsessed with keeping the situation from becoming worse than what it already was — damage control. He became head of NASA in 2015. With John he promoted the “Mars Apollo” project to the government. He left the position of first man on Mars to John so that he could be the leader of the first permanent martian colony; eventually John joined the First Hundred nevertheless.

The Underhill years

He was the leader of the American contingent of the First Hundred. On the voyage out on the Ares he had a short relationship with Maya Toitovna before she got involved with John.

Political career and assassination of John Boone

After Underhill, he became the US Secretary for Mars. Maya was one of the reasons he and John grew estranged: he and John were also not on the same line politically, as Frank perceived John to be unrealistic and manipulative. He was one of the rare Americans to accept and be accepted by the Arab immigrants. He ordered the assassination of John in Nicosia. After John’s death, he and Maya became lovers again, however they argued often. Frank negotiated the renewal of the UN Mars Treaty in 2057. He joined Zeyk Tuqan’s mining caravan for a period of resting from political activity. He returned to active duty and moved the Department of Mars headquarters to Sheffield, where the space elevator was about to be completed. Despite his efforts at damage control during a period of riots across Mars, he was unable to prevent the 2061 revolution.

The First Revolution and death

He was at Nicosia when the Coyote effectively started the revolution. With Maya, he attempted to make Cairo a meeting point for the First Hundred, from where they could negotiate with UNOMA. When the situation in Cairo turned sour, Frank followed his friends and joined the Areophany team that was sent to retrieve all the First Hundred to Zygote. He was killed on the journey by the flooding caused by the Compton aquifer break.

Legacy

With John Boone and Arkady Bogdanov, he is considered to be one of the three most influential politicians of the First Hundred who all died prior to or during the First Martian Revolution.

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Vladimir Taneev (“Vlad“) was an important member of the First Hundred.

Born circa 1968 in Russia, he was the oldest of the First Hundred. Before becoming part of the Russian contingent of the Ares mission he was already a Nobel prize winner for medicine.

The Underhill years

From the very first years in Underhill, he became the lover of both fellow Russians Ursula Kohl and Marina Tokareva. They formed a love triangle or ménage à trois that endured for the rest of their lives. The duo of Ursula and Vlad was also behind an impressive number of medical breakthroughs that occurred in the 21st century.

Vlad was a brilliant biologist and bioengineer as well. His biotech team created the first microorganisms that were designed for survival in the raw Martian environment. Breaking the UN rules on terraforming at the time and with the aid of Sax Russell, he released these organisms to the open air, along with windmills that would provide them heat.

The Acheron complex

In the 2030s, he moved his biotech complex from Underhill to the all-new Acheron, where he was the chief researcher. During this time, he and Marina began developing ideas of an economic system that would be inspired by biology: eco-economics. With Ursula, Vlad was the co-inventor of the gerontological treatment that dramatically extended human lifespan in the 2040s.

Developing eco-economics

After the failure of the 2061 revolution he moved to Zygote. With the Martian underground, he and Marina had the opportunity to fully mature their theories on eco-economics and put them to the practical test. Thanks to the help of the Coyote, the resulting gift economy became the chief economic system of the underground. Vlad and Marina used the lessons learnt from the gift economy to incorporate aspects of eco-economics in the Martian constitution and the legislature of the Martian government following the independence revolution. During the talks of the Pavonis constitutional congress, Vlad had to vehemently defend his ideas before younger generations of Martians that disregarded him as an outdated issei.

He went on to live in Acheron and was a key player in turning it once again into one of the biggest complexes of research laboratories on Mars.

He died from the quick decline somewhere between 2181 and 2206, leaving behind grieving Marina and Ursula.

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Ursula Kohl was an important member of the First Hundred.

A Russian national, she was a renowned biologist before becoming part of the Russian contingent of the Ares mission.

Soon enough, she became the lover of fellow Russian Vlad Taneev. Eventually, along with Marina Tokareva they formed a love triangle or ménage à trois that endured for the rest of their lives.

In the 2030s, she was a chief researcher at Acheron. The duo of Ursula and Vlad was behind an impressive number of medical breakthroughs that occurred in the 21st century. With Vlad, Ursula was the co-inventor of the gerontological treatment that dramatically extended human lifespan in the 2040s.

After the failure of the 2061 revolution she moved to Zygote, where she lived until Mars acquired independence.

She went on to live in Acheron and was a key player in turning it once again into one of the biggest complexes of research laboratories on Mars.

Late in the 22nd century, after Vlad’s death, she moved to Odessa with Marina. She continued to dwell in Acheron from time to time.

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