Odessa was a Martian city established in the first decade of the 22nd century that became an important seaside city.

The flooding of Hellas

Odessa, named after the Ukrainian city on the shore of the Black Sea, was situated at the Hellespontus Montes, next to the Hellas Basin. By design, it was established where the shoreline of the future Hellas Sea was expected to be, at -1 kilometer elevation up what were then north slopes. The facade facing Hellas consisted of a tall wall that would protect the city from the sea. Many restaurants and cafés developed in the corniche above and that promenade became a very popular destination.

In 2114, Odessa was used as an entry point from which people of the Martian underground entered the surface world, after having plastic surgery to avertface recognition and using fake identities provided to them by the Sabishiians and the Swiss, who had successfully infiltrated the UNTA’s security system. Spencer Jackson and Maya Toitovna were the first to enter Odessa and Michel Duval joined them a month later. They moved in adjacent apartments. Maya and Michel’s time there were among their most memorable moments together, and they came to remember Odessa as their own town.

Maya was employed in Deep Waters, a Praxis-owned hydrological company, which was part of the consortium that was managing the flooding of Hellas. Maya and Michel operated from Odessa in the preparations for the Second Martian Revolution. They organized meetings hidden from the authorities with the Martian natives and the immigrants who were newcomers on Mars, through which they simultaneously tried to bring in more people to the underground revolutionary movement and try to gauge and calm their temper so as not to start up actions at a time when the movement was not fully ready for it. Nirgal and other Free Mars leaders were also frequent speakers at Odessa.

Other cities were created around the Hellas Basin as the Hellas lake grew. The Dao Vallis canyon was tented and the city of Hell’s Gate was built. In 2121 the cities were connected by the circumHellas train.

Seaside town

When the revolution began in 2127, these underground cells were all activated and people filled the streets in an organized manner. Zeyk Tuqan was coordinating activities in the Hellas Basin.

Odessa was represented at the Pavonis Mons Congress for the creation of the Martian constitution in 2128.

The flooding of Hellas was completed after the revolution and many beaches were created in proximity of the city, adding to the beauty and attractiveness of Odessa.

After many were taken from the quick decline (Spencer, Michel, Vlad Taneev) late in the 22nd century, Odessa became the gathering point for the remaining of the First Hundred who had kept in touch. Over time, were gathered in Odessa Maya, Nadia Cherneshevsky and Art Randolph, Sax Russell and Ann Clayborne, Ursula Kohl and Marina Tokareva.

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Clarke was the name of the space station at the end of the first Martian space elevator. It was made of the same asteroid that was used to manufacture the elevator’s cable. It was named after science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke. Clarke housed offices of the Space Elevator Authority.

First elevator

The elevator was destroyed during the First Martian Revolution in 2061 by Bogdanovists, by igniting charges at the meeting point of the cable and Clarke.

Clarke was swung away from Mars at great speed. Those who were on Clarke, among them Phyllis Boyle, got all the Earth-to-Mars freighters out, linked them together, loaded all the supplies on them and left Clarke. They propelled themselves towards the Jovian system. After 10 weeks, they used Jupiter’s gravity to swing them around towards Earth (becoming the fastest traveling humans in history in the process) and, with limited supplies, they safely reached Earth and survived.

New Clarke
In the late 21st century the second Martian space elevator was built and the space station was named New Clarke.

During the Second Martian Revolution in 2127, UNTA forces retreated there. From above, they resisted attempts by the Kakaze to destroy the cable.

The Third Martian Revolution began when Terrans took over New Clarke and the control of the elevator with armed forces. The situation was resolved peacefully.

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Acheron was a city and an important research center in the early years of the colonization of Mars.

Acheron was founded in the late 2030s-early 2040s by Vlad Taneev when he moved his team of biotechnology researchers from Underhill. It was situated at Acheron Fossae in Arcadia Planitia. Some of the most advanced research in life sciences on the planet took place there, under the supervision of Taneev, Ursula Kohl and Marina Tokareva. Areobotanists and genetic engineers worked there to produce microorganisms, algae, lichen and plants that were released to the open Martian environment. During this time, Taneev and Tokareva also began developing ideas of an economic system that would be inspired by biology, what would become eco-economics.

In Acheron one of the most important medical breakthroughs of the 21st century was achieved: Taneev and Kohl invented the gerontological longevity treatment that extended human lifetime from eighty years to centuries.

Taneev, Kohl and Tokareva joined the Martian underground and Acheron was completely abandoned after the 2061 revolution. In the early 22nd century, Acheron was renovated by Praxis in an effort to draw its previous leaders out of the underground and join forces with Praxis.

Acheron was represented at the Pavonis constitutional congress of 2128 following the independence revolution. Taneev, Kohl and Tokareva moved back in Acheron and worked to making it once again into one of the biggest complexes of research laboratories on Mars. Kohl and Tokareva moved out when Taneev died late in the 22nd century.

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The conference of the Martian underground was held in Dorsa Brevia in circa 2107 (local year M-40). The idea of a conference was initiated by Art Randolph and spread by Art and Nirgal over the underground. The conference was organized by the Swiss from Overhangs. During the conference, Nadia Cherneshevsky realized she had important negotiating skills, Sax Russell and Ann Clayborne once again debated over terraforming and Praxis founder William Fort and other Praxis leaders came to visit from Terra.

The conference produced the Dorsa Brevia Declaration with several points of common understanding by all parties:

1. Mars will be a world of different cultures and religions; none should dominate over the other.

2. All individuals should have some inalienable rights: material existence, health care, education, legal equality.

3. The Martian land, air, water are common goods and cannot be owned.

4. The fruits of an individual’s labor belong to this individual; Martian human labor is part of a communal enterprise; the Martian economic system should balance self-interest and the society’s interests.

5. Martian economics will be based on ecologic science and should serve the prosperity of the entire biosphere; thus the metanational order is not sustainable.

6. The environmental alterations should be minimalist and ecopoetic; their goal should be to make the portion lower than 5 km above datum humanly viable, anything above (amounting to 30% of Mars’s surface) will exist as natural wilderness zones.

7. The habitation of Mars is a first in human history and should serve as a precedent for human habitation of the solar system and for human relationship with the environment; a spirit of reverence should exist towards Mars and life in the universe.

The Dorsa Brevia Declaration was an important basis for the Pavonis Mons Congress where the Martian constitution was created.

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