The Turmoil

Seven decades after the arrival of the first Earth colonists, the Mars settlement finally started to flourish and develop. This prosperity came to an abrupt end by a catastrophe on the scale of the solar system. Tilting on its axis, the Red Planet left its normal orbit and moved slightly closer to the sun. The thin Martian atmosphere was now unable to filter the dangerous radiation emitted by the star, plunging the colonists into a hitherto unknown and total chaos as the sun’s deadly rays caused death and destruction on the planet. Many inhabitants were forced to flee the ruined cities and devastated agricultural zones and were exposed to harmful radiation from the sun... all communication with Earth was lost, and the Red Planet was now isolated.

Practically the entire population was suddenly wiped out, and many of the survivors who suffered even brief exposure to solar radiation started to mutate. The colonists who managed to reach their shelters in time continued to live as best they could in cities that were more or less intact and shielded from the now deadly rays of the sun. The loss of contact with Earth had also cut off any deliveries of raw materials including wood and oil products that were everyday items. Fabricated metals and composite materials like steel, plastic or powder were now almost exclusively derived from recycled products, and the lives of the colonists quickly reverted to a level comparable to that of the Middle Ages on Earth. If there were indeed any technological relics that were still operational they were extremely rare, and became the almost exclusive property of those who now occupied the role of priests and guardians of the knowledge: The Technomancers.