Organiser: Gothenburg Megagames
Designer: Alex Beck

It is the early 22nd Century; Mars has been colonised for over fifty years and is now home to nearly two million people. The first attempts at terraforming the planet are underway, yet the world stands on the brink of civil war and all that has been achieved could soon be lost.

After years of growing resentment and violence, groups of radicals and revolutionaries are gathering in the planet's capital city, Elysium. Each group is pushing their own vision for the future of Mars. These range from a pristine independent Mars free from terraforming, to an anarcho-communist paradise. Each group is vying to win over the population and silence their rivals with political rhetoric and, if necessary, violence.

Meanwhile the most powerful Governments on Earth wish to retain their control over the colony and have deployed military forces to the city to ensure that in the chaos none of their influence is lost, either to the radicals or to other governments. For the moment, these forces are constrained by their rules of engagement and tightly defined objectives yet, as the violence increases, their home governments are likely to allow them greater and greater latitude to act.

In the midst of all this chaos, the Martian Colonial Authority (the MCA) tries to maintain peace and find some kind of long-term settlement. They are hampered by an increasingly corrupt and brutal police force, a lack of real authority and the malign influence of so-called "loyalist" radical groups.

Tension has been increasing for months, and just days ago there was a huge bombing at the Elysium Spaceport. Hundreds of MCA and Earth Government employees were killed, and dozens of ships were destroyed. No one knows who was responsible and none of the major groups have claimed responsibility. The Governments blame them all equally and radical groups are more than ready to take advantage of the current instability. Elysium, and the whole of Mars, is now just one step away from civil war.