Mars

"Time on Mars tends to give a man... perspective."

- Edward Buck, referring to Taylor H. Miles.

Mars (known as Edom in the Forerunner era ) is the fourth planet of the Sol System, and one of four terrestrial worlds.

Forerunner era
Circa 100,000 BCE, ten thousand years after the human-Forerunner wars, Forerunner Miners worked on Mars. Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting was sent to work into a step family of Miners as punishment for his rebellious ways.

Interplanetary War
Mars was among the first worlds colonized by humanity settled in 2080. It has since been terraformed into a planet with near-Earth conditions, becoming home to many. Regardless, Mars was the site of a decisive battle during the events surrounding the formation of the United Nations Space Command. The newly-organized UNSC Marines routed the neo-Communist Koslovics on the planet during a series of brutal conflicts in the 2100's before moving on to destroy the Koslovic and Frieden movements throughout the solar system.

Human-Covenant War


On January 18, 2524, a telescope located on or orbiting Mars spotted an anomalous, evidently artificial object within the stellar cluster NGC 2244; while unknown to humans at the time, this was actually the Covenant planetoid station High Charity.

On April 2, 2526, UNSC forces working with ONI agents prevent an attack on New Harmony. Two Insurrectionists, Christina Rice and James McCann, were disguised as Army specialists and were stealing weapons for a possible attack.

Once again, Mars was the site of a large scale engagement called the Battle of Mare Erythraeum, set on the fields of Mare Erythraeum. There, Colonel James Ackerson and his UNSC Defense Forces combated against Covenant ground forces, commanded by Jiralhanae Chieftain Lepidus. The UNSC lost the battle and Ackerson was taken prisoner.

Known countries

 * Katagalugan

Known cities

 * Gdynia
 * Losantiville
 * New Harmony
 * New Legaspi
 * New Manila
 * New Paris
 * Paris Island

Installations

 * Chiron Testing Station
 * Chiron TL-34
 * Misriah Armory
 * Reyes-McLees Shipyards

Regions

 * Argyre Planitia
 * Mare Erythraeum
 * Seven Hills
 * Acheron Fossae

Trivia

 * Terraforming has transformed the surface of Mars from a former barren and uninhabitable environment into an Earth-like world, despite its still having a red-orange color when seen from space in Halo: Uprising. The Halo Encyclopedia contradicts this, saying that Mars is now "as blue and green as Earth."
 * In Halo: Arms Race, the sun is erroneously depicted as several times larger than it appears from Earth. The sun would actually appear far smaller when viewed from Mars.
 * In an interview with Dr. Robert McLees, a Marine suggested that Olympus Mons on Mars has been made suitable for snowboarding.
 * Edom is the Hebrew word for Red, and the name of an ancient Semitic Kingdom.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: Landfall
 * Halo: Arms Race
 * Halo: Uprising
 * Halo: Cryptum
 * Halo: Glasslands