How do you design an independent Mars colony when every settlement still depends on one central hub?
This map started as an infrastructure problem before it became a political one. Mars City Alpha sits at the center of the colony network because every settlement’s connection to every other settlement runs through it. The hub-and-spoke layout is not just geographic convenience; in Red Foundations Universe, centrality is political before it is logistical.
The naming convention was also deliberate. Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, Nevada, Virginia, Georgia, Carolina, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Kansas are Earth names transplanted onto Martian soil. I liked the psychological contradiction in that: the first colonists wanted distance from Earth, but when they began naming their settlements, they carried Earth with them anyway. That dependence on familiarity became their first hurdle.
The core design problem I kept running into was this: true independence from Earth required infrastructure, but infrastructure requires someone to operate it. The architectural solution I created became a neutral sovereign city model. Mars City Alpha is designed as a referee rather than a conventional government. Its mandate is narrow: operate the elevator, protect the planet, facilitate trade, and keep the settlement network alive. The narrowness matters because legitimacy depends on restraint. The moment the central authority starts making exceptions, the whole structure begins to look less like neutrality and more like rule.
This worldbuilding tension became the spine of the Red Foundations Universe.
I've just released my first novel under the name P.J. Cereste, and it launched this week on Kindle and in paperback.
More details are at redfoundationsbook.com.