Ares IV

Ares IV, known by its colonists as Tolatuih, was once an Inner Colony world under the jurisdiction of the Colonial Administration branch of the United Earth Government. Once prosperous and, indeed, important in the UNSC's efforts to suppress URF activity near the Outer Colonies, then later responding to Covenant privateers, contact with the colony was lost in 2537. It was assumed that the planet had fallen prey to a Covenant assault and had been glassed.

Physical Characteristics
Ares IV is a Mars-sized planet, with a polar radius of 3370 kilometers and an equatorial radius of 3390 kilometers, making the planet slightly elongated along its horizontal spin axis. The planet's surface is also coloured a dusty reddish, due to the high concentrations of oxidised ferrous material. There, however, the similarity ends.

Ares IV possesses Earth-like gravity, 1.1g, making it oddly suitable for human inhabitation. The presence of a powerful, if unpredictable, electromagnetic field, allows the planet to retain an ozone layer and atmosphere, and also prevents the majority of the systems UV radiation emissions from penetrating the atmosphere, allowing almost too-perfect sunlight, making the planet perfect for an agricultural industry.

Ares IV is also odd in that, despite the absence of tectonic/continental plates and geological activity, it possesses extensive mountain ranges along the southern hemisphere and equator. The presence of massive circular inland lakes and oceans, since discovered to be meteor impact craters, may provide a clue - approximately 100,000 years ago, the planet seems to have been bombarded by over thirty two orbital objects, likely meteors or asteroids. the force of these impacts seems to have cracked the crust, allowing magma from the mantle to be "squeezed" out, probability of volcanic activity is low, but not unexpected.

The majority of Ares IV's surface is composed of basalt, and is rich in silicates and iron (III) oxide, similar to the martian surface. high densties of magnetised iron at the poles and in isolated pockets along the equator create an electromagnetic field that can play havoc with communications, sensor or mechanical equipment, and a four-yearly cycle seems to be in place when the EM field is at its strongest. It was during one of these that contact was lost, initially presumed to be routine. These blackouts can last as short as seven days, or as long as seven weeks, but are not harmful to humans.

Orbit and Rotation
Ares IV does not orbit either of the system's stars, or even the gas giants that do. Ares IV instead maintains what seems to be a stationary orbit in space, possibly trapped in a "gap" in either star's gravitational field at about 1 Astronomical Unit (AU), or 150 kilometers (93 miles), the equivalent distance between the Earth and Sol.

Ares IV does, however, rotate. The exact reason why it rotates, maintaining a 25 hour day/night cycle, yet does not orbit is unknown, though the unusual electromagnetic and gravitational fluctuations detected from the planet's core may have something to do with it. This oddity was what initially drew a UNSC survey team to assess the planet's colonisation prospects in 2297, one of the first slipspace-capable craft.

Ecology
Though Ares IV, upon colonisation, was deemed uninhabited, that view has quickly dissipated among the scientific community. No vertebrate of invertebrate lifeforms are extant, or even multicellular organisms. Instead, the planets fragile biosphere is made of billions of species of microscopic organisms.

These organisms appear even more primitive than bacteria, and may be a transition stage between bacteria and viruses. The implications of this on the origins of life is tremendos. But it is the applications to which these can be put that galvanised the scientific community. A particular species, C. errera, is capable of using methane gas in respiration, converting it into oxygen. The method it uses to accomplish this is unknown. Another, K. paulus, is commonly used by medical centers as a secondary immune system with a few genetic modifications, attacking bacteria and viruses that elude even modern medicines. The AIDS virus was eradicated by vaccinations of K. paulus, and the same may be applied to other, more problematic pathogen-caused diseases.

The oceans of Ares IV are teeming with microscopic lifeforms, ranging from plankton-like photosynthesising creatures that use Ares IV's odd light, to predatory creatures that seem to use wolf-like pack behaviours to tackle their moncellular prey. Further down, near the planet's underwater thermal hotspots, are entire biospheres isolated only by a few meters that have evolved independantly for hundreds of millenia. The most fascinating aspect is not that it is so immense - but that it is there at all. The majority of the impact craters are found on the oceanbeds, and are calculated to have released the energy equivalent of twenty hiroshima-class nuclear warheads. That they ahve recovered is nothing less of astonishing.

Sadly, the same cannon be said of other species among Ares IV's prehistoric ecosystem. Fossil beds along the equator indicate a thriving biosphere, with reptillian, mammalian, insectile and avian species all similar, though unrelated, to terran lifeforms, to an astonishing degree. The lineages for these seem to stretch pack for 65 million years, before which no fossils have been discovered, perhaps indicating prehistoric transplantation of desirable Earth species. Whoever was extant then, with the resources to do this on such a large scale, has not been discovered. It is unlikely, however, to have been the alien species known as the Forerunners, predating even them by millions of years.

Colonisation
During the early 23rd Century, overpopulation and the threat of global famine threatened the stability of the newly founded UEG. In the short term, projects were launched to try to alleviate this problem, ranging from genetic modification to agriculture pods orbiting the planet. The only option that was ever seriously considered, however, was the colonisation of nearby star systems with potentially habitable planets.

Though not the first UNSC colony, Ares IV was one of the most important. Located in the Gamma Arietis System, only 11 lightyears from Earth, initial colonisation attempts were funded by the Unified South American Republic (USAR), forming a strong link to their South American heritage. The first landing site, dubbed Tlatelolco, became the first permanent settlement on the planet, and for a time remained the planet's only major port.

Expansion
In the next fifty years, colonisation of the planet proceeded at an aggressive pace, fueled by an extensive protion campaign by terran funding organisations eager to put forward their interests. for the large part, most colonists originated from South and Central America, as well as the United Spanish and Portuguese Peninsula, with the colony's dominant language a mixture of spanish, mexican spanish and portuguese, with elements of Nahuatl added to the concoction, creating a unique dialect. Many places on Ares IV are named after Incan, Mayan or Aztec figures or places, and the dominant architecture style is based upon the imagery of ancient Aztec temples, though excluding the images of debauchery and human sacrifice, mixed with popular spanish tastes.

The second city would also eventually become the colony's capitol, formed on an island in the middle of one of Ares IV's many crater lakes. Named for the ancient Aztec capitol city, Tenochtitlan became a thriving harbour for river barges ferrying materials from the southern latitudes upwards, and eventually one of the planet's three space elevators was built in the city to facilitate the loading of these materials aboard orbital freighters. For more than forty years, Tenochtitlan was the largest and most prosperous city on the colony, with various districts breaking off into the smaller cities of Tlacopan and Cakchuah.

Discovery
The rich fossil records of the planet were only discovered in 2390, and the planet immediately became of immediate concern to the scientific community. The possibility of extraterrestrial life "seeding" other systems with Earth life was tantalising evidence of our own "superiority." The interest sparked curiosity of the planets odd ecosystem, leading to the discoveries of dozens, then hundreds, then billions of unique species. A permanent scientific presence was set up, based in the city of Tenochtitlan Science Centre. The University of Tolatuih became a prominent centre of biological research and study.

The discovery of alien ruins in 2491 changed that.

The first ruins were discovered on the edge of the farming community of Tepeu. Uncovered by a Series 5 Jotun agricultural drone, the land was assessed by UNSC scientific advisors and deemed an area of military interest. The protection of the site from potential URF vandalism was the initial concern, but with the discovery of several working artefacts, specifically relics capable of creating artificial gravitational and magnetic fields efficiently, though mysterious, were promptly confiscated by the Office of Naval Intelligence for research. A military protection was set up to protect the site in the southern hemisphere, but no new technological discoveries were made. Eventually, the UNSC Firebase "Mextli" evolved into a staging ground for Naval and Marine response to URF threats in the nearby Outer Colonies.

In 2519, another excavation site was discovered, this time in the northern hemisphere. Another military outpost was set up to provide protection for the area, and to prevent curious colonists and rebels from making their own investigations. ONI Section III researchers supplemented civilian scientist personnel, and uncovery of a large structure was begun in 2534. By 2537, approximately 7% of the structure was uncovered. Its status after that is unknown.

Lost Contact
The planets unusual electromagnetic field meant that periodically, every four years, electrical storms would play havoc with equipment, creating a communications blackout. These were tolerated because of the enormous potential the colony possessed to be a new Earth, but interfered with many colonial functions, such as the extraplanetary wide web and civilian and military communications.

In 2537, one of these storms began a year early, an unusual event. More unusual was its assumed duration. Weeks passed without contact being restored. Eventually, it was decided to send a reconnaissance Prowler to investigate. The UNSC Hunters Arrow returned with telemetry indicating several nuclear explosions had destroyed the major population centres, and that no human or alien lifesigns had been detected. CENTCOM marked the colonist's fate down to a Covenant invasion, before the aliens had moved on. The fact that the planet hadn't been glassed was a secondary concern, and enemy movements in the Inner Colonies shunted attention to saving the colones that were left.

Current Status
Ares IV is famous in society as the only defeated colony world not glassed by the Covenant. As such, conspiracy theories circulate that it was a UNSC coverup for a secret military program. Others hold that it was defeated by aliens, just not by the Covenant. More put it down to a remnant of the URF, zealously striking any way they can, destroying the colony out of sheer spite. Currently, the Gamma Arietis System has a reputation similar to the Bermuda Triangle of Earth: civilian freighters and personal yachts will occasionally pass through the system, either for a shortcut on their scheduled route, or to make their own investigations. No civilian has ever landed on the planet - or, at least, no living civilian has ever done so. Military personnel are forbidden to enter the system, as it is designated a Class 7 Restricted Area.

The UNSC Aeneas, carrying Marine and ODST battalions and a Naval Air Wing, was caught in the slipspace wake of a fleeing Covenant Assault Carrier during the First Battle of Earth. Office of Naval Intelligence analysts estimate that their trajectory will take them at least through the system, though no inhabited UNSC or Covenant worlds lie in that trajectory. A joint Sangheili-UNSC Taskforce has been dispatched to ascertain the situation of the personnel.