machina_areios:locations:borman_tableland [Earth Sphere]

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====== Borman Tableland ======
Named for U.S. astronaut [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Borman|Frank Borman]] the Borman Tableland is a geographical region in the northern marginal zone of [[Mars]].

===== History =====
Settled in earnest starting in AMT 262 after the magnetic restart of Mars, the wide plains were determined by Union surveyors to be too rocky to include in the 'golden' agricultural zones of many more equatorial areas.
The area was classified as 'green', suitable for second-tier agriculture, and was noted to have several large sulfur and phosphorous deposits valued for fertilizer production.
Several major Union colonies were chartered for mining and to prepare chemical soil treatment and topsoil enrichment of the region, as well as nearby golden zones.

Owing to its non-essential status the area was also opened to homestead colonization in AMT 278.
The area saw a population boom from Earth Sphere immigration, mainly from L3 colonies swayed by a Union soft power campaign to improve relations with particularist communities.
Thus several colonies had cultural or religious charters, the majority from northern European descent.
Rhineland Roman Catholics, Dutch Reformed, Finnish and Prussian Lutherans, Essex Sunni, and others established significant populations.
Union administration was established in the Borman Colonial Commission (BCC) and tensions between homestead and charter colonies was frequent.

In AMT 322 Earthborn Commissioner Strickland instituted a harsh Unionist integration program to reduce particularism, a program that quickly led to revolt among homestead colonies.
After a series of border skirmishes and labor strikes Strickland was ousted in a corporate coup and replaced by a local moderate Unionist Jan Mayar.
Commissioner Mayar negotiated an end to the revolt with a compromise proposal that saw local administration recognized by the BCC in exchange for regional guarantees on economic trade, religious toleration, and a limited immigration scheme.

Like much of Mars the tableland saw its golden age in the 370's, with rich barley and potato harvests exported off-world and healthy domestic fertilizer and machine industries.
Union administration was reorganized into the Borman Corporate District and began construction of a new, open-air, managed city to serve as a permanent capitol.
The city was to be built near the existing capitol dome of AyDee-Borman, to be named New AyDee City.

During the [[..:events:Great Disaster]] the tableland was struck by a large section of the orbital ring and a smaller resource asteroid composed primarily of iron.
The asteroid exploded at high altitude and it's fragments caused moderate damage across a wide swath now known as Meteor Fields.
Ring pieces caused more extensive damage.
The worst being a direct hit on the city of Renswick, the most populous homestead colony, causing a dome collapse.
Climate collapse put much of the tableland into a marginal growth zone, with pockets of green by thermal vents or irrigation hubs.
Union officials in Borman, in contrast to other regions, were quick to react to the disaster and the government spent all available resources on rescue efforts in Renswick and elsewhere.
Off-world humanitarian efforts were not common, however, except for donations from sister L3 colonies.

The relative competence of the Union response led the region to become a be a notable source of opposition to the [[.:events:Martian Revolution]], though its influence within the Unionist counterrevolution was secondary to equatorial regions.
Earth Union administration was ended in AMT 383 when a revolutionary horde overwhelmed regional defenses.
AyDee-Borman was brutally sacked and New AyDee City was left abandoned, but most homestead colonies were left relatively unmolested if they agreed to provide a levy tax to the Directory.

Though damaged AyDee-Borman would continue to dominate the region as the sole space port and would assert nominal independence after the failure of the Martian invasion of Earth.
Besides occasional conscription officers the tableland deals little with the Martian Directory and has no direct ties left to Earth.
Banditry and anarchy are common away from the dome cities, but the region presents a land where life can continue without intrusions from larger powers.