[isf]

I'm starting a campaign inspired by ERB's Barsoom, SM Stirling's "In the Court of the Crimson Kings" and GDW's Space:1889. The primary divergences from the real world are:
1) the ether theory of physics is true; allowing early spaceflight
2) Mars (cold and dry) and Venus (hot and wet) are both inhabitable
3) Psychic power exist (rare on earth, common on Mars)

The British Empire and Germany are the two nations with the highest presence off world. The first interplanetary trip was to the moon in 1880. Mars was first visited in 1885 by the British.

The two forms of ether propulsion are Ether Sails and Ether Screws. Ether Spaceships are primarily powered by Solar Boilers.

The players are all part of an American expedition funded by a group on investors (including Thomas Edison) to explore an ancient abandoned city on Mars looking for both scientific knowledge and valuable artifacts. There are approximately 30 people on the expedition; divided into three groups, warriors, scientists and support staff.

The Martians are an ancient civilization; fundamentally the same political/social system for the past 30,000 years. They had progressed to a TL 4+6 society based on Biotech and Psitech but most of their natural resources were exhausted long before the modern era. Martians appear to be a human, but do not produce fertile offspring. They are adapted to the colder and drier martian environment and are long lived and resistant to disease. Many Martians are psychic (usually telepathy and ESP) but few are as powerful as they once were. Their relic tech is mostly biotech (which is more sustainable) and little psitech is produced these days.