"Nectar is old. Old beyond anything we can imagine on Earth. She was at the height of her power, dressed in raiments of gold and basking in the incense of her worshipers before the ancient Egyptians held sway over the children of Israel, before even the fabled city of Atlantis sank hissing and burning into the sea. She has seen wars innumerable sweep across the deserts of Tharsis and Xanth, bringing with them the destruction of sword and fire and nomad warriors eager for the blood and treasure hidden in the heart of the city. And always she remained unconquered and defiant - and evil. Gorgeously, enticingly, seductively evil."
- Maxwell Danforth, ibid.
Nectar has been inhabited for about fifteen thousand years, ever since the canal system was built to irrigate the dry seabeds. Little is know about the early days of the city, but some of the handiwork of that era can be seen in the six great spires which rise from the Old City and glitter strangely in the sunlight.
Though Martian civilization began its inexorable decline ten thousand years ago, Nectar does not seem to have suffered much. None of the canals have dries up, as happened elsewhere on Mars. Nor has the city been devastated by war. Evidently Nectar was already established as a leading center of trade as far back as 7000 BC for the earliest known writings in the city are commercial contracts. (A recent translation of these writings indicates that one of the contracts was probably fraudulent!)
The great Martian conqueror Seldon, who united most of the planet under his rule in 3000 BC, made Nectar one of his provincial capitals. When his empire gradually disintegrated, Nectar was for a while the center of a successor state covering the Coprates Valley and most of the Mare Erythraeum at about the time of Alexander the Great. The rise of Tossia is AD 50 ended that empire and quickly replaced it with the Tossian Empire. Nectar remained a Tossian vassal until 1389, when a successful revolt led by Prince Dalshaak of the House of Tho gained the city its independence. The revolt was timed to coincide with a general uprising in the Coprates. When Nectar rebelled, a Tossian force of eight legions was cut off in the valley and destroyed. The rulers of the Empire have never forgiven this betrayal.
The present ruling dynasty gained the throne only a century ago, in 1773, when Lord Yaroon of the House of Voorlan deposed the insane Prince Jakmaar and proclaimed himself Prince with the collaboration of the city's Council of Traders. Sitanni, the current Prince, succeeded his incompetent uncle, Prince Faath, in 1878 after Faath and his two sons were assassinated. Sitanni spent the first few years of his rule consolidating his power and eliminating rivals, but now has begun a program of reforms aimed at preserving the city's wealth and independence in the face of increasing Terran influence on Mars.
©1995, 1998 The Familiar, LTD. Illustrations are ©1995, 1998 David Flora. All Rights Reserved.