Martian Character

Modern Martian life expectancy exceeds 120 Earth-years; the oldest generation of Martians remembers the days when the best Martian entertainment was alcohol and an entertainment feed from Earth, which frequently issued directives to a people more technologically advanced than they.
The revolution for independence is still within living memory as well, and it is this sense of entitlement and defiance that forms the bedrock and strata of Martian society. That generation of settlers built better ships, developed environmental science that outstripped Earth’s by decades, and reached a significant degree of self-sufficiency— and that was before a born-and-bred Martian opened up the solar system to humanity with the Epstein Drive. This generation, still ensconced within high-ranking government and military positions, is now challenged by a generation that refuses to see the forest for the trees— partly because they’ve never seen a forest, or trees for that matter, first-hand.
By contrast, the younger generation is far more concerned with Martian lives and Martian supremacy, but in that order. They see their parents, and grandparents’ focus on terraforming as myopic and ignorant of the political and military realities of being one of the solar system’s superpowers. Mars has just over a tenth of the population of Earth and a mere fraction of the industrial base, but every Martian is consumed by the driving need to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” and make Mars dominant, not just a rival to the cradle of humanity. This manifests as a strong and single-minded work ethic, and also in a disproportionately strong military and well-funded scientific research concerns, which in turn means the military gets first cut of new technology such as stealth ships. Until a generation ago, routine air raid drills for schools were common, and three generations ago the inevitable victory of Earth in a war hung like a dust storm over every would-be revolutionary’s fiery rhetoric. Things have changed, but all the same, the youngest native Martians resent their lot in life. For the first time, Mars is a victim of its own success, and unrest festers at the thought of constant readiness for battle and the slow progress of terraforming.