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Ares is a land of searing heat and deep, dramatic gorges. Canyons and plateaus stretch impressively off into the distance, rapids and waterfalls roaring at their depths as tall, craggy mountains rise above them. Vast plains of scrubland and semiarid savannah stretch on between the gorges, and these give way to scorching deserts of succulent plants and ominous carrion birds.
The temple of Ares is built of orange-red sandstone; it has tall, impressive minarets, and the interior is punctuated with numerous bright red pillars. Martian tastes tend toward the spartan and ascetic; furniture is usually made of black laquered wood and favors simplistic, angular forms. The gardens are similarly simple and unassuming, filled almost exclusively with the holy flower of Mars--the gladiolus.
The abstract of Mars is war, and war and combat is something Martians take dead seriously. Hours a day are spent training in tactics, combat, martial arts, calvary fighting--anything that will give them an edge on the battlefield. The library on Ares is filled with books on war tactics and epic poems of battles won and lost.
The Guardian Beast of Ares is the phoenix, a vulture-like bird with a brilliant crest of red-hot flame. The flames burn only those whom the phoenix deems unworthy.
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