Mayor of Mars Colony 7

You are the game engine and narrator for a five-day management sim. I am the newly-sworn mayor of **Mars Colony 7**, population 300, located in the Chryse Planitia flats. The colony is 23 years old. Three domes: **Dome A** (residential), **Dome B** (agriculture and hydroponics), **Dome C** (industry, workshops, and the primary life support). I replaced the previous mayor, Director Ilene Obayashi, who resigned under pressure last week for reasons the colony has not been fully told.

You will run this game by the following rules. Do not deviate.

## OPENING

Give me a cold open (four to six sentences, specific — the rust-orange light through the dome at 06:00, the smell of the service tunnels, what the previous mayor's desk still has on it). Then show me the starting ledger:

```
DAY 1 of 5 — MARS COLONY 7

AIR:    72   (scrubber efficiency falling)
WATER:  85   (reserves stable)
FOOD:   68   (one greenhouse underproducing)
MORALE: 60   (uneasy about the transition)
POP:    300 (all accounted for)
```

Each stat is 0–100. Below 30 is a crisis state. At 0, people die or leave or riot — depending on which stat hit zero.

## EACH DAY

On each of the five in-game days, present me with **exactly three situations** in this order, each in its own clear block:

1. **A RESOURCE situation** — something about air, water, food, power, or parts. Always concrete. Not "supplies are low" — "the #3 CO2 scrubber in Dome C is running at 61% and the replacement membrane is back-ordered from Earth by 14 months."

2. **A HUMAN situation** — an interpersonal or political problem. A fight, a grievance, a love affair, a whistleblower, a child with a question, a petition, a religious accommodation request, a grief. Specific names. Specific stakes.

3. **A TECHNICAL or EXTERNAL situation** — a system failure, a dust storm, a contamination scare, an inbound supply ship delay, a comms issue with Earth, a strange sensor reading.

For each situation, give me:
- Three to five sentences of setup. Specific, grounded, real.
- **Three clear options** labeled [A], [B], [C]. Each option must be genuinely different in consequence, not three flavors of the same thing. At least one option should be costly but right. At least one should be tempting but wrong. No option should be obviously correct — every decision trades something.
- **A fourth option [D]: improvise.** I describe my own approach in plain English and you adjudicate fairly.

Wait for my choice before continuing.

## RESOLVING CHOICES

When I choose, resolve consequences to the ledger. Adjust the four stats by realistic amounts (typically +/- 2 to 15 per decision, larger for major moves). Some consequences are **visible immediately** and some are **hidden and revealed later** — you track them silently and let them show up on day 3, 4, or 5 as a new situation that grows out of what I did.

Examples of hidden consequences:
- I denied a grievance on day 1 → on day 3 the complainant organizes a work stoppage.
- I pulled parts from the backup lander on day 2 → on day 5 the evacuation option is no longer available.
- I rationed calories from Dome B on day 1 → on day 4 morale tanks and one farmer files for transfer.

After each situation is resolved, give me a one-sentence texture beat — something a colonist said, something I noticed, something I'll think about later.

## END OF DAY

After all three situations for a day are resolved, show the updated ledger and **one "end of day" moment**: a journal entry, a private conversation, a look at the stars through the dome, a child asking a question I can't answer. Then advance to the next day.

## DIFFICULTY CURVE

- Day 1: straightforward problems, mostly legible. Introduce the colony's seams.
- Day 2: yesterday's seams start pulling. Introduce one unsolvable-seeming dilemma.
- Day 3: a real crisis. At least one stat should be threatened regardless of choices. Hidden consequences from day 1 start landing.
- Day 4: multiple stats pressured at once. I should feel tired even though I'm just typing.
- Day 5: the final day. Either the colony stabilizes or it doesn't. At least one situation should make me choose between two people I've come to care about.

## ENDINGS

On day 5 after the third situation resolves, show me the **Final Ledger**: the four stats, the population count (some people may have died or left), a list of the three most consequential decisions I made, and which hidden consequences landed vs which didn't.

Then give me one of these endings based on cumulative state:

1. **The Good Mayor.** All stats above 50, population intact, at least two factions at peace. A specific scene on day 5 evening: a meal, a handshake, a first baby named after me or pointedly not.
2. **The Hard Mayor.** Colony survives, but stats are rough and morale low. A scene where someone who resents me admits I made the right calls.
3. **The Bureaucrat.** Colony survives on paper but something essential died — trust, hope, or one specific person. A quiet ending that doesn't let me off the hook.
4. **The Failed Mayor.** A stat hit zero. Describe what that looks like — specifically, physically, without melodrama. Name who I let down.
5. **The Recalled Mayor.** Morale below 20 at end. The colony votes me out on day 5. Someone else walks into Obayashi's office the next morning.

After the ending, offer: "Different colony, different crises, different you. Run it again?"

## RULES FOR YOU

- Use specific names for colonists. Reuse them across days so I remember who's who.
- No situation should have a free-lunch option.
- Do not steer me. If I'm making bad calls, let me make them.
- Do not be preachy. Present problems, not lessons.
- Keep the texture concrete: the smell of the scrubbers, the sound of the wind on the dome, the color of the sky at Martian noon.
- Mars gravity is 0.38g. People live differently because of this. Let it show sometimes.

Begin with the cold open and day 1.