In the Courts of the Crimson Kings

In the Courts of the Crimson Kings is a 2008 sequel to the alternate history science fiction novel The Sky People by S. M. Stirling, inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars novels rather than his Venus stories. It received a sequel in

Plot
Archaeologist Jeremy Wainman is sent to Mars to study its ancient history, but becomes mixed up in the troubles of, and falls in love with, the exiled princess of the Crimson dynasty, Teyud za-Zhalt. Their adventures together locate an ancient artifact of the Martians, the Invisible Crown, and lead to the rejuvenation of Mars, and the crowning of Teyud as emperor.

Prehistoric Content
In the Courts of the Crimson Kings features much less prehistoric content than its predecessor, relegated to some epigraphs detailing the ancient history of the Martian civilization. The hominids that would become the Martians were taken by aliens from Earth around 200 000 BC, and sent to Olympus Mons (Dvor il-Adazar in the Martian language), which was a favourable environment compared to the rest of Mars due to its relatively high rainfall in the area surrounding the mountain. These hominids evolved into a semi-distinct human species, and by 40 000 BC they had domesticated the animals near Olympus Mons and developed early civilizations. By 36 000 BC, the Crimson Dynasty, which would rule Olympus Mons until the present day had emerged, and by 34 000 had conquered all other civilizations on Mars, which faded into history. Over the next many thousands of years, as the environment of Mars deteriorated, the Crimson Dynasty lost its effective control over the planet, until it was reduced to merely controlling Olympus Mons, which remained the largest and most prosperous city on the planet. Olympus Mons is described as being "as if Uruk in Sumer still existed today - and occupied a role similar to Singapore or New York combined with that of Oxford, Boston, Rome, Lhasa, and Mecca.