RS\History

The Third Era of Mankind
No one is entirely sure of the exact date the Earth become completely uninhabitable, only that it occured gradually over the course of a few hundred years. According to Corporate Hstorians, it was a mixture of mankind's pollution of the environment coupled with irregular activity of the sun that rended the Earth's surface, tearing up the land and throwing it off its axis. All anyone really knows is that somehow an endless, globe-spanning violent storm took over, making it all but impossible for ship navigation, let alone individual survival on the surface. The Earth was lost to us near the latter half of the twenty-first century.

Mankind, however, persevered. Many thousands of people were saved before the storm ripped them apart, due to the construction of Exterra Heavy Industries' Exodus Station, kept in high orbit around Earth. For a fee, Exterra granted salvation to government, corporate, scientific and individual assets. From there, man started to spread out along the solar system, constructing additional colonies on Mars, mining operations across the inner system and large facilities on nearly any acceptable terrestrial front.

And so began the third era of man.

Timeline

 * 0 3E: The Earth is made entirely uninhabitable, all multi-cellular life on surface is thought to have been extinguished.
 * 1 3E: Overpopulation on Exodus Station leads to food riots, attempted takeovers of Exterra interests. Exterra Security Forces are strengthened to keep the populace under control. United Terran Front is formed to separate Corporate and Government interests.
 * 2 3E: Cydonia Colony on Mars is renamed Central City and christened as the new capitol of the United Terran Front. The population of Exodus Station begins to migrate to Mars, founding new colonies.
 * 10 3E: The unanimous decision to begin terraforming operations on Mars is passed by the United Front Congress. Exterra Heavy Industries wins the contract to construct several dozen facilities strategically placed around the planet designed to melt the polar caps and generate a more hospitable atmosphere.
 * 12 3E: Maeshima Agricultural Technologies, Primacy Core Systems and Exterra Heavy Industries sign an accord granting them capitalist share of the human population, effectively removing government oversight of their doings. A joint venture between the three companies sees the abolition of the old bank system and the birth of the Credit Standardization Commission.
 * 15 3E: Growing unrest with Corporate Entities begins a small government-backed revolution on Mars.
 * 16 3E: Burton-Hall Pharmaceuticals, one of the last remaining Earth Corporations, starts production of drug Prozylium-3. It is fast-tracked through testing with help from corrupted politicians within the United Terran Front. It effectively pacifies most of the population. Through water-doping and selective accidents. Most anti-corporate groups begin to settle.
 * 20 3E: Maeshima Agricultural Technologies begins the dissemination of genetically-altered algae designed for rapid oxygen production on Mars. The algae quickly propagates.
 * 133 3E: Oxygen content on Mars is at two percent, a series of Martian seas exist across the surface.
 * 255 3E: Oxidation of Mars has enabled forests of genetically altered trees to sprout up across the planet.
 * 287 3E: Oxygen levels on Mars are now capable of supporting life with the assistance of a respirator.
 * 289 3E: Project: Panspermia begins. The seeding of genetically-altered animal and insect life on Mars.
 * 335 3E: Riordan Locksley is born aboard Shambhala.
 * 365 3E: After the theft of an experimental light craft, Riordan Locksley is thought to be killed by Exterra Security Forces. However, he is soon found adrift and near-death by a mining scow operated by the Independent Free Peoples and is nursed back to health.