Room for History

Origin - The Race to Colonize Space
In the mid 21st-century, with a corrupt oligarchy now in silent control of Earth, there is a fabricated interest in space travel. Having The Great Conspiracy serving as a distraction, the Earth Federation plans to keep remaining limited resources for themselves by reducing Earth's population. Rather than killing people off, the recognize their own planet has a limited shelf life and must plan for the future. They scheme to have the masses construct their future lifeboat. This results in urgent colonization of the Moon under the impression that without a military presence in space, Russia/USA could more easily use WMDs.

Early - Era of Transformation
The first manned mission to Mars launched in 2092 with the intention of breaking the threshold of what has been explored. Of course, valuable information was gathered to deepen our understanding of the Red planet, but this mission was known to be a one-way trip. The 100 volunteers understood the conditions of the mission, and many eagerly jumped at the opportunity to go where no man has gone and make the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good. They were to establish the first semi-permanent settlement on Mars while conducting research about how to go forward in terraforming Mars into a habitable planet.

This mission was not necessarily expected to be a success, in fact the feat of just reaching Mars successfully with zero fatalities was an incredible success. Thanks to rapid developments in technology on the Moon, more missions soon followed, making sustainability possible.

Terraforming during this era is what allows humans and other life to live on Mars

Rise - Age of Migration
With life beginning to flourish on Mars, and Earth growing increasingly unfavorable, Mars experienced a boom in population around 2250. With more people willing to work toward building a better world, the development is exponential. The atmosphere has now been fully generated and a space suit is no longer required.

Prime - Era of Civilization
Just before 2400, Mars is really thriving. Now that the fundamental elements of society are all met, they start to understand the nuances of Martian life. Among many other discrepancies, such as contradicting celestial years, inescapable communication lag, and Earth now appearing inferior, Martians declared their own timekeeping system. "Year Zero" marks a new age for humanity as galactic citizens, as well as ignites already hot tensions with the Earth Federation.

Late - Fall of Civilization
In Earth years, the mid 2500's are full of interplanetary war. Mars sees it as a revolution, while Earth sees it as a coup. Earthlings pour all their remaining resources into war machines with the intention of comfortably conquering Mars - the final part of the Grand Conspiracy. The Great Conspiracy comes to light, and with Mars being far stronger than expected, the Earth Federation breaks every code of honor and destroys the key structural elements to generate atmosphere and power civilization, absolutely dismantling the favorable environment on Mars. Most of humanity goes extinct at this point, as they are left without a habitable environment, but the few who survive have no choice but to follow outlines laid out by Project Unearthing and set course for a promising exoplanet on cosmic lifeboat.