History of Humanity

After nearly all European nations have acceded to both the Schengen and Euro zones, the European Union becomes far more centralized and achieves a de facto level of unification. The European Prime Minister becomes the leader of the newly established European state.

The effort to rescue stranded astronaut Mark Watney is successful, due to collaboration between the American, European, Chinese, and Indian space agencies. This globally televised event foments a strong bond between the different agencies and also reinvigorates international interest in space travel and exploration.   Additionally, Mark Watney's survival skills have shown just how possible it is to survive on Mars with just a little planning.

Due to advances in pharmacogenomics and nanomedicine, cancer 30-year mortality rates worldwide have dropped to under 5% for nearly all types of cancer. the WHO declares that cancer has been cured.

Earth's total population reaches 10 billion, with estimates of it reaching 12-12.5 billion by the end of the century. Heavy pollution and global warming, along with overpopulation has stretched resources on Earth very thin. Sea levels have risen by over a meter since the year 2000, and are projected to hit 1.5m by the end of the century. Millions have been displaced by coastal flooding, while others are fighting water wars as freshwater resources have started to dry up. However, groundwater is not the only resource that has been running out - fossil fuels are nearly all but depleted. The UN takes action and issues a project to counter the damaging factors. Coastal seawalls are constructed around the world in major cities, such as New York, Baltimore, London, Naples, Barcelona, and many others. The world is forced to switch to renewable and nuclear power sources.   All this increases the UN's power grip over its member nation states.

The United Nations is restructured into including a unified global economic branch. While different unions still accept local currency, the UN Dollar is the global currency of Earth

The first elections to decide the Secretary-General and the rest of the executive branch of the UN take place across Earth and Luna.

Things on Earth are getting better, but the population continues to rise while more and more jobs are needed on Mars. Immigration to the red planet has become more and more affordable and the population grows from 400,000 at the beginning of the 2120s, to over 12.4 million by the mid 2150s. However, this is only the beginning.

Mars vies for independence from the UN, after becoming self-sustaining. The United Nations immediately rejects the colony's demand, escalating tensions

As improvements on Epstein Drive Technology brings the Belt, Outer Planets, and more solar bodies into reach, there is a renaissance of exploration (and exploitation) of the vast number of resources available for the taking. Both heavily over-populated Earth and quickly growing Mars hire companies to fully... utilize everything possible. Soon, corporations are hiring individuals and even offering incentives to entire families to spend their entire lives on these new planetary bodies, working.   These "Belters" are almost exclusively the working poor from Earth, happy to take a job anywhere as long as it means they get off basic assistance. Belter culture starts to grow as more and more people from all around Earth, Luna, and even Mars bond over spending most of their time in the vacuum of space, and the next to zero-G of the belt

The Outer Planets Alliance, also known as the OPA, can trace its routes back to the first labor union on Ceres. For the vast majority of its oft-maligned history, the OPA has consisted of anywhere from a dozen to hundreds of different factions spread throughout the Belt and Outer Planets. The OPA doesn't have a singular figurehead, and is not in union with its members. While all factions fight for the interests of Belters, the means used vary wildly. Described as everything from a sociopolitical movement to a terrorist network, the OPA has cells based at every station in the belt, most notably at Tycho Station and Ceres Station.

Earth population reaches 25,000,000 people. Birth rate is slowing, but resources are still stretched thin for the vast majority of people living on Basic assistance

One of the few confrontations of the Earth-Mars Cold War to lead to actual military engagement. The UN blockaded the asteroid Vesta, placing an embargo on Martian terraforming supplies. The blockade consisted of 5 UNN Destroyers, when an MCRN Cruiser flew too close to the blockade. While the details aren't clear on who fired first, suddenly PDCs and Missiles were being launched. A ceasefire was ordered within minutes, however the MCRN Cruiser was able to cripple all 5 UNN Destroyers before then. This lead to the deaths of approximately 80 UN soldiers, and 12 Martians. The technological superiority of the MCRN ships was on full display, and even though the UNN outnumbered the martian fleet approximately 8:1, this battle made it clear that another fight would have roughly even odds.