Overview of human history on Quarace, part 1

The exact date at which humans first landed on the planet Quarace is uncertain. Some scholars have placed this event as having happened many thousands of years before the inception of the AQR, while some say that it was a mere few hundred, and theories exist positing this event anywhere between these two extremes. What is important to know is that the farther before the year Zero one researches, the harder specific details become to discern. The important events, however, cannot be erased, and there are certain things which are known as fact.
Quarace was a miracle... no, it was more than that. Quarace was a planet of dreams, seemingly given to the human race by God himself. A planet three times the size of the Earth, but with half the gravitational pull. This planet was habitable by human beings, and supported native life similar to Earth's. Were humans alone in the universe? No. There were other planets we could live on. In fact, humans would feel right at home on Quarace. Early expeditions to the planet revealed that life on other planets could be surprisingly similar to Earth's. There were watery oceans, green forests, animal life of all shapes and sizes! The entire human race was united in revelry, and rightly so- Quarace was rich in all of the natural resources quickly being exhausted on Earth- iron ore, silver, even gold was found in abundance. The planet had vast oceans of unpolluted water and untouched forests of natural wood, filled with new forms of life to study and cultivate.
Hard records have never been found of early expeditions, but at a certain point humans began to build ships themselves to travel to this new colony. En masse, a new class of human beings fled the crowded, exhausted Earth to begin a new life in a new world. First civilians, then entrepreneurs, and suddenly major corporations took an interest in the planet's untouched resources. The first of these companies was the Kensington iron and steel company, which, after mapping the iron deposits on the planet's largest continent, pioneered the first efficient method and route for the transportation of goods from Quarace back to Earth via the construction of massive jump-gates, apparatuses large enough for entire fleets to enter hyperspace with ease and complete the twelve-year journey to Earth in only three weeks. The investment was a phenomenal success- though it plunged the company into considerable debt for decades, the investments stood firm due to the apparent lucrativeness of their business- thus, many companies followed suit. Soon, operations sprung up all around the planet, with different companies not wishing to compete in similar markets, but to find new goods to bring back to Earth and sell at considerable price.
With all of this activity, more and more Earth citizens began to move off-world to Quarace, and where once there were small settlements there now stood groups of towns which were quickly on their way to quickly becoming cities. This created a dangerous economic situation for the citizens of Quarace, since the primary economic power, in fact the most influential power on the planet, was the group of the seven largest companies which had secured monopolies on the planet's market for natural resources. There was a difference between the giant corporations and the regular citizens of the planet- the citizens had largely moved to the planet due to their spirit of adventure and intrigue with the unknown. The corporations, however, were only interested only in the money to be made from the planet. The chairmen of these companies almost always remained on Earth- maybe visiting the new planet once.
The new territory was not the property of anyone, and was not governed by any law. Each town established had drawn up a series of laws governing themselves, but there was nothing any of them could do against the will of the giant corporations, since they were, in effect, in total control of the planet. The companies had more power than all of the local governments combined. Worse, the majority of citizens worked for the corporations, and were by default powerless against them. Worse still, many had come to accept the hegemony of these companies as a kind of order, and were willing to defend it.
This was a dangerous situation, and the danger was soon realized. The rich became richer and fewer, and the poor became poorer and numerous. The majority of the citizens were employed as low-level workers, with positions of management remaining on Earth or behind closed doors. The economic conditions on the planet became so stressful that the workers were on the verge of open revolt- when the news of a few riots finally was leaked to Earth governments, the planet was declared an annex of a consortium of Earth governments.
This wasn't good for the Corporations. With the rule of government came the promise of regulations and the watchful eye of politicians. Even though their lobbying power was already strong, these companies had tasted the fruit of total commercial freedom and were now unwilling to give it up to any government, especially a government from the old planet. Whereas they had previously operated independently albeit in a similar fashion, the Corporations now united under the banner of Amalgamated Quaran Resources, or AQR. This consortium began to lobby the government offices to ease their pressure on the AQR's business dealings, but in the end found that their meddling was not enough to hide the obvious unethical business practices inside the company and human rights abuses in field operations. In fact with the amount of manpower required to support their operation, paying their workers a living wage would have shut down their operation, as there were not enough citizens of Quarace to consume their total output.
Faced with the dissolution of the business model which had made them the most financially successful business institutions in human history, the AQR continued to lobby while making preparations for their independence, an event known as Day Zero. On this day, a massive arsenal of troops and arms, manufactured under the noses of Earth peacekeeping forces, was unleashed on all major cities on the behalf of the AQR. Striking swiftly and in great numbers, these forces quickly drove all Earth forces from the planet, and followed by launching relentless rocket attacks on the orbiting Earth fleet bases. Forced to retreat, Earth would not give up control of this planet easily.
What followed was called on Earth the Great War for Peace, which implied a war to set things right on Quarace, finally ending human rights abuses and the obvious injustices perpetrated by the AQR. The battle raged for one hundred years- while Earth clearly had the upper hand for a long time, the vast resources and money controlled by the AQR were simply too far beyond the capacity of Earth to endure- eventually, as the AQR's infrastructure developed faster and faster along with the war, they were able to match the Earth forces militarily.
However, military strength was not the key to the victory of the AQR. Led by ruthless business executives, these companies acted without the moral compass or ethical canon of Earth's democratic nations. AQR forces were not just invested in a war for the sake of fighting or sovereignty. They were led by men with something to prove- that their independent operations were more powerful- even above- the dominion of any government. The AQR were out to rub in the face of Earth's civilized governments that they were under the control of no man and of no higher code. They were out to prove that they were more free than any Earthling, and that they could fight this war any way they pleased. Conflict with AQR forces became increasingly savage and brutal, with soldiers witnessing their fellow humans abandoning all human morality for the sake of victory. No prisoners were taken. AQR troops would riddle a corpse with bullets even after it was dead. Mutialtion of bodies took place even on the battlefield; some AQR soldiers even took to practicing cannibalism on the front lines, in the heat of battle. Sometimes, even the wounded were offered up in a wild display of savagery.
The tactic worked. Fear was widespread among Earth's troops, with those being deployed to the front lines terrified of the horrors reported daily from the battlefields. Many lost their minds minutes before deployment, some even committed suicide once assigned a mission in certain sectors. Officers with rank defected, fleeing with their troops to remote off-world colonies through the jump-gates. Realizing that they were fighting a war of attrition, the Earth governments often wondered what they attempted to conquer by defeating the AQR- the popular sentiment on Earth was no longer a desire to subdue and regulate the population of Quarace, but to separate themselves from Quarace altogether. Many on Earth felt even ashamed to be of the same species as the savage AQR shock troops.
Meanwhile, in the hundreds of years since the first settlements on Quarace, the human race had found other interesting worlds far less problematic and precious as Quarace, worlds on which human beings existed peacefully. Unbeknownst to the inhabitants of Quarace, the behavior on this planet was held up to the rest of humanity as an example of how a human being should not behave, of how a civilization should not conduct itself. Over the course of the war, the people of Earth and her off-world colonies grew weary of the idea of conquering Quarace and adopting the planet's cities and people into their fold. Why attempt to associate with such barbaric people, whose leaders' only concern was for wealth and power? If Earth ever came under attack by another civilization - and there were surely other civilized forms of life in the universe, humans were sure at this point- could Quaran forces be relied upon to aid Earth in their struggle? In the end, was a coexistance with Quarace even a desirable objective?
Earth abandoned Quarace. The fleets issued terms of surrender, which were never signed. Immediately after retreat, a group of drones remained near Quarace, out of the AQR's sensor range, and ceremoniously destroyed the sacred jump gates, sealing the planet from further interference with Earth. The empire forged by Earth's leaders was now clean of the horrors of the Great War for Peace with Quarace, and the savages would be left to fend for themselves.