In 1610, humanity first laid eyes on Myrl when Galileo Galilei provided the first detailed observations of the planet. Cassini and Huygens would expand further on his study, painting the picture of a utopian ecosystem unlike any found on Terra. Originally nothing more than a curious astronomical object, the idea of Myrl being home to life was exciting to many in the scientific community. 

However, it would later be countered by Herschel's interpretation in 1781, pushing the notion that the planet’s striking pink hue was not indicative of life, but rather the abundant presence of unknown chemical compounds or atmospheric phenomena that were inhospitable to biological organisms. The debate between the two viewpoints would go on for years.

For the optimistic, unfortunately, this would be proven right as technology progressed. Exploration programs such as Pioneer, Voyager and Galileo would unravel a world filled with toxic rhodonine, rendering life - as they knew it - to be impossible on Myrl.

And so, they relegated Myrl to the depths of their priorities; outshined by the potential that Acwai and Erios brought to the table.

While Myrl stood out in the vast blues and greens of the Hydrus system, NASA and the UNIA never paid much attention to it. With the majority of their resources going into programs revolving around Acwai, Myrl only had one program dedicated to it; Entropy.

Launched in August 2063 by Stella, a leading aerospace contractor of its era, the Entropy probe embarked on a journey with the objective of unraveling the mysteries surrounding Myrl. The mission was designed to answer the numerous unanswered questions that had grown over centuries of distant observation. Entropy spent nearly five years traversing empty space before it finally entered orbit around Myrl in January 2069.

Entropy would orbit Myrl for two decades, and during it's run, it would provide Stella & the UNIA with a multitude of info, slowly piecing together humanity's understanding of the brazen pink dot. Although Myrl’s potential as a habitat for life had long been discounted, the Entropy's findings still held significant value, contributing to a broader understanding of planetary formation and chemical processes in extreme environments.

It was only after the UNIA had successfully established a set of colonies on and around Acwai that the agency began to redirect its attention toward Myrl. With Acwai’s colonization well underway, Myrl now emerged as a new focal point of exploration.

2125 would be the year that the UNIA would commence work on the Silo Program, aiming to establish a permanent presence on Myrl. The Silo Program also aimed to establish an AIC/Gateway-type station in it's orbit, making interplanetary travel between planets easy and efficient.

With sufficient experience from their Acwai program, the UNIA got to work on a plan, and would start sending program spacecraft to Myrl relatively quickly, with Hephaestus 2 launching away from Eventide, Acwai in 2129, just four years after their Silo program announcement.

The plan was similar to Acwai's; a five-stage process to establish a checkpoint station around Myrl. The only difference between the two is the lander development, which was significantly de-prioritized due to Myrl's toxicity. This would push a lot of engineering towards the station, turning it into the foundation for the largest series of space stations in Hydrus. Stage 4 would ultimately transition into Stage 5 in 2137, though the UNIA had a different approach in mind. Instead of creating expansive habitation colonies like on Acwai, they would create small research colonies strewn across a patch of land. In particular, they would focus on a large, shallow ocean, with mountains periodically spread across it  - the Andromeda Plain.

Work would start on these research facilities in 2138, with large foundries aboard the station creating modules as needed. In itself, these modules would be temporary. Their sole purpose was to temporarily serve as a "safe-zone" for those who were assigned the daunting task of constructing out in the open, as the rhodonine in the air would slowly seep through their suits. What made this extremely challenging & expensive would be the brutal nature of rhodonine, effectively giving these immunity modules only weeks of effectiveness before having to be sent back for recycling.

Even with the challenges, they still managed to finalize their first research facility on Myrl in 2145. Coated with the planet's "magenstone," it would be protected from extreme rhodonine degredation. This would be the main material used for future Myrl equipment, with exploration-suits, rovers, spacecraft, and more being coated with the planet's purple dust.

The studies and findings from the first research facility would pave the way for future facilities in the area, giving rise to a small, yet tight-knit research village; the Arctara Examination Zone.