Red Hessian Army
Overview
Naming Convention:
- [RHA]Firstname.Lastname (for fighter and bomber pilots)
- [RHA]Callsign (for all ships of gunship size and higher, possible to use by fighters as well)
Tag: Red Hessians
ID: Red Hessian ID
Used ships:
- Asgard line (Loki LF, Odin VHF, Thor Bomber)
- Borderworlds line (Dagger LF, Scimitar LF, Stiletto HF, Sabre VHF, Falcata Bomber)
- Red Hessian Cruiser, Rogue Gunboat, Hacker Gunship
Duties: scanning traders for contraband, protecting civilians and allies against pirates and terrorists, assist the Armed Forces when needed.
Operations: disruption of trade in Rheinland, hindrance of Daumann and Kruger operations, disruption and forcing of Daumann and Kruger out of Dresden, defense of Rheinland and Omega systems against Corsairs (elimination of threat included)
Description
The story of the Hessians emerges from the turbulent history of the Dresden system, the mining heartland of Rheinland since the beginning of the third century. Mining there was dirty, dangerous work, but Daumann and Kruger had little reason to lose sleep over the welfare of their employees. The price of the occasional disability pension or life insurance policy was nothing compared to the money made from extracting and refining the metals and materials that fed Rheinland industry.
As the 80-Years War wound down to its ignoble conclusion, Rheinland found itself virtually bankrupt. Kruger and Daumann released thousands of employees throughout Rheinland. Promises of bonuses were left unfulfilled, and in many cases, miners were left completely destitute. An uprising was almost inevitable. A group of miners took control of the Daumann Heavy Construction facility on Von Rohe's Day in 700 AS.
The revolt soon spread from Dresden to the rest of the Rheinland, gaining widespread backing from the legions of newly unemployed workers. The industrial heart of Rheinland stopped beating; the Popular Revolution had begun.
Within five months a new coalition government was established. Both Kruger and Daumann were required to pay reparations, and all Rheinland companies were forced to comply with a newly ratified Workers' Rights Convention. The subsequent replacement of the Rheinland Kaiser with a newly appointed Chancellor was to be the shift everyone was looking towards. Shortly after however the Bundschuh activist party was outlawed and Rheinland begun to spin towards a dictatorship all over again. The subsequent iron grip imposed on the Rheinland economy by Daumann and Kruger had left many workers and miners bitter and enraged over their lost effort. Knowing that the only way to remove the Chancellors power was by attacking the ones providing it to him, many of the former workers decided to form the Red Hessians, a group dedicated to destroying the companies Daumann and Kruger.
It was not long before Red Hessian political ideals were replaced by greed, which has led them to become more like pirates than activists. The police have been forced to maintain a significant presence in Dresden in an effort to prevent Hessian strikes from clogging the gears of Rheinland industry.
The Hessians have gradually expanded, assisted by their close proximity to Stuttgart Food shipments and an extensive Jump Hole network within the southern Sirius Sector. They now own a string of bases in the southern Rheinland Border Worlds. In Omega-5 they encountered their first real obstacle -- the Corsairs. They have fought the Edge World faction to a tenuous stalemate, with the Ronneburg base barely holding on against the stronger Corsair presence in that system. Fortunately, they live in a rich area of Sirius in terms of raw materials, especially Diamonds. Their preferred targets are Daumann and Kruger, although almost any shipper is vulnerable to attack.
