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Sects of the Bundschuh

Compiled by Hugo Enzenauer

Preface
In popular media the Bundschuh is often depicted as a single, cohesive entity. One only has to tune into the Bundestag's latest threat reports to read warnings of Bundschuh raiders and political dissidents, presenting the resistance movement as a single fanatical front, united against the government. Attractive as this simplified viewpoint is; however, it could not be further from the truth. Even at the apex of their power at the height of the Second Popular Revolution, the disparate parties composing the Bundschuh never presented a totally unified front.

Instead, the power of individual parties identifying as Bundschuh affiliates (herein referred to as 'sects') has waxed and waned alongside the dominant political viewpoint of the members of the day. For example, the militant Volksfront of the mid 810's experienced a steady decline in support for a period of years before giving way to the Widerstand in the early 820's, though elements of the Volksfront (notably in the forms of Freya Eistochter [the 'Witch of Frankfurt'], Matthias Zillich and Michael Wolf) remained prominent throughout the active life of both groups.

Subordinate to the major sects, such as the modern Widerstand, are a number of smaller movements. Typically restricted to particular planets or stations, or supporting a particular niche role within the Bundschuch, these smaller movements often take a far narrower view of their particular areas of influence, and may be considered analogous to local-level government in a a multi-tier system. These minor sects, usually lacking the physical resources or political brunt to make a direct bid for control of the movement often throw their weight behind major parties sympathetic to their goals or methodologies. While individually insignificant, the cumulative support of these minor parties is key to the success of the Bundschuh as a whole, and failure to maintain collective (or at least majority) backing from these minor players has brought the ruination of major sects in the past.

Consolidated below is a partial list of the minor and major parties of the Bundschuh. The flux inherent in any political movement, and particular in one as separated by distance and secrecy as the Bundschuch, makes a comprehensive database impossible, and it it is entirely likely that additional sects exist beyond those documented.

- Hugo Enzenauer
822A.S

Documented Sects
Die Festung
Hamburger Vereinigung für Entwicklung und Bildung (HVEB)
Die Kerzen von Hamburg
Nuremberg Citizens Committee for Planetary Evacuation (NCCPE)
Rote Adler
Vereinigte Widerstandsarmee (VWA)
Database #001 – Die Festung
Leader: Jana Achen
Active: 800A.S-Present
Homeworld: Planet New Berlin
Strength (Personnel): 50-70 Aktivists
Strength (Vehicles): 2-3 Freighters
Branch: Espionage
Primary Role: Extraction
Militant | Populist


Goals

External

Enable the escape of Bundschuh supporters from New Berlin and the grasp of police and federal intelligence.
Observe and report on military mobilisations on New Berlin and disrupt such mobilisations where possible.
Undermine the capabilities of Bundesrepublik intelligence and border security through a campaign of misinformation, low-level sabotage and assassination.

Internal

Secure increased support from the Bundschuh to facilitate direct assaults on government property and personnel planet-side.
Tighten security aboard Bundschuh installations and ships to prevent infiltration, including increased vetting in the movement's recruitment of foreign fighters.
Decrease reliance on foreign governments in favour of a return to the Bundschuh's traditional allies in the forms of the Red Hessians and LWB.

History

The Bundschuh's answer to the Government's myriad 'Internal Security' organisations, Die Festung came into existence shortly before the outbreak of the Nomad War in response to an increase in government crackdowns. The crackdowns, later learned to be the result of incubi active within the Bundestag, targeted academics and scientists associated with the Order and Bundschuh alike.

Originally composed of a handful of government-sponsored scientists quick and lucky enough to escape the initial round of disappearances, Die Festung rapidly grew as the survivors pooled their meagre resources. First content merely to survive on a planet where every camera and uniformed officer promised a 'protective custody' from which there was no return, the fledgling movement steadily transitioned from self-preservation to covert opposition of the Bundestag's goals.

Often no-more than a note arriving minutes before a police squad, Die Festung's timely assistance nonetheless allowed a steady fraction of marked academics to escape the grasp of the government's enforcement agencies. Saddled with a tremendous need for secrecy yet heavily dependent on friends and family to interact with public institutions, the early Die Festung was reminiscent of the Underground Railroad of ancient Sol, shuffling shell-shocked academics from safehouse to safehouse, racing to stay a step ahead of the government. Then, as now, few planetside members had any definitive idea of the scale of the organisation or indeed, any notion of the group's capabilities beyond their immediate contacts.

After the outbreak of the Nomad War the group found itself struggling with an unprecedented flow of hunted men and women seeking asylum. Unable to shelter the refugees without risking discovery, elements of the group made contact with Bundschuh sympathisers on Kreuzberg and made arrangements to evacuate the runaways to the relative of safety of the resistance's facilities. In exchange, Die Festung offered their scientific expertise and hard-won knowledge of polizei operations.

Though Die Festung's operations have diminished significantly since the end of the Nomad War and the subsequent government restructure, the remnants of the group remain sympathetic to the Bundschuh cause. The same secretive procedures that kept Die Festung functional throughout the war are still in use, ferrying would-be recruits and information safely to and from the highly-policed streets of New Berlin.

Capabilities

Life as an agent of Die Festung is physical draining and mentally exacting. Vastly outclassed by the technologically and numerically superior Federal Police, Die Festung's relatively untrained and often totally unequipped agents rely almost exclusively on concealment to keep them from a cell in Vierlande or the wrong end of a BDM rifle. Agents are often recruited from sympathetic low-level public servants or those with ties to law enforcement, the better to monitor and interfere with operations when the need arises. Working in such intimate proximity to their hunters; however, the lives of such agents once they show their hand are usually short. Individuals that somehow escape the backlash of a government that knows their face are inevitably assigned a false identity and quietly packaged aboard the next transport to take up operations with the wider Bundschuh, where an identity is not so valuable a thing to lose.

The same secrecy that makes Die Festung difficult to eradicate also makes the sect difficult to co-ordinate. Senior members with knowledge of the group's structure usually reside on Bundschuh stations beyond New Berlin, where capture is unlikely; however, the government's dominance of communication on the capital means that any orders to the group must be physically carried back down the gravity well and distributed to the required agents manually, rendering rapid communication impossible. Consequently, Die Festung cells are largely autonomous in their day-to-day operations and rarely operate in teams larger than four or five.

Staging Areas

Die Festung's web of agents is spread thin across New Berlin. However, there are a handful of facilities that the movement utilises out of necessity. In most cases; however, the sect prefers to make use of a given location no more than is absolutely required, and safehouses change month by month as old agents are compromised and new ones step in to take their place.

Wilhelm Domestic Spaceport, Altengottern, New Berlin [Equatorial]
A small system-level cargo terminal, Wilhelm is intermittently used by Die Festung to smuggle agents and information off-planet alongside legal shipments and is frequently the last sight a fresh Bundschuh recruit has of New Berlin.
Warehouse #37, Tauscher Docks, New Berlin [Southern Hemisphere]
An apparently storm-damaged warehouse containing a handful of rooms converted to serve as a command centre on the rare occasions when Die Festung is called upon to conduct operations beyond the scope of a single cell. More often, Warehouse #37 simply serves as another unpleasant stopover on a wanted academic's long trip off-planet.


End report.
Database #002 – Vereinigte Widerstandsarmee
Leader: Dr. Annika J. Haupt
Active: 819A.S-Present
Homeworld: None
Strength (Personnel): 400-500 Aktivists
Strength (Vehicles): 80-100 small ships, 3-6 transports, 3-6 gunboats
Branch: Paramilitary
Primary Role: Armed struggle
Militant | Populist


Goals

External

Overthrow of the Federal Republic of Rheinland through overt and covert methods, including actively combating the BDM, assisting Liberty's war effort and conducting propaganda campaigns.
Defend territorial claims within Frankfurt against Federal enforcers and Corsair invaders.
Incite planetary-scale insurrection amongst Planet Nuremberg’s lower-class to bring about the beginning of a second Popular Revolution.
Aid The Order in whatever objectives they might have for the Widerstand in disrupting Nomad and Wilde operations in Rheinland.

Internal

Promote unity among the various sects of the Bundschuh to present a single, like-minded, motivated force to the enemy, spearheaded by the Widerstand.
Expand the Bundschuh's fleet with both pilots and more high-quality equipment brought by Military deserters and provided by close allies The Order and aiming to eventually construct completely new ships.
Pursue closer relations with Sigma-reaching groups such as the Blood Dragons, and their respective black markets.

History

With the eventual fall and subsequent disbandment of the Volksfront movement, another dark age for the Bundschuh reared its head. Tiny factions such as the Rheinlandische Volksfreiheitspartei appeared for short periods of time, but their efforts for the most part accounted to naught. For quite some time, the revolutionary pendulum remained angled towards the "Hessian" avenue; a pragmatic effort to strike terror into the hearts of the Federal Republic's enforcers. As a result, despite very real problems and injustices remaining in Rheinland's present regime, the "terrorists" began to lose even more sway with Rheinland's captive populace.

A new generation of academics, however, began to take issue with their government. One Professor Augusta Adler, at great risk to herself shouted out a rallying cry for these and other elements to breathe new life into the exiled party. Her call was met with far more success than she could have hoped for.

The Vereinigte Widerstandsarmee’s founding members agreed upon an idea radical even to a movement of radicals; the abandonment of nationalism as a factor in opposing Liberty’s aggression towards Rheinland. This distinguishing characteristic means that its members are willing to ally even with the Federal Republic’s greatest foes in an attempt to dismantle and topple the regime. Forged by the ideas and tireless energy of highly-wanted criminal Oberst Erich Klugmann, the Widerstand’s successes against the government it so desperately sought to overthrow could not be ignored by even opposing Bundschuh sects.

Under Klugmann's leadership, the disparate sects of the Bundschuh chose the Widerstand to stand at their head. Now the Widerstand leads the way in the struggle against the Bundesrepublik with its diverse membership ranging from many deserted soldiers to the university students typical for the Bundschuh.

Capabilities

The Vereinigte Widerstandsarmee is the dominant sect of the Bundschuh movement of today and as such they operate on a much grander scale than the others. Whereas most sects have their own narrow function, the Widerstand's operations vary widely. As a paramilitary its main task could be considered fighting for the interests of the Bundschuh and indeed the Widerstand maintains a significant fighting force for that purpose. Especially Bruchsal's squadrons have gained a fierce reputation for fiercely defending Frankfurt of kinds of threats. Many Corsair invaders who initially thought that by bypassing Hessian space Rheinland would be an easy target were shocked when VWA fighters appeared right on their tail and bomber squadrons covered by the small Frankfurt garrison of government and corporate forces swiftly delivered their antimatter-packed payload.

Yet the Widerstand's size means they do more than just fighting. They are largely responsible for anything the Bundschuh do including diplomacy, trade and propaganda. Still, the Widerstand is not without its weaknesses. While relatively large they are still no match for the large fleets of the Unioners or the Corsairs. Furthermore, the aim to unite the Bundschuh also ironically brings a lot of division with it. Coming from various other sects and walks of life, the Widerstand's leading members vary greatly in personality, political alignment and preferred strategy. While still more effective than the constant bickering when dealing with multiple sects the Widerstand's decision making is undeniably a lot slower than people had hoped for.


Staging Areas

The Widerstand operates almost exclusively in space and holds little presence planetside with the exception of Planet Nuremburg where growing unrest amongst the population has prompted the Widerstand to send Aktivists to coordinate future actions. The main staging points however are the Bundschuh's stations: Bruchsal Base, Eltmann Moor, Geneva Base, Bielefeld Base and Cloppenburg Base. Two especially notable of these are:

Bruchsal Base, Taunusfeld, Frankfurt System
The first base ever built by the Bundschuh in 718, Bruchsal serves as the headquarters of the Bundschuh movement it houses most of the Widerstand's members. From here they launch most operations into Frankfurt, New Berlin and Sigma-13.
Eltmann Moor, Schwarzwald Cloud, Munich System
Eltmann is sparsely populated due to the menacing radiation of the Munich disaster, but that same disaster is also reason for increased importance of the Outpost. From here relief aid is offered to the system's inhabitants and operations aiming to incite the population of Nuremburg are being coordinated. The Widerstand also has a strong influence on the publishing house located on Eltmann: Der Militanten Verlag.


End report.
Database #003 – Die Kerzen von Hamburg
Leader: Rüdiger Vohrmoth
Active: 817 A.S-Present
Homeworld: Planet Hamburg
Strength (Personnel): 200-350 (High Attrition Rate), but “supporters” possibly diffused in millions among Hamburg’s population.
Strength (Vehicles): 60-80 small ships, unknown number of terrestrial/atmospheric combat vehicles
Branch: Paramilitary
Primary Role: Armed Struggle, Planetary Insurrection
Militant | Populist


Goals

External

Take full advantage of Planet Hamburg’s general unrest to cause chaos and confusion amongst the overworked Hamburg Bundespolizei and Military Police.
Provide refuge and (looted) welfare to Hamburgers in need.
Stockpile as many munitions as possible in the hypothetical armed insurrection of Hamburg against both Federal Forces and non-Bundschuh terrorists.

Internal

Lobby to increase Party Budget on terror-campaigns both planetside and spaceborne; increased aggression towards corporate-civilians.
Promotion of Anarchism and the erosion of legal authority among Party Policy.
Prolonging of Libertonian Conflicts/Tension to perpetuate Embargo and thus economic unrest upon Hamburg.

History

While Planet Hamburg is ostensibly a cosmopolitan tourist’s treat, a winter wonderland without the year-long day and night cycles of New Berlin; many hundreds of millions of souls dwell in the murky moat surrounding pristine city skylines and beautiful alpine forests.

Hamburg boasts some of the “meanest streets” to be found anywhere in Rheinland, and even the Federal Police struggle to maintain any semblance of order. In its capital of Hafen, entire boroughs and sectors of the metropolis are cordoned off and deemed “unsuited” to either conduct Mega-Corporate business or any sort of travel.

Those ignoring the official governmental warnings and advisories are very capable of disappearing without a trace from one of many hundreds of extreme-left-or-right groups dotting Hamburg’s slums and ferrocrete blocks; Die Kerzen amongst them.

The “Unification” of Die Kerzen was sparked the Libertonian War’s enactment. As the Libertonian Embargo once again caused the squalid “moat” of despondent poor surrounding oases of plenty to rise; tides and waves of thugs and rebels broke upon human, Federal levees. With their common foe otherwise unreachable, Die Kerzen was one of the many groups that then fought other thugs for control over squalid territory.

Die Kerzen has existed in a state of chaotic flux for two decades since its “formal” foundation and control over several Hafen boroughs; the only things its “subjects” and few members officially considered “Bundschuh” have in common are a vague sympathy towards the goals of the Bundschuh Party (as opposed to sympathies towards the Unioner or Hessian systems of thought), and a zealous loyalty towards anarchism.

Capabilities

Those living in regions under Die Kerzen’s control within Hafen (primarily) or elsewhere upon Hamburg are often taxed or coerced into supporting Die Kerzen’s and by extension the Party’s efforts whether they’re aware of it or not. Besides that, the loosely-organized group fields a number of looted, abandoned, or stolen combat vehicles, many of them military-quality either currently or formerly. The organization appears to attempt to follow the Bundschuh’s modus-operandi of focusing upon Government targets planetside and avoiding civilian casualties, but collateral damage is notably more common amongst Die Kerzen than the Widerstandsarmee, for example.

Despite Die Kerzen’s respectable direct and indirect manpower, other major parties have repeatedly censured and chastised the sect for its collateral damage and hardline anarchism; in the public’s eyes, they tend to believe their actions hurt the Party’s efforts as much as they help.

The enigmatic leader Vohrmoth is rumored to possess an atmosphere-to-surface shuttle equipped with a cloaking device; a leftover relic from the Nomad War’s Wilde Regime. Surplus Borderworlds or Civilian snubcraft - As well as resources, pilots, and smuggled items - Are taken in round-the-clock shipments to waiting freighters or transports and deployed accordingly within Hamburg or New Berlin. The destination of these meetups changes every time with randomized coordinates generated each “outing”

Staging Areas

Die Kerzen focuses the vast brunt of its activity simply enforcing its own peculiar brand of anarchistic “order” within slums dotted over Hamburg’s entire Southern Hemisphere. The seat of its power accordingly rests within Hafen, the planet’s Capital. Guns and Pilots-for-hire, whether hardened mercenaries or desperate poor, are often saddled up with surplus looted weaponry and sent in the general direction of a known atmospheric or terrestrial corporate convoy, or to assault a mid-level governmental target.

Spaceborne activity tends to remain along the lines of quiet reconaissance of Hamburg, though as of late Vohrmoth is rumored to have lobbied for increased pressure upon Vierlande.



End report.
Database #004 – Rote Adler
Leader: Manfred Behrendt
Active: 808A.S-Present
Homeworld: Planet Nuremberg
Strength (Personnel): 100-120 Aktivists (officially), 160-200 (affiliated militias)
Strength (Vehicles): 10-15 fighters/bombers, 5 freighters
Branch: Espionage
Primary Role: Sabotage
Militant | Populist


Goals

External

Disrupt the activities of the government and its forces as well as corporations through various tactics ranging from the spread of disinformation to assassinations to deadly bombings.
Hinder the efforts of the police and the BDM to root out the Bundschuh.
Incite a revolution on Planet Nuremberg.

Internal

Promote socialism and militancy among the Bundschuh.
Strengthen ties with working class and far-left organisations such as the Coalition and the Mollys.
Gain influence over revolutionary movements on Nuremberg.

History

In 808 Rote Adler was founded in the city of Fürth on Planet Nuremberg by working class inhabitants of the planet as a communist party. As soon as the police found out about the existence of the party they started cracking down on them, claiming that it was a group of Red Hessians. Rote Adler never considered elections as the way forward however and was prepared to go underground straight from the start. They had little trouble avoiding the authorities, the sprawling neighbourhoods of the lower classes providing perfect cover for them and a natural obstacle for any of those who had anything to do with the government or the upper class. Here Rote Adler thrived amongst the disgruntled poor while the police decided to assign them a lower priority. They were not considered much of a threat and to round them up they'd risk having the sympathising locals rioting.

For a few years the party remained quiet, slowly growing in members and influence, but refraining from acting openly outside of the slums of Fürth and other industrial cities. In 811 on the 6th of april this suddenly changed as Fürth and the nearby city of Landshut were hit in the night and early morning by a string of bombings, hitting a police station and a tax office as well as the homes of several local politicians and corporate higher-ups. With few people being awake during the attacks there were few eyewitnesses making it difficult to track down any suspects, though the events were quickly linked to Rote Adler. Even more troubling for the police was that a factory worker strike was planned on that day, which meant a lot of police personnel was assigned to crowd control. The attacks could even have incited the strikers to start a riot so no extra police officers could be spared to hunt down the terrorists.

In the end only two suspects were apprehended, both claiming to be innocent. The investigators determined they were both members of Rote Adler. The convenient circumstances with the strike limiting the available police forces were believed to be no coincidence. The responsible labour union was declared illegal and the organisers of the strike, together with the two suspects were all sentenced to live the rest of their lives on Vierlande.

With Rote Adler now as a top priority heavily armed police squads started regularly raiding homes of suspected members. More often than not however the police would bash into a completely deserted building. Meanwhile, bombings as well as acts of sabotage mostly aimed at weapon manufactories continued and spread across the planet.

By the year 813, police started assigning more and more resources and manpower to weed out the terrorist group, pressure on Rote Adler increased and numerous members did eventually get captured or even shot and killed. A change in tactics became inevitable and the unfortunate first to notice were the police members that thought they were just conducting yet another raid on a Rote Adler member's home. Their atmospheric transport never reached the house as another transport, thought to be civilian, suddenly opened fire on the police vessel. It managed to make an emergency landing a few streets from the targeted home, but there armed men quickly arrived opening fire on the police killing and injuring several officers and retreating before hostile reinforcements arrived.

Several days later a public statement was released by Rote Adler stating they pledged allegiance to the Bundschuh movement and calling upon the people of Nuremberg to take up arms against the Bundesrepublik. While the call was ignored by most, several militias were formed who continue to assist Rote Adler and the Bundschuh till this day.

In recent history Rote Adler involved itself more actively in the Bundschuh internal politics. They stand together with other more radical sects, though they also cooperate with the VWA on a regular basis.

Capabilities

Rote Adler has only a small amount of actual members, but has considerable influence on planet Nuremberg and there are several armed militias there that support Rote Adler's activities. With help from sympathisers Rote Adler maintains an extensive information network. Since joining the Bundschuh they've also maintained a considerable presence on Eltmann Outpost from where they also conduct spaceborne operations. Rote Adler focuses mostly on sabotage of Rheinland's warmachine. Common activities are disabling machinery, raiding convoys, assassinations and bombing police stations, military barracks and homes of rich or influential inhabitants.

Since the Munich Disaster Rote Adler has received increased support from the ruling Bundschuh sect, the VWA, in an attempt to bring about a revolution on Nuremberg.

Staging Areas

Rote Adler rarely stays at the same place for long as the police are always ready to hunt them down. There are two notable exceptions to this.

Braunsbach, Fürth, Planet Nuremberg
A poor neighbourhood populated primarily by factory workers. It is a very hostile environment for the authorities and despite it being well known that Rote Adler and a small militia are holed up here, the police rarely goes into the area.
Eltmann Outpost, Munich system
A Bundschuh spacestation where Rote Adler has its headquarters. All spaceborne operations of Rote Adler are based from here.


End report.
Database #005 – Hamburger Vereinigung für Entwicklung und Bildung (HVEB)
[img float=left]http://i.imgur.com/uLFinvt.jpg?1[/img]Leader: Prof. Hans Rorken
Active: 805A.S-Present
Homeworld: Planet Hamburg
Strength (Personnel): 20 leading counselors, unknown number of affiliates
Strength (Vehicles): whatever the respective corporations have to offer
Branch: Financial Acquisition, Lobbying
Primary Role: Financial backing of the Bundschuh
Militant | Populist


Goals

External

Sabotage the integrity of the Bundesrepublik using political influence and financial weight
Prolong the civil unrest in the Hamburg System by covertly financing Unioner operatives
Instate a Bundschuh-friendly governor candidate for Hamburg

Internal

Promote a more secretive and political approach and unite the Bundschuh under a leader that is viewed as capable
Strengthen the grip the popular revolution has on the working class, making sure that they're guided properly
Pursue a breakdown of the Hessian/Bundschuh alliance, seeing the Dresdeners as uncontrollable

History

The HVEB was founded by a group of high-ranking members of Hamburgs society that were mainly discontent with Hamburgs secondary role to the capital or Stuttgart. Starting their existence as a mere cooperation between local politicians, corporate executives and other influential people, nobody really took them seriously. Every day a club or a trust is founded among those local intrigants, and at first, the HVEB seemed to be no exception.

This changed as they started to cooperate more, actually beginning to use the ressources at their disposal, at first to get personal benefit for the members of the group, but at last, they began investing in causes and projects that actually benefitted Hamburg as a whole. A big part of Harburg City's recent expansions and new fusion reactors had been funded by this particular group, and as such, they have a pretty good reputation in the popular mouth.
With the good publicity and medial response on their actions, however, a split between the members soon appeared. Two main factions formed, one promoting the trust as a group only dedicated to Hamburg, and one more ideologically driven and interested in making it affiliated with the popular revolution. Against all predictions, the latter faction won - most likely because the leader of the opposition, Frank Brackhaus (then the mayor of Harburg's northern quadrant), was gruesomely assassinated. Rumours still accuse Professor Rorken, the new leader of the HVEB, of being the responsible brain behind the murder.
This rumour has proven to be not without a point, although nothing could ever be proven. It still is a matter of fact that Rorkens enemies seem to vanish, usually being found dead on one of Hamburgs towering buildings.

Since the power grab, the organization has mainly focused on investing a big chunk of the accumulated wealth of their respective members in the Bundschuh, giving them a pretty strong position in the party assembly.
Apart from that, the group has a significant influence in Hamburgs local politics, fusing characteristics of a criminal syndicate, a corporation and a government into one conglomerate of different characters.

Capabilities

The HVEB is not a large organization, nor is it especially militaristic. On the contrary, most council members promote peaceful solutions, being politicians themselves. Regardless of their small size, the group still has a strong influence in its home system. The charity projects it finances, the fact that several influential politicians are members, and their financial weight give them a very good name in the eyes of the public - and even the government.

The group has almost no combat capabilities, although rumour has it that they're planning to introduce the owner of a local Security Corporation (HarbSec) into their council - which would not only be a bold move, but also give them the possibility to stop relying on the Kerzen von Hamburg to get rid of their enemies.

Speaking of the Kerzen, an uneasy relationship connects the two groups. The Kerzen need the money they're getting from the HVEB - and in turn, they do the dirty work for them, including the political assassinations that have heaved Rorken in place in the first place. Aside from this cooperation, however, little connects the sects. The politicians and executives of HVEB despise the militancy of the Kerzen, and in return, their popularistic approach is seen as weak by many.

It has to be noted, however, that the connection between the HVEB and the Bundschuh is a really well-kept secret. The existence of the group itself is a popular mask, financing Schools, building hospitals, acquiring ressources to help Hamburgs population - but in the back alleys, a big part of the money invested here goes to the Bundschuh's accounts.
New Members are very rarely introduced. The council has an almost freemasonric approach to accepting new people, making it impossible to just join. It is, of course, possible to join the organization, but unless you are considered useful and trustworthy, you will never reach the council that actually guides the actions.

Staging Areas

As a small group of legally accepted citizens, most of the organizations operations are not based from secret Headquarters or back alleys. Instead, the Schulmann tower (named after one of Rheinlands Kanzlers), a large, needle-like titan of a skyscraper located in the center of Harburg City belongs to them, housing most of the administrative work the group does and the regular council meetings.

It is of note that most of the council members have a communistic approach to their assets - meaning that if you know a member of the council, he can get you shelter even if he isn't the owner of the Hotel you're seeking refuge in. Those ressources are seldomly offered to someone outside of the HVEB's immediate circle of friends, however, so most Bundschuh members that try to visit the planet can't even try to get into contact with them - most likely as a precaution to avoid the official connotation between the HVEB and the Bundschuh.

End report.
Database #006 – Nuremberg Citizens Committee for Planetary Evacuation

Leader: Barbara Hirsch
Active: 820A.S-Present
Homeworld: Planet Nuremberg
Strength (Personnel): 50-60 Aktivists; possibly thousands of civilian volunteers
Strength (Vehicles): Unknown, estimates range from dozens to several hundred civilian ships
Branch: Humanitarian aid
Primary Role: Evacuation
Militant | Populist


Goals

External

Evacuating Planet Nuremberg in the wake of the Munich Disaster.
Facilitate volunteers wishing to assist in the evacuation.
Pressure the government and corporations to finally intervene and save the population of the dying planet.

Internal

Encourage the Bundschuh to prioritise aiding refugees from Nuremberg.
Provide assistance in the form of shelter and transportation to and from the planet to Rote Adler militants, who in return use sabotage and diversions to accommodate safe passage for NCCPE ships.

History

In late 820 increasingly many inhabitants of Planet Nuremberg wished to leave the planet in the wake of the Munich Disaster. In several cities groups were formed to arrange flights of the surface with some civilians offering their vehicles for this purpose. Nuremberg is generally rather poor and most of those few that were wealthy left at the first sign of trouble. The groups relied on middle-class citizens who would use their spaceships and who would initially follow all the normal legal procedures for emigration from a planet.

Over the years, the situation worsened as the horrifying health effects of the Munich Disaster became evident. Unrest and lawlessness became increasingly the norm, while a government response remained completely inadequate and no full-scale evacuation was initiated. Some of the local groups banded together and formed the Nuremberg Citizens Committee for Planetary Evacuation as a coordinating organ. As more and more people wanted to get off the dying planet and unable to work efficiently the legal way, the NCCPE contacted the Bundschuh. Rumours had spread all across the planet that the Bundschuh were extracting refugees by avoiding the docking rings and in desperation the Committee saw no other choice. Most of the members of the Committee had been loyal citizens and had no previous sympathy for the Bundschuh, but disillusioned with the lack of government action in response to such a huge catastrophe, the exiled party was their best bet.

At first, the Committee and the Bundschuh simply cooperated, without any further ties being formed. The Committee directed atmospheric vessels to an extraction point from where the Bundschuh would take over and ship the people off planet. Over time however, the cooperation intensified and civilian vessels were put to use at the Bundschuh-side of the operations to quicken the evacuations. Meanwhile, the Committee also communicated with planetside Bundschuh affiliates such as Rote Adler to coordinate their efforts.

Members of the Committee saw the Bundschuh as the only ones trying to help the population and eventually a majority agreed on the Committee joining the Bundschuh movement. The NCCPE publicly still rejects allegations of ties with the Bundschuh and the local volunteer groups that they coordinate are not considered part of the Bundschuh, but due the scale of their network it was a matter of time until it became common knowledge.

Capabilities

The Nuremberg Citizens Committee for Planetary Evacuation itself is only a very small group of less than 100 people, however it coordinates the efforts of volunteers all over the planet. Affiliated groups exist in all major cities as well as most mid-sized town. The Committee makes sure that these local groups get refugees to extraction points and from there they take to space with the help of the Bundschuh, as well as any space-worthy freighters that the local groups manage to provide.
Neither the Committee nor the local groups have any fighting capabilities, all its resources are put into the evacuation. Some armed Bundschuh groups provide firepower when necessary, especially Rote Adler, despite initially suspicions due to the ideological distance between the many middle-class citizens in the Committee and the extremists from Nuremberg’s poorest neighbourhoods.


Staging Areas

The NCCPE is a coordinating organ and its members can be found anywhere where evacuations take place. Two notable locations of importance are:

Bundschuh Supplies Warehouse, unknown location on Planet Nuremberg
A seemingly unremarkable warehouse, amidst all the chaos law enforcements have either failed to notice, or perhaps not been able to act against this place. It has become a major hub for the Bundschuh’s refugee transportations.
Business district, Steinbühl, Planet Nuremberg
Steinbühl is a fairly large city that houses a number of large offices of the industrial companies that operate factories on the planet. Office space is rented in multiple buildings by some local businesses that in reality do not exist and are in fact used for the NCCPE’s activities related to lawyers, administration, finances, logistics and more.


End report.