To start us off let's look at the recent developments Rheinland has had in terms of story: In the year 827 AS the Imperial aligned parties gained significant traction and became the political majority in the House. This led to a civil war between the newly elected imperial government who reintroduced the position of Emperor to Rheinland and the deposed federal governmental remnants. The Federalist government received sanctuary in Thuringia where they coordinated their resistance to the Imperial regime. The local unlawful groups were not unaffected with Unioners and Bundschuh joining sides with the Imperials and Federalists respectively. The Red Hessians meanwhile eagerly took advantage of the situation and launched an invasion into Cologne, gaining significant ground and even capturing planet Saarbrucken while simultaneously cutting off the vital trade route between Rheinland and Gallia.

With Bretonia and Gallia supporting the Imperial side and with Liberty supporting the Federal side of Rheinland, the loss of the Cologne trade route forced the civil war into a practical standstill. During this period no real progress was made for either side. The Imperials had a significantly stronger army but the Federalist defences were near impenetrable. This resulted in the civil war mostly being contained to small skirmishes and raids throughout Rheinland.

After a period of relative calm, one final large confrontation between the two sides broke out in the Frankfurt system resulting in a loss of life so great that both sides were forced to the negotiating tables to put an end to this war. As a result of the civil war, Rheinland lost roughly a third of its combined military and lost its position as one of the largest militaries in the sector

Tensions were high during the negotiations though eventually a compromise was reached both sides could live with, the government would use the model of a constitutional monarchy. The presence of both democracy and an emperor however was enough to alienate some of the Unioners and Bundschuh who had been granted a pardon, causing some of them to go back to their life of the revolution.

The newly reunited Rheinland has currently set its sights on freeing Cologne so trade with Gallia can be reopened and is treating this operation as the grand reintroduction of Rheinland to the rest of Sirius.

So, what can I say about it? The system is now smaller and allows both Red Hessians and Rheinland Military (well, their allies too) to farm high-ranked missions from Vogtland Base and Battleship Strausburg. Leipzig and Bautzen offer medium/low reward missions against elite snubs, gunboats, even cruisers. Yet, for maximum profit, you have to visit one of the said stations. And Wolfsburg... well, it offers high-reward missions too. Hopefully, this will help the Rheinland playerbase to raise their activity as we as Hessians have a reason to log and fight lawfuls.