You, Oberst Klugmann, are that most dangerous breed of individual. You're an optimist." Her lips curled into something that could have been a smile. "God only knows how."
Jana Achen, 822 AS.
The Basics
Gender: Male Age: 28 Years Birthday: 2nd December 794A.S Birthplace: Neu Spandau, Planet New Berlin, New Berlin Place Of Residence: Deck 6, Bruchsal Base, Frankfurt Affiliation: Bundschuhpartei Known Craft:
• Sabre-class Very Heavy Fighter; veteran of the Hammen Hole circa 790 A.S
• Kingfisher-class Heavy Fighter
• Honorary Command positions on a number of Widerstandsarmee-owned assets
Appearance
Height: 187cm Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown Distinguishing Marks: A number of facial scars and marks from injuries sustained on Vierlande and from pod ejections.
A man unimposing in stature - But one whose reputation at least amongst the Bundschuh heavily precedes him. His trenchcoat-and-tie outfit has drawn some imitation from "Klugmannist" supporters and Widerstandsarmee Interns, but otherwise the man - One of the most-wanted by authorities in Rheinland - Cuts a decidedly unthreatening figure.
Personality
Klugmann is reserved and quiet, the inverse of the bellicose and belligerent Eistochter from the same Sect and of only slightly higher station. While once having a reputation as a pacifist when of lower rank within the Widerstandsarmee, the strains of leadership and months of agonizingly difficult choices have torn away whatever naivete remained - At least, that which wasn't already taken away by Vierlande.
Despite a heavy and bitter heart, Klugmann is acclaimed amongst some Bundschuh for his "Klugmannism" that brought the Exiled Party in several ways back to its roots. An extension of his personality, the Widerstandsarmee under his leadership espouses lenience towards the Bundespolizei and Rheinwehr, as much support as can be mustered for Rheinlanders in need, and aggressive defense of both Bundschuh territory and those considered "downtrodden" with all the cunning, efficiency, and firepower the Widerstandsarmee can muster.
History
Erich was born to an aristocratic family on New Berlin, one whose temperament matched the surface's climate. His father was an upper-level manager and administrator for some of Oder Shipyard's various functions, and his mother had prior experience working as a receptionist along other portions of The Ring.
While Erich had a stable childhood and an adolescence of plenty, it was one with very little comfort. His nationalistic parents both chastised him for his shortcomings and lambasted Rheinland's parasitic underclass, enrolling him in various gifted charter schools planetside. His father in particular softened somewhat as Erich reached collegiate age, illegally "pulling strings" for better grades and placements despite his already stellar academic performance.
Opportunities for Erich's future were profuse - Pending Erich's to-be Salutatorian status at the illustrious Cologne University's Class of 814 A.S, his father announced pre-emptively that the spotless student was ready to begin the long road to a post on the Bundestag. As a History Major, all that remained before the beginning of continuing Klugmann familial success was to ace a final University thesis.
His chosen topic was to be a diatribe against the terrorists of Rheinland; most notably the Hessians and Bundschuh. Months of archival and possibly first-hand research of the two organizations turned up an account critical of the Pre-Federal and Federal Republic's policies, regime, and leaders. A number of chastisements from his teachers, parents, and reported the Bundespolizei prefaced a horrible few months to come.
In the middle of a frigid New Berlin "night", armed men entered the Klugmann penthouse apartment, beating and then forcibly tranquilizing all three members of the family. The automated security-summoning systems at the residence were in vain. The authorities had already arrived.
Groggily, they awoke aboard an unfamiliar and cold environ - Vierlande. The shocked glances to one another and desperate cries for an explanation were the last that Erich saw of his parents as they were herded away to separate cordons of the massive construct. Erich's demands for a trial or for "why" this had happened were silenced by the blunt end of a rifle. And so on, for four months after. At the end of that nightmare of solitary confinement and abuse, the young man was loaded onto a transport, bloody and beaten, with other inmates onto an armored transport.
Entombed in stasis, Erich and the others were shocked out of their forcible reverie by explosions and tremors in the cold Daumann tri-strontium steel chassis. Armed men had overpowered and cut down the small crew and escort component with extreme brutality, taking Erich and the others hostage to their nearest stronghold at Freital.
Held there for several days until their identities could be ascertained, their Hessian captors re-routed them to the refugee center of Kaiserslautern, but not before informing Erich of the transport's ultimate destination - Solarius Station at the cusp of the Von Rohe belt. They came to the conclusion that they were to be "disposed of" as hard labor for diamond extraction.
Erich signed on with the Bundschuh residing at Kaiserslautern when promised that they could help save his parents, and from there began a mostly token career there. While his peers recognized his innate cunning and stellar piloting capability; a botched Vierlande extraction turned fatal even before reaching the prison proper after an accidental nuclear discharge from Erich's snubfighter drifted into the rescue freighter and killed all aboard. The enigmatic Albrecht Noth - unaligned with any one Bundschuh sect - managed to sweep the entire incident under the rug into classified territory in exchange for a future unspecified favor.
Following the incident, Erich's temperament turned redemptive and far less violent in the hope that his prior mistakes would not repeat themselves. Managing to secure membership among the Rheinlandische Volksfreiheitspartei, the disappearance or deaths of the leadership in combat led to the dissolution of its sectarian power, but certain core tenets imprinted themselves on the young revolutionary's mind. He answered the call of Augusta Adler's planetside call to action for the Bundschuh, serving for some time under Obersts Michael Wolf and Freya Eistochter in the fledgling Vereinigte Widerstandsarmee sect.
Ascending to the rank of Kommandant for his tenacity, tireless devotion to the Bundschuh cause, and likely excellent fortune in not having been vaporized, Erich fell into a deeper depression as the realization of possibly never living to see either his parents or a return to "normalcy" for his living status. His heart was heavy on the day that Michael Wolf announced a retirement from active combat, offering Klugmann leadership over the entire sect in return.
It was around this time that Erich formed a relationship with the young CEO of ALG Waste Disposal, Magdalena Atzenbruck. Initially meeting the workload-overwhelmed woman at Heisenberg, the brunt of their affection for one another is unknown to either of their subordinates - And the consequences for discovery of that dangerous union for ALG's legality in the Bundesrepublik's eyes could be dire.
Erich's innovation amongst a "conservative" Bundschuh catapulted him to a nomination to become leader of the entire movement, but it was at this time that Noth "politely" requested his favor. In a moment of abject embarassment and in technical legality, Erich handed leadership of the party to Noth, who had equally suspiciously become an honorary and complete member of the Widerstandsarmee to secure his eligibility.
The young revolutionary disappeared for nearly a stellar year afterward as Noth no longer saw a need to keep Erich around, but still threatened to expose his accidental Party manslaughter from his early days. Noth's own ambition led to corruption probes and his own eventual disappearance, from which point Erich was able to return to the helm after having been saved by the (somewhat) sympathetic Laura Carsten of the Bundespolizei.
The Bundschuh Party now headed by his political nemesis Eistochter, she was all but forced by popular demand to appoint the visionary as the Widerstandsarmee's Oberst once again, and in turn membership and numbers swelled. Erich's exile and introspection had hardened his demeanor, and long-gone were the days of naivete and pacifism. While still surprisingly merciful in a merciless galaxy, Erich redoubled his efforts to thwart schemes against the leaders of the century-long Bundschuh rebellion from within Bruchsal, in the vacuum of space, or on the surfaces of Rheinlandic planets.
As Year 822 winds down, Erich Klugmann remains a quiet and bitter man, and yet possibly the greatest inspiration for the weary Bundschuh movement in more than a decade's time.
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