Regarding the plan for Hessians and other unlawfuls: 4.87 will see a number of changes to Rheinland that should make other unlawfuls have a lot more action than they do now. The main issue is one of gameplay: Hessian ZoI spans the best mining zone in Rheinland (O-7) and if that is empty then you can either go New Berlin where RM will be or go find some Corsairs because your ZoI spans the majority of their ZoI also. On the other hand Unioners are headquartered in Bering/Hamburg which is empty the majority of the time, there's no trade from Liberty to Rheinland due to obvious reasons and the other places they and the Bundschuh have as their primary ZoIs (Munich, Frankfurt) are mostly empty as well. The way the RHA is run, the activity is centred mostly around the western fringe of Rheinland and the Omega systems, so that the other unlawfuls have more room to operate. This is clearly not enough due to reasons unrelated to the Hessians themselves, hence the Munich redesign and various other things that should help activity in the east of Rheinland. On the LWB side of things: Synth Foods is getting a much needed boost to gameplay visibility, so if we're lucky they might be able to play out their lore as well, rather than being "Hessians lite". I'm hoping for an eventual Synth base in Stuttgart to aid that as well.
Regarding Hessian presence: In the end I'm perfectly fine with Hessians hovering around Dresden, Stuttgart and sometimes New Berlin and Frankfurt and no further really. The faction at this moment is geared mostly for encounters with the Corsairs and whoever else will be encroaching on Hessian space in Omega systems. As far as 4.87 goes, Munich should (barring a sudden decrease in server activity) be a nice place for corporate miners/traders to go to, so by extension the Military and also various unlawfuls - both Rheinland and non Rheinland.
In terms of lore the Hessians are still very concerned with the government of Rheinland, but you have to understand Hessian RP on the matter: the strategy is a creeping campaign - you expand influence and arms until you are "too big to fail" (merits or shortcomings of that strategy notwithstanding, Hessian commanders can be just as stubborn and foolish as the next guy and we do try to RP that out). As long as the threat of Liberty against Rheinland is close, the biggest threat to the Hessians will continue to be the Corsairs, and even once the Liberty war ends it will take some time before the Military is actually ready to begin a campaign into the Omega systems, never mind whether it will be willing to do so considering how treacherous that space is. So a Rheinlander joining the Hessians will likely be told "Omega systems belong to the people of Rheinland, we have to fight for our space" and then be told how securing that area will help them launch a campaign against Rheinland once the Corsairs are crippled. Of course the Corsairs will never be crippled, but in RP that's not what the Hessian commanders believe.
Regarding Hessian - Molly angle: O-3 Bretonian presence will bring Mollys with them. Lisburn Rock is a prelude to that, it will become more important in terms of lore and hopefully gameplay once Bretonian activity in O-3 increases.
