Rheinland, although rich in mineral resources, is a House whose most inhabitable planets are covered by snow. When Planet Stuttgart, a warm and fertile world, was discovered in 94 AS, it was immediately settled and dubbed the Jewel of Rheinland. Its land would feed all of Rheinland for centuries.
Stuttgart was populated mostly with farmers and great landowner families, the most prominent of whom were the Bachmeier, Erlichmann, Sterl and Weiss. The agricultural population organized itself into a collective known as Weltbau Verein von Stuttgart (WVS, Worlbuilder Group of Stuttgart), a powerful Farmers Rights union that successfully lobbied New Berlin for farming subsidies for centuries. The government money boosted Stuttgart’s food output and greatly enriched the farmers.This state lasted until the Eighty Years War in the 6th and the 7th century, which toppled the Rheinland Empire. Finding itself bankrupt after its end, the fledgeling Rheinland Republic borrowed huge sums of money from Liberty in order to survive. Not able to return them, the government decided to sell its most precious jewel to Synth Foods, a Liberty corporation.
Synth’s policies cost many farmers their business, as Synth industrialized the food production process. They produced more food, albeit of questionable quality, and sold it for a better price. Neither the small farmers nor the great landowners could keep up. Playing with the planet as it was only their own, the corporation changed its climate extensively, which caused an ecological disaster.
The WVS appealed to the government, but their complaints fell on deaf ears. Outraged, radical elements among the farmers attacked and razed the Synth terraforming plants. In response, Synth put pressure upon the government to replace the leadership of the WVS with Synth lackeys.This was as much as the farmers could tolerate, triggering a global revolt. Outraged farmers, environmental activists and sympathisers joined forces and founded the Landwirtschaftsbewegung (LWB, Farmer Rights Movement), which, according to rumors, was led by a member of the Erlichmann family at the time.
The LWB began a campaign designed to drive Synthfoods out of Rheinland by destroying their assets and their profit, both on Planet Stuttgart, and in space. But despite their best efforts and no matter how coordinated they were, the LWB were not successful. Synth remained in hold of Stuttgart.
Glancing at the matter, the Nomad War which followed was a disaster for Rheinland’s econom, but because of that it also strengthened the LWB. It might have lasted for less than a year, but it left a little resentment to everything Libertonian in Rheinland, and it left the cauldron of Pandora boiling. In 817 it errupted. This time it was Liberty that invaded Rheinland.
With Stuttgart, a Rheinland planet, owned by a Liberty corporation, the LWB propaganda machine sprang into action. But, they were not the only ones using the war for their own gains. Franz Bachmeier was a descendant of the once great family of landowners and had claims to 6% of the planet’s entire ground surface, once owned by his family. He was aware what an opportunity he had missed in the chaos during and after the Nomad War, but he was too young at the time. Shortly after it he became a member of the WVS and, by 816, he was already at its head, thanks to pretending to be a loyal client of Synth Foods.
Two years later, after Gabriel Muller, the Minister of Agriculture had been assassinated by an anarchist, allegedly instead of the Chancellor, Bachmeier ran for his replacement. He turned his policy by 180° and presented himself as a protector of the common farmer, promising, in the middle of the Rheinland-Liberty War, to return Planet Stuttgart to Rheinland. Such sudden treason to Synth cost him his WVS membership, but won him the office. As Minister of Agriculture, Bachmeier began slowly building pressure against Synth. The common people quickly crowned him as a hero. Little did they know that he was but a demagogue who merely used the people’s discontentment for his own goals. They were, unknowingly, saved from him by no other than Synth, who pulled their strings in the Government.
Bachmeier was trialed and found guilty for the murder of Gabriel Muller in 822, after the war with Liberty had ended. He died in prison a year later, allegedly from a heart attack.
Rheinland was facing its third economic depression and the theorized murder of the farmers’ hero by the government was another spark of rebellion. Violent protests began only a day later. They culminated on April the 12th of 824, when an army of about 1,000 discontent farmers appeared at the gates of the Hauptbahnhof Starport, the main connection of Planet Stuttgart with space. But they were not only farmers. They had spent a whole year peparing for this move. They came to the starport one by one, as usual passengers, and assembled on that same day at its rim. They even brought two tractors upgraded into armoured vehicles and an air force of five privately owned fighters. It was all very sudden and unexpected. Seven members of Synth security and one farmer were killed before the starport surrendered. The farmers stole all ships they could man, including a Condor-class gunboat, and took off before any significant force could reply. Forty-one men, along with the two improvised tanks, bravely stayed on the ground as their rear guard, and were taken prisoner without combat when the Rheinland police arrived, as they did not wish to kill their fellow countrymen. But the main body of the rebels had alredy made it to their destination in the Ostnebel by that time. They passed right in front of Battleship Karlsruhe, which was not yet informed of what was going on.
The forty-first man or, more precisely, woman, who stayed on the Planet, was the movement leader, Rosa Lichtenstein, a forty-year-old widowed inn keeper and former cook in the Military. She was given a quick trial, which was not emitted across the Neural Net in order to avoid violent protests. She was found guilty for treason and executed. The remaining forty men were sentenced to at least 10 years. The figure who lead the main force into space was the second-in-command, Friedrich Liebknecht. His general motive was the same as of all other farmers, but he also used to be secretly in love with Rosa Lichtenstein. Her death at the hands of the government made him even more zealous, and not only eager to attack Synth transports, but also government units and even the Military. He spent the last few months consolidating his group’s position in the LWB, recently emerging as the most prominent figure.The disarray on Planet Stuttgart had since quieted down, to Synth’s satisfaction, but they were fully aware that it was only temporary.
In 824 A.S. with the death of Rosa Lichtenstein, the Landwirtrechtbewegung lost its head and most of the people lost hope in their fight against Synth Foods. With being scared of getting pursued and executed by the Büro and Military, half of the Bewegung faded into the undergrounds, while the other half joined the Hessians and Unioners to continue their battle against the Federal Republic and Synth Foods. Time moved on and the Hessians, Unioners and Coalition slowly took over the remaining stations of the Bewegung.
With the dawn of the Rheinland civil war in 827 A.S. the Stuttgart Farmer were finally hoping about positive changes and Synth Food getting kicked off the planet. While the imperial government gave Synth Food an ultimatum to either follow the guidelines or leave the planet at once, Synth Food managed to turn the ultimatum around and even profit from this deal. With the Farmers being more than unhappy, they decided to use the chaos of the war to recall Friedrich Liebknecht and slowly rebuild the Landwirtrechtbewegung.
Diplomacy
Allied
None
Friendly
None
Neutral
A/)- Technocracy of Auxo
Daumann Heavy Constructions
Junker
Freelancer
Mollys
Unioner
Hessians
Gaians
Bundschuh
Unfriendly
House Corporations
Rheinland Federal Police
Büro des Marinenachrichtendiensts
Hostile
Liberty
Infected humans
Nomads
Rheinland Military
At War
Synth Food
Corsairs
Equipment and Stations
Owned Stations:
Damrstadt Depot
Equipment:
Fighters - Civilian, Borderworlds, Sichel, Sense
Transport vessels - Ragnar and Behemoth
Gunboat vessels - Condor
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