Andreas Löw

[Antonio]

Andreas Löw

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Surname: Löw
Name: Andreas
Gender: Male
Nationality: Rheinland

Role: Capital ship and fleet commander
Rank: Major

Date of birth: May 7th 775 A.S.
Place of birth: Planet Stuttgart, Stuttgart

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Pre-Hessian Era

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Löw was born in 775 A.S. in a small town heavily involved in the food production industry. Stuttgart was living its darkest hours during that time due to the rebellion in 770, which notoriously ended in formation of the LWB. 5 years after the revolts, the situation was quieter but attacks and plantation raids were still a common occurrence. His parents used to lead a very successful and rich wheat producing company with many plantations, farms and factories across the planet. Just like everyone else, the catastrophic events in Rheinland led their company to bankruptcy a bit before their son was born. They did not like the presence, influence and actions of Synth Foods on Stuttgart, but they believed violence isn't the right choice so they didn't join the LWB movement. They were hoping for things to improve over time and lived on their savings.

Childhood was tough as the currency was completely devalued and unemployment was skyrocketing. Conflicts were still happening with many people dying every day. It was a chaos. The entire society needed massive intervention from the government to stabilize the situation. Löw's parents saw no future for their son here so they sent him to planet New Berlin to his aunt. It was a very expensive trip due to their saving almost completely dwindling by then, but they did everything they could.

During the flight, Löw (14) was amazed at the space and the opportunity it offers. While being a relatively short trip, it was enough to help him choose a career. He persuaded his aunt to be the financial support and signed up in a Rheinland Military Academy in the capital city of New Berlin. 5 years later he graduated as a fully trained pilot for the Military. His first few years were uneventful, mostly including escorts in and out of New Berlin or local patrols. There were a few clashes with pirates, but the Military outnumbered enemy forces. During that time Löw was not interested in the flying style itself, but the tactical background behind it. Formations, coordination, discipline, controlling a large fleet in a battle were the goals he was trying to learn. He slowly but surely trained to be a commander and in 799 was promoted to be the XO of a gunboat class ship.

800 was the notorious year as it marked the beginning of the Nomad War. Löw heard about the destruction of Freeport 7 which shocked mankind in all Sirius. How can somebody destroy a Freeport? Without anyone knowing anything about the attackers? He had a feeling bad things were coming. Turns out the feeling came true after the destruction of RNC Donau and death of Admiral Otto Schultzky. The whole story spread like a bang through Rheinland who was suddenly hungry for war. Immediate mobilization of all forces and mass production of war vessels started.

Little did he know that key Rheinland figures were already infected and under influence of the Nomads by then, including Schultzky. Rheinland wanted "justice" and started using the death of Donau as an excuse to send their forces across Sirius in hopes of spreading their influence everywhere and preparing to strike at the right moment. Löw was just a clueless soldier back then and had nothing to do but follow orders. He never understood the aggressiveness of Rheinland but had no say in it. His unit was sent to the Omegas to set up a blockade against Bretonia. Tensions were never so high and a full-scale war was a fraction away from happening.

Löw and his crew participated in Cambridge raids in search of the vital artifact where many civilians were assaulted and killed for no reason. He was disgusted with the orders being given and the unwarranted aggression. He was just a second-in-command at the time, but watching those civilians die left a permanent mark on him. The raid was unsuccessful and he was ordered back to Rheinland for consolidation. A few months later the situation was clear - Rheinland was, together with infested parts of Liberty and Kusari, ready to destroy the civilized world. Officially, it was just Rheinland doing the aggression. Due to lack of commanders for their newly constructed war vessels Löw was promoted further and given command of a Donau-class vessel.

After constant border tension and multiple incidents involving Kusari and Rheinland, Chancellor Niemann and Shogun Edo's negotiations failed as one of Rheinland's battlegroups openly attacked a Kusari patrol and killed over 100 soldiers. Kusari immediately declared war on Rheinland. Löw and the rest of the fleet's first order was a massive invasion of Sigmas despite the peace treaty settled with GMG. Movement through Sigmas was met with no resistance from GMG who realised they were greatly outnumbered and not Rheinland's target. The fleet got attacked by Blood Dragons who mostly consisted of fighters and bombers mid-way through the system. The battle was intense and difficult to fully shut down, but the heavily outnumbered BD forces could only delay Rheinland's invasion. Löw commanded his division greatly and contributed to speeding up the process of taking down the snubs. Rheinland lost 2 Bismarcks and a bunch of smaller ships which was nothing compared to their total force.

Rheinland forces invaded Honshu and started sweeping through it. Southern Honshu was being conquered swiftly as Kusari didn't have their fleet mobilized by then and decided to set up as big as possible blockade in the northern part as their only hope of survival. Rheinland slowly waited for all its fleet to enter Honshu before striking. In the meantime Rheinland went to war with Liberty over similar border tensions like with Kusari. Löw and the rest of his fleet in Kusari weren't aware of that until later.

The order was given to attack the blockade. In what was described as the largest battle ever fought in the colonies, the massive Rheinland fleet completely crushed Kusari's forces. Löw did well during both the Sigma and Kusari invasions, applying the skill set he learned as a commander. During the battle he had another Donau, four Oders and twenty snubcraft under his command. His unit was in charge of assaulting the fleet from the right flank and undermining Kusari's blockade. As expected, they took heavy casualties but successfully disrupted the defensive line from Kusari. The Bismarck march managed to power its way through. The end result was clear - Rheinland had an open way to Planet New Tokyo.

Kusari desperately tried to mobilize any reserves they have to protect their homeland. Löw continued to push through to New Tokyo and participated in the second battle near the planet where Kusari got crushed again. The fleet surrounded Planet New Tokyo and demanded an unconditional surrender, or the planet would be bombarded. Kusari had no choice but to surrender, and therefore mark the end of the war. As they were returning home, Löw heard of the news about the Nomads, what has been done in the meantime and the whole behind-the-scenes events of the war.

After they came home he was decorated with a medal of honor for his performance, but he cared very little for it. He saw what Rheinland did to the colonies and how carelessly it almost led to a Nomad victory. All those casualties, civilians included, wars with Liberty and Kusari and the Nomad threat was something Löw couldn't forget. What he once believed in was no longer there, and less than a year after the war he left the Military for a more radical group - Red Hessians.

Hessian Era

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Red Hessians always welcomed pilots, especially after the war where Rheinland was severely weakened. A skilled fleet commander, proven in battle and bright enough to change his views was especially welcome, but there was one element lacking - trust. He joined through visiting Kreuzberg and bribing the Junkers to send him a location of Vogtland, the largest Hessian installation at the time hidden deep inside the northern cloud in Dresden.

He came with peaceful intentions and surrendered. Hessians had little to no intel on him but they knew he was a decorated Military pilot. After a long conversation with the base commander he was accepted into the group. In order to build trust and remove any doubts about him being a Military spy, he went through a couple of starting steps such as raids against the Military to prove his allegiance. He successfully passed them all and was soon in charge of commanding a fighter wing. While not particularly skilled, pillaging transports and training coordination on low risk targets was a good plan.

That is, until they got ambushed by the Intelligence ships one day. They set up a cloaked Donau-class vessel who made a surprise attack on the group. Löw's ship was heavily damaged and he was badly hurt. Luckily the fight was near Vogtland so he managed to escape in time, but his life was hanging by a thread. An emergency surgery was performed and his life saved. However, that also marked a long-term pause of flying in space.

During that time he participated in planning of attacks and general supervision of training pilots as well as spy warfare. He learned the other side of a conflict, one that doesn't include direct assaults and massive exchange of fire. It took 5 years to recover from his wounds but he was finally able to set on a ship. This time he took the role of a commander fully, as flying a fighter craft was not possible anymore. He was given a Heimdall-class ship to command and was in charge of securing Blood Diamonds convoys through Rheinland. He was slowly getting back in shape.

Years have gone by and he slowly started to become an invaluable asset to the Hessians, having fought in more and more battles in Rheinland and north-west Omegas. His most notable performance was during the clash with the Corsairs in one of the countless Omega-5 fights where his performance single handedly won them a fight against all odds. After 20 years of hard work, at 820, he became a Major and was allowed to command a cruiser-class vessel. Despite his age, he remains one of the most vital people in the Red Hessian army and is allegedly waiting a well-deserved promotion to a brigadegeneral.

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