Build by Daumann Heavy Construction, the then called RNC-Weidenbruch was supposed to serve as a quasi-auxiliary craft in the effort of fending off Hessian aggression in the Omega-11 system that threatened corporate interests in the mining of Diamonds. Its captain during the time, Albert Herder, had always been a devout defender of the fatherland — one might even describe him as a true rolemodel of the Rheinwehr prior to the Nomad War. Being a deeply religious, albeit envious and gluttonous man, it was his internalized belief that he was chosen by a higher power to serve the one true House of Sirius rise to power over the others.
Years passed and all that Kapitan Albert Herder seemed to do during these years was protect convoy after convoy after convoy. The job was hard and ungrateful. Since Albert was only given a few precious days off each year during which he could visit his family, it almost seemed to him as if his son was growing in fast motion before his eyes and he was unable to affect his life in any way a father should have been able to. Albert, bound by his religious beliefs, fiercly rejected the notion that his wife, Helena Herder, could have been cheating on him and he was even willing to attribute her bulging belly that he saw upon his visit on Christmas Eve to Helena simply indulging her sweet tooth too much. He himself turned to drinking soon afterwards, soon coming to terms with the harsh reality that God had forsaken him and that that which he had been fighting to nourish and protect had turned to ash.
That knowledge broke him.
His reason to fight gone, Albert found solace in gambling, alcohol and hookers. Why wouldn't he? His life was senseless anyways. One day, there would come a time where he would be surprised by a Hessian ambush and reduced to cinders, burned alive withing the smouldering remains of his ship in the cold space of the Omega region.
One day, he met a rather peculiar woman when visiting hist most frequented bar. She was charming, witty and managed to captivate Albert's attention like none had managed in a long time. From this time forward, he would be visiting the site simply to talk with the woman who never told him his name. Months turned into years, and with this woman, Albert would find a steady income of good discourse. Astute as she was, the woman had no difficulty discerning that he was of Military occupation and soon, through the power of the sly word, would she also know of his former dreams and convictions.
As he told her that he was of the firm belief that Rheinland, as the strongest house, should be way more influential than it was. The lost war with the GMG had dishonored the proud military traditions of Rheinland and only blood could purge that tarnish upon its once pristine reputation. The woman smiled and, leaning forward, whispered that Albert would perhaps soon get his chance to prove the value of his words. Giving him a set of coordinates, she left him. The following day, Albert ordered his ship to visit the given coordinates, which turned out to reveal a jump hole into the distant Omega-9 system.
Overwhelmed by curiosity, he ordered his ship to cross the rift between the stars despite the unease of his crew, who were more than unwilling to tread unknown places — not that he cared for the opinions of his inferiors, since it wasn't their place to gainsay. What greeted their eyes was a seemingly empty system, as they were not aware that Omega-9 was still in the birth stage, as it were.
They decided to survey the system, taking a special interest in the accretion disk surrounding the protostar, which was a rare scientific opportunity to observe. However, they were ill equipped for extended stays and thus they soon had to leave again. Herder was slightly disappointed, as he had hoped for something better than this, given how the woman had acted, yet he convinced himself that this wonderous system probably bore some sort of treasure that could be utilzed in warfare. The more scientifically literate crewmen seemed thrilled to have been here, at least, which filled him with determination.
Submitting their findings, the Bundestag soon authorized the RNC-Weidenbruch to refit and return to the system for further studies of the accretion disc. For that purpose, a portion of the crew was replaced with scientists and a considerable amount of armament was replaced by sensor arrays and other, similar equipment. Due to the proximity to Hessian territory, the Bundestag furthermore authorized an escort consisting of five snubcraft that would periodically be swapped with well-rested pilots to protect it from presumed Hessians.
The mission was simple and supposed to last only a month at most. However, a week after their initial arrival, Kapitän Herder noticed that the crew seemed on edge, especially the males, who began exhibiting a peculiar brand of territorial and later even aggressive behavior. He himself felt no change, which was odd, yet there were instances where he needed to forcefully remand his eager inferiors to their place. After one such occurance, during the night, the woman came to him in his dreams and persuaded Herder to sabotage the life support as punishment for the continued insolence going on on his ship.
Needless to say, he was not the most sane of persons at this point.
Just as he succeeded in destroying the RNC-Weidenbruch's carbon dioxide filtering system and the first crewmen including Herder himself began to drop to their knees, their snubcraft escort got systematically and momentarily annihilated by five uncloaking Rheinwehr Valkyries. None of the asphyxiating inhabitants of the derelict Rheinland Cruiser would notice any of that before consciousness failed them.
In a stroke of luck, a Core Arcani group picked up the fight and decided to join in. A bloodbath ensued in which the unknown Rheinwehr ships ultimately succumbed to the superior numbers of the Core. With their numbers severely decimated, the Rheinlanders withdrew from the sector, leaving the derelict RNC-Weidenbruch, with all its systems still powered up, to drift through space. It ultimately ended up being pulled into the protostar's graviational well and joined the debris forming the accretion disk, where it would be hidden from most sensors of that time. Thus, silence reigned supreme on the ship for many years, while the carcasses of its crew slowly started to rot. Finding nothing of value left, the Core forces contnued on the mission they had initially been assigned to, reporting that there were no traces of the vessel and that it had likely been torn apart by the star's gravity.
End Entry
// Kudos to @Foxglove for this roleplay, and allowing me to continue to use it. This allows me to progress the roleplay this player has started for the faction the ship is apart of.