Rhienland Timeline

800s: 800AS - 810 AS

800 AS

• The Rheinland Northern Fleet advances into the Sigmas, brushing the Gas Miner's Guild (GMG) aside and driving straight into Kusari. Meanwhile, the Western Fleet clashes with Liberty in Bering and Hudson, and the Southern Fleet with Bretonia in the Omegas.
• The Kusari Naval Forces are decisively routed in the Battle of Honshu, with Rheinland taking control of the system. The bulk of the fleet advances on New Tokyo, where Shogun Edo himself begins to draw together reinforcements for the defense.
• The Nomad-controlled Chancellor Niemann is killed in Liberty by The Order, while attempting to infect President Jacobi.
• The Rheinland Military destroys the remnants of the Kusari Naval Forces in Planet New Tokyo's orbit, and demand Edo's unconditional surrender to avoid a devastating bombardment of the capital's cities.
• The Order appears to successfully defeat the Nomads in the Omicrons, causing the collapse of their control over the Rheinland Military and governmentThe Rheinland Military's expeditionary fleets are thrown into chaos as many admirals suddenly drop dead or appear to go mad. The majority of serving crews report immediate symptoms of disorientation and amnesia. The fleets fragment with most beginning to retreat towards Rheinland.
• Kusari militias, the Blood Dragons and GMG attack retreating Rheinland units in the Second Battle of Honshu.
• The CEO of Daumann Heavy Construction, Wolfgang Daumann, goes into seclusion. His office advises this is due to health concerns. Republican CEO Klaus Schulze also disappears, in light of "threats to his security".
• The Provisional Rheinland Government (PRG) is formed from surviving, non-infected opposition politicians. They immediately recall Rheinland's forces from Kusari and all other theatres.
• The Nomad-infected Military vessels from the Second Battle of Honshu desert, disappearing into the Sigmas. Thousands of ships vanish, including all surviving battleships. These ships would later come to be known as 'The Wild' for the ferocity of their indiscriminate attacks on targets across Rheinland and the Omegas. Desertions from the Western and Southern Fleets are less pronounced, and in several cases, crew mutinies result in the death of Nomad-controlled officers.
• Liberty announces its backing for the PRG following intense negotiations, with the PRG confirming its intention to decommission the surviving elements of the Colony Wars invasion fleet in order to access interest-free Liberty lifeline financing and avoid immediate bankruptcy. An exception is agreed for the Battleship Westfalen, which was in too poor a state to participate in the invasions and will remain in Hamburg to uphold Rheinland's security obligations in the Independent Worlds.

801 AS

• Liberty Security Force and Bretonian Intelligence Service agents are welcomed into Rheinland by the PRG to assist with "identifying and suppressing treasonous elements" associated with the Neimann regime.
• The Rheinland Military High Command disappears, along with their battleships. Bounties are issued across all four Houses amid accusations of intentional war crimes committed in Kusari.
• Liberty-hosted mediation between Kusari and Rheinland catastrophically fails. Kusari imposes a trade embargo on Rheinland, demanding harsh reparations and the prosecution of war criminals before normalisation of relations will be considered. The PRG commits to "restoring the faith" of its neighbors, but is unable to reach a satisfactory deal with Kusari.
• Rheinland's economy is in freefall. Pre-war estimates showing dropping unemployment and improving investment sharply reverse on Planet Hamburg. Looking to insulate themselves from the gloomy forecast, Republican Shipping shutter their local corporate headquarters and relocate a number of executives to Ingolstadt Station in Munich.
• The PRG cuts the Rheinland Military's roster by over 80%, leaving tens of thousands of pilots, crew and support staff unemployed. Hundreds of capital ships are parked in Pottsdam's orbit to await decommissioning at Rheinland shipyards. The sudden culling of the Military sparks outrage, however the PRG claim this was an absolute condition of both Bretonia and Liberty to avoid punitive action, and to access relief funding.

802 AS

• The first post-war elections are organised, with the newly seated Reichstag nominating Alfred Steller as Chancellor - a senior PRG official. His government focuses on rebuilding diplomatic and trade links with the other Houses and continuing to purge Rheinland institutions of high-profile individuals associated with Chancellor Niemann's regime.
• Rheinland officially enters a steep recession. As the Steller administration continues to audit the state's finances, one official describes Chancellor Neimann's last years in office as "akin to deliberate sabotage". Neimann has left Rheinland with the heaviest debt burden in its history.
• The MND are formed to provide an autonomous counter-infiltration and espionage capability. The new agency is equipped with ships and materiel from the so-called "Potsdam Armory". The Chancellor instructs the MND to secretly cooperate with The Order in their mandate, while dismissing the LSF and BIS taskforces that had previously been stationed in Rheinland. The MND's first director is Von Claussen, once a Rheinland Military hero.
• The MND are ordered to investigate Chancellor Neimann's activities in Thuringia, a long abandoned 80-Years War stronghold of the Rheinland Imperial Navy. Upon entering the system, the Order and MND meet heavy resistance from Nomad-controlled rearguard units of Northern Fleet. This struggle would come to be known as 'The Purge of Thuringia' and remains a state secret to this day.

803 AS

• Liberty attempts to reopen negotiations with Rheinland about the potential purchase and annexation of the Hudson system. The Neimann administration had abruptly terminated the previous talks after appearing to come close to issuing its consent. Chancellor Steller declines the talks, advising that he would not be comfortable making territorial concessions during a time of crisis.
• Daumann CEO Wolfgang Daumann is assassinated on Planet Baden Baden by operatives of the Bundschuh, allegedly with support from The Order.
• Several wrecked components from the Schatten Research Facility in Frankfurt are salvaged by the Rheinland Military and brought back into service. Schatten is initially used as a staging post for the Purge of Thuringia.
• Liberty begins to taper off its "lifeline financing" as the Steller administration establishes itself and begins to implement spending controls. Relations sour as Rheinland interprets this as punishment for rebuffing Hudson negotiations.
• The Purge of Thuringia sees the Osiris push Nomad forces away from Planet Weimar, allowing the MND and Order to secure its orbit. Marine regiments from Hamburg begin their invasion, which involves clearing heavily fortified and trapped positions in old 80-Years War era bunkers and warrens of unmapped tunnels.
• The Battleship Westfalen has its active service life extended for another 10 years. The ancient vessel is the last remaining active duty Rheinland battleship, having been deemed unfit for deployment during the invasions of 800 AS. Military whistleblowers warn that the Westfalen's state is critical, and poor maintenance poses a deadly threat to servicemen aboard.
• Attacks are recorded across the deep Omegas, with unknown ships indiscriminately pillaging supplies and kidnapping pilots. The moniker ‘Wilde Jagd’ (Wild Hunt) is first applied by Hessian patrols on account of their sudden and ferocious raids, although commonly shortened to The Wild. The ships attack without warning with cloaking devices, rarely leaving survivors.

804 AS

• Rising unemployment and large numbers of unemployed and destitute Military pilots force many to turn to crime. Membership of the Bundschuh, Red Hessians and Unioners surge. Some seek membership with the Junkers of Kreuzberg, but are turned away.
• The MND arrests Republican CEO Klaus Schulze on Planet Nuremberg on charges of treason. The Armoured Transport prisoner convoy carrying him is intercepted by the Bundschuh in Frankfurt and destroyed. Schulze and the full security complement escorting him are killed.
• Documents are leaked revealing the extent of public funds paid to DHC and Republican as a part of Niemann's fleet construction drive in the 790s. There are calls for corporate executives to be prosecuted as war criminals and the profits from the awarded contracts clawed back. The government is eventually forced to commission an inquiry by public outrage, led by senior prosecutor Otto Schweizer.
• Wuppertal Refinery is constructed in Cologne, as a joint project between Kruger Minerals and ALG Waste Disposal.
• The Second Treaty of Honshu is formally signed by Chancellor Steller, normalising diplomatic relations and trade between Rheinland and Kusari. A 20 year reparations plan is agreed.

805 AS

• Hamburg University teeters on bankruptcy following the withdrawal of both Federal and System funding. Republican Shipping steps in as a "corporate guardian", providing extensive funding in exchange for exclusive rights to commercially exploit IP resulting from funded programmes.
• Following decades of delays due to funding cuts and project freezes, the Ausburg Orbital Colony is completed in Munich using government investment stimulus funds. The station was intended to trial large scale orbital habitats, with the objective of relieving crowding on Planet New Berlin. Due to enormous cost overruns, the complex is marketed as luxury accommodation, to widespread criticism.
• Rheinland attends Denver Convention, which upholds the Sirius-wide ban on the Artifact trade, establishes additional prohibitions on the research of live Artifacts, and sets annual limits on military shipbuilding.

806 AS

• The MND and The Order successfully purge the last Nomad remnants from Planet Weimar, which had fortified themselves in an ancient alien ruin, deep below Weimar's surface. A live Artifact in the newly discovered ruins was the focus of Nomad attention. The Order and MND's partnership collapses over a dispute on the Artifact's custody. Order operatives ultimately kill several MND agents to seize it before retreating with the Osiris.
• Von Claussen is dismissed as the director of the MND, likely owing to his relationship with The Order.
• Jena Station is constructed in Thuringia to act as a quarantine lab for further sensitive discoveries made on Planet Weimar.
• Kruger Minerals narrowly avoids a hostile takeover by ALG Waste Disposal, who had planned to asset-strip and then liquidate the venerable corporation after becoming disillusioned with the prospects for their partnership. Kruger's CEO is ousted by a newly appointed investor-chairman, who begins a process of radical downsizing to restore profitability. ALG and Kruger are embroiled in several major lawsuits, with each alleging various breaches of contract.

807 AS

• The demilitarization initiated by the PRG is completed. Government auditors release a damning report describing ships that had been built en-mass to cheap, obsolete, 80-Years War standards, rather than the modernised classes that were billed for. The auditors refer significant amounts of evidence to the Schwizer Commission, describing potentially fraudulent activity.
• Liberty files a complaint with New Berlin over rampant piracy in Hudson, Bering and Hamburg, stating that Rheinland is not meeting its obligations to adequately patrol its space. Liberty offers to provide reduced-interest funding for extended RFP patrols, which Rhienland declines.

808 AS

• Chancellor Steller is re-elected for a 2nd term.
• The Battleship Rio Grande deploys forces to Hudson to carry out a campaign against Liberty Rogue pirates in the region. Rheinland reacts with alarm, realising that the largely decommissioned Rheinland Military would be unable to respond to any move by Liberty contesting the border. A defence strategy review is commissioned on the reconstruction of the Military.
• Otto Schweizer delivers the damning findings of the Schweizer Commission. The report describes "inexplicable" and "self-destructive" financial decisions made by senior politicians across the late 790s, in apparent collusion with senior officers of Daumann Heavy Construction and Republican Shipping to defraud the state. Charges are filed against several senior corporate executives, although both CEOs responsible for the period in question are dead.
• Hamburg University announces that it will no longer publicly publish academic papers, instead making papers available through a paid commercial affiliates scheme managed by Republican Shipping. Objections are raised by a number of prominent institutions, including Cambridge and New Berlin, over the chilling effect this will have on academic discourse.
• The Reichstag tables legislation to begin clawing back funds from both Daumann and Republican, however both corporations sue the government in an attempt to block the move.

809 AS

• The Rheinland Military's defence strategy review is delivered to the Reichstag. The Military fails on all graded metrics, having deteriorated significantly from under-investment in the aftermath of the post-Colony Wars cuts. It recommends a gradual rearmament process, starting with the commissioning of two new hulls to replace the decrepit Battleship Westfalen.
• Altona Station is renovated as an orbital manufacturing facility, exploiting a production process for Nanotubes developed by Hamburg University.
• The "Next Generation Bismarck" program is approved funding by the Reichstag, with contract bidding opened. This is largely modelled on the previously discontinued Bremen project.

810 AS

• Following popular unrest about the cutting of social programs, the Reichstag halves the Next Generation Bismarck's funding allocation, reducing the project to one hull. The contract is awarded to Daumann, with the class being renamed from Bremen to Westfalen in recognition of the previous battleship's service. The decision is challenged by ALG, with the project grinding to a halt while the procurement slowly grinds its way through the courts.

810s: 811 AS - 820 AS

811 AS

• Kaiserslautern Depot is restored by the LWB and utilized as a staging point for attacks on Synth Foods convoys headed to Frankfurt, and Fertilizer shipments headed to Stuttgart.