History of Rheinland
The history of Rheinland begins with the arrival of it's sleeper ship in Sirius in 2 A.S. Landing in the southern fringes of the sector, nearby the resource rich Walker Nebula, Rheinland was assured an abundancy in natural resources unlike any other house, although still devoid of fuel gases. It's imperial government attempted to secure gas fields in the nearby Crow Nebula by declaring war on the Gas Miners Guild in 589 A.S. Rheinland's push was unsuccessful however, and ended in the country descending into chaos at the dawn of 672 A.S., the date of the Popular Revolution.
The Federal Republic would be formally recognised in 673 A.S., and would slowly descend back into military dictatorship over the following years, until the Nomad War of 800 A.S. After the destruction of the infested Rheinland fleet that attacked Kusari, the house would finally begin rebuilding slowly, until being falling under the control of Chancellor Reinhardt in 813 A.S. only to be established under his boot as a fascist dictatorship.
Early history
Escape from Sol
The period of the century before 0 A.S. (2100-2200 A.D.) was dominated by the war between the Alliance, composed out of western nations of the earth, and the Coalition, created by the east. After a century of brutal warfare, the conflict eventually tipped in favour of the Coalition, when their forces successfully conquered the planet Mars. As a last ditch effort, the Alliance had activated eight sleeper ships constructed for escape purposes in the event of a Coalition victory, each of the ships being christened after it's patron nation. The German ship was christened as the Rheinland.
In 0 A.S. (2200 A.D.) the Coalition push reached Jupiter, and the Alliance sleeper ships were launched from the surface of Titan, straight into a full blown Coalition blockade. During the breakthrough, three of the ships (French, Italian and Australian) were destroyed. Five managed to escape: the Kusari, the Bretonia, the Hispania, the Liberty and the Rheinland. Their course was set towards the distant Sirius sector, a long way away from their conflict in the Solar System.
Arrival in Sirius
The Rheinland sleeper ship arrived in Sirius in 2 A.S., a year after the Liberty. The ships' captain and small crew, woken up from statis by the navigational computer after reaching their destination, quickly assessed that the American sleeper ship had landed somewhere in the middle of the sector. Thus they have spent a few months scouring the outer reaches of the sector, until finally deciding to land in a resource rich system close to the Walker Nebula. The Rheinland descended on an icy planet (quickly christened as New Berlin) in 3 A.S.
New horizons
New Berlin was a cold and unforgiving world, devoid of life, and with a very slow rotation rate. With the day and night each lasting for little more than a standard year, the planet's night side was plunged into a frigid winter, while it's day territories enjoyed temperatures hovering slightly above the freezing point. Due to Berlin's obvious inability to spawn crops, the Rheinland population was driven almost to famine, being sustained entirely by the hydroponic farms onboard the sleeper ship itself, until the first crops were grown in specially designed mineral nutrient greenhouses.
The New Berlin system itself was ripe with mineral resources, and heavily surrounded by metal rich asteroid fields. Rheinland colonists, knowing they would need to find a "green" world in order to expand their population, quickly took to the stars in a search for new planets. In 40 A.S. the famous Oder Shipyard was completed, and it would begin construction of exploration ships immediately, completing it's first vessel in 41 A.S. Seven more explorer ships were built to survey neighbouring systems for habitable worlds and new resources. One of the explorers sent would be Lorenz Von Rohe, who's expedition, first sent in 69 A.S. would survey the Dresden system in 82 A.S. and mark it for it's incredible wealth in both metals and carbons, and especially diamonds. A different expedition stumbled upon the Stuttgart system on the very edge of the Walker Nebula in approx. 85 A.S. The expedition identified two habitable planets orbiting a young sun. Knowing this is exactly the thing they were looking for, they immediately sent the data back to New Berlin. As soon as that data arrived, Rheinland immediately began construction of a different type of ship - a colony ship. This ship, carrying about five thousand colonists, would embark in 87 A.S. and reach planet Stuttgart two years later. Upon reaching Stuttgart, the colonists would quickly note the environment, rich in oxygen and carbon dioxide, as extremely favourable to both Earth and Sirius crops. The planet would be quickly developed into a granary for all of Rheinland, generating demand for transport vessels at Oder. The first ships suited for food transport would deliver the first load in the fall of 91 A.S.
The second century
Rheinland Empire
Rapid expansion
Interhouse relations
Eighty Years War (589-668 A.S.)
Popular Revolution (672 A.S.)
As was predicted, the war with the GMG left Rheinland with nothing. The fleet was destroyed, and the years of war-time economy and cutting costs have left the mining industry on the verge of complete bankruptcy. Dissent was forming in the larger cities of Planet New Berlin and Nuremberg. The standing heads of state quickly realised the implications the war has left on the economy, and began desperately searching for help. In 672 A.S. Liberty agrees to bail Rheinland out by providing a long term, low interest loan. This same year the market in Rheinland crashes completely as it's currency suffers catastrophic devaluation. With smaller companies and corporations alike declaring bankruptcy almost over night, and the mining industry attempting to survive by choking it's workers out of their money, the long coming revolution finally came.
On Von Rohe's Day, 672 A.S., Daumann mining stations in Dresden were seized and locked down by miners in a widespread general strike. The miners claimed that the imperial government had failed, and demanded it stand down and make way for a new people's state. Supplied by Bundschuh revolutionaries, the miners managed to hold out on the station for five weeks before word about the revolt was finally spread to the planet populations. Two months after the start of the uprising, workers sympathetic to the miners' cause lock down Daumann facilities on Planet New Berlin. A few days later the first riots take place on Hamburg and Stuttgart. With the industrial heart of the economy grinding to a halt, the government is finally forced to give in. The Bundschuh movement is publically recognised, and it's representatives are invited to meet with the imperialists. A period of tense negotiations follows, as the roots of a new, coalition government are formed.
