The Frankfurt system is a system in Rheinland space. It is located at the northern end of the Rheinland territory, between New Berlin and Sigma-13. The Bundschuh have their headquarters in this system, and it is used by other pirates to attack targets of opportunity, making travel through the system quite dangerous for traders.
Holstein was ignored for centuries until the government decided it would be politically advantageous to develop the planet as a hedge against encroachment by the Gas Mining Guild (GMG). However, the 80-Years War doomed the project before its completion; Holstein was rendered marginally habitable, if not pleasant. However, Daumann engineers performing a routine survey recently discovered the presence of large amounts of valuable mineral salts in the oceans and a small extraction facility was constructed planetside.
Munich[]
A large gas giant with substantial traces of deuterium and tritium in its upper atmosphere, Munich is currently being mined by Kruger Minerals from their base on Mannheim Station in orbit.
Stulingen[]
Planet Stülingen
A planet that may once have been a moon of Munich, Stulingen is a hot, dry world warmed by internal volcanic processes, but with no atmosphere capable of supporting life.
Believed to be founded by a group of New Berlin University students in 679 AS, the movement had much support among the liberal elite of New Berlin, tired of the corrupt practices of the government that had led them to financial ruin near the end of the 80-Years War. During the Dresden rebellion of 700 AS, the Bundschuh found their first official cause -- shipping supplies "liberated" from Frankfurt to the Kruger and Daumann rebels. Three months after that, sympathetic maintenance workers started sabotaging Daumann manufacturing operations in New Berlin. The industrial heart of Rheinland stopped beating, and the Popular Revolution had begun.
Five years later the Emperor was overthrown, and a new coalition government was established in its place. While the Bundschuh initially pushed for a full investigation into the activities of companies such as Kruger Mining and Daumann Heavy Construction, more pragmatic elements within the government decided that for the newly formed Rheinland Republic to succeed, it needed the support of the aristocrats who controlled those and other major companies. Both Kruger and Daumann were eventually required to pay substantial reparations intended to "improve the Rheinland Republic for the good of all people," and all Rheinland companies were forced to comply with a newly ratified Workers' Rights Convention.
By 715 AS business in Dresden had more or less resumed as usual. The Bundschuh were driven underground, an impractical brand of idealism ill-suited to building a consensus among the many different government factions and the aristocrats who controlled the purse strings. The Bundschuh took the ideological high route, attracting the purists dedicated to overthrowing the corrupt Rheinland regime represented by the government, Daumann, and Republican. The Red Hessians adapted the more pragmatic approach of stealing and plundering in the guise of fighting the powers that be. As a result, the Red Hessian ranks swelled, and the Bundschuh dwindled.
The Bundschuh have always looked to the Unioners, LWB, Red Hessians, and disgruntled Republican, Daumann and Kruger workers for possible recruits. So they maintain a distinct note of neutrality towards the criminal groups, although they find the Red Hessian practice of indiscriminate piracy distasteful. They prefer to focus on Daumann, Republican, and military bases, although they do raid a ship on occasion for supplies, preferably Samura or Kishiro, as they have no more love for Kusari than the rest of the Rheinland.
Fulda Border Station is the command center for the Rheinland Federal Police in the Frankfurt system. The Federal Police is tasked with handling the interdiction of all illegal activity in the area, including drugs, smuggling, and pirate activity. They also maintain a watchful eye on the Gas Mining Guild (GMG).
Mannheim Station is the farthest outpost of the once vast Kruger Minerals concern, mining resources from the nearby gas giant, Munich. The impure gas resources collected from Munich, however, require the re-synthesis of H-Fuel in a process that is uneconomical, but which provides on the few sources for H-Fuel in Rheinland space.
A field of bare rock asteroids, this was once a staging area for military operations during the 80-Years War. The field was later abandoned after Rheinland's bitter defeat at the hands of the Gas Mining Guild (GMG). Ironically, proves have begun to detect substantial Bundschuh presence in the field, though the exact nature of their activities is currently unknown.
Westerwald[]
A large nebula. Sometimes used to hide Unioner raiding parties that strike against valuable cargo being carried along the Trade Lane from the Border Worlds to New Berlin.
