| Cruiser Schwarzwald | |
| Owner | |
| LWB | |
| Location | |
| D/C-7, Cologne |
CLASS: Vidar
CREW: CLASSIFIED
ARMAMENT: CLASSIFIED
The Schwarzwald was a Red Hessian cruiser, sold to the LWB as it reached the end of its service life. After the Hessians completed hand-over training, the LWB positioned the vessel in Cologne. It initially served as a heavy raider, using nearby Jump Holes to attack targets in Hamburg and Stuttgart. It also frequently attacked ALG vessels traveling from Wuppertal Refinery, partially in an attempt to steal MOX reactor fuel, but also in protest of the corporation’s sale of Terraforming Gasses to Synth Foods on Planet Stuttgart.
When the LWB dramatically collapsed in 824 AS, the crew of the Schwarzwald were largely insulated from the chaos and infighting. Being moored at Krefeld Base at the time, they quickly threw in their lot with the Unioners, who agreed to supply the ship in exchange for a cut of all cargo and profits from their raiding. The Schwarzwald later fought alongside the irregular forces of the Imperial cause during the Civil War, primarily harassing scouts from the Federalist Battleship Karlsruhe.
When the Farmers’ Alliance spread to Rheinland by incorporating furious ex-Imperial Stuttgart veterans, the Schwarzwald was quick to return to its roots. This angered the Unioners, who saw the departure as a theft of their property. It quickly became apparent that all was not well in the revived movement, as the Alliance had dramatically different priorities to the LWB and Rheinland farmers. This came to a boil in 834 AS, when the Greifswald and Schwarzwald coordinated to expel the FA and reassert their independence. The cruiser now stalks Cologne, hunting Gallic agricultural shipments.
Bribes & Missions Offered
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Commodities
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Ships sold
| Ship | Class | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Sichel | Very Heavy Fighter | 25,029$ |
| Sense | Bomber | 70,176$ |
| Humpback | Freighter | 18,706$ |
News
| [835 AS] Unlikely friends offer common cause |
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DARMSTATD -- 835 -- The LWB have received an unlikely offer in our mission to win back the freedom of Stuttgart’s farmers. A new gang of Bretonian pirates recently moved into Omega-7, however it’s not loot they’re looking for -- it’s Gallic wreckage. Their recent attack on Freiburg Station targeted an IDF Shipping convoy, fortuitously destroying its cargo of Luxury Foods bound for New Berlin. These “Privateers” want to work together to bloody Gallia as badly as possible in the Alsace Passage -- potentially freeing us to focus more heavily on Synth Foods and other fronts. Darmstadt will be holding open discussions on the proposal shortly. |
| [834 AS] Victory for an independent LWB! |
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DARMSTADT -- 834 -- We looked to the Farmers Alliance for camaraderie in the war against Synth Foods. Instead, we found arrogant foreigners who expected us to be subservient pawns who’d follow their orders, even when it harmed our own people. Sabine Schröder ended this tyranny when she struck down an FA technician on Darmstadt who had abused her. When she was arrested, we rose up. Sabine was sprung from the prison transport, and the FA were ejected from Darmstadt. Now, we begin the truly hard work of repairing the connections in Rheinland the FA damaged, and taking the fight to both Synth and Gallic agri-business. |
| [834 AS] Farmers prepare for war over Gallia deal |
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DARMSTADT -- 834 -- The recent trade deal with Gallia is a nightmare for Stuttgart’s farmers. Already Gallic Food imports have poured into our space, sparking a price war with Synth as both race to the bottom. Independent farmers cannot keep up, with many having only months of margin before they go under. Our people are furious that the government has betrayed them yet again. We must act immediately to strike both Synth and Gallic targets, halting the tide of this foreign filth. Despite this, the Farmer’s Alliance have threatened punishment if Gallic shipping is targeted. This is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. We have dispatched envoys for urgent discussions with our Kusari sponsors. |
| [831 AS] Gate corps clash over 'Blackout'! |
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ABBEVILLE -- 831 AS -- EFL's 'Resilience Taskforce' today reported its findings on The Blackout, claiming to have gathered forensic evidence that proved the cause as Ageira negligence. A spokesperson claimed that the destruction of the Dublin Jump Gate by Molly separatists had created a hyperspace feedback loop that was propagated and amplified through the Ageira gate network. Ageira disputed this finding in their own press release, calling EFL 'fantasists' and countering that their own scientists had narrowed the cause to a rare 'hypernova' stellar event that originated outside the Sirius sector. Both corporations claim that network-wide hardware safeguards have been implemented that would prevent a similar occurrence in the future. Independent researchers have sharply criticized the corporate announcements, accusing both of self-interested misdirection. Professor Sophia Nagel from Heisenberg Research Station called EFL's accusation 'incoherent' and the hypernova explanation 'nonsense' that did not explain the characteristics of the 'Blackout Pulse'. Despite multiple different Pulse recordings being widely disseminated across the neural net, public efforts have so far failed to triangulate its source. |
| [831 AS] Jump Hole Upheaval Causes Chaos |
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HEISENBERG -- 831 AS -- Jump holes across Sirius have become increasingly volatile and chaotic over the last year, with Professor Sophia Nagel from the Heisenberg Research Station linking the unusual phenomena to the Pulse. The Pulse was an unprecedented blast of hyperspace energy that was detected immediately prior to last year's Jump Gate Blackout. Professor Nagel and her team are certain the Pulse originated from outside Sirius, but are otherwise no closer to identifying its source or mitigating a future Blackout event. "Following the Blackout, we began to see immediate signs of jump hole destabilization in multiple different regions, with many ultimately falling out of phase alignment altogether", she commented. The dramatic upending of Sirius' jump hole network has already prompted many groups to abandon stations and withdraw from systems that appear to risk being cut off. While months-long trips between the stars are possible thanks to the Liberty Engine and many centuries of innovation, few ships are designed or provisioned to make such arduous journeys. Those who were displaced by Sirius' redrawn map hope that system connections will return, while adventurers and explorers rush to discover new routes. |
| [831 AS] Pulse phenomenon linked to Blackout |
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AMES RESEARCH STATION -- 831 -- Independent researchers have announced that a hyperspace pulse of unprecedented strength was detected moments before The Blackout, destroying many of the sector’s most sensitive and finely tuned observatories. Surviving data about 'The Pulse' has been widely shared across the neural net in recent days, prompting mass speculation. Professor Katsuma Oster of Ames Research Station described the signal as “astounding”. “These readings are unprecedented, as if reality itself were struck like a gong.” House authorities have remained tight lipped, refusing to share their own observatories' data. |
| [831 AS] 'Blackout' causes jump network failure |
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MANHATTAN -- 831 AS -- Two days ago Jump Gates failed simultaneously across Sirius, freezing commerce and neural net access across the sector. When communications resumed 31 hours later, the news broke of Bretonia's loss of the Dublin system. This twin shock has plunged markets into chaos, prompting fears of sector-wide economic recessions. Interspace estimates that the stoppage alone caused billions of credits in losses. Gallia immediately accused Liberty of causing the outage, claiming the destruction of Dublin's Jump Gate instigated a cascading failure in faulty Ageira infrastructure. Ageira has sharply refuted the allegation, claiming such a systemic effect would be physically impossible. |
| [828 AS] Holstein Accords reunite Rheinland |
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HOLSTEIN -- 828 AS -- Imperialist and Federalist leaders have been locked in fierce negotiations in the weeks since the Thuringian Mutiny. A joint decree has now been issued by the “Consensus Government of the Rheinland Federal Empire”, ending the Civil War. This establishes a power sharing protocol, forcing future governments to include representatives from both ideological blocs. The autonomy of system governments has also been restored, along with a slate of constitutional revisions and the re-institution of the Reichstag. The Federalists have conceded the argument over the office of the Emperor, who will soon be formally nominated for life by the Imperial Convention of elector-princes. |
| [825 AS] Scores die in “Show of Farce” |
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DARMSTADT -- 825 -- Supply Station Neckar was an insult too far for the farmers of Stuttgart. Our leaders drew together LWB from across Rheinland, claimed to have a plan to destroy the Libertonian lair -- instead they led us only to ruin. Now they are dead or captured alongside dozens of our countrymen. The largest force of Bounty Hunters any of us have seen were laying in wait at the edge of the Ostnebel -- they knew exactly when and where to hit us. Were we sold out? Is there a Synth mole among us even now? Perhaps one of those “captured” was really cashing out, and has been sabotaging us from the inside for years? |
| [824 AS] Saalburg falls to Corsair barbarians |
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SAALBURG -- 824 -- Saalburg Depot in Frankfurt has fallen after being attacked by an overwhelming force of Corsair raiders. Our pilots recognized they stood no chance against the attack and retreated to avoid unnecessary loss of life. The Corsairs have occupied the base and dug in, aiming to use it as a forward base for renewed attacks on Rheinland. This is the largest Corsair force to enter Rheinland since the invasion of 815 AS -- Bundschuh and Red Hessian fighters have launched an immediate counter-attack to prevent the barbarians from gaining a permanent foothold. |
| [814 AS] Saalburg LWB scythe down enemies |
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SAALBURG -- 814 -- Squadrons from the newly excavated Saalburg Depot have scored their first victory, destroying a Synth Foods Fertilizer convoy near Frankfurt’s New Berlin Jump Gate. Daumann has recently opened Fertilizer plants on Holstein, likely using Synth loans. Already the Liberty parasite has begun shipping these chemical Fertilizers to Stuttgart, reducing both the distance and cost of imports compared to previous routes from Planet Houston in Texas. There is now an unbroken LWB presence in every system along this new route. Daumann now joins the ranks of domestic traitors, such as ALG who fuel the perversion of Stuttgart’s atmosphere with their Dortmund Terraforming Gasses. No place in Rheinland is safe for Synth or their enablers. |
| [803 AS] Driven to desperation |
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NEW BERLIN -- 803 -- As Rheinland falls further into economic crisis, many face financial ruin. Desperation has driven political radicalism and crime. Where tens of thousands of Military personnel were laid off in the aftermath of the Colony Wars, huge numbers of trained pilots have found themselves unemployed. As local corporations stop recruiting, some have turned to the Bounty Hunter’s Guild, however many have resorted to the Bundschuh, Red Hessians and Unioners. The RFP has already noted a sharp increase in criminal activity across Rheinland and the surrounding border worlds. |