Bruchsal Base

CLASS: Unknown

GRAVITY: Complete

DOCKING: Yes

AMENITIES: Yes

POPULATION: Unknown

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.

## Bribes & Missions Offered

* Junkers
* Red Hessians
* Unioners

## Commodities

* Diamonds
* Food Rations
* MOX
* Pharmaceuticals
* Consumer Goods
* Light Arms

* Water
* H-Fuel

## Rumors

* Those who go to Vierlande seldom return; most sentences are for life, and it’s not just pirates, but the political opponents of the corporate elite as well. The Bundschuh fly attack raids on the prison ships and inbound convoys. We fight to liberate our brethren who have been unjustly incarcerated.
* The Bundschuh is a political organization founded by New Berlin university students who were tired of the corruption of the old regime. Decades later we still toil under the yoke of an oppressive government, though its name has changed.
* The Bundschuh need not lower itself to common piracy like the Red Hessians. Instead, we are funded by the enlightened Berlin intelligentsia looking to do away with the burdens of a corrupt government. This frees us to work directly toward our political agenda without being sidetracked by financial necessities.
* The corporations, though exploitive and uncaring, aren’t truly at fault for what they do. Corporations are intrinsically self-serving; it’s the government’s role to keep them in check. As long as the government is corrupt enough to accept corporate bribes, the workers cannot be free.
* In 700 AS, the Dresden Revolt sparked the Popular Revolution that would do away with the Rheinland Imperial Government and replace it with a coalition of the people. The Bundschuh was a key player in the Dresden Revolt, running supplies to the rebels.