of the 3rd planet, Beckhausen. The 4th planet, Nervenheilanstalt was colonized a century afterwards as a
source of cheap labour & foodstuffs for the mining colonies on barren Beckahausen. The fifth planet,
Helgarde, is a toxic frozen wasteland, while the 6th planet, Milchglas is a smaller, yet less, hostile iceworld.
The 1st two planets Beck's Hell, & Ulrichtot, are hot, tiny insignificant worlds.
The Reichbeck Kompanie currently extracts radioactive ores, silver, lead, gold, natural gas, helium &
copper in commercially viable amounts. The industrial metals iron, bauxite, etc., were exhausted 2 centuries
ago.
Heavily mined over the centuries, Beckhausen is no longer a rich world but still contributes much to the
von Beck exchequer. Despite the hard conditions requiring survival equipment there frequent miners
revolts in the last 3 three centuries (884-891, 934, 1020-1027). The revolution that deposed the military junta on Nervenheilanstalt started on Beckhausen. Smuggling has operated since as far back as 344.
Though having no standing water, the world has an extensive underground aquifer system near the equator,
& there are extensive methane swamps near the starport & only town, Beckhausen. Most the nonswamp
plants native to Beckhausen have an root system often 6 to 8 times the height of the plant above ground.
Like Nervenheilanstalt, Beckhausen suffered much from the recent revolt ( its C-class starport barely
operates as a D-class), being the site of numerous battles between the junta forces, 2 regeiments of Luft-
grenadiers & the miners & their offworld allies.
After the ceasefire, the von Beck family's Beckhausen Company took over as the government with Marlena
Hedwig von Beck as the Beckhausen director. Security is maintained by 3rd Battalion, Nervenheilanstalt
Lebengarde & by 3 SDB's of the 4th von Beck Reitersquadron.
Besides the scheduled Stern-Hansa transports, several smugglers operate on Beckhausen (Aarabella, Maladroit Jeste, & others ) with the covert permission of Baron Manfred. They supply the system's populace with
much needed supplies in exchange for Beckhausen's mineral wealth.
developed garden worlds in Die Weltbund space. The export crops are wheat, rye, & rice. The world's well maintained fisheries are another successful export & the planet is famed for its cusine. Another export is schlangesteak cut from the Huugens, a giant (40+) semi-aquatic constrictor snake native to the Schlangelande
swamps.
Its main starport, Landebahn Starport was C-class before the recent war when it & its hotel complex was destroyed
by Grand Navy cruisers in 1117. The capital, Nervenheilanstadt, was largely unharmed due to its early occupation
by the 33rd Luftgrenadier Regt. Towards the end of the war, the 33rd Regt. went over to the rebels, forming the
core of the Nervenheilanstalt Lebengarde Brigade.
During the war the fisheries & fishing towns on Mittelort & Krachen were devastated & will take a few decades to
recover. On Krachen there still exists armed rebels unwilling to recognise any offworld authority, the
Krachenfreikorps. Baron Manfred have left these rebels to their devices while allowing smugglers & offworld
aid groups such as LOS to operate on the island continent.
Nervenheilanstalt's oceans are rather shallow, broken by thousands of rocky or volcanic island chains. The deepest
part is the Mannheim trench south of Walinsel at 1000 meters deep. The harbors & offshore waters of the major
land masses are very shallow, requiring vessels of less than 3 meters draft.
The largest fish in Nervenheilanstalt's seas is the Walfische, a catfish-resembling filterfeeder growing up to
12 meters long. Walfische are very commercially for both food & materials & managed to keep viable numbers.
There are walfische nurseries at Meerstadt on Landebahn & on the isle continentint of Mittelort (though the
later was destroyed in 1118).
Baron Manfred has building clandestine alliances with Guildheim, Kilogren, Fraldanhylla, Abyss, & Hardass in
case some day he is forced to declare the Nervenheilanstalt system's independence. He also maintains a clandestine
Imperial embassy at Nervenheilanstadt. He has also been approached by the Duchy of St. Foy, but at this time
does not trust the duke. All of the military & navy forces based in the system are loyal to him & he can depend on
the support of several corsairs as as Rani St. James, Bette Noire, Deron Cortez & Princess Kukech of the Poixch.
Nervenheilanstalt has two moons, Kaspar, an ovoid planetoid a 1000 km by 895 km, & Klee, a more normal moon
800 km in diameter. Kaspar & Klee both contained defense bases destroyed by the Grand Navy in the recent war.
tried in 1056-1064 to establish a clandestine base there, but eventually wrote the project off.
Helgarde has 6 moons, Eck, Sibirien, Boll, Bach, Berg, Hesel.
(224, 340, 343, 675, 895, 986, 1094, 1095, 1102) & been destroyed 3 times (445, 988, 1023). Eishaus Base in Eishaus
Ice Chasm is their major refuge center, containing 4 mothballed SDB's & supplies for up to 5 years. Raubdruckerluft Ice Chasm comes from its use as a pirate base (the attack of 1023 was mounted by warships using it as a base) in the past.
Many of the Reitersquadron's SDB's retreated to Raubdruckerluft during the recent revolt. A base with a battery of
16 missile launchers has been in operation since 1120.
Milchglas's main base sprawls over 4 miles above & below the ice. It is protected by 3 particle accelerator barbutes, &
8 triple missile turrets originally built in 1026-1030 & 3 triple laser turrets installed by the navy during 1117-1118.
The base saw no action during the revolt, but 2 LOFWIA bombships were destroyed in 1121 trying to hit the base.
Baron Manfred has recently moved 3 ice asteroids from the system's outer asteroid belt. He plans to convert them
to orbital monitors & has been trying to obtain spinal mount weapons for them.
Kompanie which runs the system. He has strengthen the system's defense by offering land and other incentives to
outworld corsairs to get them to join the Reitersquadron & offering protection & naval rank other corsairs (Bette Noire
& Deron Cortez operate as Reitersquadron Captains when in system). A charismatic workaholic (14 hr. days being
the norm) he has won over most of the disaffected populace of the system. Having been commander of the Reiter-
squadron based in Milchglas & a Reichbeck Kompanie official for many years hasn't hurt his interaction with his
subjects. Though basically a nice guy, he can be very calculating, a fact lost on the military junta under Col. Gunther
Hesse which he secretly overthrew.
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ERICH METTERNICH: AGE: 42. HUMAN. NAVY(WATER). UPP: A97869
Blue eyes, sun-bleached long blonde hair, golden tanned skin. 6'3" tall.
SKILLS: LEADER-2, SUBMERSIBLE-2, PISTOL-1, SURVIVAL-2, TACTICS-1, BLADE-1, COMPUTER-2.
Leader of the Krachenfreikorps, Erich is the undisputed ruler of Krachen. Currently controls 6 of the planet's missile-armed defense submersibles as a fleet of fishing boats & subs. Dour, quiet, paranoid, & calculating, Erich is currently playing off Baron Manfred & the LOFWIA off against each other to increase his position of power. His position is not as strong as outsiders think, since though a brillant miltary commander his skill as a civilian administrator is mediocre at best. The fisheries & the fishing fleet(Krachen's prime source of income) itself has been slow to recover and the economy is close to collapse. Only his carefully husbanded persona as champion of the fishermen has kept the latter from questioning his leadership.
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KASPAR HOLTZ: AGE: 45. HUMAN. MERCHANT. UPP: 549B67
Reddish-blonde short, bowl-cut hair, Hazel eyes, Lightly tanned skin.
SKILLS: LAISON-1, ADMIN-3, WHEELED VEHICLE-1, PISTOL-1, COMPUTER-2, BRIBERY-1, BROKER-2.
Current adminstrator of finance for Reichbeck Kompanie on Nervenheilanstalt, Kaspar is charming, smooth & a financial wizard. The only holdover from Wolfgang Tann's adminsitration, he was aided by going over to the Baron's side (when he knew Tann was going to lose) along with Tann's adminstrative records. He is a shifty chameleon who adapts well to any change & has only allegiance to wealth. He is also an agent of Rushui, a fact only know to his immediate subordinates; Marlena von Beck his superior; & Baron Manfred.
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MARLENA VON BECK: AGE 42. HUMAN. NOBLE. UPP 698868
Ash-blonde hair, blue eyes, golden-brown skin.
SKILLS: ADMIN-2, SWORD-1, PISTOL-1, COMPUTER-3, LAISON-1, VACC SUIT-1 COMMO-1, PILOT-1
Manfred's firery cousin Marlena was apponted the laison officer for the Nervenheilanstalt system in 1116. Her discovery of the corruption in the Tann administration triggered the military coup by Col. Hesse. Under arrest & held on Milchglass, she was freed by the revolt of the Nervenheilanstalt Reitersquadron. After the Baron restored order she was appointed the new director of the Beckhausen Company. A perfectionist who works & plays hard, Marlena is impatient, which drives her to micromanage any operation that's not performing to her exacting standards. She has her son, Reinhard, working as assistant manager of resources on Beckhausen.
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COMMANDER MAGDALENA HEIDI BECK. AGE 34. HUMAN. NAVY. UPP: 8B768667
Silver-blonde hair, blue/grey eyes, medium tanned skin, cutlass scar on right cheek, black skull tatoo on right shoulder.
SKILLS: TACTICS-2, PILOT-1= NAVIGATION-1 GUNNERY-1, CAROUSING-1, CUTLASS-2, VACC SUIT-1, INTERROGATION-1, GAUSS-1, COMPUTER-1.
An experienced officer of the Von Beck Reitersquadron, Magdalena's ship is the Kharis-class frigate Sternfalke,the flagship of the 3rd Von Beck Reitersquadron stationed on Milchglass. Aggressive & gambling as a commander, she is very relaxed & charming in social gathering. Her similar bodytype & personality to the corsair Bette Noire has enabled the latter to impersonate Magdalena often on missions into Die Weltbund space. In fact von Beck has used this to send Magdalena on mission outside DW space on covert von Beck operations. After being transferred to the 3rd Reitersquadron in 1120, however she spends most of her time in system clearing the system of LOFWIA ships & corsairs loyal to the late junta.