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Krugstahl is a human colony originating from Earth's early interstellar history. It was supposed to be the first large-scale interstellar exodus vessel, propagating humanity in the distant reaches of the galaxy. For this purpose they developed a new type of hyperdrive generally abbreviated as the "Jump Drive". All trials were success and live-testings went perfectly. The next step was launching a wholly equipped colony to the Andromeda-9 star system. Unfortunately the system suffered a critical malfunction, making the entire colony disappear. People assumed the worst and this tragedy prevented humanity to launch large scale interstellar colonies for over a century. In truth the system was successful, more than just successful. It sent Krugstahl further than the Milk Way, to the dark corners of the Andromeda Galaxy. Having no way to replicate this feat and return to Earth the colonists declared this world their new home, eventually growing into an entire fleet of wandering colony vessels.



Principality of Krugstahl is a nomadic civilization that lives entirely in space. To their belief "gravity weights down human souls" thus they refuse to live in natural gravity wells, instead prefer their own colonies and space vessels. Indeed, over the centuries Krugstahl's population evolved to live in their low gravity environment. The vastness of space also had an unexpected effect on the people as many of them developed heightened sixth sense and at times even beyond, showing various psychic powers. Legend says their historical first leader the visionary Karl von Krugstahl did predict this, and called them "Neue Mensch" or Newtypes. According to him the Newtypes would be the next step in human evolution and would bring a great era of peace. Unfortunately neither of his theories proven right. Krugstahl's people are still warlike as ever and their once democratic system devolved into a feudalist principality, with the aristocracy taking all power. Newtypes are the government's favored tools for war and oppression. Unless born aristocrat a Newtype can only have two career options: Join the military and become a Panzergeschickt pilot or join the principality's secret police and use their psychic powers to spy on their own people. Some Newtypes choose the third option and go into hiding but they have no chance against their well-trained and experienced comrades. The principality is ruled by Duke von Krugstahl while the nobles are his loyal vassals. High-class lord over an entire colony or even oversee a cluster of colonies. They enjoy considerable autonomy and these can be considered small kingdoms. Colonies are cylindrical space vessels with the length of 50 kilometers and the diameter of 10 kilometers, each holding at average 3 million people which makes them comparable to a small country. Aside from regular aristocrats there's a military branch called Knights. Knights sire from aristocratic roots who pursue soldiering. Their title reflects their rank and influence within the military. Mere Landeritters (common knights) were just little above common troops, at best leading a Panzergeschickt squadron. Rittermeisters (Knight Lords) were owning colossal warship-castle colonies called Kriegschloss that made the heart of Krugstahl's military. Knights were free to ally themselves with any aristocrat of sufficient status and it was a matter of prestige between barons to own the most Kriegschloss with the best knights available. Still, while the aristocracy held great power, by law the Duke of Krugstahl owned over half of the colonies and had its own unique military unit.



Having separated from humans during the early ages of interstellar travel, the Principality was forced to develop on its own. They have large self-governing automatized factories which can produce all their needs with various mining bases providing the required resources. Hydro-farms can cover all the population's need of food. Nanomachines are widespread in medicine and diseases are almost unheard of.Their primary source of energy is pure fusion reactors, gathering their fuel from stars and gas giants. Colony ships and Kriegschlösser have a controlled singularity engine as their main power which is also essential for their jump drive mechanism. No Principality ships smaller than a Kriegschloss are capable traveling interstellar distances. Weapon technology is sufficiently advanced with their fusion warheads approaching matter-antimatter reactions in power. To protect their crew from shaking and great accelerations they use inertial dampeners which Panzergeschick pilots also use to rapidly change vectors thus improving their cobat maneuverability.

[Military Anthem]

Just like their government, the Krugstahl military is in the hands of nobles. Knights of various title fill up nearly every leading position within the army who are free to swear their allegiance to any deserving aristocrat who. Yet in times of war Duke von Krugstahl can rally all nobles under the Bundeswehrmacht, often abbreviated just as the "Bund". In addition there was the duke's own personal army the Zentraler Kriegsmacht or just "Kriegsmacht", reserves kept exclusively for war while the central colonies were protected by another forces called the Reichswehr. These three organizations together formed the core of the Krugstahl military.

Because interstellar travel capability was limited only to their largest vessels the Krugstahl military doctrines also concentrated around these. Using civilian colony habits as war carriers was foolish thus they developed a new kind of vessel, their mobile castles AKA "Kriegschloss". These were the base of operation for each knight order and the forward bases during military campaigns.



Mobile Castles are the heart and core of the Krugstahl warmachine. Their loss is a great blow for the fleet as they suddenly find themselves with no support, neither any means to leave the system. If Kriegschlösser are the core of the military then Panzergeschickten are the backbone of any offense. These are 10-15m tall humanoid machines armed with various weapons. They're fast, agile and surprisingly powerful for their size. It's said that their compact mega-particle rifles approach the firepower of a warship-mounted mege-particle cannon, thus in groups they could be a considerable threat. The tradeback of these machines is low combat endurance. Their thermonuclear reactor are overclocked and eat reaction fuel quickly. Their mega-particle rifles use energy packs which quickly empties out. Yet their utility in combat is unquestionable, so much that warships are forced to remain in support role. Panzergeschickten are versatile which is shown by the fact these machines are often Krugstahl sole form of land warfare, too. Krugstahl has infantry and posses few other land vehicles but the single most common military unit on the frontlines are the various types of Panzergeschickten.