Iserlohn Fortress

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Iserlohn Fortress (Japanese: イゼルローン要塞) was an Imperial fortress located near the Tiamat Starzone. Existing within the eponymously named Iserlohn Corridor, one of only two navigable star routes between the Empire and the Free Planets Alliance (the other being the Fezzan Corridor), Iserlohn kept the territories of the Galactic Empire safe from Alliance invasion.

The fortress had a diameter of 60 kilometres and a mass of nearly 60 trillion tonnes. Its primary weapon was an enormous X-ray beam cannon, the Thor Hammer, which was capable of destroying large numbers of enemy vessels in a single shot. Its docks could berth more than 16,000 ships, and its dedicated agriculture blocks could sustain both its garrison and a population of several million indefinitely. The fortress exterior was several-layer-thick coating of liquid metal, which absorbed solid projectiles and reflected directed energy; hundreds of cannon turrets floated in this liquid and would rise to fire at approaching enemies.

Contents [hide] 1 History 1.1 Goldenbaum Dynasty 1.2 Free Planets Alliance 2 Appendices 2.1 Appearances 2.2 Background information 2.3 Apocrypha 2.3.1 DVD features

History

Goldenbaum Dynasty

When the Galactic Empire discovered the existence of the Free Planets Alliance in 640 UC (331 IC / 3440 CE), they immediately declared the FPA a rebel government, and dispatched the Imperial fleet to deal with the 'rebels'. At the time, there was only one known navigable route between the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance — through a narrow band of star systems that would later become known as the Iserlohn Corridor. Naturally seeing the significance of the choke point, the Empire constructed a massive space fortress along the Corridor, in orbit of the Artena star, in 766 UC (457 IC / 3566 CE). Based on the Geiersburg Fortress, they named it the Iserlohn Fortress. It would both guard against the possibility of FPA warships entering Imperial territory and serve as a base of operations for the Empire's own excursions through the Corridor.

During this era, the Iserlohn Corridor was the only active route between the FPA and the Empire, as Fezzan's autonomy was respected by both sides. The fortress stationed there was therefore the main obstacle to any FPA expedition against the Empire, and was put under siege many times — these sieges always ending with the defeat and decimation of the Alliance fleet.

Among the FPA admirals that tried and failed to take Iserlohn was Fleet Admiral Sidney Sithole, who led the 5th Iserlohn Offensive. Sithole showed ingenuity during his campaign against Iserlohn, determining the range of the Thor Hammer and then luring the Iserlohn Fleet outside of its range. He then exercised a continuous pursuit, known as 'parallel pursuit', following the Iserlohn Fleet in firing range but always leaving it between his fleet and the Fortress, as to neutralise the Thor Hammer. His aim was to force the Imperial Fleet inside the Fortress, and then follow suit before anything could be fired at them. The plan eventually failed, because the Thor Hammer was fired in desperation by the fortress commander despite the Iserlohn Fleet being in the way. Although both fleets took losses from the firing, the FPA took greater losses and was unable to continue the assault in the face of a fortress willing to fire through its own fleet. (Golden Wings)

Free Planets Alliance

Yang Wen-li never considered Iserlohn Fortress the pinnacle of imperial power, but merely an over-reliance on technology. He understood the fortress's limitations from the 5th Iserlohn Offensive. Sithole had determined the precise ranges of the Thor Hammer, but his fleet lacked sufficient numbers to carry out a decisive victory. When Yang was tasked to capture Iserlohn Fortress, his tactic was the opposite — to infiltrate the fortress with the Rosen Ritter whilst the garrison fleet was chasing a decoy. In the Seventh Battle of Iserlohn, the Alliance's 13th Fleet with merely 6000 ships, successfully won Iserlohn Fortress for the Alliance (LOGH: 'Iserlohn Captured!'). Yang had hoped that Iserlohn Fortress would instead be the Alliance's bargaining chip in deciding a favourable treaty with the Empire, but his wishes never came to fruition as the Alliance High Council later approved a large-scale invasion to the empire using Iserlohn Fortress as a forward base (LOGH: 'Invasion of the Imperial Territory'). Nevertheless, after the invasion debacle, he accepted the post of Commander of the Iserlohn Fortress and took on the vital task of protecting the Alliance frontier, a task which he found more comfortable than having to play power politics if he had remained in Heinessen.

Yang felt the fortress was expendable, since it did not possess any political or economical importance by itself. When the Goldenlöwe Empire used the Fezzan Corridor to invade Alliance territory, Iserlohn lost all strategic value. Yang deceptively 'lost' the fortress to Oskar von Reuenthal so as to free up his fleet to engage with the Imperial fleets that had crossed through the Fezzan Corridor (LOGH: 'Admiral Yang's Ark Fleet'), but later regained it from Admiral Cornelius Lutz (LOGH: 'The Prodigal Sons Come Home'). Yang Wen-li was the only commander to truly conquer Iserlohn Fortress at all, and his ability to capture it multiple times indirectly proves his viewpoint that the fortress was not as important as everyone else assumes to be.

Appendices

Appearances

Background information

The name Iserlohn is a reference to the city of the same name in western Germany.

Apocrypha

DVD features

Sketches of Iserlohn Fortress appear in the extra features of the DVD box set.

Sketch of internal structure

[hide]v•d•e Fortresses
Drei Großadmiralsburg • Garmisch • Geiersburg • Iserlohn • Rentenberg • Schattenburg