Castrop Rebellion
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| Castrop Rebellion | |||||
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| Date: | 796 UC (487 IC / 3596 CE) | ||||
| Location: | Castrop | ||||
| Result: | Imperial victory | ||||
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The Castrop Rebellion (Japanese: カストロプ動乱) was a minor revolt in 796 UC (487 IC / 3596 CE), in the waning days of the Galactic Empire. The Rebellion ended when its leader, Maximilian von Castrop was murdered by his own subjects, who then surrendered to the Imperial Fleet in orbit of the planet.
History
Background
Maximilian von Castrop was born into the noble family of his father, Eugen von Castrop. The elder Castrop had served as secretary of the treasury under Kaiser Friedrich IV, and had accumulated substantial wealth via the funnelling of Imperial funds into his own coffers. Upon his father's death, the Galactic Empire sought the return of the money he had stolen; however, his son, Maximilian, defied those orders.
In an effort to fortify the family's territory against Imperial attempts to physically reclaim his treasure, Castrop purchased and implemented an Artemis Necklace system from Fezzan. These artificial satellites were the same as those which protected the Alliance capital, Heinessen, and were said to be impenetrable. (LOGH: 'The Castrop Rebellion')
Rebellion
With the construction of the Artemis Necklace, Castrop had placed his fiefdom in a state of open rebellion against the authority of the Emperor. Unable to tolerate his insolsence, Kaiser Friedrich IV dispatched an Imperial fleet numbering 3,000 ships under the command of Admiral Schmude to put down Castrop's rebellion in the early months of 796 UC (487 IC / 3596 CE). The Artemis Necklace proved frightfully effective, however, and Schmude's fleet was handily destroyed and Schmude killed in action.
Following Schmude's failure and demise, the newly promoted Fleet Admiral Reinhard von Lohengramm was tasked with completing the job. Reinhard, in turn, dispatched Rear Admiral Siegfried Kircheis, with a fleet of 2000, to resolve the rebellion in his stead.
Castrop openly mocked the small size of Kircheis' fleet. However, Kircheis had a plan to destroy the Artemis Necklace: He ordered engineering ships to be launched towards the planet, just out of range of the defence system's weapons, and expel Seffle particle in the direction of the individual satellites. Once a sufficient concentration was achieved, Kircheis ordered his ships to move forwards — inducing the satellites to fire and, in turn, igniting the Seffle particles and destroying the Necklace system. With planet then defenceless, Kircheis advised Castrop to surrender. However, Castrop believed this to be a trap, and instead sought to place the blame on his subjects and take refuge on Fezzan. When a retainer pointed out that this would be unlikely to succeed, Castrop ordered him to incinerate himself, hoping to deceive the Empire into believing the body was Castrop's own.
However, realising that the end was in sight and that their own lives may be spared if they accepted Kircheis' offer, Castrop's subordinates turned against him. The elder retainer, followed by five others, stabbed Castrop through the chest, killing him. Following his death, the planet was immediately turned over to the Empire. The efficiency of Kircheis' conquest of Castrop stunned the people of the Empire, who had never imagined that it might end with only a single casualty. (LOGH: 'The Castrop Rebellion')
