The von Drachenfels are an old Hattian family. Their roots lie deep in Hattian history and even further back to the time of Blackmoor, even though it is difficult to retrace their bloodline that much behind in the mists of time. The oldest record in their history book tells how they took part in the revolt of AC 313 as one of the three noble families which led the Hattians against the Thyatians. Forced to emigrate once the revolt was crushed by the Imperial cohorts, the von Drachenfels fled to the Alasiyan colonies, where they lay down for years. During the following centuries they earnt the respect and trust of many other Hattian families living in exile and finally led them to Glantri in the eighth century, when the opportunity arose to claim those lands for their own.

Our story really begins after the leader of the family, Heinrich von Drachenfels, fell in a skirmish against Alasiyan nomads in AC 719. His 22 year old son Otto succeeded him as leader of the Hattians. Otto soon realised that the ongoing war against Alphatians and Alasiyans was a lost battle, because the empire did not support its colonies enough. He began to look for a way out of the situation. In AC 728 rumours about the rich and sparsely populated lands behind the mountains in the Flaemish Highlands attracted Otto's attention and he began to plan his followers' migration.

The Battle of Hedjazi, where Thyatian forces were decimated by Alaysians, forced Otto to act swiftly and gave him a good opportunity to present his migration plan to other leaders. He immediately contacted some of the surviving leaders of the Thyatian colonies, Graf Hans von Graustein, Barone Giuseppe di Sfonti, Lord Tiberio Glantri and Lord Cesare Fulvina and proposed them to join their forces and migrate westwards, cutting all ties with Thyatis and founding new dominions of their own. They all shared Otto's mistrust towards the current Emperor, Lucinius VII, and had been often mistreated by the imperial Senate, so they accepted Otto's suggestion and began preparations for the migration.

The migration started in the late fall of 728 and by the first months of AC 729 the various families reached to Selenica in Darokin. There they met another migrating group of Traladaran refugees from the south led by Morphail Gorevitch-Woszlany, who were on their way to the same direction. Leaders of the two migrations thought that it was in the best interest of everyone if they travelled together. After a hard trek through the mountains and the goblinoid infested Broken Lands, the refugees reached the Highlands in AC 730 and separated again. Traladarans claimed the northeastern forests and hills were only few Flaemish outcasts were living. Thyatians led by Glantri settled between Isoile and Red River in the area of modern Hightower. Hattians under the leadership of von Drachenfels and von Graustein settled at the shores of Red River in the area of later Eriadna and Volnay. Thyatians and Kerendans led by di Sfonti and Fulvina settled between Red River and Arnus.

Herr Otto was tired man when he reached the Highlands. He was very tired of fighting and only wanted to get some peace. He was a cleric of Vanya but not very religious and not really a wartime leader. He had been the nominal leader of the migration, but only nominal. He made a wonderful figurehead with his imposing frame and noble outlook, but real leaders were Tiberio Glantri and Hans von Graustein, and Morphail Gorevitch-Woszlany joined the duo after Selenica. Otto was very disappointed when frictions with the Flaems living in the settled area began to occurr rather frequently. Leaders of the Flaems made it very clear that the settlers were not welcome. Otto tried to speak for a peaceful settlement, but Tiberio, who had married Otto's sister Griselda during migration in 729, was adamant: they would not give an inch to the Flaems. Otto gave up and so frictions soon became major skirmishes.

Lord Glantri fell in battle in 734 AC and with him the settlers lost the only leader capable of uniting them. Otto gave up the next year and made a deal with local Flaems. They divided the area were Hattians had settled so that both sides were satisfied. Otto promised that they would have never settled beyond the Red River and never paid any attention to the settlers' protests. He finally got what he most wanted: peace.

After the peace treaty with Flaems Otto concentrated his efforts in building a castle (Schloß Tallenberg) for himself and his family and tried to oversee the welfare of his people. He was always very much loved by Hattians and so the mourning was very deep when he died in a building accident in 740 AC at the age of 43. In this same year the House of Sylaire arrived in the Highlands via a magical gate from another world and settled in the north-west.

Der Große Führer

Otto's only son Joachim was only 20 when his father died, but he was already a capable ruler. He was nearly 7 feet tall, a robust and well-built young man with cunning eyes and a clever expression. He had a high self-esteem and a hot-blooded nature. He was not capable of staying in one place for too much time: he was very active and worked round the clock, enjoying drinking wine after a hard day's work. And he had a dream: he saw himself as a King of the united Highlands. To realise that dream Joachim understood that he had to mantain a peaceful relationship with the Flaems and to improve and strengthen his ties with the Kerendans. At first that went easy, since he got well along with his cousin Claudio Glantri, having been friends since childhood. Eleven years passed without any great conflicts. The most dramatic even in those years was the coming of the Kaelics led by House Crownguard from the d'Ambrevilles homeworld in AC 750. They settled at the feet of the Colossus Mountais between the rivers Fen and Til, where there were few other people living because of the climate. Their coming irritated the Flaems, but not so much to worsen the relations towards other groups.

But in AC 751 Joachim made a mistake. He married Luise van Agt, daughter of the one of the Flaemish dukes. Duke Rodolfus van Agt was the most conciliatory of the Flaemish leaders and Joachim hoped to ease tensions with this political marriage. He also hoped to get more power. But he made a big miscalculation. Other Flaems were furious with van Agt for allowing a lowly non-Flaem to "pollute" their bloodline. Joachim's Thyatian and Kerendan allies saw this act as a groveling towards the Flaems. Relations between Flaems and settlers deteriorated rapidly and minot skirmishes began again. And this time Hattians and Joachim von Drachenfels fought at the side of the Flaems. During the following five years Joachim showed his brillant military skills. He had trained Hattian troops excellently. When skirmishes stopped in 756 AC everybody acknowledged that Joachim von Drachenfels was the best military leader in the Highland area.

The following years were happy for Joachim. He still dreamt about a kingdom of his own, but now he was devoted to family life. He loved his wife and in 757 AC she begot their son Sigmund. Luise was also the only person who had any control over Joachim. Joachim was now somewhat overweighted for much drinking and tired for over-working. During the first five years of life of Sigmund, Joachim rested under his wife's watchful eyes and got his youthfullness back. Then in 761 disaster struck: Luise died at childbed. Joachim was stricken with sorrow and so he decided to concentrate his efforts in his big dream to get over the sorrow.

Joachim began to send envoys to the Flaemish archdukes, to House Crownguard, to Sylaire, to Boldavia, to the elves and even to Ethengarians living on the eastern side of the Colossus Mountains. He proposed negotiations for building a unified state with all the different cultures. He even got some negotiation start but without any concrete results. Flaems didn't want to share their power with others, Ethengarians didn't want to deal with Flaems and elves refused to acknowledge the humans' right to possess these lands, and so on. Joachim tried diplomacy for the following eight years, until in 769 AC he finally understood that his efforts were useless. During these years he adopted the white color of peace and negotiations, which then became the main color of House Ritterburg. He dressed up at a white longhemmed coat, white leather trousers and big black leather boots. He also began to feel first signs of gout at this time.

From AC 769 on his plan had changed: he now wanted to unite only Hattians, Thyatians and Kerendans first and then he would have conquered the other people using his military strength. In 776 he finally convinced the leaders of the other two groups to sign a military pact with him. In that pact leaders agreed to form a united front against the other groups in the Highlands. The others also agreed to acknowledge Joachim as supreme leader of all their three armies in case of war. During these years Hattians began to refer to Joachim as Der Große Führer, not only for his political and military merits but also because of his enormous size (he weighted over 150 kgs after over-eating and -drinking in the past years).

Joachim started then provocations against the Flaems hoping that they would start a war. He is surprised by their patience. They withstood insult after insult until 784 AC, when the proverbial drop brimmed over the vase. In that spring he met his brother-in-law Willem van Agt, and after drinking heavily they began to argue. When Willem blamed Joachim for Luise's death, Joachim suddenly stroke him death with one blow. Joachim did not intend to do anything like that, but when he understood what he had done it was too late. The Flaems were furious and declared war at the Hattians. At first all went well for Joachim and his allies. They conquered a vast stretch of land and even arrived to the Flaems' capital Braejr in 785, but there Joachim's gout got so bad that he was confined to bed. In the following battle the Flaems were victorious and the Hattian allies had to retreat south. The following year Joachim succeeded in negotiation with the elves, who joined the fight against the Flaems. Another lucky strike came at fall of AC 786, when an Alphatian mage named Halzunthram contacted Joachim and offered his help. He would have allied with Joachim and brought a contingent of Alphatian battlemages with him. Joachim was suspicious at first, but since he realized that those troops were just what he needed to win the war in a short time, he accepted Halzunthram's alliance. He was sure that Alphatians posed no problem to him, and that he could have kicked them out after the war if need arose.

During the following year Flaems were pushed north step-by-step, until in Flaurmont 17th 788 AC the Flaems were totally defeated at the Battle of Braastar. At the age of 68 Joachim was at the top of his military and political career. As the undisputed leader of the allied troops he accepted the surrender of the Flaemish leaders. But only a few minutes after the Flaemish surrendered the excitement of the moment and the strains of the last decades took their toll. Joachim von Drachenfels' heart failed him in this historic moment and he died.

The leaders of the allied troops were dumpfounded by Joachim's sudden death and they didn't know what to do. There was noone else to assume Joachim's position. His 31-year old son Sigmund didn't have any of his father's leadership qualities. He was a slim, weasel-looking man, who enjoyed feasting and celebrations. He looked like a clown compared to his father. Titus Glantri and Ottone di Sfonti, the two most prominent among other leaders both lacked the charisma of Joachim von Drachenfels. They both knew that Joachim would have declared himself King of the Highlands, but they realised that noone else could do that.

So together with Sigmund they decided to call the leaders of the elves and the Flaems for secret negotiations for the future. They left Halzunthram out because they assumed that he was leaving the area after the war. In the negotiations all parties agreed to establish Republic of the Highlands. The Flaems withdrew all claims to the lands south of Isoile and Fen rivers and all lands east of Vesubia and Fen rivers were assigned to the elves. The parties also agreed to establish a council composed of 3 Flaems, 2 elves, 1 Kerendan, 1 Thyatian and 1 Hattian to rule the country.

Everyone was happy except for Halzunthram: he had no intention to leave the Highlands and now he felt betrayed by the Hattians. But Halzunthram had one ace in the sleeve that the others didn't know. In fact, Sigmund von Drachenfels was totally under his control. Sigmund saw Halzunthram as the man he always wanted to be, a cultivated, sophisticated, good looking leader with superior intelligence, and lived in his shadow, worshipping him much more than he did with his father. With Sigmund's help Halzunthram captured the council when it met for the first time. Halzunthram declared the Highlands an Alphatian colony and proclaimed himself High Governor. The response was immediate. Elves declared their independence and the Flaems revolted. Sigmund left his whole army under the leadership of Halzunthram while he stayed at home to amuse himself with other light-hearted Hattian and Thyatian nobles. He had no intention to take any part in the warfare and trusted Halzunthram's capacities. Halzunthram was also receiving more troops from Alphatia, so Sigmund thought that with his Hattian army it would take only a couple of years to beat the Flaems again.

When the war prolonged and Halzunthram's demands to Thyatians and Kerendans began to grow, Sigmund was the only leader who didn't speak against Halzunthram and when Thyatians and Kerendans in AC 796 joined the Flaems Sigmund kept his Hattians at Halzunthram's side. At the spring of 801 Halzunthram declared that the rebels were vanquished. He began to divide the country among his followers and to give titles to them. To Sigmund he offered the position of Count of Ritterburg, but only if he had removed his house and Hattian followers to the area west of Aalban river in the north. He wanted the area were the Hattians have been living for himself. Much to the other Hattians' dismay Sigmund agreed and the Hattians were thus forced to pack their things up and to move to the area assigned to them the following year, where Sigmund order a new magnificent castle to be built for his family and guests: this will later be known as Schloß Ritterburg.

In AC 802 a revolt threatened Halzunthram's control over the region. Dissidents had been negotiating with elves and Ethengarians living east of the Colossus Mountains and in that year the Ethengarians agreed to join to fight against Halzunthram. The rebels promised them area in the west side of mountains if they won. They had also been negotiating with Etienne d'Ambreville in the west and with Morphail Gorewitch-Woszlany in the northeast, but they both decided to stay out of this fighting. Also the Kaelics, who had retreated to the mountains, didn't want to take any part in these events. Halzunthram's troops were divided: Hattians were in the north and Alphatians in the south. Sigmund was still out of the fighting, being happy with his new hunting grounds in the Wendarian Mountains. During the following two years the rebels slowly beat Halzunthrams troops back.

In 804 Halzunthram realised that he could enlist the dwarves (who had rushed in the Highlands after gold findings in 802) as fresh troops. Fatefully, in that same year a plague began spreading in the area and many people started to blame the dwarves for that because they seemed the only ones unaffected. However Halzunthram couldn't care less and besides he needed the dwarves' help badly. He informed the dwarves that he allowed them to stay if they joined his armies. With the help of the dwarves the war reached a stalemate situation until AC 806, when the elves finally joined the fight because of the dwarves fighting for Halzunthram. So Halzunthram had to bring again more troops from Alphatia to compensate the situation.

In these years a new generation of people had grown seeing nothing but war. The old leaders' popularity among these folk was very low. The first and foremost representative of this dissatisfied generation was Wilhelm von Drachenfels. When Sigmund died at the age of 56 in a hunting accident, his 25-year old Wilhelm took his place as head of the Hattian families. Wilhelm was his father's opposite in many ways. He was somewhat plump and didn't like parties. He was a devout follower of Vanya and had been taking part in the war since he was 16… and now he wanted to stop it. Wilhelm didn't like war and despised Halzunthram even more, but for present he chose to continue to fight with him. But in the secret he contacted the rebel leaders and began to negotiate with them to switch side. Negotiations were hard because rebels didn't trust him and he had also to keep the negotiations secret to Halzunthram's spies. Wilhelm went on with this doubleplay for seven years. Then in 820 the information leeked to Halzunthram, who went mad at the young man's treachery. Halzunthram was indeed trusting him all the time: he had even married his niece Charlana to Wilhelm in 811 to keep him in his side.

Once discovered, Wilhelm openly switched to the rebels' side. The following year Morphail and his Traladarans joined the fight against Halzunthram and some of the Alphatians also switched side tired of Halzunthram's promises for quick ending of the war. These two years were decisive for the war. Only thanks to the arrival of new Alphatian troops could Halzunthram continue fighting for another six years. Then in AC 828 Lord Alexander Glantri, who had become leader of the rebel coalition, finally ambushed and managed to kill Halzunthram. The Forty Years War was finally over.

At the end of 40-years-war Wilhelm was 40-years old. He had been battling for over 20 years of his life. During the last 15 years he had rebuilt his grandfather's army again in prime shape. During his father's time army's morale had decreased considerably: Sigmund was never in field with his army and there was lack of inspiring leadership. Wilhelm repaired all the damages, he removed one by one all the Alphatian commanders of the Hattian troops and replaced them with his own men. After betraying Halzunthram he rapidly became the second in command among the rebel leaders after Alexander Glantri.

When the war was over, negotiations began about the future of the Highlands and the fate of the Alphatians remaining there. The first decree of the new leaders was the expulsion of dwarves from Glantri. They had continued fighting even after Halzunthram's death so there was no mercy for them. Leaders agreed in their negotiations that they would declare Glantri a republic, that was an easy decision. They all agreed in forming a parliament composed of two bodies to rule the republic: the Council and the House of Lords. The House of Lords was open to all the nobles, while the Council would have been formed by seven members to represent major population groups: one member for Flaems, one for elves, one for Ethengarians, one for Thyatians and Kerendans, one for Alphatians who betrayed Halzunthram, one for Traladarans who also joined the Republic and one for Hattians and Alphatians who stayed loyal to Halzunthram. (At this point d'Ambrevilles in the northwest stay outside of the new republic, they join the land later.) The debate on the presence of the last group was most controversial, because at first most thought that they should have been expelled. But then Wilhelm said that he wanted to invite them among his Hattians, because most of their leaders were his wife's relatives. He also promised that if they started creating any problems then he could have been blamed for it. The others agreed mostly because they thought that in that way they could weaken Wilhelm's powerbase. They also decided that all the aspiring nobles had make their claims to Council, which then examined them and declared which of them were valid.

In 829 Alexander Glantri declared the Republic of Highlands founded. Members of the new Council were Alexander Glantri, Wilhelm von Drachenfels, Frederick Vlaardoen, Fernando de Belcadiz, Birkai Virayana, Morphail Gorevitch-Woszlany and Vortram. At the first meeting other members decided that the capital city of Braejr would now on be known as Glantri City. They also divided the Council positions: Vlaardoen was named Supreme Judge, Glantri Chancellor, de Belcadiz Chamberlain and Virayana Treasurer. At that point Wilhelm proposed to build three forts at the borders of the land and that each of the remaining members got a responsibility for one of them. So Morphail was charged of building a fort on the Ethengarian border, Vortram on the Broken Lands and Wilhelm on the Wendarian Mountains.

The following years were peaceful for Wilhelm. He concentrated on building Fort Nordling and devoted his spare time to family life. Then in AC 835 one of the most dramatic Council meetings took place. There were no controversial issues to debate and all was going smoothly until Vortram suddenly blasted Alexander Glantri to ashes. Before others got Vortram down, he had also managed to kill Birkai Virayana. Vortram was promptly executed the day after, declared insane by the Council. Wilhelm was then offered Glantri's position as Chancellor but he refused because he wanted nothing more than to build his fort and be left in peace. So Lucchino di Sfonti is appointed new Chancellor, becoming Thyatians' and Kerendans' representative after Glantri. The following week the Council passed a law in memoriam of Lord Glantri and the land was officially renamed Republic of Glantri.

Wilhelm von Drachenfels' last years were eventless and he died in 840 at the age of 52. After the war heavy drinking and eating with few exercise deteoriated his health rapidly. Also the stress for wanting to build an impassable fort took its toll, since he made a new addition every month in order to make Fort Nordling the best defended castle in the world. At Wilhelm's death, after 11 years of building the keep was not ready yet.

Wilhelm's oldest son was 28 when his father died. He was very much his father's opposite. He was slim, didn't eat nor drink much and was very intelligent. In fact he was the first magic-user since a very long time in the house. His Alphatian mother realised his potential when he was very young and gave him the preliminary teachings about magic. Wilhelm wanted him to become a soldier like himself and his precessors. So when Friedrich was 12 his mother sent him secretly away from the house to Nouvelle Averoigne, where he became the pupil of Etienne d'Ambreville. They liked each other immediately and began a lifelong friendship. Friedrich was a brilliant student and learnt very quickly. When he came back to Ritterburg in 832 at the age of twenty, he had surpassed many older mages. At first his father was furious with him, but when Friedrich took also interest in military matters and began to study ways to mix magic with the common Hattian warfare techniques his father forgave him.

In AC 840 Friedrich had already shown brilliant tactical skills with normal and magic-using troops. So there were no objections among his younger brothers when he officially took the leadership of the house. Friedrich was also very stubborn and when after becoming member of the Council he got an argument with Frederick Vlaardoen, Supreme Judge of the Council, about a minor legal problem, he wasn't able to give up and so the two didn't speak to each other for seven years. Friedrich didn't even speak to Frederick's son Moritz. The first Vlaardoen to whom he spoke was Jacob Vlaardoen, Frederick's cousin, who became Council member in 850. Friedrich finished to build Fort Nordling in 842 and attended Council meetings from that year every time during the next 15 years. In 845 he was the first one to support Etienne d'Ambreville's petition to accept Nouvelle Averoigne in Glantri and to construct a school for magic-users in Glantri City. Both were controversial issues but at the end Etienne had its place in the Council and broke the ground for the Great School of Magic.

In 852 Etienne, who was now prominent member in the House of Lords, told Friedrich about his ideas of making Glantri a state ruled by magic-users only. Friedrich was thrilled by this idea and they began thinking about how this could be realised. Friedrich thought that the best way was to prepare the move thoroughly for some years. He was convinced that it should be a declaration made by the Council the best way to herald this change. Shortly after Friedrich began telling some of his trusted friends in the Council about Etienne's plan. Toktai Virayana, Fernando de Belcadiz, Jacob Vlaardoen and Morphail Gorewich-Wozslany all expressed their support to Friedrich during the following year. Two other members were more problematic. The Alphatians had been fighting for over ten years among each other and their current leader, Ambrosion, Treasurer of the Council and niece of Vortram, was challenged by Vortram's daughter Mariadna. The other problem were the Thyatians, whose leadership had always been in the hands of warriors. Their current leader was

Giovanni di Sfonti, Chancellor of the Council. So all the others decided to wait at least until the Alphatians solved their inner fighting before taking any real action.

In 854 both problems were solved. First Giovanni di Sfonti died and was succeeded by his niece Matteo, who was a magic-user. Then both Ambrosion and Mariadna died in two weeks time. Supporters of both side got together and proclaimed Mariadna's 21-year-old son Vitalin as the new count. At the first meeting of the Council after these events Friedrich was appointed as new Chancellor. But before the Alliance of the Wizards had any time to make their move, Matteo di Sfonti was murdered and a furious infighting among his relatives to gain the leadership of the house followed. During the first three months about 20 close and not so close relatives of Matteo disappeared or were mudered. At the end only one contender was left to present his claim to viscountship: Matteo's cousin Borso di Sfonti, who luckily was also a magic-user.

In the summer of 855 all Council members knew of Friederich's plan and supported the scheme. They decided that the best moment for the declaration would have been the 30^th anniversary of Halzunthram's defeat in AC 858. During the following three years all of them

gathered secretly their strengths and supporters in the House behind the scheme. They also decided that they would have taken the hereditary titles of Princes and that each of them would have ruled over a large principality. When the declaration was issued in 858 during the Light of Rad there was not much opposition. Of course the non-magic wielding nobles rebelled, but they were rapidly crushed without any real efforts. Friedrich, now Prince of Aalban, had tried to get support from all his brothers for the plan. He had given them all hints about what was going to happen but they hadn't realised how big the change was going to be. Some of them didn't mind and gave immediately their support for Friedrich. His oldest brother Franz, Baron of Leenz, was first against the declaration, but when Friedrich, who was some kind of a misogynist and who had never married, promised to make Franz's son Ernst to his heir and to give Franz a position only second to him in new principality, Franz gave him his support. Two younger brothers, Bruno and Kurt, took instead arms against Friederich and organized a rebellion. It took Friederich seven years to defeat them, and only in 866 they gave up their arms and stopped fighting. They were then expelled to Darokin.

Friedrich did have a major role in crushing the rebellions with his combined fighter-mage troops. He also had a major role preventing relations with Darokin from breaking. He had to counter all the misinformation expelled nobles were spreading against Glantri in Darokin and also in Wendar. But he succeeded in that. In 868 Friedrich published his celebrated book about warfare and magic, Über Kriege und Magie, which later became a must-read for all Glantrian military leaders. After that, Friedrich mainly concentrated on making his principality richer and its people happy. He became a very much loved figure among Aalbanese, frequently touring the countryside in his old shaggy uniform, and so he earned the nickname of Der Alte.

The major events during his last years were the opening of the Great School of Magic in 875 AC and the founding of the Principalities of Nouvelle Averoigne, Klantyre and Erewan. Friedrich supported totally Etienne d'Ambreville when he asked for the enfeoffment of Nouvelle Averoigne after the opening of the Great School. He also supported the establishment of Grand Master title as a Council office and Etienne's claim for that title as founder of the School and most prominent magician in Glantri. Likewise he supported Robert McGregor's plead for enfeoffment of Klantyre in the same year, because he somewho liked the old scot. The division of the elven principality was a much more difficult matter. Elves had been quarreling among themselves for some time already. But then in 884 Erewan Elves surprised everyone for demanding their own principality. Friedrich sided with the majority in the Council when they decided that a division would be the best solution for everyone. This broke all friendly relationships between Friedrich and Fernando de Belcadiz, much to Friedrich's grief. This also strained somewhat Friedrich's relations with Etienne, since the Council also decided to give Robert McGregor the task of building a fort on the western border with Sind. The Council decided to take Fort Ylourgne from Nouvelle Averoigne under the direct control of the Council and elect Charan Erewan as its viceroy. It was Friedrich's task to reason with Etienne and get him to agree without resistance. It was very much triumph for Friedrich that he succeeded in this without hurting touchy Etienne.

Friedrich died in his sleep in AC 886 at the age of 74. The following week was national mourning in the whole Glantri and there was not a bad word said against him. Even the princes of Bergdhoven and Alhambra said some fine words about him. In Aalban all the people was afraid about the future under "Dummkopf", as they called Ernst von Drachenfels.

Often a lesser person follows after a great leader in history. The same happened also in Aalban in 886 when Ersnt followed his uncle as prince and had already happened in 788 when Sigmund had followed his father Joachim. Ernst was already 42-year old and a total failure as magician. He was a big, over-weighted brute. His similarity with his grandfather Wilhelm was astonishing in all other matters except brains.

Ernst was 15-years old when Friedrich named him his heir. His father Franz hired immediately a magician to teach Ernst the basics of the arcane art. That was everything he ever learned about magic. He had difficulties even with the most simple spells. But he was nonetheless a magic-user and he couldn't be discarded when Friedrich died. In fact it was rumoured that if Friedrich had lived couple of years longer, he would have passed Ernst and named his son Albrecht as his heir. Albrecht was only 16-years old when Friedrich died. In the Council there was never any discussion about giving Ernst any charge other than viceroy of Nordling. In fact, Etienne d'Ambreville even made a point about not giving even that to him. Ernst started hating Etienne from that point. Ernst thought himself as a great military man and resented Etienne's attitude towards him. The Council also decided that from now on all the nobles had to be graduates from the Great School. This decision was made so that there wouldn't be anymore men like Ernst in the Council or in the House of Lords.

Ernst was like his grandfather also in his obsession with Fort Nordling. In his 11 year long reign he spent all the wealth Friedrich had collected in making the fort even more formidable than it was. He ruined the economics of Aalban totally with this obsession. When he died he had taken enormous loans against his possesions. He also neglected the army.

One major happening during his reign was the disappearance of Castle d'Ambreville and all the d'Ambrevilles with it in AC 896. The whole Nouvelle Averoigne was also covered with impenetrable mists. This caused turmoil in Glantrian politics, because Etienne d'Ambreville had been major mover in country. The Supreme Judge Toktai Virayana I also happened to die about the same time. Ernst was happy and hoped to get a promotion in the Council. But that was hopeless, he was again passed over. Ernst died in AC 897 at the age of 53 for over-eating. No one was unhappy with his passing.

Albrecht was 27-years-old when he took the leadership of House Ritterburg. He was tall and lean, some would even say a handsome young man. He was more intelligent than his father and definitely a better magician. He was an outgoing socialite who had been educated in the Great School in Glantri City. He liked parties and good company and took friends easily. His great-uncle Friedrich had sent him to school to learn from the best possible teacher: Etienne d'Ambreville. During his time at school he also befriended prince Fernando de Belcadiz and young Filippo di Sfonti, who was 12-years younger than him. The old elf-prince liked the easygoing aalbanese and taught him some basics of elven magic. Albrecht was also a success in the city's social life, he was quite a lady's man. He also met his future wife Selena Aendyr, cousin of Prince Pelagiri Aendyr, in Glantri City. They married in AC 893.

In 902 Albrecht was elected as Chancellor of the Princes after the death of Willem Vlaardoen II. His election was due mostly to the support of Fernando de Belcadiz, who had been selected as Grandmaster after the disappearance of the d'Ambrevilles. Albrecht had great success in this position too. Foreign ambassadors liked him and his parties.

The most important event during his term was the dealings with Darokin in 920-21. After hard negotiations an economic agreement was signed with the Republic. Then in early 921 Glantri's ambassador to Darokin began to hear rumours about bribing of some high-position Glantrian officials during negotiations. Investigations revealed that the Treasurer of the Council Owain Aendyr had taken heavy bribes from some Darokinian merchants for his support. It was also discovered that he had stolen money from the treasury. Owain was promptly removed from the Treasury and fell in disgrace. This also broke relations between Albrecht and his wife's relatives in Blackhill.

Besides this his life was pretty eventless. He partied in Glantri City, mostly with Filippo di Sfonti, who became Prince of Caurenze in 912 after his brother's murder. Albrecht died in 940 at the age of 70. He had been prince for 43 years and was deeply sorrowed by common Aalbanese.

Johann was already middle-aged, a 45-year old competent wizard, when he followed his father as Prince. In his younger days he had been as social as his father. He had been a good-looking, fun-loving young man. Everyone liked him. However, during the years he had become more reclusive and he was increasingly obsessed with magical research. So when he became Prince he immediately asked his younger brother Georg to help him. And when Johann was made Viceroy of Ylourgne, he sent his cousin Gerhard there and gave him and Georg freehands in military matters.

Years went easily on and the only problems were some humanoid raids from mountains. But Johann didn't have to worry about these because Georg took care of these. One major problem was inheritance. Johann and his wife Sophie were childess. Everyone assumed that Georg would be the next prince if he outlived his brother, but Johann didn't comment the question.

Major alteration for his reclusive life of studying came in 950. Johann was in every measure the greatest magician of that time and by far the best wizard amongst the von Drachenfels' family. In that year he was chosen as Grandmaster of the Great School of Magic and had to move to Glantri City. In fact he was relieved: now he could leave all matters concerning Aalban to his brother and concentrate totally to magic. He was one of the best grandmasters the Great School had. Students and other teachers liked him and he liked teaching more than politics.

Then in 956 many begun to spot some changes in Johann. He began to forget thinks, he didn't remember what he was doing or saying, he disappeared and was later found in odd places without any knowledge what he was doing. His erratic behavior began to affect everyone in the School increasingly. Something had to be done. Georg von Drachenfels came before the Council and proposed that they let Johann to keep his status as Prince but that they removed him from his Grand Master's position. His brother was clearly becoming senile and couldn't take care of his responsibilities anymore. Georg said that because he had already taken care of Aalban for years he didn't want to replace his brother as Prince. He had no ambitions to that position and would have waited for Johann's death. The Council agreed to these proposals and elected Johann as Viceroy of Nordling.

Johann's successor as Grandmaster, Charan Erewan, liked Johann and let him keep his quarters at the Great School. Johann von Drachenfels wandered the corridors of the School for the next four years before finally disappearing in 961 at the age of 66. Nobody found him anymore…

Georg was 64-years old when he at last took the formal position of Prince of Aalban and viceroy of Nordling. He was not so great as a magician as his brother, but he was definitely better as administrator and politician. He was an imposing massive man with enormous mustaches and sidebars. He was already nearly bald. He had always been number two in Aalban. He was not so intelligent as his elder brother Johann and he was the first to admit that. But he had a deep sense of responsibility. He had been at first afraid of the possibility to become a Prince: he had no ambitions, he was shy and wanted to stay out of the limelights. But when his brother asked him to help in governing Aalban, his sense of responsibility was so great that he couldn't refuse. So when he became a Prince in 961 he was probably the best prepared von Drachenfels to ever take that position. He had been de facto Prince for already over 10 years.

His succession was secure, his son Morgaithe was already 40-years old and his grandson Jaggar 16. In fact most Aalbane tought that Georg would step down after couple of years. He was planning to do just that but at first came some financial problems which delayed his resignation, because he knew that his son didn't understand anything about economics.

Then in 966 he was quite surprisingly chosen as Chamberlain of Glantri. The elven Princes were Grandmaster and Supreme Judge so Georg was chosen as best candidate because of his sense of responsibility and because of his knowledge of the Glantrian countryside from his youth in the Army. Georg was a success in this position, he bettered the road conditions all over Glantri and built some new bridges in strategic places.

Georg remained Prince of Aalban until his death for natural causes in 978 at the age of 81.

Morgaithe was already 57 when he succeeded his father. He was physically not so big as his father, but an imposing figure anyway with his full beard and shining white uniform. He was more militarily oriented than both his father and uncle together had been. He and his wife Hildegarde had been waiting already over 20 years for the day Morgaithe would have become a Prince and were in a hurry to realize them.

Morgaithe was chosen as Viceroy of Ylourge. He immediately began to suppress the orc tribes living in the surrounding mountains. His plan was first to pacify humanoids and then to conquer the Adri Varma Plateau. He was waiting for easy victory, but somehow there seemed to be an endless number of orcs and other humanoids in the mountains.

In AC 979 one of the major events in Glantri's history took place: the return of the d'Ambrevilles. This took everyone by surprise. Among the Princes there were only the elves and Morphail who remembered the d'Ambrevilles personally, so there was quite a turmoil. After Etienne was again recognized as a Prince he immediately demanded back his position as Grandmaster. Most Princes, and Morgaithe amongst them, recognized that he had a certain priviledge for that. But still majority thought that it would be wrong to force out the current holder, Charan Erewan, without any fault on his side, so the demand was turned down. Next happened something that broke Morgaithe's relation with Etienne: he demanded the viceroyalty of Ylourgne for himself. Morgaithe was furious because he had made all his plans on conquering humanoid tribes around Ylourgne for all these years and definitely didn't want to be removed from that place. Morgaithe succeeded in getting the majority of the Council to his side in this issue and Etienne had to be content with the viceroyalty of Monteleone. After this episode Morgaithe was always against everything Etienne supported.

Then in AC 983 disaster came: Morgaithe fell in battle against the orcs. Hildegarde was devastated, all their plans were blown away. Hildegarde put all her remaining hope in their 38-years-old son, Jaggar. He had always been at his father's side and accepted his plans, so Hildegarde hoped he would avenge Morgaithe's death. One other soothing matter was that Jaggar was still unmarried, so Hildegarde would have stayed for the time being as mistress of Ritterburg.

Jaggar immediately took his father's crusade against humanoids to a new level. Within the following four years he butchered every humanoid he found within 80 mile from Ylourgne. Then he became bored, there was no challenge in killing humanoids. He began to think about marriage. He realised that if he had died, his sister Helgar would have inherited Aalban. Jaggar had begun to dislike his mother's meddling in his matters and Helgar's rulership meant that Hildegarde would have been the real ruler. In the last two years Hildegarde had been presenting young women to Jaggar as possible wives. Jaggar had turned all of them down because he knew that they were all totally under his mother's control.

Then in 989 he shocked his mother announcing his marriage with Gertrude Krema, member of the family he knew his mother hated. Hildegarde was born in Ludenburg family, which was one of the few pure Hattian families in Aalban and which had always been proposing about removing Alphatian influence out of Aalban. The Krema family, on the other hand, although originally Hattian, had adopted Alphatian ideas and had made marriages with Alphatian families. Jaggar wanted to heal some of the wounds amongst Aalbaneese nobility with this Alphatian-Hattian marriage, but he also wanted to teach a lesson to his domineering mother.

After marriage Jaggar began to search a way to get out of Ylourgne to do something else than scout the mountains. The possibility came when in AC 991 the Supreme Judge Alfonso de Belcadiz suddenly died. Jaggar immediately announced his candidacy. To his great dismay he lost the competition to Jherek Virayana. Most of the Princes considered Jaggar too militarily oriented to be a good judge. Jaggar took his defeat as an insult and developed deep hatred towards Ethengarians afterwards.

Only one month later Chancellor Mario di Malapietra was poisoned in reception of foreign ambassadors. This gave Jaggar a new opportunity. He didn't want a chancellorship, but he knew that Volospin Aendyr wanted that position. Volospin was currently Viceroy of Nordling and Jaggar promised him his support if he would have supported Jaggar's claim to Nordling. If Jaggar was to be stucked with some viceroyalty, he would rather be Nordling than Ylourgne. There was no difficulties in the Council session: Volospin was chosen as a new Chancellor, Jaggar got Nordling and the new Prince of Caurenze, Innocenti di Malapietra, got viceroyalty of Ylourgne, much to Etienne d'Ambrevilles great annoy.

And the rest is told in official books...