History of the Flaem
by Michael BerryHere is the (now) combined history of the Flaem and a corresponding expose of the 40 years war...
I did add some of the feedback regarding the early Flaemish years, the Overlord, and the Dragonlord. As always.. any comments or feedback is appreciated.
It is a bit to digest... I think I'll be editing this for awhile when I finish hahha.
The history of Bergdhoven starts on the distant planet of Alphatia. There existed two rivals schools of magic; The Most Righteous College of Aerial Splendour (today called the Followers of Air) and The Universal Truth of Fiery Dominion (today called the Followers of Flame). What began as great debates as to what was most powerful evolved into a great conflict that ravaged their home world In which millions perished and which ruined their home world.
The Air Wizards abandoned the Fire Wizards to their fate upon the dying world and moved to another world similar to their own and in BC 1000 they came to Mystara and founded the Alphatian Empire. The Fire Wizards, survived however when the Immortals intervened and saved them by moving the survivors to the Outer Planes to wander until such time as those who were alive in the time of the War of Air and Fire. The Flaems started their long migration across external planes of existence shortly after the fall of Old Alphatia. The details of their migrations across the Outer Planes are lost to history but for the last one.
The last plane they visited before reaching Mystara was a world called Veydra. This world had been enslaved long ago by an external being called the Overlord. Ancient Flaem text say the Overlord resembled a prismatic floating mass of crystals, but he concealed his true shape in a huge mechanical artifact similar to a brontosaur or something similar to it during the invasion of Mystara. The Overlord used Veydra as the seat of his expanding empire. The Flaems succumbed to the overwhelming mental powers of the Overlord and they were enslaved, along with many other races the Overlord had encountered. The actual duration of this enslavement is not to be found anywhere in Flaemish history but is assumed to have been for at least several centuries. In the course of his explorations and research the Overlord was drawn to a mysterious power emanating from the planet of Mystara on the Prime Plane. The Overlord turned to Mystara and to the source of this power located in the Glantrian Highlands and began to plot an invasion to secure this power. The Overlord decided to send an expedition of the Flaems to investigate. The Overlord erased the memories about their enslavement and of their kin still kept prisoner on Veydra. Once here the Flaem arrived in the Highlands in AC 395 near the present day location of the town of Braastar, they founded new settlements and started to settle the northern Highlands. However the Overlord still kept a hidden mental control on them and their descendants.
Upon arriving in the Highlands the seven warlords that led the new settlers set themselves up as Dukes in the Highlands and established the 7 Duchies. The Council of Dukes and Wizards is created as representative body formed by the seven dukes and selected Fire Mages, seated in Braastar. This body elects among the dukes and "archduke" who rules until he dies, and acts as a sort of government of the Flaems. This confederation never became too durable, powerful or effective: each Duke continued to rule as he pleased over his lands, while the Archduke's power was far too low to keep the Dukes in check. The 7 Duchies and their families were as follows:
Graez (Duchy of the Oudekirk family)
Aalbansford (Duchy of the Aalban family)
Linden (Duchy of the Vlaardoen family)
Traagen (Duchy of the Veerbyn family)
Nordeen (Duca of the Ardelan family)
Beraan (Duca of the Vyldeaar family)
Terreja (Duca of the Maarsten family)
Since it was located so close to their arrival point Braastar quickly became the largest town of the Highlands and the centre of Flaemish civilisation in the Highlands. The town of Braejr was founded in AC450 to host the government of the Archduke, an elected representative among the seven dukes. The Archduke’s role was to reduce the internal conflicts among the dukes and to better control the mysterious force centred on the location of Braejr. The Fire Wizards knew of the force before their arrival on Mystara courtesy of the Overlord but like the Overlord, they don't know its origins, its scope and its major uses. Scholars have estimated the number of Flaem in the Highlands around AC 500 by extrapolating surviving documents regarding the military forces of the Highlands. It is known that the Army of the Highlands numbered around 5,500 which would mean approximately 30,000 Flaem were in the Highlands around AC 500.
The Highlands and the north were about to be invaded by an army of dragons led by a renegade red Dragon when Thelvyn finds the Dragonlord Arms and defeats the dragons, thus saving the Flaems. At this point, after seeing what fate they were about to suffer, the Flaems decided to strengthen their ruler's power, crowning the Archduke as King, and giving him more powers to control the Dukes. After five years, King Jherridan is assassinated and Thelvyn is meanwhile chosen to head the kingdom. An year later in AC 511, Thelvyn reformed the kingdom into a republic, ruled by two assemblies: A full time assembly of elected representatives who would always be on hand in Braejr to deal with common problems and unexpected difficulties. Then, at certain times of the year, a full assembly would met, which would include the dukes or their surrogates and a representative of the wizards. They'd decide the major policies of the Highlands. The council would have a senior representative, comparable to the First Speaker of the dragons, who would act as the leader of the council and the representatives of the Highlands in political affairs. Solveig White-gold (aka Solveig Doranius) was selected to be the first Prime Minister. Solveig was a warrior (a girl) and Thelvyn's companion during his quest to find the armour of the Dragonlord. She was also the daughter-in-law of the Thyatian Emperor, Cornelius Doranius.
Thelvyn later discovered that the Flaems were magically controlled by the Overlord. The Overlord finally made his move to control the mysterious magical force in AC 512 with a massive invasion of the Highlands, with a force said to include 500 gemstone dragons, about 40 fabulous and lethal metallic warriors and an additional army of at least 1,000,000 consisting of monsters and creatures of various kinds. In addition many Flaems fell under the Overlord's control, but Thelvyn and the chromatic dragons managed to use the (barely understood) powers of the Radiance to shield the most populous cities of the Highlands from the Overlord’s mind power. Thelvyn then defeated and destroyed the Overlord, freeing the Flaems and the other enslaved races, like the gemstone Dragons. In the following years after the defeat of the Overlord the Flaems still living on Veydra were moved to Mystara and they contributed to populate the Highlands.
Peace reigned for a number of years in the Highlands after the defeat of the Overlord while the freed Flaems came to the highlands, however new land was needed for the thousands and thousands of Flaem that came from Veydra. The northern Highlands were pretty well settled so they moved to the south, towards the elves which had been there long before the Flaem arrived in the Highlands. In AC 535 the elves met the southward pushing Flaems. The elves had known about the Flaems since they came to Highlands, but now they first time began to compete from same land. The Flaems had been fighting with all their neighbours since their coming to the Highlands and now they considered the elves only as a new threat. Elves had to retreat back to woods around the foothills of the mountains after only a couple of years of war. The raiding went on for another couple of years.
Then in AC 565 Don Miguel contacted the leaders of southern Flaem holdings and proposed a meeting. That was arranged at the meetings of Red River and Vesubia. Don Miguel sent his eldest son Don Manuel with his retinue to the meeting. The elves realised too late that the Flaems had set up a trap. The elves were seized and ceremoniously sacrificed in the holy fire of the Flaems. Thanks to Don Miguel's second sons Don Antonio's military genius, the less numerous elves were able to keep their positions against the magical might of the Flaems during the 7th century. There were not two peaceful years in a row during the whole century, but one must also acknowledge that one of the reasons that there was no peace was Don Miguel's want for revenge. At first he executed all messengers from the Flaems asking for support when the Ethengarian raiders ran roughshod over the Highlands in AC 585 when the Flaem found themselves fighting on two fronts.
While relations had never been amiable with the Ethengarians they turned hostile in the years following the invasion of the Overlord. The gemstone dragons under the Overlord’s mind control set ablaze most of the steppes in a series of attacks intended as a preparation for the Overlord invasion of the Highlands and Mystara. The fires forced the Ethengarian tribes to leave the steppes in search for shelter and food supplies. They asked for help to the Flaems but they rejected, as they were too busy with the imminent invasion of the Overlord armies. The Ethengarians interpreted the Flaems' behaviour as ingratitude and selfishness and they never went to help the Flaems again. So started the enmity between those two people which culminated in the raids of AC 585 and relations between the two ever since have been horrible ever since.
The Flaemish Republic' established by the Dragonlord soon fell apart decades later after political recriminations brought the government down after the inept response to the massive Ethengarian raids in the heart of the Highlands through the lightly defended Skullhorn Pass and the inability to defeat the southern elves. A group of militant Flaems called the Fire Mages, an aggressive faction of the Flaemish wizards with the aim to build a strong kingdom on Mystara to continue their war against the Followers of Air in Alphatia, had been lobbying since the time of Dragonlord to reinforce the powers of the republic's Prime Minister. After the Ethengarian raids of AC 595 the Prime Minister was crowned King of Braejr, an united kingdom of the Flaems, and the Republic was dissolved. Skullhorn Pass was reinforced and strengthened and the war against the southern elves was continued.
In AC 645 Ethengar attempted a major invasion through the same route they had such success through previously and were suffered a horrendous defeat. The Fire Mages lobbied for an invasion of the Steppes to eliminate the Ethengarians while there was a lull in the war with the elves and in AC662 the Flaems invaded the steppes and were in turn massacred. At the beginning of the 8th century the war between the elves and Flaem came to an end as both sides were tired of fighting. In AC 702 they made a truce and the southern Flaemish lords promised the lands between Vesubia and Colossus Mounts to the elves. The truce between the elves and the Flaem was a short one and war broke out again ten years later when the newly arrived Erewan Elves move into areas inhabited by the Flaem in the woods between the Vesubia and Red Rivers. The Flaems launched withering raids into elven territory and a guerrilla war between the two sides when on for years.
Things got progressively worse for the Flaem in the Highlands throughout the 8th century as large populations of immigrants moved into the Highlands from Traladara and the Thyatian colonies in Alasiya and proceeded to fight with Flaem who didn’t want all the new settlers in their lands. Also the d'Ambrevilles arrived in the western Highlands from their homeworld of Laterre. In AC747 Braejr banned clericism with punishment being burned at the stake which did not go over well with the new settlers. Decades of skirmishing became full-scale war in 784 AC when Joachim von Drachenfels kills unintentionally his brother-in-law duke Willem van Agt while drunk. War breaks between the Flaems and the settlers. The elves, being tired of war refuse to take any part in this war. The elves soon decided to join the war after the settlers were crushed in the Battle of Braejr to seek revenge upon the Flaem. The Elves along with the newly arrived settlers from Alphatia defeated the Flaem at Braastar which was punctuated by the killing of the King of Braejr, Willem van Drees, by Don Alfonso de Belcadiz himself.
In the peace negotiations after that all parties agree to establish Republic of the Highlands. The Flaems then withdraw all claims to the lands south of Isoile and Fen rivers. All lands east of Vesubia and Fen rivers are assigned to the elves. The parties also agree to establish a council composed of 3 Flaems, 2 elves, 1 Kerendan, 1 Thyatian and 1 Hattian to rule the country. Halzunthram is left out of the Council to his amazement and considerable anger. Jan Pieinants, Cornelis Postbrad, and the Flaemish hero and General Rodolphus Vlaardoen were made Council members. Great treachery soon struck as Sigmund von Drachenfels helped Halzunthram captured the council when it met for the first time. Halzunthram then declared the Highlands an Alphatian colony and proclaimed himself High Governor. The Elves made a daring strike under the leadership of Don Alfonso de Belcadiz and released the imprisoned Flaemish and the two elven council members. The Elves then declared their independence completely from the Highlands and the Flaems revolted against Halzunthram thus beginning the 40 Years War.
The first years of the war were marked by great bloody battles as Halzunthram launched a major offensive up the western bank of the Vesubian River, bypassing heavily fortified Braejr, toward the heart of Flaem power, the duchy of the Vlaardoen family at Linden. Rodolphus again proved again to the equal of any general in the field, holding his army together through defeats at the battles of Westheath (790) Eemshaven (790), Beraan (791). Finally at High Sonden (791) Rodolphus turned back the invaders even though outnumbered 2-1 when he personally led the 22nd Fire Mage regiment around the Alphatian flank and destroyed their supply train forcing the Alphatian/Thyatian forces to withdraw back to Braejr and ruined Halzunthram’s grand campaign and dreams of an early victory.
For several years the fighting consisted of small unit actions along the borders of Flaemish lands to the north of Braejr while the Rodolphus drafted and trained new troops and Halzunthram awaited reinforcements from Alphatia. Due to the brilliant leadership of Rodophus, the Flaem held against the initial onslaught of coalition forces in the first years of the war some who had pledged fealty to Halzunthram started to have second thoughts about their decision. When it became apparent there would be no quick victory and no peace with the war became prolonged and Halzunthram's demands growing, Lord Titus Glantri, the head of the Thyatians, began reconsidering his alliance with Halzunthram. His daughter Hadriana had been against siding with Halzunthram in the first place but Glantri and di Sfonti had been swayed by the Drachenfels to side with Halzunthram. In AC 794, Titus contacted Matteo di Sfonti, the emerging leader of the Kerendan; Titus proposed that they open secret negotiations with the Flaems. During these war-heavy years, the more undesirable traits of the Flaems surfaced in Rodolphus Vlaardoen. His hatred of Alphatians eventually turned to a hatred of every other race—with only elves as an exception. When the Thyatians and Kerendans approached the Flaems in secret negotiations, Rodolphus was against it, believing their situation was not that desperate; he was outvoted by the other Flaemish leaders. For two years, the two Thyatians worked on this, until AC 796, the Thyatians and Kerendans switched forces to join the Flaems against the Alphatians. Titus Glantri was recognised as the supreme rebel commander due to his universally acknowledged brilliance on the battlefield. Once again the rebels tried to coax the elves to join the war but they were refused again as the elves only wanted to protect their lands and wanted to stay out of the conflict.
Halzunthram immediately responded the treachery of the Thyatians and Kerendans by launching an assault on first the Kerendans and then the Thyatians. Halzunthram figured the Kerendans would be the easiest to eliminate first being separated by the Hattians from their Thyatian and Flaemish allies. The attack resulted in a stalemate as Kerendan units fought fiercely to protect their lands led by Matteo di Sfonti’s eldest son who showed himself to be a good leader of men and quick with tactics and strategy. Halzunthram was forced to call off his assault on the Kerendan lands when Titus advanced on the Hattian lands in an effort to relieve the pressure on the Kerendans. The Thyatian drive on Halzunthram ended in the Battle of the Red River (697) where Titus was wounded and both sides suffered egregious casualties (estimated 5,000 for each side) in a bitter battle that lasted 3 days. Titus never recovered from his wounds and died in bed at Castle Glantri in AC 797 at the age of 77. He was succeeded by his daughter Hadriana.
The next several years again were devoid of major engagement and were characterised by scores of vicious small units actions all along the lines bordering Kerendan, Thyatian, and Flaemish lands. With the death of Titus Glantri the rebel command structure consisted of no true leader but of 3 separate leaders. Hadriana Glantri led the Thyatians, Rodolphus Vlaardoen led the Flaem, and Matteo di Sfonti led the Kerendans. The dissension among the rebel factions caused those troops to be pushed back by Alphatian and Hattian troops. Signor Matteo had a particularly difficult situation, with his own troops separated from the rest of the rebels by the Hattians. In the spring of AC 801, Halzunthram was so confident of victory that he declared the rebels vanquished. This caused him to make the mistake of dividing his forces by removing the Hattians from the battlefront to the northern area of Aalban, beyond the Aalban River and claiming the Hattian lands as his own and settling the region with Alphatians arriving from the Alphatian continent.
This opportunity was heaven sent for Hadriana. When the Hattians were on their march, she harassed the Hattians and slowly led her own troops westward to join the Kerendan troops of Matteo di Sfonti. She had her own personal reasons to meet with Matteo di Sfonti as well: Castle Glantri (present day Hightower) was left in ruins by the Alphatian battlemages the previous year, save for one tower, and Hadriana wanted a safe place to leave her young son Alexander as she went to war. She left Alexander with the Sfonti family, amongst the company of Matteo's children of his own age.
Matteo di Sfonti was then able to leave command of his own troops to Hadriana Glantri, while he himself concentrated in political negotiations for the rebel forces. Signor Matteo sent envoys to Don Fernando de Belcadiz and his elves, to the Traladaran lord Morphail Gorevitch-Woszlany, to the Ethengar living on the southern side of the Colossus Mountains, and to the small but magically fearsome Kaelic minority. Signor Matteo himself travelled over the Glantrian Alps to visit Sire Étienne d'Ambreville, whose magical capabilities he was well aware of and hoped to avail against the Alphatians. Most of Matteo's efforts were to no avail, as only the Ethengar troops promised to help the rebels, in exchange for the territories west of the Colossus Mountains.
The attack of the Ethengar horsemen and hakomons from the Colossus Mountains the summer of AC 802 took Halzunthram and the Alphatians by surprise and drove them back toward the capital. Braejr would have fallen then and there, if Hadriana had cooperated with the rest of the rebel forces. The Ethengar approached Braejr from the east, and the Flaems from the north, and Hadriana and the Thyatian troops were supposed to attack from the western side of the Isoile River, blocking the west and southern passages to Braejr. But at the last moment, Hadriana decided to go north, and attack the Hattian troops coming from there. The newly allied Ethengar, not experience with siege warfare, saw Hadriana's troops leave their positions, and decided to retreat as well. Only the Flaems were left in the battlefield and they were torn to ribbons by the Alphatians. The disaster at the Battle of Braejr in AC 802 did not improve Rodolphus Vlaardoen's view about other races. The stubbornness of the Thyatian general Hadriana Glantri caused the breach of the siege of Braejr, and the death of thousands of Flaemish troops. His fellow commanders and Flaem leaders; Jan Pieinants and Cornelis Postbrad both fell in that battle.
Matteo di Sfonti thus had his hands full, when he had to reassure the Ethengar and the especially the defeated Flaems that there was no betrayal or abandonment. He was naturally furious at Hadriana, but she did not care a bit. She led her troops north to fight the Hattians there. Halzunthram though he was spared disaster by Hadriana’s tactical blundering at Braejr saw his strategic mistake. His own troops were now divided: The Hattians were in the north and the Alphatians were in the south. During the following two years the rebels slowly beat back Halzunthram's troops though Braejr was held onto by Halzunthram.
In AC 804, Halzunthram realised that he could enlist the dwarves (who had rushed in the Highlands after gold findings in AC 802) as fresh troops. Fatefully, in that same year a plague began spreading in the area and many people started to blame the dwarves because they seemed the only ones unaffected. However, Halzunthram could not care less and needed the dwarves' help badly. He informed the dwarves that he allowed them to stay in the Highlands, if they joined his armies. With the help of the dwarves Halzunthram launched his 2nd great offensive. A two pronged assault on the homeland of his hated enemies the Flaem. Halzunthram won two great victories that year. In AC 805, disaster came when the Hattian troops were bolstered by some dwarven units and defeated her totally in a battle near Vorstadt. Hadriana and the handful of her men escaped and fled north over the mountain ranges to Wendar. In her frustration of her defeat, she stayed out of the war for four years. Halzunthram himself attacked north from Braejr and defeated Rodophus at the 2nd battle of Braastar. Halzunthram purged the region of Braastar and the surrounding region of Flaem. Executing many local leaders and forcing others to leave the area. The close of the year 805 left Halzunthram close to total victory over his main adversary, the Flaem. During this time, Rodolphus began to have frequent outbursts of rage, which, Rodolphus believed, could be calmed by drinking heavily. The other Flaems did not like this latter feature in particular, because it meant that Rodolphus would challenge everyone to drinking contests. Rodolphus also began to personally take part in interrogations of the prisoners and some say that he even tortured and executed them. It was mostly because of these happenings that Alphatians began to call Rodolphus as "the Red Devil."
The tide changed in AC 806, when the Belcadiz elves finally joined the war because of the dwarves fighting for Halzunthram. In the 3rd Battle of Braastar Halzunthram was routed and sent fleeing back to Braejr by combined Flaem, Belcadiz and Ethengarian forces. The Ethengarians moved into the depopulated area are started to rebuild the destroyed city of Braastar. Halzunthram was forced yet again to bring in more troops from Alphatia to compensate for the situation and a stalemate in the Highlands ensued. Neither side was powerful enough to defeat the other. Again the war became characterised by vicious small scale actions. The viciousness of the fighting can be exemplified by looking at Hadriana Glantri.
Hardiana Glantri reappeared from Wendar in AC 809 with a hundred Wendarian mercenaries and took the path over the mountains to Boldavia. Her plan was to persuade the hitherto indifferent Morphail Gorevitch-Woszlany to bring the Traladarans into battle. The plan was sound, but when she met the sinister lord of Igorov, it was she stayed in Boldavia for two years. It was not until AC 811 when Hadriana returned to the war with her Wendarian mercenaries and Boldavian troops. After six years of absence from the war, Hadriana was already 55 years old, but she was surprisingly fit and agile, though some of her old allies noted, somewhat hardened. Hadriana was definitely more ferocious in battle, and she had acquired some very powerful enchanted weapons and other items for combat. What was most disturbing for both her allies and her enemies was that Hadriana would only attack at night. Her troops attacked the Alphatian villages and camps, and usually slaughtered everyone. On the other hand, her own troops never seemed to diminish in number.
After seven years, Hadriana's allies began to suspect that there was something terribly wrong with her. After some divination and auguries from the Immortals, Matteo di Sfonti realised in AC 818 that Hadriana had become a creature of utter evil, and she would become a greater threat to the Highlands than even Halzunthram. Signor Matteo told what he had found out to Hadriana's son, Alexander Glantri. It some time to convince young Alexander, but when he at last met his mother for the first time in 17 years, it had become very clear what his mother had become. Three days later, Alexander Glantri drove with his own hands a wooden stake through his mother's heart. Matteo di Sfonti then struck her head off. Alexander dispersed her troops and they announced Hadriana's death without explanations. Alexander Glantri thus became the Duke of Glantri.
The Alphatian General Halzunthram realised his troops were outnumbered, and turned to the Alphatian Empire for more troops to regain the upper hand. However, between the rising strength of Hadriana Glantri's mercenary company, and the elves' skill in fighting with both weapons and magic, the rebels clearly still had a better chance. General Halzunthram thus boldly petitioned the Grand Council of Alphatia for some high-quality troops, specifically of a more magical nature. Halzunthram’s main ally Sigmund von Drachenfels died in AC 813 at the age of 56 in a hunting accident, and his 25 year-old son Wilhelm took his place as head of the Hattian families. He was a devout follower of Vanya and had been taking part in the war since he was 16—and now he wanted it to end. Wilhelm did not like war and despised Halzunthram even more, but for present, he chose to continue to fight with the Alphatian general. However, Wilhelm had secretly contacted the rebel leaders and began to negotiate with them to switch sides. Negotiations were hard because the rebels did not trust him, and he had also to keep the negotiations secret from Halzunthram's spies. Wilhelm went on with this double play for seven years. Don Fernando de Belcadiz and Alexander Glantri persuaded the other leaders to take the proposal seriously. Don Fernando supported the negotiations with the Hattians, because in his opinion, there was no harm, even if Herr Wilhelm's betrayal was a plot arranged by Halzunthram.
By AC 818, the war finally began to clearly go against Halzunthram, and the rebels were harassing the Alphatian troops at all fronts. In AC 818, the Grand Council of Alphatia at last agreed to send a battalion of battlemages, The Strikers of Alphatia, specialised in hit-and-run techniques, under the command of Colonel Arden, a veteran from the Imperial Boltsmen. In AC 820, Halzunthram found out about Wilhelm von Drachenfels' plot to betray him, and Herr Wilhelm was forced to switch sides openly. The next year, Don Fernando de Belcadiz also finally succeeded to persuade Morphail Gorevitch-Woszlany to bring the Traladarans into an alliance. Within the year, another Alphatian leader, Count Vortram of Silverston, believed the rebels were the winning side, and openly defected against Halzunthram, hoping his move would help end the war.
All seemed to be lost for Halzunthram in AC 821, but fresh troops had arrived from Alphatia and Halzunthram continued the fight. In AC 822, the Alphatian Strikers captured Matteo di Sfonti, returning from Linden after negotiations with the Flaems. Halzunthram executes Matteo under the grounds of high treason. After this, Alexander Glantri is clearly the leader of the rebels, and even the Flaemish leaders recognise this. Rodolphus Vlaardoen was still brilliant in the field, but otherwise his behaviour began to be more and more irrational. Rodolphus clearly developed paranoia towards possible traitors. The peak of this was in AC 818, when he accused his only son Achilles of treason and conspiracy with the Alphatians. Achilles was sentenced to death and Rodolphus watched the whole execution and personally made sure that his son was dead. After this everyone was just waiting for Rodolphus to completely lose his mind. There was however nothing they could do. Rodolphus was still a hero for common people and the soldiers, and the best way would be (the rebel leaders hoped) that Rodolphus would die in battle. But Rodolphus always seemed to survive without even getting any wounds.
The end for Rodolphus came in the winter of AC 825, when after heavy drinking he fell through thin river ice. He did not drown at that, but developed a cold and died in bed at the age of 58, after 41 years on the battlefield. The Flaems likened Rodolphus to "a candle that was burning at both ends, until it died of cold." Historians believe that if Rodolphus Vlaardoen had lived to see the end of the Forty Years War in AC 828, he would never have agreed for the Flaems to join the Republic of Glantri, and the war would probably have continued. Rodolphus would be succeeded as the Duke of Linden by his 51 year-old half-brother Frederick who acknowledged the leadership of Alexander Glantri.
The war continued for six more years. Under the leadership of Alexander Glantri, the rebels slowly pushed back Halzunthram's forces, and many Alphatians were captured and imprisoned. Finally, in AC 828, Halzunthram's headquarters are found. In the ensuing battle of Bogniebrae, there were many casualties on both sides, including Galeazzo di Sfonti, Matteo's eldest and leader of the Kerendan faction. When the battle was over, Alexander Glantri personally captured Halzunthram. Whereas most of the rebel leaders wanted Halzunthram executed immediately, Alexander refused, insisting that he be given a fair trial later. Halzunthram is imprisoned in the Tower of Sighs and The Forty Years War was finally over.