Rikwi's Pagan Rebellion

Rikwi's Pagan Rebellion was a religiously motivated peasant rebellion in the Earldom of Etrancoast, which escalated into a war for independence against the Kingdom of Etrand. This war was the last time the Pagans of Etrancoast rose up against their Etrandish overlords, the last major uprising in the name of the Old Gods in Etrancoast. Its brutal suppression was considered many to be the last dying breath of the ancient pre-Titanist religion of the Humans, though there are many in Etrancoast even to this day who would contest this claim.

Background
A wide variety of factors led to Rikwi's Pagan Rebellion. Obviously, the most important one was the persistence of Human Paganism, a persecuted religion that still had plenty of representation among the oppressed, overtaxed peasantry of Etrancoast. Despite the fact that all previous pagan rebellions - the First Etrancoasti Rebellion (431), Liudulf's Pagan Rebellion (497-498) and the Great Pagan Rebellion of 514 - all ended in utter failures, the dream of an independent, pagan Hulra just would not die: the rebellion thus was also motivated by Hulran/Etrancoasti Nationalism, as well as a complete lack of political representation for the politically active peasantry, along with obscene wealth disparity, with much of the population being landless serfs who worked land they did not own. The tip of the icerberg was the fact, that not too long before the outbreak of the rebellion, the Kingdom of Etrand lost the Fifth Cymbairan War against Gabyr - much of Etrand's navy was manned by Etrancoasti sailors, who were disgruntled and thus eager to join this new pagan rebellion. The participation of the sailors made this rebellion even more dangerous than the previous ones, as the rebels had a navy too.

The rebellion would be organized by the titular Rikwi the Heathen, a charismatic advocate of both the old faith and peasants' rights, having a personal score to settle with the Etrandish.

Course of the conflict
Rikwi's rebellion started in the north, and it started with attacks on the estates belonging to nobility. In order to convince the peasantry to join their side, whereever they went, they redistributed the land among the peasantry, winning their favour and compelling them to re-embrace the religion of their ancestors. Surviving nobles and clergy of the north fled the south first, and eventually into Etrand.

After their initiatial successes against the nobility, Rikwi's army marched to the city of Yrvhaven. His army encircled the city, while his fellow commanders were organizing raids around the rest of the land. Not being patient enough to starve the city into submission, he launched an assault - many of the city's defenders surrendered on spot. The city was sacked, and there was an initial massacre - a pogrom, as one might say - against several specific groups of inhabitants: faithful Titanists (especially Titanist priests), anyone who spoke Etrancoasti with an Etrandish accent, Crainers, and just about anyone who wasn't Human (chiefly High Elves and Wood Elves, but also Orcs, Dwarves and Gnomes). Men and children were forcibly taken into slavery and were put to manial labour, if not killed outright on the spot. Women were raped, and then abducted and forced into sexual slavery. Even Etrancoasti people weren't safe - those who were rich were accused of collaboration with the "Etrandish oppressors", and had their wealth confiscated, redistributed among those who claimed to be faithful Pagans.

News quickly spread about this not-so-harmless group of rebels seizing land, giving it to the peasants and successfully capturing and sacking a major city. In an anticipation of a similar atrocity taking place in Waterburcht, many of its inhabitants - Etrandish, Elves, faithful Titanits, bourgeoise of any race or religion - fled the city. The remainder of the Etrandish-Etrancoasti military stationed in the area focused on evacuating all the civilians who were eager to leave. Because a lot of peasants did not want to leave - anticipating land redistribution at the hands of Rikwi's rebels - the authorities took punitive measures such as torching their fields or taking their crops by force, further driving the peasantry into the arms of the rebels. Meanwhile, news of the atrocities commited by the rebels spread far and wide - specifically, the news about the racial cleansing of Elves from Etrancoast led to Dragoc and Froturn sending volunteers to join the Etrandish army in suppressing the rebellion. Orcish mercenaries and Crainers also served in the Etrandish army, and upon hearing about the massacres of their brethren, both groups swore bloody vengeance against the pagan rebels.

In 575, during a campaign to the south Rikwi the Heathen got ill and died, and with him died hope of the rebellion succeeding: leaders of his movement began bickering among each other. Truth be told, the cracks of disunity began appearing much earlier - for example, despite having won the favour of the peasantry earlier on with the land redistributions, Rikwi's rebels began losing the peasantry's favours by constantly forcibly collecting their food for the army, and for their policy of "direct taxation" (taxing peasants crops, blacksmiths iron, woodcutters wood, etc. instead of currency), which in reality was simple extortion. The fact that the state was isolated and had no one to trade with - other than Gabyr (which required gold, something they lacked) - also made the previously popular regime unpopular over time.

Rikwi's sudden death was the final nail in the coffin - just one year later, the Etrandish and Etrancoasti authorities re-asserted themselves, squashing the rebellion completely.

Aftermath
The exiled nobles and clerics came back, and re-took their land with military support. Those urban bourgeoise who lost their wealth re-gained it by accusing many of their neighbours who did not have share their fate of being rebellious collaborationists. A lot of peasants were punished for being early supporters of the rebellion, and those city-people who were accused of having benefited from the rebellion had their wealth confiscated, redistributed amongst those who claimed to have lost their wealth. The apostate peasants were forced to re-embrace Titanism, and those who refused were either killed or enslaved and deported to Etrand. The Royal Hounds would subject the Etrancoasti civilians to many atrocities, earning the Crainers a rather bitter reputation in the region.

After the crushing defeat of the rebellion, the various pagan resistance groups - such as the Black Mob - reverted back to being underground insurgents, taking action against the authorities in more subtle methods. The Etrancoasti authorities, in order to prevent a rebellion of such magnitude from ever breaking out again, built up a vast spy network, effectively transforming their feudal earldom into the closest one can get to a quasi-Orwellian police state using medieval technology - the secret police would employ a large portion of the population, with snitches and informants infiltrating every place, the Inquisition keeping tabs on just about every household, etc.

Eventually, the harsh and authoritarian measures would be gradually relaxed, but there would be no more pagan rebellions ever again.