Aelfwaird's Insurrection

Aelfwaird's Insurrection - also known by some as the "Tale of Two Kings" - was a period during the history of Etrand during which north-Eastern Etrand was held in the hands of an independent warlord named Aelfwaird of Dracfold, who held claims to the Etrandish crown, and hence was described as an antiking. This conflict has been also very often described as religious in nature, as the main difference between the two sides was their religion.

Background
The origins of Aelfwaird's Insurrection can be traced back directly to Corlagon's Wars of Unification, which led to the formation of the Kingdom of Etrand: King Corlagon I of Etrand himself was from Western Etrand, and it was quite self-explanatory that his home region would be both his main seat of power, the location where his allies were concentrated. These were the regions over which the King had the most power, thus the regions on which he could most effectively impose the new order, the new faith, the new culture, the new way of life. As a matter of fact, it took Corlagon only a year to win over all the Western chieftains to his side - in contrast, it took a very costly seven-year campaign to just barely pacify the (North-)East. Humiliated but not humbled, the various Eastern lords did not exactly consider the score settled even when Corlagon was officially crowned the king of his newly unified kingdom, still clinging to the old gods in secret, and waiting for the perfect moment to rise up against the so-called "new normal".

During the first two decades of the kingdom's existence, tensions would gradually rise between the royal seat of power in the West and the much more peripheral Eastern regions. Eastern Lords would not take kindly to the presence of Inquisitors torturing their relatives and subjects for having unorthodox religious beliefs, or to royal enforcers roaming villages and terrorizing the peasantry. One would say, that the so-called "Weuvarmall Incident" was merely the "last straw that broke the camel's back", so to speak, which finally ignited the flames of rebellion among an already highly disgruntled populace.

Events leading up to the war
The so-called "Weuvarmall Incident" was an event, whose exact nature is still debated by historians: some believe that it was fictional and never even happened, while others question the specific details. The conventional narrative, is that a group of Inquisitors or royal enforcers led by a fanatical Titanist saw a group of starving peasants in the village of Weuvarmall eat cats, dogs or horses (strictly forbidden under the Titanist religion, considered cannibalism and punishable by death), and decided to "make an example out of the heathens" by impaling them and/or burning the whole village down. However, there were survivors who successfully escaped the violence and started to spread the word: the result was outrage, sparking a religiously motivated peasant rebellion that would be backed by some of the - previously only secretly - Pagan North-Eastern lords, such as Aelfwaird of Dracfold.

Regardless of the exact details, an at least partially religiously motivated peasant rebellion broke out, and various northeastern lords began to provide refuge for those rebels escaping the King's retribution. The King's Hounds' violent attempts at "terrorizing the peasants into submission" only added more fuel to the fire: in the end, Aelfwaird openly and publicly began to endorse the Old Faith and support the rebellion, declaring himself an "anti-king" and laying claim to the Throne of Etrand - and so did Aelfwaird's Insurrection begin, resulting in a civil war that would last almost two decades.

Aftermarth
In 39, the forces of Aelfwaird were finally beaten by the forces of King Symon. Aelfwaird himself was captured and cornered, and after giving him a few days in prison to contemplate whether to accept the king's peace terms or not, Aelfwaird finally gave in.

Historians today are scratching their heads why didn't Symon order Aelfwaird to be executed, but there what is left out of history books - and chronicles as well - is the following facts:
 * Symon's personality was that of someone who prefers to see his enemies humiliated rather than killed.
 * Whether to kill Aelfwaird or not was carefully considered, and Symon and his advisors came to the conclusion that Aelfwaird is more useful to them alive than dead, considering that if the leader of the pagan rebellion surrenders and asks his men to stand down, the rebellion is over - while had they killed Aelfwaird, someone else would have carried on with the rebellion. By getting Aelfwaird to bend the knee, the damage to the pagan cause was much bigger than what it would have been if he was killed instead.

The king's terms were that Aelfwaird would bend the knee and embrace the kingdom's state religion, abandon paganism and cease to support pagan insurgents, as well as give up his claims on the throne. Aelfwaird's conditions were that none of his subjects and allies be arrested for treason - this request was granted, but the King did in fact order Inquisitors to roam around in the land once held by the rebels.

After King Symon died, Symon's son Coenred decided to finally pacify the former anti-king by arranging marriages with his family: he "convinced" Aelfwaird to arrange a marriage between his oldest son Hereric and Coenred's eldest daughter Morenna. It was out of this marriage that Hengist would be born, who ended up marrying his own first cousin Calena, the daughter of Coenred's younger brother Cuiclhelm, giving him a very strong claim onto the throne that did in fact end up getting him the crown.

This political marriage between the two families was considered a big win-win even before the birth of Hengist: Coenred got the peace and stability that he wanted, while Aelfwaird ensured that his descendants would get a claim on the throne.

While underground pagan resistance would continue to exist in one form or another for the next decade, it was clearer than the day to everyone, that the Age of the Old Gods was over for good: while the Inquisition would remain active (violently persecuting Pagans and potentially accelerating the religion's decline), in the end, Paganism would slowly die a quiet death in Etrand, going out with a whimper rather than a bang.