Dead Man's Rise

The Dead Man's Rise was an internal conflict in Etrand that reached its boiling point during the Knights' Massacre, ending up with the expulsion of all practicioners of Necromancy. The end result was the foundation of the Republic of Keldorn.

Background
It is not known, and was never recorded when did Swidhelm Folkling come into contact with Yenos the Dark, or when was he turned into a vampire, or by whom - this is a secret even to the elites of Keldorn. All that is known is that Swidhelm had his outburst in 101, massacring all the servants of his castle, and leading a skeletal army to kidnap many of his serfs, so that he could drink their blood. He also enslaved plenty of his own serfs and forced them to dig up graves, so that he could expand his skeletal army. The same year, he began raiding the neighbouring estates, killing people, expanding his zombie army further, and corrupting several worthy individuals - he deliberately tried to capture the best soldiers and knights alive, so he could turn them into vampires.

The royal authorities weren't notified and alerted until early 102, when they finally got their act together and mobilized the Knights of the Golden Light. In response to this, theriantropes such as werewolves started coming out of the hiding, revealing their existence to the public for the first time by volunteering to join Folkling's undead army in fighting against the Forces of Light. Other vampires also came out of the hiding to join him.

Conclusion and aftermath
By the end of the war, both sides were exhausted. The Knights of the Golden Light were no more, but at the end of the day, corpses were a finite resource, and the Etrandish armies displayed a level of professionalism that skeletons and zombies were no match for. Vampire knights and werewolves were very few in numbers, and the typical skeleton and zombie troopers were only effective when having the advantage of numbers. To make matters worse for the undead, not everyone was truly loyal to Folkling, as several of the more sentient undead (vampires and werewolves) were threatening to mutiny, as they saw this whole rebellion going nowhere.

By the end of the war, the undead adopted a new strategy - they tried their best to capture enemies alive, and ransom them. After a certain siege, all inhabitants of a castle were held ransom in exchange for guaranteed passage out of the country, through the south. Prior to this, the undead have arranged for transports to be brought to the southern coasts of Etrand, so that the whole army - or rather, what remained of it - could leave the continent and travel to the Island of Keldorn.

In the end, as both sides were exhausted and tired of fighting, the Etrandish accepted, happy to be rid of the undead menace, while the undead were about to create their own state on the distant island they were travelling to: the Republic of Keldorn. In the end, both sides got what they wanted - or so they thought. Swidhelm Folkling and Yenos the Dark ruled this newborn republic as a de-facto duarchy until both were assassinated by their own apprentices, who adopted a system of quadarchy - rule by a council of four. Eventually, this was expanded to five.