The Bleakwater Rebellion
The Bleakwater rebellion was started a little over 20 years ago, by Henry Haddock, the ruling noble of Bleakwater at the time. The rebellion started when King Kenneth Kensley decided that supporting Bleakwater was no longer worth the investment, and stopped sending supplies to Bleakwater. Henry Haddock was outraged that his king would abandon his people and take his region away from him, so he rebelled against the king.
For five years, Henry and his army slowly and strategically captured land in the Wildwood. His forces met little to no resistance, except that of local armies. King Kenneth opted to let Henry exhaust his resources, as he never had enough resources to make it to Swordspire in the first place. Without resources from the kingdom, Kenneth knew Henry couldn’t support a large enough army to cause any real harm.
In the final year of the war, Henry was able to take over Stonehaven. Through genius planning and expert tactics, he was able to take over an entire major city with a small army, a feat that nobody thought was even possible. He held the city for a few months before the King finally sent his army to deal with Henry. Henry held out at the city for another couple months under siege from the King, but he eventually abandoned and retreated back to Bleakwater with the few remaining soldiers he had left.
In his desperation, Henry called upon the Order of the Eclipse to join his army so he could continue his rebellion, since the Order technically falls under his jurisdiction. Dul Kullell responded to Henry by marching down the mountain and killed Henry’s remaining forces and leveled most of Bluecastle with a single punch before he marched back up the mountain, ending the rebellion.
King Kenneth never sent any forces to Bleakwater to finish off Henry, as Bleakwater is notoriously hard to get to and the land itself is worthless, and he believes that House Haddock could never muster up another army to cause any real harm again. In the years since the end of the rebellion, dark rumors have started to circulate about Henry Haddock. People from Bleakwater have said that Henry stays in his ruined castle, delving into dark magic taught to him by a dark mage named Evelina Blackwood, hoping to one day exact his revenge upon the kingdom of Valtoria.