The Peasant Rebels were a minor faction and unit in Warrider and some subsequent versions of classic Mount&Blade.
Backstory[]
Initially a revolt broke out in the Vaegir village of Serrepa. It is unclear what caused it, but what is known is that the rash actions of a knight that Count Aolbrug sent in to put it down have aggravated the situation and the revolt grew into a all-out rebellion.
Over time, peasants from other parts of the Kingdom of Vaegirs, and even from the Kingdom of Swadia, began flocking to Serrepa to join the cause. This concerned the nobles of both kingdomes, whom the peasants declared their enemies, so much so that they were willing to initiate negotiations.
The Kingdom of Vaegirs, particularly Count Aolbrug, the village's now-former lord, sent in an envoy to ask what the rebels' demands are and meet them. The Kingdom of Swadia, on the other hand, saw the rebellion as an opportunity to criple the Vaegirs, and sent in their own envoy to convince the rebels to side with it in exchange for protection and other benefits.
The rebels' demands were simple: amnesty for the rebelling peasants, additional rights for peasants in general, and forbidding lords to kill their serfs.
Although initially agreeing to meet the rebels' demands, neither kingdom kept their promises in the end. The Vaegir nobles sent reinforcements to Count Aolbrug to help him quell the rebellion, whereas the Swadian lords convinced King Larec that rebelling peasants were more dangerous than any enemy kingdom and, as such, he elected to leave the rebels to their fate.
In the end, the rebels were all either killed or captured by the Vaegirs' punishing parties. Lerias Welon - the rebels' political leader - was captured by Aolbrug's envoy and delivered to the Count's dungeons for punishment. Akhad Thell - the rebels' spiritual leader - feigned death and avoided the punishers, later making his escape.
Faction[]
As a faction, the rebels were loosely organized but shared a sense of commoner solidarity and a hatred of nobles of all kinds. This was used by both kingdoms when choosing their envoys.
Being peasants, the rebels had very little combat experience. They only managed to defeat Count Aolbrug's knight by overpowering him with sheer numbers. For weapons, they used axes and various tools they had to use for their everyday work, refusing to use swords as they didn't know how to use them effectively. They did, however, request crossbows and leather armor during negotiations.
When encountered on the overland map, they would spawn in parties of up to 50 troops.
Unit[]
A standard Peasant Rebel is indistinguishable from a Farmer troop. He is armed with sickles, pitchforks, knives, butchering knives, cleavers, and other tools and low-level weapons. For armor, the Peasant Rebel wears tunics, low-level footwear, and simple hats.
The peasant rebels in Warrider are in fact Mujiks (Vaegir Recruits). As such, they are armed with the same tools but have slightly better armor, such as Nomad Armor and Fur Tunics.
Other Versions[]
Peasant Rebels appear in other versions of Mount&Blade, albeit under different circumstances. In some versions they do launch revolts that spawn Peasant Rebel parties on the map, but these are largely related to a minor quest. In other instances, Peasant Rebels - called tax_rebels in the game files - appear during the Collect Taxes from (fief) quest. The event is triggered depending on various factors and results in the player and a few of their troops, armed with quarterstaves, having to put down the rebels. If they succeed, the player continues collecting taxes. If they fail, the tax collecting is over and the player fails the quest.