Rebels
This article is accurate for the latest versions of EU3, Napoleon’s Ambition, In Nomine, Heir to the Throne and Divine Wind.
Rebels are hostile military units that can rise up in provinces. They can appear as the result of an event or determined by the monthly check of revolt risk in a province.
There are some other factors like country flags, sliders and decision that can raise the revolt risk.
Rebel Demands
Under certain circumstances, rebels can be negotiated with. Under the Religion tab in the control window, a list of all rebel groups currently active is displayed with a flag next to each group of rebels. If the flag is not greyed out, clicking it will initiate negotiations. This instantly removes all rebels of a given type, incurs a significant prestige hit, and has an additional effect depending on the type of rebel. If the additional effect is desirable, it may be well-advised to let the rebels win. For example, if you want to move your sliders toward Free Subjects, negotiating with peasant rebels will move 1 step in that direction.
Certain type of rebels will automatically apply a special modifier to any province that they seize control of.
If a nation has so severe a rebel problem that either the majority of provinces are rebel-controlled or the capital is held by rebels for two years (check?), the country will be "broken" and all rebels will simultaneously enforce their demands. The demands are typically more severe versions of the consequences of negotiation. A "broken" nation will also have its War Exhaustion set to 0 and its stability to +3, so a country in particularly bad shape may actually benefit by being broken.
Rebel types
The different rebel types are scripted in the file common\rebel_types.txt. If the revolt risk in a province causes a rebellion, the game decides which type to spawn based on "spawn_chance" from this file.
Peasant rebels
Peasant rebels, formerly called anti-tax rebels (
), are among the most common—peasants angered by taxes and serfdom. They want more decentralization and freedom. These are the only rebels who spawn without a leader, and the only without the "resilient" tag, which means they will disband if they're forced to retreat. (They also have the "unit_transfer" tag - any idea what this does?)
Nationalists
Nationalist rebels want a country of their own culture. They spawn in provinces with high nationalism, and demand independence for their territory.
Patriots
Patriot rebels are slightly different, in that don't demand independence, but want a return to their mother country. Accepting their demands, or losing to them, will cause their provinces to be ceded to that country.
Colonial separatists
Separatists can pop up after 1750, demanding independence for overseas colonies, especially after some of the colonial independence events.
Colonial patriots
Colonial patriots are a special case that may occur if free colonial nations already exist, consisting of rebels who want to join another colonial country.
Revolutionaries
Revolutionary rebels demand a new republican government, and are much more likely to occur in the 18th century. They will never negotiate, and if victorious will impose their own government on your nation.
Noble rebels
Noble rebels may pop up if you have high free subjects, plutocracy, and centralization sliders, while your form of government is still a monarchy. They are somewhat more dangerous than other rebels, because they can muster a lot of cavalry in their stacks. Their demands include slider changes for greater decentralization, aristocracy, and serfdom.
Religious zealots
Religious rebels or zealots don't share your state religion, and are eager to impose their own. These guys are particularly annoying because if they take provinces, they'll forcibly convert them to their own religion, which causes an ugly forced conversion modifier. They demand that your country convert to their religion, whether their demands are accepted by you or enforced by the rebels.
Heretics
Heretics have some crazy version of the state religion, and are especially likely to pop up in narrowminded countries or provinces that already have the "heresy" modifier. On winning a siege, they'll impose their heresy on the province for two years, which doesn't change the religion but does make the province less useful. If they manage to win, your whole country gets the "heretic_country" flag, which makes things uncomfortable with your neighbors.
Pretenders
Pretenders seek to impose a new monarch on your throne (even in a republic) and will never negotiate terms. A tribal succession crisis, regency council, or being the lesser partner in a personal union makes a pretender more likely. Pretenders are led by the pretender himself - if he dies in battle, the movement dies with him.
Particularists 
Particularists want more local autonomy but do not actually seek independence. They demand increased decentralization. An injoke among fans is that they don't want anything in particular, they just like to rebel.
Reactionaries 
Reactionaries appear in countries undergoing westernization. They seek a return to the old ways (i.e., the old tech group).
Ikko ikki
A type of peasant rebel unique to 18th century Japan.
Ronin
Leaderless samurai of medieval Japan.
Rebel traits
Chart
| Rebel tag | area | government | defection | defect_delay | independence | reinforcing | smart | art/inf/cav |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peasant Rebels | nation | republic | any | 120 | none | no | no | 0.0/0.9/0.1 |
| Particularist Rebels | nation | any | none | — | none | yes | yes | 0.1/0.6/0.3 |
| Nationalist Rebels | culture | any | culture | 36 | culture | no | no | 0.1/0.5/0.4 |
| Patriot Rebels | culture | any | culture | 36 | none | no | no | 0.1/0.7/0.2 |
| Colonial Separatists | all | anti | colonial | 72 | colonial | no | yes | 0.1/0.6/0.3 |
| Colonial Patriots | all | any | colonial | 72 | none | no | no | 0.1/0.7/0.2 |
| Revolutionary Rebels | nation | republic | none | — | none | yes | yes | 0.1/0.6/0.3 |
| Noble Rebels | nation | monarchy | none | — | none | yes | yes | 0.1/0.4/0.6 |
| Religious Zealots | all | theocracy | religion | 36 | none | no | no | 0.0/0.7/0.3 |
| Heretic Rebels | religion | theocracy | any | 120 | none | no | yes | 0.1/0.6/0.3 |
| Pretender Rebels | nation | monarchy | none | — | none | yes | yes | 0.1/0.4/0.5 |
| Ronin Rebels | nation | Feudal Monarchy | none | — | none | yes | yes | 0.1/0.6/0.0 |
| Ikko-ikki Rebels | nation | Feudal Monarchy | none | — | none | yes | yes | 0.1/0.6/0.0 |
| Reactionary Rebels | nation | any | none | — | none | yes | yes | 0.1/0.5/0.4 |
Caption
- Area indicates where the rebels will operate - within only your nation, in only provinces of their culture, in only provinces of their religion (for heretics), or all provinces.
- Government indicates the rebels' preferred government type - "anti" means that colonial separatists want a form of government other than your current one.
- Defection is what countries the rebels will defect to - those of their own culture or culture group, to a country with the "colonial" tag (like UPCA or Canada), to a country of their religion, any country, or no defection.
- Defect_delay is the time in months before rebels will defect or declare independence.
- Independence indicates that rebels want their own country. This only applies for nationalists, who want a country of their own culture (or culture group if necessary) and colonial rebels, who want a colonial-tagged country.
- Reinforcing rebels will reinforce losses to their stacks.
- General indicates the rebel stack gets a leader.
- Art/Inf/Cav dictates what proportion of artillery, infantry, and cavalry a rebel stack will contain.
Rebel demands
| Rebel tag | Siege won | Will negotiate | Negotiation demands | Enforcement demands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peasant Rebels | Tax Revolt for 1 year | At peace, rebels control 1 province | +1 Free Subjects, 10 years of Severe Tax Reduction in controlled provinces | +2 Free Subjects, 40% chance of rebel government |
| Particularist Rebels | None | Always | +1 Decentralization | +3 Decentralization |
| Nationalist Rebels | Add core of separatist nation, +10 years nationalism (only if province has right culture) | Always | 20 years of Local Autonomy in controlled provinces | Controlled provinces declare independence |
| Patriot Rebels | +10 years nationalism | At peace, rebels control 1 province | 20 years of Local Autonomy in controlled provinces | Controlled provinces defect |
| Colonial Separatists | Add rebel core, 2 years of Colonial Tensions | At peace, rebels control 1 province | Colonial nation declares independence | Colonial nation declares independence |
| Colonial Patriots | +2 years of Colonial Tensions | At peace, rebels control 1 province | Controlled provinces defect to colonial nation | Controlled provinces defect to colonial nation |
| Revolutionary Rebels | None | Never | None | Government and religion (if different) of rebels adopted |
| Noble Rebels | None | At peace, rebels control 1 province | -50 Legitimacy, -1 year of income, +3 Aristocracy, +2 Serfdom | +5 Aristocracy, +3 Serfdom, +1 Narrowminded |
| Religious Zealots | Province adopts rebel religion (only if a neighboring province has the rebel religion and has not been recently force-converted), -25% population | At peace, rebels control 1 province, same religion group as rebels | Nation force-converted to rebel religion, -3 stability | Nation force-converted to rebel religion (only if same religion group), -4 stability, government of rebels adopted |
| Heretic Rebels | Province gets Heretic modifier for 2 years | At peace, rebels control 1 province, not the Papal State | Country gets Heretic Country modifier for 5 years | Country gets Heretic Country modifier for 10 years |
| Pretender Rebels | None | Never | None | Pretender becomes monarch, government of pretender adopted, -2 Stability, +3 Aristocracy, +2 Serfdom |
| Ronin Rebels | None | Never | None | Leader becomes ruler, government and religion of leader adopted |
| Ikko-ikki Rebels | None | Never | None | Leader becomes ruler, government and religion of leader adopted |
| Reactionary Rebels | None | At peace, rebels control 1 province | Nation reverts to previous tech group | Nation reverts to previous tech group |
Caption
- Siege won: Effect on a province taken over by rebels, if any.
- Will negotiate: requirements for rebels to be willing to negotiate.
- Negotiation demands: effects of negotiating.
- Enforcement demands: effects if rebels take control of country.
Rebel Army Size
The size of a "normal" non-scripted rebel army is the province's base manpower value (visible in-game as a modifier to garrison growth) plus half the base tax value. Rebel armies generated by scripted events, spy missions, etc. will be some multiple of this size.
