The Blackwater War , Volume VII Content . Historians often refer to the Blackwater War as a single conflict that spanned twenty - six years . While the primary combatants were essentially the same , the first , second , and third campaigns had almost nothing in common with one another . By the year 1E 2833 , the Imperial strategy had been so heavily revised that it was barely recognizable as Imperial . While " Sardecus ' Reforms " had reorganized the Legion , the " Falco Doctrine " was the true catalyst that drove the war ' s endgame . General Lucinia Falco took command of the Legion shortly after Sardecus ' passing . She was the natural choice : a close confidant of Sardecus ; strong , fiercely loyal to the Empire ; and utterly ruthless . She received her officer ' s commission shortly after the Battle of Argonia , which meant that her entire military career had been shaped by the Blackwater War . Unlike her predecessors , she knew that the battle could not be won on a single front . She urged the Empire to offer letters of marque and temporary commissions to the countless pirate s off the coast of Lilmoth and Archon . Working in conjunction with a legion of Diamond Marines , this force succeeded in taking vast swaths of territory in the southeastern marshes and even parts of the interior swamp . Using Gideon as her base of operations , Falco launched the second prong in the region - wide attack . Rather than sending out a full legion as her predecessors had done , she broke her force into hundreds of compact , highly lethal units . These expeditionary platoons ( later referred to as " redbelts " ) were led by grizzled swamp veterans — some of which had been serving since the inception of the second campaign . The redbelts met with a great deal of success early on , claiming most of western Black Marsh before finally grinding to a halt outside the thick bogs and eerie silence of the region ' s core . Unfortunately , given each unit ' s size , they could not hold what they took for long . What began as a battle of two nations became a protracted and complex guerrilla war , replete with all the horrors associated with such a conflict . 1E 2834 to 2836 was a dark time for both sides . The Argonians and the Imperials each conducted campaigns of intimidation and terror . It was only the tribal infighting on the part of the Argonians that finally brought the war to a close . Rather than an official armistice , the war seemed to simply end in late 1E 2836 . Argonians who had been fighting Imperials for decades abruptly buried their weapons and went back to farming , fishing , and weaving without rendering a formal surrender . The Empire wasted no time in officially claiming the region in 1E 2837 . At long last , the Blackwater War came to a sudden and inexplicable end . The Argonians ' abrupt cessation of hostilities is just another in a long series of mysteries associated with this conflict . The prevailing assumption is that their bizarre tree - worshipping tradition had something to do with it , but we may never know why they actually laid down their weapons . As a historian , it ' s a vexing situation , but mysteries born in the deep murk of Black Marsh are seldom solved . At least , they are seldom solved to a satisfying conclusion .