La Croisade De L'Enfant

La Croisade De L'Enfant (The Child's Crusade) is a Hunter Organization.

Overview

Her name is Noellë. She is 12 years old and claims to have been an orphan in Marseilles prior to her imbuing by the "supernal light of Jeannce d'Arc." Supposedly, this "spirit" delivered Noellë from her orphanage and revealed to her the dead things that walk the Earth. To contend with these cauchemars, the saints - no doubt Margaret of Antioch and Catherine of Alexandria - blessed others and gathered them to the imbued youngster. Under Noellë's banner, they seek to cleanse the south of France of the otherworldly beings that plague it. Noellë's disciples would gladly die in her name, and several have already been so honored.

Following several successful urban campaigns, "Jeanne d'Arc" guides the girl and her followers into the countryside to wait as the Hearlds gather more Blessed to her service. Soon, the saints tell the girl, L'Innocente (as Noellë is called) and her followers must march on Paris, expose the evil there and purge it from the Earth. To serve Noellë is to serve the Lord; to fight for her is to fight for God and France. At least, these are the proclamations the Crusaders make to the other imbued of France.

The truth is less inspiring. The religious fervor that initially grips Noellë's adherents, which impels them to exalt her in saintly fashion, soon fades into uncertainty, confusion and suspicion. The girl, beatific with her red locks, guileless eyes and radiant demeanor, gradually develops off habits and makes strange requests of her Blessed followers. Rather than renew their sweeps of Monaco, Nice and Marseilles, Noellë sequesters the group in an abandoned farmhouse near Arles.

Noellë begins to wander by night from the sanctuary of the Blessed to pray alone and "speak with Michael." Guy Saillot, newly recruited and skeptical of the girl's claims, follows her on several such outings to witness for himself the source of the girl's divine inspiration. Ironic, Guy reflects, that his own "divine gifts" should expose L'Innocente as a plaything of the very creatures the Crusade has been assembled to destroy. Noellë is no savior, but an imbued under the sway of the enemy, beguiled no doubt to keep her followers away from southern France's cities, the true home of the country's night-creatures.

After word of the truth is announced, fully a third of Noellë's followers desert the sanctuary, despite her pleading. Most return to their hometowns to deal with the specters and other things lurking in the shadows. This "betrayal" devastates Noellë, but a devoted rabble remains at her side (when not her feet).

Noellë is the pillar upon which her remaining Blessed lean, the one who helps them forget - of briefly - their past lives. Noellë's company alone provides a cathartic release from the pressures and paranoia of life on the hunt. She possesses a peculiar gift for absolving her supplicants of their anger, divisiveness and fear. For some of them, Noellë can do no wrong. Nevertheless, her behavior grows more erratic with each passing week. Her "Messengers" demand a certain doll, an old set of paintbrushes, a tattered children's book and other innocuous objects. Although her Blessed gradually locate these items, Noellë alone carries the stuff into the nearby woods. Days when the voices speaking through her seem less than angelic increase, as do nights when Noellë seems truly not herself.

Worry begins to rule the Crusaders. After all, even her most devoted followers know what happened to the first Jeanne d'Arc.

References

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