Joan of Arc

Joan of or Jeanne d'Arc (ジャンヌ＝ダルク), also known as St. Joan''' was a French heroine who, after apparently receiving visions and hearing voices from God, led a campaign to free France from the English during the latter part of the. She was eventually captured, imprisoned by the English and burnt at the stake as a heretic, but was later posthumously declared innocent and made a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.

Background
Joan was born in the village of Domrémy in eastern France, during the latter part of the Hundred Year's War in which the English had occupied large parts of France.

In 1424, she received the first in a series of visions and heard voices from heaven, telling her to drive the English from France. When she was 16, she journeyed to the French royal court and after speaking to the uncrowned Charles VII, joined a relief expedition to the besieged city of Orleans. After her efforts led to the siege of Orleans was lifted in just nine days, Joan led the French forces on a campaign against the English. During Joan's campaign, a volunteer association was formed by people attracted by her deeds to support her from the shadows, made up of people who wanted to save France and stood side-by-side regardless of identity and social status.

Joan's campaign brought the French a series of victories over the English, leading to the coronation of Charles VII. However, Joan was eventually captured and turned over to the English. She was imprisoned, put on trial for heresy and on May 30th 1431, she was burnt at the stake as a heretic. A quarter of a century after her death, she was posthumously declared innocent and a martyr after a retrial authorized by the Pope. She was later made a saint of the Roman Catholic Church and France.

Oracle of Arc
Following her death, the group that supported her from the shadows became twisted into a group whose sole purpose was to seek vengeance for her, against both the English and French who failed to save her, delving into the world of Magic and eventually becoming France's largest magic cabal, the Knights of Orléans. As the generations passed, they sought find or replicate the powers that Joan had within another individual, an Oracle of Arc (ダルクの神託) (French: Oracle d'Arc), in order to achieve their vengeance.

They were eventually stopped and destroyed by William Orwell and a young boy, saving a girl who had been captured for their experiments in the process. The girl would retain the qualities of the Oracle of Arc afterwards, and the two would later come to aid William during World War III.

Abilities
Joan wasn't born with any special abilities, however after she heard a 'special voice' when she was 13, she began to develop special powers.