Leonard Goodknight was given the title of Pope of the New Avalon Catholic Church after the brutal murder of Beneficent XVII, and from that moment forward, he was launched in a direction he did not quite want. The Holy Order of Knight Defenders of whom he was the Grand Master started calling out for a crusade against the invading Draconis Combine and their “godless ways”, to which Leo XXI agreed to at first. With the reclaiming of New Avalon by Julian Davion (internal), Leonard Goodknight believed the whole movement would die down, but things exacerbated.

Leo’s Zealots

One part of the issue was the religious fervor which had gathered behind the Warrior Pope, leading disenfranchised lower-class citizens to want to fight for something larger than them. Various “knightly orders” were happy to let those warm bodies join their organization, even providing many with advanced weapons like armored vehicles, MOD and militarized IndustrialMechs. By the retaking of New Avalon, these “irregulars” formed roughly 4 regiments of combined arms units, with more joining every day throughout the Federated Suns, and from beyond. Christian unity somehow led Lyrans, Free Worlders and various periphery citizens to want to join in on the “Grand Crusade”.

The second part was the infiltration of this whole ordeal by various elements of the Wolverine Union, attempting to use this renewed religious fervor as a destabilizing element in the Inner Sphere. As the Union itself had not “showed their hand” yet, nothing was really done against these more radical elements. Small sub-groups of Blakists used their own knowledge of religious organizations to further their goals and empower the crusade further.

Crusade against all

Leo XXI’s crusade was originally against the Draconis Combine, but things kept growing afterwards, outside of the real control of the former Grand Master. Pockets of Blakism remaining on worlds where the Crusaders lander were often targeted as following a “false prophet”. The Azami Brotherhood was decried as infidels. Obviously, all the Clans and their “enlightened atheism” and neopaganism became common targets. Relics of Clement XXVII, murdered by the Greenhaven Gestapo during the reign of Stefan Amaris, appeared in various places, with very little proof of their authenticity. Leonard Goodknight is on the fence about letting this religious revival take its course or nipping it in the bud as violence is growing.

Battlemech

Leonard Goodknight pilots a Regent omnimech.