Père Noël

Père Noël was a criminal organization formed by Julia Abelard, in the Lucifenian Republic sometime during the turn of 6th century EC. The group was responsible for numerous illegal activities, from black marketing to assassination. Its reach had stretched far across the Evillious region and maintained influence among many nations' businesses and governments.

Foundation
Sometime during the turn of the 7th century EC, Julia Abelard founded the organization and recruited her first disciple Mayrana Blossom, who chose the codename "Fourth Shadow". Giving herself the codename First Santa Claus, Julia led the organization while Mayrana acted as her double. In EC 597, Fourth Shadow was tasked with burning the town of Lioness and framing Elluka Clockworker for the event; disguised as the fabled Mage of Eternity, Shadow completed the mission.

At some point, Santa Claus and Shadow recruited the fortune teller Yuzette Ora in Rollam as "Seventh Magician", tasking her with using the Venom Sword given to her to perform face surgeries for profit. The organization later recruited a new member as "Fifth Pierrot", tasking Pierrot with assassinations, and Lieutenant General Gatt Coulomb as "Sixth Venom", tasking him as First Santa Claus' personal aide and clean-up member for the criminal organization.

Dark Dealings
Around the end of the EC 500s, the fugitive Kaidor Blankenheim contacted Santa and arranged to have Seventh Magician change his face to that of the secretly murdered Bruno Marlon, assuming the man's identity. Sometime after, Santa assigned Shadow on a mission to operate from Calgaround in Elphegort. Shortly after the assignment, Mayrana had Seventh Magician perform her "miracles" and change the shadow leader's face to resemble Julia's; some time after, she succeeded in being elected mayor of Calgaround.

In EC 608, Fourth Shadow recruited the destitute Marquis Kaspar Blankenheim as "Second Dealer" to operate Père Noël's black market from his mansion in Toragay on Santa's orders. Supported by a vessel of sin Santa passed onto Dealer, the underground market thrived with profits from illegal goods. Some time after, "Bruno Marlon" agreed to be a mole in the Freesis Foundation for Père Noël. Sometime after, Dealer's wife, Margarita Blankenheim was recruited as "Third Sleep Princess".

At some point, Fifth Pierrot died and Sixth Venom was assigned as his temporary replacement. Later on, First Santa Claus had potential loose ends eliminated for the upcoming Lucifenian presidential elections. In December of that year, Sixth Venom was tasked with eliminating Seventh Magician and retrieving the Venom Sword. Alerting Magician to the plot, she escaped with the Venom Sword.. Later on, in EC 609, Julia's adopted son Lemy was recruited as the new Fifth Pierrot.

Later that year, the organization enacted an operation to develop an airborne epidemic from Gift and then monopolize a cure for major profits. While Shadow worked on developing the proper poison, Sleep Princess worked on developing a cure via sap from the new Millennium Tree. At some point, Santa won the election and became President of Lucifenia. On August 15, Shadow was tasked with attacking Deputy Mayor Banner in Aceid and completed the mission. Afterward, she took credit for the attack as "First Santa Claus".

Toragay Serial Killings
A year later in EC 609, Dealer began selling Margarita's incomplete variant of the poison and monopolizing the market for himself, claiming to be Santa. On August 25, Shadow confronted Dealer for his apparent betrayal of the organization before passing on the creation of the Gift plague to Sleep Princess. In preparation for a meeting Shuburke Newspaper reporter Hanne Lorre, Shadow had Sixth Venom pose as the local librarian to help direct Hanne toward Second Dealer and Third Sleep Princess.

On August 30, the reporter interviewed Shadow and the mayor directed her to the town's library for more information on the Flower of the Plateau. While there, Venom handed off the original copy of the Freesis Fairy Tale and directed her to Dealer in Toragay. Later that night, Sleep Princess tested her experimental Gift on her philandering husband and killed him; following his body's discovery, the World Police began investigating the Marquis' mysterious death.

Afterwards Santa had Kaidor halt the investigation into Kaspar's death. Around the same time, Shadow moved the underground market to her mansion in Calgaround and the vessel of sin Kaspar had was retrieved and returned to Santa. On October 6, Fifth Pierrot kidnapped the diva Rin Chan after killing her manager. Less than a week later, Pierrot delivered the girl to Shadow and she was confined in the mansion's basement.

As investigations into Sleep Princess' murders continued, Santa contacted Bruno again and promised to make him the next Second Dealer if he disposed of the meddling Hanne and Heidemarie Lorre. Once she finished her airborne version of Gift, Sleep Princess released the poison in Toragay, enacting a massacre on Toragay starting on October 17. With Toragay plunged into panic, Bruno was left to contain the epidemic while arresting Hanne and Heide.

On October 21, Sleep Princess linked up with Shadow at her mansion in Calgaround and continued working on a new variant of Gift. Soon after, Shadow was confronted by Elluka Clockworker and Gumillia and the two battled, resulting in Shadow's defeat and subsequent demise. After completing her final Gift, Sleep Princess drank her concoction to commit suicide shortly after being confronted by the two mages. Sixth Venom then made an assassination attempt on Elluka while they were escaping with Rin Chan before fleeing to retrieve the Clockworker's Doll. Failing to recover the doll, Venom worked to finish cleaning up the aftermath of the botched operation.

Compromised
In November of that year, Pierrot was tasked with the murder of five prostitutes and he completed each of his missions, taking credit for the murders. After finishing his duties in Elphegort, Venom reported the results of his botched operation to First Santa Claus and was assigned weeding the President's garden that morning as punishment for the affair. Soon after, the organization recruited Elluka and Gumillia whilst undercover as "Seventh Magician" and "Eighth Sniper".

Throughout EC 610, Pierrot was assigned nightly murder missions that he successfully completed. In the winter of that year, Pierrot told Santa that Seventh Magician was a traitor and, the next day, she had gone missing. Soon after, during one of Fifth Pierrot's killing sprees, he was betrayed and shot by Sniper. First Santa Claus then sent Elluka a message telling her she would be waiting at Merrigod Plateau. Elluka confronted Santa at the location and battled her, resulting in Julia's defeat.

Aftermath
Following the battle, it is assumed the organization disbanded after the event. The infamous organization was remembered in history for its actions, with both Julia and "Lemy the Ripper" becoming particularly well known in the succeeding centuries. The USE Dark Star Court Bureau director, Gallerian Marlon, used a similar codename to Julia's while acting as the master of the bureau's espionage force, PN; Gallerian likewise gave numbered codenames to each of PN's members.

Conceptualization and Origin

 * Père Noël translates to "Father Christmas" or "Santa Claus" in French; several of the organization's members follow the Christmas and Santa Claus theme, usually with a darker twist.
 * Fittingly, the Lucifenian Republic, its main country of operation, is inspired by the French Republic.

Curiosities

 * Sixth Venom is referred as being used for "chores", alluding to Gammon Octo's outcome after becoming the "choreman" of Evil's Theater.
 * The organization PN bears several similarities to Père Noël, its members having codenames similar to those used by Père Noël; similarly, PN also had numbered members reaching until eight.