Inquisition

## Motto

*Ad Ignem. Ad Lucem.*
"To the Fire. To the Light."

*The rats are dangerous but disorganized... The Inquisition, however... they'll seek the boy tirelessly...*[src]
Laurentius, warning of the Inquisition threat

The **Inquisition** is the main antagonistic faction in *A Plague Tale: Innocence*.

Lead by Grand Inquisitor Vitalis Bénévent, it is a religious institution dedicated to eliminating heresy and furthering the goals of the Catholic Church.

## History

### Background

Formed in 1232 over a century before the events of the story, the Inquisition was sanctioned by the pope to figure out a way to control the Prima Macula within Hugo de Rune's blood, and thus was given extensive resources by the church in the hopes of finding a way to end the threat. To this end, they kept the de Rune family under close surveillance.

### The de Rune Legacy

As the Rats began to emerge in hordes, the Inquisition stepped up their schedule and sent Lord Nicholas to raid the de Rune estate in November 1348, killing almost everyone there including Robert de Rune, but failing to capture Hugo, who escaped with his sister, Amicia, to find the child's doctor, Laurentius.

### The Apprentice

Attempting to head the de Runes off, the Inquisition surrounded Laurentius' farmstead, slaughtering all of his pigs in an attempt to contain the rat swarm to one area and posting armed guards on the main road. This failed, and although Laurentius was killed in an accidental house fire Amicia, Hugo, and Laurentius' apprentice, Lucas, escaped via the river without the Inquisition's notice.

### Damaged Goods

Receiving notice that the English Army had captured the de Rune children, Nicholas arrived only to find the children escaping from the English camp, and thanks to the efforts of Arthur he was unable to recapture them.

### In the Shadow of Ramparts

Meanwhile, the Inquisition then set up shop in the University to protect the Sanguinis Itinera, a book containing knowledge on how to stop the Macula. They evacuated the surrounding city under the pretext of protecting the people from the plague, but the Inquisition had, in fact, purposely released rats into the city and massacred anyone infected in the streets. Grand Inquisitor Vitalis soon arrived at the University while Amicia was attempting to break in and steal the book, and is revealed to be afflicted with the Bite but is being kept alive with alchemy. He has Rodric brought to open a special door his father created and sends him to be tortured when he refuses as his father did. Amicia rescues him and the two steal the book, setting fire to the university on accident, with Amicia killing several guards.

### Alive

It is then revealed that the Inquisition captured Béatrice de Rune, Hugo's mother, in their raid on the estate.

### Blood Ties

In an attempt to rescue his mother, Hugo goes to the headquarters of the Inquisition and turns himself in, unwittingly letting his blood being taken to inject into Vitalis, passing the Macula onto him as well. Hugo temporarily escaped and saved his mother, forcing him to awaken his ability to control the plague rats, but was again recaptured. The Inquisition then spent a month teaching him to control his abilities to serve the order; however, Archbishop Gauthier arrived to tell Vitalis that the church had deemed him mad with power and excommunicated him by orders of the pope, although this did little to stop Vitalis from achieving his goal as he now had the Macula.

### Remembrance

Lord Nicholas took Hugo to assault the Château d'Ombrage, using his rats to overwhelm the defenses and ordering him to kill his sister but was instead killed by Hugo's rats.

### Coronation

The Inquisition then withdrew to the infested cathedral, where Vitalis had the parishioners all sacrificed to feed his own horde of "angels": hairless, white rats that he could control and did not fear light. The Grand Inquisitor meets his match, however, and is ended by several blows to the head with Amicia's sling.

### For Each Other

Even three days after the plague of rats is lifted, it seems that remaining elements of the Inquisition are still searching for Hugo, forcing the de Runes to leave the region of Aquitaine for good to seek a peaceful life. It seems to have perhaps been reformed under a new Inquisitor, as the order continued to exist within the church for hundreds of years after.