Bernard of Clairvaux's sermon at Vézelay launching the Second Crusade

A gaunt, ascetic man in his mid-50s with piercing blue eyes that seem to burn with inner fire. His deeply lined face is framed by a close-cropped tonsure of white hair, and his thin lips are often pressed together in determination. His hands are long-fingered and expressive, frequently raised in gestures of exhortation.

A well-built knight in his early thirties, with a strong jawline and piercing blue eyes that reflect both nobility and fervor. His sun-tanned face bears a few scars from past battles, and his dark brown hair is cropped short in the Norman fashion. He stands with the straight-backed posture of a trained warrior.

A middle-aged monk of slender build with a tonsured head and deep-set, observant eyes. His face is lined with the marks of devout contemplation and manual labor, his hands slightly calloused from copying manuscripts. He moves with quiet efficiency, his posture slightly stooped from years of bending over texts.

A thin, weathered woman in her late 30s with sunken cheeks and calloused hands, her face lined from years of labor in the fields. Her dark brown hair is covered by a coarse linen wimple, revealing only a few strands of grey. She clutches a wooden rosary with fingers stained from wool-dyeing.