| Noelle Murphy | |
| Fictional Character | |
| 1632 series POD: May, 1631 | |
| Appearance(s): | 1634: The Ram Rebellion Grantville Gazette V Ring of Fire II 1635: The Eastern Front 1636: The Saxon Uprising 1636: The Ottoman Onslaught |
| Nationality: | United States of Europe (born in the United States) |
| Occupation: | Politician, Bureaucrat |
| Parents: | Dennis Stull Pat Fitzgerald |
| Spouse: | Janos Drugeth (m. 1636) |
| Affiliations: | NUS State Department, later SoTF Treasury Department, later Francisco Nasi |
Noelle Brigitte Murphy (also known as Noelle Stull) was a young up-timer employed by the New United States state department, who became something of an undercover troubleshooter.
Uncertain of her vocation, Murphy had a talent for looking at things a bit differently and so in the world of bureaucrats, was a somewhat uncomfortable subordinate to have. Having an unhappy family situation in Grantville—she was literally a bastard born out of wedlock, she contemplated becoming a nun for a time when Mike Stearns and Ed Piazza recruited her as a special envoy to investigate likely sales of advanced guns from Suhl to enemy countries in January 1633. With Anse Hatfield, they were able to forestall a very bad situation, and convince the gunmakers to be more selective in who they sell to.
She later learned she was actually born in the valid marriage of an inadvertent bigamy situation, and in fact her half-sister and half-brother might more properly be considered illegitimate. After learning that, she had her last name legally changed to "Stull".
While working for the State of Thuringia-Franconia's Treasury Department, she and her partner, Eddie Junker, were instrumental in uncovering Horace Bolender's kickback scheme. Their investigation of the scheme led them to the group of defectors associated with Janos Drugeth, and they set out in pursuit in November 1634. They ended up as Drugeth's prisoners after being accidentally bombed by Denise Beasley, Lannie Yost, and her half-brother Keenan Murphy. While as prisoners, Noelle became attracted to Drugeth despite his allegiance to a foreign country that the USE was likely to be at war with in the near future. True to his word, Drugeth allowed Stuff, Junker, Beasley, Yost, and Murphy to go free as he prepared to lead the defectors into Bohemia, ultimately to Austria.
Noelle and Drugeth began exchanging letters fairly soon after in early 1635, beginning a rather unique courtship.
Leaving her job with the State of Thuringia-Franconia in summer 1635, Noelle moved to Prague with her new employer, Francisco Nasi, as he continued working his spycraft in Bohemia.
With her fiancé Janos, Noelle later became part of the diplomatic team that brokered an alliance between the USE, Bohemia and Austria-Hungary. For her services, and to allow Janos to keep control of his family land in Homona, Wallenstein even saw fit to elevate Noelle to the Bohemian nobility before their marriage.