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Nicholas II of Russia

2010-09-29T03:37:11Z

64.12.116.8:

[[File:Nicholas_II.jpg|thumb|Nicholas II of Russia]]{{stub}}
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'''Nicholas II''' (Russian: Николай II, Николай Александрович Романов, tr. Nikolai II, Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov) (18 May 1868 – 17 July 1918) was the last Emperor of [[Russia]], Grand Prince of [[wikipedia:Finland|Finland]], and titular King of [[wikipedia:Poland|Poland]]. He was the son of Tsar [[Alexander III of Russia|Alexander III]].

Nicholas ruled using the [[The Staff|Staff of Eden]], which he most likely received from his father. He either passed it on to the [[Templar]] [[Grigori Rasputin]], or Rasputin simply took the Staff. The latter theory seems more likely as the Templars are infamous for stealing Pieces of Eden rather than requesting they be handed over. Irregardless, without the Staff, which was subsequently lost in the Tunguska expolsion, Nicholas soon lost all control he had over his multitudes of subjects within a decade. On March 1, 1917, he was trapped on his Imperial train outside St. Petersburg, returning from the Eastern Front of WWI, to quell the explosion of revolution that had erupted days earlier. Against his will, he was forced to abdicate all his power, after being dissuaded from trying to pass it on to his son and brother.

Within the year, Nicholas and his family were nothing but pawns in the ensuing Russian Civil War. In the end, the Bolshiveks, probably under influence of the Templars, killed the Romanovs. On July 18, 1918, Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, their four daughters and only son were all gunned down in the basement of a warehouse in the Siberian backwater of Yekaterinburg.
[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Historical Characters]]

Cappella Sistina

2010-09-28T23:36:55Z

64.12.116.8: /* Database Entry */

{{imageneed}}[[File:Sistine.jpg|thumb|The Sistine Chapel as it appears in Assassin's Creed II]]The '''Capella Sistina''', or '''Sistine Chapel''', was the chapel of the pope in [[Rome]], and centre of the Catholic faith.

In 1492, [[Rodrigo Borgia]] became Pope Alexander VI, and moved into [[Basilica di San Pietro|St. Peter's Basilica]], of which the Sistine Chapel is a part. Seven years later, in 1499, [[Ezio Auditore da Firenze]] infiltrated the chapel in order to assassinate Rodrigo Borgia and locate [[The Vault]], which he had learnt was built beneath the Basilica, it is assumed that the Sistine Chapel will play a role in the upcoming game: ''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood]].''

==Database Entry==
Inspired by the architecture of [[Solomon's Temple]], the Sistine Chapel is the most famous room in the Apostolic
Palace (the Pope's Vatican residence). The Chapel's famous ceiling frescos did not exist yet in 1503 (Michaelange
o wouldn't be working for the Vatican until the papacy of Julius II, years after the events of the games), so no climbing across the finger of God,
but the wall paintings that line the chapel painted by Pietro Perugino, Sandro Botticelli and Domenico Ghirlandaio, among others, are an ample consolation prize.

As the Pope's personal chapel, mass is frequently held inside, as are the Papal Conclaves, which occur after the Pope's death. The cardinals are locked inside the chapel and are not permitted to leave until a new Pope is elected. Only through smoke signals, sent up a chimney to announce the new Pope, can they escape.
[[Category:Articles needing images]]
[[Category:Assassin's Creed II Locations]]
[[Category:Rome]]
[[Category:Landmarks]]
[[Category:Churches]]

Confrontation in the Vatican

2010-09-20T23:13:19Z

64.12.116.8: /* The Warning */

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{{Event
|width=
|prev=[[Bonfire of the Vanities]]
|conc=
|next=[[Siege of Monteriggioni]]
|imageBG=
|image=[[File:Ezio Rome.jpg|300px]]
|name=Confrontation in Rome
|timeframe=[[Renaissance]]
|conflict=
|date=1499
|place=*[[Rome]]
**[[Passetto di Borgo]]
**[[Capella Sistine]]
**[[The Vault]]
|outcome=*Ezio receiving a message meant for a man named [[Desmond Miles|Desmond]].
*Borgia continuing his role as Pope.
|key=*[[Assassins]]
*[[Knights Templar]]
**[[Papacy]]
|participants=*[[Ezio Auditore da Firenze]]
*[[Mario Auditore]]
*[[Niccolò Machiavelli]]
*[[Paola]]
*[[La Volpe]]
*[[Antonio de Magianis]]
*[[Bartolomeo d'Alviano]]
*[[Teodora]]
*[[Rodrigo Borgia]]
}}

After reclaiming the [[The First Apple|Apple of Eden]] from [[Girolamo Savonarola]] in Florence, and collecting all the pages of the [[Codex]], [[Ezio Auditore da Firenze]] and the rest of the [[Assassins]] prepare themselves to learn where the fabled [[The Vault|Vault]] lies.

==I Came...==
{{quote|I thought...I thought I was beyond this. But I'm not. I've waited too long... lost too much... Requiescat in pace, you bastard!|Ezio's first assassination attempt on Rodrigo Borgia}}

With all members of the [[Assassins|order]] meeting in Mario's study at [[Monteriggioni]], Ezio [[Eagle Vision|inspected]] what was written beneath the Codex Pages that was placed on the wall. He assembled them as members of the order looked on, and successfully finished, revealing the map of the world which showed the locations of other [[Piece of Eden#Known locations of Pieces of Eden|Pieces of Eden]] (41 in total). Ezio marveled that the landmasses depicted on the map didn't exist. [[Machiavelli]] answered that they did, but most likely had yet to be discovered, "or rediscovered" as he added.

To Ezio's shock, he then saw that the much-talked-about [[Vault]] was located roughly where the city of [[Rome]] stood. It was then that he theorized that [[Rodrigo Borgia]] became Pope so as to get his hands on the Papal [[Staff]]. When [[Teodora]] questioned Ezio's meaning, [[Mario Auditore]] explained the prophecy from the [[Codex]], stating that two Pieces of Eden were needed to open the Vault, one of the [[Apples]] and the Staff. The other Assassins began to speculate about what the Vault would contain, and expressed their fears of what Borgia would do once he had attained it.

Ezio opted that he would confront Borgia and try to open the Vault himself. The other Assassins agreed, offering to "cause trouble in the city" to keep the Borgia guards from stopping Ezio. His mission planned, and with final vengeance in sight, Ezio departed for Rome

Ezio arrived in Rome outside Castel Sant'Angelo and began to scale the building and climbed on to the Passeto di Borgo. Using horses, he was quickly able to traverse the wall and kill all of the troops on it. Ezio killed all of the guards on the wall against all of the odds until he reached an entry point into the [[Capella Sistina]]. Traversing along the beams and ropes high above the ground, Ezio made his way to within striking range of the Pope and then struck from above, hitting Borgia with some force, seemingly knocking him unconscious.

Holding Borgia at his mercy, Ezio allowed his anger and hate at Borgia to overwhelm him, remembering all too well Borgia's part in his family's destruction. But as he made to deal the death blow, Borgia awakened and with a snarl, smashed Ezio aside with the Staff. Before anyone in the Chapel could react, Borgia used the Staff's powers to drain the life energy from the assembled priests and guards to energize himself; only Ezio, protected by the Apple's power, was immune. Rodrigo demanded that Ezio handed the Apple over to him; Ezio bluntly told the Pope to take it from him, then used the Apple's power to make copies to produce four spectral doppelgangers of himself. Ezio and Borgia engaged in a brief duel, and after fighting his way through Ezio's duplicates, Borgia collapsed from exhaustion. Ezio told Borgia to put down the Staff and accept his offer of a quick death, but Borgia, asking if Ezio would give up so easily if their positions were reversed, again made use of the Staff's power, blasting Ezio off his feet and turning himself invisible. As Ezio recovered, Borgia seized the Apple from him and combined it with the Staff, magnifying its powers greatly. With that, Rodrigo used the Staff to lift Ezio into the air and suspend him in midair. As the Assassin dangled helplessly, Rodrigo stabbed him in the side with a [[Short blade|knife]], then ended the Staff's hold, dropping the badly injured Ezio to the floor. Just before he passed out from blood loss, Ezio saw Borgia descend down a hidden staircase in the Capella's floor.

==The Vault==

{{Quote|It's over, Rodrigo. No more tricks. No more ancient artifacts. No more weapons. Let us see what you are made of, old man.|Ezio challenges Rodrigo Borgia to a final fight|Assassin's Creed II}}

Some time later, Ezio regained consciousness. His wounds were not fatal and so he got back to his feet and investigated the altar which he had seen Rodrigo disappear into. Finding the hidden doorway, Ezio followed the pope down the staircase into a strange underground corridor until he came to a large, open chamber below him; the atrium of [[the Vault]]. Below him, he could see Rodrigo, desperately trying to open the door. Ezio dropped down and, casting aside his [[Sword of Altaïr|sword]], knives and [[pistol]], challenged Borgia to one last fight, free of trickery, ancient artefacts or weapons. Borgia reluctantly accepted and the pair brawled with nothing but their [[fists]].

As they fought, Ezio demanded to know what lay in the Vault that the Templars wanted so badly. Rodrigo showed surprise that the Assassins were unaware of the truth and claimed that God was what lay within. Ezio was somewhat skeptical and asked what Rodrigo intended to do with this knowledge, to which Borgia replied he intended to release God and seize his power, a feat made possible through the Staff and Apple. Ezio remarked that he was doubtful a couple of ancient relics could harm a god, but Rodrigo sneered that he knew nothing, that his images and views on God were taken from [[w:The Bible|a book written by men]]. When Ezio challenged Borgia for dismissing Christianity's central text, Rodrigo laughed, saying he had only become Pope to gain access to the Vault and the power such a position granted. He claimed not to believe a single word of the Bible, deriding it and every other religious text as superstitious lies.

After a lengthy fight, Ezio gained the upper hand; seizing Borgia by the throat, he throttled his old enemy into submission and held him at blade point. Astounded, Borgia yelled that Ezio couldn't do it, as it was ''his'' destiny as the Prophet to open the Vault. But Ezio set Borgia straight; he was not the Prophet, nor had he ever been. Beaten and humiliated by this revelation, Borgia told Ezio to kill him and be done with it, but Ezio refused to kill for the sake of vengeance, accepting this by telling Borgia ''"Killing you won't bring my family back"''. Leaving his defeated nemesis on the floor, Ezio remarked on how Borgia had been beaten- because ''"Nothing is true, everything is permitted"''- and paid him no more heed. Turning to the Vault, Ezio used the combined power of the Staff and Apple to open a chamber directly in front of him, and then entered.

==The Warning==

{{Quote|Enough! I do not wish to speak with you, but through you. You are the Prophet. You've played your part.|[[Minerva]] asks Ezio not to interrupt her warning to an [[Desmond Miles|unknown individual]]|Assassin's Creed II}}

Entering the Vault, Ezio was confronted by a speaking image of a female figure. After confirming he was the Prophet by showing the figure the Apple, the woman remarked that they must speak, though she seemed not be speaking to him. Ezio asked who she was; the woman replied that she had died with the name Minerva, but had been known by many others, as had the others buried with her, such as Juno and Jupiter. Astounded, Ezio theorized that they were gods; Minerva laughed at this, saying that she and her kind were not gods, they had simply [[Those Who Came Before|come before]]. She remarked that humanity had not understood them when they existed, but while they couldn't comprehend her, they would comprehend her warning.

Ezio remarked that her words made no sense to him, but Minerva replied they weren't meant for him, confusing Ezio further, since no one else was here. Minerva snapped that she wasn't communicating with Ezio but through him; his part in all this was finished. She explained that Ezio was an anchor for the one she wished to communicate with, and politely asked him to be silent to assist this. Ezio listened as she delivered a confusing warning of an impending celestial disaster to an individual called '[[Desmond Miles|Desmond]]', before fading away. As she departed, Ezio begged her to wait, since he still had so much to ask, but she vanished without stopping, leaving Ezio's questions unanswered.

==Aftermath==

Having succeeded in their mission to reach the Vault and prevent the Templars obtaining its contents, the Assassins withdrew from Rome and Ezio retired to Monteriggioni, hoping to recover from his trials. However, unknown to all, the vengeful Rodrigo Borgia was plotting [[Siege of Monteriggioni|a way]] to bring the Assassin Order, Ezio in particular, to its knees once and for all. Meanwhile, Desmond is pulled out of the Animus because his hideout is under attack by Abstergo. Warren Vidic had sought to recapture Desmond and Lucy, but his men were defeated. Unfortunately, the Assassins had to escape from any potential reinforcements, and were thus unable to pursue Vidic.
[[Category:Major Events]]
[[Category:Assassin's Creed II events]]

Confrontation in the Vatican

2010-08-24T21:28:57Z

64.12.116.8:

New World Order

2010-08-24T15:29:40Z

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[[Abstergo|Abstergo Industries]]' final goal seems to be to create a '''New World Order'''. They plan to do this using the power of the [[Pieces of Eden]], thus the reason they kidnapped [[Subject 16]] and [[Desmond Miles|17]] (and presumable the ones before them) to find these Relics. According to Warren Vidic in Assassins Creed, Vidic mentions how human society has been barbaric since its earliest days and is in a great need of order, discipline, and control.

The Pieces of Eden themselves are integral to the plans of the [[Templars]]; their abilities to influence the minds of people near the operator have been prized since the times of the pre-Sumerians at the latest, judging from their ubiquity in art and warfare of the time. The Templars' order would be one of so-called "benign tyranny," as although the Templars would eliminate racism and the petty machinations of the warlords and princes of their time, they would simply replace that disordered chaos with their own arbitrary Order. This plan seems to have been in existence since the Second Crusade at the latest, as even the first waves of Templars in the siege of [[Acre]] in the [[Third Crusade]] were already fully aware of the plan. Moreover, the means by which the Templars mean to establish this Order seem to be unchanging: collect as many Pieces of Eden and other relics of [['Those Who Came Before']] as possible, and use them to brainwash the peasantry of the world.[[File:Abstergo-Logo.png|thumb|Abstergo symbol, A Templar cover in modern times]]

As their very cause is to collect the fantastic sources of knowledge locked in the Pieces of Eden, the Templars' Order is equipped with some of the most advanced technology of the periods in which it was active; the machinations of [[Garnier de Naplouse]] and [[Robert de Sable]] during the Third Crusade include the making of drugs and medicines which the world had never before witnessed.

The proclaimed New World of the Templars seems to based on the 'utopia' ideal, a world completely free of bigotry, but the Templar ideal seems to differ in the establishment of a small ruling elite controlling all education, military force, and food distribution.

The Templars' plan for a New World Order is to use the Pieces of Eden to control every human being on the planet. They plan to launch a Piece of Eden into space, in connection to one of their satellites. Through the combined power, The Templars can activate it to control the minds of every human being on the planet. The Templars believe that by completely controlling others, they have brought peace to the earth.

The Templars plan to launch their Piece of Eden on December 21, 2012. This is three months away after the events of'' '''[[Assassin's Creed II]], '''''leaving Desmond and the other Assassins a very short time to stop the Templars.