Masyaf Key

2011-11-20T09:23:03Z

92.33.189.90: /* Ezio's acquisition */

{{Era|Revelations|Secret Crusade}}
{{Spoilerhd}}
{{Dialogue|Niccolò|Artefacts?|Altaïr|Of a kind. They are keys, each one imbued with a message.|Niccolò Polo and Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad on the keys.|Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade}}
[[File:KeyofAltaïr.png|thumb|220px|right|A key of Altaïr.]]
The '''Masyaf keys''', also referred to as the '''seals''', or '''keys of Altaïr''', were a collection of six [[First Civilization]] artefacts containing information and memories from the [[Grand Master of the Assassin Order|Grand Master]] of the [[Assassins|Assassin Order]] [[Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad]], their original owner. When brought together, the keys would grant access to [[Altaïr's library]], in the fortress of [[Masyaf]],<ref name="Secret Crusade">''[[Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade]]''</ref> which was desired by both the Assassins and the [[Templars]] during the early 16th century.<ref name="Revelations">''[[Assassin's Creed: Revelations]]''</ref>

==History==
===Altaïr's discovery===
[[File:ACR STORY 13.png|thumb|250px|left|Altaïr holding one of the keys.]]
Following the death of his [[Maria Thorpe|wife]] and [[Sef Ibn-La'Ahad|son]] and his deposition at the hands of [[Abbas Sofian]], Altaïr entered into exile in the Assassin fortress of [[Alamut]]. During this time, Altaïr was directed to the artifacts by the [[Sixth Apple|Apple]], which he had in his possession. He retrieved these artifacts and hid them.<ref name="Secret Crusade"/>

Altaïr's research discovered that the keys contained messages, though he did not know to whom they were intended.<ref name="Secret Crusade"/>

In 1257, whilst Masyaf was about to be besieged by the [[Mongols]], Altaïr passed the keys and his [[codex]] on to his guests, [[Niccolò Polo|Niccolò]] and [[Maffeo Polo]], who promised to hide the keys. They escaped from the Mongols with the help of Altaïr's son [[Darim Ibn-La'Ahad|Darim]], and safely arrived in their home of [[Constantinople]], where they hid the keys and formed an [[Assassins Guilds|Assassins Guild]].<ref name="Secret Crusade"/>

===Ezio's acquisition===
In 1510, [[Ezio Auditore da Firenze]], the Mentor of the [[Italy|Italian]] Assassins, learned of the existence of Altaïr's library and its keys after reading a document left behind by his late father, [[Giovanni Auditore da Firenze|Giovanni]]. Curious and driven by a desire to obtain answers about his Order, Ezio left [[Rome]] for Masyaf.<ref name="Revelations"/>

[[File:ACR STORY 16.png|thumb|250px|Ezio retrieving a key from a statue.]]
Ezio arrived in Masyaf in mid 1511, at which point [[Niccolò Polo's journal]], containing information on the keys, had come into the possession of the Templar [[Leandros]], the captain of a group of [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] remnants. After a long struggle, Ezio was able to kill Leandros and obtain the book.<ref name="Revelations"/>

Ezio journeyed to Constantinople, where he started his search for the keys, eventually finding one underneath Niccolò Polo's old trading post, which, at that point, was inhabited by the [[Venice|Venetian]] bookseller [[Sofia Sartor]]. With her assistance, Ezio was able to decode a map showing the locations of all keys in Constantinople.<ref name="Revelations"/>

With every key that Ezio found, he found himself reliving a significant moment of Altaïr's life, which the Syrian Assassin had encocded onto the key during his own lifetime. In time, Ezio recovered all five keys, including the one which the Templars had in their possession and with them, returned to Masyaf in order to open the library. Inside, he found no books or weapons as he and his Templar enemies had believed they would find, but the skeleton of Altaïr holding a sixth and final key, showing the final moments Altaïr's life; revealing the fact that [[Sixth Apple|Ezio's Apple]] and [[Second Apple|Altaïr]]'s were not one and the same, as he had previously believed.<ref name="Revelations"/>

==Trivia==
*The markings on the keys are similar, if not identical, to a symbol shown in the [[Vatican Vault]] at the end of ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]''. When [[Minerva]] speaks of the [[Temples]], she shows Ezio an image of a step pyramid, above which is a symbol resembling one of the keys.

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="180" position="center" spacing="small" captionalign="center" captiontextcolor="#ffffff">
Ezio Keys.png|Ezio with the Keys of Altaïr he has collected so far.
yusuf and ezio gaze at key.JPG|Ezio and Yusuf gaze at a Key
Keys of Altair Concept.JPG|Concept art of the keys by [[Martin Deschambault]].
</gallery>

==Notes and references==
{{reflist}}

{{ACRevelations}}
[[Category:First Civilization technology]]
[[Category:Assassin Order]]
[[Category:Assassin's Creed: Revelations]]

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Masyaf Key