Editing Kanatahséton

{{Era|Locations}}
{{Quote|I know you wonder why it is we do not wander from these woods. Why it is we do not join the other Kanien'kehá:ka in war. Tonight, you will have your answers. Our village sits on sacred ground. And it is our duty—above all other things—to keep it hidden from the world.|Oiá:ner to Ratonhnhaké:ton, 1769.|Assassin's Creed III|Something to Remember}}
[[File:ACIKanataseton.jpg|thumb|300px|Kanatahséton]]
'''Kanatahséton''' was a [[Kanien'kehá:ka]] village that was located in the [[Kanièn:keh Nation Territory|Mohawk Valley]] during the 18th century. It was built near the area of the [[Grand Temple]]'s entrance in order to keep it safe, meaning the inhabitants generally kept away from [[Iroquois]] affairs. The village was the birthplace of the [[Assassins|Assassin]] [[Ratonhnhaké:ton]].

It consisted of six separate longhouses within its walls, as well as a spacious open area with log-seats and a fire. This clearing was used for skinning animals and pottery. The walls themselves had three different openings, two on the right (from the inside) and another at the front. These gates surrounded the entire village up to the water at the end. Near this lake were several canoes, presumably used for fishing purposes, and three small farm-like areas.<ref name="AC3">''[[Assassin's Creed III]]''</ref>

==History==
{{Dialogue|Kanen'tó:kon|It is beautiful.|Ratonhnhaké:ton|But for how long? Come spring two dozen men will have moved here. By fall there will be two dozen more. They will hunt in these forests. They will settle on this land. In less than a year there will be a hundred of them. In time they will swallow us whole.|Kanen'tó:kon and Ratonhnhaké:ton, 1769|Assassin's Creed III|Feathers and Trees}}
[[File:ACIII-Kanatahseton.png|thumb|right|250px|An aerial view of Kanatahséton.]]
Founded by the beginning of the 18th century, the village was occupied by the Kanien'kehá:ka people, who were a part of the Iroquois Confederacy.<ref name="Haudenosaunee">''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' – [[Database: Haudenosaunee – People of the Longhouse]]</ref> Built near the ruins of the Grand Temple's entrance,<ref name="The Braddock Expedition">''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' – [[The Braddock Expedition (memory)|The Braddock Expedition]]</ref> the people of Kanatahséton viewed it as their foremost duty to protect its secrets from outsiders and were therefore less inclined to join other Kanien'kehá:ka in external affairs, lest their activities draw undue attention onto themselves. The village also held a [[Piece of Eden]] known as the [[Crystal Balls|Crystal Ball]], which the people used to speak to [[Juno]] in the [[Nexus]].<ref name="Something to Remember">''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' – [[Something to Remember]]</ref>

===Destruction and resistance===
On 2 November 1760,<ref name="Smoke Leads To...">''[[Assassin's Creed: Initiates]]'' – [[Database: Smoke Leads To...]]</ref> Kanatahséton was razed to the ground<ref name="Hide and Seek">''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' – [[Hide and Seek (III)|Hide and Seek]]</ref> just as the [[Seven Years' War]] was coming to a close,<ref name="Nichols 2014">Nichols, Roger L. (2014). "Living with Strangers, 1700–1783". In ''American Indians in U.S. History''. 2nd edition. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, pp. 41–59.</ref> The attack was preceded by a group of [[American Rite of the Templar Order|Colonial Templars]] assaulting a four-year-old Kanien'kehá:ka boy named [[Ratonhnhaké:ton]] as he was playing hide-and-seek with his friends. They spewed racial slurs at him and his people, and their leader, [[Charles Lee]], threatened him for directions to his village, where they intended to deliver an ultimatum for intelligence on the [[Isu|Precursor civilization]]. Shortly after, Kanatahséton was set ablaze, and many Kanien'kehá:ka perished in the conflagration, among them Ratonhnhaké:ton's mother [[Kaniehtí:io]]. Ratonhnhaké:ton, however, survived and would grow up viewing Charles Lee as an arch-nemesis.<ref name="Hide and Seek" />
[[File:ACIII-Remember 1.png|thumb|left|300px|Kanien'kehá:ka villagers gathered in front of a longhouse.]]
Although the village was rebuilt, encroachment on Kanien'kehá:ka territory by British colonialists continued steadily throughout the 18th century.<ref name="Feathers and Trees">''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' – [[Feathers and Trees]]</ref> Determined to resist the eventual expulsion of his people, Ratonhnhaké:ton met with [[Oiá:ner]] (i.e. his clan mother) for counsel in 1769 and was duplicitously<ref name="Chasing Lee">''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' – [[Chasing Lee]]</ref> advised by the Isu Juno through a Crystal Ball that seeking out the [[Assassins]] was the path to saving his people.<ref name="Something to Remember" /> Ratonhnhaké:ton placed all his resolve into this journey and, at the age of 13, set out alone from his village to offer himself as a [[Assassin apprentice|pupil]] to [[Achilles Davenport]].<ref name="A Boorish Man">''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' – [[A Boorish Man]]</ref> Under Achilles' tutelage, Ratonhnhaké:ton aligned himself with the [[Patriots]] in the [[American Revolution]], mistakenly hoping that their cause of liberty would extend to indigenous peoples as well.<ref name="Broken Trust">''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' – [[Broken Trust]]</ref> During this time, he would return on occasion to the village to consult with Oiá:ner,<ref name="Floating conversations">''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' – [[Floating conversations]]: "Oiá:ner"</ref> but a communication barrier in terms of political alliances nonetheless developed between him and his people.<ref name="Broken Trust" />

===American Revolutionary War===
{{Dialogue|Juno|Ah, long have we waited for you to return. You have done as we asked. You have succeeded.|Ratonhnhaké:ton|No. I have failed! My people are gone! Chased out by those who I thought would protect them!|Juno and Ratonhnhaké:ton, 1783|Assassin's Creed III|Chasing Lee}}
Because Ratonhnhaké:ton's father, [[Haytham Kenway]], was the [[Grand Master of the Templar Order|Grand Master Templar]] of the Colonial Rite, a confrontation between the two was inevitable. Yet as late as 1778, Haytham had not known about the torching of Kanatahséton in 1760 nor the fate of his former lover, Kaniehtí:io, having instructed his subordinates to cease the search for the Grand Temple.<ref name="The Foam and the Flames">''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' – [[The Foam and the Flames]]</ref> In 1779, during a brief partnership with his son, he managed to implicate Commander-in-Chief [[George Washington]] of the [[Continental Army]] in the attack just as Washington had issued the orders for a [[Sullivan Expedition|genocidal campaign]] against the Kanien'kehá:ka for their alliance with the [[United Kingdom|British]]. Among the targets was Kanatahséton, and Washington admitted to having conducted a {{Wiki|Forbes Expedition|similar operation}} during the Seven Years' War. With no time to argue the details, Ratonhnhaké:ton cut ties with both Washington and Haytham and rushed to defend Kanatahséton.<ref name="Broken Trust" />

[[File:ACIII-KanatahsetonM 2.png|thumb|250px|Kanatahséton after its abandonment.]]

Unbeknownst to him, Charles Lee had falsely presented himself as a [[Loyalists|Loyalist]] to the people of Kanatahséton to mislead them that Ratonhnhaké:ton had sided with the Patriots' attack. When Ratonhnhaké:ton found his childhood best friend [[Kanen'tó:kon]] outside the village, Kanen'tó:kon furiously accused him of betraying his people. His pleas of a misunderstanding falling on deaf ears, Ratonhnhaké:ton was forced to kill Kanen'tó:kon in self-defence.<ref name="Broken Trust" /> Although Ratonhnhaké:ton did succeed in saving his village from the ravages of war, the newly established [[United States|United States of America]] did not respect native sovereignty, notwithstanding his significant contributions to their cause. Within a year of the war's end,<ref name="Chasing Lee" /><ref name="Kamensky 2019, 6">Kamensky, Jane, et al. (2019). "American Revolutions, 1775–1783". In ''A People and a Nation: A History of the United States''. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, pp. 146–173.</ref> the U.S. government granted the land on which Kanatahséton sat to an American citizen as though it were their property to give and that the Kanien'kehá:ka nation did not already inhabit it. With white settler colonialism continuing unabated, the people of Kanatahséton were forced to abandon their home and migrate westward for safety.<ref name="Chasing Lee" />

==Alternate timeline==
[[File:ACIII-Warn 5.png|thumb|250px|left|Oiá:ner blaming Kaniehtí:io]]
At one point during the American Revolutionary War, George Washington came into the possession of an [[Apple of Eden 3|Apple of Eden]]. One night, while meeting with Ratonhnhaké:ton, their simultaneous contact with the Apple projected a vision into their minds of an [[Calculations|alternate timeline]], where Kaniehtí:io is still alive by the end of the revolution, Ratonhnhaké:ton never joins the Assassins, and Washington becomes an absolute monarch known as the Mad King after recovering an [[Apple of Eden 3|Apple of Eden]] from {{Wiki|Yorktown, Virginia|Yorktown}}.<ref name="Tyranny">''[[Assassin's Creed III]] – [[The Tyranny of King Washington]]'' – [[Lucid Memory Fragments]]</ref> 

In this vision, Kaniehtí:io attempted to steal the Apple from King Washington, bringing his wrath to bear on the [[Frontier]].<ref name="Awaken">''[[Assassin's Creed III]] – [[The Tyranny of King Washington: The Infamy]]'' – [[Awaken]]</ref> After defending [[Concord]] and [[Lexington]], she and her son returned to the village having learned Oiá:ner intended to brew the Tea of the [[Red Willow]] tree, which grants superhuman abilities to whoever drink it at the cost of their sanity. Although Kaniehtí:io argued they do not need it, Oiá:ner insisted that Washington's forces would destroy them with overwhelming numbers.<ref name="Warn the Village">''[[Assassin's Creed III]] – [[The Tyranny of King Washington: The Infamy]]'' – [[Warn the Village]]</ref> 

[[File:ACIII-Warn 7.png|thumb|250px|Ratonhnhaké:ton defending Kanatahséton]]
Kaniehtí:io remained obstinate in denying Ratonhnhaké:ton the tea, believing that as "the son of a man of violence", its side-effects would be even more pronounced for him. Instead, she gave him Haytham's [[Hidden Blade]] just before Washington and his troops arrived with his generals [[Israel Putnam]] and [[Benedict Arnold]]. Before Ratonhnhaké:ton was able to engage them, Washington effortlessly killed Kaniehtí:io with the power of the Apple. Ratonhnhaké:ton fought fiercely, but he too eventually fell to the Apple.<ref name="Warn the Village" /> Intending to execute him, Mad King fired two [[pistol]]s at him, thrust a [[bayonet]] into his chest,<ref name="Warn the Village" /> and destroyed Kanatahséton.<ref name="Sky World Journey">''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' – ''[[The Tyranny of King Washington: The Infamy]]'' – [[Sky World Journey]]</ref> The surviving Kanien'kehá:ka fled south to a cave, taking Ratonhnhaké:ton with them to nurse back to health. With his mother dead and their village gone, Ratonhnhaké:ton acquiesced to Oiá:ner's desire for him to drink the Red Willow tea to undergo the [[Sky World]] journey and acquire superhuman abilities.<ref name="Sky World Journey" />

By the end of the vision, Ratonhnhaké:ton had drank the tea three times, gaining the ability to turn invisible while commanding a pack of spirit [[wolf|wolves]], augment his strength to that of a [[bear]], and transform into an [[eagle]] to fly. With these powers, he overthrew King Washington in an epic fight, an accomplishment that finally ended the vision, a vision that so unnerved Washington that he handed it over to Ratonhnhaké:ton to dispose of in the ocean.<ref name="Inevitable Confrontation">''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' – ''[[The Tyranny of King Washington: The Redemption]]'' – [[Inevitable Confrontation]]</ref>

==Behind the scenes==
Kanatahséton is the home village of [[Ratonhnhaké:ton]], better known as Connor, the main protagonist of ''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' (2012), set during the [[American Revolution]] (1775–1783). 

Its destruction in the [[genetic memory|memory]] "[[Hide and Seek (III)|Hide and Seek]]", dated 1760 near the close of the [[Seven Years' War]] (1754–1763), is a major plot point in Connor's character arc, as it results in the death of his mother [[Kaniehtí:io]] and is preceded by his first hostile encounter with the story's antagonists, the [[Templars]]. The player, like Connor, are led to believe that the Templars are the culprits until the memory "[[Broken Trust]]" near the climax of the story, when [[Haytham Kenway]], as both leader of the Templars and Connor's father, forces [[George Washington]] to reveal that he was not only ordering [[Sullivan Expedition|genocide against the Iroquois]] but was also the one responsible for razing Kanien'kehá:ka villages in the earlier conflict.

While later published material, such as ''[[Assassin's Creed: Initiates]]''<ref name="Smoke Leads to...">''[[Assassin's Creed: Initiates]]'' – [[Database: Smoke Leads To...]]</ref> and ''[[Assassin's Creed: Rebellion]]'',<ref name="Rebellion bio">''[[Assassin's Creed: Rebellion]]'' – [[Database: Ratonhnhaké:ton]]</ref> state that Washington burned the village, the game as the primary source leaves the perpetrators ambiguous because Washington's guilt is only established by Haytham as an {{wiki|unreliable narrator}} while Connor's eyewitness evidence heavily supports the Templars being responsible. In addition, there are contradictions in the chronology. Of note are the following points:
*Haytham discounts that Templars were responsible because he had commanded his subordinates to relinquish their pursuit of the Grand Temple. His own testimony does not disprove the possibility that these subordinates defied his order or even destroyed a village without him knowing. "Hide and Seek" can be taken as an eyewitness account by Connor that [[Charles Lee]], [[William Johnson]], [[Thomas Hickey]], and [[Benjamin Church]] had threatened his life for the village's whereabouts and had intended to threaten the village in turn for information about the Grand Temple—moments before it is set on fire.
*The confession that Haytham extracts from Washington is indirect. He leads Washington into admitting to having burned indigenous villages in the Seven Years' War, resulting in the assumption by players and the characters alike that Kanatahséton must have been one of them—but this is never confirmed. Washington could only have been referring to the {{wiki|Forbes Expedition}} of 1758, when Connor would have only been two-years-old and two years before the setting of "Hide and Seek".
*Historically, George Washington resigned from military service in the Seven Years' War at the end of 1758,<ref name="Lengel 2005">Lengel, Edward G. (2007). "The Virginia Regiment · July 1735 – January 1759". In ''General George Washington: A Military Life''. New York, NY: Random House Trade Paperbacks, pp. 63–80.</ref> a fact that is acknowledged in ''Assassin's Creed III'' itself in [[Database: George Washington (Assassin's Creed III)|his database entry]]. Moreover, while the Seven Years' War officially ended in 1763 with the {{wiki|Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris}},<ref name="French and Indian War">''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' – [[Database: French and Indian War]]</ref> virtually all hostilities in the Americas had ceased by 1760<ref name="Nichols 2014" /> with the exception of the {{wiki|Conquest of New France (1758–1760)|conquest of New France}}.<ref name="Kamensky 2019, 5">Kamensky, Jane, et al. (2019). "The Ends of Empire, 1754–1774". In ''A People and a Nation: A History of the United States''. 11th edition. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, pp. 118–145</ref>
''Assassin's Creed: Initiates'' appears to have attempted to address these chronological conflicts with the database entry "[[Database: Smoke Leads To...|Smoke Leads To...]]". There, Washington is stated to have ordered the razing of Kanatahséton on 2 November 1760, apparently from his own estate at [[Mount Vernon]] and apart from the Forbes Expedition. It describes his motive as "''eradicating the native threat. . .as he was concerned that local tribes would attack his men''" despite the Iroquois historically being allied with the British during the war.<ref name="Pevar 2012">Pevar, Stephen L. (2012). "A History of Federal Indian Policy". In ''The Rights of Indians and Tribes''. 4th edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, pp. 1–15.</ref>

==Appearances==
*''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' {{1st}}
**''[[The Tyranny of King Washington: The Infamy]]''
*''[[Assassin's Creed: Initiates]]'' {{Mdat}}
*''[[Assassin's Creed: Forsaken]]'' {{Imo}}
*''[[Assassin's Creed: Rebellion]]'' {{Mdat}}

==References==
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