Editing Protectors of Persia

{{Era|Organizations|Assassins}}
{{Conjecture}}
{{Quote|We were protectors, Amorges. We were champions of Persia. Of the people!|Darius to Amorges, 420s BCE.|Assassin's Creed: Odyssey|Legacy of the First Blade (memory)}}
{{Faction infobox
|name=
|image=ACOD LotFB Artabanus Amorges Pactyas.png 
|founder=[[Darius|Artabanus]]
|leader=
|headquarters=
|locations=[[Achaemenid Empire]]
|religion=
|formed=
|reorganized=
|collapsed= 
|parent=
|successor=[[Assassins|Hidden Ones]]
|active=until c. 465 BCE
}}
A '''secret group''' whose express goal was to protect [[Iran|Persia]] and its people from tyranny waged a [[Assassin-Templar War|covert war]] against the [[Order of the Ancients]] over their puppetry of the [[Achaemenid Empire]]. Led by [[Darius|Artabanus]], who would later come to be known as "Darius", its most notable feat was the 465 BCE [[assassination]] of King [[Xerxes I of Persia]], one of the Order's puppets. 

Despite its initial success, the organization disbanded not long after Xerxes' assassination due to an ideological split between its members. This conflict was caused by Darius' insistence on preemptively assassinating Xerxes' successor [[Artaxerxes I of Persia|Artaxerxes I]], a decision opposed by Darius' closest comrade [[Amorges]] and other members of the group. These members ultimately defected to the Order and protected Artaxerxes before conducting a decade-long extermination campaign against Darius' family and associates. 

Due to its opposition against the Order and similar belief in fighting for peace and freedom, the group is considered one of the early precursors to the [[Assassins|Assassin Brotherhood]], with Darius retroactively honored by members of the Brotherhood as one of their own.

==History==
===Assassination of Xerxes===
{{Dialogue|Amorges|...There will always be more tyrants.|Darius|And there will always be us to stop them.|Amorges and Darius, at Xerxes' assassination, 465 BCE.|Assassin's Creed: Odyssey|Protector of Persia}}
In August 465 BCE, the group's members, including Artabanus, Amorges, and [[Pactyas]], ambushed King Xerxes I and his entourage as they were travelling. While the others distracted and eliminated the king's guards, Artabanus, disguised as one of the guards, assassinated the king<ref name="ShadowOfALegend">''[[Assassin's Creed: Odyssey]] – [[Legacy of the First Blade: Hunted]]'' – [[Shadow of a Legend]]</ref> using a weapon of his own creation:<ref name="TheatricsAndEspionage">''[[Assassin's Creed: Odyssey]] – [[Legacy of the First Blade: Shadow Heritage]]'' – [[Theatrics and Espionage]]</ref> the [[Hidden Blade]].<ref name="ShadowOfALegend"/> This would become the first recorded use of the Hidden Blade, centuries before the blade became the Assassins' signature weapon.<ref name="AC2">''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'' – [[A Change of Plans]]</ref>

===Collapse===
{{Dialogue|Darius|They got to you.|Amorges|No. I went to them.|Amorges revealing to Darius that he joined the Order, c. 465 BCE.|Assassin's Creed: Odyssey|Protector of Persia}}
After Xerxes' death, Artabanus sought to prevent the Order of the Ancients from exerting their influence on the king's son and successor, the young Artaxerxes I, and planned to kill the new king before he could be manipulated. However, he faced opposition from Amorges, who instead persuaded the rest of the group to join forces with the Order and use their combined resources to create a better future for Persia. The group completely disbanded when Amorges turned on Artabanus during the latter's attempt on Artaxerxes' life, which forced Artabanus and his family into exile.<ref name="Protector of Persia">''[[Assassin's Creed: Odyssey]] – [[Legacy of the First Blade: Hunted]]'' – [[Protector of Persia]]</ref>

Amorges and the Order subsequently spent the next few decades hunting down Artabanus and his family, though Artabanus, who had taken up the alias "Darius", and his son [[Natakas]] constantly managed to avoid them.<ref name="Hunted">''[[Assassin's Creed: Odyssey]] – [[Legacy of the First Blade: Hunted]]''</ref> During this time, just like Darius had anticipated, the Order attempted to sway the young king Artaxerxes like they had done with his father. After they were unsuccessful,<ref name="SmokeAndFury">''[[Assassin's Creed: Odyssey]] – [[Legacy of the First Blade: Bloodline]]'' – [[Smoke and Fury]]</ref> they made a failed attempt on his life using [[poison]] that left the king blind and on the run,<ref>''[[Assassin's Creed: Odyssey]]'' – [[Prince of Persia]]</ref> and framed Darius for the plot.<ref name="SmokeAndFury" />

===Legacy===
The Hidden Ones, still remembering Darius' deeds hundreds of years later, posthumously honored him as one of their predecessors. By the 9th century CE, the members of the brotherhood had learned about the circumstances surrounding the collapse of Darius' group. In a letter to [[Roshan]], the [[Greek Brotherhood of Assassins|Greek Hidden One]] [[Itamos]] pondered whether Darius had ever returned to Persia following the betrayal of his allies.<ref name="ACMir">''[[Assassin's Creed: Mirage]]'' – [[Notes from Basim's travels]]: The First Blade</ref>

By the time of the [[Renaissance]], the Hidden Ones, since rechristened as the Assassins, regarded Darius not just as their predecessor, but as an early member of their organization. Alongside six other prominent figures, he was memorialized with a statue at the [[Villa Auditore]] in [[Monteriggioni]], and a [[Assassin Tombs|secret tomb]] was erected for him within the [[Basilica di Santa Maria Novella]] in [[Florence]], [[Italy]].<ref name="AC2" />

==Behind the scenes==
{{Quote|It's time I told you the truth about Artabanus, Protector of Persia.|Darius explaining his past to Kassandra, c. 429 BCE.|Assassin's Creed: Odyssey|Protector of Persia}}
Darius' organization was originally referred to as the '''[[Persian Brotherhood of Assassins|Persian Brotherhood]]''', a branch of the Assassin Brotherhood, in the first edition of ''[[Assassin's Creed: The Essential Guide]]''. Following the {{wiki|retroactive continuity}} introduced in the 2017 video game ''[[Assassin's Creed: Origins]]'' that shifted the Assassins' founding from prehistory to 47 BCE, all references to Darius and his group were expunged from ''The Essential Guide''{{'}}s second edition.

Darius features as a major supporting character in the 2018 game ''[[Assassin's Creed: Odyssey]]''{{'}}s three-part [[Assassin's Creed: Odyssey downloadable content|downloadable]] expansion ''[[Legacy of the First Blade]]'', with his group's story and conflict with the [[Order of the Ancients]] being told via flashbacks. Although this conflict parallels the one between the Assassins and [[Templars]], Darius' group is never referred to as the Persian Brotherhood in-game nor does it have any connections to the Assassins beyond Darius' teachings being passed down to his descendants—one of whom, [[Amunet|Aya]], is a co-founder of the Hidden Ones, the earliest incarnation of the Assassins. 

The organization is furthermore never expressly identified by a name at all. When recounting his assassination of Xerxes, Darius refers to himself as "Protector of Persia" although it is unclear if this is an epithet uniquely held by him or if it was commonly held by members of his group. Nonetheless, he goes on to repeatedly describe his organization as having been "protectors" throughout the rest of the story. For this reason, the name Protectors of Persia has been chosen as the placeholder title for this article on the group.

==Known members==
*[[Darius|Artabanus]] {{c|founder}}
*[[Amorges]]
*[[Pactyas]]

==Gallery==
<gallery position="center" widths="180" captionalign="center">
ACOD LotFB Assassins Attack Xerxes Convoy.png|The group attacking Xerxes' convoy
ACOD LotFB Freedom Fighter.png|One of the group's members
ACOD Darius assassinate Xerxes.png|Artabanus assassinating Xerxes
ACOD LotFB Protector of Persia - Amorges Stopping Darius.png|Amorges confronting Artabanus
ACOD LotFB Protector of Persia - Amorges and Darius Fighting.png|Amorges stopping Artabanus from killing Artaxerxes
</gallery>

==Appearances==
*''[[Assassin's Creed: Initiates]]'' {{1stm}} {{Imo}}
*''[[Assassin's Creed: Rebellion]]'' {{Mdat}} {{Imo}}
*''[[Assassin's Creed: Odyssey]] – [[Legacy of the First Blade: Hunted]]'' {{1st}}
*''[[Assassin's Creed: Mirage]]'' {{Imo}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Assassins nav}}
{{ACOD}}
[[zh:阿尔达班集团]]
[[Category:Protectors of Persia|*]]
[[Category:Proto-Assassin groups]]