Consus

"I am known by many names: Consus, Prometheus, the Erudite God..."

―Consus, 1692.

Consus, also known as the Erudite God, Prometheus, and theorized to be Jeanne d'Arc's Voices, was a famed Isu scientist and a creator of Pieces of Eden.

Towards the end of his natural life, Consus, afraid of death, transferred his consciousness into his prototype Shroud of Eden. From there Consus developed an affinity for the human species, impressed with their ability to become more than what the Isu had ever intended, and communicated with various individuals in different forms throughout history. In the early 1500s, he became a guardian of sorts to Giovanni Borgia, an Assassin born into the notorious Borgia family.

While he could converse when the Shroud was active, a side-effect of subsequent efforts to duplicate the technology copying the Isu's mind along with it, it was hypothesized that Consus was also able to communicate to and through individuals with a high percentage of Isu DNA.

His consciousness transferal innovation has had far-reaching consequences as it resulted in Juno studying its mechanics, and her application of the technique led to the implementation of a methodology which allowed the scientist to ensure that her late husband Aita was repeatedly reincarnated in human form throughout the centuries.

Biography

Isu Era

Isu scientist

"I was old. I wanted more time. Bodies constructs, minds are programs. Uploaded my program into the Shroud, to cheat death. Succeeded. Failed. Trapped in my prototype."

―Consus to Álvaro Gramática, 2012.

In the days before the Great Catastrophe, Consus was known as a great scientist among the Isu. In 1923 Isu Era, during the War of Unification, Consus helped his master Hephaestus create devastating weapons for their side, the Swords of Eden.

After Hephaestus was killed, Consus focused his efforts on medicinal equipment by creating the Shroud of Eden, a prototype device designed to return the wearer's body to predetermined, healthy specifications. Later, when Consus became aware of his impending natural death, something the Shroud could not undo, he instead enumerated his consciousness and transferred it into his prototype in order to live on. The transfer was successful, though Consus found himself trapped in the artifact, unable to speak or let anyone know that he was still alive, being forgotten for hundreds of years.

First legacy

"Juno. Schemer. Three centuries after my death, she found me. Usurped my work. Used it for her own ends."

―Consus to Juhani Otso Berg, 2013.

Although Consus was gone, his research became a field of science in Atlantis where a repository of knowledge, The Consus Archive, was established. Many subsequent attempts made by scientists to replicate Consus' designs met with limited success; however, one student of his work, a gifted member of the Isu Illuminat caste named Aita was able to utilize Consus' developments to advance and pioneer medical technology of his own.

300 years after Consus' physical death, Aita's scientific partner and lover, another Illuminat named Juno—whose mind potentially exceeded that of Aita—found the prototype Shroud of Eden in Consus' abandoned lab. Discovering that Consus had developed the consciousness transfer, Juno learned everything about it from the old entity, planning to use it for her own ends. Juno was also the one who informed Consus about creating humanity as the Isu's servants, a feat that Consus had not believed possible.

After the outbreak of the Human-Isu War in 2296 Isu Era, Juno and Aita became part of a group of Isu trying to prevent the impending Great Disaster, but their four attempts failed. However, using the knowledge that she had acquired from Consus, Juno developed a fifth solution and planned to transfer the consciousness of their species into stronger, artificial bodies, but she failed and her husband fell into coma after he volunteered to be her test subject. He was euthanized shortly thereafter.

The scientists eventually found a viable solution, but by then, it was too late to enact it and save their civilization. In attempt to save the world from a second recurrence expected over 75,000 years later, they used the Eye, an object that manipulated the patterns of existence to ensure that their successors would find the Grand Temple. However, Juno despised humanity, seeing them as no more than base creatures who had killed her father Saturn. Refusing to let them inherit the Earth, she tampered with the Eye, an act for which Jupiter and Minerva attacked and killed her before sealing her corpse in the Grand Temple. Following in Consus' footsteps, though, she had enumerated her own consciousness and transferred it into the Temple network, ensuring that the Temple's activation would release her from her prison.

Helping humanity

Known contacts

"You are marvelous creations. Exceeded your programming. Made something from nothing. Flawed but bold. I approve."

―Consus on humanity, speaking to Álvaro Gramática, 2012

Before the Grand Temple was sealed, however, the Shroud left Juno's possession and during the subsequent millennia, it passed from owner to owner, with Consus helping and conversing to humans with whom he came into contact. Through these interactions, he became known as Prometheus and his story became legend.

Promethus brings fire to humanity, by Heinrich Füger

According to Greek mythology, Prometheus was a Titan who created mankind and stole fire from Mount Olympus to allow humans to create their own civilization. As punishment for rebelling against the gods, he was to be chained to a rock for eternity, where an eagle would eat his liver daily.

In ancient Greece, Consus came in contact with Jason, the leader of the Argonauts. A Greek hero, Jason was sent by King Pelias to retrieve the Golden Fleece, a mythical object of great healing; in reality, it was the prototype Shroud shielding the consciousness of Consus.

At the beginning of the 15th century, an entity believed by Abstergo Industries researchers to be Consus was communicating with Jeanne d'Arc and guiding her in her battles for France against the English towards the end of the Hundred Years' War. The entity spoke to Jeanne in the guise of Saints Michael, Catherine, and Margaret, who she called her "Voices" and thought they were telling her God's will. The Voices led her to the location of a Sword of Eden but the entity's time with Jeanne came to an end after the Assassins faked her death in 1431.

During this time, the Shroud itself lay inside a box beneath Monteriggioni within the Auditore Family Crypt where it had been hidden a century earlier. After the town was attacked by the Florentines in 1454 looking to claim the artifact, Mario Auditore led a group of men into the crypt to retrieve the Piece of Eden. He was caught off guard by one of the traps protecting the Shroud and lost an eye which prompted Consus to announce his presence. Fearful and ignorant of the Isu's abilities, Mario cut down his companions to stop them opening the box and fled the crypt with the Shroud all the while ignoring Consus' requests to stop and allow himself to be healed. The artifact managed to prevent the eye from bleeding but Mario had his brother Giovanni take the box away and place it under the protection of the wider Assassin network.

Giovanni's guardian

"Consus is standing next to me. He is watching. He does not speak much. Papà tells me he is not real, but I see him."

―Giovanni, regarding Consus.

Giovanni Borgia and Consus

In 1498, shortly after his birth, Giovanni Borgia was discovered to be malformed and likely to die within a few days, though his Italian Assassin father Perotto Calderon stole the Shroud and used it to heal him. Throughout his childhood thereafter, Giovanni would have hallucinations of Consus, whom only he could see and befriended him. Consus often spoke in Giovanni's head and gave him advice, even once allowing Giovanni to read a letter given to him, though the boy himself had not yet learned how to at the time.

Giovanni's grandfather Rodrigo Borgia often asked Giovanni about Consus and if he could speak with him, but Giovanni would simply answer that Consus was not there, as he "does not play when Nonno is around." In 1503, Consus attempted to convince Giovanni to give the Apple of Eden to Fiora Cavazza, when she had come to retrieve it for the Assassins, and later advised Giovanni to go with the Assassin Francesco Vecellio to join the Brotherhood.

With Niccolò di Pitigliano in control of the Shroud in 1510, Francesco made an assassination attempt on his life in Lonigo. Though Niccoló was gravely injured by the Assassin, Consus urged him to heal himself, which he did, but fearing that he did not have the strength to escape to another town attempted to unleash the "power" of the Shroud to save himself. He felt a thousand voices shouting in his head as the Piece of Eden turned him inside out and ripped him apart, allowing Francesco to collect the Shroud.

Meanwhile, Giovanni Borgia had grown up thinking that his time with Consus was at an end as his hallucinations did not appear to him in his later life. In 1515, however, the young Assassin was possessed by Consus during a brawl with fellow apprentice and rival, Hiram Stoddard. Consus delivered a cryptic message to Stoddard and through him to his descendants before releasing his hold on Giovanni. As Stoddard deserted the Brotherhood due to the accidental death of his lover during the ordeal, Giovanni went unaware of what had happened when he passed out.

Upon bringing a Crystal Skull to Bombastus five years later, Giovanni encountered a madman by the name of Johan, who, upon seeing him, called out to Consus. When Giovanni demanded an explanation, the Assassin received none, as Johan fearfully mumbled that he had simply said "consent".

Giovanni's face being altered.

When Giovanni and Maria Amiel traveled to the Temple of Pythagoras in the late 16th century, the Vault within it reacted to Giovanni as it would to a descendant of the Isu, shining with symbols and glyphs. Giovanni fell unconscious and awoke soon after, but his face had changed into that of a seemingly ancient entity. He spoke in a distant and unfamiliar voice, where he announced himself to Maria as Consus, the Erudite God.

Presence in Salem

Stoddard: "What have you done to the girl?"

Consus: "Be not afraid. She is with me"

—Consus possessing Dorothy Osborne, 1692.

Dorothy Osborne, possessed by Consus.

In 1692, somehow bonded to the young girl Dorothy Osborne, Consus was able to speak through her in what appeared to be visions. His presence sparked the events that led to the Salem witch trials, with the Assassins and Templars fighting to gain control of Dorothy, and through her, Consus. Eventually, after the Puritans led by the Templar William Stoughton captured Dorothy, she committed suicide to prevent the Templars from using her connection with Consus to cause more innocent deaths.

In actuality, Consus was attempting to make contact with Charlotte de la Cruz, who was reliving the genetic memories of her ancestor Thomas Stoddard in the 21st century, cryptically advising her to seek "the ones with greater knowledge". Later, de la Cruz understood that Consus was telling her to find Erudito, an organization of truth seekers.

In the hands of Abstergo

"I have so many questions, but let's stick with you. How is it that your mind resides in this artifact?"

―Gramática to Consus, 2012.

By 1944, the prototype Shroud, which had been in possession of William Robert Woodman during the previous century, had ended up in Milan, in the hands of the Baguttiani family. On Christmas Day that year, the Templar agent Keith Scipione purchased the Shroud from the family and sent the device to an Abstergo facility.

In 2011, the Templars' Inner Sanctum member Isabelle Ardant found the Shroud through the ill-fated Project Legacy. Believing it to be broken, she gave the Piece of Eden to the Abstergo scientist Álvaro Gramática for repair in order to satisfy Grand Master Alan Rikkin. After months with no success, Álvaro ultimately reactivated the Shroud by shooting himself, thus summoning Consus, who possessed Álvaro's body and spoke through him, before finally healing him. All this happened in front of a horrified Isabelle.

This led Álvaro to discover that whenever the Shroud healed what would normally be a fatal wound, Consus could temporarily take over the wearer and speak through them. Álvaro started using the Shroud on his new test subject Violet da Costa, repeatedly shooting her in the head so he could communicate with Consus and learn his secrets.

On 21 December 2012, as he was talking to Gramática through Violet, Consus instantly became aware of Juno's release from her imprisonment in the Grand Temple after Desmond Miles sacrificed his life to prevent the world's destruction by an incoming solar flare. Greatly disturbed by the event, Consus declared that all was now lost.

On 17 November 2013, Violet and the Master Templar Juhani Otso Berg traveled to Álvaro's lab in Paris in order to make contact with Consus and gain insight on Juno's motivations, having grown concerned by the threat posed by her and her growing number of followers. Consus warned them of Juno's dangerous and scheming nature, and informed them that, as a non-corporeal being, she had infiltrated the global network.

The prototype Shroud, and apparently Consus' consciousness, were unwittingly destroyed in late 2014, when the Assassins Shaun Hastings and Galina Voronina attacked Álvaro's lab to end Abstergo's experiments there. Realizing all too late that Álvaro was wearing the Shroud, Shaun was unable to prevent Galina from detonating a grenade which took out the lab and the artifact with it. As his final act, Consus used what remained of the Shroud's damaged power to heal Álvaro, who had been fatally injured by the explosion.

Legacy

Last hope against Juno

"Your enemy seems manifest child, but the mountain's glimmer calls to many. Its summit shall see her true awakening. You must let the wolf dwell with the lamb..."

―Consus possessing Giovanni Borgia, 1515.

Despite the Shroud's destruction in 2014, Consus continued to play a posthumous role in the world's affairs by influencing humanity's history through Charlotte de la Cruz. Indeed, the entity had made plans to guide humanity in their fight against Juno by leaving messages throughout history to several of de la Cruz's ancestors.

In 2016, following Consus' nebulous instructions received while relieving Stoddard's memories in Salem, Charlotte made contact with Erudito. The organization, which had learned about Juno's plan to create a new body by manipulating the Templars' Phoenix Project through moles within the Instruments of the First Will, decided to ally themselves with de la Cruz and her Assassin team to stop the Isu.

Believing that Consus was humanity's last hope and Juno's antithesis, Erudito decided to use Charlotte's connection with the entity to learn more about him via the Animus. Through Hiram Stoddard's traumatized, fractured memories, the young Assassin made contact with the Isu who delivered another cryptic message to her, warning the Assassin about Juno's imminent awakening and the unnatural alliance she would have to make to stop the goddess.

Juno's Resurrection

Consus: "She'll stop you. You must know that."

Juno: "Who, de la Cruz? I'm glad the millennia haven't dulled your sense of humor, old friend. She's weak. You forget: I've been in her head."

Consus: "So you have, child. But I know her heart."

—Consus and Juno, 2017.

In 2018, the Instruments of the First Will invaded Alvaro Gramatica's secret lab and coerced the Templar scientist into growing an Isu body for their mistress. Gramatica used strands of a Shroud of Eden, which the Templars had recently recovered in London, to create an amniotic sac for the new body. Upon learning this, Juno savoured the fact that the work of the "traitorous" Consus would be key to her return.

Several hours later, as Juno inhabited the Isu fetus which was growing at an accelerated rate thanks to the Shroud's properties, Consus once again transcended the barriers of death to speak with her through his creation, calling her new body a monstrosity and warned her that Charlotte would be her doom. Juno retorted that she had been in the Assassin's head and saw her weakness, though Consus reaffirmed his confidence in Charlotte, stating that he knew her heart. Indeed, at the same time, Charlotte, her Assassins teammates, and the Master Templar Juhani Otso Berg–with whom the Assassins had entered a temporary alliance to stop the Instruments' machinations–were on their way to the lab.

When finally Juno's new body was developed enough to survive outside, Consus' ability to communicate with her was lost. Despite this, he still played a part in Juno's downfall when Charlotte, helped by Elijah, used the Koh-i-Noor to create an illusion of Consus based on Juno's memories; this distracted Juno for long enough to allow the Assassin to stab her in the neck with her Hidden Blade, killing the revived Isu for good.

Mythology

Consus inspired a Roman deity of the same name assigned to protect the grain who later also became known as a deity of secret counsel. Additionally he influenced the development of the Greek Prometheus, a cultural hero and fire-giver deity who created mankind from clay.

Gallery

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  A relief depicting Prometheus' creation of mankind
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  Prometheus Bound, by Peter Paul Rubens
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  Concept sketch of a younger Consus
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  Concept sketch of a younger Consus with Juno

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed: Heresy (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed (comic)
• Assassin's Creed: Uprising
• Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (mentioned only)
  • The Fate of Atlantis: Judgment of Atlantis (mentioned only)