Dervis

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"Anyone who works from the shadows does so only because they must."

―Dervis to Basim Ibn Ishaq, 861.

Dervis (Arabic: درويش) was an Abbasid peddler and collector who ran a network of thieves during the 9th century. He was an old acquaintance of the Alamut Hidden One Roshan from their early years, and later became an employer of the young thief Basim Ibn Ishaq while they were both living in Anbar.

Biography

Working with Roshan

By 823, Dervis had become the leader of a child informant ring due to his experience of growing up as one. At some point, he became acquainted with the madame Maryam, the owner of a traveling brothel, and through her he was introduced to Roshan, who worked as Maryam's bookkeeper and bodyguard at the time.

One evening, Roshan approached Dervis and paid for a favor to find information on a Mongolian merchant named Bogd, who was married to Roshan's sister Masha. After two nights, Dervis told Roshan that Bogd had lost most of his wealth gambling and was indebted to loan sharks, which led him to consider using his wives, including Masha, as payment. He also revealed that the loan sharks included Xex, who planned to take over Maryam's business. Dervis then offered Roshan a job and advised her to tell Maryam's girls to leave the brothel before the incoming takeover.

Roshan accepted Dervis' offer to work for him on one condition: that he would help rescue Masha from Bogd. Dervis set up a deal with the merchant, where he would clear his debts using garnets purchased by Roshan in exchange for Bogd releasing Masha. As the alternative involved him losing all of his wives, the merchant accepted the deal and handed Masha to Dervis, who delivered her to Roshan's other sister, Bolour, and her husband Amon.

Following this, Dervis and Roshan left Tabriz and relocated their business to Karachi. There, they found work as an intermittent transport for explosive devices built by Roshan's former employer Bakhit, who had survived his punishment for reneging on his deal with the prince of Thatta. However, while Dervis conducted the deals for transportation, Roshan secretly dismantled the explosive parts of Bakhit's inventions.

Dervis and Roshan continued to work together for months, relocating severals times before eventually settling in Fustat, Egypt. However, their working relationship came to an abrupt end in 824, when Roshan was falsely arrested for theft and sent to prison.

Activities in Anbar

"Listen here, Basim. You want to keep working for me, you keep your head down and your mouth shut!"

―Dervis to Basim after the latter tried to flaunt his skills to Roshan, 861.

By the 860s, Dervis had settled in Anbar, where he continued leading his network of child thieves and informants. At some point, he took a young orphan thief, Basim Ibn Ishaq, under his wing and resumed contact with Roshan, who had joined the Hidden Ones and become a Master Assassin. Admiring the Hidden Ones' cause, Dervis began working alongside them, helping them procure valuable items and information. For most of these tasks, he entrusted them to Basim, who was the most skilled thief in his network, and always paid him for his services.

Dervis giving Basim his assignment

On 11 December 861, Roshan asked Dervis to recover a shipping ledger containing clues to the whereabouts of an artifact sought by the Order of the Ancients. He sent Basim to the nearby guarded harbor to recover the ledger. When Basim returned, he approached Roshan directly, bragging about his skills and asking to be recruited into the Hidden Ones, though Roshan brushed him off. Having witnessed this, Dervis reprimanded Basim, threatening to reduce his pay and reminding him to stay in his lane if he wished to continue working for him.

Later that night, Basim ignored Dervis and Roshan's warnings and decided to steal the artifact from the Winter Palace, where he killed the caliph Al-Mutawakkil in self-defense. This act provoked the wrath of the caliph's son Abu 'Abdallah, who sent the Caliphate Guard after Basim. This pulled in Dervis' network, whom the guards brutally executed and hanged on wooden poles as display.

Activities in Baghdad

Dervis: "What are you doing here? You... Your clothes... You are one of them now? How?"

Basim: "A Hidden One. Under Roshan's guidance."

Dervis: "Forgive me, this is all too much."

—Dervis and Basim's reunion, 860s.

Dervis being reunited with Basim

Dervis himself survived the purge of his thief network and relocated to Baghdad, where he worked as a collector operating out of the Harbiyah district's Dyeing Factory. There, he joined Ali ibn Muhammad's rebellion movement and worked as an informer for both his men and the Hidden Ones. At some point, Dervis began helping the Hidden One Nur with his investigation into the Order of the Ancients, but Nur was eventually forced to flee the city after an attack which resulted in the capture of Ali and several of his rebels.

Later, Dervis was unexpectedly reunited with Basim, who had joined the Hidden Ones and had been tasked to investigate Ali's disappearance. Following a clue left behind by Nur, Basim arrived at Dervis' stall, where they were both surprised to see each other. As Dervis had assumed Basim to be dead, he was overcome with joy upon seeing him alive and well, though his happiness quickly turned to confusion and concern upon noticing that Basim wore the robes of a Hidden One.

Dervis telling Basim of Ali's last known location

As the two caught up with each other, Basim explained that Roshan had recruited him, that Nur had made it back to the Hidden Ones safely, and that he was searching for Ali. Dervis provided Basim with Ali's last known location, the Khurasan Gate Guardhouse, and told him to visit him again if he felt "thievish" before the Hidden One departed to continue his investigation.

When Basim later returned to Dervis' stall, the latter tasked him to steal rare artifacts from a select group of Baghdad's citizens in order to fund Ali's rebellion. Once Basim had acquired all the artifacts, Dervis praised him for his treasure hunting and rewarded him with a treasure hunter costume so he could look the part. During this time, Dervis also provided the Hidden Ones with several contracts asking them to steal various items for him; all of these contracts would eventually be completed by Basim.

Dervis later met a Bedouin merchant who as passing through. Amongst the wares Dervis bought was a painted tile that featured a young Basim and a figure that Dervis presumed to be Basim's father. He immediately called a child from his new street network and tasked the boy with finding Basim as soon as possible.

Personality and traits

"Just watch yourself. You may be in better hands, but I am still a nagging old man."

―Dervis to Basim, 860s.

Dervis believed in fighting for justice and freedom, which he sought to do in his own way, lending his aid to organizations such as the Hidden Ones and the Zanj rebels. While Dervis loathed the rebellion's leader Ali ibn Muhammad, seeing him as a brash man with delusions of grandeur, he recognized that they shared a common enemy, which Dervis believed he had to help defeat if his soul was to one day rest. He also believed in discretion and never questioned the means by which his allies achieved their goals, instead taking satisfaction in being able to do his part.

Dervis warning Basim not to overstep his line

Dervis was shown to be a kind and generous man, as he took in a number of orphaned and poor children, whom he looked after as if they were his own. He was also willing to employ anyone in need of work, as was the case of Basim, whom Dervis greatly cared about, even if he could occasionally be annoyed by the young thief's ambitions and tendency to step out of line.

After believing Basim to have been killed, Dervis spent many nights praying that he had somehow survived and was overcome with relief and joy when they were eventually reunited. Upon learning that Basim had joined the Hidden Ones, Dervis believed that he was now in better hands than his, but nonetheless continued to worry about his safety.

Behind the scenes

Dervis is a character introduced in Assassin's Creed: Mirage, where he was voiced by the Turkish actor Memet Ali Alabora.

Gallery

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  Database image of Dervis
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  Dervis talking with Roshan as Basim and Nehal look on
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  Basim and Dervis catching up

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Mirage (first appearance)
  • Valley of Memory
• Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Daughter of No One