New World Order

"Soon, capitalists and workers will be locked in a closed loop that is safe and prosperous for humanity. No more war, only desks, cars and TV sets. We will protect them and keep them safe, forever."

―Warren Vidic describing the Templars' vision of a New World Order, 1985.

The New World Order is the ultimate goal for the Templar Order, a concept of worldwide peace for humanity under the control and supervision of a one world government. For centuries, the Templars engaged in a secret war with the Assassins—who believed that humanity could attain peace using free will—in order to achieve the New World Order. When the Templars founded Abstergo Industries in 1937, the company managed to manipulate and puppeteer many important political figures to pursue their own goals.

Ideology

"The people never have the power. Only the illusion of it. And here's the real secret: they don't want it. The responsibility is too great to bear. It's why they're so quick to fall in line as soon as someone takes charge. They want to be told what to do. They yearn for it. Little wonder, that, since all mankind was built to serve."

―Haytham Kenway, 1781.

A utopian society

Governed by the belief that humankind needed rules and discipline in order to mask its barbaric nature, the Templars planned to create a new world in which they would lead the progression of human thought and understanding under their close supervision, as the Father of Understanding intended for them.

The proclaimed new world seemed to be based on a utopian ideal, a world completely free of bigotry, foolishness and chaos, a world where people are expected to be enlightened and wise. However, the Templars also emphasized the establishment of a small ruling elite, who would spread their influence from all aspects of civilization; from education, to military force and food distribution.

The Templars' rule would be one of so-called "benign tyranny," as although they would eliminate racism and the petty machinations of the warlords and princes of the time, they would simply replace that disordered chaos with their own arbitrary orders, thus making them more like benevolent dictators.

At its core, the Templars' goal of order was very similar to the Creed of their enemies, the Assassins. However, the latter sought peace through people choosing to educate themselves, rather than forcing people to educate themselves to create the utopia.

History

Prehistory and antiquity

"We men and women of the Order of the Ancients are the natural arbiters of the world. Let all those who oppose us perish in pain. We are everywhere, and we are eternal."

―The Order of the Ancients' motto.

The Templars have heavily pursued the concept of a New World Order ever since their mytho-historical founding as the Children of Cain. The Templars and their predecessors, the Order of the Ancients, played roles in the establishments and expansions of many great kingdoms and empires, hoping to unite the world under the Templar banner.

The Order of the Ancients

Among these were notably the Achaemenid Empire under King Xerxes I, the Macedonian Empire under Alexander the Great, the Qin dynasty of China under Qin Shi Huang, the Roman Republic under Gaius Julius Caesar, the Ptolemaic Kingdom under Pharaoh Cleopatra, and the Roman Empire under Caligula. Ultimately, all of these interferences were thwarted by individuals such as Darius, Iltani, Wei Yu, and members of the Hidden Ones, the precursors to the Assassin Brotherhood, all of whom fought to safeguard peace and humanity's free will and eliminated those who threatened them.

However, unlike the later Templars, the Order of the Ancients did not simply seek dominion over the world, but to shepherd humanity into recreating Isu societies on Earth. Ever since their founding in 1334 BCE, the Ancients held a strong reverence of the Isu and saw them as the rightful rulers of the world. Their entire ideology revolved around the belief that the wisest and strongest members of society should dominate the weak and emulate the Isu, who had created the human race to serve them. To this end, members of the Order frequently sought the Pieces of Eden, the last remnants of the Isu civilization, which could grant them god-like abilities. It was their firm belief that only by adopting the Isu's culture, ideals, and technology could humanity achieve its full potential.

The Order's ideology remained largely unchanged over the many centuries of its existence, although certain branches of the organization around the world did hold their own individual beliefs. For instance, the Persian sect in the 5th century BCE dedicated themselves to hunting the "Tainted Ones", descendants of human-Isu hybrids, due to their power rivaling the Order's own, which made them a threat to the safety and peace the Ancients were hoping to establish.

Middle Ages

Alfred's reforms

"Henceforth I am to improve our lot by harmonizing the average man with the order of the universe. To walk him down a quiet road, to lead him to safe and sober thoughts, to quiet his mind and cool his impassioned heart. Be he God-fearing or God-less, this new Order will encompass all and seek to improve man by aligning his needs with the ebb and flow of nature itself. This is my hope. This is my vow."

―Alfred the Great in his commentary, c. 878 CE.

Alfred the Great profoundly transformed the Order of the Ancients by abandoning its worship of the Isu

By the 9th century CE, the Ancients held such great reverence of the Isu that members of the Order's Anglo-Saxon branch frequently prayed to the Father of Understanding, the Mother of Wisdom, and the Sacred Voice—titles used during the Isu Era—for guidance, strength, and courage, regarding the Isu as deities. They similarly worshipped the human incarnations of the Isu and sought to understand how they had come to be. However, the Order's own Grand Maegester Alfred the Great, a devout Christian, regarded these beliefs as heretical and sought to eradicate the organization so that he could rebuild it in his image.

After the Order was purged by the Hidden Ones and their ally, the Viking Eivor Varinsdottir, Alfred implemented his reforms, which profoundly transformed the organization. While agreeing with the Ancients' belief that order was necessary for human civilization to be peaceful and prosperous, Alfred disagreed with the source of this order. He denounced the Mother of Wisdom and the Sacred Voice as "vile blasphemies" and maintained that there was only one Father of Understanding: God, the source of all goodness, harmony, and order in the world.

Alfred was further disgusted by the Ancients' use of Christ's word as a front to further their own agenda, and disagreed with their belief that humans were inherently debased and corrupt. Instead, he maintained that humanity simply needed an invisible guiding hand to find the right path, and declared that the Father of Understanding would be the shepherd that guides the human race to eternal bliss. Despite his Christian beliefs, Alfred was open to the idea of welcoming members of all religions and from all walks of life into his new Order, considering that only by working together could humanity improve its condition.

Crusades

"The Templars desire control. Each man, as you've noted, wanted to claim their cities in the Templar name. That the Templars themselves might rule the Holy Land, and eventually beyond."

―Al Mualim explaining the Templars' agenda to Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, 1191.

Grand Master Hugues de Payens

By the early 12th century, Alfred's Order had established itself as a knightly order, known as the Order of the Knights Templar, and pursued its goals from a public face. In 1129, at the Council of Troyes, the Knights Templar were officially recognized as a religious and military order, receiving the full backing of the church.

The Knights Templar's founders, Hugues de Payens and Bernard de Clairvaux, created the Latin Rule, a document outlining the order's rules and the perfect behavior of an ideal Templar. Although the document was revised several times over the following centuries, it was eventually rendered obsolete, with most modern Templars regarding it as more ceremonial than functional.

In 1189, the Knights Templar joined the Crusader army under King Richard I of England as part of the Third Crusade. This allowed them to spread their influence to the Levant, where the seat of the Assassin Brotherhood was also located. When Robert de Sablé became the Order's Grand Master in 1191, he began secretly recruiting Templar lieutenants on both the Crusader and Saracen sides of the war.

Ultimately, their plan was for each man to plot in defiance of their superiors and conquer the Holy Land in the name of the Templars. The slaver Talal captured unfortunate citizens living in impoverished conditions, the arms merchant Tamir supplied them with weapons, and the doctor Garnier de Naplouse healed their ailments and drugged them so as to slowly bring the citizens under the Templar banner. Meanwhile, the merchant Abu'l Nuqoud would murder the wealthy and powerful citizens of Damascus to acquire their funds, William of Montferrat would take hold of Acre with his troops, and Sibrand would block naval support for both sides of the war. With their subjects and land acquired, the Templars set to work ensuring the population would remain submissive. Damascus' Chief Scholar Jubair al Hakim began destroying books which he believed inspired people to violence and Jerusalem's regent Majd Addin ruled through fear, punishing any infractions on pain of death. Finally, Robert himself would use an Apple of Eden recovered from Solomon's Temple to enthrall the population and bring about order and peace in the Holy Land.

Altaïr assassinating Robert

However, the Templars' plans were thwarted by a lone Assassin, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, who prevented them from acquiring the Apple and assassinated all members of the Levantine Rite on the orders of his Mentor Al Mualim, who secretly shared the Templars' goals and hoped to use the Apple himself. Altaïr later killed Al Mualim after learning of his treachery. Following Robert's death, the new Grand Master Armand Bouchart relocated the Templars' forces to Cyprus, but they were ultimately routed by Altaïr and the Templar turncoat Maria Thorpe, who killed Bouchart in 1193.

Shortly before his death in 1314, the last publicly recognized Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay, understood that the Templars could not survive as a public order and sent nine of his most trusted men throughout the world, armed with the knowledge of the Isu to pursue their goals globally, instead of under the command of one man.

Renaissance

Europe

"We both strive for the same end, Ezio. Only our methods differ. Do you not see that? Peace. Stability. A world where men live without fear. People desire the truth, yes, but even when they have it, they refuse to look. How do we fight this kind of ignorance?"

―Ahmet to Ezio Auditore, 1512.

By the time of the Renaissance, the Templars had spread throughout Europe and Asia. In Europe, the Templars were primarily centered in Italy, under the leadership of Grand Master Rodrigo Borgia, a cardinal who conspired to conquer all of Italy under the Templar banner. To this end, he orchestrated plots alongside his fellow Templars—mainly, members of the noble Pazzi and Barbarigo families—to take over the governments of Florence and Venice. Although these plans were thwarted by the Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Rodrigo managed to become Pope Alexander VI in 1492, giving the Templars full control over Rome and the Papal States.

Cesare and Rodrigo arguing about power

However, by this time, the Templars had become too obsessed with power and greed and forgot the true purpose of their Order. This was made evident by Rodrigo's ulterior goal of gaining infinite power by using an Apple and a Staff of Eden to access an Isu vault underneath the Vatican. When this plan was also foiled by Ezio, Rodrigo, realizing he was never the one destined to open the vault, became disillusioned with his pursuit of power and resigned himself to his defeat.

Cesare Borgia, Rodrigo's son who succeeded him as Grand Master, also sought to conquer Italy, but in his name alone. Unlike his father, Cesare was not afraid of directly challenging the Assassins and intended to make use of the Apple of Eden to further his goals. When Rodrigo opposed his ambitions, Cesare killed him during an intense argument. Four years later, Cesare himself was killed by Ezio during the Siege of Viana, marking the end of what modern Templars call the "Dark Age of the Order."

In the nearby country of Spain, the local Templars led by Tomás de Torquemada blended with the Spanish Inquisition, which they used as a cover to hunt Assassins throughout the country, branding them as heretics. Although Torquemada was largely influenced by Rodrigo Borgia, he also had his own ambitions, namely to use another paired Apple and Staff of Eden to unite Spain under the Templars. However, his plans were foiled by the Spanish Assassins, who killed Torquemada in 1498.

Ahmet explaining his plan to open Altaïr's library to Ezio

Elsewhere in the world, the Templars did not forget their true purpose. In the Ottoman Empire, Prince Ahmet, heir to the Ottoman throne, and Manuel Palaiologos, titular heir to the fallen Byzantine Empire, sought to bring peace and stability to the empire under the Templar banner. Ahmet, tired of familial infighting for the throne between his brother Selim I and their father Bayezid II, had an ulterior motive of ending his family's feud, as well as all violence in the world by erasing the "superstitions that keep men divided". To achieve this, Ahmet believed that he needed to find the Grand Temple, and was convinced that the Library of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad held the answers he sought.

Under Ahmet's leadership, the Byzantine Templars searched for the keys to Altaïr's library hidden across Constantinople, and also attempted to strengthen their presence in the city at the Assassins' expense. However, Ezio Auditore and the Ottoman Assassins foiled their plans, and the Byzantine Templars were wiped out following Ahmet and Manuel's deaths.

Asia

"Our commerce here in Japan is simply meant to oil the workings of a greater system. One we control. War. Unrest. Hunger. All functional institutions in their own right, all part of the same system. And it runs like a work of art."

―Nuno Caro to Duarte de Melo.

The Chinese Templars influencing Empress Zhang

In China, the Templars aided the Jiajing Emperor's ascendance to the throne, and influenced him to launch a purge of his enemies, including the Chinese Brotherhood of Assassins. This allowed the Templars to rule the country virtually unopposed, until they were hunted down by a lone Assassin survivor, Shao Jun. After the deaths of all his comrades, the Templar leader Zhang Yong, in a desperate move to maintain his grip on power, allied with the Mongols and offered to help them invade China, but his plan was foiled and he was assassinated by Shao Jun.

In the second half of the 16th century, the Templars began spreading their influence to new territories following their numerous defeats in Europe and mainland Asia. Under the cover of the Jesuit mission to Japan, Templars like Francis Xavier and Alessandro Valignano established a presence for the Order in the country, securing alliances with the local warlords and clans and finding new recruits to serve the Templar cause.

The Portuguese Templar Nuno Caro, tasked by the Inner Sanctum to search for Pieces of Eden in Japan, elected to stay and build up the Order's influence through trade. After learning about the Imperial Regalia of Japan, Caro, believing the artifacts could be used to control the Japanese people by influencing their beliefs, manipulated the Shinbakufu into stealing the regalia from the Assassins. Knowing the Inner Sanctum would disagree with his intentions, Caro lied to them about the regalia's nature as Pieces of Eden so that they could continue to sponsor his activities. In 1582, Caro was killed by the samurai and Assassin Yasuke, bringing an end to his ambitious plans.

Age of Imperialism

Enlightenment

"No longer would we tolerate savagery and ignorance. No longer would we stand idly by while men of science were made to suffer. No longer would we let mankind be led by selfish ambitions. The mistakes of the past—our mistakes—had to be rectified. Society's leaders and thinkers had to be influenced, not controlled."

―An excerpt from Abstergo's internal files regarding the Enlightenment, 2012.

Though the Order had long advocated for the advancement of science and learning, the Templars' ideals finally thrived during the Age of Enlightenment in Europe in the 17th century. Rather than being forced to stand by as men of science were ostracized for their ideas, the Templars influenced and supported new forward thinkers, including Isaac Newton, Baruch Spinoza, John Locke, and Francis Bacon. Through the Templars' secret support, the Age of Enlightenment saw a new intellectual and philosophical movement carefully shepherded to steer the world towards a New World Order.

Salem witch trials

Parris: "There shall be no more trials. No more murder of innocents."

Stoughton: "What make of Templar are you?"

Parris: "What make of man are you?"

—Samuel Parris and William Stoughton arguing about their different ideals, 1692.

Ever since Europe was informed about the Americas' existence in 1492, the Templars had been slowly spreading their influence to the New World. In the early 16th century, they influenced Spanish conquistadors such as Juan Ponce de León, who searched for the Fountain of Youth—a rumored Piece of Eden—and Francisco Pizarro, who subdued the Inca Empire. However, the Assassins followed suit and also began to build up a presence in the New World to fight against the Templars.

Parris and Stoughton in Salem

In 1692, the Templars William Stoughton and Samuel Parris traveled to the town of Salem, Massachusetts, to investigate rumors of several girls exhibiting strange behavior. Upon investigation, they concluded a Piece of Eden was responsible and started the Salem witch trials to track down the artifact. When the Assassins Thomas Stoddard and Jennifer Querry arrived to conduct their own investigation, Stoughton manipulated Salem's population to hunt them down. However, Parris disagreed with Stoughton's methods and eventually turned on him, shooting Stoughton in the arm and helping Stoddard rescue all the women captured by the Templars.

Golden Age of Piracy

"For two decades now I have endeavored to locate this Observatory... a place rumored to contain a tool of incredible utility and power. It houses a kind of armillary sphere, if you like. A device that would grant us the power to locate and monitor EVERY man and woman on Earth, whatever their location. Only imagine what it would mean to have such a power. With this device, there would be no secrets among men. No lies. No trickery. Only justice. Pure justice."

―Laureano Torres to his fellow Templars, 1715.

In the late 17th century, Laureano de Torres y Ayala, the Governor of Cuba and a Spanish Templar, established the West Indies Rite with the goal of finding the Observatory, an Isu surveillance facility located in the Caribbean. By using a Crystal Skull and vials containing the blood of the target, the facility would allow the Templars to observe anyone on the globe, and they intended to use this to spy on and blackmail world leaders, furthering the Order's interests. In the end, they hoped to establish a world where there would be no more lies and secrets, only "pure justice".

Laureano Torres explaining the Observatory

The Templars of this time were heavily opposed to slavery; as Torres observed, "A body enslaved inspires the mind to revolt. But enslave a man's mind and his body will follow on naturally." However, not all Templars shared his ideals, with Governor Woodes Rogers notably earning a fortune from the slave trade, though he was eventually expelled from the Order for his actions. The West Indies Templars also had no issue associating with Laurens Prins, a notorious slave trader.

The Templars' efforts to find the Observatory were thwarted by the pirate Edward Kenway, who sought the facility for his own ends. Edward killed the Assassin turncoat Duncan Walpole, who had been convinced to switch sides and acquired the locations of the West Indies Assassins' hideouts; the French smuggler Julien du Casse, who supplied the Templars with weapons; and his former friend Benjamin Hornigold, who joined the Templars after the fall of Nassau and became a pirate hunter to restore order to the Caribbean. Eventually, Edward joined the Assassins after realizing the error of his selfish ways and killed Torres to prevent him from misusing the Observatory, ending Templar influence in the Caribbean.

Alan Jacob talking to one of his agents

On the other side of the planet, in Southeast Asia, the Templars of the East India Company led by Grand Master Alan Jacob searched for a set of three Pieces of Eden which, once brought together, would allow them to enslave the human race. However, the artifacts were also sought after by other factions, including the Chinese Assassins, the Qing businesswoman Lee Huiyin, the Dutch East India Company, and the Zhang Wei Union, an organization established by Edward Kenway that aimed to safeguard the Pieces.

With the help of his spy John Young, who had befriended Edward and joined the Zhang Wei Union, Alan managed to acquire one of the artifacts after it had been retrieved by Edward. In exchange, Alan promised John that the Pieces' power could be used to resurrect his late fiancée, Xialun Qing, whose death John blamed Edward for.

American Revolution

Ratonhnhaké:ton: "What is it the Templars truly seek?"

Haytham: "Order. Purpose. Direction. No more than that. It's your lot that means to confound with this nonsense talk of freedom. Time was, the Assassins professed a far more sensible goal, that of peace."

—Ratonhnhaké:ton and Haytham Kenway discussing the Templars' goals, 1778.

By 1735, Reginald Birch, the Grand Master of the British Templars, chose to preoccupy himself with finding Isu sites and artifacts across the world. After engineering Edward Kenway's death to acquire his journal and discover the Grand Temple's location, Birch sent his best agent, Haytham Kenway, Edward's son, to the British colonies in America to find the site and uncover its secrets. Although unsuccessful in his mission, Haytham remained in America and founded the Colonial Rite, establishing a permanent base of operations for the Templars in the New World.

William Johnson meeting with the Iroquois clan leaders

In 1757, Haytham briefly returned to Europe to search for his long-lost sister Jennifer Scott, and in the process learned about Birch's role in orchestrating his family's demise. After the siblings killed Birch in revenge, Haytham chose to remain a Templar due to his strong faith in the Order's cause, although his resolve was partially shaken by Birch's actions. As such, when Haytham discovered years later that he had an Assassin son, Ratonhnhaké:ton, he saw an opportunity to unite the Templars and Assassins and bring an end to their age-old conflict.

During the American Revolution, the Colonial Templars tried to ensure the colonies' peaceful secession from the United Kingdom, hoping to establish a new, independent state where their ideals of a New World Order would become law. William Johnson attempted to purchase native land to protect it from the colonists, while John Pitcairn hoped to negotiate peace between the Patriots and the British Army. However, Ratonhnhaké:ton assassinated both Templars, resulting in the escalation of the American Revolutionary War.

When George Washington was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, the Templar Thomas Hickey was ordered to assassinate him to pave the way for Charles Lee to succeed Washington; however, Ratonhnhaké:ton thwarted the attempt and killed Hickey. Shortly after, Benjamin Church betrayed both the Templar Order and the Continental Army for his personal gain, prompting Haytham and Ratonhnhaké:ton to join forces to find and eliminate him. During their time working together, Haytham explained the Order's ideology to his son, claiming that the Templars only sought "order, purpose, direction" and that it was the Assassins' ideals of fighting for free will that had led to the escalation of the war.

Ratonhnhaké:ton asking Haytham about the Templars' goals

However, Ratonhnhaké:ton eventually ended his alliance with Haytham after discovering that the latter had intentionally kept secret information about his mother's death in order to sway him to the Templar cause. Realizing he could not turn his son but also unable to bring himself to murder him, Haytham allowed Ratonhnhaké:ton to kill him during their final confrontation. With Charles Lee also meeting his demise at the Assassin's hands not long after, the Colonial Templars were ultimately dissolved, but their actions would have a long-lasting impact on the United States.

French Revolution

"When our brother Templars see the old institutions crumble, they will adapt. In the wake of revolution, the Order will adapt. Through this new revolution, a new order will be born, one that chains men with gold and silver. They will retreat to the shadows and we will, at last, be the Secret Masters we were meant to be."

―François-Thomas Germain to Élise de la Serre and Arno Dorian, 1794.

By the late 18th century, the Templars in Paris, under the leadership of Grand Master François de la Serre, had built up a steady relationship with King Louis XVI of France and the Assassins led by the comte de Mirabeau. However, not all Templars supported the truce with the Brotherhood, including François-Thomas Germain, a silversmith and Sage.

Germain being expelled from the Templar Order for his radical ideas

After experiencing visions of the Isu and finding Jacques de Molay's codex, Germain was inspired to reshape the Order in de Molay's vision, believing the Templars had been blinded by their pursuit of power and became caught in the very illusion they had created to control the masses. Germain aimed to strip the aristocracy and the church of their power and distribute it to the middle class, believing that a capitalist society could be more easily controlled by the Templars. However, he was banished from the Order for his radical ideas, prompting him to enact his plan from the shadows.

After gaining the support of other Templars who opposed Grand Master de la Serre, Germain orchestrated his assassination and became the new Grand Master. He then engineered the French Revolution as a means of eradicating the monarchy and sowing chaos in France, believing that giving the people a brief taste of anarchy would make them fear untrammeled liberty. While some Templars opposed his leadership of the Parisian Rite, Germain manipulated the Assassin Arno Dorian into eliminating them.

As the revolution ravaged France, the Templars aimed to create more chaos. Charles Gabriel Sivert gathered funds by smuggling artifacts and stealing from the church, the Roi des Thunes ruled over Paris' slums, Frédéric Rouille slaughtered enemies of the revolution, and Marie Lévesque hoarded food, causing grain prices to rise while the people of Paris grew increasingly hungry and riotous. Meanwhile, Louis-Michel le Peletier cast the final vote that condemned King Louis to death at the National Convention. During the subsequent Reign of Terror, Aloys la Touche oversaw public executions in Versailles while Maximilien de Robespierre, a leading figure in the Jacobin Club, enforced Templar rule by sentencing thousands of citizens to death or imprisonment.

Germain explaining his plan to Arno

However, the Templars' efforts were opposed by the French Assassins, in particular Arno Dorian, and the late Grand Master's daughter Élise. Together, they eliminated Germain and his followers, ending the Reign of Terror, although Élise lost her life in the process and Germain was confident that his death would not stop his plans, believing that the other Templars would eventually come to agree with his vision for a New World Order.

Not long after Élise's death, Arno recovered her personal belongings, among them Haytham Kenway's correspondence with his sister Jennifer Scott, which Élise had received from the latter. In the letters, Haytham described his dream of uniting the Assassins and Templars towards a common cause, a dream which Élise had also come to share. Arno would subsequently try to carry out Élise's final wish of reducing the gap between the Assassins and Templars for the rest of his life.

Early modern era

Victorian era

"Today, Starrick sits at the helm of the most sophisticated Templar infrastructure known in the western world. Every class, every borough, the gangs, the industries—his reach extends all across London."

―Henry Green describing Crawford Starrick's control over London, 1868.

By the 19th century, the Templars had been reformed in accordance with François-Thomas Germain's vision, and they now aimed to control society through capitalism. In London, Grand Master Crawford Starrick ran an elaborate empire, controlling every aspect of the city, from medicine, transport, and economy to politics and even the criminal underworld. Starrick compared his corporate empire to a machine, where every part worked in unison to maintain order and ensure the people's needs were met.

Crawford Starrick meeting with his subordinates

In 1868, the Templars' rule over London was challenged by the Assassins Jacob and Evie Frye, who formed their own gang, the Rooks, to overthrow the Templar-run Blighters. While Evie killed the Templar occultist Lucy Thorne, who was searching for a Shroud of Eden, Jacob undermined Starrick's control by assassinating his lieutenants John Elliotson, who oversaw the production of Starrick's Soothing Syrup, an addictive tonic designed to make the population easier to control; Malcolm Millner and Pearl Attaway, the owners of two rival omnibus companies; Philip Twopenny, the Governor of the Bank of England; the Earl of Cardigan, the Templars' agent within Parliament; and Maxwell Roth, leader of the Blighters.

After losing control of London, a desperate Starrick decided to eliminate Britain's heads of Church and State, believing that the ensuing chaos would allow him to rebuild the Templars' influence, stronger than before. However, his plan was foiled by Jacob and Evie, who killed the Grand Master.

Founding of Abstergo Industries

"We created capitalism, but we are not capitalists ... We will give them freedom. Freedom from fear, freedom from pornography, from disgusting, base animal desire. Freedom from democracy. Humanity will thank us in the end. In hoc signo vinces ("In this sign you shall conquer")."

―A Templar Master in an internal Abstergo memo, 2012.

In the late 19th century, the Templars continued to rely on the practice of capitalism, and Henry Ford and Ransom Eli Olds created the assembly line. Both of these were invented to keep the population manageable, as they gave the Templars easy control over both capitalists and workers. By manipulating individuals such as Joseph Stalin, the Templars also used communism as a means to achieve their goals.

Abstergo Industries' logo

In 1937, the Templars founded Abstergo Industries, a multinational corporation that held control over nearly every company and organization in the world. While only the highest ranking employees of Abstergo were part of the Templar Order, many employees shared the same goal. Abstergo managed to manipulate many political figures into supporting the New World Order, namely Winston Churchill, Henry Kissinger, Margaret Thatcher, and Boris Yeltsin. Other individuals such as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and George W. Bush were also unknowingly manipulated by the Templars, but did not necessarily support their goals.

World War II

"H. has [the Apple of Eden], so I assume the war will begin as soon as he can take over. We'll let him have his fun (Lord knows, that kind of purge will be good for Europe) and then end it with a bang, as planned. Out of the chaos of war a new order will emerge!"

―Henry Ford in a letter to Thomas Edison, 1930s.

In 1939, the Templars engineered World War II by giving Hitler an Apple of Eden to allow him to seize power in Germany, hoping that the resulting global conflict would allow them to install an international monetary system. However, the Order soon lost control of their puppet, prompting the Templars to form a temporary alliance with the Assassins to stop Hitler.

Die Glocke

In 1943, the Templar and Obergruppenführer Gero Kramer created a device called Die Glocke with the help of scientist Nikola Tesla, who was kidnapped by the Order after faking his death. An alleged time machine, Kramer intended to use Die Glocke to find Pieces of Eden, but the project was sabotaged and Kramer was killed by the Assassins, who acquired his Apple of Eden.

Following Kramer's death, the Templar John von Neumann and the Assassin Boris Pash decided to use the Apple and Die Glocke to travel back in time and kill Hitler before the start of World War II. However, the former Assassin Eddie Gorm, seeking to stop Pash, killed Tesla to sabotage Project Rainbow. Without Tesla, the project was ultimately a failure, though the war would come to an end over a year later, when the Manhattan Project, secretly sanctioned by Abstergo, led to the development of atomic weapons. After the war, the Templars were able to guide the world's economic rebuilding towards their goal of a New World Order.

Modern times

"If we were to place just one Piece of Eden within a satellite and angle it toward the Earth... well, utopia would be within our grasp."

―Warren Vidic musing on the Eye-Abstergo project, 2012

In the 1980s, Abstergo Industries began the Animus Project, an initiative to track down Isu sites and artifacts by kidnapping individuals with genetic ties to the Assassin Brotherhood and exploring their genetic memories in the Animus. Over the years, Abstergo's Lineage Discovery and Acquisition department abducted dozens of test subjects, allowing the Templars to find and retrieve numerous Pieces of Eden, whose powers were essential for the establishment of a New World Order.

The Templars overseeing the Great Purge

In 2000, the Templars, with the help of their sleeper agent Daniel Cross, initiated the Great Purge, a worldwide operation to wipe out the Assassin Brotherhood. While Cross killed the Assassins' Mentor under the influence of an impulse implanted into his brain, Abstergo strike teams raided Assassin compounds around the world, killing their occupants or kidnapping them for use in the Animus Project. While this decimated the Brotherhood, numerous Assassins survived the purge and continued their fight against the Templars.

By 2011, Abstergo had begun making preparations for a project called "Eye-Abstergo," a satellite enhanced with an Apple of Eden that could keep a close eye on humanity from orbit, by projecting it into Abstergo's already-launched Akashic Satellite Plexus. The Templars believed that utopia could be achieved if the project were to be successful, and prepared the satellite for launch on 21 December 2012. Ultimately, Abstergo scrapped the launch of the satellite as they were unable to obtain the required Piece of Eden in time.

By 2016, the Templars at the Abstergo Foundation Rehabilitation Center in Madrid focused on acquiring one particular Apple of Eden that they believed contained the key to humanity's free will. After abducting Callum Lynch, a descendant of the Spanish Assassin Aguilar de Nerha, they forced him to relive his ancestor's memories to locate the artifact. However, Ellen Kaye, the leader of the Council of Elders, disagreed with Abstergo's search for the Apple, viewing it as a waste of resources since, in her opinion, the Templars had already achieved their New World Order. As she once told Abstergo CEO Alan Rikkin, the people of the modern era cared more about their standard of living rather than their freedom, and were ready to follow anyone who would guarantee it to them.

Nevertheless, Kaye granted Rikkin one chance to prove his project's value or risk losing all of his funding. After successfully finding and recovering Aguilar's Apple, Rikkin organized a ceremony at Holborn Hall in London, where he intended to unveil the artifact before the assembled Templar Order and use it to eradicate human free will. However, Callum and his fellow Assassins Lin and Moussa killed Rikkin and recovered the Apple, with help from Rikkin's daughter Sofia, who disagreed with her father's goals and only wished to use the Apple to find a "cure to violence".

Abstergo experimenting on one of the Pieces of Eden

In 2023, Abstergo kidnapped Noa Kim, a descendant of Edward Kenway, and through his genetic memories learned about a set of three Pieces of Eden which would allow them to establish their New World Order by brainwashing the entire planet. After retrieving the first artifact from the Strait of Malacca, the Piece of Eden was stolen by Dr. Shimazu Sei, who betrayed the Templars and helped Noa escape. Abstergo's Sigma Team was dispatched to capture Sei and recover the artifact, which they eventually did after cornering the doctor and Noa in Yangon, Myanmar, where Sei sacrificed herself to buy Noa time to flee with the second Piece of Eden.

Following her capture, Sei was strapped to an Animus and made to relive the memories of her ancestor Shimazu Saito, leading Abstergo to discover the third artifact's location within Saito's grave. While Sigma Team recovered the Piece of Eden, Abstergo's engineering team attempted to build a replacement device for the missing artifact.

Behind the scenes

Contemporary conspiracy theories during the French Revolution held that the upheaval was being masterminded from the shadows, with modern theorists claiming that the goal was to create a "New World Order" to be ruled by the Freemasons and the Illuminati, the mythical organization whose purported objective of domination is echoed by the Templars in Assassin's Creed.