Database: Nikolai Orelov (ACI)

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Off the Rails: Borki, Russia, 1888-10-29

Tasked with the assassination of Tsar Alexander III, Nikolai Orelov infiltrated the Russian Imperial train as it journeyed from Crimea to St. Petersburg. During a struggle with his target, the train derailed.

The Tsar emerged unscathed and found Nikolai among the wreckage. He taunted and beat the Assassin, but chose to spare his life. In the process, Alexander revealed himself to be in possession of a Piece of Eden known as the Staff.

The Tunguska Event: Tunguska, Russia, 1908-06-30

Acting on rumors of Templar experiments on the Staff of Eden using technology stolen from Nikola Tesla, Nikolai Orelov led a team of Assassins on an assault on a facility in Tunguska, Siberia. The Assassins failed to retrieve the artifact before it was activated, prompting their ally – Tesla – to launch a powerful electrical weapon from his laboratory in the United States. Tesla's attack destroyed the Staff, creating an enormous explosion.

Nikolai was the only survivor.

Revolution's End: Tsasrskoye Selo, Russia, 1917-11-07

In the dying moments of the Revolution, Nikolai Orelov infiltrated the home of Tsar Nicholas II at the request of Vladimir Lenin. Although tasked with taking the Tsar's life, Nikolai was secretly hunting the Royal Staff. This Piece of Eden had been destroyed in Tunguska years before, but now appeared to be in the Tsar's possession.

After realizing that the staff held by Nicolas II was a mere replica of the Piece of Eden, Nikolai decided to spare him. During the encounter, the Tsar revealed that a surviving fragment of the Staff destroyed at Tunguska had been in the possession of his deceased former advisor, Grigori Rasputin.

Act of Mercy: Krasnoyarsk, Russia, 1917-11-15

Before searching the location of Grigori Rasputin's burial site and the fragment of the Staff he hoped it would contain, Nikolai Orelov traveled to Krasnoyarsk. There, he scaled the walls of the asylum and liberated Khioniya Guseva, a former disciple of the royal advisor who had attempted to murder him in 1914.

Guseva revealed the power witnessed from Rasputin's wielding of the fragment of the Staff of Eden, including her own involuntary self-mutilation. Granting her a final wish, Nikolai ended the woman's life and with it, her suffering.

The Mad Monk's Grave: Tsasrskoye Selo, Russia, 1917-11-22

Nikolai Orelov unearthed the corpse of Grigori Rasputin and recovered the splinter of the Staff of Eden. Ordering his underlings to burn the Mad Monk's body, he entered a carriage with his wife and daughter.

Alone with his family, Nikolai announced that his debts to his friend Ulyanov and his father had been paid, and renounced his allegiance to the Assassin Brotherhood. Though Russia's borders were closed, Nikolai vowed that they would cross them and start anew.

Setting Sail: North Sea, 1918

Nikolai Orelov and his family boarded a ship bound for the United States. Having decided to cut all ties with the Assassin Brotherhood, Nikolai believed that by fleeing to America he could live the remainder of his life in peace.

Love Lost: Hartford, USA, 1919-11-07

Shortly after their arrival in the United States, Nikolai Orelov and his family were ambushed during the Palmer Raids – an operation to arrest and deport foreign leftist radicals. Though he resisted, Nikolai was separated from his wife and daughter, and barely managed to evade capture with his infant son, Innokenti.

Nikolai spent the next few years searching for his wife and daughter, but never found them.

Cabin in the Woods: Connecticut, USA, 1926-01

After the Palmer Raids, Nikolai Orelov retreated to a remote cabin in the woods with his son Innokenti.

However, their solitary life was interrupted when an elderly Assassin named Sergei appeared. An old acquaintance of Nikolai, he urged the former Assassin to return to the Brotherhood and share the secrets he had learned. When Nikolai refused, Sergei grabbed Innokenti, brandishing a knife. In retaliation, Nikolai knocked the weapon from the Assassin's hand and strangled him to death.

A Father's Love: Connecticut, USA, 1926-01

Fearing for the safety of his son, Nikolai Orelov reluctantly returned to the ways of the Brotherhood in order to prepare Innokenti. The training was brutally intense and Nikolai showed no remorse or mercy toward his son, convinced that Innokenti needed to become as skilled and merciless as any Assassin.

A Father's Sacrifice: Connecticut, USA, 1928

Following a period of intense training, Nikolai Orelov and his son Innokenti were tracked down by a group of Assassins wishing to return them to the Brotherhood. Nikolai refused to comply and proceeded to kill numerous Assassins, but was shot in both legs in the process.

In a desperate bid to ensure his son's escape, Nikolai grasped the last of their attackers and prompted his son to shoot the man, realizing the implications. Although initially resistant, the boy pulled the trigger. The bullet passed through both Nikolai and the Assassin, killing both men.