Alessandra d'Avanzago

Alessandra d'Avanzago (born c. 1488) was a member of the Italian Brotherhood of Assassins in Venice during the Renaissance.

Biography

Early life

Alessandra was born around 1488 to a patrician family in Venice. Her mother Cristina was a minor member of the Assassins, while her father Sebastiano was a wealthy land owner. In 1501, Alessandra's mother dragged her father into a conspiracy against Doge Agostino Barbarigo, who was formerly an ally of the Assassins but had turned traitor. Her father was thus exiled while her mother was captured by the Templars and Barabarigo's soldiers.

Agostino, pressured by the Templars, decided to make an example of Cristina via her daughter and had Alessandra's tongue cut out, marking her family in infamy. Following her disfigurement, her mother smuggled her outside and into an awaiting haycart en route to Treviso for her own safety. As Templars approached the cart from the other direction, it began moving, starting its journey north. Alessandra's last memory of her mother was her telling her to "Be like Kassandra, don't give in a thing!"

Joining the Assassins

In 1502, the Doge ashamed of his actions, anonymously had Alessandra initiated into the Assassins, allowing her to become one of the Brotherhood's youngest members. Under the Assassins, Alessandra became a fiercely independent but complete team player. Despite being mute, she developed a battle language and taught it to her fellow Assassins, including Bastiano da Mezzo and Beatrice, both of whom she had became close friends with.

Siege of Viana

Alessandra and her team infiltrated the Viana Castle while it was under siege

In March 1507, Alessandra and her team consisting of Bastiano, Dariâ, and Claudio accompanied their Mentor Ezio Auditore to Navarre during his hunt for Cesare Borgia. With Ezio having personally picked the team to join him, Alessandra and the others considered it a great honor. While Cesare was laying siege to the castle, the team of Assassins created a diversion and managed to distract the Templars long enough for their Mentor to enter the fortress. In the process however, the team were caught and imprisoned. Luckily they were able to send a carrier pigeon away to notify their allies of their predicament, sending for help. The four Assassins were then rescued by a group of fledgling Assassin Apprentices. Freed, they were then able to put into action the next part of their plan, disabling Cesare's pistol.

Under the cover of darkness, while the castle was being overwhelmed by Cesare's forces, the team of Assassins snuck inside. Making their way to the weapons room they successfully sabotaged the pistol, allowing Ezio to approach Cesare without risk. One of the Apprentices also retrieved their confiscated Hidden Blades for them also which they took and equipped. While Ezio was facing off against Cesare, the team helped themselves to Cesare's personal effects and weapons, depriving the Templars of precious resources. After looting the place they came outside to witness Ezio dropping Cesare from the castle battlements.

Brotherhood of Venice

Founding the Venetian branch

Alessandra and the founding members of the Venetian branch

Following the events of the siege, Ezio returned to Rome to focus on his Mentor duties, and Alessandra and her companions were instructed to head to Venice to take over a recently abandoned Templar stronghold to strengthen their influence in the city for further operations. Unknown to the team, the Templar informant that told them about the base led them into a trap. The Templars had booby-trapped the entrance, triggering a collapse around the Assassins. Unknown to the Templars, the group survived and decided to rebuild the base under their nose. By 1509, they had fully repurposed the old Templar stronghold into a usable headquarters for their branch.

Investigating the Doge

Their first new mission was given to them straight from their ally Pope Julius II, to investigate Leonardo Loredan, another ally of the Brotherhood. There had been misgivings about his allegiance, the truth of the matter was hidden within the vault room of the Palazzo Ducale di Venezia in an encrypted document. The team of Assassins managed to steal both the vault room keys and a cipher used by Loredan to decode his messages from his residence. They then set about finding the secret room of the Palazzo, but not before Ezio summoned them and gifted them with a Auditore family relic as show of gratitude for their service.

At dusk, they infiltrated the Palazzo splitting up into groups of two. One group to retrieve the safe combination and send it via carrier pigeon to the other, and a second group to find the vault room and await the combination. Eventually they discovered that the Doge was being blackmailed by the Templars who were holding one of his daughters hostage. He was being forced to fight against the Pope and the Assassins, a situation Alessandra and the others sought to rectify. After identifying the blackmailer, the Assassins are led on a wild chase after he disguised two of his men as himself. Ultimately he was tracked down and assassinated, freeing the Doge and his daughter.

Protecting Leonardo da Vinci

Needing to upgrade their base of operations, the team were recommended by their Mentor to seek out Leonardo da Vinci who was visiting Venice. Da Vinci however had gone into hiding after the City Guard wanted to use him to make war machines. In order to get to da Vinci the Assassins enlisted the help of his apprentice, Salaì. Unfortunately, Salaì had been captured and interrogated by the City Guard for which the Assassins quickly dealt with and freed Salaì. Via contact from a Brotherhood emissary, the Doge has promised that da Vinci will be left alone. A promise that was not his to make, as the City Guard was taken under the control of Niccolò di Pitigliano, a Templar-allied condottiere. The Assassins were able to extract da Vinci and his defensive tank out to their headquarters, while Pitigliano's forces overran his workshop. Alessandra and her companions planned to use the tank to fight back against the growing threat of the Venetian Navy.

After Pitigliano's forces took control of the navy, the Assassins discovered they had gained an experimental weapon―a naval cannon. Using Leonardo's tank the team were able to neutralize and recover the naval cannon for an upgrade to the tank. Trying to negotiate a ceasefire with Pitigliano the Assassins were appalled that he demanded a high price. On the suggestion of Ezio they enlisted the help of Niccolò Machiavelli to act as a go between. With Machiavelli's help they concocted a plan to steal the condottiere's own funds to pay him. A plan that was successful setting the stage for a meeting with Pitigliano. With Machiavelli's support the Venetian Assassins were able to strengthen their headquarters with the addition of Machiavelli's wheeled pistol.

The Staff of Eden

Retrieving the Staff

Alessandra chases after the messenger

Pitigliano had agreed to an audience with the Assassins but had refused to tell his men to stand down. Alessandra and her team stealthily eliminated the alert before meeting with him. Pitigliano then promised to put a stop to the actions of his brutes against them and the Headquarters. During the meeting, the group overheard Pitigliano speaking with a Templar messenger about locating an artifact of great value. Informed by Ezio that said artifact could be a Piece of Eden, the team set about intercepting the messenger. Alessandra gave chase and the messenger was assassinated. Confirming Ezio's suspicions, the artifact was a Staff of Eden, the group had one clue, a doctor in the San Polo District.

The doctor they were searching for was last seen around the Ponte delle Guglie, unfortunately he had been warned and was awaiting them. The Assassins poisoned the doctor and threatened him with the antidote to give them information on the Staff. Revealing the Staff was possibly hidden near the Lion of Venice statue in Piazza di San Marco. The Assassins then convinced the doctor of their goals and he joined them at their headquarters.

Alessandra activating a secret mechanism

Maintaining the utmost discretion, the Assassins meticulously surveyed the expansive plaza, their vigilant eyes scanning every nook and cranny in search of the elusive Staff. Alessandra, with her adept investigative skills, delved into the mysteries of an inconspicuous underground entrance, while her fellow Assassins meticulously inspected a concealed door and a votive alcove situated near the tranquil canal. Despite their thorough efforts, the Assassins found themselves empty-handed in their initial exploration.

Undeterred, the resourceful Assassins decided to ascend to the nearest high viewpoint. From this elevated position, they keenly identified the elusive Staff and swiftly moved to secure it. Acutely aware of the relentless pursuit of the Templars, who would stop at nothing to reclaim the powerful artifact and set their ominous master plan into motion, the Assassins exercised great caution as they transported the Staff to the safety of their well-guarded headquarters, prepared for the oncoming fight between Templars and Assassins.

Protecting the Staff

As expected, the Templars launched an attack from Rome sending an elite unit of mounted guards. Carrying out a strategic defense from their Headquarters, the members of the Venetian branch successfully defended their base and repelled the invaders. Determined to teach the guards a lesson, the Assassins trapped the remaining soldiers in the shipyard of the Venice arsenal and eliminated them all, sending a message to others who wished to do the same.

With the location of their stronghold compromised, the Assassins ascertained there was either a traitor in their midst, or an strong Templar informant. The latter proved true, when they discovered the culprit was one of the last remaining member of the Crows, a group of Assassin hunters thought to be dissolved some years ago. The Crow had disguised himself as Pestilence, one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse according to biblical writings, leading the Assassins to use it as a clue to search for possible accomplices.

Cornered by Templars on every side determined to steal the Staff, the Assassins met with Ezio in an abandoned palace to entrust the Staff to. Of which they able to, after a drawn out fight with Templar forces, the Staff was given to Ezio who in turn placed it underneath the Colosseum Vault for safe-keeping. With their headquarters safe, the team of Assassins were informed by their Mentor of his impeding trip to Constantinople. The Venetian Assassins were then free admire the new sense of peace over their city.

Recovering the Spear of Leonidas

At some point later in time, Alessandra was summoned by the Brotherhood. Impressed by her exceptional combat skills, they assigned her a solo mission. Recover the broken Spear of Leonidas, once owned by her idol, the Spartan misthios Kassandra. It was at risk of falling into Templar custody, although while broken, should they study it the secrets of the Brotherhood may be discovered. After identifying the Templar on the trail of the Spear, Alessandra recovered the Spear for herself and killed the Templar with it. With the Spear in Assassin hands, they were determined to hide it in a place the Templars would never find it.

Personality and traits

Due to her past, Alessandra refused to let anyone treat her like a second-class human, neither because of her gender nor her forced muteness, and thus spent a lot of her time training and upkeeping her weapons and armors. Under pressure, she goes into survival mode, changing her in a highly focused, efficient and fearless Assassin. As a reminder of her disfigurement, Alessandra sported two crude scars running either direction across her mouth.

Skills and equipment

Alessandra fighting a seeker

Alessandra wore the standard attire of the Roman Assassins as well as a variant of the Seusenhofer armor offered by Roman blacksmiths. In addition to being equipped and capable with the Assassin's signature weapon the Hidden Blade, she was formidable with a sword, and even used the broken Spear of Leonidas before rehiding it. She could also handle herself in a fight, a fact noted by the Brotherhood, and was able to defeat multiple strong enemies without being overwhelmed including brutes and seekers. Alessandra was also strong enough to lift a heavy secret mechanism lever during her search for the Staff of Eden. Additionally her strength allowed her wield a personal shield in tandem with a normally twohanded sword.

Behind the scenes

Alessandra d'Avanzago is a character created for the tabletop board game Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice. As promotional teasers for the game, snippets of her story and early life were posted on the official Facebook page.

Etymology

Alessandra is an Italian derivative of the Greek name Alexandra, itself the female form of Alexander, meaning "defender of mankind." Her surname d'Avanzago simply means "of Avanzago" with Avanzago being a minor Venetian noble house.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice (first appearance)