Great Purge

This article is about the global Assassins purge. For other uses, see Purge.

The "Great Purge" was an Abstergo Industries operation with the intent to ensure the global eradication of the Assassin Order. After Daniel Cross, a Templar sleeper agent, was allowed to meet the Mentor of the Assassins, he acted upon an impulse implanted into his brain by Abstergo to kill the Mentor.

With his objective complete, Daniel returned to Abstergo's facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and revealed the locations of all the Assassin camps he had come into contact with over the preceding two years, after which Abstergo ordered the elimination of this global network of camps. While mostly successful in his goals, Daniel had not visited every camp, allowing them to remain unscathed. The few remaining Assassins were forced into hiding, and from then on, they began operating in small cells.

Daniel's journey

Abduction

"Я хочу домой.
(I want to go home)"

―A young Daniel Cross speaking in Russian, c. 1983.

In 1983, a young boy was abducted by Abstergo's Lineage Discovery and Acquisition and became a test subject known as Subject 4, later codenamed Daniel Cross. Using a working prototype capable of mimicking a Piece of Eden, a subliminal impulse was implanted into Subject 4's brain that would force him to subconsciously infiltrate the Assassin Order and kill the Order's Mentor once the opportunity to do so had arisen.

Once Abstergo was finished experimenting, Daniel was sent into the outside world in his underwear. He was picked up by a man named Luke and his female partner, who noticed the young boy while driving in their truck. After the woman called out to Daniel, he only replied in Russian; after having been experimented upon, Cross had been suffering from the Bleeding Effect and was reliving the memories of his ancestor, the Russian Assassin Nikolai Orelov.

Infiltrating the Order

"I just beat the shit out of two guys like it was nothing, my vision went red and something took over, pure instinct [...] It feels like there's something coiled like a snake deep inside of me, and it's waiting to get out..."

―Daniel Cross to Hannah Mueller, 1998.

Daniel meeting with Paul Bellamy

Years later, after experiencing hallucinations and attempting to kill a civilian because he believed the man was a Templar, Daniel was kidnapped by a woman known as Hannah Mueller, who mistook him to be an Assassin like herself. He woke up the next day in an Assassin camp, and Hannah and Daniel met with Paul Bellamy, the director of the camp, who explained to Daniel that there was no record of him, and told the man that his tattoo on his arm was the Assassins' insignia, to Daniel's surprise. When attempting to leave after a question about Tunguska, Daniel was stopped by two Assassins who had been watching the exchange. He easily bested them, but was stopped by Bellamy, who had put his Hidden Blade to Daniel's neck.

Hannah's attention was drawn to Daniel that night due to Daniel's fit of rage, overturning all of the nearby furniture. Daniel explained to Hannah about his medication and told her that he needed it back. At first, Hannah was reluctant but Daniel eventually convinced her to help him. After discovering that Daniel had thrown the last of his medication out, the man fell into a moment of depression, to which Hannah told Daniel that whatever was inside his mind, he should let it out.

Search for the Mentor

"Hannah... it's okay... I saw everything... I saw the shape of time. I know my purpose, I understand what I have to do... I have to find the Mentor."

―Daniel Cross, after his hallucination, 1998.

Daniel and Hannah during their journey

Daniel and Hannah discussed the roles of Assassins in the contemporary Assassin Order after his moment of depression, with Hannah mentioning that she would like to know more about his hallucinations. During this time, Cross unexpectedly marked the window with a symbol much like a Staff of Eden and asked her what it meant. Soon after, Paul Bellamy burst into Daniel's flat and said that Nikolai was involved in and had survived a mission to Tunguska in 1908 before later emigrating to the United States.

Cross was overwhelmed by hallucinations brought on by the name and punched Bellamy, when he demanded to know what he was seeing. The terror brought on by the images caused Daniel to flee over the rooftops, still assaulted by the visions as he was pursued by Bellamy and Hannah. The hallucinations grew stronger until he finally collapsed from the strain. Daniel's first words after his collapse were that he knew his purpose; he was meant to find the Mentor.

The Great Purge

Assassination of the Mentor

"Cross. Your name will be Daniel Cross. Climb their ranks until you can go no higher—and STRIKE."

―Warren Vidic implanting the impulse in Daniel Cross' brain

The Mentor, murdered in his Dubai facility

After two years of searching for the Mentor, Cross sought help from other Assassins around the globe, and on the night on 5 November 2000, two men came into Daniel's apartment and kidnapped him. Daniel woke up to find himself in Dubai, where he finally met the Mentor. The Mentor told him that he had heard of Daniel's visions and believed that he would be of very unique value. The Mentor then explained to Daniel how the Assassins had come a long way from murdering those who had become too powerful, greedy or both. He also implied that he would choose Daniel as his successor and presented Daniel his own Hidden Blade, telling him that he had "earned it" and fully initiated him into the Assassin Order.

As soon as Daniel put it on, he felt as if he was made to wear and use it, though suddenly, Daniel recalled his memories from Abstergo, being experimented upon by Warren Vidic, and having the impulse to kill the Mentor buried deep within him. In this split second, which he had not realized until the time came, he recalled Bellamy and Hannah telling him to unleash whatever was inside of him and of being given a new name; Daniel Cross. Acting on the impulse, Daniel assassinated the Mentor and escaped the facility in a panic stricken state.

Eradication of the Assassin camps

"With the information retrieved from Cross, we now may mobilize tactical teams to initiate strikes on Assassin compounds globally."

―Warren Vidic's email to Alan Rikkin, 2000.

Taurus Team infiltrating an Assassin hideout

Daniel made his way to Abstergo's research facility in Philadelphia, where he requested to be put in the Animus, so that he could "be with his family." Some time later, Daniel was tied to an operation chair and unwillingly drugged by Doctor Sung, under orders from her boss Alfred Stearns, into revealing the location of the Assassin camps and safehouses he had visited during his journey, allowing the Templars to initiate the a purge. Under Stearns' guidance, nearly all Assassins within their camps, including children, were massacred by Abstergo Industries' military agents, with only a few Assassins managing to evacuate and a handful of off-the-grid settlements remaining unscathed.

Aftermath

The operation was a victory for the Templars, and the Assassins were unable to recover from their defeat, remaining under the radar and operating in small cells. The consequent decrease of the Assassins' influence over American politics also allowed the Templars to be successful in placing their puppet, George W. Bush, as President of the United States.

The Templars also formed several paramilitary teams—Taurus, Delta, Epsilon, and Sigma—for the intent of hunting down any surviving Assassin remnants. In late 2012, however, the Assassins had recovered enough to resume the fight against the Templars. In an operation spearheaded by Desmond Miles, the Assassins recovered an Apple of Eden from the Colosseum Vault and dealt a severe blow to Abstergo both by robbing them of the Apple for their Eye-Abstergo project and killing two Inner Sanctum members, Daniel Cross and Warren Vidic. Despite Desmond's death on 21 December 2012 preventing the Second Disaster, the Assassins continued to score victories against the Templars, destroying an Abstergo lab in Paris and coercing the Initiates to join them in accessing genetic memories and undermining Abstergo's efforts in this field.

Gallery

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  A Templar agent killing a Philadelphian Assassin cell
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  Sigma Team killing Assassins
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  Maxime Gorm and Team Epsilon executing Assassins in Kyushu, Japan

Appearances

This list is incomplete. You can help the Assassin's Creed Wiki by expanding it.

• Assassin's Creed: Revelations (indirect mention only)
• Assassin's Creed: The Fall (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed III (indirect mention only)
• Assassin's Creed: Bloodstone
• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple (flashback only)