Ravensthorpe bureau

I wanted to ask you something. Which is... what's your name? This article title is conjecture. Although the article subject is canon, no official name for it has been given.

The Ravensthorpe bureau was a Hidden Ones base of operations located in southern Ledecestrescire, Mercia, within the Norse settlement of Ravensthorpe.

History

Early beginnings

The bureau was initially set up by Basim ibn Ishaq and his student Hytham as a makeshift office under a tent, though it was later renovated into a complete building in early 873 by their new ally, the Viking Eivor Varinsdottir. Notably, this bureau was the first Hidden Ones base to exist in England since the fall of the Roman Empire.

Following Hytham's severe wounding during his failed attempt to assassinate the Order of the Ancients member Kjotve the Cruel, rendering him unfit for field missions, Basim assigned Hytham to oversee and upkeep the bureau. Inside the office, Hytham kept numerous scrolls detailing missions and other Order members. To combat the Order's reign in England, he often received letters from a "Poor Fellow-Soldier of Christ", who relayed information on key targets in the cities of Lunden, Jorvik, and Wincestre.

Thus, throughout the 870s, Hytham shared his intel with Eivor, allowing her to track down and assassinate the Order's members in England. For each Order member she slew, Eivor would deliver their medallion to Hytham as proof of their death. She also recovered pages from The Magas Codex scattered across England's abandoned bureaus and gave them to Hytham at his Ravensthorpe office.

Edward's tutelage

Edward finding Hytham's secret stash of documents

At one point, Hytham took the young monk Edward, who had been captured by Eivor during a raid, under his wing and made him work at the bureau. Edward helped Hytham decipher various ancient texts, and also discovered his hidden stash of documents about the Isu, which led Hytham to consider recruiting him into the Brotherhood. However, Edward was uninterested and ultimately left Ravensthorpe after being granted his freedom.

Shortly after, Hytham brought another potential Hidden One recruit, the Viking Niels Gunnarsson, to the bureau, where he handed him a ledger containing information on a slave trader and told him that he could put his skills to the Brotherhood's cause by eliminating tyrants. Niels considered joining the Hidden Ones and becoming Hytham's apprentice, but after a mission to Scotland with Edward and the Hidden One Adelaïde, he ultimately decided he needed to find his own path and turned down Hytham's offer.

Later history

By 889, Hytham had managed to recruit the Ravensthorpe residents Yanli, Tove, Eluric, and Rowan to the Hidden Ones, and they regularly trained at the bureau. Prior to her departure from England, Eivor visited Hytham at the bureau one last time to say her goodbyes, but their conversation was cut short when Hytham's apprentices arrived for their scheduled training.

Gallery

• 
  Concept art of Hytham and the bureau interior
• 
  The Ravensthorpe bureau before construction
• 
  Exterior of the bureau at night
• 
  Hytham and Eivor inside the bureau
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  Hytham showing Eivor a map of England
• 
  Eivor with Hytham and his initiates outside the bureau

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (first appearance)
  • The Last Chapter
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – The Hidden Codex
• The World of Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Journey to the North – Logs and Files of a Hidden One (mentioned only)