British Brotherhood of Assassins

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The British Assassins were a Brotherhood of Assassins, based in the British Isles, who have existed at least since the early 13th century.

History

First Barons' War

The earliest known actions of the British Branch was its support of the French-supported baronial uprising against the King during the First Barons' War from 1215 to 1217. Led by Robert Fitzwalter, the Assassins were determined to end the despotic rule of King John, who they knew was nothing but a pawn of his Templar advisors.

However, the Master Assassin William of Cassingham, operating independently from the Brotherhood, led a guerrilla force supporting the King, firstly because he refused to side with the French but mainly because he was a staunch supporter of John's son, Prince Henry.

Contact with the Caribbean branch

The Order still existed in the early 18th Century and had a Mentor within the ranks as well as various other senior members. Around 1700, an Assassin sailor introduced Duncan Walpole into the Brotherhood. Duncan eventually became a Master Assassin, though his immoderate temper and arrogance was seen as a liability to most of the Order. This lack of loyalty led to Duncan defecting to the Templar cause and began corresponding with Laureano de Torres y Ayala.

In 1714, Duncan was tasked with meeting Ah Tabai, Mentor of the Caribbean Brotherhood. After learning the locations of the Assassins' headquarters in the West Indies, Duncan sailed aboard the HMS Intrigue, with the hope of joining the Templar Order. His plan began to unravel after the HMS Intrigue attacked the Jacobite, shipwrecking Duncan and a pirate named Edward Kenway, who ultimately killed Duncan at Cape Bonavista.

In 1722, Edward, who had become affiliated with the Caribbean Assassins, eventually joined the British Brotherhood after sailing to London. He quickly ascended to the rank of Master Assassin and, alongside Miko, effectively became a co-leader of the branch. Together, the two managed to bring great stability to the Brotherhood, creating vast connections throughout London ranging from the noble high society to the criminal underworld. This further expanded their forces and presence and thus managed to diminish the Templar threat in the country.

Edward raised his son Haytham to become an Assassin from an early age. Over the following years, Edward continued his research, attempting to locate First Civilization sites across the globe; he discovered numerous Temples located in Italy and Alamut, as well as the hidden library of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad at Masyaf. Additionally, Kenway attempted to find the location of the Grand Temple and thus recorded his research into his personal journal.

Edward became acquainted with Reginald Birch in 1723 who, unbeknownst to him, was a member of the British Rite of the Templar Order. Birch planned to acquire Edward's journal, with a view to locating the Grand Temple himself. Birch succeeded in this endeavor in 1735, when a group of mercenaries hired by Birch killed Edward and obtained his journal.

Struggling against the Templars

During the mid-18th century, the British Brotherhood was at a disadvantage with their limited manpower and resources, and struggled to combat against their Templar counterparts. ^{[citation needed]}

Miko, another member of the British Order, became acquainted with Achilles Davenport, Mentor of the newly established Colonial Brotherhood. In 1751, Miko informed him that Reginald Birch had begun searching the world for various Pieces of Eden that would defiantly aid the British Templars in their search for the Grand Temple. More importantly, they feared that Birch would send his deadliest agent, Haytham Kenway, to the colonies. With this message, Miko was sent on an assignment in Corsica, but not before promising to contact Achilles as soon as possible.

By 1753, Miko had arrived in Corsica and was assigned to protect Lucio Albertine, a codebreaker and ally to the Order. However, with Corsica in the midst of a revolution, the two resided in an encampment along with several rebels fighting for independence against Genoa. One June night, their camp was attacked; while Miko fought against the Genoese soldiers, Lucio attempted to escape, only to be kidnapped by Haytham Kenway. With haste, Miko caught up and engaged Kenway in battle. Despite a valiant attempt, Haytham managed to fend Miko off. After climbing a rope, Miko was forced to end his pursuit of the Templar, for fear of falling to his death. Before he ended the chase, Miko promised Haytham that the two would encounter each other again, but only one would survive.

At some point after returning to London, Miko was entrusted with the Grand Temple Key. In 1754, Miko, accompanied by his nephew, attended a performance of The Beggar's Opera in the Theatre Royal. During the play, Haytham navigated through the theatre and assassinated Miko, taking possession of the key.

Following Miko's death, the Brotherhood tasked Louis Mills with pursuing Haytham and eliminating him. To execute his plan, Mills boarded the Providence posing as one of its crew members, and secretly threw marked cargo overboard each night, leaving a trail for the Assassin vessel, the Aquila, to pursue the Providence.

The plan failed, however, as Haytham managed to kill Louis in a duel. Shortly after, the Aquila appeared in pursuit of the Providence, lured by Mills' trail of cargo. Haytham persuaded Samuel Smythe, the captain of the Providence, to sail through a brewing storm in order to lose the pursuers. During the storm, the Aquila was heavily damaged and forced to abandon the pursuit.

Industrial Revolution

During the late 1860s, the British Assassins were led by an Assassin Council, with Henry Green leading the weakened Assassins still in London. The Templars were led by Crawford Starrick, who held a stranglehold on London's industry, gangs, boroughs and social classes. Green petitioned the Council for aid but was declined, as the Council felt that Starrick's empire was too powerful to defeat, and any Assassin who felt otherwise were encouraged not to intervene. In 1868, the twins Jacob and Evie Frye, who were born into the Brotherhood, decided to defy the Council and moved to London. While there, the two worked to eliminate the oppressive Templar presence. Jacob created a gang called the Rooks to combat the Templar-controlled Blighters.

However, the Frye twins had diverging goals; Jacob simply wanted to kill Templars, neglecting that their deaths would affect the citizenry, whereas Evie focused all her efforts on locating the Shroud of Eden. Ultimately, the twins agreed to work together one last time to stop Starrick from killing the ruling class of London and obtaining the Shroud. Following Starrick's death, the Fryes reconciled their difference and agreed to continue working together.

With the defeat of the Templars, the Assassins began to recover and rebuild their power base in London. Evie later married Henry Green and moved with him to India. Jacob remained behind in London to train new initiates, occasionally bringing them to India to learn fear tactics from their Indian brethren.

Autumn of Terror

In 1888, one of Jacob's apprentices, known only by the name Jack, developed an extremist view of the Assassins' mission. Eventually, Jack usurped control of the Rooks from Jacob and killed anyone sent to deter him. Radicalizing his followers, Whitechapel, the centre of Jack's operations, descended into a cesspool of crime and depravity. Jacob sent Assassins disguised as prostitutes after Jack, all of which were brutally killed at the hands of Jack, who thereafter began to go by the pseudonym "Jack the Ripper". Jacob was later captured by Jack, but not before the Master Assassin sent a letter summoning Evie back to London. Evie later go on to assassinate Jack's underlings before tracking him down and put an end to the Ripper, saving Jacob in the process. To avoid public exposure of the Brotherhood, Evie requested Inspector Frederick Abberline to cover up the Ripper's death.

Members

• Samuel Bellamy
• Robert Fitzwalter
• Cecily Frye
• Emmett Frye
• Ethan Frye
• Evie Frye
• Jacob Frye
• Lydia Frye
• Henry Green (Indian Assassins)
• Shaun Hastings
• Annie Horniman
• Jack the Ripper (went rogue)
• Edward Kenway

• Moina Mathers (left of own accord)
• Medic
• Miko
• Louis Mills
• Michel Reuge
• Bernard Ruddock (excommunicated)
• Maria Thorpe
• Duncan Walpole (betrayed)
• George Westhouse
• William of Cassingham (independent)

Allies

• Frederick Abberline
• Lucio Albertine
• Monica Albertine
• Alexander Graham Bell

• Henry VII of England
• Clara O'Dea
• Agnes MacBean
• Robert Topping

Trivia

• In the non-canon modern part of the French comics, the Assassin cell based in London is composed of Stella Crow, Jonathan Hawk, Nancy and Steve.