Shay Cormac

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"Uphold the principles of our Order, and all for that for which we stand. Never share our secrets nor divulge the true nature of our work. Do so until death -- whatever the cost. This is my new creed. I am Shay Patrick Cormac. Templar of the Colonial… of the American Rite. I am an older man now, and perhaps wiser. A war and a revolution have ended, and another is about to begin. May the Father of Understanding guide us all."

―Shay Cormac, declaring his full allegiance to the Templar Order.

Shay Patrick Cormac (1731 – unknown) was a member of the Templar Order, operating around the Atlantic Ocean during the Seven Years' War.

Formerly a member of the Colonial branch of the Assassin Brotherhood, Shay devoted his Templar career to hunting down his former associates. Aboard his ship, the Morrigan, Shay's travels brought him to New York and the Appalachian Mountains, among other locations.

Biography

Early life

Shay Cormac was born sometime in 1731 in New York, to a family of Irish immigrants. His mother died in childbirth, and his father was often absent from home due to his profession as a merchant marine, leaving Shay to be raised by his aunt. Living in a rough part of the city, Shay often found himself himself in trouble, but was constantly protected by his closest friend, Liam O'Brien.

Eventually, Shay joined his father at sea, and although he missed the company of his friend, he eagerly began training in marksmanship and swordsmanship, even going as far to face down and shoot an attacking pirate captain, saving his father's ship. However, tragedy struck in 1747, when a fierce storm claimed the lives of Shay's father and several crew members.

Shattered and desolate, Shay wandered New York's streets, picking fights in taverns, until he was helped once again by Liam, who managed to get his friend back on his feet. Later that year, Liam introduced Shay to his Mentor, Achilles Davenport, and inducted him into the Brotherhood not long after. Over the next four years, Shay devoted himself to the Order and the Creed, serving dutifully. However, he still pondered the ambiguous areas between the motives of the Assassins and those of the Templars, their sworn enemies. Over time, he voiced these doubts, questioning Liam about the morality of the Assassins' actions and the Creed, as well as the increasingly tight control their Mentor was placing on them.

In 1752, while on a mission in the North Atlantic, Shay and Liam met with their comrade Louis-Joseph Gaultier, Chevalier de la Vérendrye, who was supposed to meet with smugglers carrying valuable cargo. When the smugglers were intercepted and captured by the Royal Navy, Shay infiltrated the smugglers' camp, eliminated the British guards, and commandeered their ship, a sloop-of-war named the Morrigan.

Tracking the artifacts

Soon after, Shay and Liam returned to the Davenport Homestead, headquarters of the Colonial Assassins, and witnessed the arrival of Adéwalé, a member of the Caribbean branch of the Order. While Adéwalé met with Achilles and discussed the earthquake that destroyed Port-au-Prince a year prior, Shay trained under the guidance of Liam, Hope Jensen, and Kesegowaase, before meeting with Achilles to receive a new mission, which entailed tracking down and acquisition of two First Civilization artifacts stolen by the Templars in Haiti, the Precursor box and the Voynich manuscript.

After meeting with Chevalier de la Vérendrye and his informant, Le Chasseur, Shay travelled to Mount Vernon, home of a noted Templar, Lawrence Washington, in order to intercept a package. Having recovered an air rifle from the shipment, Shay infiltrated the grounds of Washington's manor and witnessed a meeting between Lawrence and three other Templars, Samuel Smith, James Wardrop, and Jack Weeks. Lawrence assigned Smith and Wardrop to guard the box and the manuscript, respectively, before dismissing them. As Washington walked about the grounds of his manor in the midst of a garden party, Shay managed to assassinate him. As Shay and Liam made their escape, Shay expressed both disappointment and guilt for killing Lawrence, who was already suffering from terminal case of tuberculosis.

A few months later, Shay tracked down Samuel Smith at sea, who attempted to escape with the Precursor box in his possession. Although Smith's schooner led the Morrigan into a skirmish and attempted to deter the pursuers with burning oil, Shay gave chase and eventually assassinated Smith on the island of Terra Nova, and recovered the artifact.

In 1754, as tensions between the French and British forces escalated to the brink of war, Shay traveled to Albany, New York, to eliminate James Wardrop. After observing William Johnson and Benjamin Franklin conversing at the Albany Congress, Shay headed for the Fort William Henry to assassinate Wardrop and retrieve the Voynich manuscript, disregarding Wardrop's claims that he was endangering the world.

With both artifacts in his possession, Shay and Hope enlisted the aid of Franklin to activate the devices. After helping Franklin set up a lighting-to-battery assembly, Shay watched as the electricity in Franklin's machine powered the box. A holographic projection of the globe appeared, with a shimmering light over the site of a First Civilization Temple in Lisbon, Portugal. Relaying this information back to Achilles, Shay was tasked with travelling to Lisbon to investigate the Temple, and retrieve the Piece of Eden held within.

Disaster in Lisbon

Arriving in Europe in 1755, Shay set out for the Feast of All Saints Cathedral in the heart of Lisbon. As the priest conducted Mass inside, Shay activated several mechanism's at the apex of the cathedral, opening a passage to the Temple hidden beneath. Shay entered the Temple and approached the Piece of Eden, which appeared as a shining, star-shaped artifact suspended above a pedestal, and removed it from its place. However, the removal of the artifact triggered a massive earthquake. As Shay emerged from the Temple, he made his way through the collapsing city as civilians died and buildings fell around him. Moving quickly, Shay was able to make his escape and leap into the sea. He then swam back to his ship and sailed for the Thirteen Colonies.

Arriving back at the Homestead, Shay stormed into the manor and accused Achilles of sending him on the mission while knowing the danger that taking the Piece could cause, recalling that the earthquake in Haiti happened shortly after François Mackandal sent Vendredi, one of his men, into a First Civilization Temple he had discovered. Although Achilles insisted he knew nothing about the possibility of triggering an earthquake, Shay maintained that he had slaughtered hundreds of innocents on Achilles' command.

Refusing to serve under a man who would ignore such destruction and loss of life, Shay resolved to steal the manuscript in order to prevent the Assassins from finding other Temples. Sneaking into the manor that night, Shay took the artifact and was about to make his escape before he was confronted by Achilles. When the Mentor tried to stop him, a struggle ensued, during which Shay was thrown outside through a broken window. With the Assassins hunting him across the Homestead grounds, Shay made his way to a cliff overlooking the bay before being cornered by the remaining members of the Brotherhood. As he attempted to leap into the water below, Chevalier de la Vérendrye shot Shay in the shoulder which caused him to fall off the ledge. The Assassins believed him dead, and the manuscript lost, but Shay was rescued and placed in the care of Barry and Cassidy Finnegan by men of a British Templar, Colonel George Monro.

Meeting the Templars

Some weeks later, Shay awoke in a house in New York, where he was being nursed back to health by the Finnegans. When their home was attacked by members of a local gang, Shay came to their rescue and drove the bandits out. Since his clothes were ruined during the fall, Cassidy presented him with an outfit which belonged to Finnegans' late son, while Barry returned Shay's weapons to him. Leaving the house, Shay apprehended one of the gang members and learned the location of their hideout.

Infiltrating the compound, Shay cut down the gang's flag and killed their leader, driving the bandits out of the district and restoring order. He was then approached by Colonel George Monro, who introduced himself as a friend of the Finnegans. As the pair walked through New York, Monro subtly explained the Templar philosophy to Shay, while not revealing his allegiance to the Order. When Shay returned to the Finnegans' home and discussed the next move in his fight against the gangs, Monro directed asked him to prevent the execution of Christopher Gist, one of Monro's allies that the gangs had captured and planned to hang. Shay managed to save Gist's life and kill the gang members present.

However, When Shay noticed the ship anchored near the gang's headquarters, he discovered it was his former vessel, the Morrigan. Gist suggested reclaiming the ship, and helped Shay eliminate the remaining gang members in the area, as well as the Assassin stalkers who worked with them. Gist then gathered his allies in the neighborhood to crew the Morrigan, and applied for the position of the first mate, an offer which Shay readily accepted. The two then set sail, heading for Albany to meet with Colonel Monro.

Meeting with Monro at the Albany's docks, Shay learned that a nearby French fort was disrupting Colonel's operations in the area, as well as posing a potential threat to the region's safety. After raiding a nearby warehouse to gain the items necessary to reinforce the Morrigan, Shay attacked the fort and destroyed its defenses. Fighting his way through the compound, Shay entered the war room and found Le Chasseur, armed and waiting for him. The two dueled, with Shay emerging victorious, and Le Chasseur revealed that a group of criminals in New York was creating a poison gas they planned to use against the colonial authorities. Determined to stop the criminals, Shay headed back to the city.

File:Franklin and Shay.jpg

Franklin giving the prototype grenade launcher to Shay

Finding Monro once again, Shay shared what he had learned with the Colonel, who in turn told him that a certain woman had been directing criminal operations in the city, including the making of large batches of poison which was to be used against the civilian population. Monro also told Shay that Benjamin Franklin was developing certain weapons for the unknown woman, and suggested that Shay visit the inventor.

Franklin was surprised to see Shay when he arrived, but did not question him when Shay claimed to have come to collect the results of Franklin's experiments. Franklin gave him a prototype grenade launcher, which Shay used to destroy the tanks containing poisonous gas in the industrial district, and halt the production completely.

After finishing the task, Shay met with Monro and Gist on a nearby rooftop, where they agreed Shay's actions had saved countless lives. While they observed the destroyed factory, Jack Weeks and William Johnson joined them and congratulated Shay on his work, before the group went to a nearby tavern to celebrate their success. Over the course of the next year, Shay assisted the Colonel, and by extension the Templars, in a variety of ways, proving himself a worthy candidate to recruit into the ranks of the Order.

Siege of Fort William Henry

In 1756 Shay received a package from Colonel Monro. Inside, he found the Voynich manuscript and a letter from the Colonel. Shay learned of Monro's involvement in his rescue and recuperation, following Shay's defection from the Brotherhood, and the fact the Colonel was tasked by the Grand Master of the Colonial Rite with decoding the manuscript, a task which he failed. Reading on, Shay learned of Monro's assignment to Fort William Henry and the dire conditions the Colonel faced in Albany. An alliance between the French Army and the native tribes threatened the safety of the fort, and William Johnson's reinforcements had never arrived to assist Monro's troops. Suspecting the Assassin Kesegowaase to be involved in the alliance, Shay set sail for Monro's location. Arriving, he found Jack Weeks, who had been waiting for Johnson's reinforcements at the shore, and pointed Shay in the direction of Monro's division, patrolling in the wilderness.

Fighting off French troops and Assassin stalkers, Shay met the Colonel and escorted him to the safety of the Morrigan. As the ship cast off, Kesegowaase appeared on shore, enraged that Shay had survived and allied himself with the Templars. Before the Assassin could leap onto the Morrigan's deck, Weeks threw a barrel of gunpowder onto the dock, which Shay detonated with a gunshot, scarring Kesegowaase's face.

Having saved Monro, Shay turned his attention to Johnson's regiment beset by French forces, and the Oneida tribe whose village had been attacked and captured by an Assassin-allied gang. Shay managed to assist both parties, strengthening Monro's army, and allowing the Colonel to travel back to Albany and protect the town from the impending French attack.

Some time later, Shay arrived to find the city under siege by the French Army and their native allies. Making his way through the town, Shay reached the fort as Monro fought off a wave of attackers. Seeing Kesegowaase, Shay chased and dueled the Assassin, mortally wounding him with a mounted Puckle gun. As Kesegowaase died, he scorned Shay's conversion to the Templars, commenting that they would fail in time, and that Monro was already dead. When Shay questioned him further, Kesegowaase merely uttered "Liam", before collapsing.

Fearing for the Colonel's life, Shay made his way to the docks and was told by Monro's soldiers that their commander was trapped inside, Shay ran into the burning building and carried wounded Monro outside. In his final moments, the Colonel told Shay that Liam had taken the manuscript, before removing his Templar ring and entrusting it to Shay, before succumbing to his wounds.

Later, Shay was inducted into the Colonial Rite by its Grand Master, Haytham Kenway, with Christopher Gist, Jack Weeks, William Johnson, and Charles Lee present at the ceremony. Afterwards, Shay informed Haytham of the Precursor sites and his belief that Achilles would recklessly endanger innocents by his continuous pursuit of the Temples.

Hunting the Assassins

Shay traveled to the north Atlantic to meet with a Royal Navy Captain, James Cook, and was given leave to use Cook's Man O' War, the HMS Pembroke, to halt the advance of the French Navy. During the battle, Adéwalé aided the French with his brig, the Experto Crede, by leading several fireships towards the HMS Pembroke. Shay followed Gist's advice to focus on the fireships, allowing the Experto Crede to slip away, just as the Royal Navy ships arrived to combat the French forces.

Eventually, Shay and Haytham managed to track Adéwalé down into the River Valley, and forced him to beach the Experto Crede at Vieille Carrière, after a brief engagement. The two Templars separated, with Haytham chosing to distract Adéwalé, allowing Shay to assassinate him. With his dying breath, Adéwalé told Shay that Achilles already possessed the means to find more First Civilization sites.

Shay subsequently traveled to New York, and overheard Achilles and the other Assassins talk about replicating the Franklin experiment on the Precursor box. Determined to stop his former comrades, Shay worked with Jack Weeks to break Hope's control over the city's organized crime. To accomplish this, the pair stole gang uniforms and staged a heist against a military outpost, in order to give the British a reason to fight the criminals. Shay met with Haytham after the successful heist, just as the Grand Master was interrogating a gang member to discover Hope's location.

Shay managed to infiltrate the mansion in which Hope resided, and bore witness to her successful replication of Franklin's experiment with the Precursor box, prompting Liam to depart and inform Chevalier de la Vérendrye of the First Civilization site's location. As Liam left, Hope detected Shay and shot out the overhead window, causing him to fall into the chamber. She took away Shay's gas mask and released poisonous gas into the room while making her escape. Shay managed to leave the chamber and spotted Hope outside, however she shot him with a poison dart which affected his heart. Shay chased after Hope across the city, eventually assassinating her and taking the antidote from the body. As he expressed remorse for killing her, Hope revealed that her diversion had bought Chevalier enough time to escape, and lamented on what she saw as Shay's wasted potential in aiding the Templars.

Shay took the Morrigan out into the North Atlantic, where he and Gist met with Captain Cook once again to inquire about Chevalier's whereabouts. At Cook's suggestion, Shay infiltrated the fort on Anticosti island, stealing Chevalier's maps in order to figure out where he was headed before heading back to the Morrigan. Bringing the maps to Cook, the Captain was able to pinpoint Chevalier's location. Sailing into a snowstorm, Chevalier's fleet ambushed the Morrigan, but the Shay was able to to sink the enemy vessels, before boarding Chevalier's ship, the Gerfaut, and assassinating him. However, Chevalier told him that he was merely a distraction for Achilles and Liam, who were on their way to the Precursor site in the Arctic.

Confrontation in the Arctic

Shay reported his findings to Haytham, who joined him on the journey to the Precursor site. As the pair navigated through the ice caves and past the Assassins, an ice bridge collapse separated the two, forcing Haytham to find another route to the Temple. Once they had reached their goal, Shay and Haytham came upon Achilles and Liam studying the Piece of Eden, identical to the one Shay encountered in Lisbon. While Achilles admitted that he was wrong about the artifacts, Liam still condemned Shay for betraying the Brotherhood, and attempted to shoot Shay, but was restrained by Achilles. After a brief struggle, Liam fell back onto the artifact, disturbing the Temple and triggering and earthquake. Shay pursued Liam through the collapsing caverns, while Haytham followed Achilles to a clearing outside.

Eventually, as the former comrades fought each other, the precipice under them gave way, causing them to fall. Shay survived the fall, whereas Liam was mortally wounded. With his dying breath, Liam was still firm in his conviction of Shay's betrayal, which the latter justified as attempting to save the world. Liam ironically stated that he hoped the world Shay and the Templars were attempting to save was a good one, before passing away. Shay recovered the manuscript from his body, and headed back to find Haytham and Achilles.

He eventually came upon Haytham besting Achilles in combat, and stopped the Grand Master from delivering a finishing blow to the Mentor, reasoning that Achilles knew the danger of the Precursor sites, and if he perished, the Assassins would blindly continue their search for the Temples. Reluctantly, Haytham agreed with Shay's reasoning and spared Achilles, but to insure he would not stand in the way of the Templars anymore, Haytham crippled the Mentor with a shot to the shin. While the Colonial Rite took on the task of purging the remaining Brotherhood, Haytham charged Shay with tracking down and recovering the Precursor box, although Shay admitted their only lead was Chevalier transporting it away from the colonies, and that it could take years for the Templars to find the box again.

Journey to France

In 1776, Shay was present in Paris, France, following the information about the Precursor box being in possession of a French Assassin, Charles Dorian. Shay assissted Benjamin Franklin, who was in France as an ambassador to the French royal court, in escaping from a group of criminals. As a token of gratitude, Franklin provided the means for Shay to enter the Palace of Versailles, although he was unaware of the Templar's true mission, as Shay merely stated he was meeting a business associate.

Shay with the dying Charles Dorian

Having infiltrated the palace, Shay located Charles and assassinated him, recovering the Precursor box in the process. Charles remarked that Connor's Assassins and the American Revolutionary War had thwarted the Templar plans in the New World. Shay suggested that the Templars would stage a revolution of their own to restore the balance of power.

Personality and characteristics

"Life's hardest choices are the ones that force you to question your own moral code."

―Shay, regarding his ties to both the Assassins and the Templars.

Shay was originally a brash young man, not taking his role as an Assassin seriously, due to lack of experience rather than disbelief in their cause. He was prone to expressing doubts regarding the Creed, which caused his decision to steal the manuscript and leave the Assassins after the disaster in Lisbon.

Despite openly aligning with the Templars and fighting his former comrades, Shay expressed remorse for having to eliminate them, particularly his close friend Liam O'Brien and Hope Jensen. He also took no pleasure in killing Assassins whom he was not familiar with on a personal level, such as Adéwalé and Charles Dorian.

Throughout his life, Shay carried a motto of "making his own luck", displaying belief in his independence as a person, and relying on his own skills rather than fortune or others for success.

Equipment and skills

Shay was a skilled captain, adept at navigating the Morrigan through the icy waters of the North Atlantic, and like other Assassins, he was a capable freerunner. Shay was also shown to be a skilled swordsman, dual-wielding weapons with great efficiency.

Among his arsenal of weapons, Shay counted his Hidden Blades, a sword and parrying dagger, two flintlock pistols, rope darts and an air rifle. To protect himself from smoke bombs and various gases, Shay usually carried a gas mask.

Trivia

• Shay's name is the anglicized form of the Gaelic Séaghdha, which means "hawk". His middle name comes from the Latin Patricius, meaning "nobleman". His family name is a conjoined term; mac is Gaelic for "son of", while cor has been interpreted as either "charioteer" or "raven".
• Shay's Templar attire bore similarities to the armor obtained by Edward Kenway during the latter's time in the West Indies.
• Shay's Templar outfit was adorned with several symbols, including Celtic knots, Yggdrasil, triquetras, and the Templar insignia.
• Shay's practice of dual-wielding a sword and a dagger was also utilized by the Templar brothers, Shalim and Shahar, during the 12th century.

Gallery

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  Frontal concept art of Shay Cormac in his Assassin outfit
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  Rear concept art of Shay Cormac in his Assassin outfit
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  Frontal concept art of Shay Cormac in his Templar outfit
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  Rear concept art of Shay Cormac in his Templar outfit
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  A render of a hooded Shay
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  Promotional art of Shay in the North Atlantic
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  Shay fighting an Assassin captain
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  Shay climbing the walls of New York
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  Shay overlooking a shipwreck in the North Atlantic
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  Shay overlooking the harbor of New York
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  Shay killing an Assassin
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  Shay firing a grenade at a group of guards
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  Shay dueling an Assassin using smoke bombs
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  Shay fighting Adéwalé