Shrouds of Eden

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"A myth become miracle, the "holy winding sheet" has arrived..."

―An Assassin describing the Shroud.

The Shrouds of Eden were Pieces of Eden shaped like cloths capable of restoration and healing. The artifacts were designed by Consus, a member of the First Civilization, who created the original in the year 1923 of the Isu Era. His own consciousness was stored inside the artifact, resulting in his taking over the bodies of the artifact's users temporarily upon activation.

The Shrouds were described as a white cloth stained with blood, which was usually kept in a simple wooden box. The shape of a seemingly tortured man was also burned onto its surface, positioned with arms to his sides and palms forward. However, Church records noted that the man's visage changed multiple times throughout history.

History

Greece

The earliest known appearance of the Shrouds seems to have been in Greek myth, where the original Shroud became known as the Golden Fleece, a legendary object of strange power. It was recovered by Jason and the Argonauts, who took it from a tree guarded by a sleepless dragon in Colchis.

Macedonia

"Whatever power lies within this artifact, it has not returned our Brother to us."

―An Assassin commenting on the failed resurrection of Brutus.

The Shroud covering Brutus

One Shroud later came into the possession of the Assassins of ancient Rome for some time. After the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, and the subsequent suicide of Brutus in 42 BC, Brutus' fellow Assassins tried to reanimate him with the Shroud in Philippi, Macedonia.

Since they had never used it before, the Assassins feared its effects, but nevertheless wrapped Brutus in the cloth. Though the corpse opened its eyes and moved its arms, it neither breathed nor reacted to any touch, and eventually fell still in a seeming "second death".

As some of the Assassins wept, Brutus was wrapped instead in a burial mantle, and the Shroud was returned to its wooden storage box.

Middle East

In 1700 BC, a Shroud was known as the famous multicolored coat given to Joseph by his father Jacob, and in 970 BC, it was thought to be what aided David, second king of Israel, in his fight against Goliath.

However, the most famous person to own a Shroud was Jesus Christ. Upon discovering his possession of a Shroud, the Templars, under the guise of the Roman Empire, had Jesus crucified circa 30 AD, and claimed the Piece of Eden for themselves. Jesus' disciples were able to recover the Shroud, and used it to resurrect him. After this, traces of the Shroud disappeared.

Monteriggioni

"What better place than our walled city to hide such abominations from mankind? We will bury it deep and set up measures to ensure it remains hidden."

―An Assassin regarding the concealment of the Shroud.

The Assassins of Monteriggioni examining the Shroud

The original Shroud eventually came into the possession of Geoffroy de Charny, a French Templar of the mid-14th century. It was stolen from him by the Assassins of Monteriggioni, who replaced it with a careful forgery.

Upon confirming the Shroud's validity, Renato Auditore decided that the Shroud needed to be hidden. After concealing the artifact with claims of fraud and falsified Church records, the city well was drained and excavated further in order to store the Shroud.

The Templars eventually discovered the location of the Shroud, thus, in 1454, the condottiero Federico da Montefeltro was sent to besiege the city. Mario Auditore successfully repelled the attack, and through a confession from an enemy spy, Luciano Pezzati, he learned that the siege had merely been an attempt to gain access to something hidden under Monteriggioni.

With a team of historians and architects, Mario searched for any record of the artifact, but only found vague references to the city well. He and a team of soldiers eventually found a hidden entrance on the back wall of the well, and were led into a narrow corridor filled with traps. As they passed through it, many men lost their lives to the razor wires, pitfalls and tripwire arrows, with Mario himself losing his left eye to a swinging pendulum.

The hidden Shroud in its box

Eventually, the few remaining men reached the final room, which only contained a simple wooden box. All present heard a voice that promised to heal their injuries, but as Mario warned his men not to open the box, they attacked him. The condottiero was forced to kill them, and only just managed to return to the city, ignoring the screams and temptations projected into his mind by the artifact.

Fearing its powers, Mario hid the Shroud temporarily within his Villa, then sent for his brother, Giovanni Auditore, who took the Piece of Eden far away from Monteriggioni. The Shroud was no longer mentioned afterwards, and Mario dismissed it as "the Brotherhood's problem now".

Agnadello

"So... beautiful! It is a plain thing, carefully folded inside a simple wooden box, but it is also so much more!"

―Perotto Calderon first encountering the Shroud.

The Shroud covering Perotto's son, Giovanni Borgia

As of 1498, Perotto Calderon was an undercover Assassin spying on the Borgia, though he fell in love with the Templar Lucrezia Borgia, who eventually became pregnant with his child. However, the boy was born deformed, and was expected to die within a few days. Knowing of the potentially life-saving artifact his Brotherhood kept, Perotto took his son and escaped to Agnadello.

Perotto soon arrived at the home of Rinaldo Vitturi, who he knew was guarding the Shroud. Though he was forced to kill many of his own Brothers, Perotto successfully used the Shroud to heal his son, but was later executed by his fellow Assassins for breaking the Creed.

Lonigo

"I have no choice. Whatever power this thing holds, I must try to unleash it!"

―Niccolò di Pitigliano, just before attempting to use the Shroud.

Niccolò di Pitigliano wrapped in the Shroud

The original Shroud then fell into the hands of Niccolò di Pitigliano, likely during or around the Battle of Agnadello in 1509, of which he was a participant. In 1510, the Assassin Francesco Vecellio was sent to kill Niccolò, and to retrieve the Piece of Eden.

Though Francesco succeeded in striking a deadly blow, Niccolò survived by touching the Shroud; which he was able to drag himself towards despite his injuries. Temporarily rejuvenated, he took the artifact from its hiding place and managed to flee his burning manor.

However, he wished to be healed completely, and thus wrapped himself in the cloth. At this point, though, the artifact turned against him and destroyed his body, finishing the Assassin's job. Francesco, who had anticipated this, reappeared and took the Shroud from his dying grip.

London

"I hope you never find the Shroud, you have no idea of what it truly can do."

―Lucy Thorne to Evie Frye, 1868.

The former pirate and Assassin Edward Kenway came into contact with a Shroud of Eden at some point in his travels, and subsequently hid it in a secret room under his mansion. Within the following century after his death the Shroud was moved into a vault beneath Buckingham Palace. By 1868, during the Industrial Revolution, both the Assassins and Templars were looking for the artifact. Ultimately, it was found and worn by Crawford Starrick during a confrontation with Evie Frye, Jacob Frye, and Henry Green, though the three managed to remove it from his person and subsequently killed him while he was not augmented by it, with Jacob returning the Shroud to its resting place.

Milan

"Goose chase in the middle of a warzone while our own boys are dropping the bombs on me. For what? Chance that it may be the real thing? Right... been at this nearly twenty years and I don't even believe it exists."

―The Templar agent sent to search for the Shroud.

The sale of the Shroud in Milan

On Christmas Day of 1944, in the middle of World War II, Keith Scipione, a Templar agent, was directed to a restaurant in Milan, in order to purchase an artifact claimed to be the Shroud. Though dubious, he brought a large sum of money through the war zone and met with one of the Baguttiani family, who showed him a folded cloth in a wooden box.

To his surprise, the agent was able to confirm the Piece of Eden's identity using a metallic Abstergo Industries logo keychain that vibrated upon being brought near the Shroud, which happened to be the original artifact previously owned by the Assassins.

Modern Times

In 2012, Álvaro Gramática, an Abstergo scientist, began studying the company's Shroud and through it, was able to communicate with its creator Consus. He slowly began learning more about the artifacts and the First Civilization, though the artifact was destroyed when the Assassins blew up Abstergo's laboratory in Paris.

As such, the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Order began searching for a new Shroud for their Phoenix Project, which was used to study First Civilization DNA; as a result, the Assassins began looking for it as well, though merely to keep it from the Templars. Eventually, in late 2015, both groups managed to located the artifact, which had been hidden in a vault beneath Buckingham Palace.

Inner Sanctum member Isabelle Ardant, along with Violet da Costa and Master Templar Juhani Otso Berg arrived there first and recovered the Shroud, but were subsequently attacked by an Assassin cell consisting of Rebecca Crane, Shaun Hastings and Galina Voronina. Amidst the struggle, Violet managed to escape with the artifact and brought it to Álvaro Gramática, who intended to use its powers to make a First Civilization being from scratch, using the genome of John Standish and the blood vials from Bartholomew Roberts.

Use and side effects

"The voice does not seem hostile, despite its urgency. Perhaps it does only wish to heal, but I will not take a chance!"

―Mario Auditore, regarding the use of the Shroud.

The Shroud destroying Niccolò di Pitigliano

The Shroud has been used to heal wounds of varying severity, mending injuries ranging from stab wounds to birth defects. It spoke in an almost kind voice that constantly offered healing, and urged its users to disregard their own physical frailty.

When worn by Templar Grand Master Crawford Starrick, the Shroud gave him enhanced healing abilities. He was able to regenerate from wounds that would be considered fatal almost instantaneously. The Shroud also granted Crawford enhanced strength, as he was easily able to physically overpower the Frye twins and Henry Green. However, he lost the abilities granted by the Shroud after being physically separated from it.

Despite the rumors of its abilities to do so, it could not be used to bring a being back to life. However, it could reanimate bodies to a small degree for a short amount of time.

The Shroud was also known to cause severe hallucinations in those who had used it, and (in extreme cases, such as that of Niccolò di Pitigliano) could also seem to tear a person from the inside out.

Perotto appearing in Giovanni's dreams

Giovanni Borgia in particular suffered lasting effects from the Shroud. Though the artifact healed his defective body as a baby, throughout his childhood, he would have vivid dreams of the memories of others who had come into contact with the Shroud, such as his father and Marcus Junius Brutus.

Additionally, Giovanni frequently spoke with a being no one else could see, an entity he called Consus.

In his later life, Giovanni would become known among the other Assassins as one who "spoke" with Pieces of Eden, and was particularly receptive to their presence. This led to him being sent on a mission to identify and retrieve one such artifact in the New World.

According to analysis by Abstergo Industries, when a Shroud is wrapped around a body, it scans it for damage, then reconstructs it on a cellular level, enabling potential reconstruction of decomposed organisms and, possibly, resurrection of deceased members of the First Civilization.

Trivia

• The Shroud was based on a real object known as the Shroud of Turin. It is kept in the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, northern Italy.
• In the French version of Assassin's Creed II, the Shroud was referred to as Piece of Eden #36, not #66. Whether or not this was a mistake in the translation remains unknown.
• In Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy, Erudito gave the user three memories of the Shroud as a "Christmas present".
• In Project Legacy, one of Mnemonic sets from the Holiday pack is "Shroud of Turin," with the description "Greatest mystery, or clever hoax?" Its components are: Jesus of Nazareth, Jacques de Molay, Geoffroi de Charney, and Cesare Borgia.