Attacks on Tulum

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.

"This is your doing, Captain Kenway. The maps you sold to the Templars have led them straight to us. And now the agents of two empires know exactly where we operate."

―Ah Tabai to Edward Kenway, 1716.

The attacks on Tulum were a series of attacks on the Assassin headquarters in Tulum, orchestrated by the Templars and executed by slavers, the British Army, and the Spanish Army. The Assassins withstood all of the attacks, but were eventually forced to relocate to Great Inagua.

Background

"Thanks to Duncan and the information he has delivered, the Assassins won't be a problem for much longer."

―Laureano Torres to his fellow Templars in Havana, 1715.

In the early 18th century, the Caribbean Assassins possessed more resources than their Templar counterparts, and were led by two famed Mentors: Bahlam and his son Ah Tabai. In 1715, Ah Tabai tasked Duncan Walpole, a visiting British Assassin, to investigate rumors regarding a Sage. Unbeknownst to the Mentor, Walpole corresponded with the Templar Grand Master and Governor of Cuba, Laureano de Torres y Ayala, and was convinced to defect to the Templars. Stealing a blood vial and maps of Assassin camps in the West Indies, Walpole intended to deliver them to Torres in exchange for membership in the Order.

While on his way to Havana to meet with Torres, Walpole's ship, HMS Intrigue, was attacked by a pirate vessel, the Jacobite, captained by Abel Bramah. Both ships were destroyed during the skirmish, and Walpole was shipwrecked on nearby Cape Bonavista alongside the pirate Edward Kenway, the sole survivor of the Jacobite's crew. After Walpole attacked Kenway, the pirate killed him and looted his body, finding his correspondence with Torres, the blood vial, and the stolen maps.

Unaware of the objects' true value, Edward decided to impersonate Walpole and deliver the vial and maps to Torres for his own financial gain. Despite some complications following his arrival in Havana, Edward's ruse was ultimately successful, and the Templars were made aware of the locations of the Caribbean Assassins' bureaus.

The attacks

Ah Tabai: "The second attack this month. I should have moved this village long ago."

Edward: "I brought all this upon you years ago. But I will stand by you now."

—Ah Tabai and Edward during the final attack on Tulum, 1721.

In 1716, the Templars launched attacks on all Assassin bases throughout the West Indies, taking advantage of the Brotherhood's obliviousness to Walpole's betrayal in order to catch their enemies by surprise. While Lucia Márquez, Hilary Flint, Kenneth Abraham, and Jing Lang were assigned to lead raids against the bureaus in the Cayman Islands, Havana, Kingston, and Nassau, respectively, the Order influenced the British Royal Navy to organize an assault on Tulum, the main headquarters of the Caribbean Assassins.

Edward freeing captive Assassins

The attack was led by Laurens Prins, a Dutch slaver and associate of the Templars in the West Indies, who received approval from Jamaican governor Archibald Hamilton to expand his slavery operations to Mexico. Caught off-guard, many Assassins were killed or captured by the British troops under Prins' command.

The raid coincided with Edward's visit to Tulum, having been invited by his friend Mary Read, a member of the Caribbean Brotherhood, who hoped that the pirate would be able to help the Assassins identify the Sage Bartholomew Roberts. As a result, the Jackdaw's crew was caught in the assault and taken captive by the British soldiers alongside the Assassins. Upon learning of this, Edward offered his aid to liberate both his men and the Assassins.

Thanks to Edward's assistance, the remaining Assassins were able to free their captive brethren and push back the British assault. Prins was forced to retreat, abandoning his plans for Mexico, while Ah Tabai forgave Edward's past transgressions against the Brotherhood. However, because the pirate refused to change his self-serving ways, Ah Tabai deemed him untrustworthy and declared that he was no longer welcome in Tulum.

Edward defending the Havana bureau

Nevertheless, Edward continued to assist the Brotherhood, defending their bureaus against Templar incursions and helping the local Assassin leaders eliminate the Templars behind the attacks. While this was his way of making amends for inadvertently exposing the bureaus' locations, Edward's main motivator was the Templar keys carried by each Templar leader, which granted him access to a set of powerful armor locked away in Great Inagua.

Over the next five years, the Templars continue to launch periodic raids against the Assassins in Tulum, which were carried out by the Spanish Navy. The Brotherhood successfully repelled all the attacks even without Edward's assistance, but the repeated raids began to take their toll on the Assassins, who lost most of their resources and manpower as a result. By 1721, the Caribbean Brotherhood had been reduced to a fraction of its former power, but continued its resistance against the Templars nonetheless.

Edward assassinating the Spanish captain leading the assault

During the final attack carried out by the Spanish, the Assassins were again assisted by Edward, who had come to make amends and join the Brotherhood, per the final wish of Mary Read, who had passed away while imprisoned in Port Royal. Alongside Ah Tabai, his former quartermaster Adéwalé, and a few other Assassins, Edward pushed the Spanish troops back to their ship, where he assassinated their captain, ending the assault. Afterwards, Edward was welcomed into the Brotherhood by Ah Tabai, who recognized his genuine desire to change his ways, and worked to eradicate the remaining Templar presence in the West Indies.

Aftermath

Edward: "Gentlemen. How do you find it here?"

Ah Tabai: "It will work for us. But our goal must be to scatter our operations. To live and work among the people we protect, just as Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad once counseled."

—Edward offering his base in Great Inagua to the Assassins, 1722.

After assassinating Laureano Torres inside the Observatory in 1722, Edward, having learned of his wife Caroline's passing, decided to return home to England to raise his daughter Jennifer Scott and focus on his new Assassin responsibilities. Before his departure, he offered his hideout in Great Inagua to the Caribbean Brotherhood, believing the Assassins were in need of a new base after all their previous ones had been compromised.

Edward, Adéwalé, and Ah Tabai in Great Inagua

Ah Tabai readily accepted the offer but believed that, in time, the Brotherhood should decentralize and live with the people it sought to protect. Nevertheless, the Assassins relocated to the new base, although a few of them elected to remain in Tulum.

Over the next several decades, the Assassins continued to maintain their dominance in the West Indies, as Edward's actions had ensured the Templars were unable to rebuild their presence in the region.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Black Flag