Damascus

Damascus was the capital and largest ancient city of Syria. During the Second Crusade, around 1148, the city repelled attacks, finally being acquired by Salah al'Din in the late 1150s. Salah al'Din granted scholars from far and wide the chance to study in one of the many Madrasahs scattered throughout the city's neighborhoods. Almost unaffected by the war, the city remained an extremely clean and gorgeous site, a complete contrast to Acre.

History

First visit

The Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad visited the city in 1190, though he didn't explore properly, seeing as he had a straight-forward task. His first mission involved interrogating a merchant named Misbah and assassinating Tamir. He also made his way to the local circus, where he acquired more information on his current mission of gaining entrance to the Temple of the Sand. Furthermore, he managed to assassinate a local Templar member named Alaat, on Fajera's request.

Hunting the nine

In 1191, the city was split into three major districts. A poor, middle and rich district. The Poor District was considered to be a very busy section, constantly packed with citizens. This could be explained by the presence of the very impressive and sprawling Souk Al-Silaah. Strangely, the security was rather light. The Souk was a major trading spot within the city, and dominated the area as a major landmark. Its impressive ceremonial courtyard, situated in the centre, was the site where the arms dealer Tamir conducted his daily business, with guards positioned in the nearby corridors, attentively watching the crowd.

The Middle District, contains the Pasha Mosque and Formal Gardens, and features larger east-west thoroughfares connecting the different areas.This section of Damascus featured many places of learning, until

Jubair al Hakim arrived and began a city quest to destroy all written text. The central feature was Jubair's Madraasah, where books were burned, thus destroying valuable knowledge. Destroying knowledge and blinding the people to outside information of the world was aimed at preventing them from repeating the past mistakes of their ancestors. When altaïr travelled here to assassinate Jubair, the security was very high, due to the Assassins' continued success.

Almost half the city in terms of size, it was the Rich District that possessed many of the structural landmarks that attracted outsiders to the city. The partially rebuilt Citadel of Salah al-Din was a key fortification that demanded planning for a successful infiltration. The most impressive feature of the district, and probably the entire city, was the Omayyad Mosque of the Merchant King's Palace.

The interior of the palace was lightly secured, unless one of the Merchant King's lavish parties was in full swing. Traffic around palace grounds was rather light, given the location. Slightly north was the Sarouja Souk Market Quarter, where both traffic and security were moderate. Sarouja Souk held the reputation of being the largest market in the Holy Land. It was split into two separate structures that ran from west to east, and north to south.

Though the Omayyad Mosque and Grand Courtyard dominated the district, the Grand Courtyard north of the Mosque was equally an interesting place. Here within the impressive district, Abu'l Nuqoud held immense power over the people.

Assassination Target in Damascus

In Damascus, Altaïr is ordered to assassinate the following people:

1190

• Tamir, a pompous, greedy merchant.
• Alaat, a Templar knight.

1191

• Tamir (different person from 1190 target), an arms dealer and a merchant who ran the largest black market in Damascus.
• Abu'l Nuqoud, the Merchant King who resided in his palace in the Rich District.
• Jubair al Hakim, the Chief Scholar in Damascus. Despite being a scholar, he was a ruthless and rude man, responsible for the burning of books and paintings throughout the city.

Map

Rich District	Middle District	Poor District

Gallery

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• File:Ac-damascus-bazaar.jpg
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• File:Damascus Gates - Altair on Horse.jpg