Flag

Ezio, my friend! How may I be of service? This article is in desperate need of a revamp. Please improve it in any way necessary in order for it to achieve a higher standard of quality in accordance with our Manual of Style.

Ezio standing near a Borgia flag

A flag is a piece of fabric, often decorated with a distinctive design or emblem, used as a visual symbol or signal. It may also refer instead to an exact reproduction or illustration of such an object on a medium.

Function

Throughout history, flags have been used by states and factions to represent themselves and signify their presence, often using color to symbolize what they stood for. Flags are carried alongside armies so that their affiliation may be identified or planted in high places, such as atop towers and walls, to declare that territory under the political control of the faction the flag represents. Accordingly, flags can also serve as powerful rallying devices, inspiring public and military morale in the face of conflict or adversity. Because of this, it was an occasional practice of the Assassin Brotherhood to remove flags of their enemies, particularly the Templars, across cities in which they wish to wrestle influence.

History

Crusades

Flags were scattered by members of key military powers throughout the Holy Land to lay claim to particular regions of territory. During Altaïr's hunt for the Nine, he sometimes had to prove himself to informers by collecting several Assassin flags within a time limit before they would give him information about his target.

Image	Flag name	Location	Number of flags
	Assassin flags	Masyaf	20
	King Richard flags	Kingdom	100
	Saracen flags	Damascus	100
	Teutonic flags	Acre's Middle District	33
	Templar flags	Acre' Rich District	34
	Hospitalier flags	Acre's Poor District	33
File:AC1 Flags Kindom of Jerusalem.png	Jerusalem crosses	Jerusalem	100

Italian Renaissance

The Borgia also used flags to increase their control over Italy. There were 101 Borgia flags to collect in Rome. However, art merchants in the city sold maps which made it easier for Ezio Auditore da Firenze to find and remove all of the Borgia flags. An additional method to locate the flags was through Ezio's use of Eagle Vision, thus marking the flag on the map. Collecting all 101 flags rewarded Ezio with the Borgia cape. Additionally, during the Venetian games of Carnevale, the "Capture the Flag" event used a flag that Ezio had to retrieve and return to his starting point to score.

Golden Age of Piracy

During the Golden Age of Piracy, nearly all ships had a flag on the top of their mast to show an allegiance to their countries. During a boarding of an enemy vessel, Edward Kenway and Adéwalé would sometimes cut down the ship's flag upon claiming it. In 1719, Kenway was tasked with stealing a Portuguese flag, in order to disguise his ship as one of their own.

Colonial America

When taking over an Assassin-affiliated gang headquarters during the Seven Years' War, the Templar Shay Cormac would cut down the gang's flag, and subsequently burn it.

During the American Revolutionary War, after Connor killed a British Army captain and destroyed the powder reserves in one of the many forts in Boston, New York, or the Frontier, he would then take down the British flag and replace it with an American one, liberating the fort and claiming it for the Patriots. When he was stuck in an Apple of Eden-induced reality that had a Kingdom of the United States, Ratonhnhaké:ton saw the realm's flag had replaced the thirteen circling stars of the Betsy Ross flag with a just single star in the center.

Industrial Revolution

After Blighter territory was claimed by the Rooks, a gang swearing fealty to the Assassin Jacob Frye in London of 1868, they would remove their enemy's flag and raise their own to signify the region had new leadership.

Behind the scenes

The achievement Capture the Flag in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood could be earned by collecting the 101 Borgia Flags scattered around Rome.

Gallery

• 
  A Borgia flag
• 
  The Kingdom of the United States' flag

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed II
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
• Assassin's Creed III
  • The Tyranny of King Washington
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
• Assassin's Creed: Rogue
• Assassin's Creed: Unity
• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
• Assassin's Creed: Rebellion
  • The Eagle's Shadow
  • Echoes Through the Animus
• Assassin's Creed: Dynasty