Alessandra d'Avanzago

Alessandra d'Avanzago (born c. 1488) was a member of the Italian Brotherhood of Assassins in Venice during the Renaissance.

Biography

Early life

Alessandra was born around 1488 to a patrician family in Venice. Her mother, Cristina, was a minor member of the Assassin Brotherhood, while her father, Sebastiano, was a wealthy land owner. In 1501, Alessandra's mother had dragged her father in a conspiracy against Agostino Barbarigo, the Doge of Venice who was formerly an ally of the Assassins but had turned traitor. Her father was thus exiled while her mother was captured by the Templars and Barabarigo's soldiers.

Agostino, pressured by the Templars, decided to make an example of Cristina via her daughter and had Alessandra's tongue cut out, marking her family in infamy. Following her disfigurement, her mother smuggled her outside and into an awaiting haycart enroute to Treviso for own safety. As Templars approach from the other direction, the cart Alessandra was hiding in starts moving. Her last memory of her mother was her telling her to "Be like Kassandra, don't give in a thing!"

Joining the Assassins

In 1502, the Doge ashamed of his actions, anonymously had Alessandra initiated into the Assassin Brotherhood, allowing her to become one of the youngest member of the Brotherhood. Under the Assassins, Alessandra became a fiercely independent but complete team player. Despite being mute, she developed a battle language and taught it to her fellow Assassins, including Bastiano da Mezzo and Beatrice whom she had became close friends with.

Siege of Viana

Alessandra and her team infiltrated the Viana Castle while it was under siege

In March 1507, Alessandra and her team consisting of; Bastiano, Dariâ, and Claudio, accompanied Mentor Ezio Auditore da Firenze to Navarre, during his hunt for Cesare Borgia. Their team was personally picked by their Mentor, Alessandra and the others considered it a great honor. While Cesare was laying siege to the castle, the team of Assassins created a diversion and managed to distract the Templars long enough for their Mentor to enter the fortress. In the process however, the team were caught and imprisoned. Luckily they were able to send a carrier pigeon away to notify their allies of their predicament, sending for help. The four Assassins were then rescued by a group of fledgling Assassin Apprentices. Freed, they were then able to put into action the next part of their plan, disabling the pistol of Cesare Borgia.

Under the cover of darkness, while the castle was being overwhelmed by Cesare's forces, the team of Assassins snuck inside. Making their way to the weapons room they successfully sabotaged the pistol, allowing Ezio to approach Cesare without risk. One of the Apprentices also retrieved their confiscated Hidden Blades for them also which they took and equipped. While Ezio was facing off against Cesare, the team helped themselves to Cesare's personal effects and weapons, depriving the Templars of precious resources. After looting the place they came outside to witness Ezio dropping Cesare from the castle battlements.

Brotherhood of Venice

Founding the Venetian branch

Alessandra and the founding members of the Venetian branch

Following the events of the siege, Ezio returned to Rome to focus on his Mentor duties, and Alessandra and her companions were instructed to head to Venice to take over a recently abandoned Templar stronghold to strengthen their influence in the city for further operations. Unknown to the team, the Templar informant that told them about the base led them into a trap. The Templars had booby-trapped the entrance, triggering a collapse around the Assassins. Unknown to the Templars, the group survived and decided to rebuild the base under their nose. By 1509, they had fully repurposed the old Templar stronghold into a usable headquarters for their branch.

Investigating the Doge

Their first new mission was given to them straight from their ally Pope Julius II, to investigate Leonardo Loredan, another ally of the Brotherhood. There had been misgivings about his allegiance, the truth of the matter was hidden within the vault room of the Palazzo Ducale di Venezia in an encrypted document. The team of Assassins managed to steal both the vault room keys and a cipher used by Loredan to decode his messages from his residence. They then set about finding the secret room of the Palazzo, but not before Ezio summoned them and gifted them with a Auditore family relic as show of gratitude for their service.

At dusk, they infiltrated the Palazzo splitting up into groups of two. One group to retrieve the safe combination and send it via carrier pigeon to the other, and a second group to find the vault room and await the combination. Eventually they discovered that the Doge was being blackmailed by the Templars who were holding one of his daughters hostage. He was being forced to fight against the Pope and the Assassins, a situation Alessandra and the others sought to rectify. After identifying the blackmailer, the Assassins are led on a wild chase after he disguised two of his men as himself. Ultimately he was tracked down and assassinated, freeing the Doge and his daughter.

Personality and traits

Due to her past, Alessandra refused to let anyone treat her like a second-class human, neither because of her gender nor her forced muteness, and thus spent a lot of her time training and upkeeping her weapons and armors. Under pressure, she goes into survival mode, changing her in a highly focused, efficient and fearless Assassin.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice (first appearance)