François-Thomas Germain

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"Bravo. You've slain the villain. That is how you've cast this little morality play in your mind, isn't it? "

―Germain to Arno Dorian, 1794.

François-Thomas Germain (unknown – 28 July 1794) was a French silversmith, Sage and a Grand Master of the Templar Order during the French Revolution. He was killed by Assassin Arno Dorian and buried in the Parisian catacombs.

Biography

Early life

"He was cast out of the Order when I was a girl. Something about heretical notions, or Jacques de Molay, I'm not entirely sure."

―Élise de la Serre, regarding Germain's banishment from the Templar Order, 1791.

Not much is known about Germain's early life, but he was known to have been high-ranking Templar in the branch in France.

Born with the memory of the First Civilization in his mind, Germain determined to shape the destiny of the human race in his own way. He believed that by empowering the middle class instead of powerful individuals, and creating a consumerist society, it would be more easy for the Templars to control humanity.

However, due to conflicting ideals, he was cast out of the Templar Order by its Grand Master, François de la Serre. Embittered, Germain deemed the Order corrupt and having forgotten its orignal purpose, and schemed with other Templars who followed his ideals.

The New Grand Master

Sivert: "It is done. De La Serre is dead… Grand Master"

Germain: "Good"

—Sivert reports his success in de la Serre's assassination to Germain, 1789.

To take control of the Templar Order from de la Serre, Germain masterminded his assassination. Through his career as a silversmith, he crafted a silver pin dipped in poison to serve as the murder weapon. He then entrusted two of his followers, Charles Gabriel Sivert and Le Roi des Thunes to kill de la Serre.

On the day where the assassination was planned to commence, Germain was in his carriage where he met Arno briefly for the first time, though both were unaware of the identity of the other. Arno mistook Germain's carriage for François de la Serre's, when he attempted to deliver a message from Chrétien Lafrenière, a Templar loyal to de la Serre, to the Grand Master.

Both Sivert and Le Roi des Thunes succeeded in assassinating de la Serre, and reported their success to Germain. With de la Serre dead, Germain gained control of majority of the Templar Order. However, he was still opposed by Lafrenière and de la Serre's daughter, Élise.

Meeting Arno

After Arno dealt with de la Serre's direct killers, he was led by the blade used to kill de la Serre to its maker, François-Thomas Germain. Upon Germain's second encounter with Arno, he craftly downplayed the fact that he once was a Templar himself, and pretended to be a simple silversmith who unintentionally discovered Chrétien Lafrenière's terrible secrets while working for him. Germain catered to Arno's desperate desire for revenge, and falsely accused Lafrenière of having him make the poisoned pin blade, as well as plotting something ominous in Halles.

Arno infiltrated Lafrenière's meeting with his followers in a graveyard in Halles, just in time to witness his zealous lecture against the Jacobin Club and the Assassins. Blinded by his rage and misled by Germain's false information, Arno decided against reporting what he had learned to the Assassins' Concil, and chose to take action immediately instead. But after assassinating Lafrenière, Arno found that despite the Templar's disagreements with de la Serre on the truce with Mirabeau, Lafrenière was the man who sent the letter warning de la Serre about the traitor within the ranks of the Templars.

Since Lafrenière was loyal to de la Serre, which was further hinted by Mirabeau's statement, he might not have been the man behind the murder. The attack planned by Lafrenière on a certain location, which was not among the Assassin safehouses, became the new lead of Arno's investigation.

By the time Arno had discovered Germain's deception from Élise, Germain had already abandoned his residence, knowing that his bluff would not hold for long.

Execution of the King

"The King is… merely a symbol. A symbol can inspire fear, and fear can inspire control--but men inevitably lose their fear of symbols. As you can see. This was the truth De Molay died for: the Divine Right of Kings is nothing but the reflection of sunlight upon gold. When the Crown and Church are ground to dust, we who control the gold will decide the future. (Jacques de Molay, you are avenged.)"

―Germain to Arno, as King Louis XVI is executed, 1793

In 21 January 1793, Germain was present at the Place de la Concorde, where the former King of France, Louis XVI was about to be executed. The Templar Grand Master then confronted Arno once again, proclaiming the rebirth of the Templar Order. Germain claimed to Arno that the reason for de la Serre's murder was to rid the Templar Order of corruption and bigotry. Germain also stated that de la Serre's murder was only the first phase of the Order's 'rebirth', and that the Order is truly reborn with the death of the former King Louis XVI.

Germain revealed his plans as Louis XVI was placed at the guillotine. By ridding France's upper class and aristocracy of power, it would be much easier for the Templars to gain control over France, by granting the power to the people instead. Once the former King was beheaded, Germain proclaimed that Jacques de Molay had been avenged, then made his escape, leaving Arno to deal with his subordinates.

With the death of the former King, Germain then entrusted the control of the newly founded French Republic to one of his followers, Maximilien de Robespierre. Robespierre will enforce Templar subjugation over the people in France, through his feared Reign of Terror, the mass executions of those accused of treason.

Germain's Last Stand

Elise: "Did you think this day would never come? That because François De La Serre had no sons to avenge him and that your crime would go unanswered?"

Germain: "Revenge, is it? Your vision is as narrow as your father's."

—Elise and Germain's confrontation in the Temple, 1794.

After the downfall of Robespierre's regime, knowledge of Germain's garrison, the Temple, was exposed to Arno and Élise de la Serre, who both infiltrated the Temple on their own and attempted to assassinate Germain. It was during this endeavor that Germain was tracked by Arno to the Temple's rooftop. As the Assassin attempted to kill Germain, he soon discovered that the Templar wielded an ancient and advanced weapon, a Sword of Eden, making him a very difficult opponent.

Upon their final confrontation, Arno requested that Élise distract Germain, which she successfully did, allowing him to land three strikes. Prompted to use the Sword's power, Germain blasted Arno away with the artifact's power, pinning the Assassin under a large chunk of debris.

Faced with the choice of helping Arno free himself or preventing Germain's escape, Élise initially went to aid Arno, but soon changed her mind, engaging in a duel with the Templar Grand Master. In the exchange of blows, Élise managed to damage the Sword of Eden enough for it to backfire, with the resulting explosion injuring Germain and killing Élise. Just prior to the blast, Arno succeeded in breaking free, but arrived too late to stop the event from happening.

Death

"Perhaps it will not be my hand that shepherds mankind back into it's proper place--but it will be someone's. Think of this when you remember her."

―Germain's final words, 1794.

Mournfully, Arno looked over to the body of his dead love, before turning to assassinate Germain with his Hidden Blade. Arno witnessed Germain speaking directly into his mind, elaborating on the memory of the First Civilization, and explaining its driving factor in his motivation to purge the Templar Order.

Years after the confrontation, Arno entered the temple once more, accompanied by Napoleon Bonaparte. There, they discovered Germain's corpse which had long since decayed. They then buried his skeletal corpse in the Parisian catacombs.

Legacy

Being one of the Sages, Germain was important to both Templars and Assassins in the 21st century. Finding information regarding the whereabouts of his body through the memories of Arno was the ultimate goal of the modern Assassins, but no recovery effort was made after they had learned that his remains were poorly buried in a Parisian catacomb, and would have become badly decomposed by the modern times.

Trivia

• According to Bishop, Germain was the second known Sage who became a Templar Grand Master, following Jacques de Molay, as Abstergo Industries suggested.