Iltani

"I have found the Achaemenid, and he gave me the secret of his poison. Not as fast as I would have hoped, but always fatal. Ironically, Alexander will die by the poison of those whom he had vanquished in battle."

―Iltani in a message for her Order.

Iltani (fl. 4th century BCE) was the legendary assassin of Alexander the Great.

Regarded as one of the early precursors to the Assassins, Iltani was a member of a secret order which came to be known as the Babylonian Brotherhood. She operated at the zenith of the Macedonian Empire, and owed her fame to her assassination of Alexander the Great through poison she had procured from an Achaemenid alchemist after having failed to reach him in Herat.

Biography

During Iltani's lifetime, Persia was conquered by the Macedonian Empire under Alexander the Great, and she watched as the ambitious, young king swept through her homeland with a Staff of Eden provided to him by the Order of the Ancients.

Determined to put an end to Alexander's path of conquest, Iltani tracked him to Herat in modern-day Afghanistan, where he was holed up in a mighty citadel. Despite its high walls, she managed to infiltrate the citadel but remained apprehensive that she would be able to eliminate him through force. Sure enough, she became aware that through cunning, Alexander had somehow divined her presence within the fortress. Realizing that the risks were too great, she aborted her mission and withdrew from Herat.

Her failure did not disrupt her resolve, and she quickly devised an alternative plan, one that involved meeting with a renowned Achaemenid alchemist who was then being hunted by the Greeks. After a perilous journey, she arrived in Babylon, where she found the alchemist and acquired the secret formula for a deadly poison. While the poison was not as fast-acting as she had hoped, it was virulent enough to guarantee death.

Throughout her mission to kill Alexander, she had left messages across the lands she travelled, including India and Herat. These messages chronicled her quest and could only be deciphered through Eagle Vision. In the event that her assassination were to fail, she even left behind the recipe of the poison on her last message, hoping it would serve her order.

This proved unnecessary, as in 323 BCE, Iltani successfully poisoned Alexander the Great after infiltrating the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II. True to the slow nature of her poison, Alexander withered away over several days until he finally perished.

Legacy

"Have you heard of Iltani? One of the first of our founders. She assassinated Alexander with an ingenious poison. I have attempted to recreate it from historical records... Iltani has taught me that no enemy is untouchable... no matter how powerful they appear!"

―Tabid Al-Nubi describing Iltani to Basim Ibn Ishaq, c. 862.

Iltani's feats gained her lengendary status among the the Hidden Ones and their eventual successors, the Assassins, and she was posthumously honored as one of their own. In 862, the Hidden One Rafiq Tabid Al-Nubi sought to recreate Iltani's concoction that she had used to poison Alexander the Great.

By the time of the Renaissance, a tomb dedicated to Iltani had been built in the spire of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy. The Italian Assassin Ezio Auditore explored the tomb and took the hidden seal from the sarcophagus, which later allowed him to obtain the Armor of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad sealed in the Sanctuary beneath Villa Auditore in Monteriggioni, where a statue of Iltani, alongside other celebrated Assassins, had been erected.

In 1841, the Indian Assassin Arbaaz Mir came across Iltani's scrolls during his travels. He was able to use his Eagle Vision to decipher the scrolls' Akkadian text and learn a little of her history. Iltani continued to be honored by the Assassins into the 21st century; in the year 2000, a statue of her stood in the Mentor's office in Dubai.

Behind the scenes

Iltani is a character first mentioned in the 2009 video game Assassin's Creed II, as a famous Assassin that used poison to end the life of Alexander the Great. Her story was later expanded in the Assassin's Creed: Initiates platform and the 2016 game Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India, where it was clarified that she acted as part of the Babylonian Brotherhood of Assassins to stop the Templar-backed Alexander the Great.

Since Assassin's Creed: Origins's retroactive continuity about the origins of the Assassin Brotherhood, Iltani is no longer considered to be a proper Assassin, but instead one of their early predecessors. As such, the Babylonian Brotherhood she was a member of was also retconned into being a separate group unaffiliated with the Assassins, whose ideals would eventually give rise to those of the Hidden Ones and, in turn, the Assassins.

Etymology

Iltani is the feminine form of a Babylonian word meaning 'lucky'or 'favored by the god(dess)'. It is also the Babylonian name for the north wind. ^{[citation needed]}

Gallery

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  Iltani's statue and sarcophagus
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  The Seal of Iltani
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  Iltani's insignia
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  Statue in the Sanctuary

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed II (sculpture only)
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (sculpture only)
• Assassin's Creed: Initiates (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: The Fall (sculpture only)
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Mirage (mentioned only)