Amorges

"For every soul that lives in peace, others had to die. It is the only way."

―Amorges' motto.

Amorges (died in 420s BCE), also known as the Tusk of Persia, was the leader of the Persian sect of the Order of the Ancients and the head of its Order of Dominion branch who operated in the Achaemenid Empire and Greece during the 5th century BCE.

Originally a member of the Persian elite and a close friend of Darius, formerly known as Artabanus, Amorges was part of a group of freedom fighters that were responsible for the assassination of King Xerxes I of Persia, a puppet of the Order of the Ancients, in 465 BCE. However, Amorges would later join the Order himself, wishing to bring peace to Persia, and betray Darius, preventing his assassination of Xerxes' successor, Artaxerxes I.

After Darius was branded a traitor, Amorges and the Order hunted him and his family, forcing them to flee Persia. By the time of the Peloponnesian War, Amorges, now at the head of the Order, had relocated to Messenia, Greece, trying to take advantage of the conflict between Sparta and Athens to consolidate power amongst the chaos.

During this time, Amorges continued to hunt Darius, as well as the "Tainted Ones", individuals directly descended from the Isu, due to the perceived danger they posed. He dispatched the Order of Hunters to Makedonia to track down one such individual, the Spartan misthios Kassandra, but she eliminated them with the help of Darius and his son Natakas. Consequently, after tracking Darius and Natakas to Achaia, Amorges operated undercover as the merchant Orontas to spy on them, while instructing the Order of the Storm to set up a naval blockade to prevent their escape from the Greek world.

Following the Order of the Storm's defeat by Kassandra, Darius and Natakas, Amorges continued to spy on the trio as they attempted to lead a peaceful life in Dyme, before eventually leading the Order of Dominion in an attack on the village, during which they killed Natakas and kidnapped his and Kassandra's son, Elpidios. This provoked Kassandra and Darius into traveling to Messenia, where they dismantled the Order of Dominion and battled Amorges. Before his death, Amorges was able to reconcile with his old friend by informing him of Elpidios' whereabouts.

Biography

Joining the Order

Amorges: "I can't let you in there, Artabanus."

Artabanus: "They got to you."

Amorges: "No. I went to them."

—Amorges revealing to Artabanus that he has joined the Order, c. 465 BCE.

Amorges was a member of the Persian elite alongside his friends Artabanus and Pactyas, serving during the reign of King Xerxes I. Due to Xerxes' tyrannical rule of Persia, which was secretly supported by the Order of the Ancients, Amorges, Artabanus, Pactyas and their allies came together to form a group that vowed to protect their homeland at all costs. In 465 BCE, the group organized Xerxes' assassination, which was carried out by Artabanus, who killed the king with his Hidden Blade.

Amorges stopping Artabanus from killing Artaxerxes

With Xerxes' death, his son Artaxerxes I ascended the throne. Fearing that he would also be manipulated by the Order, Artabanus sought to kill him to prevent this from happening. Amorges, however, opposed his decision, as the young king had done nothing wrong yet, and joined the Order, believing that their resources could help secure a better future for Persia. When Artabanus attempted to carry out Artaxerxes' assassination, Amorges confronted his friend outside the door to the king's chambers. As the two fought, Amorges called for the guards, an act which branded Artabanus as a traitor, forcing him to flee Persia with his family.

Eventually, Amorges rose to become the leader of the Order in Persia and convinced the other members of his and Artabanus' former group, including Pactyas, to join the Order by promising that they would bring peace and prosperity to Persia. After Pactyas became the leader of his own branch of the Ancients, the Order of Hunters, Amorges assigned him the task of hunting down their former friend Artabanus, now known as "Darius", as well as the "Tainted Ones", individuals with Isu heritage that were deemed a threat to true peace by the Order.

Activities in Greece

Around 429 BCE, Pactyas and the Order of Hunters managed to track a Tainted One, the Spartan misthios Kassandra, to Makedonia, Greece, but they all met their end at her blade. Kassandra had also allied herself with Darius and his son Natakas, who had taken refuge in Makedonia, alerting Amorges to the presence of his old friend. Subsequently, he decided to travel to Greece alongside his Order of Dominion, taking over the region of Messenia, where they secured alliances with the Spartan army and the Cult of Kosmos and attempted to take advantage of Sparta's ongoing war with Athens to consolidate more power.

Undercover in Achaia

"We have done enough, there's no need to escalate this further. Promise me that you will see our plan through to the end."

―"Orontas" to Kassandra and Kleta before being taken away by guards, 420s BCE.

Amorges undercover as Orontas

Eventually, Amorges was able to track Darius and Natakas to Achaia, where the two attempted to secure passage aboard a ship to leave the Greek world and escape from the Order. Amorges ordered the Tempest, a Greek-born member of the Order who led the Order of the Storm branch, to take over the city of Patrai and set up a naval blockade to prevent any refugees from leaving Achaia.

In the meantime, Amorges adopted the pseudonym of "Orontas" and posed as a stranded merchant seeking to escape the Tempest's blockade, in order to spy on Darius and Natakas, as well as Kassandra once she arrived to help the pair. "Orontas" then became an ally of Kleta, the Tempest's estranged mother who sought to help refugees leave Achaia, and offered to lend his ships for the refugees to use, though the ships were later confiscated by Ariston, the foreman of the docks of Pellene. "Orontas" met Kassandra after she was directed to him by Kleta and explained the situation to the misthios.

Orontas "surrendering" himself to the guards

After Kassandra managed to reclaim the ships from Ariston, she was approached by the Tempest's soldiers who sought to arrest her for liberating the Tempest's prisoners earlier. "Orontas" took the blame to protect both Kassandra and Kleta and, trusting them to accomplish their mission, was taken away by the soldiers.

Following the Tempest and the Order of the Storm's defeat by Kassandra, Amorges continued to spy on her, Darius and Natakas as they started new lives in the village of Dyme, where Kassandra and Natakas eventually had a son together, Elpidios. Watching their home from afar with several Order soldiers, Amorges decided to let the family enjoy their peaceful lives for the time being, but ordered his men to send word to Persia to ready their fleet, vowing to see his old friend Darius again soon.

Attack on Dyme

Darius: "We were protectors, Amorges. Champions of the people. This is wrong!"

Amorges: "This is necessary. I take no pleasure in this. I needed to draw you in."

—Darius and Amorges during the attack, 420s BCE.

Amorges during the attack on Dyme

Eventually, Amorges led the Order of Dominion's forces in a full-scale assault of Dyme, setting homes on fire and massacring civilians, all in order to draw Kassandra and Darius. Once the pair arrived, they confronted Amorges, who claimed that he took no enjoyment in this act, but it was neccessary to eliminate Kassandra and her bloodline. He then left his soldiers to deal with the pair, though they were all killed.

However, the Order did not come out of the battle empty-handed, as they had managed to take Elpidios after killing Natakas, who had been left alone to protect his son. Amorges subsequently left the infant in the care of Darius II of Persia on a small island south of Messenia, where the young prince made sure that Elpidios was safe at all times by the order of Amorges.

Final battle and death

Darius: "There will always be tyrants..."

Amorges: "And there will always be you, my brother... to stop them..."

—Darius and Amorges reconciling prior to the latter's death, 420s BCE.

The attack on Dyme prompted Kassandra and Darius to travel to Messenia to dismantle the Order of Dominion in order to avenge Natakas' death and retrieve Elpidios. After disrupting the Order's operations in the region, the pair launched a final attack against Amorges' forces with the help of their Athenian allies. Amorges watched the resulting chaos from the Temple of Zeus, where he was eventually confronted by Kassandra.

Amorges confronted by Kassandra and Darius

As the misthios vowed to destroy the Order of the Ancients for what they had done to her family, Amorges claimed that the Order could not be destroyed and revealed that his agents had already infiltrated and were influencing all aspects of Greek society. He then declared that Kassandra had to die, as she brought chaos wherever she went and was a threat to the peace the Order was fighting for. At that moment, Darius arrived and tried to reason with his old friend to reveal Elpidios' whereabouts. However, Amorges refused and was forced to fight Kassandra and Darius.

After being mortally wounded, Amorges was disarmed by Darius and they both fell from the temple onto the cliff below. There, Amorges finally conceded and revealed Elpidios' location, though he warned Kassandra that the Order would never stop hunting her, meaning that her son would never be safe with her. He then reconciled with Darius, who reminded him of their vow to protect Persia, to which Amorges told his old friend that he would always be there to fight against tyrants, before finally succumbing to his wounds.

Personality and traits

"I fought for the greater good, for our children, for their futures. I saved your grandson, and I saved Artaxerxes that night... Do you remember? I saved him from you."

―Amorges to Darius, 420s BCE.

Amorges was an ambitious, ruthless and patriotic man who yearned for Persia to be safe and prosperous. To this end, he conspired with his allies to assassinate King Xerxes I, whom they viewed as a tyrant, and later joined the Order of the Ancients, hoping to use their resources to achieve his ambitious dream of universal peace. Amorges genuinely believed that his actions contributed towards this goal and was willing to make all neccessary sacrifices to see it realized. However, he failed to realize that in doing so he had become the same type of tyrant he had sworn to fight against.

Amorges disagreed with Darius' plan to murder Artaxerxex I, as he considered it wrong to kill an innocent man for crimes he had not committed yet. Decades later, however, he was not above killing civilians to futher his own goals, as seen when he ordered the massacre of Dyme's population to draw out Darius and Kassandra, though he claimed he took no enjoyment in it. Amorges also sought to eliminate the Tainted Ones simply because of their potential to doom humanity, and tried to defend his actions by claiming that Tainted Ones such as Kassandra left only chaos in their wake.

During his final moments, Amorges seemed to become aware of how far he had fallen and that he had betrayed his and Darius' pact to keep Persia safe. As such, he was able to reconcile with his old friend and, despite believing the Order could never be truly destroyed, was confident that Darius and his descendants would continue to fight against tyranny.

Equipment and skills

As a former member of the Persian elite, Amorges was a skilled fighter. Despite his age, he was able to hold his own against Kassandra and Darius at the same time, and was only defeated after Darius caught him by surprise with a leap attack that broke his defense. In combat, Amorges wielded a special sword made of a rare metal called adamantine, granting it unique properties, which he typically paired with a shield.

Behind the scenes

Amorges is a character introduced in the Legacy of the First Blade DLC for the 2018 video game Assassin's Creed: Odyssey. He shares his name with both the leader of the Carian rebellion against king Darius II in 413 BCE, and the 6th century BCE Persian king of the Amyrgians. His pseudonym Orontas is presumably Hellenized form of the Persian word اروند‎ (arvand), meaning "of greatness, mighty". The name Orontas is also a reference to a line of Armenian rulers that reigned from the 6th century BCE to the 2nd century BCE. The first among them was Orontes I Sakavakyats who had a connection to the Achaemenid Empire.

Amorges' background is similar to that of Megabyzus, who historically was complicit in Artabanus' plot to assassinate Xerxes I but later betrayed him before Artaxerxes I could be killed.

Gallery

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  Amorges in his younger years
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  A younger Amorges with Artabanus and Pactyas
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  Amorges in his guise as Orontas
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  Amorges with his sword and shield
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  Darius and Amorges reconciling
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  Amorges' demise

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Odyssey – Legacy of the First Blade