Masyaf Key

He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. This article contains spoilers, meaning it has information and facts concerning recent or upcoming releases from the Assassin's Creed series. If you do not want to know about these events, it is recommended to read on with caution, or not at all. This template should be removed from the article three months after release.

Niccolò: "Artefacts?"

Altaïr: "Of a kind. They are keys, each one imbued with a message."

—Niccolò Polo and Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad on the Masyaf keys.

File:KeyofAltaïr.png

A Memory Seal.

Memory Seals were First Civilization artifacts with the ability to contain memories. Most notably, six Memory Seals were in the possession of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, a Mentor of the Syrian Assassins, during the 13th century. He later used them as keys needed to enter his library beneath the Assassins' fortress of Masyaf, being dubbed Masyaf Keys.

History

Masyaf Keys

Altaïr's discovery

File:ACR STORY 13.png

Altaïr holding one of the keys.

Following the death of his wife and son and his deposition at the hands of Abbas Sofian, Altaïr entered into exile in the Assassin fortress of Alamut. During this time, Altaïr was directed to six Memory Seals by the Apple, which he had in his possession. He retrieved these artifacts and hid them.

Altaïr's research discovered that the keys contained messages, though he did not know to whom they were intended.

In 1257, whilst Masyaf was about to be besieged by the Mongols, Altaïr passed the keys and his codex on to his guests, Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, who promised to hide the keys. They escaped from the Mongols with the help of Altaïr's son Darim, and safely arrived in their home of Constantinople, where they hid the keys and formed an Assassins Guild.

Ezio's acquisition

In 1510, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, the Mentor of the Italian Assassins, learned of the existence of Altaïr's library and its keys after reading a document left behind by his late father, Giovanni. Curious and driven by a desire to obtain answers about his Order, Ezio left Rome for Masyaf.

Ezio retrieving a key from a statue.

Ezio arrived in Masyaf in mid 1511, at which point Niccolò Polo's journal, containing information on the keys, had come into the possession of the Templar Leandros, the captain of a group of Byzantine remnants. After a long struggle, Ezio was able to kill Leandros and obtain the book.

Ezio journeyed to Constantinople, where he started his search for the keys, eventually finding one underneath Niccolò Polo's old trading post, which, at that point, was inhabited by the Venetian bookseller Sofia Sartor. With her assistance, Ezio was able to decode a map showing the locations of all keys in Constantinople.

With every key that Ezio found, he found himself reliving a significant moment of Altaïr's life, which the Syrian Assassin had encocded onto the key during his own lifetime. In time, Ezio recovered all five keys, including the one which the Templars had in their possession and with them, returned to Masyaf in order to open the library. Inside, he found no books or weapons as he and his Templar enemies had believed they would find, but the skeleton of Altaïr holding a sixth and final key, showing the final moments Altaïr's life; revealing the fact that Ezio's Apple and Altaïr's were not one and the same, as he had previously believed.

Other Seals

In 1511, Egyptian Assassins found a collection of Memory Seals in Alexandria, which they managed to retrieve with help from Ottoman Assassins sent by Ezio Auditore.

Trivia

• The markings on Memory Seals are similar, if not identical, to a symbol shown in the Vatican Vault at the end of Assassin's Creed II. When Minerva speaks of the Temples, she shows Ezio an image of a step pyramid, above which is a symbol resembling one of the keys.

Gallery

• Ezio with the Keys of Altaïr he has collected so far.
  Ezio with the Keys of Altaïr he has collected so far.
• Ezio and Yusuf gaze at a Masyaf key.
  Ezio and Yusuf gaze at a Masyaf key.
• 
  Concept art of the keys by Martin Deschambault.