Philadelphia, United States

This article is about a city in the United States. You may be looking for a village in Egypt.

A street in Philadelphia

Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania, United States. During the American Revolutionary War, the city housed the Continental Congress.

History

Colonial era

On 17 October 1717, pirate captain Edward Thatch sailed the Revenge and plundered the Spofford and Sea Nymph, which were departing Philadelphia. Also in the early 18th century, Philadelphia was an emerging trading center in the British colonies, with its trade attracting even Edward Kenway's pirate fleet. Around the same time, a diphtheria outbreak ravaged the city and, while it had medical supplies, food for the hospitals grew scarce until Kenway's fleet supplied rice to the those that needed it.

In 1775, the Assassin Connor visited Independence Hall with Samuel Adams, and listened to George Washington's speech following his appointment as Commander of the Continental Army. Connor almost started a fight when he realized Charles Lee was sitting behind him, but Adams stopped him by introducing Washington to Connor.

Connor and the Founding Fathers with the Declaration of Independence

A year later, Connor and his Mentor Achilles Davenport traveled to Independence Hall. Connor intended to explain to Washington the existence of the Assassins and Templars, helping him understand those who wanted to remove him, but Achilles was hesitant, believing it would distract the general. Either way, Washington had already left for New York; Connor simply watched quietly while Adams, John Hancock, and Benjamin Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence.

Modern times

In 1943, while docked in a Philadelphia shipyard, the USS Eldridge served as the site of Project Rainbow, an attempt by the Assassin Boris Pash, the Templar John von Neumann, and Nikola Tesla to travel back in time and prevent the start of World War II using Die Glocke, a proto-Animus powered by an Apple of Eden. The former Assassin Eddie Gorm infiltrated the ship and killed Tesla to sabotage the experiment before committing suicide. Despite Tesla's death, the project proceeded as planned but was ultimately a failure, only succeeding in transporting the USS Eldridge to a future state for eighteen minutes.

By 1998, Daniel Cross lived in Philadelphia. That year, he was abducted by the Assassin Hannah Mueller and taken to an Assassin camp. The two of them later returned to his apartment, where they were followed by the camp's director, Paul Bellamy. After experiencing a hallucination caused by the Bleeding Effect, Daniel attempted to escape from the two Assassins, freerunning over a couple of rooftops. Two years later, Daniel returned to Philadelphia after he unwillingly killed the Mentor of the Assassin Order. He made his way to Abstergo Industries' Philadelphia facility, where he spent time inside the Animus.

On 21 September 2012, Daniel called Warren Vidic from Philadelphia to confront him about the escape of Animus Project subject Desmond Miles, but Vidic dismissed his concerns and insisted that the situation was under control. This phone call was recorded and later collected by the hacker group Initiates and posted to their secure private network.

By 2016, Abstergo's Philadelphia facility was overseen by the Master Templar Juhani Otso Berg, who sought to locate the Koh-i-Noor, a Piece of Eden of immense power. After locating André Bolden, a member of the Bolden family which counted numerous Black Crosses that had come into contact with the artifact, Berg lured him to the Philadelphia facility on the pretense of treating his PTSD and made him relive his ancestor Jan van der Graff's memories. Despite Berg's initial deception, he and Bolden soon developed a genuine friendship, and the latter agreed to help the Master Templar investigate a mysterious group that had infiltrated Abstergo and sought the Koh-i-Noor for their own ends.

Behind the scenes

Ubisoft considered having Philadelphia as a primary location in Assassin's Creed III, but decided against it because the city's grid-like planning would have made freerunning counter-intuitive, though the city's Independence Hall does appear in-game during a cutscene.

Gallery

• 
  18th-century map of Philadelphia
• 
  The Abstergo facility in Philadelphia

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed (mentioned in email)
• Assassin's Creed: The Fall (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: The Chain
• Assassin's Creed: Initiates (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed III
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag: Blackbeard – The Lost Journal (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Templars
• Assassin's Creed: Conspiracies
• Echoes of History (mentioned only)