Raid

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The Viking Eivor Varinsdottir leading a raid of a monastery in England

A raid is a military operation on an enemy position where the purpose is not to capture and hold territory but to quickly achieve a tactical objective and withdraw before the enemy has a chance to respond.

Common objectives of a raid may include but are not limited to ransacking and pillaging for plunder, freeing prisoners-of-war, assassinating key individuals, destroying or sabotaging military assets, demoralizing and sowing discord in the enemy, or seizing intelligence. Raiding is a basic and universal tactic of warfare. Every belligerent from state armies to pirates and bandits, to Assassins and Templars have conducted raids.

History

Classical Era

During the Peloponnesian War, raiding was a common tactic among the Spartan and Athenian armies. Attika was raided many times by Sparta during the war. On the sea, pirates raided merchant ships to take their goods. Thugs, criminals and cults, such as the Followers of Ares and the Cult of Kosmos, raided forts, cities and villages who opposed them.

The secret Order of the Ancients led raids in Potidaia and Patrai in their quest to eliminate the "Tainted Ones", individuals with Isu and human heritage who they saw as a threat to humanity.

The Spartan misthios Kassandra led raids to weaken the national power of a region, attacking their forts by destroying weapons, stealing their national treasure, and killing high-ranking officers. Kassandra also attacked camps of thugs and cults in Greece and was sometimes hired by governments or individuals to perform these actions.

During the end of the Ptolemaic Kingdom, bandits and criminals, like the Hungry Great Ones or the Son of Ra's followers, attacked the isolated villages of Egypt. The Order of the Ancient also used these tactics to cement their power. The Medjay Bayek of Siwa intervened many times to stop these raids.

Bayek also organized some raids himself, infiltrating military or bandit camps to kill their leaders, take some pieces of equipment, and liberate prisoners. Rebels raided soldier and bandit strongholds as a way to protest against injustice, such as the Sinai rebels led by Gamilat, who fought against the Roman occupation of the peninsula.

Viking Age

During the Dark Ages, Norse seafarers known as Vikings led many raids across Northern Europe. One of the first recorded raids was at Lindisfarne, an island off the northeast coast of England.

During the 9th century, the Vikings continued to raid England. Among them, the Norse Eivor Varinsdottir led raids with other Vikings to develop her community of Ravensthorpe in Leicestershire.

Renaissance

During the Reconquista, the Spanish Brotherhood of Assassins raided numerous military camps, monasteries, castles, and Templar hideouts to acquire goods such as supplies and materials for upgrading their gear and headquarters, important Templar documents, or simply to assassinate high-profile targets during their fight against the Spanish Inquisition and the Spanish Rite of the Templar Order.

In Rome during the early 16th century, the Italian Assassin Ezio Auditore raided the towers set up by the House of Borgia around the city, assassinating their captains and destroying the towers, as part of his efforts to liberate Rome from the Borgia's influence.

Assassins defending one of their dens against a Templar raid

In 1511, the Byzantine Rite of the Templar Order orchestrated raids against the Assassin Dens in Constantinople in an attempt to take over the headquarters and reduce the Assassins' influence in the city. The Ottoman Brotherhood, with the aid of Ezio Auditore, repelled most of these attacks, but in the event the Templars were successful in their takeover of a den, Ezio would bring it back under Assassin control by conducting a counter-raid to eliminate the den's Templar captain.

During the late Sengoku period in Japan, the Kakushiba ikki members Fujibayashi Naoe and Yasuke raided outposts and castles to assassinate their targets who were stationed there or to procure goods like new pieces of gear or materials for renovating their hideout.

Golden Age of Piracy

In the Caribbean Sea, pirates and privateers raided ships and cities, taking goods and gold to enrich themself or the Crown. One of the most famous raids of the period was the sack of Panama City by the privateer Henry Morgan in 1671.

During the early 18th century, the Caribbean Templars discovered the locations of the hidden bases belonging to their nemesis, the Caribbean Assassins. Between 1716 and 1721, they launched many raids on their headquarters in Tulum and their bureaus across the Caribbean, but all the attacks were ultimately repelled.

The pirate captain and later Assassin Edward Kenway led raids on the plantations of the late Peter Beckford, taking plunder, cloth, metal, and wood to upgrade his ship, the Jackdaw, while sugar and rum would be sold for high profit. He also boarded ships containing precious cargo such as gold.

In West Africa, slavers raided villages to capture new slaves and send them to the Americas. At the start of the 18th century, the British Assassin Omar Khaled led raids on slave ships to liberate their prisoners. In the Caribbean, some slaves such as Cudjoe succeeded in escaping from their captivity, forming the Maroons movement. They raided plantations to free slaves and take revenge on their former masters. The Assassins Antó, Adéwalé and François Mackandal participated in many raids to free slaves, inspiring the Maroon rebellion.

Raids were also common in Southeast Asia during this period. In 1725, Shimazu clan ninja led by the Japanese Templar and samurai Shimazu Saito raided the Mandarin's House, a mansion complex in Macau, to assassinate the merchant Madam Lee and recover a sea log in her possession, though they only succeeded in the latter task due to Edward Kenway's interference. One of Madam Lee's business rivals, Sun, was known to regularly employ pirates to raid his rival's ships, though one of these attacks was foiled by Edward and his ally John Young, who captured the pirates' captain, Mustafa.

Japanese mercenaries raiding a Filipino village

Edward himself participated in several raids, infiltrating Sun's floating gambling hall to recover the sea log given to him by Saito, at the same time as Fuma Sukuna and his men, and the Chinese Assassins led by Xiao Han, who sought the same prize. He also led a raid on Monkey Island's fort to liberate the prisoners held by Rajah's men, and infiltrated Fort San Pedro in Cebu to confront Rajah and recover the crescent amulet in his possession.

Elsewhere in the Philippines, the Japanese mercenary Nagamasa and his men conducted raids on numerous villages after being hired by Fuma Sukuna to search for the amulet. During one of their attacks, the mercenaries faced unexpected resistance from Saito and other members of the Zhang Wei Union, leading to their defeat and capture, whereupon they were convinced by Saito to join forces with the Union.

Colonial America

During the Seven Years' War, the former Colonial Assassin Shay Cormac allied with the Colonial Templars. As the Templars sided with the British Empire in the war, Shay raided French warehouses to steal resources like wood, metal, and cloth to upgrade his ship, the Morrigan, while he used the stone to renovate buildings throughout the colonies. Shay also boarded many French ships, taking their cargo and freeing prisoners of war.

During the late 18th century in the Louisiana Bayou, the Louisianan Assassin Aveline de Grandpré raided camps held by Baptiste's Acolytes to eliminate them, assuring the control of the bayou to the smugglers Élise Lafleur and Roussillon.

In the Frontier, native villages were raided by colonist forces as a preventive action before they allied with their enemies. The village of Kanatahséton was raided and burned in 1760 by a British army led by George Washington. In 1778, Washington, then Commander of the Continental Army, ordered the raid of Kanatahséton as he had information that they allied with the British during the American Revolutionary War. The Assassin and member of the village, Ratonhnhaké:ton, killed the messengers before the orders could reach the army. In 1779, the Sullivan Expedition raided many native villages.

French Revolution

With the blooming of the French Revolution, many public mobs resorted to rioting and raiding strategic buildings. Some tried to gather food, raiding markets and bakeries, others wanted weapons and gunpowder, as was the case during the Storming of the Bastille. Raiding was also used by the sans-culottes as a way to weigh in on political decisions, such as the Women's March on Versailles or the attack on the Tuileries Palace. During the September Massacres, the prisons of Paris were raided by extremist revolutionaries who killed the prisoners, as they feared they were preparing a plot against the Republic. During the Thermidorian Reaction, the National Convention raided the Hôtel de Ville to capture Maximilien de Robespierre, who was executed the following day, ending the Reign of Terror. The Parisian Assassins then organized a raid and eliminated the Jacobins who were allied with the radical faction of the French Templars, the true architects of the Terror.

Revolutionaries raiding the Tuileries Palace

With the fall of the monarchy, the nobility held no more power in France, and criminals took advantage of the chaos to pillage palaces and hôtels-particuliers. Versailles was the most affected by these actions, losing half of its population. In Paris, the Templars organized the smuggling of religious relics, while in Saint-Denis, raiders stole many relics from the Basilica of Saint-Denis and its abbey after the Convention ordered the destruction of the royal necropolis. With the increase of vandalism on monuments, such as the Notre-Dame, the archaeologist Alexandre Lenoir wanted to protect historic monuments, objects, and properties of France and created a museum to secure artifacts.

Victorian Era

In 1868, London was in the middle of a gang war between the Blighters, allied with the British Templars, and the Rooks, led by the twin Assassins Jacob and Evie Frye. The Assassins and their gangs often raided the Blighters' carriages, steamboats, and trains to steal or sabotage their resources. They also liberated child laborers in their factories and attacked gang strongholds to break their power.

During the Autumn of Terror in 1888, Whitechapel and the City of London were under the grip of the rogue Assassin Jack the Ripper and the corrupted Rooks. Evie Frye launched raids on the Rooks' brothels to liberate the prostitutes who were held hostage. She also closed the Rooks' fight clubs and foiled their operations through the city by hijacking their cargo.

Modern times

On 30 June 1908, a team of Russian Assassins raided a research facility in Tunguska to recover the Imperial Sceptre, a Staff of Eden the Templars were experimenting on. Although Nikolai Orelov succeeded in reaching the Staff, the artifact was hit by a burst of electricity released by the Assassins' ally, Nikola Tesla, resulting in an explosion that destroyed the Staff and the entire facility.

During World War I, Germany conducted air raids over London, but one of their attacks in 1916 was repelled by the Assassin Lydia Frye at Winston Churchill's behest, using an anti-aircraft gun. That same year, Lydia and Churchill's men raided a hideout used by the Instruments of the First Will to eliminate the cult's local leader, a Sage known only as the "Master Spy".

German planes carrying out air raids over London

During World War II, Germany again carried out air raids over the United Kingdom, known as "the Blitz". During the initial bombings in September 1940, the family of Eddie Gorm was killed, leading him to join the Assassins. On 27 February 1943, Gorm raided the Vemork hydroelectric power plant in Norway to eliminate the Templar Gero Kramer and end his secret project, Die Glocke. However, Gorm was overpowered by Kramer and strapped to Die Glocke, before Allied forces raided the plant and rescued him. Months later, on 15 July, Gorm and his fellow Assassin Julia Dusk raided Książ Castle in Poland, where they killed Kramer and recovered his Apple of Eden while their superior, Boris Pash, led a separate raid on an Abstergo Industries bunker underneath the castle to seize its contents.

During the Great Purge engineered by Abstergo, Templar agents raided numerous Assassin compounds across the world, such as the one on Kyushu Island, Japan, eliminating their inhabitants or capturing them for use in the Animus Project.

On 7 September 2012, a group of Assassins unsuccessfully raided the Animus Project laboratory in Rome to try and rescue Desmond Miles from Abstergo's captivity. Following Desmond's escape with the help of Lucy Stillman, Abstergo agents led by Warren Vidic discovered and attacked their hideout, but were defeated by the Assassins and forced to retreat. Later, on 14 December, Desmond returned to the Animus Project laboratory to rescue his captive father, William Miles, and fought through the security guards, as well as the Templar Daniel Cross, before using his Apple of Eden to force Vidic's guards to kill him and themselves, allowing Desmond and William to escape the facility.

In 2013, the Japanese Assassins' hideout in Osaka was raided by the Onmoraki-Gumi gang, resulting in the deaths of several Assassins, including the Mentor Kenichi Mochizuki. His wife, Saeko, took over the Osaka Brotherhood and retaliated by leading an attack against the Onmoraki-Gumi, wiping out the gang's leaders and assuming control of the organization.

In 2016, Abstergo's Team Epsilon raided an island in Argentina housing the secret headquarters of the Erudito hacking collective, killing many of the group's members. However, Erudito's leaders and their Assassin allies all survived the raid and escaped the island. That same year, the Assassin Griffin and the teenagers Owen Meyers and Javier Mondragón raided the Abstergo complex, the Aerie, to rescue Natalya Aliyev, Sean Molloy, and Grace and David Collins, but the attack was only a partial success, as Griffin, Javier, Natalya, and David managed to escape while Sean and Grace elected to stay behind, and Owen was captured alongside Sebastian Monroe. Later, the Aerie again came under attack, this time by the rogue Templar Isaiah, who wielded the Trident of Eden, and his army of brainwashed Abstergo agents. Through their combined efforts, the teenagers managed to hold off the assault and kill Isaiah before depowering the Trident.

In October 2017, Abstergo's Sigma Team raided a hotel room in Egypt and the Hotep Cavern to eliminate rogue Abstergo employees Deanna Geary and Layla Hassan; while Deanna was killed, Layla successfully dealt with her assailants. The following year, Sigma Team raided the Altaïr II, which was docked near Santorini, Greece, where the Assassins had found the lost Isu city of Atlantis. However, Kiyoshi Takakura single-handedly dispatched all the attacking operatives, while the few Templars who managed to reach the Great Seal to Atlantis were defeated by Layla.

Doom Eagle raiding the Abstergo ship

In 2023, Doom Eagle, a criminal organization led by the Assassin Nathan Zhang, raided an Abstergo diving bell ship near the Strait of Malacca in order to rescue Animus test subject Noa Kim, the Templar turncoat Shimazu Sei, and her bodyguard Yuki. After Sigma Team discovered and raided their hideout in Singapore, the group relocated to Yangon, Myanmar, where they attempted to retrieve a Piece of Eden from the Shwedagon Pagoda to cure Noa's Bleeding Effect. However, Sigma Team tracked them down again and raided the pagoda, engaging in a shootout against Nathan, his men, and Yuki, while Noa and Sei escaped the temple with the artifact.

After Noa and Nathan managed to flee Yangon with the Piece of Eden following Yuki's death and Sei's capture, they sought refuge on an uncharted island. However, Sigma Team eventually discovered their whereabouts and raided the hideout. Noa saved Nathan from being killed by the operatives, and they were both rescued by a team of Assassins sent by Nathan's sister Claire Zhang, who dealt with Sigma Team and helped the pair escape the island on their speedboat.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed II
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
• Assassin's Creed: The Fall
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations
• Assassin's Creed: The Chain
• Assassin's Creed III
• Assassin's Creed III: Liberation
• Assassin's Creed: Initiates
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
  • Freedom Cry
• Assassin's Creed: Rogue
• Assassin's Creed: Unity
  • Dead Kings
• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
  • Jack the Ripper
• Assassin's Creed (Titan Comics)
• Assassin's Creed: Conspiracies
• Assassin's Creed: Last Descendants
• Assassin's Creed: Last Descendants – Tomb of the Khan
• Assassin's Creed: Last Descendants – Fate of the Gods
• Assassin's Creed: Origins
  • The Hidden Ones
• Assassin's Creed: Rebellion
• Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
  • Legacy of the First Blade
• Echoes of History (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Bloodstone
• Assassin's Creed: Gold
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
  • The Siege of Paris
  • Dawn of Ragnarök
• Discovery Tour: Viking Age
• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple
• Assassin's Creed: Shadows