Shay Cormac

"I am Shay Patrick Cormac. Templar of the Colonial... of the American Rite. I am an older man now, and perhaps wiser. A war and a revolution have ended, and another is about to begin. May the Father of Understanding guide us all."

―Shay Cormac reflecting on his allegiance to the Templar Order, 1776.

Shay Patrick Cormac (born 1731) was a member of the Colonial Brotherhood of Assassins, and later a Master Templar of the Colonial Rite, active during the mid-to-late 18th century. He is an ancestor of the 21st century Assassin Javier Mondragón.

Born to Irish immigrants in New York City, Shay lost his parents at an early age and was brought into the Colonial Brotherhood by his childhood friend Liam O'Brien, where the two served under the Mentor Achilles Davenport. Shay was looked down upon by most senior members of the Brotherhood, in part due to his tendency to disobey orders and question the nature of their conflict with the Templars.

In 1752, Shay became the captain of his own sloop-of-war, the Morrigan, and was tasked with the retrieval of two Isu artifacts from the Templars: a Precursor box and the Voynich manuscript. Shay was successful in his mission, which allowed the Assassins to learn the locations of several Isu temples. Sent to investigate one such site in Lisbon, Shay inadvertently triggered a massive earthquake when he removed the temple's artifact, leaving thousands dead or homeless.

Wracked with guilt and his faith in the Brotherhood shattered, Shay resolved to prevent the Assassins from finding more temples by stealing the Voynich manuscript. However, he was caught by his former brothers and sisters and fell into the ocean after being shot. The unconscious and wounded Shay was soon found and rescued by the Templar George Monro, who left him in the care of Barry and Cassidy Finnegan in New York.

Upon recovering, Shay met Monro and his fellow Templar Christopher Gist and began working with them to reclaim the Morrigan and bring down the Assassin-allied gangs of the city. After Monro was killed by Liam in the aftermath of the Siege of Fort William Henry, Shay was inducted into the Templar Order, working with Grand Master Haytham Kenway to help the British Empire win the Seven Years' War and destroy the Colonial Assassins by hunting down his former comrades.

In 1760, a final confrontation in the Arctic left Liam dead, Achilles crippled and without followers, and the Voynich manuscript in the Templars' possession. Shay would then spend the next sixteen years searching for the Precursor box, eventually leading him to Versailles, France, where he killed the Assassin Charles Dorian and reclaimed the artifact in 1776.

In his later life, Shay continued to serve the Templar cause by searching for more Isu artifacts on the Order's behalf, and trained both his son and grandson in the Templar ways. The date and circumstances of his death are unknown.

Biography

Early life

Shay Cormac was born on 12 September 1731 in New York City, to a family of Irish immigrants from Dublin. His mother died during childbirth, and his father was often absent from home due to his employment in the merchant marine, leaving Shay to be raised by his aunt. Living in a rough part of the city, Shay often found himself in trouble, but was constantly protected by his closest friend, Liam O'Brien.

Eventually, Shay joined his father at sea, and although he missed the company of his friend, he eagerly began training in marksmanship and swordsmanship, even going as far to face down and shoot an attacking pirate captain, saving his father's ship. However, tragedy struck in 1747, when a fierce storm claimed the lives of Shay's father and several crew members.

Joining the Assassins

Shay: "I make my own luck, Liam."

Liam: "Ah, you've been saying that for years, but you've precious little to show for it. Or have you been spending it all getting out of trouble?"

Shay: "Well you know, trouble just follows me around."

—Shay and Liam, 1752.

Shattered and desolate, Shay wandered New York's streets, picking fights in taverns, until he was helped once again by Liam, who managed to get his friend back on his feet. Liam, who had since joined the Assassins, introduced Shay to his Mentor, Achilles Davenport, and inducted him into the Colonial Brotherhood not long after. Over the next four years, Shay devoted himself to the Order and the Creed while training under his fellow recruits Hope Jensen, Chevalier de la Vérendrye, and Kesegowaase.

Although Shay served dutifully, he still pondered the ambiguous areas between the motives of the Assassins and those of the Templars, their sworn enemies. Over time, he began voicing these doubts, questioning Liam about the morality of the Assassins' actions and the Creed. Shay also questioned what he believed to be Achilles placing increasingly tight control over them.

Shay acquiring the Morrigan

In January 1752, Shay and Liam accompanied de la Vérendrye on a mission to Port-Menier, where de la Vérendrye was set to meet with some of his fellow smugglers. While Shay and Liam were hunting, the Royal Navy attacked de la Vérendrye's Man O' War Gerfaut, capturing his smuggler allies and leaving the Assassin stranded. Returning to camp after hearing cannon fire, Shay and Liam were subjected to de la Vérendrye's berating for their lateness. An angry de la Vérendrye then punched Shay, starting a fistfight between them.

After Liam broke up the fight, he handed Shay a sword and dagger and the three Assassins proceeded to silently dispatch a group of nearby British sailors in order to rescue de la Vérendrye's smugglers. Shay then commandeered the sailors' ship, a sloop-of-war called the Morrigan, which he used to sink the British vessels attacking the Gerfaut. While de la Vérendrye returned to his vessel, Shay opted to keep the Morrigan and make it his flagship, a decision supported by his fellow Assassins. He, Liam and de la Vérendrye then sailed back to the Davenport Homestead, the headquarters of the Colonial Assassins, to report to Achilles.

Search for the artifacts

Shay: "Achilles doesn't really trust me, does he?"

Liam: "Give it time, Shay. Do this for him—for us—and you'll do much more than earn his trust."

—Shay and Liam discussing Achilles and their mission, 1752.

Achilles telling Shay about the Precursor sites

Two months later, at the Homestead, Shay and Liam witnessed the arrival of Adéwalé, a member of the West Indies Brotherhood, who came to speak with Achilles about an earthquake that had destroyed the city of Port-au-Prince during the Assassins' search for an Isu temple. While Adéwalé and Achilles talked, Shay trained under the guidance of Liam, Hope and Kesegowaase, refining his marksmanship, combat, stealth and hunting skills.

Following Adéwalé's departure, Achilles informed Shay of the Templars' theft of two Isu artifacts from the Saint-Domingue Brotherhood: a Precursor box and the Voynich manuscript. Shay was then tasked by the Mentor with recovering the stolen artifacts, while Liam was tasked with supervising Shay during his mission and joined him aboard the Morrigan as his quartermaster.

Shay and Liam first sailed to Port la Joye to meet with de la Vérendrye, who claimed to have a lead on the artifacts' location. During the voyage, Shay lamented that Achilles had no trust in him, but Liam assured him that, if he succeeded in this mission, he would have more than proven himself to the Brotherhood. After picking up de la Vérendrye, he told Shay about his contact, the smuggler and Assassin ally Le Chasseur, who was located on Anticosti Island.

Shay and the others discussing Lawrence Washington

En route to Anticosti, Liam spotted a British schooner under attack by French gunboats, and Shay decided to help the Assassins' French allies, disabling the schooner and using the resources looted to upgrade the Morrigan. Arriving at Anticosti shortly after, the Assassins met with Le Chasseur, who informed them that the Precursor box and the Voynich manuscript were in the possession of the Master Templar Lawrence Washington.

With this information, Shay and Liam left Anticosti and sailed to Two Bends in the River Valley to report to Achilles, Hope and Kesegowaase. After Hope revealed that her spies had learned Washington was expecting a package, Shay and Liam decided to tail the ship carrying the package in the hopes it would lead them to Washington.

Washington's assassination

"The sickly way that man looked, he would have been dead in a month anyway."

―Shay voicing his doubts about having taken Lawrence Washington's life, 1752.

Following the ship to Mount Vernon, Shay disembarked the Morrigan to continue his pursuit on foot and eventually intercepted Washington's package: an air rifle. Taking the rifle for himself, Shay used it to silently infiltrate Washington's estate, where he spied on a meeting between him and three of his fellow Templars: Samuel Smith, James Wardrop and Jack Weeks.

Shay with the dying Lawrence Washington

During the meeting, Washington assigned Smith and Wardrop to guard the box and the manuscript, respectively, and revealed that he was suffering from a terminal case of tuberculosis. After the other Templars left, Shay approached Washington as he was walking about the grounds of his manor in the midst of a party, and assassinated him.

With his dying words, Washington thanked Shay for ending his suffering, which left the Assassin feeling extremely uneasy. He later voiced these thoughts to Liam after they escaped the Templars' fleet, which had attacked the Morrigan. Liam assured his friend that killing Washington had been the right thing to do, as his death was sure to sow chaos among the Templars.

Recovering the relics

Shay: "When Achilles said whoever had the artifacts could access sites of great power, what did he mean?"

Liam: "I'm not sure I understand it myself, Shay. I had a long talk with Adéwalé about that. He believes the Box can be activated to, well, project words or images..."

—Shay and Liam discussing the Pieces of Eden, 1754.

Shay and Liam spent the following months unsuccessfully trying to locate the Precursor box and the Voynich manuscript. During this time, Achilles' wife and son passed away, and Shay bore witness to how much the loss affected the Mentor, seeing him cry at one point.

Shay holding the Precursor box recovered from Samuel Smith

Eventually, in April 1754, Shay and Liam received a lead on Samuel Smith's whereabouts from Le Chasseur, who also provided them with Puckle guns for the Morrigan. The Assassins quickly made use of the new weapons, engaging Smith's schooner, the Equitas. Although the Templar led the Morrigan into a skirmish and attempted to deter the pursuers with burning oil, Shay gave chase and eventually assassinated Smith at his camp in Terra Nova, recovering the Precursor box.

Three months later, as tensions between the French and British forces in the colonies escalated to the brink of war, Shay and Liam traveled to Albany to meet with Hope for information on James Wardrop and the Voynich manuscript. After Hope revealed that Wardrop was in the city, Shay attended the Albany Congress in the hopes of learning his location.

Eavesdropping on a conversation between Benjamin Franklin and the Templar William Johnson, Shay learned that Wardrop had taken refuge in Fort Frederick. He subsequently infiltrated the fort and assassinated Wardrop, taking the manuscript from him despite the Templar's warnings that he was endangering the world.

Hope and Shay examining the map

With both the Precursor box and the manuscript in-hand, Shay regrouped with Hope and the two Assassins, posing as associates of Johnson, enlisted the aid of Franklin to activate the box. Learning that Franklin was unable to carry out his experiment due to his lightning rods having been confiscated by the authorities, Shay went to retrieve them from a warehouse.

Following Shay's return, Franklin conducted his experiment, using the rods to direct electricity into the box. Upon a third lightning strike, the artifact activated, displaying a holographic map of the world that revealed the locations of several Isu temples. Shay recognized one of the places shown to be in Lisbon, Portugal, and later relayed this information to Achilles.

Disaster in Lisbon

"So what's the next city you want me to smite?! What happened in Haiti happened in Portugal. A great earthquake. Thousands dead, thanks to your damned Manuscript!"

―Shay confronting Achilles following his return from Lisbon, 1756.

The artifact disintegrating in Shay's hands

Tasked by Achilles with investigating the Lisbon Temple and retrieving any Pieces of Eden it housed, Shay left the Morrigan in the care of the Assassins and boarded a ship bound for Europe. Arriving in Lisbon on 1 November 1755, he immediately set out for the Carmo Convent, where he believed the Temple to be located. While the priest conducted mass inside, Shay activated several mechanisms at the convent's apex, opening a passage to the Temple hidden beneath.

As Shay entered the Temple, he found that it contained a shining, star-shaped artifact suspended above a pedestal, and promptly removed it from its place. However, disturbing the artifact from its stationary position caused it to disintegrate, and triggered a massive earthquake.

Escaping the Temple before it collapsed, Shay hurriedly made his way back to the harbor, all the while the buildings around him were destroyed by the earthquake, killing thousands of civilians in the process. In a swift but fortunate motion, Shay was able to make his escape and leap into the sea; he then swam back to his ship and sailed for the Thirteen Colonies.

Abandoning the Brotherhood

Shay: "Achilles. I have to do this."

Achilles: "And what is it you're doing exactly? Stealing from your Brothers? Betraying me?"

Shay: "Someone must make amends."

—Achilles confronting Shay after his theft of the Voynich manuscript, 1756.

The Assassins arguing with Shay

Upon his return to the Davenport Homestead, Shay, still traumatized by Lisbon's destruction, which he blamed himself for, angrily confronted Achilles in his study. Realizing that the 1751 Port-Au-Prince earthquake had also been caused by the Assassins' disruption of an Isu temple, Shay accused Achilles of knowing the consequences of meddling with these sites and sending him to slaughter innocents.

Although Achilles denied the accusations, Shay refused to calm down and had to be forcefully removed from the manor by Liam and Hope. After a few hours passed, Shay, upon reflecting on everything that had happened, decided he could no longer serve under a man who would brush off such destruction and loss of life. Thus, he resolved to put an end to the Assassins' search for Isu temples by stealing the Voynich manuscript.

Sneaking into the Davenport manor at night, Shay made his way to Achilles' study and retrieved the manuscript. However, the Mentor caught him in the act and confronted him, prompting Shay to explain that he was putting an end to the Brotherhood's "mad grab for power". In response, Achiles attacked Shay, to prevent him from destroying everything the Assassins had built, and during the ensuing struggle, Shay was thrown outside the manor through a broken window.

Shay falling into the bay

With the Assassins hunting him across the Homestead grounds, Shay made his way to a cliff overlooking the bay, but was cornered by the remaining members of the Brotherhood. As he attempted to leap into the water below, one of the Assassins shot Shay in the left shoulder from behind, causing him to fall off the ledge; Shay was led to believe that it was Liam who had shot him.

Due to this turn of events, the Assassins believed Shay to be dead and the Voynich manuscript lost, though in reality Shay survived his gunshot wound and fall into the ocean, albeit heavily wounded. His unconscious body was later found by men working for Colonel George Monro, a Templar, who took the manuscript and left Shay in the care of Barry and Cassidy Finnegan in New York.

Meeting the Templars

Shay: "You redcoats are nothing but landlords. The townsfolk here are grinding away, trying to make a living."

Monro: "I cannot blame you for having that impression. Some of my comrades have been less than helpful. But I take a different approach."

Shay: "And what is that?"

Monro: "I care. I want to see these colonists safe and prosperous."

—Shay and George Monro's first meeting, 1756.

The Finnegans aiding the wounded Shay

By June 1756, Shay had made a full recovery and was finally able to get out of bed, thanking the Finnegans for nursing him back to health. At that moment, however, Barry and Cassidy's home was broken into by members of a local criminal gang who sought to extort them for money. Despite his injuries, Shay came to the couple's rescue and defeated the bandits.

As Shay's clothes had been ruined during his fall, Cassidy presented him with an outfit that had belonged to the Finnegans' late son, while Barry returned Shay's weapons to him. Before leaving the house, Shay inquired about the Voynich manuscript, to which Barry told him that he had no book on him when he was brought to their home, leading Shay to assume that the manuscript lay at the bottom of the ocean.

Learning that the gang members who had attacked the Finnegans also terrorized the districts' other residents, Shay set about putting an end to their operations. After interrogating a gang member, he learned where the gang's hideout was located and infiltrated it. He cut down the gang's flag and killed their leader, driving the criminals out of the district and restoring order.

George Monro introducing himself to Shay

Shortly after, Shay was approached by George Monro, who introduced himself as a friend of the Finnegans and thanked him for removing the gang members, as he had planned on doing so himself. He then invited Shay to join him for a walk, during which he revealed that the Finnegans' son had "worked" for him and subtly explained some Templar philosophy to Shay. Although Monro was careful not to reveal his true allegiance, Shay already suspected the Colonel to be a Templar.

Fighting the gangs

Monro: "That should discourage those miscreants. New York is safe, for now."

Shay: "With all due respect, Colonel, it's going to take more than a few explosions to get rid of this kind of trouble."

—Shay and Monro, following the destruction of the gangs' factory, 1756.

When Shay later returned to the Finnegans' home to discuss his next move in his fight against the gangs with Monro, the Colonel asked him to rescue his ally Christopher Gist, who was being held captive by gang members at Fort Arsenal. Shay prevented the bandits from executing Gist and, with his help, defeated all the gang members present before deciding to take their headquarters as his own.

Shay accepting Christopher Gist as his first mate

Following this, Shay noticed a ship anchored near his new home, which he discovered, to his surprise, to be his own former vessel, the Morrigan. Gist suggested reclaiming the ship, and helped Shay eliminate the remaining gang members in the area, as well as the Assassin stalkers who worked with them. He then gathered his allies in the neighborhood to crew the Morrigan, and applied for the position of the vessel's first mate, an offer which Shay readily accepted.

With his new crew, Shay sailed to Albany to meet Monro, who informed him and Gist of a nearby French fort that posed a potential threat to the region's safety. After raiding a nearby warehouse to gain the items necessary to reinforce the Morrigan, Shay attacked the fort and destroyed its defenses. He then fought his way through the compound until reaching the war room, where he found Le Chasseur, armed and waiting for him.

Despite Shay's reluctance to kill Le Chasseur, he could not allow the smuggler to inform the Assassins of his survival and so the two engaged in a duel, which the former ultimately won. With his dying words, Le Chasseur told Shay that he had been supplying the gangs in New York with poisonous gases, which the Assassins intended to use against the colonial authorities. Determined to stop the criminals, Shay headed back to the city.

Franklin giving the prototype grenade launcher to Shay

Finding Monro once again, Shay shared what he had learned with the Colonel, who in turn told him that a certain woman had been directing criminal operations in the city, including the production of large batches of poison which was to be used against the civilian population. Monro also told Shay that Benjamin Franklin was developing certain weapons for the unknown woman, and suggested that Shay visit the inventor.

Franklin was surprised to see Shay when he arrived, but did not question him when Shay claimed to have come to collect the results of Franklin's experiments. To this, Franklin gave him a prototype grenade launcher, which Shay used to destroy the compressors containing poisonous gas in the industrial district and halt the production completely.

Shay destroying the factory with the grenade launcher

After finishing the task, Shay met with Monro and Gist on a nearby rooftop, where they agreed that Shay's actions had saved countless lives. While they observed the destroyed factory, Jack Weeks and William Johnson joined them and congratulated Shay on his work, before the group went to a nearby tavern to celebrate their success. Over the course of the next year, Shay assisted Monro, and by extension the Templars, in a variety of ways, proving himself a worthy candidate to recruit into the ranks of the Order.

Siege of Fort William Henry

Monro: "You continue to prove your loyalty to the Templars, Master Cormac. Risking your life for me..."

Shay: "We're not out of the woods yet, Colonel. As for my loyalty... Well, I do owe you, don't I? You... saved my life... gave me a second chance."

—Shay and Monro, following the Siege of Fort William Henry, 1757.

In August 1757, Shay received a package from Monro. Inside, he found the Voynich manuscript and a letter from the Colonel, in which he explained that he had been aware of Shay's former allegiance to the Assassins from the moment his men had rescued him. Monro also told Shay about his mission from the Grand Master of the Colonial Templars to decode the manuscript, a task he had failed to accomplish and which he hoped Shay would be able to help him with.

Shay escorting Monro and his men

Learning about Monro's assignment to Fort William Henry and the dire conditions the Colonel faced there, Shay sailed to Marais Rocheux to meet with Jack Weeks. The Templar told Shay that an alliance between the French Army and the Abenaki threatened the safety of the fort, and that William Johnson's reinforcements had never arrived to assist Monro's troops, forcing them to surrender. Suspecting Kesegowaase to be involved in the alliance, Shay decided to protect Monro and his men as they evacuated the fort.

During the evacuation, Monro's troops came under attack by French soldiers and Assassin stalkers, but Shay was able to dispatch them, saving the Colonel's life. He then escorted him and his men to the safety of the Morrigan, but as the ship cast off, Kesegowaase appeared on shore, enraged that Shay had survived and allied himself with the Templars. Before the Assassin could leap onto the Morrigan's deck, Weeks threw a barrel of gunpowder onto the dock, which Shay detonated with a gunshot, scarring Kesegowaase's face.

Having saved Monro, Shay turned his attention to Johnson's regiment beset by French forces, and the Oneida tribe whose village had been attacked and captured by Assassin-allied gang members. Shay managed to assist both parties, strengthening Monro's army and allowing the Colonel to travel back to Albany. Shay also decided to return the Voynich manuscript to Monro, believing that now that the Assassins were aware of his survival, he was a bigger target than the Colonel.

Shay questioning Kesegowaase

Some time later, Shay arrived in Albany to find the city under siege by the French Army and their native allies. Making his way through the town, Shay reached the fort as Monro fought off a wave of attackers. Spotting Kesegowaase, Shay chased and dueled the Assassin, mortally wounding him with a mounted Puckle gun. As Kesegowaase died, he scorned Shay's conversion to the Templars, claiming that his new allies would ultimately fail and that Liam had alread killed Monro.

Fearing for the Colonel's life, Shay made his way to the docks and was told by Monro's soldiers that their commander was trapped inside, to which Shay ran into the burning building and carried a wounded Monro outside. In his final moments, the Colonel told Shay that Liam had taken the Voynich manuscript, before removing his Templar ring and giving it to Shay, trusting him to continue his work within the Order.

Hunting the Assassins

"Colonel Monro spoke highly of you, Shay. He was convinced you could become the best among us. I expect you will not disappoint."

―Haytham Kenway, following Shay's induction into the Templar Order, 1758.

Shay's induction into the Templar Order

In 1758, Shay returned to Fort Arsenal in New York, where he was inducted into the Colonial Rite by its Grand Master, Haytham Kenway, with Christopher Gist, Jack Weeks, William Johnson and Charles Lee present at the ceremony. Afterwards, Shay informed Haytham of the Assassins' search for the Isu temples and his belief that Achilles would recklessly endanger innocent lives through his pursuit of the Pieces of Eden.

In June, Shay traveled to the North Atlantic to meet with a Royal Navy captain, James Cook, and was given leave to use Cook's Man O' War, the HMS Pembroke, to halt the advance of the French Navy at the Siege of Louisbourg. During the battle, Adéwalé aided the French with his brig, the Experto Crede, by leading several fireships towards the Pembroke. Shay followed Gist's advice to focus on the fireships, allowing the Experto Crede to slip away, just as the Royal Navy arrived to combat the French forces.

Following the decisive British victory at Louisbourg, the Templars could focus their efforts on hunting down the Assassins, beginning with Adéwalé. After several months, Shay and Haytham managed to locate the Assassin in the River Valley and, following a brief engagement, forced him to beach the Experto Crede at Vieille Carrière. The two Templars then separated, with Haytham choosing to distract Adéwalé while Shay approached him from behind and assassinated him.

Shay spying on the Assassin meeting

In October 1759, Shay spied on a meeting between the remaining Colonial Assassins at the New York harbor, learning about their plan to replicate Benjamin Franklin's experiment with the Precursor box in order to locate more Isu temples. Determined to stop his former comrades, Shay worked with Jack Weeks to break Hope's control over the city's organized crime. To accomplish this, the pair stole gang uniforms and staged a robbery of a military outpost, in order to give the British Army a reason to fight the criminals.

Eliminating Hope

Shay: "Hope, I didn't want to do this."

Hope: "I trained you to do this. I expected nothing less."

—Shay and Hope during the latter's final moments, 1759.

After the successful heist, Shay met with Haytham, who interrogated one of Hope's men to learn the location of her mansion, just as the estate came under attack by British forces. Shay took advantage of the British assault to infiltrate the mansion and bore witness to the Assassins' successful replication of Franklin's experiment with the box. After Liam departed with the box and the Voynich manuscript, Hope detected Shay and shot out the overhead window, causing him to fall into the chamber.

Hope taking away Shay's mask

As Hope took away Shay's gas mask, she released poisonous vapors into the room to kill him and made her escape. Shay carefully navigated around the chamber to avoid the vapors and, once outside the mansion, spotted Hope, who shot him with a poison dart that affected his heart rate. To maintain his life, Shay chased Hope across the city, eventually assassinating her and taking the antidote from her body.

As Shay expressed remorse for killing her, Hope revealed that her diversion had bought the Assassins enough time to escape and commence their expedition to find the Isu temple revealed by the box. She also lamented that Shay had "wasted" his potential within the Brotherhood by joining the Templars.

Pursuing de la Vérendrye

de la Vérendrye: "So, cabbage farmer, are you still convinced the Templars are right?"

Shay: "Convinced to the end."

—Shay confronting de la Vérendrye after mortally wounding him, 1760.

In early 1760, Shay took the Morrigan out into the North Atlantic, where he and Gist met with Captain Cook once again to inquire about de la Vérendrye's whereabouts. At Cook's suggestion, Shay infiltrated the fort on Anticosti Island to steal de la Vérendrye's maps and learn where the Assassin expedition was headed. Escaping the fort with the maps, Shay returned to the Morrigan and delivered the maps to Cook, who was able to pinpoint de la Vérendrye's location.

Shay interrogating de la Vérendrye

Sailing into a snowstorm, the Morrigan was ambushed by de la Vérendrye's fleet, but Shay was able to sink the enemy vessels. He then boarded the Gerfaut and engaged de la Vérendrye in a duel, mortally wounding him. In his final moments, the Assassin taunted Shay and revealed that he was merely acting as a decoy for Achilles and Liam, who were already on their way to an Isu temple located in the Arctic.

Following de la Vérendrye's demise, Shay and Gist took his maps and gave them to Cook, who questioned whether the two men were part of a larger group, but mistakenly assumed that they received orders from King George II rather than a secret organization. Shay then told the captain that his patrons would contact Cook regarding the sponsoring of future voyages, and the two parted ways.

Confrontation in the Arctic

"Achilles is harmless now! A Mentor with no followers. What kind of world are we making if we cannot show mercy? Besides, he understands what these Precursor sites are now. Without him, the Assassins may continue their search."

―Shay convincing Haytham to spare Achilles' life, 1760.

Shay and Haytham approaching the Arctic Temple

Shay reported his findings to Haytham, who joined him on the voyage to the Arctic Temple to stop the Assassins' expedition. Leaving Gist behind on the Morrigan, the pair navigated through ice caves and past the gang members who accompanied Achilles and Liam. As they ventured deeper into the caverns, an ice bridge collapsed under them, separating Shay and Haytham and forcing the latter to find another way into the Temple.

Making his way past the site's ancient defense mechanisms, Shay eventually reached the heart of the Temple and was soon joined by Haytham. The two Templars then confronted Achilles and Liam, who had found the site's artifact, identical to the one encountered by Shay in Lisbon.

While Achilles admitted that he had been wrong about the artifacts, Liam condemned Shay for betraying the Brotherhood. In response, Shay accused Liam of shooting him in the back at the Davenport Homestead, but the Assassin clarified that it was de la Vérendrye who had shot Shay that day. He then prepared to fire at Shay, but was restrained by Achilles. After a brief struggle, Liam fell back onto the artifact, disturbing the Temple and triggering an earthquake. Shay pursued Liam through the collapsing caverns, while Haytham followed Achilles to a clearing outside.

Shay fighting Liam

Eventually, as the former friends fought each other, the precipice under them gave way, causing them to fall onto the ice below. Shay used Liam to break his fall, resulting in the latter being mortally wounded. With his dying breath, Liam questioned Shay's decision to betray everyone he knew and join the Templars, to which the latter claimed he had done so in order to save the world.

Upon hearing this, Liam sardonically stated that he hoped the world the Templars were trying to build was a "good one". He then succumbed to his injuries and Shay, as a final sign of respect to his oldest friend, pulled his Assassin hood over his head. On Liam's body, Shay found the Voynich manuscript and took it before heading back to find Haytham and Achilles.

Coming across the Grand Master and Mentor locked in combat, Shay witnessed Haytham best and disarm Achilles before attempting to deliver the fatal blow. Shay intervened and convinced Haytham to spare Achilles' life, arguing that the Mentor was no longer a threat with all of his followers gone and that he could warn other Assassins of the danger of the Isu temples. Haytham agreed with Shay's points, but to ensure Achilles could never again operate in the field, he crippled him with a shot to the right shin.

Haytham tasking Shay to find the Precursor box

Later, aboard the Morrigan, Haytham told Shay that Gist and the others would oversee the extermination of the remaining Assassins in the colonies. He then assigned Shay the task of recovering the Precursor box, which had been sent by the Brotherhood to Europe. When Shay remarked that it could take years to find the box, Haytham claimed that it could take an entire lifetime and asked if Shay was up for the challenge. The Templar nodded in the affirmative and embarked on his new mission.

Journey to France

Charles: "Connor and his Assassins... The American Revolution undid your Templar business."

Shay: "Then perhaps we shall start a revolution of our own."

—Shay and Charles Dorian following the latter's assassination, 1776.

By December 1776, Shay had managed to track the Precursor box to Paris, France, where he learned that it was in possession of the local Assassins and was to be entrusted to one of their members, Charles Dorian, during a meeting at the Palace of Versailles. To gain access to the palace, Shay tried to locate his old acquaintance Benjamin Franklin, who by this point served as the United States ambassador to France.

After protecting Franklin from a gang of local criminals, Shay explained that he needed to meet a "business acquaintance" at the palace, and the ambassador was able to secure his admittance to the château. Upon spotting Charles, Shay tried to follow him into the palace but was stopped by the guards, who informed him that the building was closed to visitors for the day. Finding another way into the château, Shay sneaked past the guards, as well as Charles' son Arno, who was conversing with a young girl, and eventually located the Assassin meeting.

Shay assassinating Charles Dorian

As Charles left the meeting and began to look around for his son, Shay approached the Assassin from the crowd and stabbed him with his Hidden Blade, taking the box from him. The dying Charles recognized Shay and declared that Connor's Assassins and the American Revolutionary War had thwarted the Templars' plans in the New World. In response, Shay suggested that the Order could stage a revolution of their own to restore the balance of power, then escaped the palace as Charles succumbed to his injuries.

Later life

"Never a traitor to the truth! He never betrayed the Templar Order! And he taught me how to kill vermin like you."

―Cudgel Cormac, regarding his grandfather's allegiance to the Templars, 1863.

Following his successful retrieval of the Precursor box from the French Assassins, Shay continued traveling around the world in search of more Isu artifacts for the Templar Order. Shay later conceived a son, whom he trained in the Order's ways, as he later did with his grandson. He taught them to master freerunning and Eagle Vision, which they inherited from him, and also passed down his air rifle to them. Shay remained a Templar to his death, having never betrayed the Order.

Legacy

"There will always be Assassins who are willing to abandon their cause to serve ours. Yet there is no one who embodies this idea better than Shay Cormac, and I want the Assassins to confront this painful reality."

―Juhani Otso Berg, 2014.

Shay's actions during the Seven Years' War, specifically his assassinations of many high-ranking Colonial Assassins, had a long-lasting impact on the Assassin-Templar War in the colonies. The Templars maintained dominance over the region for over a decade, while the Assassins were all but wiped out with the exception of Achilles, who was forced into seclusion at his Homestead. The Colonial Brotherhood would not regain a foothold until the arrival of Connor, who tipped the balance of power back into the Assassins' favor during the American Revolutionary War.

Shay's assassination of Charles Dorian in 1776 left the latter's son, Arno, an orphan. Arno was soon adopted by François de la Serre, the Grand Master of the French Templars, and would become embroiled in the Assassin-Templar conflict years later, joining the French Brotherhood.

The research analyst reliving a memory of Shay

Shay trained both his son and his grandson Cudgel in the Templar ways, and they went on to become prominent members of the Order's American Rite. Cudgel in particular became a proficent Assassin hunter like his grandfather, operating in New York City during the 19th century. Through Cudgel, Shay is an ancestor to Javier Mondragón, a teenager who joined the Assassin in the early 21st century.

Shay served as one of the main sources of inspiration for the Master Templar Juhani Otso Berg, who saw him as the perfect example of what a Templar should strive to be. In November 2014, Berg had a research analyst relive Shay's genetic memories at Abstergo Entertainment before uploading the Helix footage collected to the Assassins' network in order to point out his perceived flaws of their Creed and weaken their resolve. This footage was heavily altered, however, making the Colonial Assassins seem more ruthless and removing any traces of Shay's remorse towards killing his former comrades.

Personality and traits

"Life's hardest choices are the ones that force you to question your own moral code."

―Shay, regarding his ties to both the Assassins and the Templars.

Shay with his fellow Assassins

Shay was originally a brash, immature, and insubordinate young man who often did not take his role as an Assassin seriously. This was due in part to his lack of experience, but also his own brewing doubts regarding both the integrity of his fellow Assassins and the morality of the Creed itself. Shay was highly outspoken and did not shy away from pointing out the perceived hypocrisies of his fellow Assassins, especially the militant and dogmatic Chevalier de la Vérendrye, which often landed him in trouble. The above factors would gradually push him away from the Brotherhood and eventually lead to his betrayal.

Despite openly aligning with the Templars in his later life, Shay expressed remorse over having to eliminate his former comrades, particularly his teacher Hope Jensen and his close friend Liam O'Brien. He also, at least initially, took no pleasure in killing Assassins whom he was not familiar with on a personal level, such as Adéwalé. However, there were a notable exception with de la Vérendrye, who had always looked down upon Shay for his common class upbringing, and openly berated and insulted him multiple times; as such, when it came to taking his life, Shay appeared to take some satisfaction in the act.

Shay possessed a strong dislike of slavery, displaying disbelief when he learned that the French, who were allied with the Assassins at the time, were still practicing slavery in Haiti, despite attempts by François Mackandal and Adéwalé to end the practice. Similarly, Shay was deeply affected by the earthquake in Lisbon, believing that he had personally slaughtered thousands of innocent people through his disturbance of the Isu temple underneath the city. He would carry this trauma with him for the rest of his life.

Shay reasoning with Haytham to spare Achilles' life

Shay also had a sense of honor, as he disliked having to kill individuals that he deemed weak or defenseless, like Lawrence Washington and Samuel Smith, despite their allegiance to the Templars. He even reasoned with Haytham Kenway to spare the defenseless Achilles Davenport, claiming that the Templars had to set an example for the rest of humanity by knowing when to show mercy to their enemies.

Shay was determined to help those in need, as seen through the numerous property renovations commissioned by him across the North American colonies. It was through helping the British against the oppression inflicted by the French authorities and the Assassin-affiliated gangs that Shay learned to embrace the Templar ideology.

As the years went on, Shay's sense of honor and selflessness gradually gave way to a more manipulative, cold, ruthless, calculating, and somewhat twisted disposition. For instance, he showed no remorse in killing the French Assassin Charles Dorian, despite the deep trauma it caused for his young son Arn, whom Shay had encountered mere moments earlier. He also gleefully boasted of his plans to start a revolution in France, one that would claim even more innocent lives than the disaster in Lisbon had.

Shay with the dying Charles Dorian

Shay would often use his status among Templar puppets to reach his goals, which included posing as a member Royal Navy when working with James Cook, or relying on his friendship with Benjamin Franklin to gain admittance to the Palace of Versailles to kill Charles Dorian, under the pretense of "meeting a business acquaintance". However, in the latter case, it was also to repay him for saving Franklin's life. He would go on to manipulate events in the colonies and Europe with his Templar fleet and assist other Templar Rites, particularly the Louisiana Rite headed by Madeleine de L'Isle.

Shay also had characteristics of being a lone wolf, often leaving his ship and crew and spending hours exploring the Hudson River Valley as well as the North Atlantic by himself. Many Assassins later grew to fear him and branded him as a traitor, rebel, and renegade, including his former best friend Liam, and the Assassin Varius during the American Civil War, who branded Shay a traitor and the Cormacs as "Hunters".

Throughout his life, Shay carried a motto of "making his own luck", displaying his belief in personal independence and ingenuity, rather than fortune or others' actions to achieve success.

Equipment and skills

"A pity, the boy has so much potential... But so little discipline."

―Hope Jensen, regarding Shay's skills, 1752.

Shay commandeering the Morrigan

From his early life as a sailor, under the tutelage of his father, Shay was trained in swordsmanship and marksmanship. He was also tutored in terms of sailing and navigating a ship. During his youth, Shay was renowned for picking fights in local taverns where he proved to be a capable fist-fighter, being able to take down multiple opponents.

Upon joining the Assassins as a teenager, Shay's skills grew. He became a skilled swordsman to the point where he was able to dual wield weapons with great efficiency. He also became a proficient marksman and a capable freerunner, able to scale trees and cliffs almost effortlessly. He was tutored in stealth and pickpocketing by Hope Jensen. His skill as a captain was noticed by the other Assassins, with even de la Vérendrye regarding him as the second-best sailor of the Brotherhood, after himself. In terms of weaponry, Shay wielded dual Hidden Blades, a sword and parrying dagger, two flintlock pistols, rope darts, throwing knives, and smoke bombs.

Shay dual-wielding a sword and dagger

Shay became a capable hunter, having been instructed by Kesegowaase, and was able to overpower and kill dangerous animals such as wolves and bears, as well as sea creatures. In addition, Shay possessed the rare ability of Eagle Vision, which he would use to help pinpoint the locations of his enemies and targets.

In 1752, Shay acquired a prototype air rifle from a shipment intended for Lawrence Washington. The weapon proved to be a useful addition to Shay's arsenal as it could fire a variety of projectiles, including sleep, berserk, and firecracker darts. After being upgraded by Benjamin Franklin in 1756, the rifle became an even deadlier tool as it could additionally fire sleep, berserk and lethal grenades.

Shay was noted by Hope and Achilles to have great potential as an Assassin, though this was offset by his brash and laid-back attitude. Nonetheless, he was skilled enough to be entrusted with the search for the Precursor box and Voynich manuscript by Achilles, despite the latter having more experienced and disciplined subordinates at his disposal.

Shay taking aim with his air rifle

Upon joining the Templar Order, Shay became a deadly adversary. His training as an Assassin allowed him to easily snuff out all of his Assassin pursuers and defeat most of his former allies including Kesegowaase, de la Vérendrye, and even the legendary Adéwalé. As an Assassin hunter, Shay was skilled enough to counter the Assassins' signature moves, including air assassinations. To protect himself from the effects of smoke bombs and various gases, Shay usually carried a gas mask on his person.

Trivia

Etymology

• Shay's name is the anglicized form of the Gaelic Séaghdha, which means "hawk". ^{[citation needed]} His middle name comes from the Latin Patricius, meaning "nobleman". His family name is a conjoined term; mac is Gaelic for "son of", while cor has been interpreted as either "charioteer" or "raven". Interestingly, if his surname is derived from "raven", then it is similar to that of the Crows, a faction of counter-Assassin specialists from Assassin's Creed: Identity, thereby drawing a connection with his role as an Assassin hunter.
• The word "shay" is a corruption of chaise, originally from French. Alternative meanings include "liar", 'breaker of promises", "betrayer".

Equipment

• Shay's Templar attire bears similarities to the Templar armor obtained by Edward Kenway during his time in the West Indies.
• Shay's Templar outfit is adorned with several symbols, including Celtic knots, triquetras, the Templar insignia, and Yggdrasil, a ash tree in Norse mythology that was previously emblazoned on the silver medallions carried by Order of the Ancients members in England during the 9th century.
• Shay's practice of dual-wielding a sword and a dagger was also utilized by the Templar brothers Shalim and Shahar during the 12th century. According to the Scottish fencer Archibald MacGregor, dual-welding a sword and a dagger was common among Irishmen, who used two sticks, a short one in their left hand to guard with and a long one in their right, "which they manage with amazing dexterity".
• While promotional images depict Shay's Templar outfit with a hood, the outfit's in-game version does not include this feature.

Other

• Although Shay is not the first playable Templar in the series, he is the first one to serve as the main protagonist of a game, and Assassin's Creed: Rogue was marketed on this premise.
• Shay is similar to Vali cel Tradat from Assassin's Creed Revelations, as both are Assassins who were loyal to the Creed until losing faith in the Brotherhood and joining the Templars, whereupon they began hunting down their former comrades. The difference is that, while the Assassins eventually killed Vali, Shay survived all of the Brotherood's known attempts on his life.
• Although Anne Bonny's maiden name was Cormac, she possessed no relation to Shay, with the similarity in surname being purely coincidental.
• Even though Shay defected from the Assassins due to their willingness to sacrifice the lives of innocents, he himself is able to kill civilians without the Helix desynchronizing. According to Rogue's lead writer Richard Farrese, this is due to a glitch in the Animus.
• Melanie Lemay expressed interest in developing an interactive feature for the Helix based on Shay's genetic memories, like Abstergo had done for other individuals including Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Ezio Auditore, Edward Kenway and Haytham Kenway.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Rogue (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Unity (indirect mention only)
• Assassin's Creed Unity: Abstergo Entertainment – Employee Handbook (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Initiates (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed: The Official Collection
• Assassin's Creed: Last Descendants (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Rebellion (indirect mention only) (mentioned in Database entry only)

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An image gallery is available for Shay Cormac