Assassin-Templar War

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Charles Lee: "Why do you persist...? You put us down. We rise again. You end one plot – we forge another. You try so hard... But it always ends the same. Those who know you think you mad and this is why... Even those men you sought to save have turned their backs on you. Yet you fight. You resist. Why?"

Ratonhnhaké:ton: "Because no-one else will!"

—Charles Lee and Ratonhnhaké:ton discussing the conflict between their factions, 1782.

The Assassin–Templar War is an ideological, sometime military, conflict between the Assassin Brotherhood and the Templar Order, that has spanned across the entirety of known human history. The two factions often took part in, or even precipitated, military conflict between nations to further their own agendas within their war, largely in the shadows of conventional politics.

History

Mythical origins

The origin of the conflict is believed to stem from the killing of Abel by his brother Cain, to obtain his brother's Apple of Eden. However, more plausible explanations for the start of the war can be found in the aftermath of the Human-Isu War.

Creation of the hybrids

During Isu Era, the Isu Authority in Eden launched the Project Anthropos, whose aim to create the human race as a docile slave workforce. The Isu Phanes was the first in succeeding to create humans, but as they weren't subservient, the Isu used Apples of Eden and implanted neurotransmitters into human brains to control them. However, Phanes fell in love with a female human, removing her neurotransmitter, and fled with her to Atlantis. Together, they had a daughter, Eve, the first of the hybrids, a subspecies of humans immune to Pieces of Eden and having access to the Sixth sense.

Some Isu interbred with humans, leading to a generation of hybrids. Other Isu, like Juno and Aita, feared that the human could be the doom of their civilization. In 75 010 BCE, with the hybrid Adam, Eve stole an Apple of Eden and led a war against the Isu. Ten years later, the war ended with the Great Catastrophe, destroying Earth and leaving only few survivors. Isu, hybrids and humans worked together to rebuild the world. The hybrids and humans perpetuated while the last living Isu disappeared on Earth.

Some data linked the hybrids as the ancestors of the Assassin Brotherhood, due to their capacity to resist Pieces of Eden and their Eagle Vision.

Foundation of the Order of the Ancients

The Order of the Ancients

Circa 1334 BCE, the Pharaoh of Egypt Smenkhkare founded the Order of the Ancients, a secret organization dedicated to imposing order and peace on society, as they saw humans as inherently predisposed to chaos and violence. As the Order tried to emulate the Isu civilization, who were seen as gods from different pantheons, the Pieces of Eden were a key part of their New World Order. The Ancients saw the hybrids as a heresy and a source of chaos, referencing them as Tainted Ones, and trying to eliminate them.

Antiquity

With time, the Order of the Ancients infiltrated different empires, inluencing their leaders, while some descendants of the hybrids were perceived as heroes and protector of the people.

Achaemenid Empire

For decades, the Order of Ancients had a firm grip on the Achaemenid Empire, influencing its kings. Darius I of Persia and Xerxes I of Persia led two invasions of Greece on the advice of the Order. In 480 BCE, the king Leonidas I of Sparta, a descendant of the hybrids, wielded a spear of Eden and led his troops at the Battle of Thermopylae against the Persians. Even if the king of Sparta was killed with his men at the battle, his sacrifice permitted to the Greek cities to repel the Persians at the Battle of Salamis.

Artabanus killing Xerxes

In 464 BCE, a group composed of the Persian officials Artabanus, Amorges and Pactyas planned to assassinate the king Xerxes to protect Persia from the Order. Feigning a massive attack, Artabanus stealthly approached Xerxes and assassinated the king with a weapon of his creation, the Hidden Blade.

As Xerxes' son Artaxerxes became the new king, Artabanus feared that the Order manipulated him and decided to assassinate him. Amorges and Pactyas were against his plan and joined the Ancients to impeach this. Amorges prevented his former friend to kill the king. Artabanus fled with his family as he was tracked by the Order. This led to the deaths of his wife and children. With his last son Natakas, Artabanus hid for many years, taking the name of Darius.

Greek city-states

Pactyas dying before Natakas, Darius and Kassandra

In 429 BCE, Pactyas led the Order of Hunters in Makedonia to kill the misthios Kassandra of Sparta, deemed as a Tainted One as she was the granddaughter of Leonidas I. Burning the village of Potidaia to attract her attention, the Order was confronted by Kassandra but also Darius and his son who were hiding in the region. The three joined their forces and eliminated the Order of Hunters, killing Pactyas. After that Darius and Natakas left Makedonia.

Later, the Order of the Storm led by the hybrid Phila located Darius and Natakas in Achaia and organized a blockade. Kassandra helped them once again, destroying the fleet of the Storm and killing Phila. Together, they decided to live in the village of Dyme. Natakas and Kassandra had a son Elpidios. As Amorges discovered that, he led an attack on Dyme, killing Natakas and abducting Elpidios.

Kassandra and Darius confronting Amorges

In Messenia, the Order gave Elpidios to the Prince Darius. Kassandra and Artabanus went into Messenia and confronted the Order of Dominion. In their assault, Darius killed Amorges who revealed the location of Elpidios but warning them that he wasn't in security with Kassandra. Recovering the child, Kassandra agreed with Darius to be separate from Elpidios to protect him. Darius went in Egypt with his grandson to investigate the Order of the Ancients while Kassandra stayed in Greece.

Contestation of the Order

By 333 BCE, the Order of the Ancients allied with the Macedonian king Alexander and gave him a Staff of Eden with the Trident of Eden, permitting his conquest of Achaemenid Empire. A secret Babylonian organization saw Alexander as a great danger. One of its member Iltani poisoned Alexander, killing him in 323 BCE. She also tried to recover the Staff but it was buried with Alexander in his tomb in Alexandria.

By 221 BCE, the Order of the Ancients reached China and helped the king Qin Shi Huang to reform the first Empire of China. In 210 BCE, the individual known as Wei Yu assassinated the emperor with his spear to end his tyrannical rule.

End of the Ptolemaic Egypt

Under the Ptolemaic dynasty, the Order of the Ancients tried to unify Egypt through hellenization. As the Medjay, an elite group who protected the Pharaoh and people of the Old Kingdom, was a symbol of the Ancient Egypt, the Order wanted them eliminated.

In 70 BCE, the Ancient Raia hired the mercenary Bion to exterminate the three last bloodlines of the Medjay. After he killed the Medjay Emsaf and Hemon and their families, the last Medjay Sabu of Siwa trained his son Bayek to become a Medjay. He taught him every technic of the group, even the Leap of Faith. Bayek passed his knowledge onto his lover Aya, a descendant of Elpidios. In 56 BCE, Bion killed Sabu and kidnapped Aya, as she was pregnant of Bayek. Bayek killed Bion and Raia, protecting for a time his family from the Order.

In 51 BCE, after Ptolemy XII Auletes' death, the Order of the Ancients controlled Egypt via their puppet Pharaoh, Ptolemy XIII. Led by the Roman Proconsul of Cyrenaica Flavius Metellus, the Order had control on the royal court, the Saqqara Nome, the Faiyum Oasis and used the Gabiniani as their military force.

Alexandrine Civil War

Main article: Alexandrine Civil War

Khemu's death

In 49 BCE, the Order of the Ancient lad a war against the Queen Cleopatra as she refused to join them. The same year, the Order uncovered an Apple of Eden. Metellus and four other masked Ancients went in Siwa to open the Isu vault under the Temple of Amun. They abducted Bayek and his son Khemu to force the Medjay to open the vault. As he resisted and freed himself, a fight occurred between Bayek and Metellus, resulting in the accidental death of Khemu.

After their son's death, Bayek and Aya decided to avenge him. For a year, Bayek tracked the masked men of Siwa. His first victim was Rudjek, the nomarch of Saqqara. Returning in Siwa, Bayek discovered that the Ancient Medunamun took the control of the city as the Oracle of Amun. Bayek killed him, smashing his skull with the Apple of Eden. Meanwhile, in Alexandria, Aya entered in the service of Cleopatra and her trusty follower Apollodorus. Aya killed the Ancients Actaeon and Ktesos but she was forced to hide as the Phylakitai Gennadios, who worked for the Order, tracked her.

Bayek just after he killed Eudoros

As Aya received her ancestor's Hidden Blade from Cleopatra, she gave it to Bayek. Bayek killed Gennadios and the Royal Scribe and Ancient Eudoros, accidentally cutting his own left ring-finger with the Hidden Blade. Believing they killed all the Ancients responsible of Khemu's death, Cleopatra revealed to the couple the real purpose of the Order. Making Bayek Medjay of all Egypt, she tasked him to kill the Ancients in the region of the Nile.

During his journey, Bayek killed Taharqa who tried to rebuild the ancient city of Letopolis, inspiring fear and terror on those who oppose him as the Scarab. The Medjay also killed Khaliset who performed human sacrifices in the Isu complex under the Great Pyramid of Giza to ressucite her daughter. Bayek stopped the plots of the priest Hetepi who poisoned the city of Memphis to create the illusion of a curse and killed him. In the Faiyum, Bayek killed the nomarch Berenike who controlled the region through violence. On sea, Aya and the Captain Phoxidas sank a fleet of the Gabiniani and later secured an alliance between Cleopatra and the Roman Consul Pompey.

After their heavy loss, the Ancients planned to assassinate Cleopatra and executed Pompey in September 48 BCE. Bayek and Aya protected the Queen against Venator and killed him. As they discovered the death of Pompey, they went to Alexandria with the Queen to secure an alliance with the Roman Consul Gaius Julius Caesar. On the sea, they were attacked by Ptolemy fleet but escaped during the battle. In the Ptolemaic Royal Palace, Cleopatra became Caesar's lover, rallying him to their cause. In February 47 BCE, Aya and Bayek opened the sealed tomb of Alexander the Great for Cleopatra and Caesar. The Ancients took the Staff of Eden in Alexander's sarcophagus.

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Caesar and Cleopatra siding with the Order

Later, the Ancients with Ptolemy army besieged Alexandria. Bayek and Aya helped the Romans and fought during the Battle of the Nile. Bayek confronted the Ancient and regent Pothinus on his Elephant and killed him. Aya was tasked by Cleopatra to kill her brother, but she stopped her mission when she saw a crocodile attacked the pharaoh's boat, drowning him. As Bayek defeated the Ancient and Gabiniani leader Lucius Septimius in a duel, he was stopped by Caesar on the advice of Metellus, who secured an alliance between the Order, Caesar, and Cleopatra, giving them for a time the Staff of Eden. Bayek and Aya were dismissed by the two leaders.

Foundation of the Hidden Ones

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A dying Metellus before Bayek

Furious of their misjudgment, the couple met the allies they made on their journey: Phoxidas, Aya's cousin and poet Phanos the Younger, the High-Priest Pasherenptah and the huntress Tahira. Together they decided to form a brotherhood to fight the influence of the Ancients. As Apollodorus protected the Apple of Eden, the Ancients killed him and took the artifact. With the Staff and the Apple, Metellus and Septimius attacked Siwa, killing Bayek's friend Hepzefa and opening the vault. This activated the powers of the Apple that Metellus used to control Cyrenaica while Septimius secreted the Staff to the Order. Following the Ancients, Bayek decided to go to Cyrene to confront Metellus while Aya went to Alexandria to track Septimius. In the Temple of Mars, Bayek fought Metellus who used the powers of the Apple, but he succeeded to kill the Ancient and took the artifact.

In Alexandria, Aya met the Roman senators Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus and allied with them to fight the Order in Rome as Septimius and Caesar went there. When Bayek hid the Apple of Eden in the den under the Library of Alexandria, he discussed with his wife trying to convince her to stay in Egypt. Understanding that their cause was more valuable than their love, they broke up and officially formed the Hidden Ones, a secret organization dedicated to killing the tyrants of the world to protect human liberty.

Assassination of Caesar

Main article: Assassination of Julius Caesar

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Aya stabbing Caesar

In 46 BCE, Aya and Phoxidas were attacked by a fleet of the Ancients but were helped by the fleet of Brutus and Longinus. Arriving in Rome, the three Hidden Ones rallied other senators in their ranks. As Caesar became the dictator of the Roman Republic and the leader of the Ancients, they planned to assassinate him. On 15 March 44 BCE, Aya killed Septimius in a fight and gave the first stab at Caesar before being followed by the other senators and Brutus gave the final blow. Three days later, Aya warned Cleopatra to leave Rome and to become a good Queen for Egypt, or otherway she will kill her. Cleopatra followed her warning and dissociated with the Order.

After Caesar's death, the Order was led by his adopted son Octavianus. Allying with Marcus Antonius, he tracked the Hidden Ones responsible of Caesar's death, especially Brutus and Longinus. This led on 3 October 42 BCE to the Battle of Philippi, where Augustus and Antonius defeated the troops of Brutus and Longinus, who committed suicide.

Confrontation in Sinai

By 38 BCE, the Order of the Ancients led by the Roman General Gaius Julius Rufio took control of the region of Sinai, pillaging the monuments, temples and inspiring fear in the population. Tahira installed a bureau in Klysma Nome and helped the Nabatean revolt led by Gamilat against the Romans. After the Order killed two Hidden Ones, Bayek, then Mentor, arrived in Sinai and helped the bureau and the Nabateans. Bayek assassinated the Ancients Tacito, who executed the population, Ampelius, who blocked the economic roads, and Ptahmose, who organized the pillaging of the temples.

Rufio last moment

After this, the Order burnt the Klysma bureau and captured the Hidden Ones. Bayek was saved from crucifixion by Aya, who renamed herself Amunet. Together they liberated the other Hidden Ones but Tahira died due to her burnings. Bayek and Amunet led an attack on the Roman soldiers to reach their fleet. Bayek infiltrated Rufio ship and killed him, liberating the Sinai from the Order for a time.

Conflicts in Roman Empire

In 30 BCE, Octavianus was the de facto ruler of the Roman Republic and led a military campaign against Antonius and Cleopatra. The leader of the Ancients wanted to capture the Queen and kill Caesarion, the son she had with Caesar. Amunet infiltrated the palace and gave to her former ally poison to commit suicide and promised to protect her son, inducting Caesarion as a Hidden Ones. The Queen accepted her fate, ruining the plan of Octavius.

By 41 CE, decades after Octavianius founded the Roman Empire, the Order of the Ancients influenced the emperor Caligula, who was a bloodthirsty tyrant. The Hidden Ones Leonius and other members stabbed the emperor to death, liberating for a time the Empire from the influence of the Ancients.

Viking Age

In 975 CE, the Scandinavian iteration of the Hidden Ones poisoned the harsh King of Svealand Olof Björnsson. Their Mentor Torgny the Lawspeaker elected on the throne Olof's brother, Eric the Victorious, instead of Olof's son Styrbjörn the Strong, who was too much like his father. Taking refuge in the Kingdom of Denmark, Styrbjörn allied with the King Harald Bluetooth who was a member of the Order of the Ancients. Understanding that Styrbjörn was a descendant of the hybrids, Harald gave him the prong of Devotion to lead his army against his uncle.

Styrbjörn defeated Palnatoke, the founder of the Jomsvikings, taking the control of the faction with their former leader as his second-in-command. Circa 984 CE, the armies of Styrbjörn and Eric fought at the Battle of Fýrisvellir. The Hidden Ones Thorvald Hjaltason killed Palnatoke and recovered the prong of Devotion after Styrblörn died during the battle. To protect the artifact, Thorvald gave it to the farmer and warrior Östen Jorundsson who hid it near his house.

As public organizations

At the turning point of the 12th century, the Hidden Ones and the Order of the Ancients reorganized themselves to become public organizations. In 1090, under the leadership of Hassan-i Sabbāh, the Hidden Ones became the Assassins, installing their headquarters in the fortress of Alamut in Persia and establishing a network of strongholds. In 1129, it was the turn of the Ancients under the leadership of the abbot Bernard de Clairvaux to become the Order of the Knights Templar, a monastic-military order officially founded to protect the pilgrims and the Solomon's Temple of Jerusalem. The Templars also established a network of fortresses and a financial infrastructure in Europe and Levant.

Even if officially, the Templars sided with the Crusader states and the Assassins with the Muslim states, the two factions had members and allies on the two sides. As a result, the two factions fought more directly. In 1189, during the Third Crusade, the Assassin Haras joined the Templars and led an assault on Masyaf, the headquarters of the Levantine Brotherhood of Assassins. He captured the Mentor Al Mualim and other Assassins as hostages. Al Mualim's disciple, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, repelled the Templar attack and killed Haras, saving the Mentor who granted him the title of Master Assassin.

Quest for the Chalice

Main article: Quest for the Chalice

In 1190, the Templars attacked the Assassins fortress of Alep. Altaïr once more rescued his brothers and sisters. As the Templars tried to find the Chalice, an artifact that could unify Holy Land under their banner, Al Mualim assigned Altaïr to recover it before them. As the Chalice was locked in the hidden Temple of Sand, the Grand Master of the Templar Order Basilisk had one of the keys of the Temple. Altaïr traveled in Damascus, Tyre and Jerusalem, collecting the two other keys, stealing the third one and recovering the map leading to the Temple of Sand.

Arriving in the Temple of Sand, Altaïr was confronted by Basilisk who revealed to him that the Chalice was in fact a woman. The two escaped from the collasping Temple, and later fought in Tyre. Wounded, Basilisk revealed that the Chalice was in Jerusalem but also that the Templars planned to poison the water supply of Acre to end the siege. Altaïr decided to twart the Templar's plot before going to Jerusalem. He discovered that the Chalice was his lover Adha and he decided to leave the Brotherhood for her.

As Harash, the second-in-command of the Assassins joined the Templars and prepared an attack on Alep, Altaïr killed the traitor. Adha went to Tyre to leave Holy Land with Altaïr, but she was captured by Basilisk. Altaïr fought the Grand Master and killed him, but the Templars left the city with Adha on a ship. Later, the Templars killed her but Altaïr avenged her death.

Futher conflicts

It was rare for the conflict to ever become particularly conspicuous, although there were occasions, such as the Third Crusade, where the Assassins and Templars openly fought alongside those they were manipulating. Another example was during the Golden Age of Piracy, where many Assassins attempted to apprehend the Sage Bartholomew Roberts from a Templar convoy, ending in a giant battle in the streets of Havana.

By the 20th century, the conflict had largely removed itself from the public view, with the Templars operating principally through their front companies, like Abstergo Industries and the Abstergo Foundation Rehabilitation Center, while the Assassins struggled to survive on the fringes of society, living in secluded communes.

The length and devastation of the war had a significant effect on the plans of the Capitoline Triad to avert the Second Disaster. In the Grand Temple in 2012, Juno commented to Desmond Miles that the two factions had wasted centuries by squabbling over Isu artifacts; time which could have been spent on locating the Temple and continuing the work meant to save the world from the solar flare.

Alliances

Assassins and Templars

Historically, the Assassins and Templars were not above working when confronted with a common obstacle or purpose. An early example of such an alliance involved the Levantine Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and the English Templar Maria Thorpe, who worked together to bring down Armand Bouchart, although their motives were initially vastly different.

During a Maroon rebellion in Port-au-Prince, the Assassin Adéwalé was led to helping the brothel owner and Templar ally Bastienne Josèphe defeat the murderous and merciless Marquis de Fayet, an infamous slave trader that had ordered a French ship to destroy an approaching slave ship during the rebellion. Following de Fayet's death, Adéwalé left Port-au-Prince, but relinquised Precursor box that Bastienne sought into her care. Sometime later the two met once more and had a son. Their grandson, Eseosa, became an influential part of the final Maroon rebellion, the Haitian Revolution and later joined forces with the Colonial Assassin, Connor.

Another notable alliance occurred during the American Revolutionary War. When Benjamin Church turned on the Colonial Templars, Grand Master Haytham Kenway pursued him with the help of his son, the Assassin Connor, whose aim was to recover the supplies stolen by Church, meant for George Washington's forces stationed at Valley Forge. After Church's death, the pair continued to work together, in order to allow the colonies to gain independence from the British Empire. However, when Haytham revealed Washington's intent to attack Connor's village of Kanatahséton for a second time, the Assassin severed ties with both of them.

During the French Revolution, the Assassin Arno Dorian and his adoptive Templar sister Élise de la Serre hunted Grand Master François-Thomas Germain, heir to François de la Serre, whom he replaced after his predecessors' assassination during the former's coup d'etat. François de la Serre had sought to maintain a truce between the Templars and Assassins, which was one of the reasons for his death. Such truces, however, were short-lived, since the leaders that succeeded those who brokered them, rarely honored the truce. Mirabeau, Mentor of the French Assassins, was poisoned by Pierre Bellec, who held a fanatical belief that peace between the two factions was impossible.

In 1868, the Assassin Jacob Frye temporarily aligned himself with the Templar Pearl Attaway, against Malcolm Millner and her cousin Crawford Starrick, Grand Master of the British Templars. Jacob was unaware of Pearl's true allegiance however, and immediately resolved to assassinate her upon his discovery.

In 2016, Templar Victoria Bibeau and Assassin Griffin agreed to a ceasefire so they could stop Templar turncoat Isaiah from acquiring the third prong.

Other factions

Besides working with Templar defectors, the Assassins also caught the attention of other organizations. During the Renaissance period, Mario Auditore led a band of mercenaries during various assignments for the benefit of the Brotherhood, such as the attack on Vieri de' Pazzi in San Gimignano.

In Venice, and later Rome, Bartolomeo d'Alviano led a company of mercenaries allied with the Assassins. Several brothels in Italy were led by Assassins, including Paola, Teodora Contanto and Claudia Auditore da Firenze, operating in Florence, Venice and Rome, respectively. Some of the thieves groups were led by Assassins, such as La Volpe and Antonio de Magianis. However others, such as the Cento Occhi in Rome, opted to stand with the Templars. Centuries later, some of the pirates of Nassau, such as Benjamin Hornigold, Josiah Burgess, and John Cockram also sided with the Templars. Another pirate, known as Le Chasseur, helped the Colonial Brotherhood during the Seven Years' War, but was killed by the Assassin-turned-Templar Shay Cormac before he could be inducted into the Assassin Order as a member.

In modern times, other organizations have taken notice of the conflict between the Assassins and Templars, such as the Initiates, a group of unidentified individuals with vast resources and connections, who eventually allied themselves with the Brotherhood. The hacker collective, Erudito, worked to uncover Abstergo Industries' plots to control humanity; one of their notable activities was hacking the Liberation video game developed by Abstergo Entertainment using edited versions of Aveline de Grandpré's genetic memories. While Abstergo planned to omit all references to the Templars and discredit the Assassins, the Erudito hacks allowed the user to see the original footage and learn the truth.

The Templars also came into contact with the Instruments of the First Will, a group who wish to grant control over humanity to Juno, who was now freed from her imprisonment in the Grand Temple following Desmond Miles' sacrifice in 2012. The Master Templar Juhani Otso Berg suggested using the Instruments to acquire Pieces of Eden, while the other group siphons Templar resources to achieve their own plan. However, the Templars do not consider the Instruments of the First Will to be a threat, and do not prioritize eliminating Juno, either.