Shay Cormac

He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow.

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"History may brand me traitor, rebel, or renegade. But in the end, it doesn't matter how history remembers me. What matters, is that I followed my own creed."

―Shay Cormac, describing his transition from Assassin to Templar and the stigma it carried.^[src]

Shay Patrick Cormac (c. 1731 – unknown) was a member of the Templar Order, operating around the Atlantic Ocean during the Seven Years' War.

Formerly a member of the Colonial branch of the Assassin Brotherhood, Shay devoted his Templar career to hunting down his prior associates. Aboard his ship, the Morrigan, Shay's travels brought him to New York and the Appalachian Mountains, among other locations.^[3]

Biography

Early life

Shay Cormac was born sometime around 1731 in New York City, to a family of Irish immigrants. Living in a rougher part of the city, Shay had a knach for getting himself into trouble, and was constantly protected by his closest friend, Liam O'Brien. When he grew older, Shay enlisted in the British Army, but left sometine after his father died at sea in 1748.

Shattered and desolate, Shay was helped once again by Liam, who managed to get his friend back on his feet. Later that year, Liam introduced Shay to his Mentor, Achilles Davenport, and Shay joined the Brotherhood not long after. Over the next four years, Shay devoted himself to the Order and the Creed, serving dutifully. However, he still pondered the ambiguous areas between the motives of the Assassins and those of the Templars, their sworn enemies.

In 1752, while on a mission in the North Atlantic, Shay and Liam met with their comrade Louis-Joseph Gaultier, Chevalier de La Vérendrye, who was supposed to meet with smugglers carrying valuable cargo. When the smugglers were intercepted and captured by the British, Shay infiltrated the smugglers' camp, eliminated the British guards, and commandeered the ship the soldiers had come on, a sloop-of-war named the Morrigan.

Tracking the artifacts

Soon after, Shay and Liam returned to the Davenport Homestead, headquarters of the Colonial Assassins, and witnessed the arrival of the legendary Assassin Adéwalé. While the former pirate met with Achilles, Shay furthered his training under the guidance of Liam, Hope Jensen, and Kesegowaase, before meeting with Achilles to recieve his mission: to track and acquire two mysterious First Civilization artifacts, known as the Precursor Box and the Manuscript.

After meeting with La Vérendrye and his informant Le Chasseur, Shay first traveled to Mount Vernon, home of Lawrence and George Washington, to intercept a package arriving for Lawrence. After infiltrating the grounds of the manor, and stealing a custom-made air rifle in the process, Shay witnessed a meeting between Lawrence and three other men: Samuel Smith, James Wardrop, and Jack Weeks. Lawrence assigned Smith and Wardrop to guard the Box and Manuscript, respectively, before dismissing them. As Lawrence walked the grounds of his home in the midst of a garden party, Shay managed to kill him and escape.

A few months later, Shay tracked down Samuel Smith at sea, who attempted to escape with the Box in his possession. Although Smith's schooner led the Morrigan into a skirmish and even dropped flaming oil onto the waves, Shay gave chase and eventually assassinated Smith on the island of Terra Nova, claiming the Box for the Assassins.

Two years later, in 1754, as tensions between the French and British escalated to the brink of war, Shay traveled to Albany, New York, to eliminate James Wardrop. After observing William Johnson and Benjamin Franklin at the Albany Congress, Shay went on to find and assassinate Wardrop and retrieve the Manuscript, disregarding Wardrop's claims that he was endangering the world.

With both artifacts in his possession, Shay and Hope enlisted the aid of Franklin to activate the devices. After helping Franklin set up a lighting-to-battery assembly, Shay watched as the electricity in Franklin's machine powered the Box. A projection of the world appeared, with a shimmering light over the site of a First Civilization temple in Lisbon, Portugal. Relaying this information back to Achilles, Shay was tasked with the mission to travel to Lisbon, investigate the temple, and bring back whatever Piece of Eden he could find inside.

Disaster in Lisbon

Arriving in Europe in 1755, Shay set out for the Feast of the Saints Cathedral in the heart of Lisbon. As the preist conducted Mass inside, Shay climbed around the cieling of the structure and was able to reveal the entrance to the temple below.

Shay approached the Piece of Eden within - a shining, star-shaped artifact suspended above a pedestal - and removed it from its place. However, the removal of the Piece triggered a massive earthquake throughout the city. As Shay emerged from the temple, he climbed and ran his way through the collapsing city as civilians died and buildings fell around him. Moving quickly, Shay was able to make his escape and jump into the sea. He then swam to his ship and sailed for the Colonies.

Arriving back at the Homestead, Shay stormed into the manor and accused Achilles of sending him on the mission while knowing the danger that taking the Piece could cause. Although Achilles insisted he knew nothing about the possibility of triggering an earthquake, Shay maintained that the same thing had happened in Port-au-Prince three years ago, and that he had slaughtered hundreds of innocents on Achilles' command.

Refusing to serve under a man who could tolerate the massive destruction and loss of life, Shay resolved to steal the Manuscript to prevent other cities from meeting the same fate. Sneaking into the manor that night, Shay took the artifact and was about to make his escape before he was confronted by Achilles. When the Mentor tried to stop his student, the two struggled, and Shay leapt through a broken window. With the Assassins hunting him across the Homestead, Shay made his way to a cliff overlooking the bay before he was stopped by the rest of the Brotherhood. As he attempted to leap into the water below, Liam fired and shot his friend in the shoulder. Shay fell to the rocks below, and the Assassins believed him lost to the sea.

Shay ultimately survived this attack and was nursed back to health by a family, who gave him a new set of robes that had belonged to their son: the robes of a Templar. As Shay worked to repay the family for saving his life, he found himself beginning to view the Templars' ideals as a better path than that of the Assassins. Shay was soon set on a path of vengeance against his former brothers, and committed himself to ridding the American colonies of their presence.^[4]

Personality and characteristics

Shay was originally a brash young man. He did not take his role as an Assassin seriously, instead being frivolous; not because he did not believe in the cause, but because he was young and unwise. However, after a traumatic event, Shay became a somber, dedicated character. He rethought his whole philosophy and his allegiance to the Assassins, realizing that the Templars' goals and methods were more in line with his own beliefs; this fervor caused him to pursue his former brothers-in-arms for something he believed was the better path.^[1]

Equipment and skills

Shay appeared to be a skilled captain, adept at navigating the Morrigan through the icy waters of the North Atlantic, and like other Assassins before him, he was a capable freerunner. Shay was also shown to be a skilled swordsman, dual-wielding weapons with great efficiency.

Among his arsenal of weapons, Shay counted his Hidden Blades, a sword and parrying dagger, two flintlock pistols, rope darts and an air rifle. To protect himself from smoke bombs and various gases, Shay usually carried a gas mask.^[1]

Trivia

Shay's name is the anglicized form of the Gaelic Séaghdha, which means "hawk". 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".
Shay's attire – the style worn by Templars of the time – bore similarities to the Templar armor obtained by Edward Kenway during the latter's time in the West Indies.^[5]
Shay's Templar outfit is adorned with several symbols, including Celtic knots, Yggdrasil, triquetras, and the Templar insignia.
Shay was the fifth known Templar to perform the Leap of Faith, the others being Francesco de' Pazzi, Vali cel Tradat, Haytham Kenway and Daniel Cross.
Shay is the second playable Templar with Eagle Vision in the Assassin's Creed series' single player, the first being Haytham Kenway.