British Brotherhood of Assassins
The British Assassins were the British Brotherhood of Assassins, having existed at least since the early 13th century.
Their earliest known actions were their support of the baronial uprising during the First Barons' War from 1215 to 1217. However, the Master Assassin William of Cassingham, operating independently from the Brotherhood, supported King John, refusing to side with the French-supported barons.[1]
The Order still existed in the early 18th Century and had a Mentor within the ranks as well as various other senior members. Around 1700, an Assassin sailor introduced Duncan Walpole into the Brotherhood. Duncan eventually became a Master Assassin, though his immoderate temper and arrogance was seen as a liability to most of the Order. This lack of loyalty led to Duncan defecting to the Templar cause and began corresponding with Laureano de Torres y Ayala.[2]
In 1714, Duncan was tasked with meeting Ah Tabai, Mentor of the Caribbean Brotherhood. After learning the locations of the Assassins' presence in the West Indies, Duncan sailed aboard the HMS Intrigue, with the hope of joining the Templar Order. This plan was faltered after his ship attacked the Jacobite, shipwrecking Duncan and a pirate named Edward Kenway, who ultimately killed Duncan at Cape Bonavista.[2]
Around 1722, Edward Kenway himself became an Assassin after sailing to London, where he raised his son Haytham to become an Assassin from an early age. The following years, Edward conducted his searches of the First Civilization sites. Through his findings, he discovered Temples located in Italy, as well as the hidden library of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. Additionally, Kenway attempted to find the location of the Grand Temple and thus recorded his research into his personal journal.[3]
Edward became acquainted with Reginald Birch in 1723 who, unbeknownst to him, was the Grand Master of the British Templars and secretly planned to acquire Edward's journal in his ultimate goal to finding the Grand Temple. Birch succeeded in this endeavor in 1735, when he hired a group of mercenaries to kill Edward and obtained his journal, beginning a search for Precursor sites and artifacts.[3]
During the mid-18th century, the British Brotherhood was at a disadvantage with their limited manpower and resources, and struggled to combat against their Templar counterparts.
Miko, another member of the British Order, became acquainted with Achilles Davenport, Mentor of the newly established Colonial Brotherhood. In 1751, Miko informed him that Reginald Birch had begun searching the world for various Pieces of Eden that would defiantly aid the British Templars in their search for the Grand Temple. More importantly, they feared that Birch would send his deadliest agent, Haytham Kenway, to the colonies. With this message, Miko was sent on an assignment mission in Corsica, but not before promising to contact Achilles as soon as possible.[4]
By 1753, Miko had arrived in Corsica and was assigned to protect Lucio Albertine, a codebreaker and ally to the Order. However, with Corsica in the midst of a revolution, the two resided in an encampment along with several rebels fighting for independence against Genoa. One June night, their camp was attacked; while Miko fought against the Genoese soldiers, Lucio attempted to escape, only to be kidnapped by Haytham Kenway. With haste, Miko caught up and engaged Kenway in battle. Despite a valiant attempt, Haytham managed to fend Miko off. After climbing a rope, Miko was forced to end his pursuit of the Templar, for fear of falling to his death. Before he ended the chase, Miko promised Haytham that the two would encounter each other again, but only one would survive.[3]
At some point after returning to London, Miko was entrusted with the Grand Temple Key. In 1754, Miko, accompanied by his nephew, attended a performance of The Beggar's Opera in the Theatre Royal. During the play, Haytham navigated through the theatre and assassinated Miko, taking possession of the key.[5] After Miko's death The British Order tasked Louis Mills to pursue Haytham and kill him, to which he boarded a ship named the Providence where Mills dumped several cargo overboard which was secrelty a trail left for the Aqulia the Colonial Assassin ship.
Their plan was faulterd as Haytham managed to kill Louis in a dual. Immediatlyy afterwards the Aquila came in pursuit of the Porvidence with the intention of boarding and eliminating Haytham himself, however the Master Templar utalised the storm to lose sight of their pursuers and the Aqulia was struck by the storm foced to retreat back to the Davenport Homestead.
Members
- Samuel Bellamy
- Robert Fitzwalter
- Annie Horniman
- Edward Kenway
- Moina Mathers (Left of own accord)
- Medic
- Miko
- Louis Mills
- Bernard Ruddock (Excommunicated)
- Duncan Walpole
- William of Cassingham (Independent)
Allies
- Lucio Albertine
- Monica Albertine
- Henry VII of England