Cebu

He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. This article contains spoilers, meaning it has information and facts concerning Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple. If you do not want to know about these events, it is recommended to read on with caution, or not at all. This template should be removed from the article 6 November 2024.

Cebu is a province of the Philippines consisting of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. Its capital, Cebu City, is the oldest city and first capital of the Philippines. The Cebu metropolitan area is the second largest in the country, after Manila.

History

Colonization by Spain

In 1521, the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived on Cebu with the main goal of locating an artifact left behind by the Isu. He met the local leader Rajah Humabon and converted him and the local population to Catholicism with the idea to turn Cebu into a colony of the Spanish Empire.

After Magellan eventually found the artifact he sought, he was informed by Humabon that it was but a piece of a larger artifact, with another fragment owned by chieftain Lapu-Lapu on the neighboring Mactan Island. Magellan and his men subsequently fought against the artifact-empowered Lapu-Lapu, but were ultimately defeated and Magellan perished during the battle.

Golden Age of Piracy

In the early 18th century, the Dutch navigator Hendrik, who was investigating Magellan's legend, visited the Basilica del Santo Niño in Cebu and met a monk who told him of Magellan's search for the Isu artifacts and his fate. The monk made no mention of what happened to the artifacts after Magellan's death, so Hendrik resolved to continue investigating by himself. He was eventually successful in locating the artifacts and left behind clues in his sea log, which would later be used by the members of the Zhang Wei Union during their own search for Angkor.

After learning that Hendrik had concealed another sea log within Ferdinand Magellan's cross, which was kept inside the Basilica del Santo Niño, the Union members traveled to Cebu to find it. However, they were beaten to their destination by Rajah, the leader of a Visayan resistance against the Spanish colonists in the Philippines, who sought the same prize.

Spanish soldiers chasing Edward and Saito through Cebu's streets

While Rajah's men engaged in a fight with the Spanish Army outside the basilica, Edward Kenway and Shimazu Saito confronted the Visayan chief to recover the log, but he escaped and used the crescent amulet to force the Spanish soldiers outside the church to kill each other.

After tricking another group of Spanish soldiers into chasing them, Edward and Saito led them to the harbor, where Rajah had gone to rendezvous with his fleet. Before the soldiers and Rajah's men could open fire on one another, the Fenghuang, the Zhang Wei Union's flagship, arrived and sank Rajah's ships, allowing Edward and Saito to escape in the resulting commotion.

Rajah and his men also managed to escape during the confusion and headed to Fort San Pedro to await the arrival of another getaway ship. While the resistance fighters took over the citadel, the Union members devised a plan to infiltrate it and recover Hendrik's sea log and the crescent amulet. Using the Celestial Chariot, a prototype hot air balloon built by Yun Pyeong-Gyu, Edward, Saito and John Young flew above the fort to survey it.

Modern times

In 2023, the Abstergo Industries doctor and Templar Shimazu Sei travelled to Cebu via the Exitus ship alongside Noa Kim, an Animus test subject and descendant of Edward, in order to trace the Assassin's footsteps and locate the Piece of Eden he had found. Accompanied by an Abstergo entourage, including Sei's personal bodyguard Yuki, they visited various landmarks around the city, such as the Basilica del Santo Niño and the Magellan's Cross Pavilion, but were unable to find any leads.

Doom Eagle ambushing the Abstergo convoy

Eventually, the convoy containing Noa, Sei, and Yuki was ambushed by members of the Doom Eagle criminal organization, who had a base of operations in Cebu and sought to rescue Noa from Abstergo's captivity. Noa, Sei and Yuki were able to escape the ambush and headed to a nearby shopping mall, where Abstergo was gathering the local police.

However, they were again ambushed by Doom Eagle, who injured Yuki, forcing Noa and Sei to flee into the mall. Doom Eagle's leader, the Assassin Nathan Zhang, followed them and, unwilling to risk a gunfight with so many civilians around, ordered his men to use melee weapons to capture Noa.

Noa was able to dispatch several of Nathan's men before he and Sei were confronted by the Assassin and his gang. After pushing Sei off a balcony and onto an inflatable castle below, both to protect her and to prevent her from slowing him down, Noa got ready to fight Nathan and his thugs. However, the Assassin, impressed by Noa's skills, ordered his men to stand down and proceeded to fight Noa one-on-one.

During their fight, Nathan told Noa the truth about his father's Assassin affiliations and the fact that he had been forced to abandon Noa to protect him from the Templars. However, with Abstergo's Sigma Team closing in, Nathan was forced to abort the rescue mission and left Noa alone after giving him the sea log of Edward's companion Mustafa to aid him in his quest. Noa was subsequently escorted by Sigma Team back to Sei, who briefly scolded him for throwing her off the balcony before they returned to the Exitus to track Edward's memories using the information from Mustafa's sea log.

Gallery

• 
  Ferdinand Magellan's expedition arriving on Cebu
• 
  Cebu's rooftops
• 
  The Celestial Chariot flying over Cebu
• 
  Cebu in the modern day

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple