Erudito

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"I'm going to have to work harder to open your eyes, aren't I?"

―Erudito to an Abstergo agent, 2010.

Erudito, also dubbed the Erudito Collective, is a hacking collective who at one point operated in opposition to the Templar-run Abstergo Industries.

Though it was originally unclear whether Erudito was one or many people, evidence suggested that a collection of several independent users was more likely, which was later confirmed through their correspondence to an individual who appealed to Abstergo's aims. Despite this, the members who made up the Erudito Collective were united by their common purpose, to reveal the truths censored by Abstergo in its products.

Erudito made use of a wide variety of means of communication, including emails, to spread their information. At times, their members also directly contacted members of the Assassin Brotherhood, such as Desmond Miles, as well as participants in Abstergo's Project Legacy and Animus Project.

In 2016, the group returned to operation, after a notable slack in activity, and officially became affiliated with the Assassins. However, following an attack on their hidden base in Argentina by Abstergo's task force, Team Epsilon, the collective's current whereabouts and operations remain unknown.

History

Abstergo News Wire

According to Abstergo Industries' cybersecurity division, Erudito tried to invade the company's system multiple times before 28 November 2010, but their firewall "effectively" prevented this invasion. In September 2012, Erudito hacked the Abstergo News Wire, writing fabricated stories into Abstergo employees' email. These stories included reports of Africa's population being almost wiped out by a virus, American immigrants attempting to illegally enter Mexico, and the closure of America's film companies due to the rise of video games and rampant piracy.

Project Legacy

"You must understand that contact with this "Erudito" user will not be tolerated."

―Abstergo Industries communication to one of its DDS participants, 2010

In an attempt to educate and protect the agents participating in Abstergo's DDS Program, dubbed Project Legacy, Erudito hacked into the DDS itself and began communicating with its users through e-mail or within the record of memories themselves. Through this, Erudito made several memories previously blocked by Abstergo accessible to those involved, of which most contained valuable information on the Assassins or on Pieces of Eden such as the Shroud.

At one point, Erudito commented, "Abstergo's not going to be happy I'm showing you this, which is exactly why I'm doing so. [...] They want you to stumble onto something without making any sense of it! Good thing I'll be watching too!" However, the memory involved was interrupted shortly after being accessed, as it had allegedly been "corrupted by outside intrusions."

Most of Erudito's emails to the Abstergo agents cautioned them about their carelessness, drawing attention to themselves by acting too confident, or pandering to Abstergo's wishes. In one such e-mail, Erudito dissuaded the participants from submitting their genealogies to Abstergo, which could potentially result in them having their memories farmed for the DDS Program later on.

Over time, Erudito's interference was detected by Abstergo, and an email survey with a subject line reading "INTRUDER" was sent to all DDS participants, asking them what they knew of Erudito. Any agent who feigned ignorance received an e-mail from Erudito that simply read ":)".

Alternatively, those who offered to submit a full report on Erudito received a message from Abstergo mentioning that, "If we can track his patterns, we can begin to block his access to the DDS system and continue our work without further interruptions." This message was followed closely by an e-mail from Erudito, reading "You reported me? That stings. Not that it really matters... I am miles ahead of these goons. I'm going to have to work harder to open your eyes, aren't I?"

In November and December 2010, Erudito released phone conversations between Project Legacy's manager Anson Peake and his boss. On Monday, 4 July 2011, Erudito hacked into the DDS main page, and proceeded to change the logo into a red and inverted version of the Abstergo logo, under which read "-_-Erudito Industries-_-". Erudito also shared a link to some RAR files containing a set of memories entitled "Divine Science". Their interference eventually led to a halt in the project due to the risk of security concerns.

Assassin teams

"Make sure you stay in the loop."

―Erudito's advice for Desmond, 2012.

On 22 September 2012, Erudito sent an e-mail to Desmond Miles through the Hephaestus Email Network, in order to share the email passwords of the other Assassins within his team. The message advised him to "stay in the loop" and keep himself informed of the exchanges between Lucy Stillman, Shaun Hastings, and Rebecca Crane.

Animus hacking

When Abstergo began selling the Animus technology on a public scale as an entertainment product, Erudito hacked into players' accounts to reveal to them the truth about Aveline de Grandpré, in that Abstergo had "edited" her memories and portrayed her as a traitor to the Assassin cause. As such, Erudito hacked the truth back into the product, but the player would have to earn the ability to see it by tracking down and killing special civilians dubbed "Citizen E".

For another of Abstergo's products, Erudito allowed players to hack into videos and biographies of characters. These hacked videos would feature red scribbles drawn over the images, in a semi-comical fashion, as Erudito explained Abstergo's true intentions. Also, the hacked biographies would reveal the truth behind the people who the Animi Avatars were based on, either by expanding on their backgrounds or dispelling myths, often including whether they were loyal to the Assassins, Templars, or neither.

Erudito also introduced a new currency into the game, called Erudito Credits, to challenge Abstergo's currency and allow players to purchase items at much lower cost. This required the exchange of real money but proved an alternative to the Abstergo Credits which were earned by partaking in their product.

Arrests and lull in activities

At some point, Erudito came into contact with Philipa Tran, security personnel working at Abstergo Entertainment. In 2013, Juno manifested herself in one of Abstergo's videos, prompting Tran to contact Erudito to attempt to figure out if they were responsible. Erudito members "anonymish_82" and "defact0r" discussed this and some ongoing problems with their Erudito Credits. defact0r informed Abstergo, through Tran, that Erudito was not behind the manifestation. Later, Laetitia England, a high-ranking Templar, spoke with her superior about these events and considered recruiting their "source" inside Erudito.

Sometime later, fifteen alleged members of Erudito were arrested by the FBI and CSIS with the help of Abstergo and Laetitia England, and accused of having deleted over $10 million from multiple bank accounts. By 2015, the Assassin Shaun Hastings had noticed a diminishing of activities from Erudito.

Alliance with the Assassins

Dewalt: "You want us to go after the Templars, guns blazing. That's not what Erudito is!"

Florencia: "It's what it needs to become. Better than what you'd have us be -- A toothless dog, who can only bark!"

Dewalt: "The whole point of Erudito is to be invisible! Training field agents? Building this so-called "Hive"? You're making us a target that can be destroyed!"

—Florencia and Dewalt arguing during the meeting, 2016.

In 2016, the newly minted Assassin, Charlotte de la Cruz, attempted to meet with Erudito under the instructions of the Isu Consus. Trying to reach Erudito through the dark web, Charlotte discovered a meeting location hidden behind a password related to her Inca ancestor, Quila. After reliving Quila's genetic memories in the Animus, Charlotte obtained the location of the meeting and flew to Buenos Aires, Argentina, alongside her friends and fellow Assassins, Galina Voronina and Kody Adams. At the airport, the trio found a man waiting for them, who proceeded to lead them to their Erudito contact: Charlotte's grandmother, Florencia.

Erudito's meeting with the Assassins

A meeting of Erudito's leaders was subsequently called, with Florencia, Charlotte, Galina, Kody, and Erudito members Dewalt and Guernica Moneo in attendance. At the meeting, Florencia revealed her plan to use Charlotte's connection to Consus to learn more about the Isu and how to stop Abstergo's Phoenix Project, but Dewalt, a staunch advocate of secrecy and non-involvement, disagreed. He argued that Florencia's plans to reform Erudito would only turn them into a target for the Templars and ensure their destruction.

When Dewalt asked for a full-membership vote of non-confidence, Florencia begrudgingly told him to send the message and that they would meet in an hour. Afterwards, Florencia explained to her granddaughter that she needed her to explore the memories of her 16th-century ancestor, Hiram Stoddard, in order to witness a message delivered by Consus through Giovanni Borgia. Meanwhile, Galina sparred with Erudito members My'shell Lemair and Sheed, and also voiced her disapproval of a possible alliance between the Assassins and Erudito.

At the Erudito conference, things quickly became heated between Florencia and Dewalt as the latter tried to convince the collective not to change their strategies. However, Charlotte decided to speak up and argued that the only way Erudito and the Assassins could defeat their mutual enemy was if they merged their resources and manpower. She then proposed a "test" to see how well the two groups could work together: while Charlotte would go into the Animus to find Consus for Erudito, Galina would train the collective's field agents and together they would attempt to track down the rogue Assassin Joseph Laurier.

My'shell and Sheed fighting Joseph

Charlotte's plan was met with approval by most Erudito members and, as agreed, the Assassin entered the Animus to view Hiram's memories. Meanwhile, Galina, My'shell, and Sheed flew to Mogadishu, Somalia, where Joseph had last been seen. They located him at a ceremony attended by the Templar Zehra Okur and engaged him in combat.

Eventually, Galina and the Erudito members gained the upper hand and held Joseph at gunpoint, ending the fight. At that moment, an Erudito distress call reached the team, informing them that Erudito's base in Argentina was under attack by Abstergo. Determined to save Charlotte from the Templars and give her a choice to join him willingly, Joseph offered his help and his jet to the team.

Back at the Erudito base, Charlotte left the Animus after witnessing Consus' message, just as Florencia and Kody informed her of the Templars' assault. While planting explosives in the server room to prevent Abstergo from accessing Erudito's data, Kody was shot and killed by Abstergo agents. The survivors—Charlotte, Florencia, Dewalt, and Guernica—evacuated the base and began making their way to a cave on the other side of the island, where Florencia had hidden getaway boats.

Florencia lashing out at Charlotte

However, as they approached the cave, Charlotte's Eagle Vision detected that something was amiss, and she deduced that the Templars were waiting inside. She then realized that Abstergo had managed to locate Erudito's base because of a tracker secretly planted on her, causing Florencia to lash out at her granddaughter. To make amends, Charlotte decided to lure the Templars away while the others escaped.

Meanwhile, Galina, My'shell, Sheed, and Joseph arrived on the island, but their jet was shot down by Abstergo, killing Sheed in the crash. The survivors ambushed and destroyed an Abstergo ship, although Joseph was mortally wounded in the process. After Galina and My'shell regrouped with the others, they were picked up by a helicopter piloted by the Assassins Kiyoshi Takakura and Arend Schut, who had been sent by Gavin Banks. The group then rescued Charlotte from the Templar Ortega Sanchez and escaped the island.

Helping the Assassins

By 2017, Erudito appeared to have officially become affiliated with the Assassins, as evidenced by Guernica Moneo accompanying Charlotte de la Cruz and Barindra Mitra's Assassin cell on a mission to investigate an abandoned Phoenix Project facility in Hong Kong. During their mission, the group was ambushed by the Instruments of the First Will, with only Guernica and Charlotte escaping with their lives.

By this time, My'shell Lemair had left Erudito in order to join the Assassins, while Guernica secretly defected to the Instruments. His betrayal was discovered when he attempted to kill Charlotte on Juno's orders, only to be stopped by Galina Voronina. Guernica was subsequently taken prisoner by the Assassins, and eventually killed during an attack on the Brotherhood's hideout in London by the Instruments, who sought to finish off loose ends.

By late 2018, Erudito still seemed to be working alongside the Assassins, as Alannah Ryan, a new recruit to the Brotherhood, was familiar with Erudito's hacking algorithms and believed that a rogue member of the collective was responsible for selling out her cell's location to Abstergo.

Known members

• Florencia (leader; since c. 2016)
• Dewalt
• My'shell Lemair (until 2017)
• Guernica Moneo (until 2017)
• Sheed
• "anonymish_82"
• "defact0r"

Behind the scenes

Erudito's e-mail avatar

Erudito is Italian for "scholar, learned one," which is appropriate given how much information Erudito has gathered on Abstergo. It may also imply that Erudito are an organization of philanthropes, given how much they seem to want humanity to learn. In addition, Erudito's online avatar, the Olympic torch, is a symbol of the fire given to humanity by Prometheus, who in turn symbolized humanity's encompassing capability to learn.

When rearranged, the letters ERUDITO create an anagram and spell out UDITORE, which is one letter short of "AUDITORE"; by extension, uditore is an Italian variant of the Latin auditor, meaning "listener."

When GameStop was "liked" on Facebook, an item called Erudito's Network for Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy could be received, which gave an Abstergo agent the higher probability to receive XP, florins or chance items. However, when Project Legacy was removed from Facebook on 13 May 2013, this feature became obsolete.

On 13 January 2011, players who ordered an Abstergo staff sweater through Ubiworkshop received an email from Erudito, which explained the sweater's binary code. The message read, "It's amazing how a few clicks can mar a whole production line. [...] Puzzle time, People. Let's get hackin' __-_-__". The message was followed by the instruction to combine the binary code "01001100 01001111 01000111 01001001 01001110", or "LOGIN", with "www.AbstergoIndustries.com", and use the password "PFRDVJ5aLLg" to access the site.

Erudito would occasionally hack into the @datadumpscanner account on Twitter in order to interact with the users. Such times included 15 October 2010, 29 October 2010, 12 November 2010, 3 December 2010, 17 December 2010, and 21 June 2011. ^{[citation needed]}

On 8 August 2012, Erudito posted a series of messages on the Assassin's Creed Twitter page that mourned for Clay Kaczmarek's passing, blamed Abstergo for it, and announced that the company was now looking for Desmond Miles. However, it was later dismissed as being nothing more than a glitch, and the original tweets were deleted.

In Assassin's Creed: Identity, the economy icon is similar the Erudito icon, an inverted version of the Abstergo logo, not red but silver.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations
• Assassin's Creed III
• Assassin's Creed III: Liberation
• Assassin's Creed: Initiates
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
• Assassin's Creed: Rogue
• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed (Titan Comics)
• Assassin's Creed: Uprising
• Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (mentioned only)

References

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