Hendrik's sea log
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Hendrik's sea log was a personal log written by Hendrik, an explorer working for the Dutch East India Company in early 18th century Southeast Asia. The log was disputed by many warring factions in Macau due to it containing the location of the lost city of the Khmer Empire.
History
At some point prior to February 1725, Hendrik was part of a company expedition to Indochina. While there, he discovered the location to the ruins of the lost city of the Khmer Empire, documenting what he found and knew in his personal sea log. To make the information more difficult to access should the log fall into the wrong hands, he encrypted it using a cipher, which he kept hidden inside the book, both of which he kept in a bank safe in Macau upon his return. Hendrik attempted to find a way to return to Angkor, requesting Qing merchant Lee Huiyin sponsor an expedition there, though she rejected his offer, not believing him.[1]
In February 1725, Hendrik was attacked in his room at the company dormitories in Macau, being fatally stabbed in the abdomen by ninja from the Japanese Shimazu clan.[2] Meanwhile, Hendrik's sea log was acquired by Madam Lee, who was keeeping an eye on him and used her wealth to purchase the book from the bank safe. This caught the attention of the Templars, who approached Lee to demand the log, though she refused to give it to them.[1] The Templars would eventually get their hands on the log after attacking Lee's private residence, the Mandarin's House, where the Templar Shimazu Saito took it from Edward, who had also come to recover the log.[3] However, Edward managed to keep the cipher needed to decode the contents of the log pertaining to Angkor.[1]
Later, Saito was forced to give Hendrik's log to the businessman Sun in exchange for his protection of the Templar's subordinates. Unable to find anyone to decipher the log, Sun reached out to his nephew Xiao Han, the Mentor of the Chinese Assassins, who was familiar with the language used to encrypt the book. However, rather than help his uncle decode the log, Xiao Han took it for himself,[4] intending to find Angkor and use its treasure to overthrow the Qing dynasty.[5]
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