History of the Pieces of Eden
Created by the Isu, the Pieces of Eden are one of the last relics of this ancient civilization. After the disappearance of the Isu, many humans who had Isu DNA unlocked the power of the artifacts, becoming heroes of legends, kings, conquerors or scholars.
The Pieces of Eden also became a stake throughout history in the secret war between the Assassins, who wanted to preserve the world of their powers, and the Templars, who wanted to used them to establish their New World Order.
History
Isu era
The Pieces of Eden have a long history that punctuates the tales of humanity. During the War of Unification, the Isu Hephaistos created Swords of Eden for the conflict. His apprentice Consus created a Shroud of Eden to heal the soldiers.[1] He later put his consciousness into the artifact. The Apples of Eden of Eden were used to control humans, who were created by Phanes during Project Anthropos to work as slaves for the Isu.[2]
The Isu Juno and her husband Aita used Atlantis artifacts on humans, creating hybrid monsters for the Olympos Project. When Poseidon learned of this, he banished them from Atlantis, but they continued their experiments in secret.[2]
However, interbreeding between humans and members of the Isu led to the creation of a hybrid race, which was immune to the hypnotic effects of the Pieces of Eden. In 75,010 BCE, two of these hybrids, Adam and Eve, stole one of the Apples from their masters and escaped from captivity in Eden. Soon after, war broke out, pitting humanity against their creators.[3]
While the rest of the Isu were preoccupied with battling the humans, Jupiter, Juno and Minerva were tasked with finding a way to guard against the threat of an impending solar flare. They relocated to the Grand Temple in what is now Turin, New York, a facility which could only be entered using an Apple of Eden.[4] Opening the Temple's inner gate required another Piece of Eden, namely the Grand Temple Key.[5]
By that time, the Isu were already able to generate small magnetic fields through the Rings of Eden. Using similar technology, they hoped to create a large magnetic field to protect the Earth from the sun's flare. However, they lacked the resources to do so, and though they attempted to create fields to protect small portions of the Earth, they were ultimately unsuccessful.[5]
The Isu soon discovered that when enough humans sat in thrall of the Pieces of Eden and were forced to believe, their thoughts became reality. Jupiter, Juno and Minerva considered the possibility that they could use an agglomeration of focused human imagination to save the planet. This attempt was also deemed unsuccessful.[5]
As their third option, they sent an Apple of Eden into the orbit, and when it was placed, uttered the words "make us safe". When their first attempt failed, they resolved to send a dozen more after. This act was also met with failure as there was no way to direct the beams of energy emitted by the Pieces down to the Earth.[5]
Only ten years after the human rebellion began, the solar flare destroyed most of the Earth's surface and population, leaving roughly ten thousand humans alive and far fewer of the Isu. The remaining members of the Isu came to be revered as gods by the humans.[4] Knowing that extinction awaited them, they began to aid the humans and guide their culture in turn, attempting to help them in the case another cataclysm were to struck.[6]
Myths and legends
Egyptian mythology
A long time ago, the Isu known as Isis used the Ankh of Eden to resurrect her husband Osiris and shared an intimate moment with him before he died a second time.[7]
Greek mythology
Many mythological legends and events have been linked to Pieces of Eden. In Greece, the hero Perseus used a Sword of Eden against a Writhing Dread, a creation of Project Olympos who is known in myths as the gorgon Medusa.[8] One of the twelve labors of Herakles involved the retrieval of Apples of Eden, and the central focus of Jason's quest with the Argonauts was the recovery of a Shroud of Eden called the Golden Fleece.[9]
Some of these heroes fought the hybrids of Project Olympos, as the Minotaur was slain by the king Theseus, the Cyclops was blinded by Odysseus, and the Sphinx was outsmarted by Oedipous.[10] An Apple of Eden was also the cause of the Trojan War.[11]
Biblical mythology
In the Hebrew Bible, many figures realized miracles with Pieces of Eden. Joseph, son of Jacob, was in possession of a Shroud of Eden. The prophet Moses used a Staff of Eden to create an illusion that he parted and closed the Red Sea. King David used a Shroud of Eden during his fight with Goliath.[9]
Norse mythology
In Norse mythology, the goddess Idun was the keeper of apples that gave eternal youth. In reality, these were Apples of Eden.[12] The god Odin plunged a Sword of Eden into the tree Barnstokkr which was pulled out by the warrior Sigmund.[13]
Classical Era
Ancient Egypt
During the 14th century BCE, the Pharaoh Amenhotep IV acquired an Apple of Eden. Believing it was the god Aten itself, he took the name Akhenaten and, with his wife Nefertiti, introduced a new monotheistic religion to Egypt. After his death, his son Tutankhamun restored the traditional polytheistic religious system in Egypt and gave the Apple to the High Priests of Amun in Karnak.[14]
Around the same time, Smenkhkare created the Order of the Ancients with the aim of identifying and exploiting the Pieces of Eden.[15] At the end of the 8th century BCE, the Pharaoh Shabataka possessed a Staff of Eden.[13]
Classical Greece
At some point between the 12th and the 10th centuries BCE, a famed treasure hunter found an Apple of Eden and hid it on the island of Korfu. He left behind clues for his son to find it but the latter died before he could retrieve the artifact, and so the treasure became a legend.[16]
During the 6th century BCE, the Greek scholar Pythagoras was contacted by the Isu Hermes Trismegistus, who gave him his Staff, granting him immortality. One of Pythagoras' disciples, Kyros of Zarax, met the Isu Aphrodite and received an Apple of Eden that he used to win a race against Atalanta and earn her hand in marriage.[17]
Later, Pythagoras founded the Cult of Hermes, a group dedicated to the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus. A faction of Hermeticists led by Agamemnon broke away to form the Cult of Kosmos. Under the Sanctuary of Delphi, they uncovered a pyramidal Piece of Eden which could share memories and visions of the future. With its power, the Cult forced the Pythia to serve as their puppet and sow discord across Greece for their own interests.[18]
During the invasion of Greece by King Xerxes I of Persia, King Leonidas I of Sparta, led the Spartans into war against the Persians with an Isu spear in his hand. When he made his last stand at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BCE, the shaft of the spear was broken, but the spearhead was recovered and given to his daughter Myrrine, who in turn passed it onto to her daughter, Kassandra. Kassandra grew up to become a legendary misthios at the height of the Peloponnesian War, using the Spear of Leonidas in all her military escapades.[19] Conversely, the Sword of Damokles, a Sword of Eden, found its way into the hands of her brother Alexios who was abducted by the Cult of Kosmos, renamed Deimos, and indoctrinated into becoming their most powerful warrior.[20]
With the Spear, Kassandra fought and destroyed the Cult of Kosmos, defeated Alexios, and destroyed the Pyramid. She also recovered the Atlantis artifacts by killing the hybrids of the Olympos Project and sealed Atlantis with it. After that, the Isu Aletheia sent a message to her father Pythagoras asking him to give her the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus.[21] Kassandra became immortal and learned how to use the Staff through Aletheia's simulations.[2]
Around 420 BCE, pirates searched the treasure hunter's stash on Korfu. They crossed the path of Kassandra who took a vacation on the island. As the pirate captain became mad after taking the artifact, Kassandra killed him. When she approached the Apple with her Spear, the orb depowered the weapon before being thrown across the other side of the island.[16]
Wanting to restore the Spear, Kassandra spoke to Aletheia who informed her that the artifact couldn't be repaired and that her role as the Keeper was to recover other Pieces of Eden.[22] At first reluctant, Kassandra accepted her duty after saving her friend Barnabas who had also been driven mad by the Apple of Eden.[23] Recovering the orb, Kassandra decided to leave Greece to search for other artifacts across the globe. Before leaving, Kassandra gave the depowered Spear of Leonidas to her friend Herodotos who would ultimately be buried with it.[24]
Hellenistic Age
During the 4th century BCE, the Order of the Ancients entrusted to Alexander the Great two artifacts: a Staff of Eden and the Trident of Eden. With them, Alexander conquered Egypt and Persia.[25] After his assassination by Iltani, Alexander was buried in his tomb at Alexandria with the staff while the prongs from the Trident were shared between his generals.[26] Ptolemy I Soter received the Faith prong while Seleucus I Nicator received the Fear prong, and the Macedonian people received the Devotion prong.[25]
By 49 BCE, the Order of the Ancients in Egypt had acquired an Apple of Eden. A group led by the proconsul of Cyrenaica, Flavius Metellus, went to the remote Egyptian village Siwa and kidnapped the Medjay Bayek and his son Khemu to force him to open an Isu vault under the Temple of Amun. As the Medjay resisted, Flavius killed his son before leaving Bayek for dead. After that, the Oracle of Amun and Order member Medunamun kept the Apple and used it to torture various villagers in Siwa in the hopes of acquiring information to access the vault. In 48 BCE, Bayek assassinated Medunamun and claimed the Apple,[27] before travelling to Alexandria where he gave it to his wife Aya. In turn, Aya entrusted the artifact to her friend Apollodorus, a loyal follower of Queen Cleopatra.[26]
During the Alexandrine Civil War, the Ancients recovered the Staff of Alexander the Great and convinced Julius Caesar and Cleopatra to ally with them, lending the Staff to Cleopatra for a time after she became Pharaoh at the end of the civil war.[28] The Order also re-claimed their Apple after Flavius killed Apollodorus.[29] Returning to Siwa, Flavius and his fellow Ancient Lucius Septimius used the combined power of the Staff and the Apple to open the Isu vault, where they discovered a holographic map with the locations of more Pieces of Eden. This map was downloaded by the Apple.[30]
Afterwards, Flavius and Septimius split up, with the former heading to Cyrenaica with the Apple to enslave the local population while the latter secreted the Staff to the Order in Rome. Flavius was later hunted down by Bayek, who managed to overcome the Apple's powers and kill the Ancient.[30] The Medjay subsequently hid the Apple under the Library of Alexandria, where he hoped it would never be found again.[31]
By 44 BCE, Septimius had acquired another weapon of the Isu, the flails. That year, he used them in combat against Aya at the Theatre of Pompey, but despite the powers the artifact granted, he was ultimately defeated and killed by the Hidden One.[32] By 42 BCE, the Hidden Ones had acquired the original Shroud of Eden. Following the death of one of their leaders, Marcus Junius Brutus, in the war against Octavian, they tried to use the artifact to resurrect him, but only managed to reanimate Brutus for a brief moment.[33]
Around 38 BCE, Bayek, having heard rumors of golden light on the road to Thebes, reached the Seth-Anat Tomb and fought undead soldiers. In the tomb, he met a man who tasked him to recover a stone which was in the tomb. After returning the stone, the man disappeared and Bayek was defeated by undead soldiers. When he woke up, a woman explained that he was found in the desert. As he tried to tell his story, the woman thought he had only been hallucinating. Bayek decided to investigate the city.[34]
In 34 BCE, the God's Wife of Amun Isidora used Akhenaten's Apple of Eden against the tomb robbers of the Valley of the Kings to avenge her mother's death. The power of the Apple created illusions of undead pharaohs who attacked the citizens of Thebes, causing them to believe the city was plagued by a curse.[35]
Bayek later received a letter from Aya who explained to him that a Piece of Eden was hidden in Thebes. Just when he arrived, he was attacked by a vision of Nefertiti. While investigating the city to find the Piece of Eden, Bayek met Isidora, who hid the truth and told him that he must fight the curse by appeasing the pharaohs in the afterlife. When Bayek uncovered the truth, he killed Isidora and tasked the robber Sutekh with hiding the Apple. Later, Bayek found the corpse of Sutekh but noted that the relic was missing and expressed hope that he hid it well before his demise.[35]
Beginning of Christianity
During the 1st century CE, a Nazarene man known as Jesus came to possess a Shroud of Eden in Roman Judea and became a religious reformer and a prophet to his followers. He was baptized by John the Baptist, a man who in turn had a Staff of Eden. As the Order of the Ancients wanted the Shroud, they crucified Jesus to recover the artifact but his disciples recovered his body and used the Shroud on him in the hopes of reviving him. Three days later, his corpse disappeared.[13][9]
One of Jesus' disciples, Saint Peter, possessed a Staff of Eden and became the leader of the Christian community in Rome. Later, the Staff was passed to every leader of the community, who in time came to be known as the Pope, the highest authority in Christendom.[13]
At some point, Roman emperors recovered the Faith and Devotion prongs of the Trident of Eden. They were later given to the Popes.[25]
During the 3rd century CE, the bishop of Paris, Saint Denis, found an Apple of Eden in an underground Isu temple and used it to convert the local population to Christianity. Following the bishop's arrest and execution by the Romans, the Apple passed to one of his successors, who created a special lantern to house it, which would come to be known as the Head of Saint Denis. Eventually realizing that the Apple was negatively influencing his mind, the successor decided to return it, along with the Head, to the temple where Saint Denis had first found it.[36]
Germanic & Hunnic invasions
In the 1st century CE, the Ankh of Eden was found by Roman looters in a pyramid before being sold to an Egyptian slave trader. The Roman Hidden One Lugos acquired the artifact and also the Scepter of Aset. During his journey across the Mediterranean Sea to deliver the artifacts to Rome, Lugos' ship sank. Before he died, the Hidden Ones recorded a message with the Ankh detailing the location of the Scepter.[37]
By 259 CE, the Ankh had ended up in Germania, where it was found by the Alemanni Hidden One Accipiter. He gave the artifact to his cousin Aquilus who was also a Hidden One from Lugdunum. Aquilus entrusted the Ankh to his father Lucius, but the latter was killed by the senator and member of the Order of the Ancients Caïus Fulvus Vultur, who took the Ankh with him to Rome.[7]
Later, Aquilus killed Vultur and took back the Ankh. When he tried to use it, a hologram of his father appeared, but it was stopped when Aquilus and his wife Valeria were arrested by Roman soldiers. Aquilus was executed but Valeria was saved by Accipiter, who tasked her to hide the Ankh.[37]
During the 5th century CE, Attila the Hun came to possess a Sword of Eden which permitted him to conquer a significant portion of Europe.[13]
Medieval Era
British Isles
By the 5th century CE, the Sword of Eden known as Excalibur was possessed by the Women of the Mist, a Celtic clan of witch-warriors living on the island of Avalon. They used the artifact to decide on their next leader, the Lady of Avalon. Lodged in a stone, the sword was pulled out by the Briton king Arthur Pendragon, who was also a leader of the Order of the Ancients. Arthur used the artifact to fight the Anglo-Saxons invaders in Britain.[38]
The Lady's son, Mordred, became Arthur's advisor and founded the Descendants of the Round Table, plotting against the king to recover the sword for himself to rule England. Before his death, Arthur locked Excalibur in an Isu Barracks underneath Stonehenge. For three centuries, the Women of the Mist guarded the site and killed any who attempted to retrieve Excalibur.[38]
By 878, Excalibur was claimed by the jarlskona Eivor Varinsdottir, the reborn form of Odin and a member of the Viking Raven Clan settled in Ravensthorpe.[39] After learning about this, the Descendants of the Round Table and the Women of the Mist both tried to recover the artifact. While the Descendant allied with the Order of the Ancients, The Lady of Avalon sent Niamh of Argyll to infiltrate Eivor's allies, the Hidden Ones, and take the sword.[38]
After Eivor used it to repeal Picts invaders, Niamh stole the Piece of Eden. Tracked by the Ancients and the Descendants, Niamh received the help of the Hidden One Hytham and the seeress Valka who burned a copy of Excalibur at the White Horse Hill to lure their enemies. The true Excalibur was then brought back to the Women of the Mist in Avalon.[38]
Around 887, an Apple of Eden hidden on the Isle of Skye was activated when Kassandra arrived on the island to search for it. The Apple plagued the dreams of the islanders, driving many of them insane.[40] To recover the artifact, Kassandra teamed up with Eivor, who had come to investigate the nightmares plaguing the island at the request of Valka's friend Edyt.[41]
Working together, the two warriors ultimately found the Apple inside the Cave of Gold and deactivated it, putting an end to the nightmares. Kassandra then took the artifact and left the island with it, presumably destroying it like she had done with other Pieces of Eden.[42]
Abbasid Caliphate
By the mid-9th century, the Order of the Ancients in the Abbasid Caliphate had become aware of the existence of Isu ruins around the city of Baghdad and established several excavation sites, seeking the Pieces of Eden they believed these ruins contained.[43] In 861, the Ancients managed to find a Memory Seal, which they entrusted to their puppet, the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil. However, the caliph was later killed by the thief Basim Ibn Ishaq, who stole the Seal from the Winter Palace in Anbar. Basim was then recruited into the Hidden Ones by Roshan, who took him and the Seal to Alamut.[44]
During his mission to eliminate the Order in Baghdad, Basim was led to an Isu vault underneath the Northern Oasis by his "friend" Nehal. After acquiring a number of Isu Shards from the Tha'abeen members of the Order, Basim inserted them into the corresponding pedestals inside the vault, which allowed him to claim three Isu artifacts: the sword Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar, the dagger Samsaama, and the armor set Milad's Outfit.[45]
Sometime later, when Basim explored the Isu temple underneath Alamut, he discovered its purpose as a storage facility for dozens of Memory Seals, which were locked away behind barriers. However, he did manage to find one Seal containing a recorded memory of the Isu Loki, who had been imprisoned and tortured inside the temple. This memory helped Basim realize that he was Loki's reborn form and ultimately allowed him to regain the memories of his past life.[46]
In 877, while exploring the Yggdrasil vault at Hordafylke in Norway, Eivor Varinsdottir found Gungnir, Odin's spear, and claimed it for herself. In the same region, she found Thor's hammer Mjölnir. After recovering Thor's armor, she could lift the legendary weapon.[39]
During the 10th century, the emperor Otto I was in possession of the Devotion prong of the Trident of Eden. In 965, he passed the artifact to the bishop Poppa who evangelized Denmark and baptized the Templar and King of Denmark Harald Bluetooth. For two decades, Harald kept the prong, using its power to subtly turn foes into allies. In 984, Harald was forced into an alliance by his brother-in-law, Styrbjörn the Strong, who was immune to the power of the prong. During their war campaign against Styrbjorn's uncle, Eric the Victorious, the Prince took Harald's prized prong as a guarantee to prevent the Danish King from betraying him. Harald nevertheless decided to flee, and Styrbjorn kept the artifact, unaware of its true power. Styrbjörn later offered, what he believed to be a Christian relic, to the gods during his wedding to Thyra Haraldsdottir.[47]
Sent by Eric to assassinate the Prince, the Assassin Thorvald Hjaltason witnessed the wedding and took the "Aesir blade" from the shrine after their departure. After the Battle of Fyrisvellir during which Styrbjörn was defeated, Thorvald entrusted the farmer and soldier Östen Jorundsson with hiding the prong where no one could find it. Östen buried the artifact on his lands where it remained for almost a thousand years.[47]
Vinland
By 875, the Order of the Ancients Maegester Gorm Kjotvesson had come into possession of a Crystal Ball which allowed him to communicate with Juno. Per the Isu's instructions, Gorm led the Wolf Clan on an expedition to Vinland in North America to find the Grand Temple and free Juno from her imprisonment.[48]
Gorm's rival Eivor Varinsdottir tracked Gorm to Vinland and rescued the guide Olav the Unlucky, who had been imprisoned by the Wolf Clan for trading with the native Kanien'kehá:ka. When Eivor inquired about Gorm's mission in Vinland, Olav described the Crystal Ball as an "elf-stone" and claimed that it was guiding Gorm to the "the door to Jotunheim".[49]
Eventually, Eivor assassinated Gorm, who had been unsuccesful in his goal to access the Grand Temple, and claimed his Crystal Ball for herself.[48] However, she felt that the artifact was not intended for her and so she entrusted it to the local Kanien'kehá:ka tribe of Karonhiakèn:iate, who would continue to protect it for many generations to come.[50]
Tang dynasty
During the 10th century, an Apple of Eden was used to develop firearms in China.[51]
Crusades
Between the 11th and 13th centuries, the Knights Templar participated in the Crusades, aiming for the conquest of the Holy Land. By the time of the Third Crusade, they were led by Grand Master Robert de Sable and focused their efforts on acquiring a particular Piece of Eden: the Apple of Eden which was hidden in the ruins of Solomon's Temple beneath the city of Jerusalem.[52]
Seeking the Apple to aid them in their mission, the Templars used the cover of the Third Crusade to infiltrate the temple. However, one of their own betrayed them; Al Mualim, the Mentor of the Assassin Order who had secretly been allied with them, sent his best agents to procure the device. Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and the brothers Malik and Kadar Al-Sayf intercepted the Templars, and the two parties engaged one another. While the Templars were able to eject Altaïr from the battle and kill Kadar, Malik successfully claimed the Apple and spirited it back to the Assassin fortress in Masyaf.[53]
With the Apple in his possession, Al Mualim's goal was to use its power to create what he considered to be lasting peace in the Holy Land. He began by bewitching the Assassins and villagers of Masyaf but was confronted by Altaïr when the Master Assassin discovered his treachery. Despite conjuring illusions with the Apple, he was slain by Altaïr. In his dying moments, he challenged his former prize pupil to destroy the Apple as he had said he would, but when it projected a hologram of the globe, Altaïr beheld its potential and both knew that he would lack the will to carry out his word.[54]
In the aftermath, Altaïr took Al Mualim's corpse outside to be cremated to the protests of some Assassins as this was against their customs. Seizing upon the dispute, the Assassin Abbas Sofian took the Apple of Eden from Altaïr but immediately lost control of its power as it unleashed waves of energy. Altaïr recovered the artifact from Abbas before it could kill them all.[55]
Unwilling to destroy it, Altaïr decided to seal the Apple within the Archives on Limassol, Cyprus. Circumstances worked against this plan however, and he decided to keep the Apple for himself, not just to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands but also as a vital object of research.[56]
Over the course of his life, Altaïr gazed into the Apple frequently, basing new weaponry and assassination techniques on information gleaned from it. He recorded some of what he learned from the Apple in his Codex. When Abbas Sofian who usurped leadership of the Assassins and tried to take the Apple again, Altaïr went into exile in Alamut, where he studied the Apple for another twenty years. At one point, the Apple led Altaïr to the Isu temple underneath Alamut, where he discovered the Memory Seals and claimed six for himself, using them to record important moments in his life.[57]
Altaïr eventually returned to Masyaf in 1247, after using the knowledge gained from the Apple to create the Hidden Gun, with which he killed Abbas, reclaiming leadership of the Assassin Order.[58] For the remainder of his life, Altaïr continued to guard and study the Apple. In addition to knowledge useful for the Order's purposes, Altaïr witnessed visions of the past and future within the Apple, some of which greatly disturbed him.[59]
In 1257, during the Mongol attack on Masyaf, Altaïr used the power of the Apple to repel the Mongol troops for a time. After Masyaf had been evacuated, he sealed himself in his library with the Apple, securing the Piece of Eden within a secret compartment. He designed his library to be only accessible with five of his Memory Seals that doubled as keys; these he entrusted to Niccolò and Maffeo Polo who hid them beneath Constantinople.[60] The sixth and final Seal remained with Altaïr, who used it to record the final moments of his life before passing away inside his library on 12 August 1257.[61]
Mongol Empire
At the beginning of the 13th century, Genghis Khan acquired a Sword of Eden which he used to conquer most of Asia and the Middle East, establishing the Mongol Empire. Altaïr and his family tried to steal the Sword during their mission in Mongolia but they only managed to assassinate Genghis.[62] Later, his grandson Hülegü Khan used the Sword during his conquest of the Levant in 1250. During the Fall of Masyaf, the Sword protected him from the power of Altaïr's Apple.[63]
By 1259, Möngke Khan was in possession off the Fear prong. When he was killed by the Chinese Assassin Zhang Zhi, the Khan was buried with the artifact.[64]
Mamluk Egypt
Around 1250, the Scepter of Aset was recovered by an Italian fisherman. It then was entrusted to an Egyptian Assassin who gave the artifact to the Mamluks in Cairo. In 1257, Darim Ibn-La'Ahad, Altaïr's son, gave an Apple of Eden to further help the Mamluk revolt.[65]
In 1341, the Templars tried to recover the scepter while the Assassin Numa Al'Khamsin impeded their efforts. His disciple Ali Al-Ghraib hid the scepter in a well where it stayed for centuries.[65]
High Middle Ages
Around 1140, the abbot Suger of Saint-Denis found the Isu temple underneath the Basilica of Saint-Denis and recovered the Head of Saint Denis. Using knowledge gained from the Apple of Eden inside the lantern, the abbot created the Eagle of Suger, a powerful sword adorned with a golden hilt. The sword was later hidden within a secret chamber of the basilica while the Head of Saint Denis was returned to the temple.[66]
At the beginning of the 14th century, the Grand Master Templar and Sage Jacques de Molay was in possession of the Sword of Eden 1 and the Heart, which granted more power to the Sword. During the Persecution of the Templars in 1307, the two artifacts were separated. The Sword was hidden in a vault under the Temple of Paris by Jacques de Molay's advisor while the Grand Master carved the Heart in the wall of his cell in the Château de Chinon.[67]
In 1350, the Brothers of the Cross, a Templar faction searched for the Ankh of Eden in the city of Essen in Germany. The group mysteriously disappeared at the same moment that the Assassin Lukas Zurburg did.[68]
In 1429, the peasant and Assassin ally Jeanne d'Arc recovered the Heart at Chinon and the Sword underneath the Church of Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois and used the artifacts during the Hundred Years' War to lead the French Army against the English. After the arrest of Jeanne, the Templars recovered the Sword while Jeanne gave the Heart to the former prostitute Fleur as she took her the place on the stake. As the Heart was found intact in the remains of the stake, the executioner Geoffroy Thérage threw it in the Seine, believing to have killed a saint.[67]
During the 14th century, the Templar Geoffroy de Charny possessed the original Shroud of Eden and in 1356 the Italian Brotherhood of Assassins stole the Piece of Eden before hiding it under the Villa Auditore in Monteriggioni.[69]
Ming dynasty
At the beginning of the 15th century, the Chinese Brotherhood of Assassins possessed an Apple of Eden that an apprentice was tasked to protect. After the Assassin purge of 1402 launched by the Yongle Emperor and the Templars, the apprentice fled with the Assassin Li Tong, who became the keeper of the Apple.[68]
In 1526, the Assassin Shao Jun returned to China with a Precursor box given to her by the retired Italian Mentor Ezio Auditore da Firenze. To approach her Templar targets, the Eight Tigers, she decided to be captured with the box to assure her a chance at survival. The Tiger Gao Feng took the box and sent it to his Tiger brother Yu Dayong before being killed by Shao Jun.[70]
Later, Shao Jun assassinated Yu Dayong in Macau and recovered the box from him.[71] She entrusted the artifact to her Mentor Wang Yangming, who in 1529 went to Nan'an to find someone to examine it. However, Wang was lured into a trap where he was killed by the leader of the Tigers, Zhang Yong, who took the box.[72] Zhang Yong later sent the artifact to his fellow Templars outside of China, shortly before his death at Shao Jun's hands in 1532.[73]
By 1542, the Jiajing Emperor had come into possession of a Crystal Skull. Using the artifact, he initiated contact with the Italian Assassin Giovanni Borgia, who had recovered another Crystal Skull from the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan.[74]
In June 1582, the Chinese Assassin Liu Yan brought a Sword of Eden to China from Japan to ensure the protection of the artifact.[63]
Age of Discovery
Ottoman Empire
By 1453, an Apple of Eden had fallen into the hands of Sultan Mehmet II of the Ottoman Empire. Using its powers, Mehmet was able to conquer Constantinople and subdue the Byzantine Empire, taking Constantinople as his new capital.[75] Mehmet II died in 1481 and was succeeded by his oldest son, Bayezid II. Bayezid's brother Cem, a secret Templar, discreetly took his father's Apple of Eden for himself, hoping to use it to further the Templars' goals. However, to his dissatisfaction, the Apple refused to communicate with him despite his attempts to use it.[75]
Cem eventually decided to leave the Apple for European Templars to retrieve later. While on his way to meet the Knights Hospitalier on Rhodes, Cem made a stop in Cyprus and hid the Apple in the Templar Archive in Limassol, where the western Templars could find it.[75]
From 1511 to 1512, the Mentor Ezio Auditore da Firenze recovered the five Memory Seals hidden by the Polos in Constantinople and relived the memories of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad imprinted onto them. After acquiring all the Seals and preventing the Byzantine Templars from taking them, Ezio travelled to Masyaf and entered Altaïr's library, finding the Levantine Mentor's skeleton holding the sixth Seal.[76]
Reliving Altaïr's final moments through the Seal, Ezio discovered the location of his Apple of Eden, but decided against retrieving it and left the artifact inside the library. However, Ezio's presence briefly activated the Apple and created a Synch Nexus which allowed Ezio's descendant Desmond Miles to receive a message from the Isu Jupiter.[4]
In 1516, the Greek Brotherhood of Assassins was protecting an Apple of Eden. The rogue English Assassin Hiram Stoddard attacked the Assassins' hideout to recover the artifact and contact his deceased lover Elena. After killing the Assassin guards, Stoddard was ambushed by his old rival, the Italian Assassin Giovanni Borgia, who bested him and took the Apple.[77]
Italian Renaissance
In 1454, a Florentine army led by Federico da Montefeltro besieged Monteriggioni to take the Shroud of Eden. The town's ruler and leader of the Italian Assassins, Mario Auditore, defeated the invaders and entered into the vault where the artifact was hidden. To protect the city, Mario entrusted the Shroud to his brother Giovanni, who gave it to an Assassin cell led by Rinaldo Vitturi located in Agnadello.[78]
In 1488, the Roman Rite of the Templar Order led by the cardinal and Grand Master Rodrigo Borgia recovered the Apple of Eden left by Cem in the Templar library in Cyprus and brought the artifact to Venice to open the Vatican Vault. Ezio Auditore, who wanted to kill Rodrigo to avenge the deaths of his father Giovanni and his brothers Federico and Petruccio, impersonated the escort of the artifact to approach the Grand Master. With the help of the Italian Assassins, Ezio scared away Rodrigo and recovered the Apple.[79]
After being formally inducted in the Brotherhood, Ezio and the Assassins brought the Apple to Leonardo da Vinci to study. After agreeing that the Apple would be dangerous if it fell in the wrong hands, Ezio was tasked by Niccolò Machiavelli to escort the Apple to Forlì where it would be entrusted to their ally Caterina Sforza.[80]
When the Assassins arrived in Forlì, the the city was under attack by the mercenary brothers Ludovico and Checco Orsi, who had been hired by Rodrigo to recover the Apple.[80] During the battle, Checco stole the artifact from Caterina but was later killed by Ezio, who was severely wounded in the process. While he was unconscious, the Apple was taken by the monk Girolamo Savonarola.[81]
In 1492, Rodrigo became pope under the name of Alexander VI and received the Staff of Eden which, combined with an Apple of Eden, could open the Vatican Vault. In 1494, Savonarola took control of Florence by using the Apple to bewitch his lieutenants. Alexander sent his men to recover the artifact. By 1497, Ezio arrived in Florence and with the Assassins created an uprising against Savonarola by killing the monk's lieutenants. In 1498, Ezio recovered the Apple after Savonarola was attacked by a mob.[82]
In 1498, Lucrezia Borgia, Rodrigo's daughter, gave birth to a malformed Giovanni Borgia. The father of the child, Perotto Calderon, was an undercover Assassin agent sent to spy on the Borgia. He took his deformed son to Agnadello in the hopes of healing him with the Shroud. Knowing this would constitute a betrayal of the Brotherhood, Perotto killed the Assassins to access to the artifact and successfully cured his son before dying at the blades of the Assassins.[83]
In 1499, Ezio confronted Rodrigo in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. During their fight, the Templar used the power of the Staff while the Assassin used the Apple. Rodrigo won the duel, took the Apple and combined it with the Staff to open the Vatican Vault, without success. After a fist-fight which the Assassin won, Ezio used the two Pieces of Eden to open the vault where he came into contact with the Isu Minerva, who showed him the First Catastrophe and the Second that would occur centuries later.[84] Leaving the vault, Ezio tried to recover the Staff, but it was sealed by a trap.[85]
Returning to Monteriggioni, Ezio entrusted the Apple to his uncle Mario, but Cesare Borgia, Rodrigo's son and General of the Papal Army, led a siege on the city, killing Mario and taking the Apple for his father.[86] In Rome, Rodrigo forced Leonardo da Vinci to study the Apple while also letting his grandson Giovanni play with the artifact due to his contact with the Shroud of Eden.[87]
In August 1503, Ezio, by then the Mentor of the Italian Brotherhood, recovered the Apple after Rodrigo was killed by his own son. Ezio used it to defeat the forces of Cesare in Rome and, after the arrest of Cesare, to foretell his escape.[88] Ezio hid it under the Colosseum Vault, after Borgia's assassination.[89]
In 1509, during the Battle of Agnadello, the condottiero Niccolò di Pitigliano stole the Shroud of Eden under the protection of the Brotherhood. A year later, the Assassin Francesco Vecellio was sent in the city of Lonigo to kill Niccolò and recover the Shroud, both of which the Assassin succeeded in doing.[90]
In 1515, a then retired Ezio Auditore assigned the Assassin apprentices Hiram Stoddard and Giovanni Borgia to take an Apple of Eden which was in the possession of the Templar Dei Petrucci in Florence. The two Assassins failed in their mission but the Apple was later recovered and sent in Greece.[77]
By 1524, Ezio was in possession of a Precursor box that he later gave to the Chinese Assassin Shao Jun when she left Italy after he trained her.[91]
Spanish Inquisition
Around 1458, the King Alfonso V of Aragon received the Prong of Faith from the pope Callixtus III. The prong was then handed to the Kings of Spain until 1519.[25]
At the end of the Reconquista, the Spanish Rite of the Templar Order led by the Inquisitor General Tomás de Torquemada tried to take control of Spain using Pieces of Eden. The Templar and inquisitor Gustavo Ramírez tried to localize three parts of a Staff of Eden in Spain. Ramírez found the first part at the St. Rafael Abbey and entrusted the second part to the monks of the Monastery of St. Lucia. The third part was in the possession of monks of the Asturias mountains who believed it was a part of Saint James' staff. Pedro Madruga, a friend of the Monastery, hid the fragment in his castle of Sobroso to protect it from the Inquisition.[92]
The Spanish Brotherhood of Assassins tried to prevent the Templars from completing the Staff. A team of Assassins infiltrated the Sádaba Castle to steal the first part, but Ramírez fled with it. Then, the Assassins went to St. Lucia and succeeded in taking the second part. They entrusted it to their allies at the Salamanca University.[92]
By 1491, Torquemada discovered that the Assassins had entrusted an Apple of Eden to the Sultan Muhammad XII of Granada. The Templars manipulated Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile into besieging Granada. To force the Sultan to give the artifact, the Templar Ojeda kidnapped his son Ahmed to proceed to an exchange during the surrender of Granada.[93]
When Torquemada received the Apple from the Sultan, the Assassins Aguilar de Nerha and María intervened to take the artifact. During the confrontation, María and Ojeda were killed, but Aguilar fled the city with the Apple. Months later, Aguilar gave the Apple to an ally of the Brotherhood, Christoffa Corombo, who kept the artifact during his travels to the New World until his death in 1506 and was buried with it.[93]
After the end of the Reconquista, the Templars tortured the monks of the Asturias mountains to uncover the location of the Staff's last section. The Assassins saved the monks who revealed to them where it was. The Assassin Diego de Alvarado, who was a spy of Ramírez, led the Templars to the last part of the Staff before the Assassins. Later, Alvarado killed Ramírez and took the artifact's section in his possession. Alvarado broke into Salamanca University and stole the last section of the Staff.[92]
Alvarado handed all the parts of the Staff to Torquemada. In 1498, Torquemada went to the Saint Thomas Aquinas' Monastery in Ávila which was constructed on top of an Isu forge. Using the Forge to reconstruct the Staff, Torquemada was able to create ghost-like guards and prepared to take control of Spain. The Assassins infiltrated the Forge, killed Torquemada and his ghost army, and destroyed the Staff which was buried under the ruins of the site as the Forge collapsed on itself.[92]
Spanish conquest of the Americas
In 1519, the conquistador Hernán Cortés received the prong of Faith from the King of Spain Carlos I to help him during his expedition in Mexico. During his campaign against the Aztec Empire, Cortés used the prong to give hope to his troops who were outnumbered and also turned some of the natives to his cause.[25]
Posing as a chronicler and astrologer, the Assassin Giovanni Borgia infiltrated Cortés' expedition to recover Pieces of Eden in the New World. During the Night of Sorrows, Giovanni assassinated a priest of Tenochtitlan to take a Crystal Skull in his possession. Later, Giovanni returned to Europe with the artifact.[74]
In 1521, the conquistador Juan Ponce de León was influenced by the Templars to explore Florida in the search of the Fountain of Youth, a Piece of Eden alleged to granted eternal youth. Ponce de León was killed by the Assassin Miguel Ramón Carlo de Lugo as the Brotherhood wanted to protect the artifact.[68]
Magellan expedition
In the early 16th century, the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan led a Spanish expedition to the East Indies, allegedly with the goal of finding gold and spices. In reality, Magellan had learned about the Pieces of Eden and sought one such artifact on the island of Cebu in the Philippines.[94]
After converting the island's native population to Catholicism, Magellan found the artifact: a Crescent Amulet. However, he was then informed by Cebu's chieftan Rajah Humabon that the artifact was but a piece of a larger one, with another fragment in the possession of Lapu-Lapu, Humabon's rival and the chief of the neighboring Mactan Island.[94]
On 27 April 1521, Magellan led a contingent of Spanish soldiers to Mactan to seize the Piece of Eden in Lapu-Lapu's possession. However, the chieftan used the artifact's power to repel the attack and Magellan was killed during the battle. With Magellan's death, knowledge of the Pieces of Eden in Southeast Asia was lost, though rumors would later emerge that the artifacts had been relocated to a temple in the lost Khmer city of Angkor.[94]
Elizabethan era
By 1559, Altaïr's Apple of Eden was in the possession of Queen Elizabeth I of England. One of her advisors, John Dee, was aware of the nature of the artifact. By 1587, during his time in Bohemia, Dee worked with the English scientist and occultist Edward Kelley, conducting alchemical experiments with the Book of Abraham and a Crystal Ball before returning to England.[95]
After the death of the Queen in 1603, Dee sent a cryptic message to Kelley's stepdaughter Elizabeth Jane Weston to inform her about the Apple of Eden.[95]
Feudal Japan
At the end of the Sengoku period, the daimyo Takeda Shingen was in possession of a Sword of Eden. In 1573, Takeda was killed by the Japanese Assassin Hattori Hanzō and the Sword was taken by the daimyo and Assassin ally Oda Nobunaga.[63]
In 1582, as Oda was using the Sword for his own gain, the Assassin Yamauchi Taka killed him and gave the Sword to Liu Yan from the Chinese Brotherhood, who brought the artifact back to her country.[63]
Age of Enlightenment
Golden Age of Piracy
By 1699, the English privateer Captain William Kidd was in the possession of a Ring of Eden which could deflect any metal projectile, giving him a reputation to be invincible. The Templars tried to recover the artifact but Kidd hid it on Oak Island leaving hints to four members of his former crew.[96]
By 1717, the Dutch slaver and Templar ally Laurens Prins was in possession of the Fragment of Eden, an artifact that could control individuals but also increased the speed and firepower of a ship. In February 1717, the British Assassin and pirate Samuel Bellamy attacked Prins' ship, the Whydah, and took the artifact. He entrusted it to the French pirate Alonzo Batilla who passed it to another French pirate, Olivier Levasseur. By 1718, Levasseur buried the Fragment on Caicos Islands in the Caribbean Sea to protect it from the Templars.[97]
In August 1718, Levasseur and Batilla recovered the artifact but were ambushed by the ship of the pirate and Templar Christopher Condent. Batilla used the power of the Fragment to sink Condent's ship. As a British fleet led by the Templar pirate-hunter Woodes Rogers arrived, Levasseur fled with the Fragment while Batilla attacked the fleet to give enough time to his friend to escape.[97]
In 1719, the Sage and pirate Bartholomew Roberts entered the Observatory in Jamaica and took a Crystal Skull that he used with Blood vials to spy important ship cargo and became the richest pirate of this time.[98] In 1722, the pirate-turned-Assassin Edward Kenway killed Roberts and took the Crystal Skull.[99] He used it to track the Grand Master of the West Indies Templars, Laureano de Torres y Ayala, in Havana.[100] As it was a trap, Edward returned the artifact to the Observatory where it would be watched over by the West Indies Assassins.[101]
Georgian Britain
After his journey in the West Indies, Edward Kenway returned to England and settled in London, becoming the co-leader of the British Brotherhood of Assassins around 1723. During his travels in Europe and the Middle-East exploring Isu sites, Edward discovered an Isu cache with a Shroud of Eden in it. Edward secreted it away in the Tower of London and hid the key in St. Paul's Cathedral.[102]
After Edward's death in 1735, the last leader of the British Brotherhood, Miko, possessed the Grand Temple Key, bearing it as an amulet. In 1754, Miko was killed by Edward's son, Haytham Kenway, who was a member of the British Rite of the Templar Order, and the Key was stolen. Later, Grand Master Reginald Birch tasked Haytham with finding the Grand Temple in the British Colonies and entrusted him with the Key.[103]
Maroon rebellion in Saint-Domingue
In 1735, a French Templar Admiral possessed Ezio's Precursor box. On his way to deliver it to the Madam of La Dame en Rose, Bastienne Josèphe, in Port-au-Prince, the Admiral was killed by the Assassin and former pirate Adéwalé who recovered the artifact.[104] After a tempest, Adéwalé's ship La Victoire shipwrecked on the shores of Sant-Domingue. The Assassin and Bastienne developed an agreement: Adéwalé would support the Maroon rebellion on the island while Bastienne secured a way for the Assassin to leave Port-au-Prince in exchange of the precursor box.[105] After two years, Adéwalé gave the box to Bastienne before leaving the island.[106]
By November 1751, the Mentor of the Saint-Domingue Brotherhood of Assassins and Maroon leader François Mackandal had received the Precursor box from Bastienne and used its power to decipher the Voynich manuscript. After the Assassins discovered the location of an Isu temple near Port-au-Prince, Mackandal sent his apprentice Vendredi to investigate the temple which triggered an earthquake. In the panic, the leader of the Templars in the British Colonies, Lawrence Washington, infiltrated the Assassins' camp and stole the Precursor box and the Voynich manuscript.[107]
Persia
During the sacking of the Taj Mahal in 1739 by the Afsharid dynasty of Persia, Nāder Shāh found a piece of Eden shape like a diamond which he named Koh-i-Noor (Mountain of light).[108] In 1747, Nāder was killed by the Persian Assassin Salah Bey but the artifact fell in the hands of the Afghan chief Ahmad Shāh Durrānī who founded the Durrānī Empire.[109]
Seven Years' War
After stealing the Precursor box and the Voynich manuscript in Saint-Domingue, Lawrence Washington returned with the artifacts to the British Colonies in 1752 and entrusted the box to the Templar Samuel Smith, who went to Europe to meet scientists who could activate the artifact.[110] Unsuccessful in his mission, Smith returned to America in 1754 and was killed by the Colonial Assassin Shay Cormac, who took the box.[111]
Later, Shay and fellow Assassin Hope Jensen met with the inventor Benjamin Franklin to activate the artifact using electricity. With the Voynich manuscript recovered from James Wardrop, the Assassins located an Isu temple in Lisbon.[112]
The same year, Haytham Kenway arrived in the Colonies to find the Grand Temple. As the Templar William Johnson identified marks on the temple's Key similar to those of the Kanien'kehá:ka, Haytham contacted a member of the tribe, Kaniehtí:io, to help him in his search.[113] In 1755, Kaniehtí:io and Haytham arrived before the door of the Grand Temple in New York, but the Templar was unable to access the site with the Key and decided to abandon his search.[114]
In 1759, Hope Jensen reproduced Franklin's experiments on the Precursor box and, using the Voynich manuscript, the Assassins located another Isu temple in the Arctic.[115] Hope then gave the box and manuscript to the Assassin Liam O'Brien, who in turn entrusted the box to the Assassin Louis-Joseph Gaultier, Chevalier de la Vérendrye, to be secreted away from the Colonies.[116]
American Revolution
By the 18th century, the villagers of Kanatahséton were still in possession of the Crystal Ball entrusted to their ancestors by Eivor Varinsdottir many centuries prior.[50] In 1769, the young Kanien'kehá:ka Ratonhnhaké:ton, Haytham and Kaniehtí:io's son, used the artifact and contacted Juno through a Nexus. She tasked him to protect the Grand Temple against the Templars and to join the Colonial Brotherhood of the Assassin to protect his people.[117]
In 1777, Ratonhnhaké:ton, by then a fully-fledged Assassin, arrived on Oak Island to find Captain Kidd's treasure and recovered the Ring of Eden left by the pirate. The Assassin would go on to wear the artifact which protected him from bullets.[96]
During the American Revolution, the Freemasons brought an Apple of Eden from Europe. By 1781, a British Officer in Yorktown was in possession of the Apple. After the Siege of Yorktown, the Commander of the Continental Army, George Washington, recovered the artifact.[118]
In 1781, Haytham gave the Grand Temple Key to his second-in-command Charles Lee before confronting and ultimately being killed by his son during the bombardment of Fort George.[119] A year later, Lee was killed by Ratonhnhaké:ton who took the Key from him. In 1783, the Assassin returned to his village which was deserted and found the Crystal Ball which had been left behind. He used it once again to speak to Juno who congratulated him for accomplishing his task and ordered him to hide the Key. The Crystal Ball then disintegrated in Ratonhnhaké:ton's hands and the Assassin went on to bury the Key in the grave of his mentor's son on the Davenport Homestead.[120]
After the end of the American Revolutionary War, Washington was haunted by visions created by his Apple of Eden and decided to contact Ratonhnhaké:ton. By touching the Apple, the Assassin saw a reality where Washington became a tyrannical king of the United States using the power of the Apple. After Ratonhnhaké:ton defeated Washington in this alternate reality, the vision ended and the two agreed to dispose of the artifact, with Ratonhnhaké:ton dropping it into the sea.[118]
By 1784, the former slave Patience Gibbs had received from her mother a charm, a Piece of Eden which permitted her to see into all things for a few seconds. The Templar Edmund Judge tried to recover the artifact but Gibbs gave him only a piece of it. As the Louisiana Assassin Aveline de Grandpré tried to recruit Gibbs into the Brotherhood on Ratonhnhaké:ton's behalf, the two women decided to help each other. Aveline killed Judge before Patience recovered the artifact and accepted to go to the Davenport Homestead with Aveline.[121]
French Revolution
In December 1776, Ezio's Precursor box was entrusted to the French Assassin Charles Dorian during a meeting at the Palace of Versailles. Shortly after receiving the artifact, Charles was killed by Shay Cormac, who had joined the Templars two decades prior, after his mission in Lisbon had gone wrong. Shay took the box and brought it to the Templars in America.[122]
Before the French Revolution, the Sage and French Templar François-Thomas Germain entered the vault under the Temple of Paris, guided by de Molay's memories. There, he found the Sword of Eden and de Molay's codex. He organized a coup against the Grand Master François de la Serre and took the control of the French Rite while manipulating the French Revolution to end the Monarchy.[123]
During the Thermidorian Reaction in 1794, Germain was confronted at the Temple by de la Serre's ward, the former Assassin Arno Dorian, and by Élise de la Serre, François' daughter. Germain used the Sword to fight the duo and a powerful blast killed Élise and wounded Germain. Arno finished the Sage and recovered a depowered Sword, using it as a classic sword.[123]
A week later, the French General Napoleon Bonaparte tasked the Captain Philippe Rose to recover the Apple of Eden under the Basilica of Saint-Denis. Bonaparte gave Rose the key of the Temple that he took from the Tuileries Palace on 10 August 1792.[124] Rose was later contacted by a man working for Lady Eve, who promised Rose a reward far greater than what Bonaparte paid him in exchange for the artifact.[125]
Arno foiled Bonaparte's plan, killing Rose and taking the Head of Saint Denis. When he discovered the Apple of Eden inside the lantern, Arno entrusted the artifact to an Assassin who sent it to the Mentor Al Mualim in Cairo.[125] In 1798, Bonaparte led an expedition in Egypt and recovered the Apple. A year later he organized a coup in France with the Apple and eventually became Emperor of France.[126]
Ottoman Libya
By 1805, the Ottoman Sultan Selim III possessed the Koh-i-Noor and secured it in his palace in Tripoli, Libya. The Black Cross Tavis Olier was sent by the Templar Order to recover the artifact but was captured by the Sultan. Later, the new Black Cross Solomon Bolden went to Libya to save Olier and take the Koh-i-Noor. During his journey, Bolden met the Flemish agent Jan van der Graff who was sent by Emperor Napoleon to steal the diamond. The Templar and the spy worked together to infiltrate the palace but the Assassin and Selim's servant Ahkbar killed Bolden and imprisoned Graff with Olier.[127]
In 1808, the Libyan Brotherhood of Assassins wanted to purchase the Koh-i-Noor from Selim. Learning of this, Olier and Graff planned their escape to recover the Koh-i-Noor before the Assassins. As the Black Cross gave his life for their plan to succeeded, Graff became the new Black Cross after having been trained by Olier during their captivity. Ahkbar, who wanted the diamond for himself, killed Selim and took the artifact.[127]
As Graff confronted the Assassin, Ahkbar used the Koh-i-Noor to creat many projections of himself. Graff saw through the illusion and killed Ahkbar. As more Assassins arrived, Graff gave them an empty box and convinced them that the diamond was in here. Graff later protected the Koh-i-Noor from the Templars.[127]
Sikh Empire
By 1830, the founder of Sikh Empire, Ranjit Singh, had come into possession of the Koh-i-Noor and hid it in the Isu Temple of Tosha Khana under his summer palace in Amritsar. In 1839, Francis Cotton, the leader of the British Templars in India, was in possession of Ezio's Precursor box and planned to kill the sultan to recover the diamond. At the same time, the Indian Assassin Arbaaz Mir infiltrated the palace with his assistant Raza Soora to steal the artifact. The Assassin gave the Koh-i-Noor to Soora who then gave it to Pyara Kaur, Ranjit's granddaughter.[108]
After he killed the sultan, Cotton confronted Pyara who activated the artifact and was possessed by the Isu Durga. The Templar shot the Precursor and shattered the Koh-i-Noor. As an energy blast was released, a tiger form appeared and killed Cotton. The diamond then reconstructed itself and was taken by Arbaaz who gave it to his Mentor Hamid.[108]
In 1841, Cotton's successor William Sleeman took the Precursor box and with the help of the Templar Alexander Burnes kidnapped Hamid to obtain the Koh-i-Noor.[128] Combining the two artifacts inside Tosha Khana, Sleeman saw a map indicating the location of another Piece of Eden underneath the Herat Citadel in Afghanistan.[129] Arbaaz tried to recover the two Pieces of Eden while he tracked Sleeman in the Herat Temple but he was captured.[130]
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Taken prisoner to Katasraj Temple, Arbaaz freed himself and defeated Burnes in combat, but spared his opponent's life. As a sign of respect, the Templar allowed Arbaaz to take the Koh-i-Noor and Precursor box and leave.[131] Returning to Amritsar, Arbaaz presented the artifacts to Hamid but was informed that Sleeman had taken Pyara hostage. The Assassin rushed to the summer palace to save his lover and was forced to negotiate with Sleeman, who demanded the two Pieces of Eden while holding Pyara at knifepoint.[132]
While Arbaaz tossed the artifacts into the air, Pyara stabbed Sleeman with a concealed knife, giving her lover enough time to grab the Koh-i-Noor and flee with with Pyara. However, the Assassin failed to retrieve the box, which was subsequently taken by Sleeman. Later, Arbaaz decided to entrust the Koh-i-Noor to the British Assassin Ethan Frye, who promised that the diamond's journey had only just begun.[132]
Industrial Revolution
Victorian Era
By 1847, Queen Victoria's husband Prince Consort Albert had recovered the cache containing the Shroud of Eden from the Tower of London. He had it hidden in a vault he ordered built under Buckingham Palace.[133]
In 1862, during the construction of London's Metropolitan Railway, the British Templars excavated an Apple of Eden. Charles Pearson, who financed the construction, used the artifact as a cane's pommel. Pearson was later killed by the Templar Cavanagh, who wanted to use the Piece of Eden to usurp the position of Grand Master from Crawford Starrick. Cavanagh tried to use the Apple against the Assassins Ethan Frye and Jayadeep Mir but was killed by the Templar Marchant who recovered the artifact on Starrick's orders.[134]
By 1868, the Apple was entrusted to the Templar scientist David Brewster for experimentation in his laboratory in Croydon. During one of his experiments, Brewster was killed by the Assassin Evie Frye and the laboratory was destroyed along with the Apple.[135]
During the same year, the Templar Lucy Thorne tried to find the Shroud of Eden in London for Starrick to take control of the city. Going to London with her twin-brother Jacob, Evie made contact with Jayadeep to recover the artifact before the Templars. The two factions discovered the location of the cache's key and Lucy took it before being killed by Evie while searching for the Shroud in the Tower of London.[102]
Later, the two groups uncovered the true location of the cache and infiltrated a party in Buckingham Palace to take it. Starrick stole the key from Evie and unlocked the cache. Wearing the Shroud, the Grand Master fought the Frye twins who stabbed him repeatedly but was immediately healed by the Shroud. Starrick was surprised by an attack from Jayadeep and the twins took this advantage to attack Starrick together, separating the Templar from the Shroud and killing him. The Assassins decided to lock the Shroud in the vault again and hide the key.[136]
At some point, the co-founder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn William Robert Woodman was in contact with the original Shroud of Eden and could speak with Consus.[137]
American Civil War and Reconstruction Era
After the Mexican-American War, the Aztec Club of 1847 was in possession of the Faith Prong which was brought to New York City. In 1863, during the draft riots, the American Assassin Varius infiltrated the Club and stole the artifact. The Assassin was ambushed by the American Templar Cudgel Cormac, Shay's grandson, who took the Prong for the Grand Master William M. Tweed.[25]
While Cudgel was on his way to hand the artifact, the Templar was confronted by Varius and his new apprentice Eliza. Cudgel used the power of the Prong to make Varius lose his faith in the Creed before stabbing him. Eliza paralyzed the Templar, saving her mentor and taking back the Prong. Later the two Assassins entrusted the artifact to the Union General Ulysses S. Grant to help him to end the American Civil War.[25]
Years later, Grant became President of the United States and his administration was infiltrated by the Templars. They gave him access to Ezio's Precursor box which he used to decipher some pages of the Voynich manuscript.[138] Before his death, Grant hid the Prong under the floor of his house in Mount McGregor.[25]
War of Currents
In 1874, the Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla found an Apple of Eden in Croatia. Going to America, Tesla used the power of the artifact to create a worldwide network that was able to transmit information and electricity to anywhere on the planet.[139] In 1894, the American author Mark Twain visited Tesla's laboratory in New York and held for a brief moment the Apple.[140]
The American Templar Thomas Edison launched a slandering campaign against Tesla's project which would be a serious impediment to the Templar goals. The Templars stole the Apple and used its power to drive Tesla insane. Later Edison gave the Apple to his Templar brother Henry Ford who used the artifact to exploit his workers by making them believe he rose their pay while in fact he cut it.[140]
Imperial Russia
By 1888, the Tsar Alexander III of Russia was in possession of a Staff of Eden that he used to maintain his power over Russia. During the Borki train disaster, the Tsar taunted the Russian Assassin Nikolai Orelov to kill him with the Staff. The Assassin tried to use the artifact but he was easily defeated by Alexander who took back the artifact.[141]
By 1908, the Russian Templar Grigori Rasputin stole the Staff and replaced it by a replica. The artifact was brought in a Templar laboratory in Tunguska where he was being tested with electrical machines. A team of Assassins led by Orelov infiltrated the laboratory to steal the artifact. The Staff was activated by the electricity and Orelov heard voices from the past. At this moment, Tesla, who was in the Wardenclyffe Tower, used an immense burst of electricity to destroy the laboratory provoking the Tunguska explosion. In the detonation, the Staff was destroyed but protect Orelov, leaving him as the sole survivor.[141]
A shard of the Staff was recovered by Rasputin giving him influence on the Romanov family. In 1914, one of his disciples, Khioniya Guseva, stabbed him in the stomach. Rasputin used the shard to force Guseva to mutilate her face. He healed miraculously thanks to the shard.[142] In 1916, the Russian Brotherhood assassinated Rasputin with difficulty due to the artifact and he was unknowingly buried with it.[141]
World at War
Russian Revolution
During the Russian Revolution, Nikolai Orelov infiltrated the Winter Palace to recover what the Brotherhood thought was the Staff of Eden. Noticing that it was a replica, Orelov was informed by the former Tsar Nicholas II that Grigori Rasputin possessed a shard of the Staff. The Assassin dug up the body of Rasputin and recovered the artifact, but chose to keep it for himself rather than give it to the Brotherhood.[141]
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By July 1918, the Romanov family was in possession of Ezio's Precursor box and secreted in their palace in Yekaterinburg where they had been put under house arrest. Orelov was tasked to recover the Box before the Templars. On July 17th, the Templar Order executed the Romanov family but Anastasia Romanova escaped from the slaughter with the box. While Nikolai protected her from the Templars, the shard and the box interacted and created a Bleeding Effect on Anastasia, who accessed Shao Jun's genetic memory.[143]
Nikolai and Anastasia fled Yekaterinburg for Kazan where the Assassin entrusted the box to the young girl before meeting with Leon Trotsky to try and find a way to Moscow. Trotsky decided to capture the Assassin in order to deliver Anastasia and the box to the Templars in the name of the Revolution. With the abilities of Shao Jun, Anastasia saved Nikolai and the two went to Moscow.[144] There, Nikolai entrusted the box to the Assassin Sergei and Anastasia was taken to an Assassin laboratory in Moscow Kremlin in order to experiment on her, in an attempt to extract Shao Jun's genetic memories.[145] Nikolai saved her and the two parted ways, fleeing Russia.[146]
Arriving in New York City with his family in 1919, Nikolai gave the Shard to his daughter Nadya. During the Palmer Raids, Nadya was deported back to Russia with her mother Anna, but was able to keep possession of the Shard for the rest of her life.[147]
Interwar period
By 1926, the Hungarian-American magician and escapologist Harry Houdini possessed the Apple of Eden formerly owned by Napoleon Bonaparte, and used it during his magic tricks to deceive the public.[148] The Templars killed him in order to acquire the artifact.[149]
In 1928, Rufus Grosvenor, a British Templar and secret member of the Instruments of the First Will, blackmailed the former Black Cross Albert Bolden for the Koh-i-Noor. Bolden refused and recovered the diamond which he secreted in a safe in Switzerland, bringing it to his home in the United States. Later, Grosvenor recovered the Koh-i-Noor, killing Bolden's family in the process.[150]
By 1930, the Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi was in the possession of Altaïr's Apple of Eden and used it to further the Indian Independence during the Salt March.[148] In 1933, Henry Ford entrusted Tesla's Apple to the leader of the Nazi Party, Adolf Hitler, to ensure his takeover of Germany and the start of World War II, which was in accordance to the Templars' plan to establish a New World Order.[140]
In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, Grosvenor, impersonating the British Assassin Norbert Clarke, entered in contact with the Spanish Assassin Ignacio Cardona to use his high concentration of Isu DNA to unlock the power of the Koh-i-Noor. Tricked by Grosvenor to use the diamond to stop a fight between communists and anarchists, Cardona passed out after the artifact unleashed serpent-like creatures of energy to stop the fight.[150]
Later, Cardonna joined Bolden who revealed to him the true nature of Grosvenor. Confronting the Instrument in a church, Cardonna used the Koh-i-Noor against Grosvenor. The power of the artifact made the old church collapse on itself and the Koh-i-Noor was buried in his ruins after Cardonna made an illusion that it had been destroyed to trick Grosvenor.[150]
World War II
At the beginning of World War II, the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt was in possession of Washington's Apple of Eden and was manipulated by the Templars in their scheme for a New World Order.[148]
By 1943, the Obergruppenführer and Templar Gero Kramer received Tesla's Apple to use it in various experiments. He kidnapped Nikola Tesla and with the knowledge of the Apple, they constructed Die Glocke, a device powered by the artifact that could read the genetic memory of any individual. The knowledge of the Apple was also used by the Templar ally and physician, Josef Mengele making a breakthrough in genetics and genes modification, upgrading Kramer with accelerated cellular regeneration and superhuman strength.[151]
In 1943, Kramer was killed by the Assassins Eddie Gorm and Julia Dusk who recovered the Apple for their superior, the American Colonel Boris Pash. When they discovered that Pash worked with the Templar John von Neumann, Julia blew up herself with a hand-grenade to destroy the artifact but the Piece of Eden was still intact and was taken by Pash.[151]
The 28 October 1943 on the USS Eldridge, Pash and Neumann used the Apple in the Philadelphia Project, an attempt to change the time with Die Glock to kill Hitler before he started the War. Gorm infiltrated the ship and killed Tesla, preventing the experience from succeeding.[151] The USS Eldridge instead temporarily manifested in a future state for approximately 18 minutes.[152] After that, Neumann kept the Apple.[153]
By 1944, the Third Reich was in possession of an unidentified Piece of Eden. The Edelweiss Pirates, a group of German resistants, stole this artifact and hid it in the spire of the Cologne Cathedral. Twelve of the Pirates were captured. One of them, Barthel Schink, revealed the location of the artifact to his fellow member Miriam Kurtz and tasked her to bring the artifact to the Assassins in Paris.[154]
That same year, the original Shroud of Eden was in possession of the Baguttiani family in Milan. Abstergo Industries, the front-company of the Templar Order, sent their employe Keith Scipione to buy the artifact. On the day of Christmas 1944, Scipione met a member of the Baguttiani to confirm the nature of the artifact. Using a metallic keychain, Scipione was able to identify the Shroud as a true Piece of Eden and acquired it for the company.[69]
By 1945, Hilter seemed to have another artifact that he was tasked to bring to the Templars after faking his death, but the Assassins killed him before.[155]
Cold War
In 1948, the Templars assassinated Mahatma Gandhi to recover Altaïr's Apple of Eden.[149]
By 1957, Neumann was dying from cancer in Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.. Boris Pash infiltrated the Center with the Assassin Alekseï Gavrani and killed Neumann to recover Tesla's Apple.[153]
By 1961, as a President of the United States of America, John F. Kennedy inherited Washington's Apple of Eden. As he was against the Templar's interests, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency and member of the Templars William King Harvey ordered the assassination of the President to recover the artifact. Harvey was undercover in the Assassin Brotherhood and implicated the Bloodstone Unit, an extremist cell of Assassin working for the CIA led by Pash.[153] For this plan, the agent of the United States Secret Service William Greer, who was at the same time a member of the Templar Order and of the Bloodstone Unit, was trained with Altaïr's Apple to recover the Apple in the possession of the President.[149]
On 22 November 1963 in Dallas, Kennedy was shot down by the Bloodstone Unit. While a Templar agent used Napoléon's Apple to create a "Phantom on the Hill" effect, Greer recovered Washington's Apple. While he fled the scene, Greer was confronted by Gavrani who had left the Bloodstone Unit as he considered that Pash going too far. Gavrani stole the Apple and brought it to Harvey, not knowing that he was the mastermind behind the plot.[153]
In 1964, during the Vietnam War, Pash used Tesla's Apple on the Bloodstone member Julia Gorm to unlock the memory of her father Eddie. As Julia tried to kill Pash, Gavrani intervened to protect him from the Assassin in exchange for Tesla's Apple. While Gavrani and Julia fought, Pash fled with his pregnant lover and Assassin Zenia on the USS Maddox where he gave Tesla's Apple to Harvey who revealed his true nature. He later entrusted the artifact to the Templar and doctor Warren Vidic, who used the Apple and Pash's newborn daughter Nathalie to develop his own research on Genetic Memory.[153]
In 1969, the Templars financed the Apollo 11 Moon landing to recover an Apple of Eden which was on the Moon. The Templar Buzz Aldrin took the artifact and brought it back to the Order.[156]
In 1977, Nathalie was one of the first test subjects of Warren Vidic for his prototype of the Animus, a device that allowed users to view their ancestros' genetic memories. Discovering that Vidic had kidnapped her from her parents, Nathalie fled with the Animus' blueprints and Tesla's Apple.[153]
Modern times
Animus Project
By 2012, the Templar front organization Abstergo Industries was in the midst of a project to recover the remaining Pieces of Eden. The Animus Project was set up with the sole intention of locating the Pieces of Eden through the use of the Animus and kidnapped test subjects.[157]
The Templars sought to manipulate the neurotransmitters that made humanity susceptible to the Pieces' hypnotic effects. To accomplish this goal, they devised the Eye-Abstergo project, which would end in the launch of an "all-in-one telecommunication" satellite into orbit around Earth. However, unbeknownst to the rest of humanity, the satellite would contain an Apple of Eden, and spread its power across the globe.[157]
On 10 October 2012, an Assassin team consisting of Lucy Stillman, Desmond Miles, Shaun Hastings, and Rebecca Crane located the Apple of Eden hidden by Ezio Auditore beneath the Santa Maria Aracoeli in 1506, by having Desmond relive Ezio's memories in the Animus. When Desmond touched the Apple, Juno gained access to his nervous system for a brief time. Under Juno's control, Desmond killed Lucy,[158] who was secretly a Templar agent.[159]
Upon release from Juno's control, Desmond fell into a coma, but was able to regain consciousness through achieving a Synch Nexus.[160] Desmond, his father William, Shaun and Rebecca later arrived at the entrance of the Grand Temple in New York, where Desmond used the Apple to open the central chamber gate. It was only then that the Assassins discovered the Grand Temple Key was needed to open the inner gate.[5]
After William was captured by Templar agents in Cairo while looking for a power source for the Grand Temple, he was brought to Abstergo's Rome facility. Warren Vidic, a member of the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Order and head of the Animus Project, proposed a deal to Desmond to exchange William for the Apple. Desmond travelled to Rome and entered the facility, killing the Abstergo agents and Daniel Cross. Arriving at Vidic's office, Desmond used the Apple to force the facility's guards to shoot Vidic and themselves, then released his father from confinement. Due to Vidic's death and failure to retrieve the Apple of Eden, the Eye-Abstergo project was put on hold indefinitely.[5]
By 2016, the Animus Project was relocated to the Abstergo Foundation Rehabilitation Center in Madrid, Spain, where the Templars continued their Animus experiments on abducted test subjects, hoping to uncover the locations of more Pieces of Eden. In October 2016, they kidanpped Callum Lynch, a descendant of Aguilar de Nerha, and through his memories, they learned about the Apple of Eden that the Assassin had entrusted to Christoffa Corombo in 1492.[93]
Alan Rikkin subsequently retrieved the Apple from Corombo's grave, but while meeting with his fellow Templars at the Grand Templar Hall in London to celebrate the acquisition, he was assassinated by Callum, who had escaped from the Abstergo Foundation facility alongside his fellow Assassins Lin and Moussa. The Assassins then took the Apple from Rikkin's body and escaped into the night.[93]
Phoenix Project
By 2014, Abstergo were in possession of a Precursor box which was stolen by the Assassins Harlan Cunningham and Arend Schut during a raid on their facility in Rotterdam. Abstergo's Sigma Team led by Juhani Otso Berg pursued the Assassins, who managed to escape but were ultimately forced to leave the artifact behind.[161] The following year, Otso Berg was tasked by Laetitia England to deliver the box to Doctor Álvaro Gramática at his secret laboratory, to boost the progress of Abstergo's Phoenix Project.[162]
In October 2014, the Assassin Gavin Banks led a raid on Abstergo's Paris facility to sabotage the Phoenix Project. The attack was successful and resulted in the destruction of the original Shroud of Eden, which was being kept in Álvaro Gramática's laboratory at the facility.[163] Consequently, Abstergo began searching for a new Shroud that would allow them to resume work on the Phoenix Project.[164]
In October 2015, both the Assassins and Templars sought to find the Shroud of Eden hidden in the Buckingham Palace vault in London. Through the genetic memories of Jacob and Evie Frye and Crawford Starrick, the Templar Isabelle Ardant and a member of the Assassin-affiliated Initiates independently learned the artifact's whereabouts. Subsequently, Sigma Team and an Assassin cell consisting of Shaun Hastings, Rebecca Crane, and Galina Voronina engaged each other in the Shroud's vault, where the Templar Violet da Costa ultimately claimed the artifact and delivered it to Gramática at his new laboratory.[164]
In 2018, the Instruments of the First Will forcefully took over the Phoenix Project, intending to use it to create a new Isu body for Juno to inhabit. With the Koh-i-Noor as the last Piece of Eden required for the project, Juhani Otso Berg formed an uneasy alliance with Galina Voronina's Assassin cell to find the artifact before the Instruments and prevent Juno's resurrection.[150]
By reliving the genetic memories of Ignacio Cardona and Albert Bolden, the Assassin Charlotte de la Cruz and Otso Berg learned that the Koh-i-Noor was buried in the rubble of an abandoned church in Spain. They subsequently travelled there to retrieve the artifact, but were forced to fight the guardians appointed by Cardona and Bolden to protect the site, as well as the Instruments. In the end, although Charlotte managed to find and activate the Koh-i-Noor, the artifact was taken by the former Assassin Jasdip Dhami, who had defected to the Instruments.[150]
At the Phoenix Project laboratory in Australia, Gramática used the Shroud of Eden on somatic cells extracted from Elijah, Desmond Miles' illegitimate son and a Sage, creating a new Isu body which Juno transferred her consciousness into. However, not long after, the laboratory was attacked by the Assassins and Otso Berg and, in the resulting chaos, Elijah betrayed Juno, using the Koh-i-Noor to create an illusion of Consus to distract her and allow Charlotte to assassinate her. After the Instruments were defeated, Otso Berg detonated a high-caliber explosive to destroy the laboratory and kill any remaining Instruments; this presumably also destroyed all the Pieces of Eden inside the laboratory, including the Shroud and the Precursor box.[150]
Layla Hassan's search
In 2018, the Assassin Layla Hassan led a cell comprising Victoria Bibeau, Kiyoshi Takakura, and Alannah Ryan in the search for the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus, which they believed to be hidden in Atlantis. After finding and retrieving the buried Spear of Leonidas, Layla extracted Kassandra's DNA from it and used it to relive the misthios' genetic memories in the Animus.[165]
Through Kassandra's memories, Layla located the Gateway to the Lost City and travelled there, meeting Kassandra, who had been tasked by Aletheia to pass the Staff to the Assassin. Kassandra did so after warning Layla to destroy all the Pieces of Eden in order to restore the balance between order and chaos, and passed away due to losing her immortality.[165] Following this, Layla learned how to wield the Staff under Aletheia's guidance and used it to defeat Sigma Team agents led by Juhani Otso Berg, who had tracked the Assassins and wished to take the Staff for themselves. However, the Staff's corrupting influence soon caused Layla to strike Victoria during an argument, kiling her.[166]
By 2020, Layla, still struggling with the Staff's influence, was re-assigned to an Assassin cell with Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, after Kiyoshi and Alannah decided to leave her team due to her accidental murder of Victoria. That year, the Assassins sought to reverse the process caused by Desmond Miles' activation of the global aurora borealis device in 2012, in order to restore the Earth's magnetic field to normal proportions. After being guided to Eivor Varinsdottir's remains in New England by a mysterious signal, Layla relived the Viking's memories in the Animus and learned of the Yggdrasil vault in Norway.[167]
Layla subsequently travelled to the vault, using the Staff of Hermes to protect herself from the lethal radiation emitted by Yggdrasil, and used the machine to enter the Grey. There, she met the trapped consciousness of Basim Ibn Ishaq, who revealed that he had led the Assassins to Eivor and told Layla how to slow down Yggdrasil and save the planet. However, doing so caused Layla to become trapped in the Grey in Basim's place, and the former Hidden One used the Staff dropped by Layla to rejuvenate his physical body, effectively being reborn in the modern world.[167]
References
