House of Wisdom

House of Wisdom

The House of Wisdom was a library, public academy, and intellectual center located in the Abbasiyah district of the Abbasid Caliphate's capital city, Baghdad.

History

In 819, a young thief Roshan found the House of Wisdom as her sanctuary after murdering her abusive husband. While there, she survived on crumbs and rats and managed to recognize the infrastructure of the library. She soon began to track an old engineer named Bakhit, who liked his own space and left remains of his food. One day, he welcomed her and thanked her for the company over the last months. She begins to learn under Bakhit and began to take classes at the House of Wisdom. Within three months, she started to go to advanced classes. It was then that Bakhit offered her a place as his assistant and a new home in Tabriz. She accepted and left the House of Wisdom for her new adventure.

Around 820, the mathematician Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi was appointed as the House of Wisdom's astronomer and head librarian. While there, he met a young Basim Ibn Ishaq, who was a frequent visitor. One day, when Basim had been reading one of al-Khwarizmi's studies, the polymath plucked them from his grasp and started teaching Basim astronomy and mathematics.

Tracking the Martyrs of Agaunum

In 824, Roshan returned to the House of Wisdom while working with a group of mercenaries to acquire an artifact from the cult, the Martyrs of Agaunum. However, she only remained with two other members, Persian mercenary Azadeh, with her wolf companion Onyx, and Roman pirate Dias. There, they positioned themselves to attack the Martyrs and their traitorous comrade Francis.

Watching the Martyrs' customer hiss at them after looking at the case, the mercenary group attacked and managed to kill the Martyrs, yet suffering the deaths of both Dias and Onyx. During the fight, their employer, Master Assassin Fuladh Al Haami, joined the fight, only to take down the customer, an agent of the Order of the Ancients. Keeping to his promise, he gave Azadeh leave after giving a cure to her father, but offered Roshan a place with the Hidden Ones. Although Azadeh wanted Roshan to go with her, Roshan tearfully rejected Azadeh before joining the Hidden Ones.

Rooting out the Order of the Ancients

By the 860s, the Order found its way into the House of Wisdom, placing one of its leaders Fazil Fahim al-Kemsa in charge of the House and its district. With the help of his subordinates, he managed to develop Alruh, a machine to decipher memory seals, with Hassan and tried to ascertain ancient text with Zahra. Although some questioned Alruh's progress, fellow Order leader Mas'ood Al-Ya'qoob experienced one of the machine's first trials and witnessed a world of a bygone time. From his work, he asked the Ra's Al-Af'a Al-Bahamut for more resources, especially for more test subjects.

To counter the Order's efforts, a new initiate of the Alamut Hidden Ones Basim Ibn Ishaq was tasked to uncover the Order's corruption in the House of Wisdom. He arrived at the location, only to find a plethora of people outraged at a book burning. There, he questioned the Great Scholar Fazil Fahim al-Kemsa, who calmed the people and talked with Basim about the whereabouts of both the inventor Ahmad ibn Musa and the caretaker of books. Meanwhile, Fazil continued to test subjects with the Alruh, which led to them losing their minds or their deaths. Hassan even ordered Ahmad's assistant Hamid Al-Haleem to deal with any intruders, which backfired after Basim killed the guards sent by Hassan.

One night, Fazil commenced his Great Symposium and nearly unveiled his Great Work, the Alruh. Meanwhile, Basim was in the audience ready to strike but Fazil was informed of both Hassan's and Zahra's death. Scared, Fazil hid himself in the basement of the House of Wisdom. Although worried, he continued on with his experiment and activated the devie for a new test subject. He soon described himself as one of few knew the truth and how knowledge is power, but only to be contested by the test subject. Nearing closer to the subject, Fazil is immediately killed by Basim, who was the subject in disguise. Afterwards, Basim took a feather to Fazil's bloodied neck and escaped the scene of the murder. Before leaving, he found more evidence of Fazil's ties with the Order in a private study.

Aiding Al-Jabriz

While at the House of Wisdom, Basim came into contact with Arab author Al-Jahiz and aided him to collect rare books. In response, Al-Jahiz rewarded Basim, who even acquired the "Book of the Dead", the Kitab al-Azif, for Al-Jahiz.

Behind the scenes

Historically the House of Wisdom was located within the Round City of Baghdad, not in the outer lying Abbasiyah district.

Gallery

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Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (first mentioned)
• Echoes of History (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Mirage (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Daughter of No One