Initiates
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He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. This article contains spoilers, meaning it has information and facts concerning recent or upcoming releases from the Assassin's Creed series. If you do not want to know about these events, it is recommended to read on with caution, or not at all. |
- Shaun Hastings: "If you lot were tracking our movements all this time, couldn't you have stepped in?"
- Stephanie Chiu: "Our only goal was gathering knowledge. We made vows to stay neutral."
- —Shaun asking about the Initiates' purpose.[src]
The Initiates are a group of hackers, aiming to discover and reveal clandestine information about both the Assassin Brotherhood and the Templar-led Abstergo Industries. Instead of the Internet, which is controlled by corporations and governments that intend to keep the populace unaware of the Assassin-Templar War, they post information on a separate network transmitted by small satellites.
They are led by four anonymous individuals, and are funded by interested private citizens, including billionaires, those with military connections, and members of Harvard University and MIT.
In 2012, a member of the Initiates leaked sensitive information from Abstergo's database.[1] Since May of 2013, two of their members, Eric Cooper and Stephanie Chiu, have recorded updates on the Assassins, having infiltrated the crew of the Altair II. They were discovered the following year, but the Assassin leaders William Miles and Gavin Banks chose to spare them, seeing the group as potential allies. Shaun soon hacked the network, leaving a message encouraging the Initiates to stop simply looking on and to join the Assassins.[2]