Jan van Aert

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Jan van Aert was a Dutchman who served as Chief Navigator for the Dutch East India Company during the 1720s.

While based in Portuguese Macau, Jan, alongside Alan Jacob of the Far East Company and Master Sun of the Hualien Trading Company, became a rival of the trading company led by Madam Lee. All three ultimately allied with the Templars in order to sabotage Lee's business and benefit their own.

Biography

In February 1725, under the Templars' influence, Jan collaborated with Alan Jacob, a representative of the Far East Company, and Master Sun, head of the Hualien Trading Company, to sabotage the rival trading company led by Madam Lee and benefit their own respective businesses in the process. To this end, they hired Shimazu clan ninja led by the Templar Shimazu Saito to eliminate Lee at her own residence, the Mandarin's House.

After the ninja failed to kill Lee, Alan called an emergency meeting with Jan and Sun at St. Dominic's Church in order to discuss their next course of action. During the meeting, Jan remarked that the ninja's failure might be a sign they were not as strong as they had thought, but Alan pointed out that all the ninja had been allegedly killed by a single skilled warrior. Unbeknowst to them, the Assassin Edward Kenway was watching the meeting from above after following Alan there and suspected one of them of being a Templar.

Jan meeting with Alan and Master Sun to discuss about Madam Lee

Jan listened to Alan's plan to cripple Lee's company, which required Jan to use his standing in the Dutch East India Company to detain Lee's ships in the Macau harbor. Jan remarked his role in the operation to be suspiciously easy and questioned Alan's motives. Seeing that Sun was just as hesitant to follow his lead, Alan then showed the two a "treasure" he had acquired to entice their cooperation, promising them unprecedented wealth.

Having been convinced to go along with Alan's plan, Jan later did as he had been told and, when several of Lee's ships were attacked by pirates at sea, he prevented the Dutch Navy from sending any ships to assist Lee's fleet. He also contributed to Alan's plan to frame Lee's company for drug trafficking, having her ships detained in the harbor under the pretense of being investigated for smuggling illegal narcotics.

However, this plan was thwarted by Edward Kenway, who exposed the Far East Company for smuggling the drugs into Macau. Unable to cover this up due to the large number of witnesses, Jan had no choice but to comply to the orders of the Dutch East India Company's resident officials and detain one of the Far East Company's ships for investigation.

When Jan later met with Alan and Sun at the port to discuss, he was accused by the former of betraying their agreement and attempting to sabotage his company. Their fight was broken up by Sun, who suspected that Lee had somehow learned about their plan and had sabotaged it. He then reminded Jan and Alan that they could not end their alliance until they had dealt with Lee.

Gallery

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  Closeup of Jan

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple