1725 Manila riot

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"Let's show the Governor-General and his lackeys that our faith cannot be shaken!"

―A protester shortly before the start of the riot, 1725.

In 1725, a riot broke out in the city of Manila, Philippines after a monk used a Piece of Eden, the Crescent amulet, to influence the city's populace to protest against the rule of the Governor-General of the Philippines. The riot mirrored the earlier revolt against Governor Fernando Manuel de Bustillo Bustamante y Rueda in 1719, caused by a feud between him and the Archbishop of Manila, Francisco de la Cuesta.

Background

"For some reason or another, the Governor-General had the Archbishop and his monks rounded up and thrown in prison. When the Archbishop's local followers caught wind of it, they raised all hell and stormed the Governor-General's mansion."

―John Young describing the riot against Governor Bustamante, 1725.

In 1719, the Governor-General at the time, Fernando Manuel de Bustillo Bustamante y Rueda, ordered the arrest of the Archbishop of Manila, Francisco de la Cuesta, after the latter refused to allow the Spanish authorities to take action against several individuals with pending charges who had taken church asylum. In retalation for the Archbishop's imprisonment, many of his supporters stormed Bustamante's mansion and killed the Governor-General.

Following Bustamante's assassination, tensions between the Spanish authorities in Manila and the Church were at an all-time high. Meanwhile, Spain began to suspect that the assassination had in fact been an elaborate plot by the Dutch East India Company, meant to keep Spain's influence in Southeast Asia in check.

The riot

"All ye who place your faith in the Lord... behold! The undeniable might of our lord and savior! Let the lord unleash his fury upon those who disobey him!"

―The monk using the Crescent amulet to influence the rioters, 1725.

In 1725, the Spanish authorities arrested Jan van Aert, the Chief Navigator of the Dutch East India Company, due to his alleged role in orchestrating Bustamante's assassination. The Assassin Edward Kenway and the members of his Zhang Wei Union, who were working with Jan to search for a Piece of Eden in the Philippines, were also arrested and were forced to remain aboard their ship, the Fenghuang, under the watch of several guards. However, the Union members managed to escape confinement and began planning their escape from Manila while Edward went to rescue Jan and his crew from Fort Santiago.

The monk leading the riot

At the same time as Edward's infiltration of the fort, the citizens of Manila began to protest against the Governor-General's rule. The protest soon turned into a violent riot, due to the influence of the Crescent amulet, a Piece of Eden which was wielded by a monk that wished to overthrow the Governor-General. Shimazu Saito witnessed the monk using the amulet to control the masses and informed Edward after the latter had rescued Jan and his men. Leaving Jan's crew to return to their ship, Edward and Saito decided to face the monk and take the amulet from him.

After the monk gathered all of his followers in front of the Manila Cathedral, they set up a bonfire while the monk preached to them, declaring that they would "cleanse" the land of all "non-believers", beginning with the Governor-General and all those who supported him. Spanish soldiers soon arrived to try and stop the riot, but the monk used the amulet to compel the crowd to attack them.

As the soldiers found themselves overwhelmed by the rioters, the monk and several of his followers headed to an alley where they were confronted by Edward and Saito. The Assassin demanded that the monk hand over his amulet, claiming it was not meant for human hands, but the latter refused to give up a "sacred relic of God" and ordered his followers to kill Edward and Saito. The Assassin and samurai easily killed most of the monks, but their leader used the amulet's powers to resurrect them.

Realizing that the resurrected acolytes were resistant to pain and that the only way to stop them was to dismember them, Edward and Saito proceeded to do so. However, the monk then used the amulet on Saito, causing her to experience visions of her deceased friends. After the monk used the amulet to conjure apparitions of himself and an oni, Saito was eventually defeated while Edward was able to overcome the artifact's powers, though the monk escaped after tricking the Assassin with an illusion.

Edward Kenway confronted by the mind-controlled civilians

As Edward chased after the monk, the latter used the amulet to command several civilians to kill the Assassin, as well as tamper with his Eagle Vision, preventing Edward from locating him. However, the Assassin was able to avoid the civilians by climbing to the rooftops and, after finding the monk, cornered him in another empty alley. As Edward tried to take away the amulet, the desperate monk activated the artifact to stop him, causing the Assassin to awaken in a strange void.

While Edward's mind was subjected to several visions of both the past and the future, his body remained paralyzed and the monk tried to take advantage of this to kill him. However, he was stopped by a spear thrown by Rajah, the leader of a Visayan resistance against the Spanish occupation of the Philippines. After killing the monk, Rajah claimed the amulet for himself, intending to use it to end the foreign occupation of his people's lands.

As Edward regained consciousness, he tried to stop Rajah but was defeated and almost killed. Saito, who had recovered from the amulet's effects, came to his rescue and dropped several smoke bombs, using the resulting confusion to grab Edward and escape with him to safety. After revealing that Spanish reinforcements had arrived in the city to quench the riot, Saito urged Edward to return to the Fenghuang for the sake of his crew, and the Assassin agreed, reluctantly leaving the amulet in Rajah's hands.

The Fenghuang and Jan van Aert's ship sailing away from Manila

At the same time as Edward and Saito's fight against the monk, the remaining Union members engaged in a shootout against the Spanish soldiers at the harbor, in order to retrieve their confiscated weapons and supplies. In the process, the Union's engineer Yun Pyeong-Gyu discovered a warehouse filled with barrels of petroleum, which he required for the production of Greek fire, and ordered the Fenghuang's crew to load the barrels onto the ship.

Once Edward and Saito returned to the Fenghuang, the ship sailed away from Manila, followed closely by Jan van Aert and his crew. After the Spanish Navy was notified of their escape, they sent several ships after them. Jan volunteered to lure away their pursuers to give Edward and his crew time to flee, and told the Assassin to reconvene at the Sultanate of Sulu, an island kingdom south of the Philippines. Jan then proceeded with his distraction, allowing the Fenghuang to escape from the Spanish fleet.

Aftermath

Following their escape from Manila, the Zhang Wei Union members decided to resume their voyage to Cebu, where they hoped to find a lead to the location of the lost city of Angkor, rumored to house another Piece of Eden. Meanwhile, with the Crescent amulet in-hand, Rajah and his rebels began making their way towards Cebu as well, intending to commence their campaign to liberate the Phlippines from Spanish occupation.

Gallery

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  The monk preaching to the rioters
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  Spanish soldiers attempting to stop the riot
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  Edward and Saito confronting the monk
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  Edward and Saito surrounded by apparitions of the monk
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  Edward trying to take the amulet from the monk
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  The monk impaled by a spear thrown by Rajah
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  The Zhang Wei Union members fighting Spanish soldiers at the harbor

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple