Observatory (Isu)

He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow.

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"Dirty and decrepit. Not quite as I remember. But it has been over 80 millennia."

―The Sage Bartholomew Roberts, commenting on the state of the Observatory, 1719.^[src]

The Observatory is a First Civilization complex in the area that would become Long Bay, Jamaica, which allowed the remote viewing of an individual's vision through the use of a Crystal Skull. It was, in essence, a surveillance center used by the First Civilization to keep track of certain individuals.

It operated by placing a vial, containing a drop of blood from the person to be observed, into a Crystal Skull located within an armillary sphere. The device would then project what the person was seeing and hearing into the room. Around the central altar, there were rows of seats that would allow for a large number of people to view the projection at any one time. In the hallway leading to the main viewing chamber, the Observatory housed a large number of vials containing the blood of numerous First Civilization individuals.

Security measures

If the Crystal Skull was removed, the complex activated a lethal security system, which could only be deactivated, in most circumstances, by a Sage. If left in operation, the system would project walls of energy at regular intervals, strong enough to vaporize humans on contact.

It also caused the interior of the structure to shift and separate into several platforms, in order to make traversal of the complex difficult. During such instances, the only apparent way to deactivate the security system was to return the Crystal Skull to the complex's armillary sphere. In order to ensure the security of the Observatory, indigenous Guardians protected the structure from encroachers. Additionally, the main door to the complex could only be opened by inserting a vial containing the blood of a Sage.

History

"There were many stories about this place once. Tales that turned into rumours, and again into legend. The inevitable process of facts becoming fictions, before fading away entirely."

―Bartholomew Roberts, on the legendary status of the complex, 1719.^[src]

The Observatory was built more than 80,000 years ago, in the dense jungle of what would one day become Jamaica. Its construction and operation were overseen by the First Civilization member Aita, who would eventually pass his genetic code on to the humans who would become Sages, and have the power to use the facility that their predecessor had built.

In 1718, the Observatory was visited by the Sage Bartholomew Roberts and Edward Kenway, a fellow pirate. After neutralizing the Guardians protecting the complex, Edward learned the of Observatory's power - to spy across vast distances - and was sure he'd found the perfect way to earn wealth and conquer the seas. However, he was betrayed and sealed inside by Roberts, but managed to climb to the Observatory's ceiling and escape via a secondary exit leading to a waterfall near the beach, where he was captured by Roberts, who sold him to the British for the bounty on his head.

The Observatory's projector halted when Roberts removed the Crystal Skull from its sphere, but it threw the entire complex into a state of lockdown that could only be undone if the Skull was returned to the chamber. Four years later, in 1722, Edward once again visited the complex, this time in pursuit of Laureano de Torres y Ayala, Grand Master of the Caribbean Rite of the Templar Order.

With Torres unaware of the complex's alerted state, many of his men died both by Kenway's blades and the Observatory's destructive security measures. Leaping and climbing around the walls and cieling, Kenway was able to make his way across the chamber, before jumping down to assassinate Torres. Soon after, the Assassins Ah Tabai and Adéwalé, along with Kenway's new quartermaster Anne Bonny, arrived. Ah Tabai returned the Skull to the sphere, calming the Observatory's systems.

The four then decided to seal the Observatory until another Sage appeared. However, by this point the blood vials had been removed, and the Assassins devoted themselves to locating and returning them to their rightful place, in time.

In 2013, it was noted by an Abstergo Entertainment employee that whilst the Observatory's observational facilities were on par with modern-day surveillance techniques, and thus not entirely important to the Templar Order, the location of the blood vials would provide them with an abundance of First Civilization genetic material to work with.