This article contains content from pre-release sources that may or may not be reflective of canon upon release. This article therefore likely contains spoilers.
It has been years since your team of Assassins last met in the hallways of the headquarters of the Brotherhood. They all have had their share of heroic and tense fights with the Templars.
Now they are assembled again for a special briefing.
Months ago, the Brotherhood received worrying reports about a group of former Assassins gone rogue, deep into the jungles of the ancient kingdom of Cambodia. They seem to instill terror into the local populations. Not to mention the fact that this group is giving the Brotherhood a very bad reputation...
The rumor has it that they are led by a giant viper who goes by the name of Colubra...
A group of less experienced Assassins was sent to investigate but they have gone silent and the Brotherhood is not optimistic about their fate.
This is why the Brotherhood has tasked you, the four most loyal and experienced Assassins currently in Italy, with the delicate mission to find the team that was sent before you, seek the rogue Assassins and deal with their leader in the most discreet fashion.
You will not be alone in this: Shao Jun, a brilliant Assassin was on her way back to China but accepted to help you work your way in the jungle of the Khmer Empire.
Good Luck and remember: Nothing is true, everything is permitted![2]
Supplementary material
The booklet for this expansion, as did the one for the main campaign, includes a database-like entry:
Shao Jun (born in 1505) is a famous Assassin of the Chinese Brotherhood of Assassins.
A former concubine of the Zhengde Emperor, she was rescued by the Assassins after the emperor’s death
and devoted her life to the Brotherhood as a result.
During the interregnum following the Zhengde Emperor’s death, Zhang Yong—the leader of the Eight Tigers, a Templar faction—ordered a purge of all those who opposed him, which included the Assassins. Shao Jun and her Mentor, Zhu Jiuyuan, fled west to seek out the retired Mentor of the Italian Brotherhood, Ezio Auditore da Firenze. After helping Ezio fight off a Templar attack in his villa in Tuscany, he gave her a Precursor box to help her rebuild the Chinese Brotherhood.
When she heard of the troubles caused by the rogue Assassins in the Khmer Empire, she agreed to meet the four Assassins dispatched there and help them
Measuring up to 12 feet, it is one of the most dangerous animals one can encounter in the region.
It will bite and inject a potent venom that can kill an adult human in thirty minutes if no antidote is taken. Amazingly, even the very young ones can bite as dangerously as adults. It is not uncommon for expert handlers to extract their venom and use it to poison weapons.
Quick as lightning, the mongoose is the forever enemy of the cobra snake. Thanks to their incredible reflexes, they can face the venomous snakes and exploit any weakness, striking at the right time in the right spot.
The mongooses found in this region have developed a resistance to the snake’s venom that allows them to
continue fighting, even after a bite.
They are greatly admired and revered by the inhabitants of the region, who sometimes tame and train them to help against the snakes.
Development
On 13 March 2023, Triton Noir announced their future fundraising campaign for the Apocalypse expansion, which would follow the Renaissance-era Italian Assassins either from the core box or the Roma expansion pack, while they travelled to Cambodia to hunt a rogue Assassin with the aid of Shao Jun. This announcement also included a number of concept art pieces.[3] On 30 May, the campaign launched and was funded in less than 25 minutes.[4]
