Rome: Chapter 4 – Giovanni Borgia
Chapter 4 of the Rome Pack of the Facebook game, Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy.
In-Game Introduction Video
Preparing to synchronize. Note that we are experiencing a small system glitch that may cause a subtle ringing in your ears. It should pass as you enter the memory. The new world was plundered in the 15th Century. Explorers became conquerers. La Noche Triste or the Night of Sorrows was a bloody uprising between the Aztecs and the Spanish conquistadors. Hernan Cortes himself was driven from Tenochtitlan. Firsthand reports of the massacre present opposing perspectives. Find the truth.
Farsighted
My hunt continues. We must find these relics of a previous world. Study them. The Brotherhood has made connections, leveraged deals, and ensured my place aboard Hernán Cortés' ship, bound for the New World. To México.
Calculations
Requirements: 50 AP (per execution), 11 Carrack, 1 Astrology Tome, 50 Deckhands, 6 Shipwrights, 11 Captains, 1 Ink, 5 Water of Life.
Rewards: 139 XP, 2987 florins.
The Spaniards know me as Botello, a soldier and a scholar. I have worked hard to perfect my accent and my garb. They remain convinced that I am one of them. I am to chronicle their adventures, though necessity demands I omit certain events.
- I study my maps and charts, sometimes comparing them to the stars. I am convinced we are following the correct course!
- I use tools the crew has never seen, lenses and measures suited to study subjects new to these men.
- Rumor around the ship brands me an astrologer. A magician. They believe I will bring them luck in their journey, so I do not correct them.
- With everything I know, what I have personally witnessed, I marvel at the endless sea beneath our ship. What secrets lie lost below? Relics? Cities? Answers?
- I keep a journal about our voyage, careful to note directions and obstacles. I write in doublespeak. Even a scholar would find my journal mundane and obsessed with details. A Brother, however, would find much more hidden in those sentences.
- We reach shore soon. How my heart races! I have studied these relics from our past, these Pieces of Eden, and I have even wielded them on rare occasion. I have spent my life theorizing and mapping, but never before have I had the opportunity to hunt one.
In The Thick Of It
Requirements: 55 AP (per execution), 30 Swordsmen, 40 Pikemen, 44 Row Boats, 4 Light Cavalry, 7 Heavy Cavalry.
Rewards: 152 XP, 3399 florins.
We have landed! When we approach the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, we will be vastly outnumbered. If they are hostile, we stand no chance. Fortunately, we have allies will help us negotiate.
- Cortés has grown close to a Nahua slave named Malinalli. Though she does not speak Spanish, she does speak many of the tribal languages. She communicates on our behalf, though we can only assume what she is saying.
- The natives speak of bearded men, a foreigners like us, living with the Maya in Chetumal. One of our first tasks is to find them.
- Malinalli has gained us access to the Chetumal Mayans. We have found Spaniards among them! Gonzalo Guerrero and Gerónimo de Aguilar shipwrecked nearly a decade ago and have been living with the tribes.
- Malinalli and Aguilar can communicate through the Mayan language, much to Cortés' delight. Tenochtitlan's people will speak Nahuatl, a language unknown to Aguilar. Malinalli will translate to Mayan. Aguilar will translate Mayan to Spanish. It will be slow and confusing, but it will work!
- Our numbers are too small to enter Tenochtitlan without aid. We will seek aid from the Tlaxcalans, an indigenous people not yet conquered by the Aztecs.
- Cortés, speaking through Aguilar and Malinalli, has made enormous promises to the Tlaxcalans. I suspect the Spaniards will use these people to conquer the Aztecs. I seek no involvement in their ambitions, but I must prevent Spain from finding the relic. It is too important.
Sun God
Requirements: 65 AP (per execution) 2 Castaways, 1 Ink.
Rewards: 180 XP, 3200 florins.
The view of Tenochtitlan is breathtaking! I never suspected the sheer scale of this civilization. The capital city is massive, intersected by causeways filled with boats, and grand temples reach towards the heavens.
- There must be at least 100,000 people in this city. No... more than double that. If they are hostile, we stand no chance. I study my Spanish hosts. Their weapons and armor begin to scare me. Surely the Aztecs will realize their intent?
- The Aztecs send a party to meet us. Our Tlaxcalan escorts meet them. They argue. Their voices rise and I anticipate violence. I rest my hand on my sword!
- Both parties have calmed. Malinalli translates for Aguilar. Aguilar tells us that we will meet the leader of Tenochtitaln, Moctezuma. A rare occasion – apparently Moctezuma does not show himself to his people.
- As we wait, Guererro has an idea. Take off our helms. The men with the largest, fullest beards stand in front. We are gods. We must convince them that we are gods.
- Moctezuma arrives with hundreds of his lords divided into two columns. They are barefoot and costumed. Moctezuma stands in the center with a chief to each side. Cortés asks me to describe this meeting in my notes.
- Thanks to our skilled translators, the ruse works. Aguilar translates Moctezuma's words. "You have graciously arrived, you have known pain, you have known weariness, now come on earth, take your rest, enter into your palace, rest your limbs; may our lords come on earth."