Save Citizen
Save Citizen refers to memories in which the Assassins Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and Ezio Auditore saved helpless citizens from harassment, taunts, and threats by malicious guards who accused them of false crimes. On occasion, the Assassins would save citizens in the city from harassing guards, gaining their loyalty as potential allies.
Third Crusade
During the Third Crusade, Save Citizen missions were simple affairs. Guards harassed a citizen, accusing them of crimes, while other guards stood around the scene, scaring away any resistance to the wrongdoing that went on behind them.[1]
There were usually three to five guards around a citizen. Two or three were in the process of actively shaking and harassing them, while the remaining guards stood as lookouts. The lookouts would push Altaïr away if he got too close.
if left standing idle for a few moments after locking on one of the guards harrasing the citizen, Altaïr would swear at them in Arabic; infuriating them, thus provoking them into attacking.[1]
Outcomes
Once all of the guards have been killed, the saved citizen would have profusely thanked Altaïr, and a group of either Vigilantes or Scholars would be put at his disposal.[1]
Rome
In the Italian city of Rome, citizens saved by Ezio would be given the opportunity to join Assassins Guild as Apprentices and join the fight for the freedom of Rome by breaking the corrupt and ruthless Borgia influence. Save Citizen missions were only encountered if Assassin Recruit slots were open, which is relative to how many Borgia Towers have been destroyed.[2]
Situations
When encountered in Rome, the citizens, who could have been either male or female, were usually surrounded by 4 to 5 guards in a standoff. Once Ezio physically arrived, the citizen would have engaged in combat after a couple of seconds. A few different situations can be seen[2]:
- The citizen was surrounded on all sides and the guards have their swords drawn, frozen in a standoff.[2]
- The citizen had taken a guard hostage and had pressed his/her blade to his throat in attempts to make the other guards back down.[2]
- The reverse could happen, with a guard holding a citizen in headlock.[2]
- The citizen had a guard by the scruff of the neck and was holding the guard over a cliff, threatening to drop him to his death if the other guards should have advanced on him/her (this happens more frequently in the hilly, countryside towns to the south and east of the city itself).[2]
- The citizen has his/her back against the wall, brandishing his/her sword at the surrounding guards.[2]
- Sometimes, the citizen had already started fighting with the guards in earnest. This can happen if Ezio was nearby the Save Citizen quest and can hear it, but not see it.[2]
Outcomes
No matter what the situation, the citizens would eventually start fighting the multiple guards alone. If Ezio did not assist the citizen quickly, or simply walked away, they would have been killed by the overwhelming force presented by the guards, and the mission would have failed.[2]
If Ezio chose to help the citizen and wished to recruit him or her, he willl kill all the guards in advance, then talk to the citizen. They would then thank Ezio for his aid, and pledge themselves to his cause. Ezio will recruit them and the citizen will run off (assumedly to the Tiber Island headquarters) to become an Assassin Recruit.[2]
If Ezio decided he didn't want to recruit a particular citizen after arriving on the scene, he simply walked away without engaging the guards or he did not talk to the citizen after killing all the guards.[2]
This was helpful when Ezio wanted to keep a healthy balance of male and female recruits, or simply do not wish to take on another Recruit at a particular time.[2]
Constantinople
In Constantinople, after recapturing an Assassin Den from the Byzantines, Ezio could save citizens and recruit them into the Order. Two times, Ezio's challenge was more complex than rescuing them from a fight, such as the hungry man imprisoned for stealing food, the wounded man whose family was in danger, or a woman whose shop had been attacked. Ezio could save and recruit dozens more people than in Rome, because he could station newly promoted Assassins in other liberated cities, freeing up space in the number of apprentices he could train.[3]
Trivia
- In Assassin's Creed, as Altaïr approaches Damascus for the first time in the game, there will be a citizen to be saved near the market located outside the main gates. This Save Citizen is mandatory - it must be done and cannot be skipped. It is the only required save citizen mission in the game.
- In Assassin's Creed, citizens will hide in fear while Altaïr fights the harassing guards. After the original guards are killed, the citizen will look up and act normally, even if Altaïr is still fighting other guards who joined the fight.
- In Assassin's Creed, save Citizen missions are only available in the three cities - Damascus, Acre, and Jerusalem.
- Unlike the missions in Assassin's Creed, the Save Citizen missions in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood are always available as long as there is an Assassin Recruit position free in the Assassin Guild.
- Sometimes in Brotherhood, a citizen may fall off a cliff or another high structure, to his death. However, if you kill the guards before the citizen has hit the ground, he/she will just rise from the ground like nothing happened and you will still have the ability to recruit the citizen.
References
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