Shroud of Eden 1

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"The voice does not seem hostile, despite its urgency. Perhaps it does only wish to heal, but I will not take a chance!"

―Mario Auditore on the disembodied voice within the Shroud, 1454.

Shroud of Eden #1 was a prototype Piece of Eden invented by the Isu scientist Consus in 1923 Isu Era (c. 75,383 BCE).

The Shroud was originally created in order to act as a medicinal field kit, in order to heal those who had been injured during the War of Unification. However, with the onset of Consus' natural death, the only form of injury the Shroud could not protect against, the Shroud became host to the conciousness of its creator.

The Shroud then spent the next 75,000 years in humanity's possession, and weaved its way into the cultural and religious histories of a number of societies and religions, coming into contact with, and being a focus of the desires of, both the Assassins and Templars.

After circa 77,397 years, the Shroud, and the conciousness of its creator, was finally destroyed in 2014, when the Abstergo Industries laboratory in which it was being held, was destroyed by the Assassins.

History

In 42BC, Publius Volumnius was present at a ceremony where the Shroud was used on the lifeless body of Marcus Junius Brutus. The power of the Shroud animated the body, allowing Brutus to open his eyes and move his arms, but he did not appear to breathe, and soon all movements ceased again, indicating that the artifact did not have the ability to restore life.

The Shroud vanished for many centuries, eventually resurfacing in France halfway through the fourteenth century. By 1355, the Shroud was in possession of the Templar Geoffroy de Charny, but it was stolen by the Assassins that same year, and replaced by an intricate duplicate. Renato Auditore and his allies assured themselves that they had the real Shroud before locking it in a chest and hiding it in Monteriggioni, Italy.

It was there that the Shroud was eventually rediscovered by one of Renato's descendants, Mario Auditore, one century later. After learning that Federico da Montefeltro had attacked Monteriggioni solely to acquire the artifact hidden underneath the city, Mario and several other Assassins explored the cave underneath the well.

They found the Shroud, which spoke to them and told them it could heal the wounds they had sustained during their search. Overcome by the promise of the Shroud, Mario's allies attacked him, and he was forced to fight them off. He removed the Shroud from its hidden location and it was transferred to a new one.

In 1498, the Shroud was in the possession of Rinaldo Vitturi, who kept it safe for the Assassin Brotherhood. Perotto Calderon brought his son to Agnadello, Vitturi's hometown, hoping to use the Shroud to heal the defects with which he had been born. After having achieved this goal, Calderon replaced the Shroud in its box and left it.

More than a decade later, the Shroud had found its way to Niccolò di Pitigliano in Lonigo. After an almost successful attempt on his life, Pitigliano used the Shroud to restore some vitality to his body, allowing him to escape his burning home. When he attempted to use the Shroud again, hoping to muster enough strength to flee to another city, the Shroud tore him apart from within, killing him. Finding his mangled body, the Shroud was taken by Francesco Vecellio.

The Shroud then disappeared from history for several centuries, despite extensive searches. It eventually resurfaced in Milan in 1944, when Keith Scipione, and employee of Abstergo Industries, bought it off one of the Baguttioni, a group of free-spirited thinkers.

By 2011 the Shroud had found its way into the possession of Álvaro Gramática, Abstergo Industries Director for the Phoenix Project, an initiative to fully sequence a First Civilization genome. Whilst in his possession, the Templar quickly discovered this particular Shroud's unique ability to provide communication with its creator, Consus.

Over the next three years Álvaro, Isabelle Ardant, and Violet da Costa used the Shroud to communicate with Consus, by fatally wounding Da Costa and using the Shroud to repair her injuries, during which time communication with its creator was possible.

The Shroud was finally destroyed in 2014 when the Parisian laboratory in which it was being held was destroyed by the Assassins.

Powers and capabilities

"The voice does not seem hostile, despite its urgency. Perhaps it does only wish to heal, but I will not take a chance!"

―Mario Auditore, regarding the use of the Shroud.

The Shroud destroying Niccolò di Pitigliano

The Shroud has been used to heal wounds of varying severity, mending injuries ranging from stab wounds to birth defects. It spoke in an almost kind voice that constantly offered healing, and urged its users to disregard their own physical frailty.

Despite the rumors of its abilities to do so, it could not be used to bring a being back to life. However, it could reanimate bodies to a small degree for a short amount of time.

The Shroud was also known to cause severe hallucinations in those who had used it, and (in extreme cases, such as that of Niccolò di Pitigliano) could also seem to tear a person from the inside out.

Perotto appearing in Giovanni's dreams

Giovanni Borgia in particular suffered lasting effects from the Shroud. Though the artifact healed his deformed body as a baby, throughout his childhood, he would have vivid dreams of the memories of others who had come into contact with the Shroud, such as his father and Marcus Junius Brutus.

Additionally, Giovanni frequently communed with Consus, even when not in contact with the Shroud itself.

According to analysis by Abstergo Industries, when a Shroud is wrapped around a body, it scans it for damage, then reconstructs it on a cellular level, enabling potential reconstruction of decomposed organisms and, possibly, resurrection of deceased members of the First Civilization.

Due to Consus' decision to transfer his conciousness to this particular Shroud, his prototype Shroud was unique amongst the Pieces of Eden in allowing direct communication with an Isu. Whenever the Shroud was used to heal fatal injuries, Consus temporarily possessed the body of the wearer, and was able to communicate with a third party, although the wearer would never retain any memory of these communications once their wound had healed.