Tunguska explosion

"Rot in hell, Thomas."

―Nikola Tesla before causing the explosion.

The Tunguska explosion was an enormously powerful explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, at about 7:14 a.m. on June 30, 1908. It was caused by Nikola Tesla, working with the Assassins, who was trying to destroy a Templar research facility where one of the Staves of Eden was being experimented upon, as a strike against the Templars.

Prelude

In 1905, the Templar Grigori Rasputin came into possession of the Imperial Sceptre, of Tsar Nicholas II, one of the Staves of Eden. It was taken to a secret facility in central Russia, near the Tunguska river. The Staff was used as part of research into wave-generation technology.

Several years prior, the inventor Nikola Tesla had been discredited and nearly ruined by the Templars, namely Thomas Edison.

The explosion

In the summer of 1908, members of the Assassin Order contacted Tesla, offering a chance to get back at the Templars. Nikolai Orelov and two other Assassins infiltrated the facility, with the objective to retrieve the Staff of Eden before the facility would be destroyed. However, the Assassins were ultimately unable to take the object out of the facility in time, and Tesla prepared to carry out his orders. Using his mastery of electricity and the Wardenclyffe Tower, Tesla broadcast an immense burst of electricity into the facility and the Piece of Eden, creating one of the largest explosions in history. This explosion obliterated the research facility and the Staff within. Nikolai was the only survivor, lying with his clothes torn apart in the middle of the crater caused by the explosion.

Aftermath

Orelov, after the explosion at Tunguska.

The explosion was an Assassin victory. The explosion destroyed the Staff, and left only one of the three assassins on the mission, Nikolai Orelov, alive. Orelov later returned to Anna Orelov, barely alive, muttering that the Staff was destroyed. However, a shard of the Staff was left salvageable. This shard fell into the hands of Grigori Rasputin who was later killed by conspirators in December 1916. His body was later unearthed by Nikolai Orelov to retrieve the shard.

Gallery

• 
  Nikola Tesla activates his weapon.
• 
  The Templar facility, moments before the explosion.

Trivia

• After the explosion, it is said that people, far from where it happened, could read their newspaper at night, due to the extreme luminosity of the explosion.