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Samuel Adams (1722 – 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was also a member of the Sons of Liberty, the Freemasons, and an ally of the Colonial Assassins.
Biography
Early life
Samuel was born in Boston in the year 1722 to Samuel Adams, Sr., and Mary Adams. He attended Harvard, graduating in 1740 and continued his studies, earning a master's degree in 1743. Adams was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1765, which was the beginning of his political career.
As a politician in colonial Massachusetts, Samuel was a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution. He was also one of the architects of the principles of American republicanism, which shaped the political culture of the United States.
Boston Massacre
- "Over here! You're Achilles' boy. Connor, was it? I saw what happened at the Town House. A fine mess, that."
- ―Samuel Adams to Connor after the massacre.[src]
During the events that lead to the American Revolutionary War, Samuel met and became a trusted associate of the Assassin Connor, after Achilles Davenport told Connor to find him on his first trip to Boston, just after the recent massacre. Amongst other things, Samuel taught Connor how to reduce his notoriety, waving away the man's worries by explaining propaganda, and also introduced him to the Mason tunnels underneath Boston, before chartering Connor a ship back to the Davenport Homestead.[1]
Boston Tea Party
- "First, we make our way to Nathaniel Bradlee's house to fetch the rest of our little group. Then it's on to Griffin's Wharf, where we board the ships and dump the tea. Simple as that."
- ―Samuel Adams explaining his plan to Connor.[src]
Three years later, Connor returned to Boston to request Adams' aid in stopping William Johnson, a Templar, from purchasing the land his people lived on. However, he became sidetracked by a number of incidents relating to British oppression.[1]
Upon meeting with the exasperated Assassin, Adams explained their plan; by destroying the newly arrived tea shipment, he'd be depriving Johnson of the means to purchase his people's land while the Sons of Liberty would be sending a message to England. Together, Adams, along with Connor, Stephane Chapheau, Paul Revere and William Molineux staged the Boston Tea Party, in which they dumped the cargo of tea crates into the water.[1]
Igniting the Revolution
- "Connor, allow me to introduce you to our newly appointed Commander-in-Chief, George Washington."
- ―Samuel Adams introducing Connor to George Washington.[src]
Some time later, both Adams and Connor attended the induction of George Washington as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. While there, Connor nearly caused a scene with Charles Lee, who was passed up for the Commander-in-Chief position, before Adams restrained him and distracted the Assassin by formally introducing him to Washington. As Washington excused himself to attend to Lee, Connor asked Adams if he had news of Jonathan Pitcairn, who was planning on destroying Patriot weapons and supplies so that they would have no means to continue their revolution.[1]
Adams replied that Pitcairn had barricaded himself in Boston with his army, but that the Continental Army was planning a siege to draw him out. Samuel then passed Connor a letter to give to Israel Putnam to secure his aid. Though Connor also wanted to assassinate Lee, Adams said they'd have to wait for another opportunity.[1]
Connor was present the following year for the signing of the Declaration of Independence, in which Adams, John Hancock and Benjamin Franklin scribed their names to the document. Adams also thanked Connor for preventing Thomas Hickey's assassination attempt on Washington.[1]
Alternate timeline
In an alternate timeline where George Washington crowned himself king of the United States with the Apple of Eden, Adams led the rebellion in Boston.[2]
Personality and characteristics
Adams cautioned Connor in his fight for freedom, and described himself as being an idealistic youth as well.[1]
References
- Economic system revamp (contrast 15th banking with 18th century trading)
- Ships (to complement guards)
- Swimming (to complement freerunning)
- Bribery (merge Heralds and Town criers?)
- Smuggling?
Calculations
The First Civilization's mathematical studies made them proficient in the studies of alternate timelines.
- The Apple of Eden showed Ratonhnhaké:ton that if his mother Kaniehtí:io had never died, then he would not have been around to confiscate it from George Washington and prevent him from being corrupted by its power.
- Juno showed Desmond Miles what would happen if Lucy Stillman had lived: Abstergo would have arrived to claim Ezio's Apple of Eden, and then failed to prevent the cataclysm after placing it in the Eye-Abstergo satellite.
- She later showed Desmond that if he did not release her from the Grand Temple, then the cataclysm would have destroyed humanity, and he would have led the survivors in a restart of civilization. Long after his death, history would have repeated itself, as Desmond would have been worshipped as a god, and his teachings used to justify mass murder.
Moral ambiguity
- "What follows are the three great ironies of the Assassin Order: (1) Here we seek to promote peace, but murder is our means. (2) Here we seek to open the minds of men, but require obedience to a master and set of rules. (3) Here we seek to reveal the danger of blind faith, yet we are practitioners ourselves."
- ―Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's Codex[src]
Despite their relative benevolence to the majority of Templar activities, many Assassins expressed discomfort with their Order. When Desmond Miles was rescued by the Assassins, he assumed they were the "good guys", but Shaun Hastings advised him to "not get carried away", reminding him their function was to kill people. Rebecca Crane acknowledged "it's not ideal. And taking a life is never easy. But sometimes there's no other way. Sometimes, Desmond, people have to die for things to change."[1] Desmond's ancestor Connor tried to avoid killing William Johnson, and when he had to, he told his Mentor Achilles that "I thought it might bring clarity. Or instill a sense of accomplishment. But all I feel is regret." Achilles comforted him, explaining to "hold fast to that. Such sacrifices must never come lightly."[2]
Both Desmond and Lucy Stillman fell out with their leader William Miles: his cold demeanour and the harsh training he put them through since childhood led Desmond to regard his father as a "[prison] warden" rather than a father.[3] Lucy defected to the Templars after being sent to infiltrate them, telling Clay Kaczmarek that William was "using" them and claimed "he doesn't think about the lives he's hurting. We aren't people to him."[4]
Nikolai Orelov served the Order to please his father, with whom he had a negative relationship. When he left, he felt "I began as a crusader for change and now I am no better than a common grave-robber."[5] When the Assassins in the FBI began holding his family hostage to make him give up his secrets, he opined to his son Innokenti "These are not honourable men, Kenya. They are killers. They live by old laws which apply only to them and then call themselves heroes." However, Orelov was also brutal towards his son when training him to fight the Assassins. Viewing these events via his genetic memory, Orelov's great-grandson Daniel Cross deemed the Assassins "a family of wolves, opportunistic, savage. They'll turn on each other at a moment's notice: they're anarchists. And anarchy can never lead to a unified world."[6]
Connor expressed disdain for the Assassins' secrecy, an opinion shared centuries earlier by some Assassins under Altaïr's leadership, who disagreed with him taking the Order back underground. Altaïr wrote "They grow angry, insisting it is a mistake to shroud ourselves. They say it slows our work. But they do not understand the risks. To expose ourselves now would be too dangerous. I fear we would be branded madmen and attacked."[1]
The Assassins also allied with dubious figures such as members of the House of Medici or Vladimir Lenin, or would spare the likes of Tomas de Torquemada, simply because they were not Templars. Vali cel Tradat left the Assassins before the Templars because they did not try to stop the Ottoman Empire's conquest of his native Wallachia.[7]