User:Sol Pacificus/Assassin philosophy

Relativism

"You cannot know anything. Only suspect. You must expect to be wrong, to have overlooked something."

―Malik al-Sayf to Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad

Throughout its long existence, the Assassin Order has opposed tyrants and oppressors alike, priding itself as a "champion of the poor" and downtrodden, while assuming ideals such as equality and freedom and other principles associated with human rights. Though these principles may encourage the view that the Assassins are, like their sworn enemies the Templars, founded on a distinct set of ideals, at its roots, the Assassins' philosophy is grounded not in idealism, but in rationalism and epistemology, with the unique viewpoint that before one devises a specific code of ethics or belief system, one must first approach the world from a chiefly scientific standpoint, un-tempered by biases or such subjective products as morality or faith. To an Assassin, knowledge should be obtained first and foremost through strict objective reasoning, but this method is disrupted by each individual's fundamental dependency on his or her own senses to acquire information. These senses can be deceived in some measure, or otherwise will never convey the precise intrinsic quality of an object. Consequently, they are rendered unreliable, with the end result being that "true" or "full" objectivity is, as Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad argued, unreachable. The driving theory behind the Assassin's creed is thus that "one can only know that one knows nothing," a handicap corroborated by the Precursor Juno, who cited this as a defect of humans.

From this skepticism arises the Assassins' maxim that "nothing is true, everything is permitted," a relativistic assertion designed to provide an answer to the vastly disparate convictions over the perfect solution for humanity's ills: that there is no Truth and any attempted application of a singular ideal on a universal scale is first and foremost unrealistic. Moderation is therefore an inherent principle of the Assassins, who shun extremism as destructive to society,. To treat one belief as absolute is to not only submit oneself to the irrationality of blind faith, but also to alienate inevitable dissenters. These perspectives must always be taken into account, not only in one's outlook of society and life, but also in aspects of one's work, which manifests in the Assassins' emphasis on precision and stealth, and has been referred to by Assassins such as Altaïr and Pierre Bellec as "variables."

The second component of the creed, "everything is permitted" is an extension of this principle of uncertainty. Because the quantity of variables is infinite, it follows that theoretically, anything within nature is possible, for as long as there is no absolute answer to any query, no impossibility can be ascertained, and therefore, one must remain vigilantly open-minded to the unexpected and unknown, without ever drawing a conclusion without being conscious of that conclusion's plausibility of error. Beyond being a further vessel for pluralism, Assassins are taught to be mindful of pretensions and their own capability to achieve either great dreams or great destruction. In essence, this corollary commands one to take responsibility for one's actions towards oneself and society at large."

Though the maxim as a whole is actually meant to be descriptive, not normative, it nevertheless serves as the threshold into Assassin ethos, wherein reason, not divinity or society, is the source for guidance; dogmatism is discouraged for its potential to brew prejudice and violence,, and

According to Haytham Kenway, the Templar Order was "born of a realization" that humanity is fundamentally corrupt, necessitating strenuous control for it to be guided to peace. From the Assassin perspective, their brotherhood was born of the "realization" that to be wise, one must first liberate one's mind from the assumption of having acquired true knowledge.

Liberalism

"Twenty-two years ago, I stood where I stand now – and watched my loved ones die, betrayed by those I had called friends. Vengeance clouded my mind. It would have consumed me, were it not for the wisdom of a few strangers, who taught me to look past my instincts. They never preached answers, but guided me to learn from myself. We don't need anyone to tell us what to do; not Savonarola, not the Medici. We are free to follow our own path. There are those who will take that freedom from us, and too many of you gladly give it. But it is our ability to choose – whatever you think is true – that makes us human... There is no book or teacher to give you the answers, to show you the path. Choose your own way! Do not follow me, or anyone else"

―Ezio Auditore da Firenze

Though the Assassins' philosophy begins with a purely empirical assessment of life that seemingly verges on nihilism, their order is profoundly idealistic, with a deep sentiment for principles of social justice, humanitarianism, egalitarianism, and liberty.

It is aforementioned that the Assassins' justify perspectivalism with the view that it is logical and realistic, but it is further reinforced ethically by their ardent belief in the "sanctity of life" and each individual's humanity. This, in conjunction with moral relativism, are the guiding motives behind their support for cultural diversity and free will. Assassins perceive societal norms and conventions as artificial structures that can hinder one's partiality and lead to prejudices. These false boundaries include but are not limited to national borders, gender, ethnicity, social class, and race. As a result, Assassins oppose discrimination of virtually every kind, with physical abuse and slavery being especially abhorrent.

Their fierce stance against authoritarianism manifests as well into

[...]

Goals & Motivations

"Man seeks dominion over all that he encounters. I suppose it is a natural tendency for us to aspire towards mastery of our surroundings. But this should not include other human beings. Every day more and more are pressed into service – by deception or by force. Others, though not so firmly imprisoned, are made to feel as if their lives are worthless. I have seen the ways in which men persecute women. Heard the cruel words hurled at those who come here from other lands. Watched as those who believe or act differently are made to suffer...
We discuss such things often – watching as we do from the spires of Masyaf. What can be done to stop this? To encourage tolerance and equality? Some days we speak of education, believing that knowledge will free us from immorality. But as I walk the streets and see slaves sent off to auction – my heart grows cold. When I see the husband hurl abuses and stones at his wife, insisting she exists only to serve him – my fists clench. And when I see children torn from their parents so that another man might profit – sent off to suffer beneath the desert sun and die...
...On these days, I do not think that dialogue will make a difference. On these days, I can think only of how the perpetrators need to die"

―Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad

In light of their antipathy for authoritarianism, the Assassins throughout history fought under the banner of liberation for oppressed peoples. In spite of this, freedom was not at the core heart genesis of what essentially amounts to utopia. Their incompatible visions of the means by which such utopia could be achieved dismantled this common spirit. Unlike the Templars, who condemned humanity as irredeemably weak-minded and corrupt, the Assassins upheld faith, even love, in humanity as one of its core ideals. Their fundamentally skeptic creed neither justified the defeatist attitude that was the hallmark of Templar ideology, nor endorsed the notion that a single group could be wise enough to impress a correct way of life or belief on the people at large. Consequently, they scorned the notion that a short-cut to universal peace, especially in the form of global enslavement or elitist control, could be suitable as a solution to society's ills. Instead, they argued that humanity must be permitted to undergo the slow and arduous journey of developing tolerance for their myriad differences, a process derided as unrealistic and impossible by the Templars. In the Assassin view, peace is a product of education, not force, and this was only possible without the stringent control over information and society that authoritarians advocated. For this reason, Assassins over the centuries became increasingly identified with the ideals of liberty, to the extent that by the American Revolution, many Templars, notably Grand Master Haytham Kenway, believed that the Assassins had abandoned their goal of peace in favor of freedom as an ends, even accusing them of anarchism, although the Assassins supported democracy, not the abolition of order and government.

Ironically, in spite of the Assassins' optimistic view of humanity as a whole, they did not always retain the same faith for adversaries of human rights. This is the guiding force behind their operations, of which assassinations take primacy. Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad could not help but doubt the efficacy of persuasion, lamenting that many abusers were far too cemented in their ways to be redeemed through dialogue. Echoing Altaïr's sentiment, Rebecca Crane once explained to Desmond Miles that sometimes, "there's no other way." To protect the lives of innocents, the Assassins believed that realistically, an ideal, noble resolution was not always possible (i.e. one may have to kill a perpetrator to save an innocent). For many members, compassion was a key motivation that paradoxically translated into objectives that very often revolved around murder. Perhaps most critically, social justice was a unifying theme among Assassins, and in this capacity, they served as a reactionary force against perceived oppression, tyranny, and abuses against humanity, becoming the mortal enemies of the Templars.

Paradoxes & Misconceptions

"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

To laymen and especially Templars, the creed is very often taken literally as a propagation of nihilism, anarchism, and self-gratification. The pirate Edward Kenway, before being inducted into the Assassin Order, is a prime example of this, misconstruing the creed as a suggestion to "chase every desire." The Templar James Wardrop, in his dying words to Shay Cormac, bemoaned that "if everything is permitted, nothing is safe," implying that the maxim is a call for wanton hedonism. Even the scholarly woman Sofia Sartor was apt to remark on the creed's "cynicism" upon first hearing it cited by her future husband, the Mentor Ezio Auditore.

As Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad reported in his codex, it was not an uncommon occurrence that people newly exposed to the creed be waylaid by immorality or driven mad by the disintegration of a sense of security. Experienced Assassins were often obliged to chide their pupils or outsiders for misinterpreting "everything is permitted" as a message to abolish all sense of moral restraint and discipline.

The Assassins' devotion to free will and their assertion of moral relativism can indeed invite questions of whether or not they and their creed are nihilistic or anarchic. Their liberal belief system, along with their support of cultural expression and life, would indicate otherwise. The creed itself, however, implies that all values are meaningless. A contradiction thus arises, which can be summarized as "why do Assassins adhere strictly to beliefs while asserting that none are true?" This can be taken even further into a charge of hypocrisy when one considers that Assassins preach freedom of beliefs and yet use violence to suppress those who reject their own beliefs (of free will), an accusation that the Templars Abu'l Nuqoud and Jubair al Hakim directed upon Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad with their dying words.

While Altaïr at the time noted that he had no "satisfactory answer" to these charges" even expressing fear that "none exist," Ezio Auditore and Edward Kenway both provided insight into how these paradoxes are resolved.

In addressing this paradox, Ezio explained that the creed itself is more akin to that of a scientific theory, rather than a doctrine in itself, and therefore it is not meant to be followed or obeyed, but merely understood. Edward Kenway, upon his induction into the Assassin Order, posed the same questions to the Mentor Ah Tabai. When Ah Tabai redirected them back to him, the former pirate answered that "it might be that this idea is only the beginning of wisdom, and not its final form." In other words, the creed would be call to nihilism--and therefore implicitly the Assassins hypocritical for not adhering wholly to it--if it were the dogma itself. It is not, however, the dogma of the Assassins for it can be said to be the scientific introduction to a belief system, one that formulated only the framework of an ideology, but not the completed complex of ideals itself. As such, while "nothing is true," and all beliefs and moral values are false from an objective standpoint, it does not follow that morals and beliefs should be treated as false from an ethical standpoint, only understood as such. While "everything is permitted" from a rational standpoint, it does not follow that everything should be permitted ethically. The Assassins regard the creed as an exposition to their concept of wisdom, in that they believe that one must first understand the subjective origins of all beliefs and values before devising his or her own ideology, so as to remain open-minded and unprejudiced, but the relativity of beliefs does not make beliefs insignificant.

While explaining why the creed is not meant to support nihilism or anarchism, it does not resolve the paradox that Assassins murder in the name of peace or kill those that disagree with their own ideals in the name of free will. Altaïr, in attempting to provide an answer, suggested that the creed incorporates an even deeper meaning: that paradoxes exist and are not impossible, or rather that it is because paradoxes exist and cannot be avoided, that "nothing is true.

_________________
[Should this explanation be included?]
For instance, when one believes in free will, one by extension, disbelieves in the antithesis: the repression of free will. In opposing the repression of free will, one would therefore be opposing the free will of a party (i.e. the party that represses free will), but this opposition of the free will of this party originates from the belief in free will. [It is fundamentally impossible to not be "hypocritical" when supporting freedom of beliefs, because this support is a belief in itself. ~ think this wording over]

Corruption

"What would you know of peace, raised by such a soft Mentor as Ah Tabai? If I found a Precursor relic, I would not destroy it! I would use it as early and as often as possible.
My knowledge of the Brotherhood comes from its source. "Laa shay’a waqi’un moutlaq bale kouloun moumine.” I understand these words in a way you never will. My Creed is pure, undiluted by centuries of weakness and compromise."

―François Mackandal to Antó

Although restraint from zealotry was a prime aspect of their ideology, ironically the Assassins were not always immune to extremism. As aforementioned, much of this owed to a basic misunderstanding of the creed in itself, or sheer ignorance. In some instances, Assassins even came to align themselves closely with Templar ideology altogether.

Rashid ad-din Sinan

A premier case centers around the Levantine Assassins during the Third Crusade under the leadership of Rashid ad-Din Sinan. While this branch was responsible for propagating the progressive ethos that continued to define the Assassins for successive centuries, under Rashid's direction, it also anchored itself to dated traditions that Rashid's successor, Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad would come to deem superfluous. Among these included abstention from love, which Sinan argued bred weakness and threatened resolve. Altaïr opted to reverse this policy, maintaining instead that love reinforced the altruism that he believed defined an Assassin. Treachery and hypocrisy, however, were the most critical elements of corruption that Rashid perpetrated. During this time, the Assassins adhered to a strict hierarchy wherein the Mentor held paramount authority; it was well expected by Altaïr that his indignance after the assassination of William of Montferrat could be punished by immediate execution. Though rumors that Rashid drugged his disciples with herbs to induce fanatic loyalty with the promise of paradise were false, he nevertheless reinforced a policy of faith in his judgment—in authority and order—without question. Altaïr found this ironic, in that Assassins were encouraged to be skeptical and ever seeking answers, to respect individual judgment, and yet appeal to authority without doubt. The contradiction may seem hypocritical, but it was merely a component of Rashid's deception, as he would later acknowledge his belief that true peace is not compatible with free will. Ultimately, Rashid did preach fundamental Assassin ethos such as that the "illusion" of the world must be transcended through education and reason and that peace must be learned rather than forced. How sincerely he held to these teachings at one point, if ever, is unknown, but by 1191, he colluded with the Templars to enslave the world with the Apple of Eden. His prior denunciation of the Templars' reliance on illusions to instill peace was dishonest; in truth, he subscribed to these same designs, justifying that he was only supplanting human delusions of divinity with a bloodless one. As Robert de Sablé and he himself remarked, his only conflict with the Templars was that he did not wish to share with them control of this New World Order. This was not Altaïr's first experience with betrayal within the Assassin Order. The previous year, Rashid's lieutenant Harash, was exposed as a Templar spy though his connections to Rashid's own duplicity is unknown. Accordingly, when Altaïr succeeded Rashid as Mentor, he would implement massive reforms to the brotherhood.

François Mackandal & Acolytes

The Haitian Assassins under François Mackandal is perhaps the most egregious example, one that Eseosa cited as a disgrace. The Maroon leader blatantly mocked the conventional ethos of the Assassins, believing that the root message of the creed authorized the use of unchecked aggression rather than favoring moderation. In his quest to liberate the Maroons, he defied the ethnic tolerance preached by typical Assassins and their standard reluctance to abuse the power of the Pieces of Eden. As a result, he alienated himself from the other Assassins, deeming them too pacifistic. Even among his own branch, Babatunde Josèphe regarded him as deranged, fearing that his radicalism would culminate in a gross atrocity. Sure enough, Mackandal eventually plotted the indiscriminate mass murder of all white colonists by poisoning their water supply, violating the Assassins' first tenet. After his failure and execution, his pupil Baptiste sought to carry on his agenda independently of the Assassins, even going as far as to ally with the Templars. The Mentor Agaté, also a student of Mackandal, remained ever as devoted to Mackandal's teachings even as he became an adversary of Baptiste. He therefore exhibited the same blood-thirst that possessed his mentor, exemplified when he felt betrayed at Aveline de Grandpré's show of mercy to the Templar Antonio de Ulloa.

Pierre Bellec

A far more contentious case was that of Pierre Bellec of the French Assassins. In his staunch loyalty to the Assassins, he harbored such a vehement hatred of the Templars that under no circumstances could he ever respect a peace accord with them. So unconditional was his conviction that he equated his Mentor Honoré Mirabeau's conciliatory stance towards Grand Master François de la Serre and eventually, his daughter Élise, with decadence within the Brotherhood. Thus, he deviated from Assassin ideals by becoming absorbed in polarizing superficial labels over judging content of character regardless of title, at least in regards to Templars. Deeply bitter over what he regarded as a betrayal of the Assassins, he murdered Mirabeau with poison before attempting to recruit his former pupil Arno Dorian to his new cause. In a cruel twist, his concept of purging the Assassin leadership to reforge a glorious new order from the ashes paralleled the contemporary plot of the Templars he loathed so furiously. Arno, opposing the indiscriminate demonization of all Templars, ultimately killed his former master in a personal duel, and towards the end of the French Revolution, perhaps inspired in part by this incident, would affirm that the creed was a warning against fanaticism borne of blind devotion, rather than an endorsement of freedom to do as whatever one wills.

Colonial American Branch

After years of brewing doubts, Shay Cormac defected from the Assassins following the cataclysmic earthquake of Lisbon in 1755. His disenchantment was fostered by a poor understanding of Assassin motivations and goals, compounded by orders to commit assassinations he was not entirely convinced were warranted, and exacerbated by persistent harassment & condescension from his comrades, particularly Louis-Joseph Gaultier, Chevalier de la Vérendrye. When he accidentally triggered the destruction of the site, and Lisbon with it, his hitherto latent misgivings erupted as an aggrieved conviction: the conviction that the Assassins had knowingly sought the devastation of the city in their mad pursuit for power. Though Shay's assumption was flawed and the tragedy was an accident borne from sheer ignorance, the heated miscommunication that followed nevertheless exposed some severe defects in the management of this division of Assassins, as well as an element of extremism. Neither side in this dispute proved capable of committing to a calm, civil dialogue on the incident, in spite of perspectivalism being a traditional corollary of the creed. After the initial dramatic quarrel, no further attempt was made by either party to discuss the matter again, as Shay concluded it was futile and that the only way to prevent further earthquakes was to steal the Voynich manuscript from the Assassins altogether. In catching Shay in this act, the Assassins reacted with relentless punitive fury, with Louis-Joseph outright bombarding the Davenport Homestead with mortar fire from his ship without regards for the safety of his allies and friends just to kill Shay.

The entire scenario revealed a certain decadence that shadowed this fledgling branch. For starters, their swift and violent response against Shay's defection, in spite of their friendship with him, may have stemmed from dogmatic obedience to their Mentor, maintained by Louis-Joseph. This was a clear break from some older traditions (and early reforms) of the Assassins popularized by Altaïr and Ezio, though ironically Louis-Joseph also appeared to personally advocate traditionalism. These Assassins, in their uncompromising attitudes in the face of this altercation, exhibited some strains of absolutist thought. It was Liam's rigid rhetoric, in demonizing the Templar targets assigned to Shay, that pushed him further away. Even Shay, himself, in assuming that Assassins sought to obliterate cities, rather than more mild interpretations such as that poor intel was to blame, displayed a single-minded mentality. He presumed, after merely a single failed heated exchange, that the Assassins were utterly beyond persuasion, leading to his sudden defection. He did not take seem to take into account how his enraged approach factored into the miscommunication of the one attempt he had made to convince the Assassins of the peril of tampering with the sites. and five years later, at the seismic temple in the Arctic, blamed Achilles for his stubborn refusal to listen rather than acknowledge his own failure to communicate.

Corruption in this branch, however, was not limited to mistakes in diplomacy, rigidity in thought, and simple vilification of adversaries; it embodied itself in activities that verged on the brink of terrorism. Several civilians were targeted for death so as to "shock" the public into "silence" when Assassin publicity was threatened. In a substantial breach of the core tenets, the Wolastoqiyik Assassin Kesegowaase, launched an assault against the city of Albany, pillaging the town and sending it into chaos. This was preceded by a similar raid on the Oneida people, who were allied with the British Army, and a massacre after the Battle of Fort William Henry, where Kesegowaase and his Abenaki allies violated the French agreement to escort the defeated British out peacefully. While it was not unheard of for Assassins to employ gangs in proxy war against Templar, the organized criminal network headed by Hope Jensen was particularly violent and degenerate, sowing unrest throughout New York. With the aid of Le Chasseur and her gangs, Hope sought to manufacture toxic weapons as a means of killing British colonial authorities. The Templar George Munro claimed that the targets extended to innocent civilians as well. While this remained unconfirmed, nevertheless the mere indiscriminate murder of British officials and unregulated disruption to societal peace aligned this branch closer to anarchism, a position not espoused by its contemporary counterpart in France. Rather than anarchic in intention, much of this unrest may have been as part of a wider campaign of sabotage against the British colonies in aid of their ally, the Kingdom of France in the Seven Years' War.

From this, however, arises the matter of the Assassins' alliance with an imperialistic power such as France, especially in light of their fierce conflict in Saint-Domingue over the issue of slavery—a concern Shay himself raised. Liam's response, that the Assassins permeate political borders, is in line with the Assassins' nature as an international organization, yet the Assassins and Templars firmly established their allegiance to France and Britain respectively for this war. During the American Revolution, the legacy of these political relations would ultimately influence Connor into mistakenly equating the British with the Templars altogether, a misconception that exasperated his father, the Templar Grand Master Haytham Kenway. Tragically, his failure to transcend political labels would blind him to the hypocrisy of the Patriots] he had wrongly believed would save his people's lands.

Ezio Auditore in Constantinople

The operations undertaken by Mackandal and Achilles' branches were major transgressions of Assassin discipline. When Altaïr was first exposed to Templar ideology, he had reflected on its similarity, at least in goals, to the Assassins but cited that a key distinction laid in their approach: the Assassins' methods minimized bloodshed in contrast to the brutality and imprecision of Templar attacks. Although the legendary Assassin Ezio Auditore espoused much of the same ideological views, his methods in Constantinople later in life deviated from the standard he had set at his prime in regards to this precision. On command by Prince Suleiman, he assassinated Tarik Barleti, Captain of the Janissaries, who turned out to be a mole, not a traitor, though he did question the prince's capricious judgment at the time. Most catastrophically, his destruction of the Byzantine's gunpowder in the underground city of [[Derinkuyu] engulfed the entire city in a firestorm that killed an unknown amount of civilians.

Methods

Precision and Stealth

Throughout the long centuries of war between the Assassins and Templars, members of both factions often mused on the similarity of their goals and the contrast between their means. Even so, it was a frequent contention of Templars that the Assassins' methods were identical to their own in principle: "a minor evil, for a greater good." Indeed, the Assassins extensively hunted and murdered key individuals they perceived to be corrupt or a danger to humanity, and this became one of their defining attributes. A critical distinction, however, lied in the strict tenet that an Assassin must refrain from harming an innocent. As Altaïr reflected, the Templars were brutal and lacked precision in their methods: burning books wholesale, committing grand massacres, and in later histories, instigating nation-wide purges.

Accordingly, precision was a guiding principle behind the Assassins' technique and a factor behind their focus on stealth and discretion. By reducing collateral damage and the chance of open conflict, casualties would be minimized. Such a tactic aligned with their traditional respect for humanity and life, and in theory (though not always in practice), assassinations were to be carried out only in cases of utmost necessity. Once a target had been killed, agents were dissuaded from rejoicing in the death, and some even adopted the practice of paying last respects, no matter how vile they held them to be.

Although not every Assassin operated on the level of perfectionism exhibited by Francesco Vecellio,, prodigious information was expected to be gathered before an assassination is attempted. Failure to do so could yield catastrophic errors, such as Arno Dorian's mistaken murder of the Templar ally Chrétien Lafrenière. For their investigations, Assassins referred to a variety of means including but not limited to: espionage, theft of documents, and mingling with locals.

In some ways, the reforms of Altaïr promoted a greater level of stealth than under the tenure of his predecessor, Rashid ad-din Sinan. Previously, it was common practice for the Levantine Assassins to perform high-risk, near suicidal, yet awe-inspiring assassinations in crowded, public areas. This tactic relied on shock to impress power—through fear—in the public imagination. Under Altaïr's direction, the Assassins retreated further into the shadows, and this approach was generally discouraged, if not outright abolished, and restrictions on formerly banned methods such as poison were lifted. While some members were impatient with the secrecy demanded by the brotherhood, feeling that it hampered progress and influence, Altaïr feared the great risks of exposure to public society. Ever mindful that Assassins could be branded as madmen and destroyed if they remained an open target, as evident in the Fall of Masyaf to the Mongol Empire, Altaïr withdrew the brotherhood further into secrecy. Thus, security was another reason for the Assassins' policy of stealth.

Despite this, it was not unknown for Assassins even after the High Middle Ages to resort to open conflict, and these uncommon tactics could range from the instigation of riots, employment of mercenaries, or even a direct militaristic assault on enemy bases.

Social Reforms

In Altaïr's time, the Assassins were markedly apprehensive that public promotion of their ideals could yield societal reforms. As a result, at first much of their activities revolved only around the elimination or sabotage of those they believed threatened the rights of humanity. With their dream that humanity arrive at utopia through free will, their way of guidance was often indirect, with an emphasis on individuals learning through self-experience. For instance, their way of teaching Ezio against the path of vengeance involved allowing him to experience that journey personally.

Over time, the brotherhood's policies evolved and during the Italian Renaissance, the Assassins under the leadership of Ezio Auditore became more active at winning the hearts of the public. It was Ezio's conviction that the strength of the Assassins derived from the strength of the common people, a sentiment initially rebuffed by the cynical Mentor Niccolò Machiavelli. Accordingly, the Assassins' campaign in Rome was prolific in rehabilitating a city crumbling under the weight of Borgia corruption, such as funding renovations, sponsoring merchants, and rescuing civilians.

The order continued to adapt and reform gradually through the centuries, and by the 20th century, their activities began to shift over to non-violent social reforms rather than aggressive enforcement. The transition was tenuous: certain branches, such as the fledgling branch established in North America by Achilles Davenport and the Assassin-sponsored movement Narodnaya Volya engaged in operations smacking of terrorism. It was only after World War II that the Assassins definitively refocused their activities towards inspiring change through example. Assassinations became far rarer, and until the Great Purge of 2000, the shadow war with the Templars defused to one waged through covert tampering of political elections instead.<ref name="The Fall Deluxe">