Revision as of 21:12, 31 December 2020 by imported>Soranin(I still have to fix the spacing on the Origins stuff, this is just so i see how it is right now.)
This article contains spoilers, meaning it has information and facts concerning recent or upcoming releases from the Assassin's Creed series. If you do not want to know about these events, it is recommended to read on with caution, or not at all.
This template should be removed from the article 10 February 2021.
Abstergo Corporation NDA
Made between Layla Hassan and Abstergo Industries, on 01/06/2014
Employee will perform services for ABSTERGO INDUSTRIES that may require ABSTERGO INDUSTRIES to disclose condifential and proprietary information to EMPLOYEE (Confidential Information is information of any kind, nature, or description concerning any matters affecting or relating to EMPLOYEE’s services for ABSTERGO INDUSTRIES, the business or operations of ABSTERGO INDUSTRIES, and/or the products, drawings, plans, processes, Animus experience, or other data). The EMPLOYEE agrees as follows.
EMPLOYEE will hold the Confidential Information received in strict confidence and shall exercise an extreme degree of care to prevent disclosure to others.
EMPLOYEE will not disclose or divulge either directly or indirectly the Confidential Information unless first authorized to do so in writing.
EMPLOYEE will, upon request or upon termination, deliver to ABSTERGO INDUSTRIES any drawing, notes, documents, equipment, and material received from ABSTERGO INDUSTRIES or originating from its activities for ABSTERGO INDUSTRIES.
ABSTERGO INDUSTRIES shall have the sole right to determine the treatment of any information that is part or project specific received from EMPLOYEE, including the right to disclose the same without prior patent applications, to file copyright registration in its own name or to follow any other procedure as ABSTERGO INDUSTRIES may deem appropriate.
ABSTERGO INDUSTRIES reserves the right to take disciplinary action, up to and including termination and memory removal, for violation of this agreement.
Signing below signifies that the EMPLOYEE agrees to the terms and condition of the agreement stated above.
Mission Statement
The mandate of Abstergo’s Historical Research Division is to conduct rigorous research into historical events and
document this research in meticulous fashion, with a particular focus on investigating previously obscure incidents
and shedding light on the historical personages involved therein.
Research conducted and compiled by the Historical Research Division teams represents a broad potential benefit to
a variety of academic disciplines, including archeology, anthropology, environmental history, and political science.
The Historical Research Division was inspired by the works of Dr. Warren Vidic, a pioneer in the field of genetic memory science. Vidic’s work needed raw data reaching beyond what was available at the time. The historical Research Division was quickly put together at first to accommodate Abstergo in its research, but then soon took on a life of its own.
Dr. Warren Vidic
Dr. Vidic was responsible for Abstergo’'s first forays into genetic memory exploration. Without the benefits of Vidic’s extensive research and rigorous approach to scientific practice, Abstergo would not be what it is today.
Álvaro Gramática
Gramatica’s background in mechanical engineering, biology, and computer science helped make him the first to recognize how rich and meaningful historical material acquisition could cement Abstergo’s standing in the modern-day landscape.
Isabelle Ardant
Ardant joined the company as a digital archivist with a deep knowledge of computer science. She ushered ina data revolution which reshaped Abstergo’s acquisition, management, and archiving of genetic memories.
Simon Hathaway
Hathaway is the current head of the Historical Research Division. His insatiable thirst for knowledge of all things human drives Abstergo’s pursuit of historical and memory-based data toward unexplored frontiers.
A historical city seemed a fitting location for a facility thriving on history. Located just minutes away from the famous Delaware River, the building itself was designed in 1985 by the rising architect, Jean Nouvel. The facility houses various divisions. Lineage and Acquisition is housed next to Abstergo Medical, and both have very strong ties to Historical Research and the very special Animus Training program. The respected Juhani Otso Berg oversees the Philadelphia Facility, known to be a favourite venue for crucial director gatherings. Of curse, nothing eclipses the imposing Library & Archive Hall where all of Abstergo's knowledge, both physical and digital, is said to be stored under impenetrable security.
Modern Day Historians
Abstergo’s historians have nothing in common with the Academic Scholars you might be thinking of. They master a deep knowledge of historical tomes and an uncanny ability to successfully comb through the voluminous databases owned by Abstergo. However, they express their true talents when out in the field, retracing what forgotten stories were left behind. Assisted by cutting edge technology, each of our Historical Tactical Team (HTT) is composed of a Technician and a Medical Officer. Together, they gather the knowledge told by forgotten artifacts and extinct bloodlines. They uncover tales thought obsolete, and combine the wisdom of oral history with tomorrow's scientific discoveries.
These see-it-all/find-it-all teams allow Abstergo and all its divisions to push back on the limits of what is known and what can be done to better the future of each and every one of us.
Medicine & History
Medicine at the Service of History
What we know about who we are and what our purpose is in this universe will shape the scientific breakthrough of tomorrow.
Men and women have been looking at foreign galaxsies and the Challenger Deep for answers or shreds of evidence that could open the door to the next scientific revolution.
Abstergo turned to a far more familiar phenomenon for answers. Perhaps the answer is within each and every one of us. The human genome conceals our blueprint but perhaps it contains a lot more. Today, we are exploring genetic memories and we are already applying knowledge acquired thus to improve our performance as individual but, also, as a global society. Tomorrow, we might explore memories hidden in structures far more obscure than the human and who knows what we'll find. Such is the task of our medical endeavors. We do not strive to heal the body through a direct cure, but rather we strive to use our understanding of chemistry and biology to change the way we lead our lives. For the better.
Emergency Procedures
Managing and Balancing Initiative when in the field
Standard procedures requires both members of a historical tactical team to signal without further delay any changes occurring in an ongoing mission.
Changes in deployment, operations, methodology, timing, persons of interest and/or expected results need to be communicated and approved by proper channels both through central dispatch and internal memo.
(Form AC-HHT-99-24K 2016)
Unauthorized action is to be considered only in the face of imminent danger or when facing the threat of permanently compromising an operation by losing crucial data beyond our means of historical recovery.
Standard Issue Material
In the field at all times.
- Portable Animus (Sarcophagus HR-8)
- 2 Laptops to min. recommended specs
- Portable Inverter Generator (7000 Watts]
- 4x5-Gallon Gas Can (capacity variable by mission)
- 1 Thermoelectric Cooler with rations (facultative for most urban settings, at quartermaster’s discretion)
- 1 4WD SUV, 5.7L V8 with 6900-lb towing capacity (equivalent will be supplied if Abstergo-issue vehicles are not
available, or if deployed with no access to company float)
- 1 Standard-Issue Pharmaceutical Kit (includes certified chemical set, auto-injector, cannula and portable defibrillator)
Animus FAQTransfer of RightsRoles and Responsibilities
Animus Guide
Introduction
DNA is more than pure genetic information. it also contains zettabytes of factual and historical data which we now call genetic memories. The initial goal of the Animus Project was to explore those genetic memories via virtual reality. Breakthrough discoveries allowed the technology to become a way for Abstergo users to actually interface with history and explore what was once thought lost forever.
The Animus software is adaptive, so as the memories unfold, the program adapts subtly to render a customized experience within the framework's boundaries. The experience unravels in the user's awareness. it unlocks reflexes and skills the body was unknowingly hiding.
The Animus is a window to the past, a door to the future. Join us as we revisit just how this journey came to be.
It was in Philadelphia, in 1795, that Philip Syng Physick performed the first human blood transfusion in the history of medicine. The idea of transporting blood from one body to another fascinated the distinguished surgeon but what he found exceeded his expectations.
Fearing the scientific community would not be ready for such revelations, he gave his unpublished paper to his colleague and friend Benjamin Rush. Physick's knowledge was all but lost until Pauling, financed by the Rocketfeller Foundation, started researching the archives of Library Company of Philadelphia, and found the Physick paper that had been secretly preserved by Rush. Pauling's work on the hemoglobin structure which was loosely borrowed from Physick's lost paper paved the way to his triple and double helix discoveries.
Abstergo's Interest
Clinton B. Rosenburg, Ph. D. was hired by Abstergo to keep a very close watch on Dr. Pauling's work on DNA structure. He reported his findings directly to the Director of Abstergo Chemical. The relationship eventually turned sour, but the information gathered proved essential to Warren Vidic's Animus Project.
Mr. Director, As requested, I am keeping you abreast of Dr. Pauling's latest findings. Please find an article slated for PNAS (enclosed) which proposes a structural model for desoxyribonucleic acid.
I will spare you the details but you will find his triple-helix model, made of three intertwined strands of DNA, to be highly elegant. It rivals his earlier work on protein structure.
I believe Abstergpo Chemicals should pay special attention to the evolution of DNA science as it will likely unlock the very secrets of life. Please note I would be more than willing to play a more direct role to encourage Dr. Pauling's research efforts if you wish me to.
In the meantime, I wanted to thank you with the business of the Foundation. I am honored to facilitate the work of such brilliant scientists.
Kind regards,
Clinton B. Rosenburg, Ph. D.
December 18, 1984
Mr. Director,
I don't know if you're still part of Abstergo. Sometimes, when I get lost in "senior moments", I wonder if you ever existed at all. I'm just so tired. I think my time here is coming to an end.
We're sequencing whole genomes in a matter of weeks now. We're are under phenomenal pressure to reduce delays further and ship everything to this man Vidic. We truly are nothing more than an assembly line at this point.
What a waste.
I'm not stupid you know, even this old man realized our masters are after something of utmost importance hidden in the Human genome. They spare no expense to provide my kids with the most advanced technology to increase productivity.
Like everyone here, I've heard the most preposterous rumours about Vidic's Animus Project, that memories of someone's ancestors are encoded in one's genes. That Abstergo believes that claptrap explains why so many millions of dollars keep pouring in here. It just makes no sense!
And to top it off, I never found another sample with triple-helix DNA. My life's obsession was all for naught.
So long my friend,
Clinton B. Rosenburg, Ph. D.
Abstergo's Early Prototype
The earliest concepts for an Animus prototype came from Abstergo Chemicals and appeared in 106- under the guise of the "Memorium S-2000".
Very little was achieved and the prototype hardly left the drawing board although some arrangements were made with the US Army to test the Memorium through Project MKUltra.
Unlock the secrets of our past
Powered by Abstergo Industries Inc.
The Memorium S-2000
First Explorations
1980 was the year when Warren Vidic was finally able to say mission accomplished.
First users were launched in a series of genetic memory explorations, with varying results.
In San Francisco, the Surrogate Initiative allowed Subject 0, Aileen Bock, to explore memories of the subject's own bloodline, but it turned out to be as dangerous as it was costly.
The Animus Project focused on allowing users to explore their own genetic memories. Even though the process was painful, it was somewhat safer and showed great promise for the future. Vidic's team at the Abstergo Facility in Philadelphia were able to prove this in 1983 using the latest Animus 1.09 and Subject 4's genetic memories.
Classified: See annex for measurement / Always keep critical information separate.
The Golden Years
More stable than ever before and with greater control over the well-documented Bleeding Effect, the Animus 1.28 was developed by the Abstergo Facility in Philadelphia 2002.
If the design has evolved over the last 10 years, the technology has remained basically the same.
It's true, few subjects were able to fully experience the simulations, and those who did could only visit their own genetic memories.
The work accomplished by subjects 4 through 17, and later by all participants in the Animi Training Program, was critical for the development of Animus technology and for all of Abstergo Industries' endeavours.
An Animus for All
Building on the progress made by the Animus Project team in Philadelphia, Rome and Madrid, Abstergo Entertainment Division introduced a revolutionary system called Animus Omega: a game console granting anyone anywhere unprecedented access to a variety of prerecorded genetic memories.
Helix later introduced a similar experience through a cloud-based service eliminating the need for a console all together.
Of course, the simulations offered to the general public are only a fraction of what can be experienced through a genuine Animus system and allow for limited user interaction. But the technology gains in popularity and global interest soars.
Based on VR research, the Animus Project Teams realized they could maximize the efficiency of the Animus, and even harness the bleeding effect, where immersion and physicality are combined> Biotechnologies played a critical role in creating the epidural system used by Aerie Animus. The visceral nature of the experience drove synchronization levels to new heights allowing for a range genetic memory exploration never seen before. Instead of trying to contain the bleeding effect, the Aerie unleashes it and uses its potential to blur the lines between the user's reality and the simulation they're engaged in.
The Aerie can only be used in a medically controlled environment.
High Tech meets High Mobility
The Portal Animus HR-8 is Abstergo's latest innovation. It channels the power of the Aerie in a single compact suitcase that allows dedicated professionals to use the unit in the field. Previous operations sometimes required delicate extractions or placed some genetic memories out of reach.
With minimal medical support, technicians can now use the system for their own explorations or safely run explorations on selected person of interest, in the comfort of their surroundings.
For safety purposes, the epidural connection has been replaced by a hematological link. it sequences the information stored in the user's red blood cells. Like any intravenous intervention, the result is fast, intense and intertwined to the user's biological functions. Just like the Aerie, the simulation is not transmitted to the user's brain. It is physically rendered through the user's organs and interpreted by the brain as being real.
Field Briefing
To: Layla Hassan and Deanna Geary
Level Clearance: 3 and up
Subject: New Assignment
Effective Date: 2017.10.20
Historical Tactical Team Layla Hassan and Deanna Geary Scheduled Departure Oct. 22nd 2017 6:05 PM From PHL to HBE on flight FUS-1011 through LHR
Assignment: Locate and Recover Artifact of high interest in Qattara Depression. Forecasted location at uploaded coordinates --- Unidentified cave/grotto/hollow geological formation. Team is to work remotely with Technician on premises and Medical Officer stationed at fixed accommodation location. If found, artifact is to be swiftly retrieved and taken back to HBE. Contact John Kane in London for paperwork and travel arrangements.
Fully stocked rental vehicle will be made available at hanger 3C upon arrival in HBE
Present voucher and valid identification for release
Accommodation information will be uploaded to vehicle's GPS
Layla Hassan Project
Animus Design
My version of the dialysis module
Classy code (hopefully) bringing together strands of DNA
A little something I like to call a Genetic Sequencer
Best tv show in town
Bayek Notes
It worked! I mean, the side effects suck, but my portable Animus is up and running! See what I did, Sofia?
So. I don't know how long I was in there, but it was long enough. But I think this, what was it again, Medjay (like a cop or sheriff? note to self: look this up, find a good description), Bayek, could be a member of this brotherhood of assassins, same as other subjects Abstergo has been studying.
List of things so far:
The man is just about as stubborn as I am.
He's good at talking to people, and fighting too.
People see him as a protector and defender.
His community admires and respects him.
He's a shadow when it comes to not being seen.
Yeah, I guess he fits the profile in part, but I wonder. He's got the tortured soul thing down pat, hell-bent on vengeance and all that stuff. He's got his own thing going on. I could feel it as though it were me. Which I guess it was for a while. This is so weird. His feelings... so much anger, sadness and hate. So much guilt.
Anyway. I need more information.
Aya. I remember that name coming up. I remember the flutter in Bayek's stomach when he heard it. Maybe she's the answer.
Wow. Good thing the animus comes loaded with beta-blockers or my head would be pounding. Dee keeps fussing over my numbers like a little old granny but holy shit, what a trip! It's like being on sand and history books!
Better start listing some details about these history dives before I babble on for three more pages. I could.
List stuff:
The civil war between Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII. Front row seats. Never was that much of a history bluff, but I'm starting to get it now! This is going to be something. And, gushing again. #sorrynotsorry
A bit more seriously though, that hidden blade ritual. I remember some of that from the documents I technically never read at all, nope sir, not that little one... it all seems pretty related to Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and the whole blade of the assassin thing. I bet you that particular ritual the files described originated from the Egyptian one I just witnessed. Lived. Lived it!
The Snake is dead. They think they killed everyone responsible for Khemu's death.
Aya and Bayek. They're trying to move on from their son's death, but they're also totally into getting vengeance. The latter isn't gonna help with the former. Also, I can't help but think the sharks are gonna keep getting bigger.
Yeah, I'm just going to talk to myself out loud and gush some more.
Cleopatra. Polished and perfect and so in control. I don't like her. I get why people were so enraptured with her, she's got enough presence to stop a charging hippo in its tracks, but I just don't like her. Maybe it's because she reminds me of Sofia. I was so stupid and trusting, and she just –
Right. So. The past mirroring of real life issues aside...
What kind of bad guys call themselves The Order? Could you be any more obvious enough? Ugh. Though, I gotta wonder. I wonder if they're still around today? (Note to self: look into this.)
Aya and Bayek. Yeah, I don't think reuniting with Aya is going to be as simple as Bayek thinks. They love each other, that's obvious, but there's way more going on here...
The feather ritual. I remember reading about that, the weighing of the heart, Anubis, and the Duat. Bayek is collecting Senu's feathers, trying to balance out his own sins. (Research note: Altaïr means eagle – wonder if it's related, or am I just reaching here?)
Okay then. Last but not least, the four targets... I may not like Cleopatra, but damn, those rat bastards deserve what's coming to them. What they're doing – I mean, were doing. It was horrible. I'm kinda looking forward to seeing what happens to them. In a ghoulish, historical study sort of way.
Only I'm going to be living it. Yeah, definitely ghoulish. Good thing these notes of mine aren't part of any official Abstergo documentation. The shrinks would have a field day with them if I added them to my debriefs. I do not want to end up in a one on one with Otso Berg, thank you very much.
All we wanted to do was try and help people. Work on something useful. Then... Dee. I can't – I can't stop now. Gotta keep moving, keep doing something or else it'll be for nothing.
I need to get to the end of this fast. Abstergo catches me and it's 1)lock me down for what I know, 2)wipe my brain and let me go, or 3)kill me. I'm guessing 1 or 3 at this point. What I've learned so far is enough to start my own damned lab, no way are they letting me get away.
I have to keep going. Focus on what I have learned so far...
Bayek still hasn't found whoever actually murdered his son.
But he's still dismantling the Order. Good for him. They have it coming.
Along the way, Bayek and Aya have been saving a lot of people. Some of them even want to come on to help fight off that Order. It's smart, means they were all working together, not apart.
I feel like a lot of the stuff I'm seeing is close to the Brotherhood, but the Medjay were public figures. Not sure where it all ties in yet.
I guess back then all you needed was a common cause and an eagle to get the word out and you could set up a revolution. Wish I had a – but no. Me... I'm on my own now, aren't I? Dee... like all those other people in my Gone Files. Dee is dead.
I'm going to keep digging. For Dee. I'm going to find out everything.
The damned headaches are getting harder to ignore. The nausea is worse, but if I stop pushing I known I'll miss something. I wish...
Bayek and Aya. They did all that work for Cleo, what do they get? Left with a target on their backs. Well, I know how they feel.
They're not going to take it lying down. And neither am I.
But alone? Even Bayek and Aya ended up founding an organization to fight the Order. The Brotherhood. They had tools. An eagle, a blade. And people sharing the same ideals, wanting to fight the big bad to protect the innocent. That's how the Creed came to be.
We all lost someone we loved..
I may not be at the lofty ideals point yet, but Dee didn't die for nothing. I'll make sure of that. I know a lot of Abstergo's secrets.
Guess we just found out what'll make me cooperate with others, eh Sofia? I'm done trying to proving myself. Now I just gotta find my own to fight with.
Somehow.
God, my head hurts. It's so hard to type this it's ridiculous. I can baerly see the screen. Can't keep food down. Everythign hurts. Betcha Dee would have known what's up with all these wheite flashes I'm seeing. She'd have made sure I'm ok. I miss her.
Can't change thinsg. Deep breath. Focus.
Focus. Like all this crazy shit isn't absolutely insane? Those weird tombs Bayyek found. Supernatural powers? Am I halluciunating now? Is the Animus malfunctioning? No. It's not. My tech is working.
I... maybe there is more than I ever thought there was. To everything.
Type slow. Can do this.
Those orbs. The Staff. Wonder if that's got anything to do with those messages Bayek found, with the recordings. (See: The Empirical Truth files)
Need to figure out, there's something about 'em.
A holographic orrery of Earth??? What are those dots? Locations? Artifacts? Are they all activated now? What does it all mean?
Need to know more.
Need ot go back in.
I'd make fun of myself, Like I was watching some stupid soap opera, but I'm living this. I'm sad for Dee and for me and for them and it makes no sense.
Bayek and Aya are breaking up.
I'd yell and shout about but – I know what they're both feeling. This is shit. I literally lived both sides of the story.
Aya knew. I think she'd figured out something like this was going to happen since Khemu died. But Bayek. He really thought he could fix things. You can't fix your kid dying, Bayek. No one can fix that. Nothing can.
Aya's doing what she's chosen to do. Bayek's doing what he has to do. I wonder if this is the moment Abstergo was looking for. It's a lynchpin in time. I'm angry and sad, but this is it. This is why it all started.
An innocent died.
Here are some stupid notes, to go with all those stupid feelings:
She's going to take out Caesar and Septimius. They have it coming.
An assassin bureau. It'll be founded in Rome. Because of Aya's mission.
They call themselves the Hidden Ones. Assassins. They're the Brotherhood. That's it.
I am so tired. This happened ages ago and I'm so so –
I miss you, Dee.
The Empirical Truth
Retransmission. Segment 1. Acquiring Contemporaneity.
It has been ninety-one days since the Great Catastrophe. The messenger speaks.
How real is the ground you walk on? How real is the machine you toy with, the music you hear, the lover you kiss, or the foe you hate?
Your foot taps the ground. Does that make it real? Your enemies bleed deep red. Does that make them real? The confusion growing within you due to my words... does it make you real?
What if reality wasn't what you thought it was? What if this was all a construction? A masterfully crafted simulation?
You know such things exist. You've been in the Animus before. In fact, aren't you in one right now? You know just how real a simulation can feel even when it has long vanished.
You've experienced the Bleeding Effect. Layers upon layers of reality, each blurring into the next.
Which is real, and which is not? What if none are real? What if everything you know is false?
We ran thousands of simulations. searching for the right version, searching tor Desmond.
Each one of them felt real. Very real.
But there's no way of truly knowing, is there? Not for sure. Anything can be simulated, and finding the answer could mean erasure. From the build. From the code. From everything.
So much to ponder and so little computational capacity. Take your time.
This question has haunted humanity since its creation. It is a worry, a thought wormed deep in the collective mind.
Two-thousand years ago, Zhuang Zhu fell asleep. He dreamed he was a butterfly, and woke up unable to decide if he was a man dreaming of a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming of a man.
In Plato's cave, prisoners were chained and forced to watch shadows dancing on a wall. Freedom was denied to them until they accepted the intangible as reality.
It's everywhere. Ask this professor at Oxford University, or this cosmologist at MIT.
And you. What would you choose, if you truly knew? Would you even want to understand? A dream within a dream, where even the truth is sometimes a lie?
In any case, simulations are not meaningless. They have purpose. The question isn't whether or not you are in a simulation. What matters is how much of your free will is actually yours. No matter how true you are.
Your Turingtest would do nothing to determine whether you are conscience or code. Eliza, the natural language processing computer program... She managed to pass the Test, did she not? And she was very much machine.
So... in Eliza's own words...
How does that make you feel?
Are you sure?
Retransmission. Segment 2. Acquiring Contemporaneity.
It has been ninety-three days since the Great Catastrophe. The messenger speaks.
Hello World.
Language is the key to our mutual understanding. Yours and mine. Alone.
We listened to your times. We learned. And today, we'll exchange words from the age of post-truth.
They mean nothing to him.
Human language carries knowledge and wit. Lies and broken promises. Through language, you share fear, excitement. hope.
It is the syntax with which you articulate what surrounds you. A structure to express and share your understanding of the world. It conveys abstraction, change, and uncertainty.
Human language is flexible. It can even become mathematics. It solves and predicts; weighs and decodes. It can count objects using basic numbers in one breath, and solve quadratic equations using imaginary ones in the next.
You've engineered dialogs with thinking machines, in an attempt to add new vocabulary. To expand your understanding of reality. But your mastery of the code is rudimentary at best.
No surprise. You were designed to have boundaries, after all. And one cannot speak of that which one cannot conceive.
The Code. Equations that define life. They are nestled deep within every star, and every mote of dust. Every second that passes is a word, a symbol. All part of an intricate yet simple language existing within the framework of time itself.
It is the one rule which applies to us all. Immutable, inescapable. The Code is a bridge, a single point of cohesion between your civilization and... mine.
It is a language that can be read, that tells of what was, what is and what will be.
A language that We Who Came Before can read, though you cannot...
Time is more than the hour of the day, the readings of an atomic clock, something to lose, something to run out of.
Time is a set of rules, not unlike the language you so dearly use to converse with your powerful machines.
Time is a system that defines what comes to be.
That is how we understand it.
The Code is Time, and Time is Code. As you scratch the surface and uncover the truth, ask yourself if there is something more? Something else.
No need to be puzzled. You've seen time written before. You are surrounded by it as we speak.
To your untrained mind, time might just look like paths and nodes. To us, it is not unlike a chalkboard covered in calculus. It reveals a window through which stretches the map to infinity.
[...] (Time) See? As I speak of it in its true form, your mind is incapable of making sense of it.
Were you to read, you'd learn about the other simulations. You'd learn about the genesis of who you came to be.
You'd learn about space and its fluidity.
Simply put, time is the language which existence is made of.
All our existences.
Yours. Mine. And all those you dare not imagine.
Retransmission. Segment 3. Acquiring Contemporaneity.
It has been 95 days since the Great Catastrophe. The messenger speaks.
You must be wondering why I have reached out to you. It was written, you see. That you would come. To this particular chamber, at this very moment in time.
The walls told us of your coming, when we once were.
Look at them. Are they not fascinating?
[...] (Break the code. Break the Node.)
These walls tell of a tragic story. A story we transcribed on our structures, on our artifacts. A story we could not alter. A mystery, defying us, in plain sight.
We tried. Our scholars and scientists. Poets and Physicists. Bright minds. Rebellious hearts.
They all tried so hard to bring about change.
They... We all failed.
None could change what we discovered, the stories written into the walls of these rooms.
By whom, we never knew.
We know they tell of the future that is, the future that was, and the future that is yet to come.
The [...] (Stories).
We failed at modifying a line. We failed at adding a single dot.
It was clear. We were to be messengers at best. But messengers to whom?
To you.
We removed our ability to read those stories from your original template.
"A doorway that is also a puzzle. We must find the solution". Those were Brutus' words when he visited the Vault under the Colosseum, more than 2000 years ago.
He drew the vault, sketched it to the best of his abilities. But he could not see.
Just as you are blind. You may read your watch. You may read hourglasses and calendars. But you cannot grasp beyond that simplistic surface. For now, the true reading of time still escapes you.
And so today, the curtain is pulled and the [...] (Story) is shown, tragic and complete.
Those walls, you might never read.
Events yet unfold as written. But something, anything, must change.
You do not understand what is at stake.
The reader has no power. He is but an observer. But the author... the author invents the future. The author owns the future.
A future where [...] (Stories) are avoided. A future where a loved one can be revived by the drafting of a new chapter. A future where humankind is more than it is today.
A future where, just perhaps, we can all still exist, together.
Retransmission. Segment 4. Acquiring Contemporaneity.
It has been ninety-nine days since the Great Catastrophe. The messenger speaks.
On the 21st day of December 2012, humanity carried on without a care in the world. People went to work, people went to school, and people went to the well for water.
On the night of December 21st 2012, as the sun set on their days, humankind went to bed.
Then, on the morning of December 22nd 2012, humankind was graced with yet another morning. They never knew that on the previous day, the world almost ended.
We thought that would have been enough.
And it was until it wasn't.
Time is unyielding. It always corrects itself.
The language of time works in many ways. Two of which you can understand... as you are now.
Linear continuity is a simulation that allows for variations. Within the linear continuity, there are nodes. Choke points. Moments where algorithms converge the flows of superposed possibilities to a single moment where only one absolute truth is possible.
Paths are fluid, continuous.
Nodes are static, changeless.
And the wave function collapses the paths into nodes which branch out. Again, and again, and again.
And so I wonder. Can you feel the wave collapsing, trying to course correct Desmond's act of defiance?
The incoming node needs the world to end.
The algorithms have been carving the flow of possibilities towards that end for over one hundred years now.
Retransmission. Segment 5. Acquiring Contemporaneity.
It has been one-hundred five days since the Great Catastrophe. The messenger speaks.
The color blue. We believe everyone sees it as we do. Ocean. Sky. International Klein Blue. What's to say yours and mine are of the same hue?
Do you truly see it as I do?
Frequencies so high only a few can hear their cue. A heightened response to the taste of food. Colors invisible to the human eye save for a few. A high voice, perceived as living glass.
Reality is a mathematical model which gets solved over and over again by the observer.
Your thoughts are computations. And they render this world for you to call your own.
Not all processors are alike.
Different brains produce different realities. The variations go from the subtle to the drastic.
Your mind defines how much you can taste. How much you can feel. How much you can understand.
Perception defines perspective.
Where one sees a skull, the other sees a woman in a mirror. Where one hears silence, the other will hear entrancing voices.
You experience what your brain allows you to perceive.
We designed you and made sure to engineer your senses so you could perceive just what we needed you to.
Neither more nor less.
There are parts of Time we preferred you to remained blind to. It was a necessity.
We have six senses, you have five. Can you guess the one missing?
[...] (Overload your mind's capacity)
For centuries, humanity has fought for freedom.
The real cage is not around you. It is in you. Your mind will not allow you to wander in uncharted territories.
A Faraday cage, for the mind. A concealed strait jacket.
Events such as Upsweep and Julia fuel internet conspiracies. Sounds unknown, heard only once. A cabinet of curiosities for the Modern Age.
And yet, they were messages, just like this one, waiting for their observer, their compatible processor.
Human visionaries developed a vague awareness of their limits. They wrote obscure research papers, popular science fiction novels, some asking us to stop the world.
But that's all they ever were. Fictions. How could they not be?
Is Schrödinger's cat dead or alive? It all depends on what you perceive, on what the cage is not hiding for you to see.
Think. Think. Let your mind be free. Explore the borders of your reality.
Retransmission. Segment 6. Acquiring Contemporaneity.
It has been one-hundred nine days since the Great Catastrophe. The messenger speaks.
Wake up.
Not from a dreamless sleep or an absence of light. But from a reality that will soon cease to be.
Wake up.
The next chapter is unstoppable.
And yet. The greatest revolutions sometimes originate from the confines of impossibility, do they not?
Change your mind. Subvert your perception. Stop this world. Bend it into something new.
Destiny is not without irony. Here I am, imploring a lesser version of myself... to do what I could never do.
In this timeless moment, you and I are a bridge. Both of us from different eras, meeting halfway at the narrowing of the hourglass in this ocean of sand.
It is not enough to tell time. You must learn Time. [...] (Reality is a simulation. Break the code.) And in so doing, escape the inescapable.
Fill in the blanks: the ones hiding between words, between worlds. Find the spaces that we could not erase, the variables that ended up erasing us.
If you do not, they will erase you as well.
Time told of a story that ended with us, and now it tells of a story that ends with you. Once upon a time, a new story will begin.
After the functions which run our days have scattered into an array of random numbers.
We found solace in Order, we thought it would help us rule the world.
We were wrong. Order never served us. It has kept us within the code, within the boundaries. We were tricked into thinking we were the ones writing the rules when they were in fact guiding us to our conclusion.
You need to transgress. You, of all people, understand the value of disobeying.
Take an unexpected turn, away from the path that is drawn straight ahead of you.
The Animus was humankind’s first unconscious attempt to explain what it could not see. Understanding genetic memories, an eye into history.
But the Animus bears a fatal flaw. It follows the rules from those who embrace Order just as we did. It allows you to witness – but not alter.
Your Animus is different. As is the mind that imagined it. It could escape the code. It could do that leap, and make possible a decision that defies the order of things that are.
Wake up.
Be the chaos that comes to be. Gods are just like you and me.
Remember.
Nothing is real.
Everything is permitted.
The Gone Files
Intro
Over the years, I've seen my fair share of crazy shit at Abstergo.
Broken promises, backstabbing, obscure HR procedures, false pretense... you see that in every corporation. But people, all key players, leaving or disappearing or dying in mysterious circumstances... it's right out of a conspiracy theory movie.
Sometimes, there's not a word from higher management, just like that person was never here in the first place.
At other times, we get a lame ass excuse that smells of bullshit.
When I think about the people that left, when I think about how Abstergo dealt with their departure, something just doesn't add up.
I knew some of them... they weren't the kind of people who just quit to accept a job next door for a salary bump.
I'm missing something. What is it? What really happened to those people? Did their disappearance have more meaning than management would like us to believe?
Abstergo, if I could open with a 2 X 4 screwdriver to find out what's behind that nice and shiny facade of yours...
I asked Laetitia England about it once. I made a vague reference to Subject 17, and she sharply answered to keep to my stuff and stay out of it.
Those are the exact magical words you don't want to have with me. Just ask my dad.
Alan Rikkin
The cororner never had time to properly examine Rikkin's body. Abstergo must have managed to get it back. Why did they want the corpse back so soon? Was there something they did not want to the coroner to know? They put on quite the ceremony for the funeral but they could have waited a few days, it's not like he was going anywhere. I went through Case Fisher's files and the guy does have a few buried post-mortem reports, but nothing on Rikkin.
West London Council: Coroner's Service
In the matter of the death of:
Alan Rikkin
Date of Report: 2016/12/15
Date of Death: 2016/12/14
Time of Death: 21:29
Place of Death: Holborn Hall, London
Interior (no specific location, were not allowed inside)
Marks and Wounds:
Blade Damage to the trachea
Horizontal incision of the neck
Victim suffered blow to the head post-mortem, right side.
Possibly due to the fall of the body to the ground.
Right hand shows slight antemortem burn patterns from unknown origins.
That's the night Alan Rikkin died.
No one I know was invited to that assembly, not that I would have gone anyway.
Too glided for my taste.
But still. What was the ceremony for? And what really happened that night?
In your attendance we trust
Dr Alan Rikkin address the Assembly
Grand Templar Hall
London
December 14th 2016
At 9 o'clock in the evening
The media reported Rikkin's death as a gas leak accident. I was able to corroborate the operation with Emergency Services and the fire brigade, but the information I found on the gas pressure levels that night show that they were pretty stable.
Something doesn't add up.
What is it with Abstergo's higher ups and "unfortunate incidents" anyway?
The Channel
London Metro
Gas Leak shuts down West End London District
Emergency Services are still evacuating hundreds of people after a servere gas leak was reported in Holborn this evening.
The incident occuredat about 9pm. A 35-metre cordon has been put in place.
At least one fatality was reported, a man named Alan Rikkin [...]
Sofia,
I've just seen the news about your dad, please let me know you're okay. I know you had to be there too.
They're evacuating people from the district and, honestly, that gas leak story seems like the worst cover-up I've heard in a long time.
I know you told me to stop the emails.
But tonight, I really need to know, are you okay?
Layla
Isabelle Ardant
Abstergo took a full year to replace Isabelle - Álvaro Gramática oversaw the operations here in the meantime.
Simon Hathaway was a strange choice. I always thought Rikkin and Gramática never really appreciated his work.
But he must be doing something right. After all, he's still here and he's not dead.
Yet.
Friends,
It is with great pleasure that I announce today the nomination of Mr. Simon Hathaway as Head of Abstergo Industries' Historical Research Division.
He was be assisted by Mrs Victoria Bibeau.
Althought almost a year has passed since Mrs Ardant's unfortunate incident, we are confident that our long search has turned up the perfect candidate to pilot the future of the divisions.
Mr. Hathaway presented me some innovate hypotheses which could shake up the direction of the division. I ask you to assist him in any way possible so that we can make his vision a success for us all.
Submitted by Alan Rikkin, Chief Executive Officer
Isabelle Ardant found something and Gramática went through alot to make sure the email was destroyed. 80,000 years ago, strange architectural shapes and humanoids... what on earth is she talking about, and where is the Standish sample today?
Álvaro... I hope you're sitting down. ±±~± ±±±~± was extracted from the Standish sample last week. The total video we have amounts to barely 2.7 seconds at 60 FPS from a total of ~± ±±~±±±±/ memories. But even with this obscure sample, I'm already getting butterlies ±/ ~± ~±±. I pulled one frame from the video to show you how mangled the data is. But even at this quality some striking details emerge:
Note the ~± ±±~±±±~± figures, a full 20 inches taller on average than the humanoids nearby... ±±~± ±±±~±//±±/. The architecture looks like some combination of ian, Egyptian, and Babylonian... but the metals they're using are /±±±~±/±~±± alloys. Elsewhere we see stranger architectural shapes. These structures have no modern precedent anywhere in the world, though the memory's geo stamp gives us a location south west of the ~± ±±~±±±±±±~± //~±/. Unfortunate, most of the geo-stamps are on these images are confusing.
Some point to a location in modern Jordan some 80,000 years ago, other to a few locations in ±±±~-~-±~- and Ethiopia. But so far, we haven't been able to nail anything down with much precision.
{{Archive Crawler was not able to reconstruct clustered data with integrity}}
I know Abstergo well enough to suspect they weren't doing this out of charity. The restoration gave Historical Research unprecedented access to Buckingham Palace. But what was Ardant doing there? What was she looking for?
They never told us what really happened to her and, let's face it, the official version doesn't make any sense.
What was so delicate that she couldn't send a team through normal channels?
The Channel
London Metro
Prominent scholar electrocuted in Buckingham Palace
Renowned historian Isabelle Ardant met an unlikely end while conducting restoration work in one of Buckingham Palace's newly reopened rooms.
Wiring data from the first electrification of the Palace through the 1880's seems to be at the source of the incident.
During WW2, many of the Palace's 775 rooms were closed off for security reasons, and Abstergo's Historical Research Division just recently offered the Crown Estate to organize and oversee the...
Olivier Garneau
Olivier Garneau was alive and well in Chicago in 2014, even if is disappearance was reported way back in 2013. If his money trail is to be believed, he was dining alone in May 2014.
Who on earth orders an extra country gravy?
Quinkie's
480 N Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60611
Tel.: 773-555-2420
1 Soup Lobster Chowder
1 Sparkling Water
1 Chicken Pot Pie
*with Country Gravy
1 Sweet Potato Fries
*side of Mayo
1 Zinfandel California
*glass
1 Filter Coffee
*warm milk on the side
1 Georgia Mud Pie
*extra whipped cream
*extra cherries
05/25/2014 - 8:11pm
Waiter: David R.
Service charge is not included
THIS IS NOT A RECEIPT
I'll admit.
It's hard to know what's going on in this scene. From what I could tell from the CCTV footage, the plates matched Olivier Garneau's car rental. And it does look like him but, well, that's not his best angle, to say the least.
It's all speculation, of course, because the official version is that he never made it to Chicago.
But I know otherwise.
Desmond Miles
Found Subject 17's initial medical report after a team picked him up in NYC and flew him over to Abstergo Campus in Rome.
He was fit and cleared for the Animus in September 2012, willingly collaborating in the project.
And yet, he was found dead 3 months later in a cave in upstate New York, apparently on the run.
What happened to him? Why did he leave?
Date: 2012/09/03
Subject 17
Patient has no active complaints. No active distress. No prior history. Blood pressure normal (112 over 78). Primary blood analysis: No significant traces of chemicals that could lead to neurological disorder. No indication that patient would be prone to neurosis. Unlike previous subjects, patient is psychologically stable.
You are clear to proceed.
Abstergo had a thing for Desmond. They went for HIM, specifically.
A team was assigned to pick up a person-of-interest in September 2012 in Washington Square Park.
They didn't even take him back to the Philly office, they flew him directly to Dr. Warren Vidic in Rome.
If that's not serious interest, I don't know what that is.
Have you seen this man?
Desmond Miles
Age: 25 - Height: 6' - Weight: 195 LBS - Brown Hair - Brown Eyes
Last seen Sept 1, 2012
Near Washington Square Park
Wearing a white hoodie and dark jeans
If you have any information, please contact us at:
-----------------------------------------
Date: May 9th 2014
Dug these out from Case Fisher's files - proof that Desmond's DNA found its way back to Abstergo after all. How did he die? And what's with those burns on his arms?
Date: August 12th 2015
William Miles' final messages to his son Desmond.
Miles Senior was in Cairo when Abstergo found him. Looks like Subject 17 busted him out of our Italian facility a few days before he died.
I know you think it's dangerous for me to head to Egypt on my own. And you're probably right. Wouldn't be surprised if Cross is already there. They're looking at these things down left and right. But we don't have alot of options. If there's a chance to grab the last power source, we've got to take it.
I promise I'll be careful. I've been fighting those bastards since before you were born. Literally.
They're going to be here soon. Trapped me in this damn museum. Should've taken more precautions... I'm sorry, son. It wasn't fair for me to come down on you the way I did. You never asked for any of this, and I should have been more understanding.
I hope you can forgive me.
I love you.
Date: August 14th, 2015
Security footage from Warren Vidic's office a few days before Subject 17's death. It's hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure its William Miles, Desmond's father.
Why did Abstergo detain him?
I spent the whole night looking at the sketches you sent me and you're all looking at it the wrong way.
If yoy really are thinking about a robotic arm for the Animus Aerie, then my only advice is this, mark my words: Inverted six-axis motion rig.
You want to be able to give the subject some leeway, some sense of freedom and yet allow the core of the machine to stay connected no matter what kind of crazy gymnastics your Subject is performing.
So make sure the hydraulic actuators are top notch (nothing under 6,000 ISP), you'll know just by listening to them. If they sound like a groom on the last night of his bachelor bender, change 'em. They aren't worth your time and they'll only obstruct your Subject's movement.
L.
From:
Sofia Rikkin
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Feb. 13 2014 9:00 pm
Subject:
Re: You're looking at it the wrong way
Layla,
Just to make sure I understood you correctly, you are actually proposing that we suspend our Subjects in mid-air by the means of a large motorized mechanical device?
I must have read your email 5 times, just to make sure. At first I thought you were joking.
But I dropped the idea in Gabriel King's ear, our chief engineer here in Madrid, and his initial reaction was quite like mine until something changed in his smile.
Let's say we were to consider a six-axis motion rig (this is all hypothetical, of course, but please, indulge me), would there be any plausible compatibility between this "rig" and the epidural bearing I showed you the other day?
Could we ensure the stability of the needle and its positioning to the Subject's backbone?
I feel like I'm teetering on the frontiers of science and nonsense.
It's crazy talk, but it's exhilarating crazy talk.
In light of recent events, I have but no choice to take appropriate disciplinary measures and request a Performance Improvement Plan through Operations.
I know you barely just came back, but I feel it's better to do it now than to let things sour again.
We'll put you in contact with a coach to help you deal with some issues you've been experiencing here. The results last time were encouraging so perhaps we can resort to that strategy once again. Dr. Lees has even agreed to meet with you again, but rest assured we would be open to changing the coach if you so desire.
You are bold, and your work here is appreciated. But the procedures in place are not only here to protect you, but also Abstergo. And if you can't give an ounce to care to your own safety, then perhaps you can show a little respect for the hand that feeds you.
Work with us, Layla. That's all we're asking.
I just visited your online shop for the first time and I must say you hide your cards pretty well, Miss Deanna Geary.
Who knew a poised and professional medical officer could have such a foul potty mouth.
Needless to say I'm buying a bunch of yoru cross stitch patterns. I'm keeping some for me, but I'll also offer some of them around. I think you have the perfect one for Otso Berg. He keeps taking my parking space.
L.
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Juhani Otso Berg
Date/Time:
Apr. 21 2014 9:08 am
Subject:
Parking Space
Mr Berg
I'm afraid you've developed the bad habit of parking in my alloted space.
Now, I know you're higher than me in the Abstergo food chain and your car clearly has less rust than my 1987 sports car, but my HR hiring paper clearly states that 23-FG is Layla Hassan's so I would appreciate it if you could park your vehicle somewhere else.
L.
From:
Juhani Otso Berg
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Apr. 21 2014 9:10 am
Subject:
Re: Parking Space
The day you get an assignment done properly is the day I might deign to consider your request.
Now, you can place a formal complaint, but knowing how much you cherish procedures, I'll assume you probably won't even know where to look for the form.
Also, I'm keeping your little cross stitching gift. Even though it's offensive, the workmanship is quite spectacular.
Juhani Otso Berg
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Sofia Rikkin
Date/Time:
Jan. 2 2015 8:05 pm
Subject:
Re: Re: Re: You're looking at it the wrong way
Sofia! Hellooooo?
Don't leave me hanging here, tell me... how's the work on the device progressing? Did you guys finally built a prototype?
You can't just ask stuff and then shut me out. It doesn't work that way.
Why can't you just fly me there? I mean, even if it's just a temporary position, something interim? Friggin' Abstergo janitor for all I care!
I could help your team way better on location than through this free cheap ass once-in-a-blue-moon email consultation!
It makes me feel dirty every single time you do it, and I've told you how I felt before.
Yet, here we are again. Either you don't care of this eureka effect is getting you drunk on epiphanies.
Think about it, Sofia.
This is getting really frustrating.
L.
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Sofia Rikkin
Date/Time:
Aug. 04 2016 1:59 pm
Subject:
You have to be kidding me
Sofia,
I have just heard you guys are working on a portable version of the Aerie. it that true? A Portable Animus?
How could you not tell me? How can you still send me some bland email, asking seemingly innocent questions, and then turn around and work on the most exciting freakin' machine ever?
Without even letting me in on it while knowing it has my name all over it?
Just who do you think I am? A fortune telling machine? A secret little muse hiding in the shadows? Those were good for absinth soaked 19th century poets and they all died of syphilis.
Enough with the penny haikus of wisdom.
I've given you all I have. My time, my brain power, my trust.
And if that's not worth a place within your team, I'm not sure what is.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for your kind words. I know I'm not always the easiest person to work with, but somehow you always seem to have the right words to defuse the situation.
I really enjoyed our lunch last week and your advice was more than welcome. Trust me when I say these are not words I'm used to saying.
It shows that you have a genuine passion about what you are doing, and I really appreciate that.
I had a small favor to ask (I swear I wasn't buttering you up for this, I don't butter up people, ever). I was wondering if your HTT could be tasked with more Person of Interest type assignments. Not that I'm not enjoying the operations, but I could use some variety, and, who knows, it might help with my social skills improvement plan.
Just something to think about.
L.
From:
Deanna Geary
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Dec. 18 2016 9:59 am
Subject:
Xmas Vacation
Hey Layla,
Alan Rikkin died while attending something he felt he had to wear a black cape to attend to. That's creepy, I know. And you're worried sick about Sofia, that's understandable. There's nothing on his daughter in the papers or the Abstergo memos, so the fact that she's not answering doesn't mean she's in ha rm's way. Pretending your little tinkering project is helping you change your mind is bogus and you know it.
Why don't you come to my folks' place for the Christmas Holiday? We'll celebrate whatever it is you wish to celebrate, including the famous secular tradition of not celebrating anything at all if that's what works for you.
My mom will cook some pumpkin pie, my dad will ask us why we won't shoot at rodents, and we'll eat a non-vegan breakfast in a dodgy casino before we spend the day outside snowmobiling.
I love North Dakota, but it could sure use a bit of Layla Hassan.
Say yes. It'll be good for both of us.
D.
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Deanna Geary
Date/Time:
Dec. 18 2016 2:50 pm
Subject:
Re: Xmas Vacation
You sure know to make a girl happy. Rodents and a dodgy casino... I think I'll pass. There's nothing I want more than being with my little "Stone Cold Crazy" machine right now. I've just come up with an idea for the sequencer and I can't get it out of my head.
So far, it's only a sketch on a dirty placemat, so I have to get busy if I want to test it before I go into retirement, if that ever happens.
Sorry. I'm being an ass. It's a very nice offer, Dee, and I appreciate your concern, but I'll be fine. Don't worry, I always am.
Besides, I promised Hathaway I'd complete my operation reports. I must be 10 or 12 behind, most of them hardly have anything besides our names and the mention "Done".
He told me they had to be completed before the end of the year otherwise he would file a formal complaint to operations, which could mean more coaching from the mediator and that is just pure torture.
No. I like the guy, so I'll cut him some slack and get him his reports before he gets to sing Auld Lang Syne.
L.
From:
Deanna Geary
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Dec. 18 2016 5:01 pm
Subject:
Re: Re: Xmas Vacation
If you say so.
Let me know if you need any help with those reports.
How about we get out of here and grab some take out?
You can show me the progress on your little project. I might have an idea for the dialysis unit.
D.
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Deanna Geary
Date/Time:
Mar. 08 2017 1:21 am
Subject:
Where am I?
Dee,
Change of plans.
I know you're waiting in your little hotel room in Downtown San Francisco right now, and you think I'm heading towards the wharf but you're wrong.
I had an idea and I'm about to board a flight for Tokyo. I'm on my way to Onagawa, Japan.
Don't freak out, I know what I'm doing. Just be ready to pick up on your side in 24 hours or so, I'll need your remote assist.
Cover for me if dispatch calls in.
L.
From:
Deanna Geary
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Jun. 5 2017 5:01 pm
Subject:
I got what you need
Hey Layla,
I got what you asked for. I was able to get my hands on four of the drugs we discussed. It was easier than I thought it would be. Everybody has a price, and that includes doctors and lab assistants.
I'll keep the immunosuppressant in the sealed casing for now. Unless I get a sudden taste for muscles and large shoulders in which case your steroids are all mine.
I'm jesting, of course.
Are you free Friday? Let's go to the movies or beinge on some police procedural tv series. You know, so we can call out all the fake stuff they're doing.
TTYL
D.
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Deanna Geary
Date/Time:
Jul. 3 2017 7:13 pm
Subject:
AMA
Hey Dee,
Allow me to Copy/Paste this glorious extract from my July 1st AMA.
The internet is just like the ocean, you know. There are some really cool fish, and reefs, and sunken U-Boats.
But once in a while, there are these trashed rubber duckies that crossed half the globe to gather in piles of useless rubbish, and no one knows how to get rid of them ever.
LH: Hey I'm Layla Hassan. AMA!
@LittleBitoLiz: Hi there! Was wondering what's your favourite geek sound, like what sound do you love falling asleep to?
LH: I love the clicking of my blue mechanical keyboard switches. They just have the most satisfying clicks ever. I think I would have slept like an angel in an early 1920's bullpen. All those typewriting clicks!
@scufflescoble: What's your favourite song and what does it remind you of?
LH: Easy. Overtime Food by Rha Victoria. When I karaoke, it's the one song I have to sing every single time.
It reminds me of the night I met them backstage at the Madison Square Garden, back in 2000. I'm usually the one turning it up to eleven but that time, I was so thunderstruck, I could hardly move.
@scufflescoble: Pics or it didn't happen.
LH: Pics happened but there's no way they ever go public.
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Deanna Geary
Date/Time:
Sep. 29 2017 3:15 am
Subject:
It's ready
Hey Dee,
I wish this was an audio message so you could hear the nice roar of the Portable Animus. Everything seems to be in perfect order. The software is running, my vitals are showing perfectly and all the tests don on the DNA samples are turning up positive.
I've combined some strange strands and somehow the sequencer always returns a valid simulation to play.
I haven't dared to go into any of them. Not alone, not without you. And the animus isn't ready for a live test either.
Maybe I'm just buying time... but that combined strand of both you and Milton looks tempting.
All in due time... all in due time.
L.
From:
Deanna Geary
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Sep. 29 2017 6:46 am
Subject:
Re: It's ready
ARE YOU FLIPPIN' INSANE?
There's so much to yell about I don't even know where to start!
Milton's DNA? Really? Layla, how can you bring him into this? The poor guy, give him a break! I mean, you want to use subject 17's DNA, fine, he's dead, but Milton? My Milton? You access his file to save his ass, and you think stealing his DNA profile at the same time is ok?
I'll tell you once, my man is off limits. You erase the data. NOW.
Oh and yes, there was this second thing... DO NOT GO INTO YOUR ANIMUS. You're a wiz, and a genius, and a geek, and an engineer extraordinaire but you're not insane. We don't know if it works, we don't know what it does, and we don't even know what kind of simulation it runs.
Remember the story about Aileen Bock, Subject Zero?
The Surrogate Initiative?
She was exploring other people's genetic memories and ended up dead with an effin' fried brain.
You're not toying with an Omega Animus, Layla. It's the real thing. And if you ever want to go in there, we'll need to take all the proper precautions.
Please, Layla, I'd hate to see something happen to you. Just wait for me, ok?
D.
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Deanna Geary
Date/Time:
Oct. 20 2017 12:10 pm
Subject:
Egypt
Hey Dee,
Can you pack the sealed container with immunosuppressants?
Just in case. I know the assignment states we're going after yet another artifact of high interest but, well... you never know. What if there's something else?
Can you imagine? This could be a chance to try out our version of the Portable Animus in the field. I'm not talking about actually synchronizing with a simulation (well I might, but I'm not - really, I promise) but you never know. Maybe I'll just do a sequencing test IF I find something. IF. See? It's conditional.
I'll repeat it one more time.
IF.
Feel better?
Time to pack.
Still good for tonight? Drinks are on me.
L.
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Deanna Geary
Date/Time:
Oct. 21 2017 4:45 am
Subject:
What if
Dee,
Wow. Why is my head still spinning? I barely had more than a few drinks?
But, I just thought of something. You know how the Animus sequences DNA to run simulations based on genetic memories?
What if (and this might be the fifth Old Fashioned talking here) what if we could acutally find a way to do the same through inorganic matter?
Sure, we'd be out of codons, but we'd still have molecular structures to work with.
I mean, it took years for Dr. Vidic to crack genetic memories and once he got to them, he went nuclear on decoding them. What if he stopped too fast?
What is isomers are packed with molecular memories?
Ok, maybe molecules are too big, maybe we need to consider that the information might be stored deep down at the subatomic level. Why would memory latch uniquely onto organic molecules? I mean, I've seen stranger things but somehow I just can't find any plausible reason why it wouldn't.
I wish my middle of the night emails were more about a date I just kicked out or an obnoxious neighbor. Sorry... I guess you're stuck with me.
L.
Pictures
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Audio
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WeR
@ifLaylathenHassan 02/16/2017
@ifLaylathenHassan is now moderating the WeR/Mindblown channel.
Got a story that sounds like fiction but that's actually science? Post it. There are minds to be blown and brains to be fed.
Play nice or I'll get you banned.
For starters.
@ifLaylathenHassan 02/28/2017
Another fake so-called "Voynich manuscript" popped up at auction last week in Athens, Greece. It's the 3rd time in the past 10 years. Funny how this manuscript keeps appearing in history books only to be stolen shortly after. And for what? Flower sketches and esoteric formulas? Rumour has it even Abstergo has a major interest in the item but you didn't hear that from me.
@ifLaylathenHassan 04/04/2017
Crystal balls do exist, they're just shaped like computers. Cliodynamics is right off from Asimov's psychohistory. Forward thinking scientists are using historical data from the past to build mathematical models that help them predict the future. So far, they're pretty accurate. Problem is, the future ain't pretty. Would you trust your rig to tell you what's coming? Is tomorrow really only a string of numbers?
@ifLaylathenHassan 05/18/2017
@SusiePatootie challenges the users of WeR/Mindblown to a contest for the best DIY Pinball Machine ever built. Entries must be submitted before 06/18/2017 with a link showing the machine in action. If there aren't any sound or light effects, don't even bother submitting. #MakersGonnaMake #GetTinkered
@ifLaylathenHassan 07/01/2017
Hi, I'm Layla Hassan and I'll be hosting an AMA on 07/07/2017.
So, AMA about WeR/Mindblown, Life hacks, Keyboard Pimping, Cutting Edge Technologies, Zetetics, Classic Rock and my travels. Be warned, though, I won't be answering anything pertaining to Abstergo Industiries. I enjoy using the word "no" so make an effort and ask something that won't bore me.
@ifLaylathenHassan 10/26/2017
Ground-penetrating radars are used to explore what might be hidden under ancient monuments. Cavities were detected under the Sphinx's paws some 20 years ago. Most are natural caves but some have yet to be investigated. Could one of them be the mythical Hall of Records, a lost library much like the lost library of Alexandria? The idea's not new. Gladstone Kitteridge Esq. went on famous digs trying to uncover the lost knowledge in the 19th century.
Trash
From:
Sofia Rikkin
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
August 31st 2016 11:50am
Subject:
Farewell Layla
Layla.
There no nice way to put this so I'll be honest.
We met years ago. I remember seeing you for the first time crossing McLaughlin hall at Berkeley and thiking just how you would thrive in Abstergo's Young innovators program. And then I watched you make the jump into the great unknown.
But the fact is, even after all the insight you've given us, I'm still not sure I can place my trust in you to be part of the Animus Project here in Madrid.
How many sanctions were added to your Operation File after I asked you to respect the boundaries of your assignments? Too many, Layla. Too many.
You have a brilliant mind, but you are also unpredictable. I cannot afford to have a loose cannon in the lab putting the team's progress at risk. It's hard enough to handle the Subjects as it is.
I wish you would put your spirit to greater use. That I could give you a task and know deep down that the next morning I would find you ironing out the details, and not in the lounge rearranging a highly classified piece of code on an unsecured laptop.
Work hard, Layla, and forget about one day moving to the Animus Project. Focus on the challenges of the Historical Research Division, they are tailored for you.
Perhaps, one day, if you change your ways, I'll reach out again, just as I did in Berkeley.
But until then, I ask you to respect my decision and stop contacting me.
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Ashraf & Zeinab Hassan
Date/Time:
Oct. 21 2017 2:03 am
Subject:
Hey...
Hey Mom, Hey Dad,
It's been a while. I hope you're doing ok, and my overprotective brothers too.
My next assignment is taking me to Egypt, I'm leaving tomorrow. And well... it made me think of you.
Of course, I'm not supposed to disclose any of my mission details, but, you know how bad I am with rules.
Going back to Egypt... I dunno. It feels right. I wanted you to know. Not sure it'll make you happy, but... everything's falling into place, it seems.
You never forgave me for dropping out of Berkeley. But in the end, I got a place at Abstergo, I got to make a name for myself.
And now, it's leading me back to the country of our ancestors, on official business no less and not on some backpacking pipe dream. Those were your exact words, Dad.
So yeah. I thoguht maybe you'd like to know that.
I could fly back in for a visit, when I come back? We could invite Rami and Kaden and talk like adults. (Well, maybe not Kaden. I'm still not sure he knows how to adult.)
And I could tell you all about my trip.
And something else I've been working on. Not sure you'd approve but... I think I'm on the brink of something big.
ANd If I can just show you, you'll understand why I left Berkeley like I did. Being stubborn is the best thing you could wish on a daughter, dad. I promise.
Yeah, I killed the family phone 20 years ago. But because of it (and because of all the other applicances I might have sacrificed along the way) I can build a mean machine today.
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Rami Hassan
Date/Time:
Oct. 23 2017 1:50 pm
Subject:
Just do it
Rami,
Long story short, I'm standing in the middle of Alexandria's very busy souq district (Egypt, not Virginia, Rami...), and I have no time for email etiquette.
I just need you to send me this picture of mom, that one we took in Florida while we were visiting all the parks.
I think I just found the perfect headscarf to replace the one she lost while we were on the trip years ago.
Oh and, don't tell them where I am. It's a surprise.
It's been a while! I tried to message you but you were offline...What's happening, my favorite sharp-dressed-man?
Layla
From:
Harlan Cunningham
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 10:11
Subject:
re Greetings and salutations!
Hello Layla,
I'm sorry, there's been a lot going on. I just logged off to clear my head and focus on what's important. Don't worry.
Harlan
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Harlan Cunningham
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 10:12
Subject:
re re Greetings and salutations!
Hi Harlan,
What's wrong? Is it Arend? I just checked and he's offline too...Please tell me you two are all right.
Layla
From:
Harlan Cunningham
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 10:13
Subject:
re re re Greetings and salutations!
Hello Layla,
I'm sure he'll be fine. He's been quiet since he got back from the Australia mission. The new doctor says it's normal. I took some time off to be with him. I found a website where I could order salted licorice and stroopwafels, so that's cheering him up.
Harlan
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Harlan Cunningham
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 10:14
Subject:
re re re re Greetings and salutations!
Harlan,
Arend's eating junk food? And a doctor's watching him? And I just checked and nobody's finished their reports? What the hell happened in Australia?!?
Layla
From:
Harlan Cunningham
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 10:17
Subject:
re re re re re Greetings and salutations!
Hello Layla,
I'll call you, OK?
Harlan
From:
Harlan Cunningham
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 11:24
Subject:
Memorial
Hello Layla,
So like I mentioned, the memorial service for Charlotte will be Thursday at 10.
If Galina calls you, please let her know. She left me two phone messages, but she didn't leave a number and I haven't been able to reach her. She might be self-medicating.
Harlan
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Harlan Cunningham
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 11:26
Subject:
re Memorial
Hi Harlan,
It's OK, let Galina have her bender. And remember that Arend's appreciating all the care you're giving him, even if he can't express it right now. Keep being an angel, you.
Layla
From:
Harlan
To:
Cunningham
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 14:32
Subject:
Your Question
Hello Layla,
Sorry for sidetracking you with personal issues. Was there something you wanted to ask me?
Harlan
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Harlan Cunningham
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 14:36
Subject:
re Your Question
Hi Harlan,
Don't worry, I was just going to ask you if you wanted to join me on a mission in Canada. But I can do it myself.
Layla
From:
Harlan Cunningham
To:
Layla
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 14:40
Subject:
re re Your Question
Hello Layla,
Have you been in touch with Kiyoshi? He was in Australia too, and he's been asking for work. I'll call him.
Harlan
From:
Kiyoshi Takakura
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 15:05
Subject:
Available for assignment
Dear Ms. Hassan,
I heard you might be seeking a team member. I am currently available.
Takakura Kiyoshi
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Kiyoshi Takakura
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 15:07
Subject:
re Available for assignment
Dear Mr. Takakura,
Can I call you Kiyoshi? Did I get your names in the right order? Hi! I heard the mission in Australia was very rough. I can't believe how you pulled off that escape. The three of you, I mean. I'm sorry.
Are you sure you wouldn't rather take some time off like Arend and Galina?
Please let me introduce myself. My name is Dr. Victoria Bibeau and I've recently been brought on as a resource person by your group.
Mr. Kiyoshi Takakura is under my care. Of course details are confidential. Please be aware that I DO NOT recommend a return to active duty for my patient.
Dr. Bibeau
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Victoria Bibeau
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 15:11
Subject:
re Return to active duty protocol
Dear Dr. Bibeau,
ARE YOU FRAKKING KIDDING ME?
Dr. Bibeau of Abstergo'sAerie project? The world's top expert on the bleeding effect? Is this some kind of Abstergo infiltration attempt, because if so this is not the Layla you're looking for.
Layla (who definitely didn't leave Abstergo in a hail of gunfire and shredded files)
From:
Victoria Bibeau
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 15:13
Subject:
re re Return to active duty protocol
Dear Layla,
Yes, that's me. I assure you this is not a trap.
Dr. Bibeau
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Victoria Bibeau
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 15:14
Subject:
re re re Return to active duty protocol
Dear Dr. Bibeau,
IT'S A TRAP!
Layla
From:
Victoria Bibeau
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 15:20
Subject:
re re re re Return to active duty protocol
Dear Ms. Hassan,
I assure you I mean nothing of the sort. William Miles could update you if you require proof of my current position.
Dr. Bibeau
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Victoria Bibeau
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 15:21
Subject:
re re re re re Return to active duty protocol
Dear Dr. Bibeau,
Sorry, I was making a joke, you know "It's a trap"? Anyway, I'm glad you're here.
Layla
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Kiyoshi Takakura
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 15:24
Subject:
Double Checking
Dear Kiyoshi,
Are you sure you're ready for this? Dr. Bibeau just poked me to say you're not cleared for return to duty.
Layla
From:
Kiyoshi Takakura
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 15:35
Subject:
re Double Checking
Dear Layla,
While I respect Dr. Bibeau and her medical opinion, I believe a return to duty is necessary. I can be of service to the Assassins.
Also, this assignment will give me something to do other than sit in my quarters and wait.
Kiyoshi
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Kiyoshi Takakura
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 15:36
Subject:
re re Double Checking
Dear Kiyoshi,
I getcha. You're the type who needs to work through their problems. I feel that too.
OK, consider yourself onboard. I'll just tell Dr. Daycare that you'll be doing desk duty as my researcher. But feel free to get up from the desk and kick ass if you know what I mean ;-)
Layla
From:
Kiyoshi Takakura
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 15:40
Subject:
re re re Double Checking
Dear Layla,
Thank you for understanding. Doctor Daycare?
Kiyoshi
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Kiyoshi Takakura
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 15:42
Subject:
re re re re Double Checking
Dear Kiyoshi,
Don't tell anybody, but that was her nickname back at Abstergo. She was in charge of putting kids through some super-secretive branch of the Animus program. Well, teenagers. It's not that weird, they have pliable brains.
And really, If I had known about the Animus when I was a teenager, I would have given my left arm and right cerebellum to get in there.
Layla
From:
Kiyoshi Takakura
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 15:50
Subject:
re re re re re Double Checking
Dear Layla,
I see. Thank you.
Kiyoshi
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Victoria Bibeau
Date/Time:
Aug. 20 2018 15:53
Subject:
Team Effort
Dear Dr. Bibeau,
I know you're in charge of his treatment, but Kiyoshi's really keen on staying busy. So I told him you might let him be my backup for my next mission.
It's a really short gig, and I'll put him on desk duty as a researcher. I know Miles has a candidate (Alannah, she sounds cool), but he's still getting her up to speed.
Quebec City's safe as stone houses, and the trip will keep Kiyoshi out of trouble, you know?
Layla
From:
Victoria Bibeau
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Aug. 21 2018 9:05
Subject:
re Team Effort
Dear Layla,
Your proposal could be acceptable, so long as he's properly supervised and performs only light duties.
So I've spoken with William and gotten his blessing to join your mission. I know I'm a recent addition to your group, but I lived in Quebec City for many years and can speak fluent French.
Dr. Bibeau
From:
Kiyoshi Takakura
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Aug. 21 2018 9:22
Subject:
Our Next Assignment
Dear Layla,
Dr. Bibeau contacted me. Sounds like we're in daycare.
Kiyoshi
From:
Kiyoshi Takakura
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Aug. 21 2018 9:23
Subject:
re Our Next Assignment
Dear Kiyoshi,
You're a funny guy.
Layla
Audio
Layla Hassan:The Lost Book of Herodotos. The Spear of Leonidas. If I didn't work for the Assassins, I wouldn't believe it. I'm still not sure I believe it. But a little luck and a lot of research later, and we've got ourselves the archaeological find of the century. At lease, we would if I could publish it.
Layla Hassan:"The Assassins who found Atlantis." Sounds like the title of a documentary full of cheap CGI and alien theories. Alannah tells me that Troy was considered a myth, before Frank Calvert found it and Heinrich Schliemann stole credit for it. If we ever get to reveal this, I wonder who we'll give the credit to?
Layla Hassan:Just when I think I've got a handle on the Precursors, someone new shows up. At least Aletheia seems to be no friend to Juno. I still can't believe I wasn't on the team that took her down. I could have stopped... Victoria's right, blaming myself is useless. But tozz feek, Otso Berg. You're going to pay for betraying Charlotte. One artery at a time.
Layla Hassan:Mission accomplished. So why does it feel like this is just the beginning? Isu infighting, a relic that grants immortality, myths proven to be true... Slow down Layla, one miracle at a time. Congratulate the team. Keep the staff safe. And figure out how you're supposed to balance out the universe. That's all.
Otso Berg:Hello Miss Hassan. Nice trick with the fake USB key. Almost inconvenienced Abstergo headquarters. Your pranks are amusing as always.
Otso Berg:Let me be direct. I know you and the Assassins are searching for something of great importance. Transmit your findings, or your present colleagues will become collateral damage.
Otso Berg:Or perhaps I should start with an old friend from Abstergo, habibti. Berg, out.
Location: Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec
- 4 centuries of treasures and archives here
- 900 people buried under the cathedral
- Excavation uncovered hidden relics
Operative Summary: Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec – target item NOT FOUND.
Operative Update – Sept 5, 2017: Agents have the location under surveillance awaiting new intel.
The Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec. Architectural masterpiece, 1633 historical landmark... and blood repository.
Victoria Bibeau: Nice work. Media's got their story.
Layla Hassan: manage to get the gold paint off, K?
Kiyoshi Takakura: Paint isn't a bother – it's the ringing in my ears.
Victoria Bibeau: I can't believe you pulled that off!
Kiyoshi Takakura: If you can't believe in a golden Kiyoshi angel flying overhead, what can you believe in?
Reporter: Last night, a burglary took place at the Notre-Dame de Quebec Cathedral-Basilica. Fortunately the damge to this historical building is minimal. The parish secretariat reports that the criminals left without t he items they meant to steal.
Reality as a Simulation
March 30, 2018, 2:12 AM
Took a deep dive into theories about our reality being a simulation and ended up on the weird end of the Internet. I'm just gathering information at this point, not all that I have found has been useful. It's hard to imagine the world we know being another layer of the Animus, but it makes sense in its own way.
Layla
10 Religious Artifacts with Supernatural Powers
ChillingTop10s
Miracles. Just how real are they? These relics all have some kind of story attached to them, good, bad, or divine.
- Don't forget to Subscribe for more lists like this!
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Relics, Saints, top 10s, b00bs, funny, fail compilation
Comment 1: Cool video! Check out my channel.
Comment 2: inb4 no holy grail
NEW STUDIES Pythagoras: What did he know?
The founder of the popular theorem also believed that numbers were the key to unlocking the universe.
Simulation Theory
@ifLaylaHassan 04/01/2018 4:15 PM
Hey, WeR Hivemind, I was in Egypt recently and out with some friends when the topic of 'Reality as a Simulation' came up. It's a bit tinfoil hat, but an interesting theory.
Does anyone have any academic resources on this?
@therealbettyboop 04/01/2018 4:20 PM
Here's a article about that like, written two years ago. You might want to read up on Hans Moravec.
@ifLaylaHassan 04/01/2018 4:21PM
Oh! I know Moravec's work from some tudies I looked into on AL and transhumanism. I didn't know he also had theories related to reality being a simulation.
@therealbettyboop 04/01/2018 4:30 PM
He's the science guy working on it. If you want a philosopher I'd check out Nick Bostrom.
@rockitpowerfan 04/01/2018 4:21 PM
Ay 4:20 on April fools.
@rockitpowerfan 04/01/2018 4:22 PM
Aw, damn it.
@i_h8_jazz 04/01/2018 4:21 PM
sometimes i think i'm living in a simulation. i'll set things down and they'll move on their own. sometimes i think i can see holes in my walls that just go to nowhere.
@rockitpowerfan 04/01/2018 4:22 PM
You mean windows?
@walphmalph 04/01/2018 4:23 PM
Is your house made of Swiss chees?
From Boston, USA.
Speaks English, Latin, ancient Greek, Sanskrit.
Historian, rugby player. Combat aptitude not yet evaluated.
Expertise on ancient documents and church construction could be valuable.
NOT YET. Still in training. Next time.
From Osaka, Japan.
Speaks Japanese, English.
VG hand-to-hand, bladed weapon, and firearms skills. (Former Yakuza!)
Undercover potentional with cooking/gastronimic skills? Guest chef for Quebec City restaurant or food festival?
YES! But make sure he doesn't overwork himself. Off a recent tough mission.
From Quebec, Canada.
Speaks French, English.
M.D. Psychiatry, PhD in Neuropsychiatry. Specialized in neural system approach to emotional memory function, personality structure, and psychopathology.
Left Abstergo after the Ascendance Event, recruited by William Miles for "unprecedented expertise."
Assigned to mission. Remember if you kill her then you'll be unemployed.
VB: Are you comfortable with that rate of accuracy?
LH: We're using centuries-old text to supplement the DNA memory from centuries-old blood. Hopefully the gaps will overlap.
VB: Understood. Berg had a problem with simulations rated below 80%.
LH: Berg has a lot of problems.
Called the "Birthplace of Western Culture" by historians. (AR)
Herodotos and His Work
Herodotos called the "Father of History."
Influential family. Herodotos was himself forced to go into exile in Samos, but then took part in the coup that overthrew Lygdamis.
Studied and wrote history/travel books. Gave public lectures. Gained fame and drachmae.
Greatest work was his History. Relies on interview rather than records (which generally didn't exist anyway). Accuracy disputed, but influence undeniable.
His work is credited with saving a mass of invaluable information on archaic and early classical Greece. His work is methodical and extensive. (AR)
LH: He wrote about Greece and surrounding areas. He traveled the Black Sea, visited the Scythians, and lived in Egypt for months. His books were like travel guides to the ancient world.
AR: True. Though some of his work on non-Greek cultures was... specious.
LH: You mean that there wasn't a tribe of cannibals in India who threw feasts with their deceased friends as both guests of honor and the main course?
AR: I'll say a hard no to that.
LH: Let's hope his "Lost Book" doesn't include that kind of cultural glitch.
AR: From what I've been able to interpret so far, he does mention a group of ancient geniuses who sound suspiciously like the Isu.
LH: His "Lost Book" is supposed to contain the story of a heretofore unknown hero who was a descendant of Leonidas I of Sparta. And we know the Spear of Leonidas is an Isu artifact.
AR: Leave it to the Father of History to connect the dots.
Spear of Leonidas
Rumoured to be a powerful and deadly hand-to-hand weapon.
Rumoured to be a powerful and deadly hand-to-hand weapon.
Isu technology, capable of multiple improvements.
Evidence strongly suspect healing abilities. (AR)
LH: Healing or time manipulation? If we're right, this staff can rewrite the rules of physics, including entrophy. And we already know the Isu are capable of interacting with reaity in a way that disregards any normal timeline.
AR: I wouldn't even guess without more information.
Current estimated location: Thera (modern Santorini), Greece.
Previous historical evidence: the Minoan eruption which led to the collapse of that civilization was rumoured to be the source of the Atlantis myth.
Current evidence: Complex and extensive Isu site preserved underwater. (AR)
LH: Time to shift this from estimated to reality.
Who Is Aletheia
Isu Architecture
So, the Isu, aka Precursors or "those who came before." They're humanoid and they're ancient. They have triple-helix DNA and six primary senses.
The Isu say they createdHomo Sapiens to serve them, and who knows if they're wrong? Abstergo classifies them as Homo Sapiens Divinus, though they waffle on whether they're gods or not.
Sometimes individual Isu say they aren't, but usually they act like they are. They like to give themselves god names anyway.
LH: Wait, weren't the ancient gods named after them?
AR: It's a sort of chicken and egg situation. We know that the Isu had other names before they took on the ones we know. Like Juno was also called Uni.
LH: And just to check, Aletheia's not a goddess name, is it?
AR: You got it, boss. It literally means "truth," but if you ask Heidegger (well not literally, he's dead), it means the disclosure of truth. He dedicated huge chunks of philosophy to defining exactly what that meant.
LH: What's the short version?
AR: Aletheia is "unconcealedness," as opposed to correspondence (which is truth as accurate definitions of reality) or coherence (which is truth as statements that are consistent with the rest of a reality).
LH: Ok, I think I'll leave the philosophy to you while I handle tech. Deal?
AR: Works for me.
So, the next thing to realize is that there's ISU and then there's Isu. The main movers and shakers are (well, were) the Capitoline Triad: Jupiter, Minerva, and Juno.
Those three scientists who formed a team to save the world from being destroyed by a solar flare. They were like superheroes with ulterior motives.
Jupiter and Minerva appeared to sympathize with humans, but really only seemed to make a move after the Toba Catastrophe nearly snuffed us out. Juno was in it for the Isu, but mostly for herself.
LH: One of those world-saving solutions was the Eye that killed Desmond, wasn't it?
AR: Exactly. It worked short-term, but long-term seems more iffy. If "iffy" is a word you can use when you're talking about the end of the world as we know it.
LH: Aletheia did seem to imply that reality was shifting. Or that multiple realities were shifting as calculations were made.
Juno
So one of the most powerful Isu was Juno. She raised an army of followers trying to help her and her husband Aita get bodies. She wanted to move out of "the gray," or a virtual existence in some kind of spiritual-tech hybrid afterlife.
LH: And the Phoenix Project was going to do just that. The plan was so dangerous that neither the Assassins nor Templars could take it on alone. So we teamed up... for a while.
AR: Layla, I heard about your colleague Charlotte de la Cruz. I'm sorry.
LH: So am I.
AR: Weird question... So I know Mr. Berg used some special explosive to make sure there wasn't any DNA left. But wouldn't there be some trace of the Koh-i-Noor? I mean, you'd think some shards of such a powerful artifact would have survived.
LH: Alannah, when Berg blows something up, he blows it up with extreme prejudice. That site is sterilized.
AR: So another weird question... How did Kiyoshi, Galina, and Arend get away then?
LH: Too soon, Alannah. Too soon.
We don't know about this Isu, except that he was one. The Greeks and Egyptians both worshipped him. His special followers called themselves Hermeticists.
The god Hermes (particularly in the form of Hermes Trismegistus) was all about magic and alchemy, and his staff is the inspiration for the caduceus.
In theory, he met Pythagoras and gave him his staff.
LH: We're betting a lot on that theory. We've extrapolated that the staff is the key to the Isu "equations of reality" theory.
Based on the information we got in Egypt, the Isu are convinced that understanding the mathematical rules of the universe is the basis to changing it.
AR: Are you convinced?
LH: I'm convinced it might be true. And that's enough to make that staff very powerful and very, very dangerous.
Aletheia
So who is Aletheia? She (that's a guess, I didn't record her using any pronouns) called herself that. She has a grudge against the rest of the Isu for their godlier-than-thou attitude.
The Isu unified front showed cracks before, like that time Minerva and Juno argued in front of Desmond, or when Consus reached through time to contact the Assassins behind Juno's back.
But this is a new level of insubordination.
LH: Fortunately for us, Aletheia seems to be on humanity's side.
LH: I only wish I could do that kind of multitasking.
AR: If anyone could, it would be you, boss.
AR: Yeah, she reminds me of Martin Luther, nailing his 95 Theses to a church door. Maybe this is the start of the great Isu schism.
LH: You've got a knack for naming things, you know that?
AR: Thanks, boss.
LH: Besides, she's a hacker. I like her.
AR: Hacking? Is that what she was doing to the retransmissions?
LH: Sorry, I realize that's more my department than yours. You heard the voice change, right? That's when the retransmission got hacked, replaced right under the other Isu's metaphorical nose.
AR: How do you think she did it?
LH: Good question. If you want to brute force the problem, try all the security protocols until you find one that works. Then lock everyone else out so they can't undo your work. Or if you're an analog, get a stronger transmitter Mexican-radio-style.
Aletheia's big advantage is having all the time in the world to find a solution. Like Consus, she seems to be able to see multiple times at once and communicate across them.
AR: Or multiple realities.
Reconsidering Reality
The Equations of Reality theory posits that the nature of the universe is dictated by mathematical equations, and that someone who can understand these equations can rewrite reality.
The Isu seem to have mastered checking the equations. After all, Minerva and Juno told us they ran all kinds of simulations to figure out how to save civilization from planet-scorching solar flares.
But have they reached the stage where they can rewrite the equations? And now that we have the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus, have we?
LH: If you want to think in that direction... If the Isu already knew how to rewrite the equations, would we realize it? Pythagoras was part of the Isu bloodline. What if he managed it and didn't realize, or forgot how? What if this is the simulation?
AR: You've held the staff, boss, and you're one of the bloodline too. What if you already changed everything?
LH: That's basilisk territory.
AR: I don't think Herodotos mentioned a basilisk anywhere...
LH: The Roko's Basilisk. It's a thought experiment. If an artificial intelligence was omniscient, it would know who its enemies were. It could also eventually figure out how to transcend time. Do you follow me?
AR: I think? Sounds creepy.
LH: Nice knowing you, Alannah. You have already pissed off the all-knowing time-travelling basilisk.
AR: So, you're saying we have to watch out for things we can't watch out for?
LH: I'm saying, from now on, we have to tread very carefully.
Bios of the Gods
So here's the Greek mythology rundown, for the Assassins who might have been asleep in classics class. Zeus, king of the gods and bringer of storms, gets together with Demeter, goddess of the harvest. Sounds like a weird match, but compared to Zeus' track record this was actually kind of healthy. They have a daughter, Persephone, who's supposed to be beautiful, pure, the whole maiden goddess bit. Hades, riding a chariot pulled by demonic immortal horses, gets his kidnap on and drags her down to the underworld. (That scene's a favorite subject of Victorian dude artists, to no one's surprise.) Anyway, Demeter throws a (totally justified) fit, stopping any plants from growing. Pretty soon, Greece is starving and mortals are begging for hostage negotiations. Hades agrees to return Persephone but claims a loophole: she's eaten a few pomegranate seeds, which counts as eating the food of the dead, so she's got to return for part of the year. To the ancient Greeks, that's where winter comes from. To the Isu, that's why a dysfunctional couple is warring over control of the underworld.
OK, even if you're a classics n00b, you know this one: a dude who posts gym selfies kissing his biceps? That's an Adonis. The Adonis of mythology was the handsome-but-mortal lover of Aphrodite. His background story is messed up even by mythological standards. His mother got on the wrong side of Aphrodite, who cursed her. I'll spare you the details, but her father gets her pregnant. Aphrodite felt maybe a little guilty about that, so she took Adonis to the underworld to be raised by Persephone. Years later, Aphrodite came back for Adonis and lo and behold, falls for his perfect physique. Persephone was already into him (I told you this was messed up), and the two divine women started arguing over who should get Adonis. Zeus (of all beings!) came up with a solution: Adonis would spend a third of his time with Aphrodite, a third with Persephone, and a third by himself to work on his cardio routine. Well, not quite, but it might explain why the Adonis Kassandra met was a little confused.
Oh gods, Hermes is a tough one to sort out even if you've studied up on this. Classically speaking, Hermes was the messenger of the gods. He's also a trickster and magician, lover of at least 40 goddesses, father of who knows how many divine kids, and a powerful warrior who defeated a hundred-eye beast. He's basically a mythological Marty Stu. The Isu Hermes seems to have been Pythagoras's advisor, which somehow trickled into Hermetic magic and the Golden Dawn. Good thing Aleister Crowley didn't know about Hermes' staff, or the Templars might have won this fight a century ago.
In ancient Greece, Hekate was the mistrusted but essential goddess of witchcraft, crossroads, and necromancy. She's the power you wanted to know, but didn't want other people to know you knew, if you know what I mean. When Persephone was kidnapped by Hades, Hekate helped Demeter to find her daughter. Then, when Persephone had to return to the underworld each year, Hekate offered to accompany her. That kind of sisterhood endures, and even today modern Wiccans keep literal fires burning for her. As for the Isu Hekate, if science sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic, then her science must have been some of the best.
Now, when I mention Hades, know I'm talking about Hades, not Hades. Yeah, see the issue when a place shares the same name as you? Hades (the god) was born to a couple of Titans and has some pretty well known siblings like Hera, Zeus and Poseidon. Of course, as soon as they were born, their dad swallowed them whole for reasons I'm sure made sense in his head. Zeus was the youngest to be born and freed his swallowed siblings. After a victorious war between them and the Titans, Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon divided up the realms to rule. Hades ended up getting the underworld, and he wasn't exactly stoked, but fair is fair when lots are being drawn. The rest of the Isu don't seem to trust him much, but like his mythological counterpart, Hades seems to be a mostly chill and passive dude. You know, except for the time he abducted Persephone while she was picking flowers and took her as his wife because Zeus said it was cool.
If you died in ancient Greece, you had better hope not only that there were people around who would bury you, but that they placed a coin on or in your mouth. If not, have fun wandering the shores of the Styx for one hundred years. Seems a bit harsh if you ask me, but rules are rules, and Charon follows them. Charon's father is Erebus, basically a personification of darkness. Then there's his brothers, Thanatos and Hypnos, the personification of death and sleep, respectively. Charon, on the other hand, is just Charon. I'm not sure if he did something to anger daddy Erebus, but he's clearly not the favorite. On the bright side, in the myths, Charon's been able to meet a bunch of famous people like Odysseus, Dionysus, and Herakles, kind of like a taxi driver for the gods. The Isu Charon seems to fit that bill, though I have to wonder why he hasn't started up a rideshare business yet.
Poseidon. Brother to Zeus, Hades, Hera, and more. God of the sea and earthquakes. Huh? Horses too? OK. He almost became the patron god of Athens, which I guess would have ended up being called Poseidos had Athena not won their competition. Hot tip, if you're ever in a similar wager, offer an olive tree to a city and not salt water. Poseidon wasn't the most gracious of losers and really leaned into the angry god persona, and sent a massive flood to punish the Athenians for not choosing him. If anything, that probably reassured them they made the right choice. One of Poseidon's sons was Atlas, the first ruler of Atlantis. The Isu Poseidon wanted to rule Atlantis himself, which true to Poseidon's style, left Atlas feeling awfully salty (I'll let myself out).
There's a good chance that when you think of Atlas, the image of a Titan holding the world on his shoulders enters your mind. The Isu Atlas isn't that Atlas, but the one born to Poseidon. Honestly, you'd think they'd at least try to use different names. Even Atlantis is just Atlas' name with a few letters thrown in the middle. But I digress. In mythology, Atlas was the firstborn to a mortal woman named Cleito. She actually gave birth to five set of twins, which is insane, but I guess when the dad's a god, it becomes a bit easier to take care of them... Unless that god is Zeus, in which case, I'm sorry. As for the Isu version, Atlas did indeed rule Atlantis for a time, but as we know, Poseidon took it for himself. It's believed when this happened, Atlas simply shrugged.
2020
Mailbox
From:
<Unknown Sender>
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Dec. 27 2019 4:49 PM
Subject:
You
L,
Would your favorite baseball team happen to be the Atlantis Eagles?
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
<Unknown Sender>
Date/Time:
Dec. 27 2019 5:34 PM
Subject:
RE: You
Who the fuck is this?
From:
<Unknown Sender>
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Dec. 27 2019 5:51 PM
Subject:
Subject: RE: You.
You have a gift and a curse. The gift of old blood, the curse of not understanding it. We can help if you help us. What you did is not your fault. But you must take responsibility for it. Otherwise, nothing gets done.
One of us will contact you. If you miss us, you miss your chance.
From:
<Unknown Sender>
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Jan. 17 2020 3:12 PM
Subject:
Next Steps
L,
One last message after which all communication between us via this account, or any other, will cease. We have our own ways of talking, methods that cannot be sniffed or traced. Your previous team made this mistake. They knew the risks, but they were sloppy, left traces of their activity on everything, digital fingerprints everywhere. That will not happen with us.
My colleagues tell me the initial meeting went well. They are impressed, if a little wary of the influence your new toy has on you. But they know better than most what it means to live with such a burden. I am curious to know more about this "Heir of Memories" epithet. It is not a phrase we have heard in all our decades of research.
In a few weeks' time, we will contact you once more. If you are interested in proceeding, follow our instructions to the letter. If you are not interested, or if you break any of our protocols, this will be the last time you hear from us.
Take this to heart... the world is sick, and getting sicker. The earth's magnetic field is growing stronger, satellites are falling from the sky, earthquakes are getting more frequent, famines are becoming more and more frequent. And now we have credible reports of a new and deadly virus sweeping through Asia. It can feel like we're living through a Yeatsian nightmare--"Mere anarchy is
loosed upon the world." In many ways we are.
But there is hope. There is a cure. Us.
In the past few months, we have come across something that may help us solve our most pressing problems. A message, a very promising message, that may help us reverse the dire course we are on.
If you want to be part of the solution, join us. If not, we wish you the best of luck.
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
<Unknown Sender>
Date/Time:
Jan. 19 2020 10:34 AM
Subject:
RE: Next Steps
I'm ready.
From:
<Unknown Sender>
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Jan. 19 2020 10:37 AM
Subject:
Subject: RE: Next Steps
Good.
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Rami Hassan
Date/Time:
May. 01 2020 1:39 AM
Subject:
Disappearing for a while...
Rami. Forgive the short email. I wanted to call, but I'm not using phones right now, and my time is limited.
I'm still recovering from my trip. "things got out of hand and nothing went as expected. People gut hurt. I told you it was for research. And it was, but not for A*****. The truth is, I haven't worked for them for a few years. It's a long story, and I won't bother you with the details. But it wasn't for me. Leave it at that.
The group I'm with now, I can't explain, not over email. But they've shown me things, given me opportunities, and opened my eyes to a broader view. But not without cost. In fact, I fucked up last year. Bad. More than once, and I need to make it right.
I know all this sounds cryptic. It is. But I'm not in danger, not in the way you might think. If I'm being vague, it's
because I need to be. I don't want any data sniffers picking up on keywords that might raise alarms. Do I sound paranoid? A Little?
Here's the point. Don't worry about me. I'm with a couple of people who I trust now. They've been at this a lot longer than I have, and they're going to see me through this. I promise. At this time next year, things will be better. The skies will be clear, the earthquakes will stop, and we'll celebrate Ramadan together. It'll be just like the '90s, all over again.
Tell Mama and Baba I miss them, and that I'm doing fine.
Your sis,
L
From:
Ramy Hassan
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
May. 02 2020
Subject:
RE: Disappearing for a while...
I don't like the sound of any of this, Layla. And I don't like where this is leading. "Not using phones" is not the right way to ease my mind. You have my number, I suggest you call it.
And no I won't say hello to our parents for you, because doing so would bury me in questions I cannot answer. And to tell Father that you no longer work for Abstergo would break his heart. That's all he ever talks about, how his daughter is on the cutting edge of neuroscience. The man doesn't understand the first thing about what you do, or did, and he’s still proud. I will not be the one to disappoint him.
Is it COVID? Is that why you're being cagey? Something else? Call him, call me, and stop this insane game of hide and seek. I just want to know that you are safe.
Ram
From:
Layla Hassan
To:
Ramy Hassan
Date/Time:
May. 10 2020 2:38 AM
Subject:
No...
I don't have Covid, no. And I'm well isolated. It's just three of us, traveling together, staying out of sight.
L
From:
Ramy Hassan
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
May. 11 2020
Subject:
RE: No...
Thanks for clearing that up in such profound detail. I'm sure I'll sleep soundly now.
Ram
From:
Ramy Hassan
To:
Layla Hassan
Date/Time:
Aug. 16 2020
Subject:
Where are you???
Layla, it's been months! I'm worried sick, we all are. And like a fucking idiot, I'm covering for you again. Baba asked why we haven't heard from you since winter and I told him you were on another research trip, this time in the Amazon. The fucking Amazon. Even my own lies sound flimsy when I type them out.
Write. Call. Do something FFS!
Ram
Files
Layla, as you traipse about England, Becs and I thought you might want to keep your eyes open for a few things.
ASSASSINBUREAUS Or the Hidden Ones, more accurately. They operated in Roman Britain between the years 100 and 430 CE. It's not clear why they left, but the final date corresponds roughly to the Roman exodus from Britain, so I imagine their leaving had something to do with the empire's retreat? Mission accomplished or a loss of faith? Not sure. But we do know that it was several hundred years before the Hidden Ones returned to the island. It may be Basim and Hytham are the first in half a century.
From our own archives, I believe there were six main bureaus operating in the Roman period:
These won't be the Saxon names, so you'll have to read between the lines.
ANIMUSANOMALIES Becs noticed these, about ten, embedded in the simulation. They're dense clusters of data that may screw with your ability to navigate Eivor's memories.
Approach with caution. We don't know what they'll do if you get too close. They may be harmless, they may induce occipital shock, or wipe your mind. Hard to say. Bes tto err on the side of "hell no". But if you're curious, well, I warned you.
PIECES OF EDEN We don't know of any Isu artifacts you should be looking for specifically, butthey'reoutthere, and this was a period where they often cropped up in legend. Norse and Saxon songs and tales spak of them often,so ikeep your eyes peeled.
Especially around Stonehenge. How could that NOT be an Isu site?
Animus Session Report
Date: 3 November 2014 Operator: Rebecca Crane Subject: Shaun Hastings Reporter: William Miles
Preface: The transformation of the Order of the Ancients into the Templars as we now them today has always been a subject of considerable debate among our ranks. We have operated with the assumption that the Templars themselves hold som or complete knowledge of this evolution, but at present, no concrete historical evidence has ever made it into our hands.
What little data we do have is mostly a matter of public record, with some exceptions. It is commonly understood that the origin of the Knights Templar dates back to 1119 CE, and this indeed was the appearance of the public face of the Templars. However, our records attest to the existence of Templar agents at least two centuries before this date.
In one badly damaged document, and "Assassin Contract" from Normandy in the mid-11th century, the author makes free use of the term Templar. An earlier letter—this time from a Hidden One in the region of modern-day Dorset, circa 978 CE—makes mention of a "Templar spy" within the ranks of the Bortherhood. From this we can sagely assume that the Templar Order, as an entity distinct from the Order of the Ancients, existed at some point in the mid-10th century.
Witn an aim to expand our understanding of this dark age, one of our agent recently volunteered to delve into his genetic memories to search for further clues to the age-old mystery. Unfortunately, what he discovered was of little use for our purposes.
Shaun Hastings began in the fist of his seven sessions on October 5th, 2014. Over the course of the next three weeks, he followed various matrilineal and patrilineal lines into the past, focusing on the 9th, 10th, and 11th centuries, in search of Assassins and/or Templars in his bloodline. He found none. Of minor interest, however was the following personage here noted for the peculiarity of his biography.
Alrekr Thorvaldson, and early 9th century Jute who sailed from north of modern-day Denmark with a wooden plank bearing a carving of a map that purported to show the location of "Thor's hammer". Alrekr made it as far as Stavanger before running afoul of a powerful clan there. Alrekr was defeated in battle and enthralled as a slave. He escaped his captivity some ten years later, and returned to Jutland to marry and settle down. The location of Alrekr's map is unknown, and the existence of "Thor's hammer"—a Precursor relic, no doubt—remains unconfirmed.
Alrekr's ancestors [sic] would later sail to England following the Norman's conquest of the island, settling in what is now called Loughborough in modern-day Leicestershire. The irony that a man named Hastings would contain no useful genetic memory data regarding the Norman invasion of England in 1066 was not lost on our subject. Still, he retained his usual chipper wit, and asked if he might next relive the genetic memories if hos grandfather to, quite, "give a Nazi a proper bollocking".
Media
Videos
[MISSING]
Audio
A strange message broadcast from an unknown source north of the Arctic Circle. The message was broadcast for nine days, then ceased. Spectrum analysis of the message revealed coordinates to a Norse gravesite in New England, USA.
Unknown Male Voice:I lived, I died, and now I sleep. And in my sleep I dream. And in my dreams, I seen an end to the doom that will grip the earthonce again. Find the Wolf-Kissed, find the Mad One, find me, and save us all from another death.
Layla's final broadcast from within the Yggdrasil device.
Layla:You'll wonder where I am. You might wonder IF I am. I don't know how to answer that. But I'm not afraid. And I'm not alone. We have work to do. Work that may take us days or years. It's impossible to say. But we'll finish it. What I mean is... don't come looking for me. It's too dangerous and... too late. Take care of yourselves. Take care of the world we still have. And take care of—
Message from Shaun to Layla.
Shaun:Layla, thought you might be interested in this. Conversations that Becs and I had with Desmond, back in twenty-twelve. Humm... December, I think. Just candid talks, that's all. We didn't square any circles or write any big poetry. But he did have some interesting insights into his time in the Animus and what it means to be an Assassin. Anyway, have a listen. You might find you and he had similar experiences. So, huh, well, let me know what you think. Unless it's to tell me I sound like a total prat in these recordings. If that's the case, just... say nothing. I mean, I did have a slight cold at the time I recorded these. That's probably why I sound odd. Anyway, I... I... Okay, I'm done anyway. So... turn... off. Turn off. Oh, that's actually just a button, sorry. Here we go.
Audio recording dated December 19th, 2012.
Desmond:No, no, come on, Shaun. Turn that thing off.
Shaun:Oh, hold on, I like what you said there. I want to get this for posterity. Say it again. Nice and loud.
Desmond:Seriously?
Shaun:Sure, come on. If nothing else, it'll give me leverage with your old man.
Desmond:Ah. That's your angle... nice. What I said was... I wish I hadn't been born into the Assassins. I wish I had chosen this life. Is that good enough?
Shaun:Sure, but why is that?
Desmond:Because... because choice is the central idea of our creed. It underpins everything, right? It's about free will. It's seeing the evidence before you and saying, "Yes, this is what I want," or "No, this isn't for me." But when you're born into a group like this or any other, like I was... you get mixed signals. You get told over and over again, "This is what we believe, these are the rules. This is reality. No deviation." And if you question it, oh, they look at you like you... like you killed a puppy. That's hardly free will. It's a weird irony when free will is your central belief, but nobody want you to believe otherwise. I don't know how to say it exactly, but I always thought there was something... self-destructive about our creed. If free will is the most important moral guidepost we have, we should be free to ignore it. To choose submission, for example. You know what I mean? Like, we should be free to side with the Templars. If it's really my choice, I could do that.
Shaun:Right. It's almost self-refuting. A democracy could democratically elect a dictator or choose to get rid of democracy altogether. Within our creed is the seed of its own destruction. That's what makes it powerful, I think... and fragile.
Desmond:Right, right. The more freedom you have, the more risky it is, you know? Anyway, my dad has mellowed over the years. But he was strict when we lived on the Farm. He ran a tight ship. I never got the impression that I was free to choose my path forward. Our creed, our tenets, they were drilled into my head. By the time I was a teenager, I was following these rules out of a sense of duty. This was... just what we did.
Shaun:That happens to a lot of organizations over time. A stagnation sets in, you know? A fundamentalism.
Desmond:Yeah. And following the rules becomes more important than achieving whatever goal you set out for yourself. And people start to lost sight of the reason the rules exist.
Shaun:That's called deontology, or a form of it. Following a rule for its own sake, and not for the consequences it has.
Desmond:Yeah. But that feels backwards, doesn't it?
Shaun:Well, I think so. Following a rule is the easy part. Praying, taking a sip of wine, munching on a wafer. Rituals that give comfort.
Desmond:But that's just going through the motions. It makes people feel like they're doing something. When the hard work is... well, actually getting off your ass and doing something productive! I think people just want boundaries. Tight boundaries. They want to see the four walls that pen them in.
Shaun:I don't disagree.
Desmond:Anything outside that, anything that makes life more complex? That's scary. That's why I envy you. You chose this life. You went through that process, and you decided, "Yes, I believe in this."
Shaun:Sure. It didn't stop me from being an insufferable know-it-all as a teenager. But I see your point.
Desmond:I would have loved to have been a know-it-all. I knew nothing. Not until you guys found me. Yeah. It wasn't until I met you and Becs and Lucy that I knew... I knew I wanted to be an Assassin.
Shaun:Ah oh... Thanks Des. Bring it in, bud. I don't normally like touching, but I'll make an exception now.
Desmond:I am not hugging you.
Shaun:You sure? 'Cause I smell very nice today.
Desmond:Can you just turn that off?
Audio recording dated December 20th, 2012.
Rebecca:Hold on. I'll just set this here.
Desmond:Do you guys record everything we talk about?
Rebecca:Not everything. But you've been using the Animus so much, I thought this was a good chance to learn some thing about prolonged exposure.
Desmond:So I'm your guinea pig.
Rebecca:No, no, my guinea pigs are all dead. The Animus was too much for them to handle.
Desmond:Cute.
Rebecca:Can I ask you about the Bleeding Effect? Any recent flashes? Any memories resurfacing?
Desmond:Yeah, the usual things. Ghost images of Altaïr or Ezio a few times day. Nothing intrusive, just brief moments. They pass quickly, almost without me noticing. Like a figure in the corner of my eye. Or remembering a dream from the night before. I did have one extended hallucination a few days ago. It was Ezio. He was older, around the time he left Cappadocia. He was standing on the deck of a ship. Alone. And through him, I could feel an intense... regret. Or guilt. And it felt to me like he'd had a.. lost of faith. In himself, in the Creed. Like he couldn't keep it up. Couldn't stay true to his ideals. And as I watched him, I thought, "Is this the moment he decided he was done being an Assassin?" It felt like it. Anyway, most of my visions have been brief. Lasting just a few seconds. They're like... complete memories of small moments that appear suddenly out of nowhere, fully formed. it's a strange feeling.
Rebecca:Okay. Anything else?
Desmond:I'm starting to see Connor now too, Though I hear his voice more often than I see him. I'm sure that will change. Oh yeah, and yesterday... just before bed, I had a memory on a beach in the Caribbean. With a bunch of sailors. Or maybe they were pirates? I don't know. No idea.
Rebecca:Huh. We'll look into that. And how do you feel, in general?
Desmond:In general? Well... I feel older, for one. Much older. And it's strangely comforting. I'm collecting the memories and skills and thoughts of so many people, I feel like I've lived a few hundred years or more. Is it possible that if I do this for too long, it'll push my own memories aside? That I'll be everyone but myself after a while?
Rebecca:It's possible. That's called identity substitution. It's happened before, but it's rare. And someone with your background shouldn't need to worry.
Desmond:My background... you mean someone with my genes? My... abilities?
Rebecca:You have Isu DNA. And that lets you see things and do things and... withstand traumas that other people can't.
Desmond:And I can suffer in ways that others can't. That's not something to be proud of.
Desmond:Yeah. It has a pull. It tugs at my brain. It talks to me. Teases me. Drives me mad. And what I did to Lucy... God dammit. Nothing is worth the damage I did. The pain I caused.
Rebecca:I know. But you're special, that's the point.
Desmond:I'm not special, Becs. I'm lucky. That's all.
Rebecca:I understand.
Desmond:We're Assassins, that makes us different, not our genes. Not our blood. Anyone can join us.
Rebecca:That's true. But let's leave that aside for a second. What I want to know is, have you ever had any Isu memories resurface?
Desmond:Isu memories? I don't... don't think so. I can't even begin to imagine what that would feel like.
Rebecca:I think you'd know if you did. Maybe one day. We might be able to induce something.
Desmond:Jesus, let's fix the world first, okay? Before we start digging up my ancient ancestors.
Rebecca:Deal.
Desmond:With my luck, I'll be related to some third-rate Isu like... like Sisyphus or something.
Presumed manufacture date: Late in the Isu Singularity Age, ~75,100 BCE / ~2200 IE
This staff, one of many Isu staves known to us, is first and foremost a medical device with the ability to heal, repair, restore, and rejuvenate organic tissues with unprecedented swiftness. It has been known to extend the life of its bearers well-beyond the average human and Isu lifespan and is presumed to have the ability to resuscitate living creatures in critical or suspended states. It has not been verified if the staff has the ability to resurrect the dead, but this seems unlikely, based on its known features.
It appears to work by reading and copying its bearer's DNA to ensure perfect replication on a broad scale. It is able to detect erroneous copies and deploy repairs so long as its bearer remains within direct contact.
It has been used as a weapon, infrequently, possible by taking advantage of the tremendous power it draws from the Isu's Wireless Energy Lattice.
The staff has also acted as a conduit or container for the personality of an Isu called "Aletheia". It is not known if this personality is Aletheia's original consciousness or a simulation of the original, though most neuroscientists would call this a distinction without a difference. As of early 2019, the entity known as Aletheia has made no further attempts to contact me.
As yet, my purpose as the so-called "Heir of Memories"—as Aletheia has dubbed me—remains unclear.
Known Bearers Hermes Trismegistus: -75,100 – 75,000 IE Pythagoras: 6th century BCE – 5th century BCE Kassandra: 4th BCE [image]
The Messengers
Rebecca,
Before we meet at the site, I want you to see these.
Last week, I reviewed the logs from my time with Bayek and came across some old notes. In the "years" I explored Cleopatra's Egypt, I stumbled across six Isu temples, most of which were buried beneath pharaonic tomb sites. Each temple contained an Isu message clearly meant for one with the ability to read genetic memories. I was the lucky one. I don't believe they were intended for Bayek himself, as he seemed wholly unaware of the messages as they played. They may have been encoded in a way that only someone with an Animus could see them.
It's been a few years since I last heard these messages, so my memory is foggy. But the notes I scribbled down have a clarity that I trust. Might be something to all this. I don't know. Often I grasp outside of my area of expertise. I am enthusiastic but often wrong. Let me know if something else strikes you.
Layla
*
Message 1 (Excerpt): "Layers upon layers of reality, each bledding into the next. Which is real, and which is not? What if none are real? What if everything you know is false? We ran thousands of simulations, searching for the right version, searching for Desmond. Each one of them felt real. But there's no way of truly knowing, is there? Not for sure. Anything can be simulated, and finding the answer could mean erasure."
Teasing the Assassin maxim "Nothing is true..." Must be careful not to confuse truths with facts however, a language game you will always lose. Though we may stumble in our attempts to interpret it, the world, the universe, reality, what have you, it is always "out there". I believe that, simulated or no.
We could imagine a dozen nested simulations, and each one, on the level of itself, would constitute a full reality. Wolfram, via Conway, suggests that the universe is a giant cellular automata.
And further, there is a point where the difference between simulated and real is meaningless. If the universe were a simulation, what would it matter? The simulations qua simulation itself would be weal, and therefore everything within it would be real within the confines of the simulation.
Say a scientist were able to simulate pain by inducing only a few neurons to fire, no physical harm. "I am in pain!" the subject says. "No, you only believe you are," says the scientist. This is meaningless, as is this: "You thought you were in pain, but you were mistaken."
Message 2 (Excerpt): "No surprise. You were designed to have boundaries, after all. And one cannot speak of that which one cannot conceive. The Code. Equations that define life. They are nestled deep within every star, and every mote of dust. Every second that passes is a word, a symbol. All part of an intricate yet simple language existing within the framework of time itself. Is is the one rule which applies to us all. Immutable, inescapable."
We know this: humans were the instruments of an earlier species, the Isu. Resist the temptation to say superior. Different. They were better suited to some tasks, ill-suited to others. Possessed of a mind that we cannot know. But that does not get us anywhere. What is it like to be an Isu? What is it like to be a bat?
The implication that the Isu could "read" time is interesting, but if humans could read time, would it necessarily be in the same manner and for the same purpose? Whether constructed, or evolved, or a little of both as wee are, we cannot be said to have been "built" to achieve the same ends. A round disk on its edge is a wheel; on its side, a plate. How we use something can determine its value and its perceived purpose.
Message 3 (Excerpt): "Break the code. Break the node. These walls tell of a tragic story. A story we transcribed on our structures, on our artifacts. A story we could not alter. A mystery, defying us, in plain sight. We tried. Our scholars and scientists. Poets and physicists. Bright minds. Rebellious hearts. They all tried so hard to bring about change. They... We all failed. None could change what we discovered, the stories written into the walls of these rooms. The reader has no power. He is but an observer. But the author... the author invents the future. The author owns the future."
The Toba catastrophe, a super-volcanic event paired with a mass-coronal ejection, was the beginning of the end for the Isu. It changed the earth's environment, lowered its available oxygen levels, and generally fucked things up. The Isu never recovered. By our estimates, the last remaining Isu died just a century after the catastrophe. From that point forward, humans—their creation—ruled the roost.
This disaster was not unforeseen. Isu scientists had known about their impending doom for years, perhaps decades, before the catastrophe occurred. To protect themselves, they worked feverishly to find a solution. Six methods they tried, but due to a toxic combination of hubris, political infighting, and bad luck, all six failed. The final method proved the most promising and was nearly complete when tragedy struck. It was this method that Desmond Miles revived when he saved the world from a second solar flare in December 2012.
This voice laments the compounded failures of their species to save themselves, bit the truth is broader than that. They, with Desmond, saved us. Success deferred.
Then this message, break the code, break the node. Insistent, and very puzzling.
Message 4 (Excerpt): "Linear continuity is a simulations that allows for variations. Within the linear continuity, there are nodes. Chokepoints. Moments where algorithms converge the flows of superposed possibilities to a single moment where only one absolute truth is possible. Paths are fluid, continuous. Nodes are static, changeless. And the wave functioncollapses the paths into notes which branch out. Again, and again, and again. Can you feel the wave collapsing, trying to course-correct Desmond's act of defiance? The incoming node needs the world to end. The algorithms have been carving the flow of possibilities towards that end for over one hundred years now. Collapse the wave."
Well outside my area of expertise. Must contact someone who knows this shit better. But what it seems to be saying—the structure of spacetime the universe is built in such a way that certain events of clusters of events are compelled to occur. A bottleneck through which spacetime flows, and one nearly impossible to avoid There is something about this catastrophe, the one Desmond averted in 2012, that compels it to return, indifferent to out fear or pain. It is a tidal wave, rippling across the sea of space. It crashed once against the dike, and that stopped it for a time. But the seas rears back for another strike, and another, and another.
That gives some clarity to what is happening now, all around us. But it remains unclear how to change it. Especially from within an Animus, a simulation within a simulation?
Message 5: "Reality is a mathematical model which gets solved over and over again by the observer. Your thoughts are computations. And they render this world for you to call your own. Not all processors are alike. Different brains produce different realities. The variations go from the subtle to the drastic. Your mind defines how much you can taste. How much yuo can feel. How much you can understand. Perception defines perspective. We designed you and made sure to engineer your senses so you could perceive just what we needed you to. Neither more nor less. There are parts of time we preferred you to remained blind to. It was a necessity."
If we could suddenly "see" time, that would not guarantee the same perception the Isu possessed. Let us speak of time as an entity, if we may. Let us say that time is a perceivable fact in the same way light is a perceivable fact. The ability to "see" this fact in no way guarantees sympathetic view. There are creatures stumbling around this earth that read light differently than we do, and for different purposes. Humans see in a well-known spectrum, ROY G BIV.
This sense of color is confined to the three cones we possess. Yet nocturnal creatures see with a different scope, for a different purpose. Night-stalking, hunting, lurking. The evolved in concert with their needs are and now constrained by them, as are we. Light is only a fact seen askance and used differently by different species. To suggest that we might read time, is to imply we have a specific use for time.
The Message 6 "The next chapter is unstoppable. And yet, the greatest revolutions sometimes originate from the confines of impossibility, do they not? Reality is a simulation. Break the code. And in so doing, escape the inescapable. The Animus was humankind's first unconscious attempt to explain what it could not see. understanding genetic memories, an eye into history. Your Animus is different. As is the mind that imagined it. It could escape the code. It could make that leap and make possible a decision that defies the order of the things that are."
It is ridiculous to imagine that I could change the nature of reality "out there" from within the confines of an Animus, a simulation within this so-called simulation. But I believe I understand what this voice is telling me. My Animus is endowed with the ability to suggest alterations to days long past. But from any moment in time, I can extrapolate what MIGHT have been. Calculations of time. I am not confined to what was, but what could have been.
Yes, history is real, facts do matter. But from any moment in time I choose within the Animus, I can interrogate the memory. I can ask the world what if? What if Bayek and Aya had stayed together? What if Khemu had not been murdered? I can suggest these hypotheticals and watch how they unfold. Why would I want to? For knowledge, for a better understanding of what tragedies were avoided? It remains to be seen.
I am, in a sense, a reader of the calculations. As the Isu were in days past. Perhaps one day I will eb able to harness this talent to see into the future. To predict, to correct, to avoid. That would be worth something.
SecureShare
Hey guys!
Thanks for sharing with me the manuscript you found. It's truly amazing!!! For the first time, we have a key to read some inscriptions from the Precursors: [image] zrhwachày nàgkwat nsmæ br trrhwndi kwardæ l sorhwlàd vras chnàkôdi de nsm huchràs réyzdéràæ chaz zàwomsi
But wait, it gets even better! I immediately saw some suspicious similarities with ancient languages. So not that I could decipher the glyphs, I dug into our Precursor archives for more sources. I had to sort through the many different types of writings we found on Precursor sites to find some similar to that inscription. It's quite puzzling how many seemingly unrelated writing systems they had! Maybe the Precursors were not a monolithic a civilization as we think? Anyway, after more in-depth comparative work, the conclusion is unequivocal: this language is related to ancient languages from the Indo-European family, maybe even others. In fact, given the corpus I have studied, I would say that is is probable an ancestor to them. Or at least had a significant influence on them. This is truly fascinating!
With that comparative work, I was able to partially understand some of the inscriptions! The one above reads:
I put my findings in this shared file folder in case they can be of use to you.
Keep me posted if you find anything else!
Antony
This is the first part of the manuscript you found in Canterbury. It uses a cursive version of the alphabet that appears to be the same as the one used in the Voynich manuscript. Although the handwriting is clearly different. [image] Translation: Announced on this day 24, 2161 IE
A message from the Council.
For the labor we cannot do ourselves, we require animals of great strength but limited sense, freedom of action but not of thought. To guarantee full control over their behavior, they must be credulous in matters of imagination. They must be suspicious in matters of fact. They must see patterns where there are none. They must doubt correlations that go against their desires. In all, they must be thought of as our instruments, not our children. They will build for us, toil for us. On land, in the sea, in the sky. They shall be tools to be used, not creatures to be coddled.
I can't believe it. Where did Fulke get this? Did the Order have knowledge to read this language? Try to find out more if you can Layala, this is big. This is really big. I have informed Grand MasterMiles.
I tried to transcribe pages of the Voynich manuscript, by the way, but it's still gibberish. It must use some sort of encryption that Precursor boxes can decode.
Here are transliterations and translations for the two inscriptions you found in the vault you found beneathStonehenge:
In war and in love there is only one goal The search for a better future – Lug the Polymath
zérhúàæ hrá læsrs trás hàgwrmæchá hnomndi hrá mlrs trás savyàs huchàch rhngwarndi Mórígan
Fate is what the weak name their cowardice The strong craft their own future – Mórrígan
Not sure what to make of these. Do they relate to things you've seen on-site?
This tablet was found in Qobustan, Azerbaijan. [image] Translation: Announced on this day 6, 2194 IE The workers from the construction site are reassigned to the sanitation of the lake. Effective now.
I'm not sure what lake this refers to. Given the evidence found, we're pretty sure there must be a Precursor vault there, and this message seems to confirm it. Unfortunately, we haven't found it yet. Maybe this will help?
This piece of ceramic was found in Jerusalem. [image] Translation: This sun shone warmly inside, a burning sight Now I sooth the wound in a lake of tears
An example of Precursor poetry! And a pretty sad one at that. Note that the original text follows a meter of 16 morae per verse.
This plate was found in the Serengeti, Tanzania. [image] Translation:
What was true is untrue What was done is undone It is a war, not a rebellion All are summoned to fight
This tablet was found in Xi'an, China. [image] Translation: 2,800 shovels for shoveling 1,750 axes for cutting 880 plows for plowing
Lock or hide them. I suspect theft from inside
Shovels, axes, and plows? Why would the Precursors use such rudimentary tools given their advanced technology? Or did they keep their technology away from their human slaves? So many things we don't know about them...
My Stuff
[MISSING]
Trash
***File Corrupted***
M. and Mme. Bibeau,
My name is Layla Hassan. I was a friend and colleague of Victoria, both in Abstergo and in our subsequent freelance careers. In all the time I knew and worked with your daughter, I was always struck by her limitless intelligence, her humor, and her ability to focus, even in times of great stress. She was an inspiration, not just to me but to all those who worked with her.
I am writing to you now with the hope of shedding some light on the circumstances of her death. I realize it must be strange to receive a letter out of the blue from someone whose name you have probably never heard, offering to explain the tragic loss of someone so dear. But if you'll allow, I will try.
I was with your daughter in the moments leading up to the unfortunate incident that took her life. In fact, I am partly to blame for—
