Assassin cell

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An Assassin cell is a unit of the modern organizational structure of the Assassin Brotherhood, in use since the 20th century. Composed of smaller groups of Assassins spread out across the globe, it is a successor to the former system of guilds devised by the legendary Assassin Mentor Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. In contrast to guilds, cells reflect a far more decentralized command structure, though like their antecedent, there was generally one per major city.

Organization

Cells effectively function as small, isolated teams of Assassins operating across the world.^[1] They can have as little as four members,^[2] essentially serving as a squad—as was the case with Desmond Miles' team^[3]^[4]—or be large enough to constitute a community^[5]^[6]. To maintain secrecy and security, many cells live off the grid, away from urban centers with stronger Templar presence,^[1]^[2] and this has especially been the case since the Great Purge of 2000.^[7]

Bases are generally isolated compounds in wilderness, such as the Farm located in the Black Hills of South Dakota.^[5]^[6] Despite this, the jurisdiction of each cell corresponds to cities. Virtually every major city—in addition to any deemed strategically significant—had a cell before the Great Purge.^[1]

While far more decentralized than that of the former system of Guilds, the title of Mentor under this new structure was reserved for only a single individual who had oversight for all cells on the planet whereas previously, each guild had its own Mentor. With the development of cells, the identity of the Mentor became a closely-guarded secret, unknown to even most Assassins.^[1] It became a far more prestigious position because the Mentor was expected to harbor the accumulated knowledge of all his predecessors, as well as coordinate the activities of every cell across the world.^[7]^[8] Since the assassination of the Mentor at the hands of the sleeper agent Daniel Cross, the position has been vacant, with de facto leadership undertaken by William Miles and Gavin Banks.^[1]