Mongolia

Mongolia is a sparsely-populated country in Asia north of China. Historically, the region it occupies was home to confederations of nomadic peoples, among them the ancestors of both the Turks and the Mongols. It had a long history of conflict with China, conducting frequent raids and invasions against its much larger, heavily urbanized neighbour. ^{[citation needed]}

History

Mongol Empire

The state that would be known as Mongolia was first founded with the unification of the tribes under Genghis Khan in 1206, inaugurating the Mongol Empire. This was the largest contiguous land empire in the history of humanity. ^{[citation needed]} In a campaign of world conquest begun by Genghis Khan and continued by his successors, who joined the Templar Order, states across Asia were annihilated, among them the Western Xia, the Song dynasty, various Iranic states, and the Assassin state.

The Mongol Empire was divided following the death of its fourth Great Khan, Möngke, during his attempted conquest of China in 1259. While Möngke's body was brought back to Mongolia to be buried in Burkhan Khaldun by his son Asutai, Möngke's brothers Ariq Boke and Kublai began a civil war for the throne.

Yuan dynasty

Kublai eventually emerged victorious and became the fifth Khan of a fragmented Mongol Empire. He also succeeded in conquering the Song dynasty, and came to rule a unified Mongolian and Chinese state known as the Yuan dynasty. During his reign, Kublai welcomed the Venetian travelers Niccolò, Maffeo, and Marco Polo to his court, unaware of their Assassin affiliations. After seventeen years of service, Marco managed to retrieve Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's Codex, which the Mongols had seized during their conquest of Masyaf decades prior, and brought it back to Venice.

Although the Chinese eventually overthrew the Mongol regime to establish the Ming dynasty, as late as the 16th century, Mongolia continued to threaten China with military incursions, and the Ming extended the Great Wall of China as a barrier against such attacks. Among these raids was one conducted by Altan Khan at the invitation of the Chinese Templar Zhang Yong in 1532, but it was halted by the Assassin Shao Jun. Altan Khan was also responsible for establishing the close ties between Mongolia and Tibetan Buddhism which persists to this day.

Modern times

By 2016, at least one Assassin cell was active in Mongolia. One member of the cell, Yanmei, was contacted by the Assassin leader Gavin Banks, who informed her that fellow Assassin Griffin would be coming to Mongolia to excavate Möngke Khan's tomb and retrieve the Fear Prong of the Trident of Eden, which he had been buried with. Yanmei provided a jet to Griffin and the teenagers Natalya Aliyev, David Collins, and Javier Mondragón, and joined them on their flight to the tomb. Although their jet was shot down by Abstergo forces, the group survived the crash and confirmed the location of the Abstergo camp.

Continuing the journey to Möngke Khan's tomb on foot, David saw a series of light signals coming from the Abstergo camp and believed that his sister Grace was trying to communicate with him. However, this turned out to be a trap, and he was captured by the Templars. After being interrogated by Isaiah for the tomb's location, David gave him a false lead, and escaped alongside Grace, Owen Meyers, and Sebastian Monroe once most of the Templars left the camp to follow the lead.

Arriving at the tomb, the group was reunited with Natalya and Javier, the former of whom had knocked out Griffin and Yanmei with sedative darts due to her distrust of the Assassins. Working together, the group excavated Möngke Khan's tomb, only to be surrounded by Isaiah and his men, who had followed them. Griffin and Yanmei soon regained consciousness and attacked the Templars, but the resulting chaos allowed Isaiah to enter the tomb and retrieve the Fear Prong. He then used its powers to incapacitate everyone, and killed Yanmei when she tried to attack him.

After announcing his defection from the Templar Order, Isaiah used the prong to make all of his men follow him and left. The teenagers, Griffin, and Monroe then returned to the now-abandoned Abstergo camp with Yanmei's body, where they were met by Victoria Bibeau and her guards. After Victoria revealed that she was aware of Isaiah's defection, Natalya was able to persuade her and Griffin to call a truce until they stopped the rogue Templar and found the final prong, which was in Scandinavia.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Revelations (first mentioned)
• Assassin's Creed: Memories (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Last Descendants – Tomb of the Khan
• Assassin's Creed: The Desert Threat (non-canon)
• Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Daughter of No One (indirect mention only)
• Echoes of History – Chinese Chronicles (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Shadows (mentioned in Database entry only)