Scepter of Aset

The Scepter of Aset, or Piece of Eden #24, was an ancient artifact created by the Isu, which conferred charisma and leadership to its wielder. It originally belonged to the Isu Isis, also known as Aset.

Owners[edit | edit source]

Isu (? – ?)^[1]
Isis (? – ?)^[2]
Lugos (2nd century)^[2]
Italian fishermen (c. 1200)^[2]
Egyptian merchant (c. 1200)^[2]
Egyptian Brotherhood of Assassins (c. 1200 – 1250)^[2]
- Egyptian Assassin (1250)^[2]
Bahri dynasty (1250 – 1340)^[2]
- Al-Nasir Muhammad (1309 – 1340)^[2]
Egyptian Rite of the Templar Order (1340 – 1341)^[2]^[3]
Ali Al-Ghraib (1341)^[3]
Numa Al'Khamsin (1341)^[3]
Ali Al-Ghraib (1341)^[4]
Leila (1341)^[4]

History[edit | edit source]

Antiquity[edit | edit source]

The Scepter was originally owned by Isis, a famous Isu deified by the ancient Egyptians. By the mid-2nd century CE, the Scepter and another artifact, the Ankh, were in the hands of Lugos, who was a founding member of the Liberalis Circulum, a group of Hidden Ones active in the territories of the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, both Pieces of Eden were lost in a shipwreck off the coast of a small island in the Mediterranean Sea.^[2]

Middle Ages[edit | edit source]

The Scepter of Aset reappeared over a thousand years later, when some Italian fishermen found it amid the debris of Lugos' ship in the early 13th century. Subsequently, the fishermen sold the artifact for a very low price to an Egyptian merchant, who in turn sold it to the Egyptian Assassins, who kept the Scepter in their possession for half a century. In 1250, still in Egypt, the Brotherhood gave the artifact to the Mamluks in an effort to help them in their slave revolt against the rule of their Ayyubid overlords.^[2]

The Scepter remained for nearly a century in the possession of the Bahri dynasty Sultans, placed in power by the revolt of the Mamluks, until 1340 when the Templars stole it from Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad. The Assassins then entrusted one of their own, Numa Al'Khamsin, with the task of finding the artifact, which could be a dangerous weapon in the hands of the Templars.^[2]

Months later, in 1341, Numa and his disciple Ali Al-Ghraib successfully retrieved the Scepter from the Templars. However, instead of returning to the Sultan's Palace, the artifact stayed in Assassin's hands. Because of his distrust to the Sultan's deputies, Numa was imprisoned.^[3]

In the meantime, the Scepter was guarded by Ali, who was found and tortured by the Templars, forcing him to set a trap for his master. Upon his return, Numa was ambushed and killed by the Templar agent Leila. Ali, however, was spared and escaped with the Scepter hidden under the bandages around his arm.^[4]

Passing by a well near Edfu, the boy decided to hide the Scepter there, intending to contact the Brotherhood and return for it later; however, he never had the chance to do so as he died just a few weeks later from food poisoning. Meanwhile, Leila discovered the Scepter's hiding place, but her attempt to retrieve the artifact failed when she fell down the well and became amnesiac. With Leila being the last known person to be aware of the artifact's whereabouts, the Scepter ultimately became lost to both the Assassins and Templars.^[4]

Trivia[edit | edit source]

In the non-canonical modern-day storyline of the Assassin's Creed French comic series, the Assassins and Templars fight a battle against time on who retrieves the Scepter first. Ultimately, the Assassin Jonathan Hawk is able to beat the Templars to the artifact and brings it back to the Brotherhood.
The Scepter of Aset resembles a was-sceptre, an ancient Egyptian symbol of power and dominion that is attributed to the gods (such as Set or Anubis) and the Pharaoh.