Phoenix Project

Phoenix Project logo

The Phoenix Project was an Abstergo Industries initiative led by Dr. Álvaro Gramática, which aimed to sequence the Isu's triple-helix genome and explore the genetic memories encoded within through the Animus.

The project began in late 2013, after the death of the Sage John Standish at the Abstergo Entertainment office in Montreal. Following the examination of his body and the discovery of Isu DNA, Abstergo set out to locate genetic records of Sages both past and present, in order to use their high concentration of Isu DNA as a basis for cloning the Isu back into existence. They also hoped to better understand the Pieces of Eden.

In 2018, the project was hijacked by the Instruments of the First Will, a cult venerating the Isu Juno who sought to free her from her digital imprisonment inside the Grey. Although successful in resurrecting Juno in a new Isu body, her return was short-lived thanks to a rare alliance between the Assassins and Templars, who united against their common threat, killed Juno and her followers, and destroyed the Phoenix Project.

Project Goals

"Using Animus technology, Precursor history will be open to us for the first time ever. Ancient languages will be unlocked and ancient technology will be ours for the taking. Imagine what will be possible if we master the technology underpins the Pieces of Eden. Such discoveries would surpass one-hundredfold the splitting of the atom."

―Narration of Abstergo Industries' internal Phoenix Project video, 2014.

The goals of this Abstergo Industries Project were to:

• Discover people with high concentrations of Isu DNA such as Sages or people with strong Eagle Vision abilities, and to extract the DNA of these people with high concentrations of Isu DNA.
• Develop and enhance molecular cloning technologies, so as to use the Isu DNA available in order to clone an entire Isu being back to life.
• Use the extracted Isu DNA to understand how Pieces of Eden worked and how to develop these kinds of technologies for themselves.

Project Overview

Origins

The inspiration behind the project can be seen in the initial model of DNA proposed by Rosalind Franklin in 1952, being an inaccurate triple-helix model that was disregarded with the latter discovery of the double helix theorem. Due to this discovery, her work was wholly ignored, aside from being an example of an inaccurate conclusion.

Death of John Standish

The project's goal

For many years, Franklin's proposition was struck down as fallacy, until Abstergo Entertainment analyzed the genome of the Sage John Standish following his death, upon which they found that he had an extremely high quantity of triple-helix DNA. This helped to elaborate Franklin's research as a correct but merely misdirected model, gathered from small traces of Isu DNA hidden in the human genome.

To this end, Abstergo planned to gather more samples of people like John Standish and collate the findings, promoting the top-secret discovery to investors for funding. Where possible, Abstergo also attempted to recover blood vials containing Sage DNA, as those would be the most pure samples available if they indeed had managed to preserve the samples into the 21st century.

The destruction of the Paris facility

By late 2014, the Assassins became aware of Abstergo's plans, and set out to counter them by recruiting the Initiates, led by their operative Bishop, in an aim to try to track down and find historical Sages' remains and safeguard them, therefore preventing traces of their DNA from falling into Abstergo's hands. In October 2014, Gavin Banks led an Assassin team which destroyed the Phoenix Project facility in Paris, including all samples of Precursor DNA and the original Shroud of Eden, causing the initiative to suffer a major setback.

Acquisition of the Pieces of Eden

In 2015, the Templars set their eyes on another Shroud of Eden, this one located in a vault underneath Buckingham Palace. This was part of the plan to use Isu DNA to recreate a living Isu from scratch instead of just cloning one as originally intended. Sigma Team was sent to Buckingham Palace to retrieve the Shroud, but Bishop sent her team led by Shaun Hastings, Rebecca Crane, and Galina Voronina to retrieve it first. In the scuffle, Rebecca was wounded, Juhani Otso Berg was rendered unconscious, and Isabelle Ardant was killed, but Violet da Costa escaped with the Shroud. All of this was according to Juno's plan to escape from the Grey and be resurrected.

Berg delivering the Precursor box to Gramática

Later that year, Berg was tasked by Laetitia England with delivering a Precursor box recovered from the Assassins to Álvaro Gramática's new secret facility, one which only the scientist knew the location of. After sending Berg the coordinates of the lab, Gramática greeted him when he arrived and took the box, claiming he would use it in conjunction with the Shroud delivered to him by Violet. Disturbed by the nature of Gramática's experiments, Berg questioned what he was researching, to which the scientist only replied "Project Phoenix."

Around this time, both the Assassins and Erudito became aware of Juno's plans to use the Phoenix Project to further her ambitions of world domination, and formed an alliance to stop her.

Resurrection Day

In February 2017, the Assassins, following a tip-off from their informant Heinrich Hart, investigated an abandoned Phoenix Project facility in Hong Kong, hoping to learn more about the project's nature. However, this was a trap and they were ambushed by Juno's followers, the Instruments of the First Will, who butchered most of the Assassins. The attack prompted an investigation from Berg, who uncovered the Instruments' existence, leading him to form a temporary truce with the Assassins to stop them.

The Instruments confronting Gramática in his lab

In August 2018, the Instruments traveled to Gramática's facility in Australia, where the scientist was close to uncovering the secrets of the Shroud and the Precursor box. Promptly hijacking his research, the Instruments forced Gramática to use DNA samples from Elijah and other Sages to bio-engineer a female Isu body for Juno's essence to inhabit. Thanks to the Shroud's unique properties, the newly-born Isu fetus would reach maturity within 24 hours, allowing Juno to be physically reborn in the modern world.

However, just as Juno was fully resurrected, the facility came under attack by Berg and the Assassins Charlotte de la Cruz, Galina Voronina, Kiyoshi Takakura, and Arend Schut-Cunningham. In the resulting fight, most of the Instruments were killed, as was Gramática, who was accidentally crushed by falling debris from the battle. Elijah betrayed the Instruments and used the Koh-i-Noor to help Charlotte assassinate Juno, whereupon he escaped with the diamond.

The destruction of the Phoenix Project facility

Outside the facility, a Templar strike team summoned by Berg surrounded the remaining Instruments led by Violet da Costa, allowing Berg to kill Violet for her betrayal. He then detonated a high-caliber explosive he had planted inside the lab, wishing to destroy all traces of Juno's legacy. This also inadvertently killed Charlotte, who failed to escape the lab in time, and marked the definitive end of the Phoenix Project.

Behind the scenes

A phoenix is a mythical bird that was said to resurrect from its own ashes, much like how Abstergo planned to have the Isu be brought back through their own remains in humankind's DNA, and similar to the continuous cycle of rebirth of Sages.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (retroactive, indirect mention only)
• Assassin's Creed: Unity (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Rogue
• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
• Assassin's Creed (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Uprising