Roman Hidden Ones
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The Roman Hidden Ones were a group of Hidden Ones who operated throughout the territories controlled by Rome during the era of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. It was one of the first branches of the Hidden Ones, who would later become the Assassin Brotherhood, and was established by the Greco-Egyptian Hidden One Aya shortly after she co-founded the organization in Egypt alongside her husband Bayek.
The branch largely dissolved following the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, operating in a greatly reduced capacity by the Early Middle Ages, but it would be revived to full strength centuries later as the Italian Brotherhood of Assassins.
History[edit | edit source]
Roman Republic[edit | edit source]
Foundation as the Hidden Ones[edit | edit source]
In 47 BCE, the Medjay Bayek and his wife Aya, who were on a quest of vengeance against the Order of the Ancients for the death of their son Khemu and had formed a network of people opposing the Ancients, were betrayed by the Roman general Julius Caesar and the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, who allied with the Order. While Bayek tracked down and killed the Order's leader Flavius Metellus, Aya recruited the Roman Senators Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, enemies of Caesar, to their cause, determined to leave for Rome to combat the Order there. Before leaving, Bayek and Aya named their new brotherhood the Hidden Ones, laying out the foundation of the Creed and their customs.[2]
While Bayek established a bureau in Memphis, Aya set sail across the Tyrrhenian Sea towards Rome, accompanied by Damastes and Phoxidas. In 46 BCE, their ship was attacked by a Roman fleet, but they successfully managed to sink the ships and made port in Antium shortly afterward. From there, Aya made her way to Rome and established a bureau in the heart of the city.[2]
Aya founded the Roman branch of the Hidden Ones, and aside from Brutus and Cassius, also recruited several other Senators, in addition to the philosopher Publius Volumnius.[2][3] The Senators that would take part in the conspiracy against Caesar referred to themselves as Liberatores.[4][5]
Assassination of Julius Caesar[edit | edit source]
By 44 BCE, Julius Caesar had become the new head of the Order of the Ancients, with Lucius Septimius as his right hand, and even considered himself the Father of Understanding. With Aya as their leader,[2] Brutus and Cassius spearheaded a conspiracy with thirty-eight other Roman Senators, who were also all secretly Hidden Ones and opposed Caesar's imperialist ideals after he was appointed dictator for life.[6][5]
After being assigned by Cassius as the one to come up with the plan of assassinating Caesar, Brutus designated a sealed Isu vault near the Temple of Juno as the meeting place for him and his co-conspirators.[6][5] Having received visions of Caesar's future assassination within the vault, Brutus was further motivated and scheduled their attack for the Ides of March.[6]
On 15 March 44 BCE, Aya, Brutus, and Cassius went to the Theatre of Pompey where the Roman Senate was to convene. While Brutus and Cassius went to the curia, Aya fought and killed Septimius before joining her brothers in the Senate. Aya was the first one to strike at Caesar, followed by the Roman Senators. Caesar resisted at first but resigned himself to his fate upon recognizing Brutus.[2][6] Shortly after, Aya adopted the name Amunet.[2]
Driven by severe guilt from his actions, Brutus later returned to the Isu vault and abandoned the dagger he had used to strike down Caesar, along with his heirloom armor and the scrolls describing his dreams and discovery of the vault. These scrolls also included drawings of the chamber and its pedestal.[6]
Attempted resurrection of Brutus[edit | edit source]
After the assassination, the Senate passed an amnesty on the Hidden Ones, which was proposed by Caesar's friend and co-consul Marcus Antonius. Nonetheless, an uproar among the population forced Brutus and Cassius to flee from Rome, and a civil war ensued.[7] In 42 BCE, armies under the command of Marcus Antonius and Caesar's adopted son Octavian clashed with those of Brutus and Cassius in Philippi, Makedonia. Faced with inevitable defeat, both Cassius[8] and Brutus committed suicide shortly thereafter.[7]
After Brutus' death, his fellow Hidden Ones gathered in Philippi and tried to reanimate him using a Shroud of Eden. Since they had never used it before, the Hidden Ones feared its effects but nevertheless wrapped Brutus in the cloth. Though the corpse opened its eyes and moved its arms, it neither breathed nor reacted to any touch, and eventually fell still in a seeming "second death". As some of the Hidden Ones wept, Brutus was wrapped instead in a burial mantle and the Shroud was returned to its wooden storage box.[7]
Roman Empire[edit | edit source]
Assassination of Caligula[edit | edit source]
In 27 BCE, the Roman Republic was transformed into the Roman Empire by Octavian, who became the first Roman Emperor under the name Augustus. The third emperor, Caligula, was a tyrant whose reign was secretly supported and influenced by the Order of the Ancients. This turned him into a target for the Hidden One Leonius, who assassinated him with a dagger in an underground corridor beneath Palatine Hill on 24 January 41 CE.[9]
As the Roman Empire expanded through Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, the Hidden Ones established many bureaus across the empire.[10]
Roman Britain and Gaul[edit | edit source]
In the early 1st century, the Hidden Ones expanded north into the Roman provinces of Britannia, establishing bureaus in the towns of Ratae, Londiunum, Venta Belgarum, Eboracum, Camulodunum, as well as a temple dedicated to Ceres.[11] The Hidden Ones also established bureaus in the province of Gallia Lugdunensis around Paris.[12]
In the 90s CE, the Hidden Ones sent requests and pleas to Emperor Domitian and his governor Verus to accord Roman citizenship to the Iceni. When they ignored the request, the Acolytus Anicius killed Verus in public at Camulodunum to send a message to the Senate.[11]
In 122, as Emperor Hadrian planned a war against the northern native people of England, the Hidden Ones decided to assassinate him. The Acolytus Caius infiltrated his villa in Londinium but was discovered and killed before he could accomplish his mission.[11]
Shortly after Marcus Aurelius came to power, the Hidden Ones made motions towards him to broker peace in the region. Aurelius agreed to cease hostilities and retreat south from Antonine Wall to the more easily defensible Hadrian's Wall. Although the Hidden Ones trusted Aurelius to abide by the deal, they sent magister Eghan to oversee the retreat in order to verify that Aurelius kept his word.[11]
However, a few decades later, the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus disregarded Aurelius' established treaty and resumed the fortification and reoccupation of the Antonine wall. The Hidden Ones in Eboracum thus sent magister Khloe to poison the emperor during his stay in the city in 211.[11]
Securing the Ankh[edit | edit source]
- "The power of this artifact has yet to be uncovered, but the object itself possesses a strong symbolic value for our circle..."
- ―Lucius to his son Aquilus, regarding the Ankh, 259 CE.[src]
At some point during the 2nd century, the Hidden One Lugos established his own group called the Liberalis Circulum, which operated throughout the territories of the Roman Empire. Lugos later traveled to Egypt to recover two Pieces of Eden, the Ankh and the Scepter of Aset, which had been found in a pyramid by Roman plunderers. However, while transporting the two artifacts back to Rome across the Mediterranean Sea, a terrible storm opened an enormous waterway within the ship, causing it to sink. Before his demise, Lugos recorded a message with the Ankh, detailing the ongoing events and lamenting the failure of his mission.[1]
By the mid-3rd century, the Liberalis Circulum had grown to include members from the various provinces of the Empire, having agents operating in Gaul, Germania, and Iberia. However, the group was primarily based within the city of Lugdunum, where they were led by the Gallo-Roman Lucius.[13]
In 259, Lucius' nephew, the Aleman general and Hidden One Accipiter, found the Ankh after it had resurfaced in Germania, and Lucius arranged for the artifact to be given to his son, Aquilus. Aquilus was also tasked to assassinate three targets who held high positions within the Empire: Senator Caius and Generals Titus and Gracchus.[13] However, Gracchus learned about Aquilus' intentions after being informed of Caius' and Titus' deaths, and so when the Hidden One confronted him in his tent, he stabbed and left him for dead.[14]
Aquilus was saved by a timely attack on Gracchus' camp by Accipiter's Alemmani forces, who defeated the Romans and found Aquilus' unconscious body. After being nursed back to health by Accipiter, Aquilus was given the Ankh by cousin and returned to Lugdunum, where he gave the artifact to his father.[13]
At Lucius' villa, Aquilus met Senator Caïus Fulvus Vultur, an old friend of the family, and told his father about his failed assassination of General Gracchus. Lucius suspected that Faustinus, the bishop of Lugdunum, had betrayed them by revealing their plans to their enemies, and so Aquilus decided to interrogate him. Before Aquilus' departure, he was informed by his father about the Ankh's powers, which he described as a "temporary resurrection".[13]
Making his way to Faustinus' home, Aquilus woke him up in the middle of the night and threatened to kill him for his treachery. After Faustinus stated that he had no choice and that Emperor Gallienus had forced him to expose the Liberalis Circulum's plans, Aquilus demanded to know who his collaborators were. Faustinus initially claimed that he had acted alone, but upon being beaten up by the Hidden One, he betrayed the identity of his accomplice: Vultur. Taking advantage of Aquilus' surprise, Faustinus tried to flee, but was killed by the Hidden One with a throwing knife to the back.[13]
Aquilus subsequently rushed back to Lucius' home to report Vultur's treachery, only to find his father dead and the Ankh missing. Upon closer inspection, Aquilus found his father's servant Weke, who had been mortally wounded and only managed to utter a few words before passing away. Just then, a maid came up and revealed that Vultur had killed both Lucius and Weke and stolen the Ankh, causing Aquilus to vow revenge.[13]
Aquilus tracked Vultur to Rome, where he eliminated him and retrieved the Ankh, taking it back to his home in Lugdunum. During this time, the Alemanni planned to ransack the city, but the Iberian Hidden One Cuervo convinced Accipiter to negotiate a deal with the Prefect of Lugdunum instead, in order to preserve the Liberalis Circulum's interests. The prefect agreed to pay Accipiter a significant tribute in exchange for sparing the city, but later ordered the arrest and execution of Aquilus and his wife Valeria.[1]
After learning about his cousin's plight, Accipiter tried to save Aquilus and Valeria, but only managed to rescue the latter, as Aquilus was executed by Roman soldiers. With the Ankh now in Valeria's possession, Accipiter requested that she hide it in a safe place, claiming that he was too busy with his conquests to do so himself. Valeria ultimately hid the artifact within an altar erected to the memory of her late husband.[1]
Later activities[edit | edit source]
In 306, the Acolytus Beatha delivered a letter to Emperor Constantine I, who was in Britain pleading for the protection of the Christians who were killed by Belgae warriors.[11] Three decades later, an unidentified Hidden One witnessed the investiture of Constantinople as the new capital of the empire by Constantine I.[15][16]
In 383, as Emperor Magnus Maximus took most of his troops to march into Gaul, the Hidden One Marcellus ordered the evacuation of the bureaus of Eboracum and Venta Belgarum as the local population turned against them.[11]
During the late 4th century, the Christian Church executed the Belgae pagans in Britain. The Hidden Ones tried to convince Emperor Theodosius I to a compromise. As he did not respond, the Acolytus Teague and his Magister were sent to kill the church fathers Vitus, Secunda, and Agapitus during a public spectacle. The Hidden Ones succeeded but the Magister was fatally wounded.[11]
In 423, following the death of Emperor Honorius, the Hidden Ones in Britannia were forced to evacuate their bureaus and retreat from the province following a note issued by Magister Vitus. Due to local tribes who harbored ill sentiments towards the Hidden Ones and their mission having filled the power vacuum left by the departing Roman legions, Vitus reasoned that remaining in Britannia was unwise and would only lead to unnecessary bloodshed. The Magister also suggested that they move their headquarters and join forces with the Hidden Ones based in the German city of Cologne.[11]
In Gaul, the local Hidden Ones decided to follow their British brethren, feeling their mission in Paris was done. The Hidden One known as "C. C." issued an order for the Hidden Ones in the province to vacate their bureaus and travel to Cologne to regroup with their Brothers. The main bureau in Paris was sealed and its keys hidden within the other bureaus around the city. However, while most Gallic Hidden Ones accepted the invitation to Cologne and departed the province, some remained in Gaul and resumed their operations.[12]
Members[edit | edit source]
- Roman Republic
- Aya (founder; Egyptian Brotherhood)
- Caesarion
- Decimus Junius Brutus
- Gaius Cassius Longinus
- Marcus Junius Brutus
- Servilius Casca
- Publius Volumnius
- 36 other senators involved in Caesar's assassination
- Roman Empire
- Lucius (Liberalis Circulum)
- Lugos (Liberalis Circulum)
- Publius Volumnius
- Marcellus
- Maya
- Roman Assassin
- Sebastos
- Teague
- Vitus
Allies and puppets[edit | edit source]
- Roman Empire
Appearances[edit | edit source]
- Assassin's Creed II (first mentioned) (indirect mention only)
- Assassin's Creed – The Ankh of Isis Trilogy (first appearance) (ambiguously canonical appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy
- Assassin's Creed: Initiates (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Unity
- Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Last Descendants (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Origins
- The Hidden Ones (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Origins comic
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (mentioned only)
- The Siege of Paris (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: The Silk Road (mentioned only)
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Assassin's Creed 3: Accipiter
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Assassin's Creed: Origins
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Syndicate – Database: Reconstructed Data 011
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood – Scrolls of Romulus
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy – Rome: Chapter 2 – Giovanni Borgia
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy – Holidays: Chapter 1 – Ghosts of Christmas Past
- ↑
Battle of Philippi on Wikipedia
- ↑ Assassin's Creed II
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Database: The Hidden Ones
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 11.8 Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – A Brief History of the Hidden Ones
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – The Siege of Paris – Hidden
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 Assassin's Creed 2: Aquilus
- ↑ Assassin's Creed 1: Desmond
- ↑
Darby McDevitt (@DarbyMcDevitt) on Twitter "Random AC fact: the fake Helix title in ACU, "The Bladed Cross" refers to the rise of Constantine I. I'm not sure most people get this one." (screenshot)
- ↑ Assassin's Creed Unity: Abstergo Entertainment – Employee Handbook
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