Almogavar
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The Almogavars were a class of heavily-armored soldiers employed by the Templars during their attempt to revive the Byzantine Empire in the Ottoman Empire in 1511 and 1512.
Characteristics and skills[edit | edit source]
Almogavars were Byzantine soldiers of a large physique, which allows them to don heavier gear on their person. Their thick lamellar armor allows them to endure several attacks and are often serviced with a single large battleaxe as their weapon of choice, giving them strong offensive power against their enemies. They are much braver than their lower-ranked comrades, often choosing not to flee even when facing a losing battle unless they were disarmed and cannot retrieve a backup weapon.[1]
Almogavars are trained to perform a special technique with their heavy axes, where they would raise their weapon up high above their heads and bring it down forcibly, breaking through an opponent's defense and sending them to the ground.[1]
However, while their armor provides them considerable resilience towards physical attacks, including ranged projectiles such as bullets and crossbow bolts, it is also not adapted to handle high-end lethal explosives such as splinter bombs, being felled easily by shrapnel flying into unprotected body parts. The sheer weight of their armor also slows them down, putting them at a disadvantage towards faster opponents. It also hinders their ability to freerun[1]
The heavy armor of Almogavars also do nothing to protect their immune system; deadly poisons can enter their bodies if injected through areas unprotected by their armor or through respiration. Skilled Assassins such as Ezio Auditore da Firenze can administer poison to bypass the defenses of Almogavars. Their immune system has a strong aversion towards datura in particular, with the deadly plant killing them much faster than the average person. The Ottoman Brotherhood of Assassins took advantage of this by crafting bombs containing datura powder as an effective means of eliminating them via the dispersion of the deadly gas.[1]
Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]
Almogavars are an enemy archetype featured in the 2011 video game Assassin's Creed: Revelations. They serve as an equivalent to Brutes from Assassin's Creed II and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, whom are also heavily armored axe wielders. They are only encountered within Byzantine-affiliated guard patrols, with the Ottoman army lacking an equivalent "Brute-like" archetype within their ranks.
Historically, the Almogavars were soldiers of Aragonese origin. They were known to have worked as mercenaries for the Byzantine Empire. Although Revelations depicts them as burly and heavily armored axe-wielders, the real-life Almogavars were instead lightly-armored troops; the in-game Almogavars' design align more the historical Varangians.
Almost all Almogavars encountered were always found carrying the same weapon: the Almogavar Axe. However, some memories can have them wield different weapons, with the Almogavars in the memory Curse of the Romani carrying medium-length swords instead of heavy weapons.
Etymology[edit | edit source]
The etymology of Almogavar is likely to lie in Arabic, with both al-maghāwīr ("scout") and al-muqafir ("raider" or "devastator") as suggested sources.