Augsburg

Augsburg is the third-largest city in Bavaria, Germany. It was one of the nine cities Leonardo da Vinci selected to hide his research on the havens in 1519.

History

Just before his death in 1519, Leonardo da Vinci, afraid of possible interception, hid encoded information with trusted friends scattered around Europe under express instructions to destroy it should the Assassins not be able to contact them within a month of his death. After a first round of clues was uncovered by the Italian Brotherhood of Assassins in the cities of Florence, Venice and Rome, they then contacted the local Brotherhood chapter at Augsburg, passing along a letter from Leonardo. Leonardo's letter about Augsburg informed the Assassins that the city is still resonating with the 95 theses that dissident theologian Martin Luther had plastered on the door of its churchs to encourage a Reformation and, though the Brotherhood usually did not involve itself in matters of religion, one of the theses could correspond to the Creed and they should discuss it with Luther. Having received the quest, the local chapter sent agents to five landmarks to investigate.

Considering it relevant to the affair, Assassins visited two of the churches in the city, Dom Mariä Heimsuchung and the Basilika St Ulrich und Afra. For the former, they entered through an open window and, during their search, noted something fixed against a wall in the room beneath the spire. A closer inspection revealed these to be a section of the theses, containing some of the most controverse among them. At the Basilika, the Assassin picked the lock to a side door leading to a study, where another section of the theses previously affixed to the church's door was being kept.

At Atelier Holbein, an Assassin spoke to Hans Holbein the Elder, who did not see eye to eye with Luther's views and claimed that he and his son have been "fighting" against the reformation in their own way, slipping in their demands into some of their paintings. Examining some of the completed paintings by the Holbein family more closely led the Assassin to notice that a panel in the background of the Portrait of Bonifacius Amerbach showed some of the thesis. Greta, an illuminator who worked as an assistant to Holbein, overheard the dialogue and, having both recently finished her apprenticeship and a wish for adventure, offered to join the Assassin in their quest.

One Assassin elected to go to the Wassertürme, one of the water towers serving the city, where they located old inscriptions left behind by the Brotherhood quite some time before. Surmising that the intention had been to show that the location of the many water towers had a specific meaning, they decided to check a diagram of the water management system, being led to a point in town where they located a plaque adorned with the Creed under a tree.

Tracking down Martin Luther to Die Fuggerei, a recently-opened public housing complex, the Assassins paid him a visit. Luther had been aware of the Brotherhood, but seemed surprised to hear that their philosophies were compatible, requesting proof that the Creed could be conciliated with his Reformation. Matching the last sentence in the plaque found following the water towers ("By protecting the weakest, we become stronger.") to Luther's 44th thesis ("By the very exercise of benevolence, benevolence grows and man becomes better."), the Assassins were able to convince the theologian that the modern preocupations of the Reformation and the Creed were compatible, and handed them the translucid sheet with a line Leonardo had given him for safe keeping.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: The Last Quest of Leonardo da Vinci