German Brotherhood of Assassins

I wanted to ask you something. Which is... what's your name? This article title is conjecture. Although the article subject is canon, no official name for it has been given.

The German Brotherhood of Assassins was the guild of the Assassin Order based in and around the Holy Roman Empire, present-day Germany. It originated during the Roman era as a branch of the Hidden Ones and remained active throughout the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and into World War II.

History

Roman Empire

By the 3rd century, members of the Liberalis Circulum, a branch of the Roman Hidden Ones founded by Lugos, operated in the far reaches of the Roman Empire, including the provinces of Germania Inferior and Superior. In 259 CE, the Hidden One Accipiter found a Piece of Eden known as the Ankh during his travels in Germania, and made arrangements to deliver it to his cousin Aquilus, who was based in Gaul.

By the 5th century, the Hidden Ones had established a base of operations in the city of Cologne. Shortly after the death of Emperor Honorius in 423 CE, the magister Vitus wrote to his brethren who were stationed at the bureau in Leicester, England. In his letter, he ordered that its recipient immediately evacuate, 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. He also extended an invitation for the Hidden Ones to come to Cologne and join forces with the local chapter.

Vitus' invitation also reached the Hidden Ones in Gaul, who consequently sealed their bureaus and traveled to Cologne, feeling their mission in Lutetia was done and that their attention was needed elsewhere. However, some Hidden Ones elected to remain in Gaul and resume their operations in the province.

Late Middle Ages

An Assassin saving Lukas from a thief

In 1338, the Assassins saved Lukas Zurburg from a thief on the road to Adendorf and subsequently recruited him into the order. In 1348, the Black Death swept across Essen, wiping out nearly half of the town's population. From there, a group called the Brothers of the Cross, a Templar organization, began promising protection from the plague. Lukas suspected that they were after the Ankh, which was said to be located in Central Europe. However, in 1350, both the Brothers of the Cross and Lukas mysteriously disappeared.

Renaissance

Prior to 1502, the scholar Conradus Celtis inadvertently discovered the Assassins' existence through his thorough studies of history. He came to admire them and sought to compile a comprehensive text that honored them as heroes. However, the Assassins recognized the grave dangers in exposing their order to the public, and Ezio Auditore sent a team of Italian Assassins to visit Celtis in Cologne and convince him to keep their existence secret. They then took his works back to Rome while Celtis became an ally of the Brotherhood.

In 1502, Elector Friedrich der Weise planned to open a university in Wittenberg, which challenged the House of Borgia's practices and promoted religious reform. In response, Pope Alexander VI, who was secretly the Italian Templars' Grand Master, sent a bribe to convince him to back away from the "foolish project", though the Assassins intercepted the money and used it to give Friedrich a large, anonymous donation.

Around 1503, Ezio's Italian apprentices, posing as condottieri, captured several Swiss mercenaries in Vienna and brought them to the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I. The emperor, still bitter over his defeat by the Swiss in the Swabian War of 1499, agreed to cut his funding to the Borgia after learning that they employed Swiss mercenaries to form the Papal Guard. He then decided to form his own mercenary force, the Landsknecht, to rival the Swiss, and employed the Assassins to help train his men, even offering them a regiment of his best Landsknechte in gratitude.

World War II

During World War II, the Assassins discovered that the Templars had given Adolf Hitler an Apple of Eden, which he had used to seize power in Nazi Germany. On 30 April 1945, Hitler executed his double inside the Führerbunker and was supposed to flee and meet up with a contact. However, the Assassins were watching the bunker and killed Hitler as he stepped outside.

By 1944, the Assassins had formed an alliance with the Edelweiss Pirates, a group of youths opposed to the Nazi regime. One of its members, Barthel Schink, hoped to recover a Piece of Eden from the Cologne Cathedral and deliver it to the Assassins in Paris, but he was captured and executed by the Gestapo before he could do so. Instead, he assigned the mission to fellow Pirate Miriam Kurtz, who ultimately accomplished it.

Members

Late Middle Ages

• Lukas Zurburg

Allies and puppets

Roman Empire

• C. C.
• Vitus

Renaissance

• Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Italian Brotherhood)
• Conradus Celtis
• Maximilian I

World War II

• Eddie Gorm (British Brotherhood)
• Miriam Kurtz
• Barthel Schink

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Revelations – Discover Your Legacy (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (indirect mention only)

References

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