Liberators' civil war

The Liberators' civil war (43 – 42 BCE) was a conflict in the Roman Republic that was sparked by the Roman Hidden Ones and a faction of Roman Senators calling themselves the "Liberatores" working together to assassinate the dictator perpetuo Gaius Julius Caesar.

Caesar's heir Octavian formed the Second Triumvirate with Marcus Antonius and Lepidus to avenge his death and wrest control of the republic from the Liberatores' leaders Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. Both Brutus and Cassius, alongside many of their supporters, were secret members of the Hidden Ones, and their defeat at the climactic Battle of Philippi was a substantial blow to the fledgling organization.

History

On 14 March 44 BCE, the Hidden Ones Aya, Brutus, and Cassius arrived at the Theatre of Pompey to assassinate Julius Caesar, whose rise to power as dictator perpetuo was aided by the Order of the Ancients. While Amunet engaged Lucius Septimius in a fatal duel, Brutus and Cassius confronted Caesar in the curia with 40 of their allies from the Roman Senate. Following Caesar's murder, his friend Antonius rallied Caesar's supporters and called for revenge against the assassins.

The Hidden Ones were later forced out of the city, with Brutus going to Krete on the advice of Aya, newly-rechristened as Amunet. However, they were unable to flee far, as a civil war arose between the assassins and the newly-formed alliance of Antonius and Caesar's adopted son, Octavian. Neither of the assassins returned to Rome, with both Cassius and Brutus opting to commit suicide rather than be captured following their decisive defeat at the Battle of Philippi, though it did not stop Antonius or his allies from spreading the rumor that his forces had killed them.

Aftermath

With the elimination of his political enemies, Octavian took over the power vacuum left in Rome. In 32 BCE, he convinced the Roman Senate to declare war on the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, who had become Antonius' lover after he divorced Octavian's sister Octavia. This triggered the War of Actium, which would be the last conflict the Roman Republic participated in, for upon the couple's own suicides in the war, Octavian was free to fully monopolize power and transform the republic into the Roman Empire.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Initiates (first mentioned) (indirect mention only)
• Assassin's Creed: Origins – The Hidden Ones (indirect mention only)
• Assassin's Creed: Origins comic (mentioned only)
• Echoes of History (indirect mention only)