Nostradamus Disc

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 seal that opens the vault was lost two hundred years ago—it hasn't been opened since [and] the seal was broken before it was lost—the fragments are no doubt scattered around Paris, with only the vaguest clues as to their whereabouts."

―Hervé Quemar to Arno Doiran, 1791

The Nostradamus disc

The Nostradamus Disc was a round, metallic seal named for the 16th century French occultist Nostradamus. Made up of four interlocking circles, it was central to a wider puzzle system protecting the Master Assassin Thomas de Carneillon's robes from where they were locked away beneath the Café Théâtre in Paris following his death.

Design

The completed disc was made to fit within the circular plate of a stone plinth. The central, smallest circle was affixed to the plate and featured a golden Assassin insignia surrounding a diamond-shaped hole made to fit a Hidden Blade to activate the mechanism. The next circle was shaped like a waning crescent moon, with the missing space occupied by the central Assassin insignia piece. The third ring was circular and had a golden sun on it, and the outermost piece had a smaller crescent moon also in gold. All the rings had various geometric shapes and lines on them resembling the lines on an orrery.

History

The empty plinth

Originally, the seal was kept with the French Assassins to safeguard the locks around de Carneillon's robes following his death in 1323. On occasion over the next two centuries, certain members who performed exceptional services for the Brotherhood were granted the honor of wearing the robes and the disk would be used to open the lock. With the wearer's eventual death, the disc mechanisms were reactivated to seal away the clothes until another person was deemed worthy to don them.

However, some time either during Nostradamus' life or after his death in the mid-1500s, the entire disc was shattered into pieces and removed from its mounting in the Assassins' lair, with the fragments strewn throughout Paris and the only clues to their whereabouts being Nostradamus' writings containing vague prophecies. With the key broken and lost, the vault remained closed for another two centuries.

During the French Revolution, the Assassin Arno Dorian discovered the vault beneath the Café Théâtre and learned of the armor's history from the Master Assassin Hervé Quemar. Reasoning that any individual who recovered the lost key shards would also qualify as having done a great deed for the Assassins, even if not part of their covert war against the Templars, he set out to solve the riddles. After solving all 18 puzzles and recovering each of their key pieces, he remade the shards into a working disk, solved the puzzles to open the vault, and retrieved the robes for himself.

Locations

Main article: Nostradamus Enigmas

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Unity