Slavery
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- "Slavery sucks big time. Uprisings and revolutions are important because people should be allowed to own stuff, not be somebody else's stuff!"
- ―An Initiate on slavery, 2013.[src]
Slavery is the subjugation of an individual, to be bought and sold by another, usually for forced labor. The Isu created humans to be their slaves, and throughout history, the Assassins believed that the Templars intended to return humanity to that state.
History[edit | edit source]
Pre-75010 BCE[edit | edit source]
The Isu controlled humanity with the Pieces of Eden through neuro-transmitters implanted within the slave race. However, interbreeding led to the birth of hybrids like Adam and Eve, who were immune to the power of these devices and later instigated the Human-Isu War.[1]
15th century BCE[edit | edit source]
The ancient Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians, but they were liberated by the prophet Moses, who wielded a Staff of Eden.[2]
5th century BCE[edit | edit source]
In 5th century BCE, slavery was widely practiced in Greece. One of the most notable slave markets was the one located in Chalkis City on the island of Euboea. Both private citizens as well as cities could buy slaves, and their duties depended on their master.[3]
9th century[edit | edit source]
In the 860s, the Abbasid merchant and Order of the Ancients member Mas'ood Al-Ya'qoob used slave laborers to excavate Isu ruins in the desert surrounding Baghdad, where he searched for Pieces of Eden and other artifacts of value.[4] These slaves were purchased from Baghdad's Caravanserai or were former inmates of the Damascus Gate Prison, whose corrupt guards supplied Mas'ood with new workers on a regular basis.[5]
In December 872, the Wolf Clan's leader and Order of the Ancients member Kjotve the Cruel captured Eivor Varinsdottir, intending to sell his hated Raven Clan rival as a thrall, or slave. However, Eivor freed herself from his clutches before this could happen.[6]
12th century[edit | edit source]
The Knight Templar Talal ran a slave ring in Jerusalem[7] during the Third Crusade, taking society's purposefully-forgotten people of lower classes[8] from prisons, brothels, and sewers to be shipped to Garnier de Naplouse in Acre,[9] where they were experimented upon in hopes of replicating the effects of indoctrination brought on by an Apple of Eden.[10] This operation was thwarted when the Levantine Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad was tasked with assassinating both men.[11]
16th century[edit | edit source]
During the Borgia's rule of Rome, the Italian Templar Silvestro Sabbatini kidnapped men, women, and children to be deported into slavery. In 1502, the Italian Assassin Ezio Auditore and his apprentices killed Sabbatini and freed those he was keeping captive.[12]
In 1526, the Chinese Templar Gu Dayong oversaw the Ming Empire's slave trade with the Portuguese from his fortress in Macau until his death at the hands of the Chinese Assassin Shao Jun. The Assassin also freed many of Dayong's personal slaves,[13] including a young boy named Kotetsu and his father, though the latter ended up succumbing to injuries he had received.[14]
In the late 16th century, the Portuguese Templars Nuno Caro and Duarte de Melo owned and traded slaves in Japan, among them the future samurai Yasuke and his mother; the latter was killed by Caro under suspicion of being a spy, while Yasuke managed to escape thanks to a distraction from an Assassin.[15] Yasuke would subsequently enter the service of the Jesuits,[16] who rescued him from the sea following his escape from the Templars' ship,[17] and eventually became a retainer and samurai under Oda Nobunaga.[18] The pirate Samemaru was another notorious slave trader active in Wakasa Province.[19]
18th century[edit | edit source]
During the Golden Age of Piracy, European powers like the British, French, and Spanish enslaved Africans to work in their colonies in North America and the Caribbean, particularly the local sugar plantations. It was around this time that the regional Templars decided against slavery, claiming that there were more effective ways to control the populace; however, Woodes Rogers refused to quit the slave trade, and was eventually expelled from the Order. [20]
The Spanish also enslaved many native Filipinos during their colonization of the Philippines, among them a man who would later become known as Rajah. The years he spent enslaved instilled in Rajah a strong hatred of foreign colonizers, and he subsequently formed a rebellion movement to fight against the Spanish occupation of the Philippines.[21]
In 1735, the Assassin Adéwalé was shipwrecked on the French colony of Saint-Domingue. Having been a slave before he became a pirate, Adéwalé allied himself with the island's Maroon rebellion, led by Augustin Dieufort. In the following years, he freed hundreds of slaves from plantations and slave ships in Port-au-Prince and in the Caribbean; as such, many joined the Maroons, bolstering their numbers.[22]
In 1754, Silas Thatcher, a corrupt officer in the British Army, began enslaving members of the Kanien'kehá:ka nation, including Kaniehtí:io. Haytham Kenway and his fellow Templars freed the slaves and killed Silas to gain the natives' trust as part of their efforts to locate the Grand Temple.[23]
By 1758, François Mackandal had recruited many slaves from Saint-Domingue into the Assassins, including Agaté and Baptiste, and attempted to poison all of their white masters. However, he was betrayed and executed, causing his Brotherhood to fall apart.[24]
At the start of the American Revolutionary War, Lord Dunmore offered slaves belonging to the Patriots freedom if they escaped and joined the British Army. George Davidson, a former slave who had been granted his freedom by the Templars in exchange for his loyalty, enlisted in Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment because of this proclamation.[25]
In an alternate reality created by an Apple of Eden, George Washington proclaimed himself King of the United States and enslaved the Kanien'kehá:ka,[26] later declaring he would invade England to do the same with its population.[27]
When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, the Saint-Domingue Assassins under the leadership of Eseosa and Toussaint Louverture took advantage of the collapse of France's old government to spark a slave rebellion in Saint-Domingue.[28] Over the course of the Revolution, the Templar Maximilien de Robespierre abolished slavery across France and its colonies.[29] During the final years of the Haitian Revolution, the Consul of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, sent an expeditionary force to Saint-Domingue to capture Louverture and restore slavery to France's colonies. The Haitians revolted against the French, led by Charles Leclerc, and ultimately managed to secure their independence.[28]
Practices[edit | edit source]
The cultural practices involving slavery have varied greatly throughout history, both on a chronological and geographical basis:
- Gladiators – In Ancient Rome, slaves were made to fight to the death for the entertainment of citizenry.[30]
- Military – At the dawn of the Middle Ages, several military orders were made up of Europeans enslaved as children and trained to serve their conquerors. An example of this were the Janissaries of the Ottoman Empire.[30]
- Concubines – Around the world, people were sold into sexual slavery to serve the higher classes.[31]
- Eunuchs – These slave guards watched over concubines, and were castrated at a young age to discourage desiring them.[31]
- Placée brides – In French and Spanish colonies like New Orleans, a practice arose of slave owners, typically white men, selecting slaves for a form of "practice" marriage. Often though, they conceived children and opted to free their wives from slavery.[24]
- Dalits – The lowest tier in the caste system of India, Dalits were considered untouchables and born to serve the higher castes as servants and sex slaves.[32]
- Child labor – A pseudo-slavery employed in Victorian London that saw children as young as four working in industrial factories for nominal wages.[33]
Gallery[edit | edit source]
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The Isu forcing humans into slave labor -
The slave market in Chalkis City, Euboea, Greece -
Concept art of the slave trade in Port-au-Prince -
Adéwalé disguising himself as a slave -
Adéwalé liberating slaves from a ship -
Haytham Kenway driving a slave convoy -
Initiates art of slaves being led through the Louisiana Bayou -
Aveline de Grandpré speaking with slaves in New Orleans
Appearances[edit | edit source]
 This list is incomplete. You can help the Assassin's Creed Wiki by expanding it.
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- Assassin's Creed II (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed III (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed III: Liberation
- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
- Assassin's Creed: Initiates (mentioned in Database entry only)
- Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China
- Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
- Assassin's Creed: Blade of Shao Jun
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Song of Glory
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
- Echoes of History (mentioned only)
- Discovery Tour: Viking Age (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice
- Assassin's Creed: Mirage
- Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple
- Assassin's Creed Roleplaying Game (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Shadows
- Assassin's Creed: Jade