Staves of Eden

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"Better in the hands of the Earth, than in the hands of Man."

―Mario Auditore, after the Papal Staff was lost during the Renaissance, 1499.

The Staves of Eden are Pieces of Eden embodying sovereignty and dominion. Known throughout history by various names, the Staves have been used by various Egyptian pharaohs and priests, the Israelites' prophets, Roman Catholic Popes, and Russian Tsars.

With the exception of the identical Papal Staff and the reconstructed Shattered Staff, both of which bore crosses on the tips and four bars extending out to the sides, no two Staves are of the same make, with their heads' decorations bearing different designs ranging from simple enlarged fleur-de-lis to an ornate pair of wings and two coiling snakes.

Powers

Designed to control men's minds and bodies, the Staves often held a cradle in their headpiece capable of fitting an Apple of Eden, which would then enhance the Apple's mind control. This combination of two Pieces of Eden could also be used to open the door to a number of Isu locations such as the Vatican Vault.

Many Staves' ends were sharpened and could be wielded as a spear in combat. The artifact also granted the possessor the ability to conceal their presence entirely, and the power of levitation; though whether these were physical effects or simply manipulations of the viewers' perceptions remains unknown.

The Shattered Staff of Eden could create tangible holograms of soldiers, able to attack and injure people while controlled by the Staff's wielder.

When Nikolai Orelov approached the Imperial Sceptre in 1908, he heard several voices of the past emanating from it, playing almost like recordings, and projecting speech such as "Always the fighter," "Adam, I have it," "Just like your father," and "Eve."

Known Staves

Papal Staff

Main article: Papal Staff of Eden

This Staff was first known to be wielded by Saint Peter, Jesus of Nazareth's first disciple who established Christianity and became the first Pope. It is assumed that the Staff circulated through the hands of the Roman Catholic Popes until it ended up in the possession of Rodrigo Borgia, who became Pope Alexander VI in 1492 so that he could use the Staff to gain access to the Vatican Vault.

Rodrigo Borgia using the Papal Staff

On 28 December 1499, the Italian Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze infiltrated the Sistine Chapel to confront Rodrigo, and a fight ensued, during which Rodrigo wielded the Staff as a spear against Ezio. Eventually, Ezio defeated Rodrigo and used the Staff, combined with his Apple of Eden, to enter the Vault.

As he left the Vault, Ezio tried to remove the Staff from the center of the room where it was secured within the Vault's antechamber floor. Upon doing so, Ezio activated machinery that made the Staff descend underground, despite the Assassin's efforts to retrieve it.

Imperial Sceptre

Main article: Imperial Sceptre

By 1888, Tsar Alexander III had recovered a Staff of Eden and used as the Imperial Sceptre to maintain the monarch's power over the Russian Empire. This particular Staff was named "Piece of Eden 34" by Abstergo Industries. On October 29 of that year, the Russian Assassin Nikolai Orelov attacked him during the Borki train disaster, while the Russian Imperial Train was returning to Petrograd. After the train derailed, Alexander threw the Staff to Nikolai, challenging his assailant to attack him with it. The Tsar subsequently repelled the assassination attempt, leaving with the Piece of Eden still in his possession.

Alexander III throwing the Imperial Sceptre at Nikolai Orelov

After Alexander's death, the artifact was passed on to his son, Tsar Nicholas II. However, the covert Russian Templar agent Grigori Rasputin, who had infiltrated the House of Romanov by manipulating Nicholas' wife Alexandra Feodorovna, would later steal the Staff, replace it with a replica, and bring the Staff to a Templar research station in Tunguska.

In the summer of 1908, the Assassins learned the Staff's location and Nikolai led a team to retrieve the artifact. At the same time, the Assassins contacted Nikola Tesla and offered him a chance at retribution against the Templars, for his dis-accreditation by the American Templar Thomas Edison. Using his mastery of electricity and the Wardenclyffe Tower, Tesla broadcast destruction into the research facility, creating one of the largest explosions in history, which was estimated to have a force of more than 30 megatons of TNT, and flattened more than 2,000 kilometers of forest.

The Tunguska explosion

The explosion obliterated the facility and the Staff within, leaving Nikolai as the sole survivor. The Assassin later returned to his wife Anna, bloodied and barely alive, muttering that the Staff had finally been destroyed. However, Nikolai's statement proved to be untrue, as there was at least one shard that remained. This shard somehow came into the possession of Rasputin, who used it to psychologically scar his disciple Khioniya Guseva after her failed attempt to kill him.

In 1916, Rasputin was assassinated, and he took the shard with him to his grave. In 1917, Nikolai, having learned of the shard's existence from Nicholas and concluding that even a fragment of the Staff would be a threat, exhumed Rasputin's body and retrieved the shard from his corpse. He went on to carry it as a necklace for several years before passing it down to his daughter Nadya Orelov, who still had the shard in her possession as of October 2002.

Alexander's Staff

Main article: Scepter of Alexander the Great

Flavius Metellus wielding Alexander's Staff

During the 4th century BCE, the Order of the Ancients managed to acquire a Staff of Eden and entrusted it to their ally, Alexander the Great, who used it to create one of the largest empires in history. After Alexander's death, the Staff was buried along with him in a tomb in Alexandria, the city he had founded in Egypt. It would remain there for almost 300 years until it was discovered in 48 BCE by Bayek and Aya.

In 47 BCE, the Order recovered the Staff along with an Apple of Eden from Apollodorus in the tomb, and brought the two artifacts to an Isu vault in Siwa, where they unlocked the secrets within it. Shorty afterwards, Lucius Septimius left Egypt and brought the Staff with him, giving it to his fellow Order members based in Rome.

By the 19th century, the Staff was rumored to be located in Afghanistan, where the British Templar Alexander Burnes searched for it, to no avail.

Shattered Staff of Eden

Main article: Shattered Staff of Eden

Rumored to have belonged to Saint James, at some point before the Reconquista, this Staff was broken into three parts: the top section, the upper section, and the shaft. In the late 15th century, the Spanish Inquisition's leader and Master Templar Tomás de Torquemada coveted both the Staff and an Apple of Eden in order to control Spain and destroy the Spanish Assassins, sending his soldiers to hunt for the parts.

The Inquisitor and Spanish Templar Gustavo Ramírez recovered the first Staff section from the St. Rafael Abbey and entrusted the second to the monks of the Monastery of St. Lucia, where it was later retrieved by the Assassins. Meanwhile, the third section was safeguarded by a sect of monks from the Asturias mountains until they gave it to their ally Pedro Madruga, who hid it within his residence at Sobroso Castle.

With the help of the Assassin turncoat Diego de Alvarado, Ramírez retrieved the third section before the Brotherhood, only to be later double-crossed and killed by Diego. After also stealing the piece of the Staff in the Brotherhood's possession, Diego delivered the artifact to Torquemada, who took it to the Forge, an Isu vault underneath the Real Monasterio de Santo Tomás.

Tomás de Torquemada inside the Forge, wielding the Shattered Staff of Eden

There, the Master Templar successfully reforged the Staff and created an army of holographic soldiers, with which he intended to conquer Spain. However, the Assassins confronted Torquemada inside the Forge and killed him before using the vault's architecture to shatter the Staff once more. The Forge subsequently collapsed, and as they escaped, the Assassins left the Staff behind to be buried for good.

Staff of Hermes Trismegistus

Main article: Staff of Hermes Trismegistus

Created by the Isu Hermes Trismegistus around 75,100 BCE, this Staff was used by the Isu Loki as a vessel for the consciousness of his dying lover Aletheia, ensuring they would one day meet again. During the 6th century BCE, Hermes met the Greek scholar Pythagoras and designated him as the new wielder of the Staff.

The artifact greatly expanded the life of Pythagoras, allowing him to suvive until the time of the Peloponnesian War. Around 422 BCE, on the advice of Aletheia, Pythagoras handed over the Staff to his daughter Kassandra, who sealed the gateway to Atlantis with it. Later, Kassandra was contacted by the consciousness of Aletheia, who appointed her as the Keeper of the Staff and tasked her to protect the artifact until it would be passed down to the "Heir of Memories". In Atlantis' sealed room, Kassandra experienced simulations of Elysium, Underworld, and Atlantis, discovering the Staff's true potential.

Kassandra remained the Keeper of the Staff until the year 2018, when she met the Heir of Memories, Layla Hassan, an Assassin who had relived Kassandra's memories in the Animus to find the Staff's location. Kassandra relinquished the artifact to Layla, asking her to destroy it after restoring the balance between order and chaos. As soon as Layla took the Staff, Kassandra lost her immortality and died moments later, her body later dissolving due to severe age.

Kassandra passing the Staff of Hermes to Layla Hassan

Shortly after, Aletheia's consciousness spoke with Lalyla and asked her to relive Kassandra's memories in the simulations she had created to control the staff. While Layla relived the memories of Kassandra and her trials, the Staff started corrupting her due to her lower concentration of Isu DNA. After Layla accidentally killed her friend Victoria Bibeau with the Staff, the Assassins decided to keep the artifact under glass while monitoring Layla with a mood stabilizer.

In 2020, Layla used the Staff to protect herself from radiation while entering Yggdrasil's vault under Hordaland, Norway. After approaching Yggdrasil, Layla was picked up by the machine and, as she entered the simulation, she dropped the Staff to the floor below. The artifact was quickly recovered by Basim ibn Ishaq, an incarnation of Loki and former Hidden Ones member trapped in Yggdrasil since 877 CE. Basim used the Staff's power to rejuvenate his body before heading to Layla's safehouse to meet her fellow Assassins Rebecca Crane and Shaun Hastings, forming an uneasy alliance.

Venetian Staff

Main article: Venetian Staff of Eden

By 1509, this Staff of Eden was located in the city of Venice, near the Lion of Venice in the Piazza San Marco. An Italian Assassin team recovered the artifact on the orders of their Mentor, Ezio Auditore, and brought it back to their headquarters. The Templars launched an attack on the base in an attempt to take the Staff, and later dispatched a member of the Crows disguised as Pestilence, one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, to steal it, but both of these plans failed.

Ezio later instructed the Assassins to help his sister Claudia secure the Staff inside the Colosseum Vault. Despite running afoul of the Templars, the Followers of Romulus, the Papal Guard, and a vengeful Lucrezia Borgia, the Assassins ultimately managed to reach the Vault's entrance and access the site with Ezio's help. After hiding the Staff, they prevented the Followers of Romulus from locating the entrance, ensuring the artifact stayed out of the Templars' reach.

Staff of Seth

Main article: Staff of Seth

Zixuan Long wielding the Staff of Seth

Originally belonging to the Isu Seth, this Staff of Eden was designed like a was sceptre and directly connected to the Rings of Seth, a set of three Rings of Eden said to be bestowed upon Seth's champions. In 2016, the Abstergo archaeologist Dr. Zixuan Long recovered the Staff and used its powers to control his assistant, making her carry out a massacre at the Omovich mansion in London and steal the Ring of Sand from the British Museum.

Dr. Long later took the Staff to an Isu vault beneath the Valley of the Kings, where he believed Apophis dwelled. When he was confronted by an Assassin cell that had been investigating the mansion massacre and had recovered the Rings of Seth, he unleashed the Staff's powers against them. He made them believe that they were in a crimson desert with ominous black storm clouds while he altered his appearance to resemble the mythological depiction of Seth. Despite summoning a sandstorm and shadow warriors to attack the Assassins, as well as an energy shield to protect himself, Dr. Long was ultimately defeated and killed.

Afterwards, Seth "possessed" Dr. Long's body through the Staff and communicated with the Assassins through the Rings, congratulating them on their victory and tasking them with safeguarding the vault and the Apophis Project sealed within. He then used the Staff to show them a vision of an apocalyptic world that would exist if the Project was ever let loose.

Other Staves

The Staff held by Durga's statue

• The earliest known use of a Staff was by the prophet Moses, who used its innate powers of illusion and mind control to "part" the Red Sea, freeing the Israelites from Egypt.
• One Staff of Eden is also known to have been used by the Pharaoh Shabataka, who used it to rule over Ancient Egypt in the early 7th century BCE. It was likely used by various pharaohs before and after him.
• John the Baptist, the prophet and religious leader who baptized Jesus Christ, was in possession of a Staff of Eden during his lifetime.
• By 1839, a statue of Durga in the Isu ruins beneath Ranjit Singh's summer palace was depicted to have held a Staff of Eden similar in appearance to the Imperial Sceptre.
• In 2020, Abstergo's facility in Tokyo, Japan conducted experiments on an unidentified Staff of Eden, one of which restored Juhani Otso Berg's ability to walk after Layla crippled in Atlantis.

Behind the scenes

In Assassin's Creed II, while Ezio Auditore fights Rodrigo Borgia in the Sistine Chapel, players can knock the Papal Staff from his hand by picking up a nearby dead Brute's heavy weapon and using the disarm technique. After this, Ezio could pick up the Staff and wield it, but could not access any of its powers. With its statistics of Damage, Speed, and Deflect at maximum tier, it is one of the game's most powerful weapons.

Gallery

• 
  Saint Peter holding the Papal Staff
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  The Papal Staff with the Apple of Eden affixed at the top
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  Ezio Auditore using the Papal Staff
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  The Imperial Sceptre wielded by Tsar Alexander III
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  Concept art of Alexander's Staff
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  Alexander's Staff atop his sarcophagus
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  The upper part of the Shattered Staff of Eden
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  The shaft of the Shattered Staff of Eden
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  The reforged Shattered Staff of Eden
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  Hermes Trismegistus with his Staff
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  Pythagoras holding the Staff of Hermes

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed II (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Renaissance
• Assassin's Creed: The Fall
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood novel
• Assassin's Creed: Brahman
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Origins
• Assassin's Creed: Rebellion
• Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
  • The Fate of Atlantis
• Assassin's Creed: Blade of Shao Jun (cameo)
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice
  • Roma
  • Tokyo XXI
• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple (cameo)
• Assassin's Creed Roleplaying Game