Jacob Frye

Sir Jacob Frye (1847 – unknown), born to Ethan and Cecily Frye, was a Master Assassin of the British Brotherhood of Assassins active in London during the Victorian era, and the younger twin brother of Evie Frye, later becoming a member of Queen Victoria's Order of the Sacred Garter, and the grandfather of Lydia Frye.

Born in Crawley, where they were raised as Assassins from birth, Jacob and his sister eventually moved to London after their father died of natural causes.

Alongside Evie, Jacob led the Rooks, a criminal syndicate opposing the Templars. At some point in their life, the twins came into contact with the novelist Charles Dickens, the biologist Charles Darwin, and the inventor Alexander Graham Bell.

Early life
Born four minutes after his twin Evie, Jacob and his sister were raised by their grandmother as their mother Cecily died in childbirth. They were later trained by Ethan Frye in Crawley, teaching his children the Assassin ways. Unlike Evie, Jacob dismissed his father's education and came to resent them, exploring factories and gambling dens in Crawley late at night as Evie trained with Ethan.

Sometime after their father's death in 1868, Jacob and Evie traveled to the Ferris Ironworks with George Westhouse, a fellow Assassin, to eliminate the Templars Rupert Ferris and David Brewster. Jacob infiltrated the Ironworks and assassinated Ferris. Escaping the enraged Blighters gang thugs by train, Jacob narrowly survived its sabotaged derailing and crash.

The twins later returned to Westhouse, having each completed their tasks. Impatient to journey for London, the twins were scolded by the older Assassin, warning them that it was not Ethan's plans for them. Despite Westhouse's sermon, Jacob and Evie hitched a train to London.

Arrival in London
After arriving in Whitechapel, the twins sought out the leader of the London Assassins, Henry Green. Informed of the Templar control over the city, Jacob proposed to form a gang called the Rooks to challenge the Blighters' power in the area, disagreeing with Evie's plan to recover Pieces of Eden. While discussing this, the three Assassins bumped into the writer Charles Dickens who invited them for a talk sometime. After losing their Blighters tail, the twins joined Henry in his hideout, and the Indian Assassin explained his contacts within the city.

The twins later encountered a disguised Sergeant Frederick Abberline, who gave them a list of Blighters thugs whom they should kidnap and bring to him for arrest. Jacob and Evie also liberated abused children from the local factories, in order to satisfy their young contact Clara O'Dea, in exchange of information. Together with the new recruits, the siblings assassinated Rexford Kaylock and took out the rest of the Blighter's control in Whitechapel, forming the Rooks in the process.

Following a street battle with Kaylock’s Blighters, from which they emerged victorious, the Assassins won the deceased Blighter’s train, and started to utilise it as their hideout, gaining Agnes MacBean's services as a financier in the process. They proceeded to traveling to Southwark to meet Henry Green's accomplice and inventor, Alexander Graham Bell, to fix the broken rope launcher for the Assassin Gauntlet.

After Bell returned from installing fuses with Evie, the inventor showed Jacob the first messages of the telegraph and made him a new rope launcher. The twins then headed to their hideout where they met Ned Wynert, an American entrepreneur, who gave them his business card. The Assassins planned their next motive, with Jacob determined to strengthen the Rooks and eliminate Crawford Starrick's associates, whilst Evie searched for the Shroud of Eden.

Rise of the Rooks
Although in disagreement with Evie's hunt for Pieces of Eden, Jacob aided his sister in recovering an artifact from the Templar occultist Lucy Thorne's shipments. He eliminated the guards as Evie searched the chests. However he was caught and chased by Blighters members as he returned to Evie forcing the twins to flee on a carriage; Jacob took the reins while Evie acted on the defense. Ultimately, their pursuers were closing in, forcing the twins to abandon the carriage and its cargo, though Evie managed to keep hold of a journal belonging to the late-Assassin Edward Kenway.

Jacob begun his investigation into the source of Starrick's Soothing Syrup, which was ravaging London’s poor. After chasing a merchant and locating the distributor to the factory, stealing his files in the process, Jacob managed to track down and kidnap the distribution boss in the Southwark Foundry, learning from him that Starrick's Soothing Syrup were produced in the distillation building.

Arriving there, Jacob witnessed an elderly man attempting to break inside, and hiding when the guards appeared. After eliminating the Blighters guards, Jacob broke the lock of the factory and entered with the man. The duo investigated the tank and its ingredients, learning that the Syrup contained opium. They then turned the pressure valve, destroying the distillation tanks and setting fire to the building which Jacob narrowly escaped by jumping through a window. The man introduced himself as Charles Darwin, who showed the Assassin a document that indicated batches of the Syrup sent to the Lambeth Asylum.

He later found Darwin arguing with the asylum owner Richard Owen whom Jacob chased and hijacked his carriage, damaging it to scare Owen’s into revealing the creator of the Syrup - the doctor John Elliotson.

The twins headed to Alexander Graham Bell who upgraded their gauntlet with a dart mechanism. Brother and sister provided assistance to the inventor by recovering cable lines taken by the Blighters in the shipments in College Wharf. They also discovered poison in the shipments from Starrick.

After informing Darwin of his latest exploits regarding his hunt for the Syrup creator, Jacob infiltrated the Lambeth Asylum where he discovered the doctors brutally experimenting on patients for medical purposes. He assassinated Elliotson who mocked him, calling him childish for not thinking of the consequences of his actions.

Continuing their fight against Starrick and his control of the press, brother and sister returned to Bell's laboratory where the latter told him Starrick's efforts of bribery to coax the inventor to his side. Aware of the Blighters capability to attack him, he invented voltaic bombs which may stun assailants and offered them to the twins with insulators to protect the Assassins from harm. Suddenly, the infuriated Blighters arrived; they took this as an opportunity to test the bombs as Bell distracted them through talking.

The Assassins further aided the inventor in the telegraph station to keep Starrick from spreading false information throughout London and show people the truth about his operations by distracting the guards and defending Bell with their newly acquired weapon.

Jacob introduced himself to Starrick's cousin and fierce business competitor Pearl Attaway, unaware that she was a Templar and the Grand Master's family, to discuss a business preposition. He killed an employee of Attaway's rival company, Millner Company. The pair traveled to Millner's storage yard where Jacob destroyed their enemy's omnibuses, making Malcolm Millner's profit plummet quickly.

Soon enough, Jacob suddenly entered Attaway's carriage, obviously disregarding her request for an appointment. The businesswoman gave her a job to secure internal combustion engines being delivered to Millner. Knowing the man he needed, Jacob freed the arrested Ned Wynert from his police convoy and asked for his aid to transfer the package cargo. Climbing aboard the moving Blighters trains, the young man searched the cargo for the engines and detached its wagon for Ned's train to recover.

Attaway tasked Jacob in murdering Millner who was in the Thames with his ferry, the only business he had left. Jacob sabotaged the contraband on the boat to lure Millner outside where he assassinated him. The dying businessman revealed that Crawford and Attaway were family and allies. Dismayed, Jacob located Attaway and overheard her conversation with Starrick that she was a Templar. Finally, he headed to the Waterloo Station to assassinate Attaway, recover the engines and escaped with the train.

Reclaiming control of London
Jacob targeted the financial field of Starrick, kidnapping a man to gather intel; the man, however, was Frederick Abberline who was once again in disguise. The sergeant informed the Assassin of a planned robbery of the. As the information was confidential, Jacob talked him into revealing the supplier - Cockham Merchants.

He later met again with Abberline to continue their investigation. Jacob located the smuggled weapons and tailed their delivery to the Templar Philip Twopenny, under the alias of Plutus. Left with no choice to stop the heist, Jacob infiltrated the Bank of England and assassinated Twopenny, giving the dead man a coin in mockery to the man's belief. As Jacob escaped, Abberline arrested Twopenny's accomplices.

Desperate to regain control, Crawford Starrick now entered England's politics, plotting against the Queen Victoria for his own profit. As Jacob's latest exploits was to now meddle with the Parliament, Evie warned her brother of the consequences of his latest actions: the increase of fraud medicine, transportation and production problems, and the near collapse of the British currency, problems she mostly fixed.

Jacob proceeded in spying the prime minister of London with the Sinopean Club, following Benjamin Disraeli and a spy walk out from the meeting. He tackled the man, assuming it was the Templar associate "B", who told him that he was just paid by another man. He was suddenly shot in the head by a Blighters sniper. Jacob then chased the sniper, threatening her to reveal information. The scared woman admitted that she did not know her employer but they were planned to attack the prime minister's carriage.

Infiltrating Disraeli's carriage, Jacob pretended to be the prime minister's bodyguard. Disraeli was suspicious of the Assassin however, unlike his wife Mary Anne who let Jacob speak. There was a sudden gunshot from outside, coming from the police and the Blighters. Jacob defended the Disraelis and chased their hijacked carriage, securing the couple's safety. Jacob then asked Mary Anne for the Templar affiliate he was searching for and the woman agreed in exchange for a tour in the Devil's Acre.

Much later, Jacob arrived at their meeting place but Mary Anne canceled the tour due to scandal-seeking journalists. The Assassin, unable to hurt the journalists, distracted them instead and returned to Mary Anne's carriage. Escaping more journalists, the pair eventually arrived in Devil's Acre and avoided the Blighters thugs in patrol. They later settled to a tavern where Mary Ann's purse, containing her dog Desmond, was stolen. After recovering the dog, Jacob returned only to find Mary Anne advising the thugs. Their misfortune was succeeded by the Blighters chasing their carriage. With the tour coming to an end, Mary Anne revealed the man Jacob was seeking for - the Earl of Cardigan, and his location.

Stealthily penetrating the Palace of Westminster, Jacob eventually made his way to the earl and assassinated him. The earl called him a coward and dramatically announced his death, much to Jacob's irritation. Having done his task, Jacob escaped the palace's guards and Blighters patrol. Unbeknownst to him, his action caused major turmoil in the citizens of London, another problem Evie had to fix for him.

Moving to his next target, Jacob accepted London's biggest criminal mastermind and Templar Maxwell Roth's invitation for dinner, who found Jacob's accomplishments magnificent. He offered the Assassin a partnership which Jacob accepted. The duo rode into the night to St. Pancras station, where the Jacob blew up shipments of explosives belonging to Starrick and Co. With the explosives dealt with, Jacob went to kidnap a driver to deliver the train to Roth.

The pair continued their goal to overthrow Starrick's control over London with theft in mind. Roth explained his plan to kidnap three of the Grand Master's henchmen Hattie Cadwallader, Benjamin Raffles and Chester Swinebourne, a task which Jacob accomplished, delivering the trio to Roth's carriage.

With his sister, the Rooks eventually took control of London's boroughs, eliminating the Blighters threat with their Templar leaders Bloody Nora, Lilla Graves, Victor Lynch, Octavia Plumb, Cletus Strain, and Edith Swinebourne by launching a gang war between the two rivals.

Later life
Jacob eventually married and had at least one child, a son, who was also invested into the Assassin Order; in time, a granddaughter, Lydia Frye, was born. With Lydia’s parents often away on the continent performing missions for the Brotherhood, responsibility for Lydia’s training fell to Jacob and Evie.

At the outbreak of war in 1914, Jacob and Evie were removed to the safety of the countryside, while Lydia remained in London to protect the city from German spies and Templar agents.

Personality and characteristics
"I'm no criminal. I just do as I please."

- Jacob Frye.

Unlike his level-headed and stealthy elder sister, Jacob was a reckless and rebellious individual. While he was brought up as an Assassin, he did not appear to be a fervent believer in the Creed's tenets like his sister, preferring action over philosophical thoughts and a good fight over discretion. While "having fun" was very important to Jacob, he was not above altruistic acts and fighting for the disenfranchised.

Equipment and skills
"Leave the sneaking and spying to my sister. Toss me my brass knuckles and point me to a good brawl."

- Jacob Frye.

Having been trained by the Brotherhood from birth, Jacob was a Master Assassin adept at both stealth and combat, despite his preference for the latter. He was also a skilled Freerunner, able to scale the tall buildings of London with relative ease.

An experienced brawler, Jacob was proficient in hand-to-hand combat, using his brass knuckles for brutal take-downs. Due to the era's restriction on open weaponry, Jacob utilized an arsenal of hidden tools including his Hidden Blades, one of which was equipped with a rope launcher – a versatile tool that he could utilize to access and scale areas quickly, as well as create ziplines.

Accompanying this, the Hidden Blade was equipped with a mechanism that fired hallucinogenic darts; firing a dart into an open flame would result in a poisonous gas cloud, allowing Jacob to eliminate multiple enemies from a distance. Other weapons in his possession included a kukri blade, a cane-sword, a six-shot revolver and throwing knives.

Additionally, Jacob possessed the rare ability of Eagle Vision.

Trivia

 * Jacob's name is of Biblical origin, with the meaning being either he who grasps the heel or supplanter. Frye is a derivative of the English word free.
 * Evie and Jacob are the third and fourth Assassin protagonists from a main installment to wear robes whose primary color is not white, the other two being Arno Dorian and Shay Cormac while he was still allied with the Assassins.
 * Jacob keeps a shilling around his neck as a memento.
 * He possesses a scar on his right eyebrow, as well as one on the left side of his beard.
 * Jacob has a tattoo of a raven on his left collarbone.
 * He is now the youngest Master Assassin in the main franchise, replacing Altair who was 25 when he received the title.

Gallery

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