Abstergo Industries

"We change the world. Every day, in a hundred different ways."

- Warren Vidic to Desmond Miles regarding Abstergo.

Abstergo Industries is one of the largest and most prominent multinational corporations of the modern era, serving as the primary front for the Templar Order. Outwardly labeled primarily as a pharmaceutical development company, Abstergo Industries, or its predecessors, have been responsible for the majority of human technological development for the past millennia.

Despite genuinely contributing to the technological development of society, Abstergo Industries' primary mission, as dictated by its Templar members, "is the destruction of the Assassin Order, the procurement of advanced technologies originally created by the First Civilization, and establishing a New World Order."

As of the year 2012, Abstergo Industries had come under investigation by the United States Government for the "New Fluoride" experiment and was due to have its accounts frozen, prompting the company to hasten their planned EYE-ABSTERGO Satellite launch.

The Plan
It is known that Abstergo's founders designed the "Plan" in 1910. Abstergo also brought up the Communists and said it was their duty to neutralize them and their followers. Abstergo was founded in 1937, but until the last decades of the 20th century, it was a largely anonymous and shadowy corporation.

Assembly lines
On July 22, 1944, an unknown member of the company sent out a memo to fellow members, mentioning using the assembly line to control both capitalists and workers, and accredited Henry Ford and Ransom "Ranny" Olds for its creation. The memo went on to later state that Abstergo hoped that they would not have to use such "ugly chains" in the future.

The memo later elaborated on Abstergo's goals, stating to that their duty was to "shepherd those beneath us through life, even if force is required".

The memo also mentioned Templars known only by the initials "H" and "S" (Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin) who brought on the "turmoil and fear". Towards the end of this memo, they brought up the "successful ruse of Rockefeller's dimes".

Creation of the computer
Abstergo was responsible for British mathematician Alan Turing's criminal prosecution and possibly his death. In a phone recording dating to June 1954, two Templars only known by the initials "V" and "N" mention the need for Turing to be arrested.

They feared "mass unemployment" if the mathematician did end up creating a computer. The two men also mentioned American economist and senior U.S. Treasury Department official Harry Dexter White.

Apollo 11
Images shown that there was an Apple of Eden on the Moon, the picture being subtitled: "With Jack deep underground, it was easy." - "Jack" being former American President John Fitzgerald Kennedy; his nickname being Jack. "Deep underground" refers to his planned assassination in 1963, as where "it was easy", references the 1969 Moon landing to retrieve the Apple.

Kennedy's assassination was plotted by the Templars after they learned he had planned to do a joint moon landing with the Soviet Union. However, the Templars also knew that one of the artifacts was hidden on the Moon, and thus murdered Kennedy, went on with the moon project and assigned a Templar, Richard Nixon, for presidency, to recover the Piece of Eden in 1969.

Global International Order
"The price of bread and other staples must rise, therefore ensuring that the Chilean people remain in poverty, unable to resist."

- An Abstergo memo

Abstergo involved itself in the economic and political affairs of Iran, Argentina, and Chile. A memo on the subject of South America stated that "to ensure company's success, company agents must be able to move freely from country to country and maintain power within all of them. A global international order must be implemented".

In Argentina, the memo told members to inform capitalists that if they helped ensure that the Junta stayed in power, Abstergo would pass all of their corporate debt onto the Argentinian people, thus quelling any attempts of a rebellion.

The memo also added that Abstergo wanted Argentinian trade unions to be destroyed. The actions of Abstergo likely contributed to the disappearance of at least 30,000 Argentinian people in the 1970s.

In neighboring Chile, Abstergo wanted the free markets to proceed. The memo mentioned a Templar known as "F.", who visited the country last year, helped move things along. The memo went on to state that all public companies would need to be sold to the private sector, preferably at a cheap price.

Abstergo's efforts ended up thwarting President Salvador Allende's socialist efforts to allow the people to own Chile's corporations, which ended with his apparent suicide in 1973. This helped future dictator Augusto Pinochet to assume power. Abstergo escaped detection because it deliberately hid its involvement and implicated the U.S. government.

In Iran, Abstergo backed monarch Shah Pahlavi, Sha'baan Ja'fari, and the National Intelligence and Security Organization, otherwise known as SAVAK, against democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. This resulted in Mosaddegh being overthrown in 1953 and dying under house arrest in 1967.

Piece of Eden prototype
In September 1985, the research division of Abstergo worked on a prototype capable of mimicking Piece of Eden capabilities across a network.

Gorbachev Overthrown
In 1991 in Russia, Abstergo helped Boris Yeltsin to overthrow Gorbachev, the legitimate head of the state and reformer of the Soviet Union to democracy. Privatization started, the people were deceived, and state property was overtaken by oligarchs.

The Great Purge
In 2000, Animus Subject 4 Daniel Cross, a sleeper agent, infiltrated the Assassin Order and killed the Mentor. Afterwards, Cross gave the location of various Assassin training camps, initiating what the Templars called the Great Purge.

CIA investigation
In November 2004, a member of the CIA named Gary discovered Abstergo through research for a book he was writing. He told a female associate that Abstergo had holdings in numerous global companies and that in fact, Abstergo had interests in all companies over a certain size. He was going to publish this book, but was thwarted by the Templars.

United States government
Justice of the Supreme Court and Templar Antonin Scalia convinced Sandra O'Connor to retire. He sent a letter to "S". Scalia mentioned that "W" (George W. Bush) would restart animosities with Iraq, giving "C"'s contractors more work. After the destruction of the campaign finance laws, the company would be free to elect anyone they choose to the Senate, House, and eventually the Presidency.

Abstergo used closed circuit television to spy on civilians and used online gaming to distract them. The secret menu is located between channels 172 and 173 and it has the owner's names, credit card number, their likes, EEG, and ARAS. In April 2011, a man named Mr. Jameson found out about this and called his cable company, Comstatic. In response, Abstergo sent someone to 'deal with' him and his twelve year old son Paul.

In January 2012, the head of the company left authority to an unknown person. He warned his successor of a crisis, that once the free market falls, the people will turn against them.

Goals
As the greatest industrial force the Templars own, Abstergo shares the same beliefs as the Templars; order and discipline through power and control. Since the Third Crusade, the Templars started realizing the power the Pieces of Eden had over humans, and thus began searching for them. In Modern Times they have used numerous subjects from the Animus project to access the memories of their ancestors to get a hold of a map of these artifacts. This goal later formed into total control, and possession of all Pieces of Eden.

Their goals have changed as they have sought control to unify the entire world using these artifacts, going from "lasting peace, no matter what the cost" to the "New World Order". To accomplish this, they had to reach their ultimate goal; launching a Piece of Eden into orbit around Earth.

Known employees
The vast majority of Abstergo's employees are not Templars, including its scientists, enginners and CEOs. Abstergo also has hundreds of spies in other companies around the world. Among them include sleeper agents.

Current employees
Italicised names equates membership in the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Order


 * Isabelle Ardant, Operations, Historical Research
 * Jane Birkam – Position is unknown, friend of Warren Vidic.
 * Daniel Cross
 * Laetitia England
 * Àlvaro Gramática, Research, Future Technology
 * Caroline Grey
 * Aubrey Jacobs – Alan Rikkin's assistant.
 * Carson Kairns
 * Robert Klein
 * James Morse - Abstergo employee whose Abstergo e-mail can be accessed from their website by inputting the login password "PFRDVJ5aLLg".
 * Mitsuko Nakamura, Research, Lineage Research and Acquisition
 * Erica Nichols
 * Nancy Nilop – Human Resources agent.
 * Richard – One of the three men that threatened to kill Lucy Stillman, before being stopped by Vidic.
 * Alan Rikkin – CEO of Abstergo
 * S.
 * Otto Schmidt, Operations, Lineage Research and Acquisition
 * Warren Vidic – Head of Research for genetic memory and the Animus project

Former employees

 * Leila Marino (deceased)
 * Lucy Stillman (deceased)

Products
"Guess the shit's really hit the fan this time."

- An Abstergo employee e-mailing Warren V. about the Fluoride failure.

Abstergo is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, with their primary focus being anti-depressants. Desmond Miles first saw the word, "Abstergo", on a bottle of ibuprofen whilst he was still living on The Farm: according to his mother, "The average American household contains three dozen Abstergo-owned products at any given moment. If you tried to purge them from your life completely, it would be a full-time job."

It was also stated in an e-mail to Warren Vidic, that Abstergo was secretly experimenting their products on people, and that one of their experiments had failed, poisoning an entire town. Information about this incident had partly been leaked, causing the whole pharmaceutical division of the company to be closed down for investigation. The product Abstergo was experimenting with was named "New Fluoride".

Vidic also told Clay Kaczmarek that Abstergo owned an entertainment studio.

Sophia Project
The Sophia Project studies cellular information and the means by which information is passed genetically. The end goal is to be able to manipulate genetic information for medical purposes.

Animus Project(s)
Abstergo began their Animus project in September 1985, with Dr. Warren Vidic as the head of the project. The Project initially relied on psychoanalysis, hypnosis and chemicals to unlock genetic memories in their subjects. That all changed with the invention of the Animus, which enabled subjects to synchronize with their ancestors' memories in a virtual reality environment.

The Lineage Research and Acquisition acquires subjects to farm memories. Project Legacy was started for Abstergo recruits to decode the memories without requiring a descendant to lie in the Animus. However, it was put on hold after the individual or group known as Erudito began hacking into the Project and giving recruits memories Abstergo did not want them to see.

The Animi Training Program was launched in 2012 to train recruits into becoming lethal agents, by having them synchronize with the skills of great Templar agents from centuries ago.

Archeology
Abstergo know of the First Civilization, and the Pieces of Eden. However, they have only discovered a few of the locations of vaults, and are unaware of how to access the information archive within them.

Akashic Satellite Plexus
The Akashic Satellite Plexus was launched in 2008. On the surface, it is a collection of communications, weather and observation satellites. On December 21, 2012, Abstergo intends to launch its cornerstone, the Eye-Abstergo satellite, which shall amplify the powers of an Apple of Eden. Though the Assassins believe Abstergo will use it to control the world, this is denied in their internal documents for their top agents. Emphasis is placed on the ASP becoming able to locate "individuals with potential". The ASP is heavily shielded and is presumabed to be operational in the face of even the worst predicted solar flares.

Trivia

 * Abstergo is a Latin verb, meaning "I cleanse."
 * In the Truth file regarding Apollo, scanning the American flag on the Eagle shows the Abstergo logo, suggesting that Abstergo Industries was behind the moon landings. Similarly, scanning the white flag planted on the moon reveals the Templar cross.
 * During Ezio Auditore da Firenze's visit to the vault, the Abstergo logo can be seen on several images projected by Minerva.
 * During the retrieval of the Apple, when Desmond activated the Apple of Eden, several symbols started to appear around him. Of the symbols that appeared, the Abstergo logo is one that appears quite frequently.
 * In the concept art for the Vault, what looks like the Abstergo logo can be seen on the floor of the circular room in which Ezio fights Rodrigo.
 * Abstergo's Animi room has a wall with a large window in the shape of the Templar cross.
 * Abstergo has a Twitter page for Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy.
 * The multiplayer mode of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Assassin's Creed: Revelations is played from the point of view of Abstergo employees undergoing training in the Animi.
 * In the game Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles, the Abstergo logo is present in many forms throughout the games.
 * The Abstergo logo symbolizes the, first created by the Swedish artist , who described the triangle as "impossibility in it's purest form".