Followers of Romulus

"A place in heaven awaits those who serve the wolf!"

- A leader of the Followers of Romulus

The Followers of Romulus were adherents of Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome. According to legend, Romulus and his brother Remus were raised by a wolf, and as a result, were said to be half wolf and half man. In tribute to this, the Followers' attire included a skinned wolf pelt.

Appearance
The Followers of Romulus are portrayed as powerfully-built, rather brutish men covered in wolfskin pelts, who attack viciously in large packs.

They are armed with various short blades and throwing knives, and tend to growl and snarl when in a fight. They commonly employ a unique, spinning slash attack, a move that is not performed by any other in-game, aside from Ezio himself (with his hidden blades). When killed, and often before attacking, they howl or growl like a wolf.

The Followers are also adept free-runners, as the lairs that they occupy require such skills to traverse.

Alliance with the Borgia
The leaders of the Followers are paid by the Borgia to do their bidding, and as such, the Followers are mainly used to cause fear in the civilians and send them into the arms of the Catholic Church. However, the Followers themselves are misguided, with their leaders commanding them in the name of Romulus, despite not believing in his mystical existence themselves.

Lairs
In Rome of the early 16th century, the Master Assassin, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, was able to enter the Follower's lairs, each of which was located below a famous landmark in Rome. By traversing them, he was able to find out more about them, and obtain their scrolls, which were located in shrines deep within their hidden enclaves.

By exploring and completing all six of their lairs, Ezio was also able to obtain six keys to unlock the Followers' secret treasure, the Armor of Brutus. This armor is equivalent to the Armor of Altaïr in that it is unbreakable and gives Ezio maximum health. The Dagger of Brutus was also unlocked along with the armor.

Each of the six keys was accompanied by a scroll, which, when combined, told the story of how Brutus and other Assassins plotted the murder of Julius Caesar. In the scrolls, it was written that Brutus planned to hold the first meeting under the Colosseum. There, he found one of the vaults of Those Who Came Before.

Trivia

 * Although depicted with a heavy weapon in the database, the Followers of Romulus always use short blades, and are relatively weak attackers. Their attacks only perform slight damage to a single block of Ezio's health, rather than removing the block entirely.
 * The Followers have unique death cries, as well as unique attack animations.