Phoenix Project

The Phoenix Project is an initiative developed by Abstergo Industries from late 2013 and researched through their Abstergo Entertainment wing, following the death of the Sage John Standish. The project's aim is the hope of sequencing the First Civilization's triple-helix genome and set it through Animus technology, in order to master the secrets of the precursor race's technology, especially the Pieces of Eden. To this effect, Abstergo set out to locate genetic records of Sages both past and present to use their high quantities of First Civilization DNA as a basis.

Origins
The inspiration behind the project can be seen in the initial model of DNA proposed by in 1952, being an inaccurate triple-helix model that was disregarded with the latter discovery of the double helix theorem. Due to this discovery her work was wholly ignored, aside from as an example of an inaccurate conclusion.

Death of John Standish
For many years, Franklin's proposition was struck down as fallacy, until Abstergo Entertainment analyzed the genome of the Sage John Standish following his death, upon which they found that he had an extremely high quantity of triple-helix DNA. This helped to elaborate Franklin's research as a correct but merely misdirected model, gathered from small traces of First Civilization DNA hidden in the human genome. To this end, Abstergo planned to gather more samples of people like John Standish and collate the findings, promoting the top-secret discovery to investors for funding.

By late 2014, the Assassins became aware of Abstergo's plans, and set out to counter them by recruiting a collection of people, led by their operative Bishop, in an aim to try to track down and find historical Sages' remains and safeguard them, therefore concealing traces of their DNA from falling into Abstergo's hands.

Trivia

 * A is a mythical bird that was said to resurrect from its own ashes, much like how Abstergo plans to have the First Civilization be brought back through its own remains in humankind's DNA
 * In Assassin's Creed 3 a teenage Ratonhnhaké:ton is handed a Piece of Eden by a village elder. A Crystal-Like Apple of Eden, Reminiscent of a Crystal Ball. Which activates at his touch and allows him to communicate with Juno within the Nexus. She then selects the form of a Bald Eagle for Ratonhnhaké:ton to follow A Phoenix on a Spirit Journey.