Warren Vidic

Warren Vidic (unknown – 2012) was a member of the Templar Order and a scientist employed by Abstergo Industries. As the head of research for Abstergo, Vidic was put in charge of the genetic memory research and the Animus project.

As the one responsible for finding new subjects for the Animus, Warren would have them explore their genetic memories, which he would then analyse to gain information on both the Assassins and the Pieces of Eden.

Being a high-ranking employee of Abstergo Industries, Warren was one of the few members of the Inner Sanctum, a group of Templars with full awareness of the Orders' plans for their New World. He also played an important role in those plans, being tasked with finding a Piece of Eden to power Eye-Abstergo.

Early life
Warren Vidic had been working for Abstergo Industries since at least 1980. He was often said to be unpleasant to work with, and was constantly engrossed in his work, concentrating on the progress that he and his employees made.

At the same time, Vidic's development of the Animus was in fierce competition with the Surrogate Initiative, spearheaded by his colleague Aileen Bock. In order to ensure that his project would keep the upper hand between the two, Vidic secretly wiretapped the offices, laboratories, and phones of Bock and her co-workers. Vidic later transferred countless hours of these illegal recordings onto a set of 160 reel-to-reel tapes and kept them in his home.

It was his ideas and theories that allowed for the creation of the Animus, though he left the assembly and engineering of the created Animi to his co-worker, Lucy Stillman, as well as several other Abstergo engineers. Nevertheless, Warren oversaw the entire Animus project upon its inception. It was around this time that Vidic himself took part in the Animus Project, as Subject 2, and viewed among others the memories of one of his ancestors, Geoffroy Thérage, the executioner of Jeanne d'Arc.

Sometime before this, Warren had recruited Lucy into working for Abstergo. Though Lucy was attempting to finish her doctorate in the university she studied at the time, her professors disliked the subject of her doctorate, calling it a "pseudo-science" that would discredit and embarrass them if she were to pursue it.

From there, Lucy approached several other universities and companies afterwards, receiving the same reactions ubiquitously, until she eventually received a letter from Warren. He claimed that he had been following her work since she was an undergraduate, and that he found great promise in it, as well as her. Flattered and being left with little other choice, Lucy accepted the position she was offered at Abstergo. Later though, she wondered whether Abstergo had been behind the widespread rejection of her theories from the beginning.

Warren kept a close eye on Lucy when she joined the Animus project, and once rescued her from an attempt on her life by three men, who were her co-workers. After Warren saved her, he promised her that they would never bother her again.

Early subjects
"I admit, I felt a certain sense of almost fatherly pride, seeing our boy grown and carrying on our work."

- Warren to Alan Rikkin, regarding Daniel Cross.

In 1983, Warren began to experiment on Subject 4, a young boy who would later be named "Daniel Cross".

Placing Daniel in the Animus to relive the memories of his ancestor, Warren also experimented on him using a replicated Piece of Eden. Before setting him free, however, Warren embedded Daniel with a subconscious impulse to assassinate the Mentor of the Assassin Order if he would ever meet him.

In 2010, Vidic was already laying the groundwork for the experimental Animi Training Program, recruiting promising subjects such as Juhani Otso Berg. One night, Vidic led an Abstergo strike team into Berg's home, where he supplied Abstergo-brand medicine to Berg's ailing toddler, Elina. Promising more of the medicine to help cure the girl, Vidic was able to convince Berg to join the program.

Together, Warren and Lucy both worked on Subject 15, who was a pregnant woman. Their experiments did have difficulties with the Animus though, which began reading the genetic memories from both Subject 15 and her baby's father, stemming from the.

Over time, Warren soon grew impatient with how long it took for his subjects to gain enough synchronization with their ancestors and access further memories. This, along with receiving much pressure from his superiors, led him to ignore Lucy's warnings and force Subject 16, Clay Kaczmarek, into the Animus for days on end.

As a result, Clay began to suffer severely from the Bleeding Effect, causing him to hallucinate and confuse the lives of his ancestors with his own. This eventually led him to a mental breakdown, wherein he had to be restrained by several Abstergo employees and injected with.

It was too late however, as Clay had come into contact with a member of the First Civilization named Juno during his hallucinations, and was later successful with a suicide attempt, after installing an electronic imprint of himself onto the Animus and inscribing several cryptic messages on the wall of his room using his own blood, before passing away.

Afterwards, Warren requested Lucy to assign a linguist and a historian to research and decipher the messages Subject 16 had left behind.

Subject 17
"I'm about ready to pull the plug on your Subject Seventeen. So either get me results or get another person into that Animus."

- An e-mail from Alan Rikkin to Warren.

In the year 2012, Warren authorized the capture of the seventeenth test subject, a bartender named Desmond Miles from New York City. After his retrieval, both Warren and Lucy personally oversaw Desmond's interactions in the Animus at the Abstergo laboratory in Rome, Italy.

At first, Warren found the new test subject both unwilling and, subconsciously insecure enough to explore his ancestor's memories. He only managed to gain his co-operation after threatening to medically induce a coma, force Desmond into the Animus, and then discard his body afterwards.

However, despite Desmond's co-operation, progress was slow. After the fate of Clay, Lucy was overly protective of Desmond's health, and insisted on short sessions within the Animus to avoid the Bleeding Effect. Though irritable about the deadline the two had, and after a brief argument between him and Lucy, Warren consented to her requests.

As the week went on though, and as Desmond made progress within the Animus, Warren's mood swung from short-tempered to calm and collected. During one such day, whilst looking out over the skyline outside his laboratory, Warren deliberately left his access pen in plain sight in his pocket, allowing Desmond to steal it "without him noticing".

At the beginning of each day, Warren was often the one to wake Desmond and order him into the Animus. At these times, Warren would also converse with Desmond, speaking a little about the Templars' achievements, and their pursuit of a New World Order.

Towards the end of the week, as Desmond began to approach the conclusion of his journey within his ancestor's memories, Warren started to become much more eager and insistent on a quick closure. After witnessing the death of Al Mualim, and the activation of the Apple of Eden in Desmond's genetic memories, Warren recorded the map displayed within the memory, commenting triumphantly "We've got it."

As Desmond awoke, he saw three suited individuals in the laboratory's conference room. The three begun discussing the session results with Warren, and insisted upon Desmond's immediate termination. Though Warren agreed, Lucy interrupted, claiming that Desmond could still be of use to them.

She and Warren argued to the point of Warren claiming that Lucy was undermining his authority, though he eventually consented to "leave nothing to chance". Ordering Desmond back into his room, Warren left the laboratory.

Soon after this, realizing the threat on Desmond's life, Lucy revealed herself to be allied to the Assassins, and helped Desmond escape Abstergo, though this was also one of Warren's plots in order to take Desmond to a more comfortable environment.

Pursuing Desmond
"We miss you terribly. There's still so much work for us to do together."

- Warren to Desmond, during his attempt to recapture him.

The next day, Warren received word of Desmond's escape, and Lucy's "betrayal". Abstergo quickly started tracking the Assassins down, and within three days, Warren led an assault on the Assassins' warehouse hideout.

Accompanied by a contingent of Abstergo security guards, Warren attempted to apprehend Desmond and Lucy, arriving just as Desmond finished exploring the memory of another of his ancestors, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, after the conflict at the Vatican Vault and Minerva's message. Warren attempted to coerce Desmond into coming peacefully, whilst berating Lucy for turning on him.

Both Assassins rejected his offer, and so Warren ordered his guards to take them by force, while he himself merely watched from the open back of a truck. Minutes later, however, following the death or incapacitation of his men, Warren was confronted by Desmond.

Desmond challenged Warren to face him, but Warren only told him that it was a matter of time until he and Lucy were "both back where they belonged." Then, after commenting that the Assassins should enjoy their temporary victory, he fled.

However, the true intention behind the attack was to obtain the tapes of Desmond Miles' Animus sessions that were intentionally left at the Assassin hideout by Lucy Stillman. Following the attack, Vidic maintained contact with Lucy via e-mail, using the name "William M.", and reminded her to not let her friendship with Desmond jeopardize the Templars' plans.

Animi Training Program
"You serve Abstergo well, and your skills in the Animus continue to impress."

- Warren to Juhani Otso Berg.

Upon his return to Abstergo, Warren began to lead a mass training of several of Abstergo's loyal agents, using Animi in the same way as the Assassins had trained Desmond. Purposefully using the Bleeding Effect, he began to infuse them with the skills necessary to track down and defeat the Assassins.

Impressed by some of the recruits, Warren progressed them to the next training program and awarded them with wealth and a privileged status in society.

Warren even appeared to Juhani Otso Berg with a toast upon arriving at their new mansion. Berg was eventually inducted into the Inner Sanctum, and was soon sent after the leader of the Assassins, William Miles, who had finally been located.

Death
When the Templar agents successfully captured William Miles in December 2012, Vidic sent Desmond Miles and his team a video proposing his demands: Give him the Apple of Eden and William would be returned to them safely. Despite the fact that William would tell the team to forget him, Desmond decided to rescue his father.

Once Desmond arrived at the Abstergo facility in Italy, Vidic ordered him to come in peacefully. Desmond refused, killing any security guards who crossed his path. In retaliation, Warren sent Daniel Cross to deal with the Assassin. But once Cross had Desmond cornered, he began to suffer from the Bleeding Effect and fled trying to deal with his mental breakdown.

Vidic, frustrated with Desmond, stated that he was no longer an asset to Abstergo and authorized the guards to kill him on sight. Meanwhile, Desmond pursued Cross through the Animus Training Facility and killed him. Vidic was furious at Cross's death, screaming that the Assassins only took while Templars gave the world order and peace.

Eventually Desmond reached Vidic's office, where his father sat surrounded by armed guards. Vidic demanding Desmond to hand him the Apple. Desmond reached out with the Apple in his hand, but instead of giving it to Warren, used its power to manipulate the security guards in the room. As Vidic pleaded for the last time, Desmond influenced one of guards to turn his weapon on Warren and kill him.

After his death, Abstergo discovered the hidden set of tapes concerning the Surrogate Initiative in his home. The tapes were transferred into Abstergo's mainframe and a select few were accessed via hacking by a research analyst working for Abstergo Entertainment in 2013.

Personality and characteristics
"I believe there was a book that claimed the world was created in seven days. Best-seller too!"

- Warren to Desmond Miles, regarding the Bible.

Warren was a hardened scientist and fanatical member of the Templar Order, doing all he could to make progress in his work, even if it meant undermining others, as evidenced in his illegal tapping of the Surrogate Initiative's phones. Although he was an intelligent man, he was also somewhat absent-minded, and often needed reminding of passcodes. He was also careless with his access pen, which he often allowed to hang loosely out of his pocket; this resulted in him losing it once in the parking lot, and again, far more seriously, to his test subject Desmond, at the Abstergo laboratories.

As an atheist, Warren lacked belief in any god, asserting that many religious artifacts such as the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Apple were simply technology left behind by Those Who Came Before. Ruthless, yet clumsy, Warren had a short temper and showed little care for the welfare of his test subjects.

Needless to say however, Warren could be devious, orchestrating a plan with Lucy Stillman for her to take Desmond away from Abstergo and retrieve the Piece of Eden when it had been discovered by her and her Assassin colleagues, Rebecca Crane and Shaun Hastings, dubbed "Project Siren".

Trivia

 * Warren is a name related to the word warden via the Germanic root *war-, meaning "to protect, to defend, to guard": the word's sense of "enclosed area" comes from the Gaulish word varenna, of the same meaning.
 * An e-mail from Alan Rikkin confirmed that Warren was in possession of a Crystal Skull.
 * In the Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood multiplayer, Warren features in the introductory video, and as the narrator for the training program.
 * A letter within the Cluster puzzles, discussing the partial reproduction of the Pieces of Eden's mind control signal over a television network, was signed with the initials W.V.
 * In Assassin's Creed, Warren Vidic has a pin on the left side of his coat that was identical to the cloak clasps worn by Robert de Sable in Jerusalem, featuring a variant of the Templar insignia.