Assassin apprentice

"The liberation of Roma has begun. If you choose to flee, do so now, but if you choose to fight, stand with me against the Borgia."

- Ezio Auditore to one of the rescued civilians, after saving him from corrupted Borgia guards.

The apprentices, also referred to as recruits, are Assassins who were formerly citizens saved by Ezio Auditore from the rough streets of Rome, during the war against the Templars. They have subsequently devoted themselves to learning the ways of the Assassin Order, motivated by their lust for revenge against the Borgia for corrupting the beautiful city of Rome.

Operating out of the Tiber Island headquarters, the apprentices were sent on missions across Europe in order to improve their skills and combat experience beyond their traditional training. However, the apprentices did not always survive these missions. When not on missions assigned by Ezio outside Rome, the apprentices would support the efforts of Ezio and his allies, providing reinforcement during Ezio's own missions.

Recruiting
After destroying a Borgia Tower, symbols will randomly appear on your map where citizens can be recruited. You can choose whether to save them or not, but they will eventually die if you don't. After saving a citizen from the guards, you'll have a choice to either speak to them or leave them, if you speak to them they will always join you, if you don't talk to them, they will eventually disappear. After successfully recruiting someone for his cause, Ezio sends them to Niccolò Machiavelli to become an Assassin. You can only recruit twelve apprentices (all of whom can be either male or female), but if one dies, they can always be replaced.

On the Field
In-game, Ezio is able to have up to six support him during his missions, and each time they fight, they will gain experience points to rank up. On the field, Ezio signals these Assassins by raising his arm and clenching his fist, indicating that they should strike. This signal, followed by an eagle's screech, is known as a "B.A.M." or a Brotherhood Assistance Maneuver. The apprentices can appear from anywhere, usually from inside hiding spots or over ledges. Particularly when against a mounted enemy, the apprentices can also come in on horseback, and can engage in horse chases. On rare occasions, when there are no hiding spots or buildings to appear from, the apprentices may be teleported into the battle by the Animus.

Missions
During the course of the game, players have the opportunity to send the apprentices to different cities across Europe to complete tasks and assassinations. If they finish the mission, the apprentices earn experience points; but if they die, they will be lost forever. The chances of the Assassins completing the mission depend on how difficult the mission is, the amount of experience the Assassins already have, and how many Assassins you send. Though sending more Assassins increases the probability of success, each receive less experience, as the total experience gained must be divided equally among all of them.

Customization
Players can also customize the apprentices' colors of their robes. Each one of the apprentices also has a different personality. Later on, players can use the experience points they've gained to upgrade their apprentices' armor and weapons. Once an apprentice achieves rank ten (Assassino) his/her armor will change and appear to look almost identical to Ezio's Master Assassin outfit, only having very subtle differences. These Master Assassin robes that the apprentices wear cannot be customized however, and always remain as Assassin White.

BAM System
If Ezio recruits and trains more apprentices, he will gain signals, which appear as red bars underneath the Synchronization bar. Up to 3 signals can be earned. The signals represent the amount of times Ezio can use the BAM system (Brotherhood Assistance Maneuver) which allows him to call his apprentices to aid him in the field.

The first signal is rewarded once one Assassin apprentice is recruited, then another when you have 4 Assassin apprentices. The third and final signal is unlocked once you have 6 Assassin apprentices. Once Ezio has used a signal, the signal won't be usable until roughly one minute has passed, and using all three of them will not allow Ezio to use the BAM until the first one has recharged. BAM signals can become unavailable if an insufficient number of apprentices are present in the guild, such as if some have left on missions.

Apprentices can also ride and use horses in battles, either attacking on horseback with their sword or hidden gun, or performing assassinations from horseback.

The apprentices are capable of three attack strategies:
 * The Arrow Shower: This move is particularly useful if Ezio is blocked by a group of guards. He signals to the apprentices, and they shoot arrows at the targets and kill any in sight. If there is a large number of apprentices to aid Ezio, all the guards will be killed simultaneously. You must have at least six Assassin apprentices at your disposal to use the arrow shower, as it requires all 3 signals to use.
 * The Air Assassination: This move is where the apprentices jump and assassinate the indicated targets. If there are some enemies remaining, the apprentices engage them in combat.
 * The Smoke Assassination: A combination of air assassinating and smoke bombs, the apprentices jump and assassinate as many enemies as possible, then throw smoke bombs, creating a distraction and allowing Ezio to move in and attack as well.

Trivia

 * While all apprentices wear default uniforms similar to Ezio's, not all of them are ever exactly the same.
 * The apprentices are equipped with only a single hidden blade, unlike Ezio who is granted two. They do, however, acquire a hidden gun, smoke bombs and various melee weapons as they level up.
 * Though you can only have twelve apprentices at a time, the ability to recruit them is infinite, which means that, even if many of them die in battle, they can always be replaced.
 * Apprentices are able to grab the horse of a dismounted enemy. This prevents its escape, and allows either Ezio or the Assassin himself or herself to ride it.
 * Gabriel Graziani, the Community Developer for Brotherhood, had once stated that there will be a special cutscene when an Assassin dies. Although there is no such cut scene, Ezio may approach and close the eyes of the fallen Assassin, honoring them.
 * It was stated by developers that the player could pick a single Assassin recruit to be a "right-hand Assassin." However, this action is not present in any form in the game.
 * Once an Assassin is promoted to the rank of Assassino, there is a cut scene showing the Assassin performing a Leap of Faith into the Tiber, while Ezio and Niccolo watch.
 * When managing Assassins for an Assassination contract, even when the odds of success are 100%, sometimes the mission can still be failed, although you will not lose the Assassin(s) used for that contract.
 * It is possible to kill an apprentice by using the Apple of Eden.
 * There is an interesting glitch when both an apprentice and Ezio try to assassinate the same guard simultaneously. You will both appear to leap on him in high profile, but Ezio will then promptly teleport onto the next closest guard, killing him as well.
 * Sometimes when Assassins are called into battle, they will jump out of haystack barrels, without any explanation of how they got in there or how long they have been waiting inside there.

In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood there are 3 cheats involving the apprentices:
 * 1) Beat Sequence 4 with 100% Synch - Sisterhood / Assassin's Guild recruits are all female.
 * 2) Beat Sequence 5 with 100% Synch - Ultimate Guild / Assassin's Guild recruits are Assassino rank.
 * 3) Beat Sequence 6 with 100% Synch - Calling all Assassins / No cooldown timer when calling Assassins.