Masyaf Key

The keys of Altaïr, sometimes referred to as seals, were a collection of five First Civilization artefacts concealing information and memories from their original owner: the Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. When brought together, the keys would allow access to Altaïr's library in the fortress of Masyaf, which was desired by both the Assassins and the Templars.

Altaïr's discovery
While in exile in the castle of Alamut during the early 1240s, the Apple Altaïr possessed directed him to the artefacts, which retrieved and hid.

After researching them, he found out that the keys contained messages, but he did not know to whom they were intended.

In 1257, whilst Masyaf was about to be besieged by the Mongols, Altaïr passed the keys and his Codex on to his guests Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, who promised to hide the keys. They escaped from the Mongols with the help of Altaïr's son Darim, and safely arrived in their home of Constantinople, where they hid the keys and formed an Assassins Guild.

Ezio's acquisition
In 1510, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, the Mentor of the Italian Assassins, learned of the existence of Altaïr's library and the keys needed to open it after reading a document left behind by his late father Giovanni. Curious, he left Rome for Masyaf to find the library.

Ezio arrived in Masyaf in mid 1511, at which point one of the keys had come into possession of the Templar Leandros, the captain of a group of Byzantine remnants. After a long struggle, Ezio was able to kill Leandros and obtain the key, at which moment Ezio relieved the memory of Altaïr saving his former mentor Al Mualim from a Templar attack on Masyaf.

Ezio journeyed to Constantinople, where he continued his search for the keys, eventually finding one underneath Niccolò Polo's old trading post, at that point inhabited by the Venetian bookseller Sofia Sorto. With her help, Ezio was able to decode a map showing the locations of all keys in Constantinople.