Precursor box

The Precursor box is an ancient artifact created by the First Civilization, capable of interpreting and translating First Civilization language, most notably written in the Voynich manuscript.

History
By November 1524, the Precursor box was in the possession of the Italian Assassin Mentor Ezio Auditore da Firenze, in his villa in Tuscany. The Chinese Assassin, Shao Jun, who had travelled there seeking Ezio's advice on resolving the problems in her homeland, was given the box and told that it would aid her. Ezio stated that she should only open it if she were to lose her way.

By 1735, the Precursor box ended up in the possession of the French Templars, who were transporting it on aboard a galleon to Port-au-Prince, to be given to Bastienne Josèphe. However, the fleet transporting the artifact was attacked by the Assassin Adéwalé, who retrieved the parcel that contained the box from the Templar admiral. In July 1737, he eventually handed it to Bastienne.

By November 1751, both the Precursor box and the Voynich manuscript were in the possession of François Mackandal, Mentor of the Assassin Brotherhood in Saint-Domingue. Using the artifacts, Mackandal discovered the existence of a First Civilization Temple near Port-au-Prince and sent his subordinate, Vendredi, to investigate it. Unbeknownst to Mackandal, the Temple was part of a system that held the Earth together.

Vendredi activated the Temple's machinery, causing a massive earthquake which destroyed Port-au-Prince and the surrounding region. After the disaster, Master Templar Lawrence Washington stole the Precursor box and manuscript from Mackandal's camp and took the artifacts with him to Virginia, where the Templars studied the artifacts in an attempt to learn how to use them.

Shay Cormac, a member of the Colonial branch of the Assassin Order, assassinated Washington in search of the box in 1752. However, the box was already in possession of the Templar Samuel Smith, while the manuscript had been entrusted to James Wardrop, another noted Templar. In 1754, Shay had managed to track Smith down and sink his schooner, with the help of a fellow Assassin, Chevalier de la Vérendrye. Shay recovered the Precursor box from Smith and delivered it to Benjamin Franklin, who was confident conducting electricity through the box would activate it.

With Shay and Hope Jensen's assistance, Franklin succeeded in powering the box, which projected a view of the Earth and displayed locations of several First Civilization sites, one of them being Lisbon, Portugal. The box was subsequently given to Achilles Davenport, the Mentor of Colonial Assassins, who kept it secure at the Davenport Homestead, the Assassins' primary base of operations in the British colonies.

In 1759, Hope managed to replicate Franklin's experimentm and discovered another First Civilization Temple hidden in the Arctic. After the ordeal, Chevalier de la Vérendrye was tasked with hiding the box, and decided to ship it away from the colonies.

In 1776, twenty years after his conversion to the Templar Order, Shay Cormac travelled to Paris, following an information which stated the box was in possession of the French Assassin, Charles Dorian. Shay learned that Charles would be at the Palace of Versailles, and rescued Benjamin Franklin from Assassin-affiliated gangs, in order to gain access to the palace, telling Franklin he was meeting a business associate there. Having made his way inside, Shay assassinated Charles and took the box from him, reclaiming it for the Templars.

In February 2014, the Assassins Harlan Cunningham and Arend Schut stole the artifact from an Abstergo Industries facility in Rotterdam. Abstergo's Sigma Team engaged the Assassins in combat, forcing them to leave the artifact behind.