Parisian Brotherhood of Assassins

The French Assassins were the Brotherhood of Assassins located in France. They were most notable for their involvement in the public disbanding of the Templar Order in 1307, preventing the Templars from infiltrating the Royal Court in the early 16th century, and a controversial attempt to end the Assassin–Templar War through an uneasy peace, before the outbreak of the French Revolution.

Destruction of the Templars
Early in the 14th century, the Assassins manipulated King Philip IV of France, in order to destroy the Templars. Guillaume de Nogaret the Mentor of the French Brotherhood and councilor of King Philip, poisoned the Pope Benedict XI and replaced him by Clement V, who unknowingly served the Assassins. Then the Templars were branded as heretics, and their stronghold attacked by the King's forces in 1307 with the help of the Assassins disguised as Flemish mercenaries. During the attack, Thomas de Carneillon tried to steal the Codex Pater Intellectus and a Sword of Eden but was stop by a Templar Knight who hid the two artifacts in the Jacques de Molay's vault before being killed by the Assassin. The Grand Master of the Templars, Jacques de Molay, was captured during the attack and put to death by fire, along with sixty other Templars. However, unbeknownst to the Assassins, nine Templar leaders had gone underground and continued their work in secrecy, despite the public disbanding of their Order.

Working with the Italian Brotherhood
In the early 16th century, King Louis XII left Paris and quarreled with Ferdinand II over the ownership of Naples, leaving his foreign ministers in charge. However, the King was unaware of their ties to the Borgia, and it allowed them to target the religious reformist Desiderius Erasmus.

To escape the plague, Erasmus planned to hire a carriage out of town, though the Templars disguised themselves as travelers and offered him a ride. With Erasmus' life in danger, the French Assassins and a team of Ezio Auditore da Firenze's Italian apprentices tracked them down, and with coordinated shots, killed all of the guards. After rescuing Erasmus, he told them that the Templars were holding another Assassin captive.

Following this, the Assassins tried to find their Brother, who had been captured by the men working for the Borgia. A group of Italian Assassins sent from Rome by Ezio were able to receive information from corrupted ministers about the Assassin's whereabouts, and tracked down Archbishop Georges d'Amboise, before interrogating him. He revealed the names of the ministers associated with the Templars, whom the Assassins later disposed of.

After that, the Italian Assassins rescued the French Assassin from the manor he was held in, but he eventually succumbed to his wounds. However, he informed his Brothers that he had only revealed false information to his torturers. He also warned his rescuers to be wary of the, who had ties to the Templars.

In 1511, King Louis XII acted on Marseille's threats of secession motivated by the French Assassins, and ordered his army to banish all Assassins from the city. Aided by Ottoman Assassins sent from Constantinople by Ezio Auditore, the combined Assassin force hindered the army's efforts, though without violence.

Involving with the American Brotherhoods
In the early 18th century, the Assassin Council was formed at some point where they became acquainted with the French Assassin John de la Tour whom they sent to the Thirteen Colonies in order to spread the Assassin's influence. In 1740, de la Tour became acquainted with Achilles Davenport, who was sent by the Mentor of the Caribbean Assassins, Ah Tabai.

Together they worked to establish a new Brotherhood in the colonies which the French Council aided them in their efforts, they helped construct the Aquila, a ship designed to serve as the Colonial Brotherhood's naval fleet. In 1745 during the Battle of Louisbourg De la Tour sacrificed himself to allow Achilles time to escape the battle whom then became Mentor of the growing Colonial Assassins.

In 1749, the French Assassin Nicolas de Saint-Prix send a letter to Achilles Davenport to announced the construction of the Aquila, which would became the flag ship of the Colonial Assassins.

Pierre Bellec, a French colonial soldier who served during the Seven Years' War discovered his Assassin lineage and eventually joined the brotherhood in 1756. Around 1762 Bellec left the military and traveled to France only narrowly escaping the Colonial Assassin purge. He soon became a Master Assassin where he was tasked with training several new apprentices where eventually met Charles Dorian who had originated from an old Assassin family line whom he came to form a strong bond with. On one mission Dorian was attacked by a Templar fortunately to be saved by Bellec.

During France's involvement in the American Revolutionary War, the Assassin William de Saint-Prix was sent to aid the Thirteen Colonies.

In 1776, Mirabeau, who would became a political leader of the French Revolution, joined the Brotherhood and effectively rose to the position of Mentor of the French Brotherhood where he became acquainted with Charles Dorian for a time. Mirabeau also took a seat as head of the Council, which was formed by four Master Assassins including Pierre Bellec, Sophie Trenet, Hervé Quemar and Guillaume Beylier.

The same year, Beylier was contacted by Eseosa a Haitian Assassin who requested aid, however due to their present situation The French Branch were unable to provide reinforcement but maintained correspondence.

Later Charles Dorian attended an Assassin meeting at the Palace of Versailles in order to conduct business with King Louis XVI where Dorian was entrusted with safeguarding the Precursor box, however moments later he was killed by the Master Templar Shay Cormac whom took possession of the artifact.

After Charles tragic death, Bellec spent several years investigating mysterious cryptic glyphs and hidden messages subsequently getting himself incarcerated in several prisons.

French Revolution
During the Estates-General of 1789, the Grand Master François de la Serre sought to establish a truce between the Parisian Rite of the Templar Order and the French Assassins. The Assassin Mentor, Mirabeau, supported the idea, which led to a time of relative peace between two factions. However, the truce came to an end with the death of de la Serre at the hands of Charles Gabriel Sivert and the Roi des Thunes, on the orders of a former Templar and a Sage, François-Thomas Germain. De la Serre's adopted son, Arno Dorian, was accused of the murder and imprisoned in the Bastille, while Germain was elected as the new Grand Master, and began working with his supporters to stage a revolution in France.

During his imprisonment, Arno met Pierre Bellec, who offered him a chance to settle the score with de la Serre's killers, by joining the Assassin Order. Following the escape from the Bastille during a storming of it by the citizens, Arno sought out the Assassins, and was inducted into the Brotherhood. At the beginning of the Revolution, the Assassins helped the people of Paris by providing access to food which was hoarded by Joseph Foullon de Doué. Later, in October, the Assassins protected Théroigne de Méricourt during the Women's March on Versailles from the Templars, who attempted to make the march more violent against the royal family. After the first months of the Revolution, Mirabeau negotiated with the King to maintain a peaceful revolution, and also allow him to pay of his debt. With the truce maintained by Mirabeau, the Assassins could only fight smugglers and thugs. Around 1790, Arno proceeded to loot the funds of Jacques Necker for the Brotherhood.

In January 1791, Pierre Bellec and Arno Dorian eavesdropped on a reunion between Sivert and Arpinon, who was extorting money from both the nobility and clergy. Bellec assassinated Arpinon and Arno proceeded to loot a book from his body revealing that Sivert would be at Notre-Dame. With this information, Mirabeau decided to end the truce and authorized Arno to assassinate Sivert. In the memories of his target, Arno saw that the Roi des Thunes participated in the assassination of de la Serre. After giving Arno the title of Assassin along with a Phantom Blade, the Council sent him kill the Roi des Thunes. Arno learned that the killers of de la Serre worked for a Master and the only lead was a silversmith named Germain. After learning of this information, the Council permitted Arno to continue his investigation.

When Arno met Germain, the Templar Grand Master faked imprisonment in his own shop and led Arno to believe that Chrétien Lafrenière was the new Grand Master of Templar Order. Without the permission of the Council, Arno destroyed Lafrenière's weapon and subsequently assassinated him. However, Arno learned that it was in fact Lafrenière who sent the letter which warned de la Serre from the treason. After learning that he had overridden the Creed, most of the members of the Council wanted to remove Arno from his investigation, except Mirabeau, who authorized Arno to pursue his lead into the Hôtel de Beauvais.

Inside the club, Arno eavesdropped on a reunion between the reformist Templars and learnt that they were planning to kill Élise, de la Serre's daughter. Arno intervened and saved Elise from the trap, and decided to bring her before the French Assassin Council, in order to gain information on Germain and try to re-establish a truce between the two factions. However, in his fanaticism, Bellec opposed the idea. He poisoned Mirabeau in an attempt to discredit Élise and prevent peace from being achieved. However, Arno discovered the deception and confronted Bellec at Sainte-Chapelle, killing his former master after a duel. Following the death of two Master Assassins, the Council punished Arno, forbidding him from continuing his investigation into Germain and refusing to accept the truce with Elise.

The fall of Monarchy
In the summer 1792, the people was starving because of the actions of the Templars Flavigny and Marie Lévesque, who stole the food which enter in the city, with the goal to create riots in the city. Théroigne de Méricourt with the help of a team of Assassins found the food and distributed it to the people. The Assassins killed Flavigny and his thugs.

On 10 August of the same year, the people stormed the Tuileries Palace after the announcement that the Austrian and the Prussian armies would help to restore the power of the king Louis XVI. The Council tasked Arno with infiltrating the Palace and destroying the correspondence between Mirabeau and the king, in fear that if someone published the letters, the Templars would strike the Assassins across France. Arno succeeded in his task and burnt the letters. He left the Palace by a secret exit with the help of Napoleon Bonaparte. During their escape, Captain Rouille, who worked for the Templars, entered the King's office in the search of the documents.

On 2 September, at the beginning of the Republic, a spy ring led by the Comte de Gambais informed the Austrian forces about Paris' defenses with the plan to attack the capital and restore the Monarchy. One of the spies was trapped by Danton and several guards, but he succeeded to kill the guards and engaged Danton in combat. A team of Assassins saved Danton and killed de Gambais and his spy ring.

During the same month, Arno and Élise continued their investigation into Germain without the knowledge of the Council. Arno killed Rouille in le Grand Châtelet during the September Massacres, and learned that Marie Lévesque planned to incriminate the royals in the hoarding of food. Arno foiled her plans and assassinated her during a party in the Luxembourg Palace. His next target was Louis-Michel le Peletier, who had condemned the King during his trial. When Arno killed him in the Palais-Royal, he learned that Germain would be in attendance at the Execution of the King. Arno and Élise confronted Germain at the execution, but he escaped in a carriage. Élise ordered Arno to follow Germain but the Assassin stayed behind to protect her from Germain's men. After they lost the Grand Master, Élise reproached to Arno that he preferred saving her than killing Germain and decided to leave Arno. When the Council learned what happened in the Place de la Révolution, they condemned Arno and expelled him from the Assassin Order.

During the 1793, France began to fall under the control of the Templars. In June, after an insurrection of Sans-culottes led by the Commander General of the Paris National Guard François Hanriot, the Girondists were under house arrest. The Assassins rescued them and help them to leave the city. A month later, the Templar General Marcourt and fellow Templars planned a coup d'état in order to accelerate the revolution. But one of the conspirators, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, was in fact an ally of the Assassins and informed the Brotherhood about Marcourt's plan. Marcourt organized a tournament for recruiting men for the coup. A team of Assassins infiltrated the tournament to approached Marcourt and killed him and his conspirators in the Invalides. In August, the Assassins tried to rescued Marie Antoinette who was imprisoned in the Conciergerie, but a Templar agent, Jean Gilbert, revealed the plot. He would receive a recognition for his action, but was killed by an Assassin send by the Council.

Reign of Terror
In September, Germain and Maximilien de Robespierre installed what which be called the Reign of Terror for eliminating all enemies of the Revolution and achieve the Great Work. In November, a Robespierre's spy, Didier Paton, uncover the Templar Order and revealed to his master, unknowingly the fact he was also a Templar. Paton was condemned to death. The Assassins recover his notebook where many Templars were listed and saved Paton from the guillotine. Paton joined the Brotherhood. Later in February 1794, the Templars planned to use Jacques Roux and his Enragés to take Paris. A first team of Assassin was sent to kill Roux, who was imprisoned in the Salpêtrière Hospital, but they failed and were imprisoned in the asylum. A second team of Assassins rescued the first team and succeed in killing Roux. Later on of Roux's lieutenant prepared a riot against the government. The Assassins killed him.

On 5 April, Danton and other Indulgents were sent to the guillotine as traitor of the Nation. A team of Assassin wanted to rescue their ally but Danton accepted his fate and asked the Assassins to protected his friends who will be arrest by Robespierre's men. In May, the population of Paris wanted to remove the ashes of Mirabeau from the Panthéon after they learned that Mirabeau negotiating with the King. The Assassins, who feared that Templars would exposed the Brotherhood from the view of the population with the discover of an Assassin crypt, entered in the sanctuary and remove the relics of their Mentor.

During this time, even if Arno was expelled from the Brotherhood, he continued with Élise to fight Germain. He killed Aloys la Touche, who executed the population of Versailles. In his memories, he learned that Robespierre was a Templar and the two lovers planned to discredit Robespierre and when he will have no support, used him to find Germain. By 27 July 1794, the Convention wanted to arrest Robespierre and his followers. Arno and Élise interrogated Robespierre and learned that Germain was in the Temple. They left Robespierre to the justice. In the Temple, Germain used the sword of Eden which was hidden four centuries ago to fight the couple. During the battle, Germain killed Élise as Arno killed the Grand Master Templar. After the death of Robespierre, Théroigne de Méricourt and the Assassins stormed the Jacobin Club and killed the last Templars who were in the Club.

At the end of the revolution
In 1795, the Assassins wanted to save Louis XVII of France who was an hostage of the Templars. Arno Dorian, who was reinstated in the Brotherhood, saved the hostage, who was in fact the servant of the Prince, who died in the Temple. In the late 1790's, the Templars infiltrated the Council of Five Hundred and wanted to continue the Terror. Arno Dorian killed the Templars in the government. Later, on 24 December 1799, a team of Assassins rescued Napoleon Bonaparte from an assassination attempt organized by royalist and killed their leader, François-Joseph Carbon.

Origins and appearance
At the beginning of the 14th century some French Assassins, like Thomas de Carneillon, wore robes similar to the Master Assassin robe of the Levantine Brotherhood, with some differences, like the color and with a leather hood. During the French Revolution, most of the Assassins, like Pierre Bellec, wore a white, yellow or black military uniform with a dark hood and a mask to hide their face. The female Assassins had shorter robes and, sometimes, wore masquerade masks. Other Assassins, like Master Trenet and Quémar, wore leather robes. Arno Dorian, in his early years in the Brotherhood, wore a blue robe and later wore different robes. The Master of the French Brotherhood received an honorific robe.

Most of the French Assassins were French people but some Assassins had other origins, like John De La Tour and Pierre Bellec, who were Canadians, or Guillaume Beylier and Augustin Grisier, who had African heritage.

Techniques
The French Assassins were trained in stealth, combat and parkour and used most of the tactics created by the Levantine Brotherhood. Unlike the others branches, the French Assassins wore only one hidden blade but they developed a tactic for assassinating two targets with one blade. Also when an initiate became an Assassin, he received the Phantom Blade, a little crossbow incorporated in the Hidden Blade which could shoot blades or poison darts. The French Assassins used a variety of weapons, like swords, maces, spears, axes, pistols and muskets. Like the Turkish Assassins, the French Assassins used different kind of bombs to lure or cripple their enemies, like smoke bombs, cherry bombs, stun bombs, money pouches or poisonous bombs.

Members

 * Julie d'Aubigny
 * François Auverlot
 * Louise Auverlot
 * Pierre Bellec
 * Camille Berteau
 * Pierre Berteau
 * Hubert Besy
 * Guillaume Beylier
 * Simon Bonhomme
 * Guillaume Bourgeois
 * Brasseur
 * Jacques Cagnard
 * Thomas de Carneillon
 * Louis-Dominique Cartouche
 * Cartouche II
 * Cartouche III
 * Claude Chemin
 * Charles Chevrier
 * Geneviève Dalle
 * Joseph Deshais
 * Arno Dorian
 * Charles Dorian
 * Helene Dufranc
 * Antoine Faroy
 * Antoine Fieve
 * Nicolas Fribourg
 * Paul Ganchard
 * Pierre Gard
 * Alexandre Garnier
 * François Garnier
 * Jacques Girard
 * Gabriel Godin
 * Charlotte Gouze
 * Anne Grelet
 * Augustin Grisier
 * Pierre Guilbert
 * Louise Harly
 * Camille Hautcoeur
 * Philippe Hélissant
 * Marguerite Huet
 * Claude Hure
 * Catherine Imbert
 * Charles Imbert
 * Edmé Leblanc
 * Simon Leblanc
 * Laurent Lemaire
 * Claude Lejeune
 * Madeleine Leroux
 * Louis-Joseph d'Albert de Luynes
 * Maréchal
 * Marguerite Mignot
 * Mirabeau
 * Mireille
 * Paul Morot
 * Guillaume de Nogaret
 * Didier Paton
 * Hervé Quemar
 * Élisabeth Roger
 * Laurent Rousseau
 * Nicolas de Saint-Prix
 * William de Saint-Prix
 * Germain Savin
 * Thomas Simon
 * John de la Tour
 * Le Téméraire
 * Sophie Trenet
 * Denis Varlet

Allies:


 * Napoleon Bonaparte
 * Jean-François Champollion
 * Georges Danton
 * Thomas-Alexandre Dumas
 * Chevalier d'Éon
 * Antoine Lavoisier
 * Marie Anne Lenormand
 * Théroigne de Méricourt
 * Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade
 * Élise de la Serre
 * François de la Serre