User:Master Sima Yi/Blog

When we first heard of the First Civilization, then only called Those Who Came Before, it was through the words of Dr. Warren Vidic. After further research around the Animus Project laboratory and sessions in the Animus reliving the memories of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, we learned that these Precursors were the gods of old mythologies and religions, and had been extinct for quite some time. Those who did not die in the Toba catastrophe in 75.000 BCE, lived to be revered as gods by the various new cultures of humans that spread throughout the world. But even after they'd all passed away, the artifacts they left behind are still much sought after by the Assassins and Templars, who have become entangled in conflict vying to see their own world ideology persevere.

Koh-i-Noor
The Koh-i-Noor, a historical diamond currently among the British Crown Jewels. Its most notable possessor was Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire. This Piece of Eden is theorized to have the power to combine all other Pieces of Eden together, and legend says that only God or a woman could wield its power. Gods referring to the First Civilization, obviously. But only women can utilize it? I think comes into play here. Eve's importance has been emphasized by both Clay Kaczmarek and a Prophecy Disk found by Aveline de Grandpré, and undoubtedly plays some role here. Upon activation, the Koh-i-Noor releases energy, initially harmless but can be utilized as a fatal weapon.

Ranjit Singh's granddaughter Pyara Kaur used the Koh-i-Noor, and she then took the form of a member of the First Civilization – I suspect of the Goddess, considering the energy takes the form of a tiger. Similar to Minerva, she sent a message to humanity through Jot Soora, who was reliving Arbaaz's memories in 2013, telling them to unite and maintain contact with the First Civilization. Why unite now? Unite against Juno? The Koh-i-Noor was then destroyed by General Francis Cotton, however, shattering it into pieces. So I guess we will never see how the Koh-i-Noor would be capable of combining all Pieces of Eden.

Voynich manuscript
"You see the blue shimmer. You hear the words. But you do not know."

- Juno to Desmond Miles in the Temple of Juno, 2012.

Prior to finding the Koh-i-Noor, the Mentor of the Indian Assassins, Hamid, tasked Arbaaz Mir with retrieving an old document detailing several First Civilization artifacts, with the Koh-i-Noor in the middle. In the top center and bottom are two suns. At the left of the image we can see an Apple, a Memory Seal and an unknown round object. At the right there is another Apple of Eden, connected to the pedestal from the Temple of Juno drawn by Marcus Junius Brutus. Underneath the pedestal is some unknown script, about which Hamid responded that he could make out small bits, but that nobody has been able to fully decipher it yet. Upon opening the document, a blue shimmer emmitted from the paper.

Further inspection of the bottom left and bottom right pages of the map (thanks to Access the Animus for providing a bigger view of the map), confirms their relation to the Voynich manuscript. The circular symbol on the bottom left page bears a strong similarity to Folio 70 r of the Voynich manuscript, while th bottom right page is nearly identical to Folio 75 r. Both these pages detail "Nymphs", mythological nature deities. The Voynich manuscript is written in an as-yet unknown writing system, and has been passed down through numerous hands over the last centuries. Edward Kenway collected four of the manuscript's pages, including the two aforementioned ones. But the most noteworthy possessor was Emperor Rudolf II of the Holy Roman Empire, and it was often connected to the English alchemists John Dee and Edward Kelley.