John Standish

"Guide me into the grey, beloved! I am your instrument!"

- John's last words, 2013.

John Standish (1975 – 2013) was a Sage and member of the Instruments of the First Will. In order to affect the First Will's plans, John operated as an Assassin-insider at Abstergo Entertainment.

As the head of the IT department at Abstergo Entertainment's Montreal facility, John had access to all of the building's security and infrastructure systems. However, even with this access, he used other employees to retrieve sensitive information for him.

Utilizing the Assassins
John was, at some point, approached by Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, in order to infiltrate Abstergo Entertainment and gain access to its servers, in the hopes of uncovering information regarding the fate of Desmond Miles' body following the events that took place in the Grand Temple.

John took advantage of this opportunity and eagerly set about using the Assassins to gain access to the building, in order to effect his own plan to reincarnate Juno, the former wife of his past incarnation.

Over the first few weeks of his employment John asked a number of different researchers for favors, but was repeatedly turned down by them. Eventually, on October 29, a new research analyst joined the company, and became the first to agree to help John.

He first spoke with the analyst over the company-issued earpiece, giving the employee varying levels of security clearance in order to access the Abstergo mainframe and download files. John then tasked the analyst with delivering the files to Rebecca Crane, who would be waiting in the building's main lobby disguised as a courier.

Eventually, after several repeated hackings, Abstergo began to suspect the research analyst and placed the entire research team under isolation. John, not wanting to lose his proxy, promised Melanie Lemay, the acting head of the Sample 17 Project, that he would identify the hacker, while at the same time directing the analyst to Abstergo's cloud server, ostensibly in order to wipe away any evidence of their wrongdoing.

Listening in over the earpiece, John waited patiently as his plan for Juno to possess the analyst's body failed; Juno was not yet strong enough to possess a host, existing only in a state capable of occupying various information networks across the globe. Realizing his plan had failed, John became enraged, screaming and cursing repeatedly down the comlink as the analyst returned to the Animus.

Death
Shortly thereafter, as the analyst finished their research of Edward Kenway's memories, John entered their security bunker and injected a poison into their bloodstream, in the hopes of weakening them enough to allow Juno to assume control of their body.

Meeting face to face with the analyst for the first time, he revealed himself to be a Sage, a reincarnation of Aita, one of the members of the First Civilization. He even spoke with an inflection similar to that of his predecessor, the pirate Bartholomew Roberts.

By this time, Abstergo had come to take the research analyst into custody, but found themselves locked out of the room by John. As he revealed his motives to the research analyst, the security team managed to force their way in. After he attempted to fire upon the security guards, they were forced to kill him in the process. John's actions and the evidence found on his computer subsequently convinced Melanie that he had been solely responsible for the hacks. John's body was taken by Abstergo, and his death was covered up with him leaving Abstergo Entertainment.

Abstergo subsequently discovered First Civilization DNA in John's genetic makeup and realized he was a Sage and kept his body in cryonic suspension. They then started the Phoenix Project to search for other Sages to use their DNA to backtrack to the earliest days of the First Civilization and unlock the secrets of the Pieces of Eden.

Trivia

 * John could be seen wearing a portrait necklace, depicting a visage of a woman, identical to the one worn by Bartholomew Roberts, one of Aita's previous reincarnations.
 * There were 20 digital sticky notes spread throughout the Abstergo Entertainment building that contained pieces of a document known as the Manifesto of the Instruments of the First Will, a discourse on the role of humanity set against the backdrop of the will of the First Civilization. It can be inferred that the Manifesto was written and distributed by John.
 * An audio message from John can be extracted from the game's files, taunting the analyst, and by extension the player, for having spent their time looking for the additional easter egg.

Reference

 * Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag