Memory Seals



Memory Seals were First Civilization artifacts with the ability to contain recorded memories. They were said to be the technological basis of the Animus device of Abstergo Industries.

Altaïr's library
In his late life, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Mentor of the Levantine Assassins, came upon six memory seals, after discovering that the Assassin fortress of Alamut was built upon the remains of a small First Civilization temple. This temple contained a large number of memory seals, and Altaïr used each of them to record an important event in his life, as well as making five of them the keys necessary to enter his library in Masyaf.

The six memories that Altaïr chose to record all took place within Masyaf. In order, they involved a Crusader skirmish in 1189, the revolt shortly after Rashid ad-Din Sinan's death in 1191, the death of Maria Thorpe and Altaïr's exile in 1227, Altaïr's return to Masyaf in 1247, the departure of the Polo brothers in 1257, and Altaïr's death that same year.

Upon Altaïr's request, Niccolò Polo took five of the memory seals, and hid them in small tombs throughout Constantinople. Respectively, the seals were placed within Topkapı Palace, the Yerebatan Cistern, Galata Tower, the Forum of the Ox, and the Maiden's Tower. The sixth memory seal remained with Altaïr inside his library, where he recorded his final moments.

In around 1512, Ezio Auditore da Firenze uncovered four of the seals, reclaimed the fifth one from Templars in Derinkuyu, and found the final one upon entering Altaïr's library.

Library of Alexandria
Two memory seals in Alexandria were located by the Mamluk Sultan's soldiers in 1511, during the excavation of the. These seals, kept within a chest dated 331 BC, were recovered by the Egyptian and Ottoman Assassins shortly afterwards.

These two seals were later taken to the local Assassins' headquarters, where they were studied by an unidentified woman referred to as a "blessed initiate." As she worked to "unlock the mysteries" of the seals, the Templars led an attack on the headquarters, though they were thwarted again by the Ottoman Assassins.