Warren Vidic

"I believe there was a book that claimed the world was created in seven days. Best-seller too!"

- Warren to Desmond regarding the Bible.

Dr. Warren Vidic was a member of the Templar Order, and a scientist employed by Abstergo Industries. He was also the head of research for the genetic memory and Animus project.

Early life
Little is known about Warren's life, though he has been working for Abstergo since at least 1982. He was not a typically pleasant man, and was often constantly engrossed in his work.

Warren's theories allowed for the creation of the Animus, though the assembly and engineering of the Animi themselves were left to his close co-worker, Lucy Stillman, as well as several Abstergo engineers. Warren nevertheless oversaw the entire Animus project upon its inception.

Some time before this, Warren was responsible for recruiting Lucy into Abstergo. Though Lucy was attempting to finish her PhD in the University, her professors disliked the subject of her doctorate; calling it a "pseudo-science" that would discredit them if she was allowed to pursue it.

Lucy approached several other universities and companies after this, hearing the same reactions everywhere, until she received a letter from Warren. Warren claimed that he had been following her work since she was an undergrad, and found great promise in it and her. Flattered and having little other choice, Lucy accepted the position he offered her at Abstergo; though she would later suspect whether they had been behind the widespread rejection of her theories from the beginning.

Warren kept a close eye on Lucy after she joined the Animus project, and once rescued her from an attempt on her life by three men, who were her co-workers at the company. After Warren saved her, he promised her that they would never bother her again.

Subject 4
Around 1985, Warren began to experiment on Subject 4, a young boy who would later be given the alias "Daniel Cross."

Warren placed Daniel in the Animus to relive the memories of his ancestor, though he also experimented on him using a replica Piece of Eden. At this time, Daniel was also embedded with a subconscious impulse to assassinate the Mentor of the Assassin Order.

Subject 15
Warren and Lucy both worked on Subject 15, who was a pregnant woman. They had difficulties with the Animus, which began reading the genetic memories from both Subject 15, and her baby's father.

Subject 16
Warren eventually grew impatient with the time it took for his subjects to gain enough synchronization with their ancestors, in order to access further memories. This, along with receiving much pressure from his superiors, led him to ignore Lucy's warnings, and force Subject 16 into the Animus for days on end.

As a result, Sixteen began to suffer severely from the Bleeding effect, causing him to hallucinate and confuse the lives of his ancestors with his own. This eventually led to a breakdown, wherein he inscribed several cryptic messages on the wall of his room using his own blood, and his subsequent suicide.

Afterwards, Warren requested Lucy to assign a linguist and a historian to research and decipher the messages.

Subject 17
"I'm about ready to pull the plug on your Subject Seventeen. So either get me results or get another person into that Animus."

- An e-mail from Alan Rikkin to Warren.

In the year 2012, Warren authorized the capture of the seventeenth test subject; a bartender named Desmond Miles. After his retrieval, both Warren and Lucy personally oversaw Desmond's interactions in the Animus at the Abstergo laboratory.

At first, Warren found the new test subject both unwilling and, subconsciously, not confident enough to explore his ancestor's memories. He only managed to gain his cooperation after threatening to medically induce a coma, and discard his body afterwards.

Despite Desmond's cooperation, however, progress was slow. After what had happened to Subject 16, Lucy was overly protective of Desmond's health, and insisted on very short sessions within the Animus to avoid the Bleeding effect. Warren consented to her requests, though irritably.

As the week went on though, and as Desmond eventually made progress within the Animus, Warren's mood swung from short-tempered to calm and collected. During one such day, whilst looking out over the skyline outside his laboratory, Warren unknowingly left his access pen in plain sight in his pocket; allowing Desmond to steal it without him noticing.

At the beginning of each day, Warren was often the one to wake Desmond and order him into the Animus; with Desmond once commenting on how "creepy" it was to wake up and find him standing over him. At these times, Warren would also converse with Desmond, speaking a little about the Templars' achievements, and their pursuit of a New World Order.

Towards the end of the week, as Desmond began to approach the conclusion of his journey within his ancestor's memories, Warren started to become much more eager and insistent on a quick closure.

After witnessing the death of Al Mualim, and the activation of the Templar treasure in Desmond's genetic memories, Warren recorded the map displayed within the memory, commenting triumphantly that "We've got it."

As Desmond awoke, he saw three suited individuals in the laboratory's conference room. The three begun discussing the session results with Warren, and insisted upon Desmond's immediate termination. Though Warren agreed, Lucy interrupted, claiming that Desmond's use had not yet ended.

She and Warren argued to the point of Warren claiming that Lucy was undermining his authority, though he eventually consented to "leave nothing to chance." Ordering Desmond back into his room, Warren left the laboratory.

Soon after this, realizing the threat on Desmond's life, Lucy revealed herself to be allied to the Assassins, and helped Desmond escape Abstergo.

Abstergo escape
"We miss you terribly. There's still so much work for us to do together."

- Warren to Desmond, during his attempt to recapture him.

The next day, Warren received word of Desmond's escape, and Lucy's betrayal. Abstergo quickly set about tracking down the Assassins, and within three days, Warren led an assault on the Assassins' warehouse Hideout.

Accompanied by a contingent of Abstergo security guards, Warren attempted to apprehend Desmond and Lucy, arriving just as Desmond finished exploring the memories of another of his ancestors – Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Cutting off the Assassins' escape, Warren attempted to coerce Desmond into coming peacefully, whilst berating Lucy for turning on him.

Both Assassins rejected his offers, thus Warren ordered his guards to take them by force, while he himself merely watched from the open back of a truck. Minutes later, however, following the death or incapacitation of his entourage, Warren was confronted by Desmond.

Desmond challenged Warren to face him, but Warren only told him that it was a matter of time until he and Lucy were "both back where they belonged." Then, after commenting that the Assassins should enjoy their temporary victory, he fled.

Animus project
Upon his return to Abstergo, Warren began to lead a mass training of several of Abstergo's loyal agents in Animi. Purposefully using the bleeding effect, he began to infuse them with the skills necessary to track down and defeat the Assassins.

Impressed by some recruits, Vidic progressed them to the next training program and awarded them with wealth and a priveliged status in society: Vidic even appeared to greet one agent with a toast upon arriving at their new mansion. They became Master Templars, and were soon sent after the newly located Assassin leader, William Miles.

Personality and characteristics
"Corruption is no different than cancer. Cut out the tumors, but fail to treat the source and... well, you're buying time at best. There's no true change to be had without comprehensive, systemic intervention."

- Warren to Desmond.

Warren was a hardened scientist and fanatical member of the Templar Order. Although an intelligent man, he was somewhat forgetful, and often needed reminding of passcodes. He was also careless with his access pen, which he often allowed to hang out of his pocket; resulting in losing it once in the parking lot, and once to Desmond at the Abstergo laboratories.

An atheist, Warren believed wholeheartedly in the nonexistence of God, suggesting that many religious artifacts such as the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant and the Apple were simply technology left behind by Those Who Came Before.

Ruthless, yet clumsy, Warren had a short temper and showed little care for the welfare of his test subjects.

Lucy
"You told me she wasn't going to be a problem and here she is stirring up the shit again. Deal with this, Warren. You vouched for her. You're responsible for her."

- An e-mail from Alan to Warren.

Warren's relationship with Lucy was frosty at best. Despite saving her life and taking her under his wing, Warren seemed to barely tolerate her presence, and found her insistence on prolonging the project - out of concern for its subjects - irritating.

Despite this however, he did care for Lucy, and would withhold information that he knew would force his hand, and lead to her death. One such case was the circumstances surrounding the death of Lucy's friend Leila Marino, which she tirelessly attempted to discover.

After being alerted of her constant questions, and being told to "deal with it," Warren contacted Lucy and gave her vague answers; saying that Leila had killed herself because of a relationship with a man named Neumann. After this, he warned her to drop the subject, and not "dip her pen in company ink."

In turn, and out of gratitude for Warren rescuing her, Lucy was very tolerant of how he treated her. Additionally, at one point when Desmond insulted Warren, Lucy defended him, simply saying, "He’s under a lot of pressure. We all are."

After confronting Lucy and Desmond upon their escape, Warren reprimanded Lucy's treachery, and dismissed her defensive responses by saying that she had equally helped him cause pain and misery to their test subjects.

Trivia

 * "Warren" means "guarded", it is a name of old Germanic origin.
 * "Vidic" is a common Serbian surname (Serbian latinic: Vidić, pronounced: ˈʋiditɕ) and roughly translates to "the one who sees" or "of those who see."
 * An e-mail from Alan Rikkin suggests that Warren is in possession of a Crystal Skull.
 * In the Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood multiplayer, Warren features in the introductory video, and as the narrator for the training program.
 * A letter within the Rift Cluster discussing the partial reproduction of the Pieces of Eden's mind control signal over a television network puzzles is signed with the initials W.V.
 * Warren is voiced by and modeled after Phil Proctor.

Notes and references
Dr. Warren Vidic