Grand Master of the Assassin Order

The title of Grand Master was the highest rank attainable within the Order of Assassins and granted the bearer full control over the Order. It was comparable to the Templar rank of the same name.

Upon being promoted, the Grand Master was from then on known as "the Mentor" by his fellow Assassins.

12th century
By 1191, the Order had located itself in the Kingdom of the Holy Land and the Grand Master had become an individual only known as "Al Mualim", who ruled from the Assassins' fortress in Masyaf. The following year, after the revelation of Al Mualim's membership within the Templar Order and subsequent death, the title was taken by his executioner, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad.

16th century
In January 1500, Niccolò Machiavelli took on the position of Grand Master and based the Order in Rome, Italy, the center of the Templars' power. During his time as the Grand Master he, secretly, assisted or saved Ezio Auditore on several occasions: Machiavelli saved Ezio from the coutry roadside after he collapsed due to the injuries he aquired during the siege of Monteriggioni. Machiavelli was also responsible for the explosion at the Castel Sant'Angelo, which forced the guards to retreat, preventing Ezio from being entirely overwhelmed, additionally he had some mercenaries provide Ezio aid during the Passion Play disaster.

However, in 1503, Ezio Auditore da Firenze was given the title of Grand Master after Machiavelli passed the position onto him, realizing that Ezio was a stronger leader and was actually leading the war against the Borgia, despite taking no credit, and that he would set a better example to the other members of the Order.

Modern times
The position of Grand Master still existed in Modern times. In 1888, Nikolai Orelov, an Assassin during the Russian Revolution, recieves his orders directly from "The Mentor".

A hundred years later, another Mentor is still active, and still operating under the same name as his predecessors. In 1998, Daniel Cross began to seek him out after having a bizarre hallucination of Orelov, who was his great-grandfather.