Nikolai Orelov

Nikolai Orelov (Russian: Николай Орлов) was a Russian Assassin who lived during the late 19th and early 20th century. A member of the Russian sect of the Assassin Order; the Narodnaya Volya, he was closely tied with Aleksandr Ulyanov and Vladimir Lenin. He was the great-grandfather of Daniel Cross.

Biography
Orelov lived during the late 19th and early 20th century and operated mainly in Petrograd, Russia. In 1888, Nikolai was personally tasked by "the Mentor" with the assassination of Tsar Alexander III of Russia and the acquisition of the Royal Staff - in actuality a Piece of Eden.

Borki train disaster
Sometime in 1888, Nikolai woke in bed after having another nightmare about the death of his close friend, Aleksandr Ulyanov. He confided in his partner, Anna, that he felt deeply responsible for his death. She told him that Alek knew the risks when he joined the Brotherhood. Nikolai then told her that he had been tasked with assassinating Tsar Alexander III in order to loosen the Templar grip on the region. Anna wished him safety in his mission, for she needed him to help raise their child, with whom she was pregnant.

After infiltrating the train and making his way to the royal carriage, Orelov was surprised to find the entire Royal family traveling, when he had been told only the Tsar was aboard. Alexander III attacked him from behind and the two fought as the train careened off the tracks and crashes. Whilst Nikolai was recovering from the crash, Alexander III pulled out the Staff and challenged the Assassin to kill him with it, throwing the Staff to him. Despite wielding the Staff and relying upon his Assassin training, Nikolai was defeated by the physically superior Alexander, but was spared death when the Tsar's children came into view. Nikolai then flees to report his failure to the Order.

Tunguska event
In 1908, the Assassins captured a Templar named Dolinsky and Orelov tortured the man in order to reveal where the Staff had gone following his failure. Two other Assassins were present and one noted that his methods were extremely harsh, while the other replied that it was because he lost his child, possibly the one Anna had been pregnant with. Under threats to his family, Dolinsky revealed that the facility that housed the Staff was located in Siberia and Orelov set off for Tunguska.

The Mentor requested that Nikolai and his fellow Assassins would take back the Staff, which was being tested with electrical machines stolen from their ally, Nikola Tesla. While approaching the facility, which had a Tesla coil built above it, an Assassin with Orelov told him that Tesla stood ready with his teleforce weapon, in America, ready to destroy it.

Nikolai and his comrades stormed the facility, killing all of the Templar guards within. When Orelov reached the top, the Staff had been activated by the electrical current. He heard voices coming from it, saying things like “Adam, I have it”, “Just like your father”, and “Eve”. At that moment, Tesla activated his weapon with the words “Rot in hell, Thomas,” and the tower was destroyed. Orelov was the only survivor, laying with his clothes in tatters, on the edge of the explosion mumbling that the Staff had been destroyed.

Appearance
Orelov wore a large fur coat with the traditional Assassin's hood. He wielded one Hidden Blade, a dagger, a sabre and a rifle. He wore a sash and a baldric with the Assassins' emblem on it.

Trivia

 * The Russian surname Orelov (Орлов) means "сын орла" (syn orla), or "son of oryol," where "oryol" means "eagle." It could also come from Orel, which is Czech, Slovenian and Bulgarian for "eagle." This is in continuation of the series' tradition of referencing the protagonist's name to that of the eagle in the Assassin's native language, or some derivation.
 * In Assassin's Creed: The Fall issue two, he was interogating a Templar with two other Assassins. During Nikolaiorelov.JPG interogation, one Assassin asked, "Are Brother Orelov's methods always so... savage?" The other one replied, "He was a gentler man when I met him, years ago. Before they lost the child," Indicating that Nikolai's child died at sometime before the Tunguska event. Eventually one of his children lives long enough to have a child, for his great-grandchild is Daniel Cross.

Source

 * Assassin's Creed: The Fall Issue #1