Board Thread:Series general discussion/@comment-28601337-20170714082214/@comment-2112031-20170714172454

Sol Pacificus wrote:

Cristophorus35 wrote: Indeed, I'm aware of that. When I first knew I didn't stop doing it haha.

But then, there's nothing in the lore that explains it? No Animus restriction? Because in terms of gameplay, it's more than obvious. But in the lore... I don't know.

Thanks. I could've sworn that before Altaïr officially introduced the technique, it wasn't that Assassins couldn't perform it, so much that Al Muslim forbade them to do so, just as he forbade the use of poison. It is likely then that Al Muslim also didn't teach it to them, but as the Wikia Editor mentioned, it's not the most complex of techniques, and individual Assassins could have conceived it themselves.

Altaïr apparently made an exception to this rule when saving Al Muslim from Haras. If I recall correctly, the official explanation for Altaïr performing an air assassination on Haras was that the situation didn't leave him with any other options.

I've reread Altaïr's Codex, the only prohibition mentioned is about the use of poison, no technique-related prohibitions were mentioned or implied. Altaïr mentioned it while talking about abolishing the traditions that were enforced under Al Mualim, such as the removal of the ring finger.

As for what can be considered Animus restrictions, that's a difficult one. Clay Kaczmarek stated in Revelations that the Animus 1.28 is "frankly primitive". In general, the Animus only gives access to areas, weapons and techniques that the ancestor experienced at that particular point in time. However, it's difficult to tell if, for example, Altaïr's ability to perform air assassinations in the original game can be considered part of the lore or just a fun trick meant to be discovered by experimental players.

Regardless, Bayek's use of a variation of the technique clearly shows that the concept already existed long before Altaïr invented the "official" version.