Save Citizen

Save Citizen quests were optional missions in which Altaïr or Ezio saved helpless citizens who were being harassed, taunted, and shoved by guards. The guards were accusing them of crimes they most likely did not commit and were threatening to hurt them. On occasion, Assassins would save citizens in the city from harassing guards, gaining their loyalty as potential allies.

Third Crusade
In the Third Crusade, Save Citizen missions were simple affairs. Guards harassed a citizen, accusing them of crimes, while other guards stood around the scene, scaring away any resistance to the wrongdoing that went on behind them.

There were usually three to five guards around the citizen. Two or three were in the process of actively shaking and harassing the citizen, while the remaining guards stood as lookouts. The lookouts would push Altaïr away if he got too close.

Outcomes
Once all of the guards (including any other ones that have joined the fight) were killed, the saved citizen would have profusely thank Altaïr, and a group of either Vigilantes or Scholars would be put at his disposal.

Rome
In Rome, citizens saved by Ezio would be given the opportunity to join Assassins Guild as apprentices and join the fight for the freedom of Rome by breaking the corrupt and ruthless Borgia influence. Save Citizen missions were only encountered if Assassin Recruit slots were open, which is relative to how many Borgia Towers have been destroyed.

Situations
When encountered in Rome, the citizens, who ccould have been either male or female, were usually surrounded by 4 to 5 guards in a standoff. Once Ezio physically arrives, the citizen would have engaged in combat after a couple of seconds. A few different situations can be seen :
 * The citizen was surrounded on all sides and the guards have their swords drawn, frozen in a standoff.
 * The citizen had taken a guard hostage and had pressed his/her blade to his throat in attempts to make the other guards back down.
 * The reverse could happen, with a guard holding a citizen in headlock.
 * The citizen had a guard by the scruff of the neck and was holding the guard over a cliff, threatening to drop him to his death if the other guards should have advanced on him/her (this happens more frequently in the hilly, countryside towns to the south and east of the city itself).
 * The citizen has his/her back against the wall, brandishing his/her sword at the surrounding guards.
 * Sometimes, the citizen had already started fighting with the guards in earnest. This can happen if Ezio was nearby the Save Citizen quest and can hear it, but not see it.

Outcomes
No matter what the situation, the citizens will eventually start fighting the multiple guards alone. If Ezio didn't assist the citizen quickly, or simply walks away, they would have been killed by the overwhelming force presented by the guards, and the mission would have failed.

If Ezio chose to help the citizen and wished to recruit him or her, he killed all the guards. He then talked to the citizen. They would then thank Ezio for his aid, and pledge themselves to his cause. Ezio will recruit them and the citizen will run off (assumedly to the Tiber Island headquarters) to become an Assassin Recruit.

If Ezio decided he didn't want to recruit a particular citizen after arriving on the scene, he simply walked away without engaging the guards or he did not talk to the citizen after killing all the guards.

This was helpful when Ezio wanted to keep a healthy balance of male and female recruits, or simply do not wish to take on another Recruit at a particular time.

Constantinople
In Constantinople, they are now Random Quests. These quests could be helping a store owner who is being robbed or a child who needs help.

Trivia

 * In Assassin's Creed, as Altaïr approaches Damascus for the first time in the game, there will be a citizen to be saved near market outside the main gates. This one Save Citizen is mandatory - it must be done and cannot be skipped. It is the only required save citizen mission in the game.
 * In Assassin's Creed, Altaïr speaks Arabic when he attacks a Guard.
 * In Assassin's Creed, save Citizen missions are only available in the three cities - Damascus, Acre, and Jerusalem.
 * Unlike the ones in Assassin's Creed, the save citizen missions in Brotherhood are always available as long as there is an Assassin Recruit position free in the Assassins Guild.
 * Sometimes in Brotherhood, a citizen falls off a cliff or another high structure, to his death. However, if you kill the guards before the citizen has reached the ground, he will just rise from the ground like nothing happened and you will still have the ability to recruit the citizen.