Acre

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Acre is a coastal city located to the east of the Mediterranean Sea. It is situated in Western Galilee, in the northern area of Israel.

History

Middle Ages

In the year 1190, during the ongoing Christian Crusade, the Crusader armies of Richard I of England – led by the Knights Templar – laid siege to the city and planned to poison its water supply in order to wipe out its entire population. The Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad was able to stop this plot by killing the Templar commander in charge of the operation.^[1]

The following year, however, the city fell to the besieging Crusader forces. Acre then served as the capital of the remnants of the Kingdom of Jerusalem until the end of the Crusades.^[2]

It was in this city that the Christian Crusaders established a base of operations in order to stockpile weapons and troops. With this, they intended to march south towards Jaffa. From there, they planned to launch an all out siege upon their true target, Jerusalem, which they had come from Europe to reclaim in the name of their religious faith.^[2]

Renaissance

In 1511, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Mentor of the Italian Assassins, stayed in Acre while en route to Masyaf; there, the people of the city warned Ezio that the road to Masyaf was crawling with bandits and "foreign mercenaries." Ezio assumed the worst, believing that this was another line of Templars. He expressed this concern in a letter he wrote to his sister Claudia Auditore da Firenze.^[3]

A year later, Ezio and Sofia Sartor stayed in Acre during their journey to Masyaf, in a quest to open Altaïr's library.^[4]

Districts

Poor District

In 1191, due to the recent siege, the Poor District was still recovering from the numerous casualties. Many dead bodies lay in the streets and alleys and around the main gate into Acre.^[2] The people also fought off disease, despair, oppression, corruption, and the memories of those lost, while the haunting stench of death filled the air. King Richard placed the entire district under the jurisdiction of the Knights Hospitalier, who governed from their fortress located at the north end of the district.^[2]

Middle District

The Middle District was more lively, in terms of both citizenry and military presence. Richard gave control of the area to the Knights Teutonic.^[2] In Acre's Middle District, there was a large harbor port, whose docks possessed many troublemakers and drunken sailors. The paranoid Templar Sibrand, Grand Master of the Knights Teutonic, kept an extremely sharp watch over the district. Rumors eventually reached him, however, that the Assassins had come to take his life. These fears began to cloud his judgement and drove Sibrand to fortify the entire area, including the docks.^[2]

Rich District

As King Richard the Lionheart fought Saladin and his Saracen forces, the duty of governing the entire city fell to the regent and liege-lord, William of Montferrat. The Rich District was the center of Montferrat's power, and because of this, it was the district that suffered the most under his rule. Much of the populace complained about their ill treatment, while others plotted his downfall.^[2]

Within the beautiful Rich District were notable landmarks such as King Richard's Citadel, of which a small keep within the fortress housed William's quarters. The citadel's interior contained large numbers of guards and archers, and operated like an autonomous, small town within the city.^[2] Another landmark in Acre was the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, the largest Crusader church in the city. The building itself concealed a Templar knight in the incomplete spire and also proved to be the highest climbable point in the cities that Altaïr visited.^[2]

Trivia

The cinematic video shown at the start of Assassin's Creed occurred in Acre.
Acre was also the location shown in most of the official pre-release Assassin's Creed trailers.
Acre was drastically altered from the first few gameplay demos shown at E3 in 2006. The first version of Acre had a larger area outside the city walls and could be entered while on horseback.
Acre's climate was dramatically different from the other settlements, since it was next to the Mediterranean Sea, giving a misty and foggy effect to the streets.
The tallest View Point in Assassin's Creed was located in Acre, being the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.
Historically, Acre was the last stronghold of the real-life Knights Templar, before they were permanently expelled from the Holy Land.