Alan Jacob was an English businessman who served as the representative of the Far East Company in the Portuguese colony of Macau during the 1720s.
Alongside Jan van Aert and Sun, he was a rival of the trading company led by Lee Huiyin. Under the Templars' influence, the three formed a secret alliance to sabotage Lee's business for their personal benefit, but their efforts were thwarted by the Assassin Edward Kenway.
Following the end of his alliance with Jan and Sun, Alan shifted his focus to locating the lost Khmer city of Angkor, which was rumored to house a valuable treasure. Taking advantage of Edward's own search for the artifact, Alan decided to let the Assassin find the treasure on his behalf while secretly having his men tail him.
Biography[]
Alliance against Lee[]
In February 1725, Alan collaborated with Sun, the head of the Hualien Trading Company, and Jan van Aert, the Chief Navigator for the Dutch East India Company, to sabotage a rival trading company led by Lee Huiyin and benefit their own respective businesses in the process. To this end, they hired Shimazu clan ninja led by the Templar Shimazu Saito to eliminate Lee at her own residence, the Mandarin's House.[1]
Alan being tailed by Edward Kenway
After the ninja failed to kill Lee, Alan called an emergency meeting with Sun and Jan at St. Dominic's Church to discuss their next course of action. On his way to the meeting, Alan was unknowingly followed by the Assassin Edward Kenway, who had protected Lee from the ninja. Observing the meeting from a balcony, Edward listened to the three men's conversation and suspected one of them of being a Templar.[2]
To cripple Lee's company, Alan came up with a plan that would require him, Sun and Jan to work together more closely and combine their respective companies' resources. While Sun was going to use his connections with the Shimazu clan to have the ninja continue attacking Lee's operations, Jan would have the Dutch Navy detain Lee's ships in the Macau harbor.[3]
Seeing that Sun and Jan were hesitant to follow his lead, Alan tried to entice their cooperation by showing them a "treasure" he had acquired, which he promised would bring them unprecedented wealth. Having convinced the two to do as they had been told, Alan then left the church in order to prepare for the next step of his plan.[3]
As it turned out, this plan was to frame Lee's company for trafficking opium, which was labelled as contraband by the Macau authorities. Seeking to aid Lee, Edward followed Alan to one of his convoys, which he then tailed to a basement in an alley where Alan's men were unloading the opium.[4] Upon discovering the true nature of their cargo, Edward was disgusted by the Far East Company's drug trafficking and sought to end their scheme. He later staged a raid on one of their ships being used to smuggle the opium into Macau, ultimately exposing the company's drug trafficking and leading to the ship being detained by the Dutch Navy.[5]
Alan meeting with Jan and Sun at the harbor
Following this, Alan met with Jan and Sun at the harbor, where he furiously accused the former of betraying their agreement and attempting to sabotage his company, despite Jan claiming he had no choice in the matter. Their fight was broken up by Sun, who suspected that Lee had somehow learned about their plan and had sabotaged it. He then offered to help Alan recover the confiscated opium shipment, and reminded him and Jan that they could not end their alliance until they had dealt with Lee.[6]
Quest for Angkor[]
Despite Sun's promise to recover the seized opium shipment, he was ultimately unable to do so due to Edward's interference, resulting in a major loss of profit for the Far East Company. Alan later retaliated by using his company's influence to blacklist the Assassin's recently-established organization, the Zhang Wei Union, so that its members would not find any clients to hire them.[7]
Alan being informed of Edward leaving Macau
Around this time, Alan also learned about the lost Khmer city of Angkor and, under the Templars' influence, had his company begin recruiting people for an expedition in Southeast Asia with the goal of finding Angkor and retrieving its treasure.[7]
When the Zhang Wei Union's members left Macau aboard the Fenghuang to pursue a lead to Angkor's location in the Philippines, Alan was informed of this by one of his spies. Rather than stop them, Alan intended to have the Union members lead him straight to Angkor's treasure, comparing them to a hound who leads the hunter to his prey. He then ordered his man to survey them at a distance as to avoid detection.[8]
Personality and traits[]
Alan was a greedy businessman motivated mainly by his desire to increase his company's profits by any means necessary. As such, he was not above breaking the law or sabotaging his rivals for his personal benefit.[2] His greed went so far that he did not care who had to suffer in order for him to further his ambitions, as shown in his willingness to engage in opium trafficking even if it meant ruining countless lives in the process.[5]
Alan was the self-proclaimed mastermind of the alliance against Lee, coming up with most of the group's plans. Although Jan van Aert and Sun were distrustful of him, he knew how to persuade them to follow his lead by appealing to their own avarice.[3] A skilled tactician, Alan knew how to achieve his goals by doing as little work as possible, usually relying on others to do the heavy lifting for him. This was shown in his decision to let Edward Kenway lead him to Angkor's treasure.[8]
However, Alan was also prone to anger, mainly whenever things did not go according to his plans. After his company's ship was detained by the Dutch Navy, he quickly blamed Jan for his plight and accused him of betraying their alliance.[6]
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
References[]
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 11
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 13
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 14
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 16
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 17
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 18
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 24
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 41