Bolden family

The Bolden family was an American family who was famous for being the last lineage of Black Cross, inquisitors tracking corruption in the Templar Order. The family was responsible for the protection of the Koh-i-Noor.

History[]

Journey in Libya[]

ACTemplars Solomon Bolden — Solomon Bolden

The eldest known member of the Bolden family was Solomon Bolden, an Afro-American member of the American Rite of the Templar Order at the dawn of the 19th century. He was also married but didn't sire children with her. When the Black Cross Tavis Olier was presumed dead during his search of the Koh-i-Noor, a Piece of Eden who was in possession of the Ottoman sultan Selim III, Solomon took his mantle as Black Cross and investigated in Libya to save Olier who was imprisoned in Tripoli.^[1]

In 1805, posing as a slaver, Solomon met the Flemish spy Jan van der Graff, who also search the diamond for the French Emperor Napoleon I. After surviving of a pirates attack sent by Selim, the two men decided to work together, Solomon will protect Graff during the travel while the Flemish spy will help the Black Cross to infiltrate the dungeon where was Olier. In Tripoli, they met in a tavern Graff's contacts, Edmund and Ahkbar. Edmund revealed that a tunnel passed under the palace before been killed by soldiers in the street. Bolden and Graff entered in the tunnel, but several men waiting for them, of which Ahkbar, who was a sultan's agent. During the fight, Ahkbar stabbed Solomon in the back. In his last breath, the Black Cross tasked Graff to find Olier. Graff was captured and sent in the dungeon.^[1]

Black Cross Graff — Jan van der Graff as the new Black Cross

In his cell, Graff met Olier, who trained him to become a Templar. In July 1808, they discovered that the Libyan Assassins tried to recover the Koh-i-Noor from Selim. The two Templars escaped from their cell but Olier sacrificed himself to give the opportunity to Graff to continue the mission. Becoming the new Black Cross, Graff entered in the sultan's apartment and discovered that Selim was poisoned by Ahkbar, who was also an Assassins but wanted to keep the diamond for himself. Graff fought the Assassin who created doubles of himself with the artifact. The Black Cross saw through the illusion and killed Ahkbar. After discovering the treason of Ahkbar, the Assassins decided to spare Graff's life after he declared that he didn't want to continue to be a Templar and left with the box containing the artifact. In fact Graff was lying and had removing the Koh-i-Noor of the box before the arriving of the Assassins.^[1]

Later, Graff went in America to tell to Solomon's wife the fate of her husband. The two had a relation and conceived a child who continued the Bolden lineage.^[1]

The last Black Cross[]

In 1893, Albert Bolden, Graff's great-grandson, born in Baltimore. Before joining the Templars and becoming a Black Cross, Albert was a soldier, part of the Harlem Hellfighters who fought in the trenches of World War I. Before going on the front, he sired a daugter with his wife. After the war, Albert became the new Black Cross. Posing as the leading trumpeter in the jazz group Albie Bolden and the Harlem Hotsteppers, he travelled around the world killing corrupted Templars, eliminating Assassin cells and finding pieces of Eden.^[1] To protect the Koh-i-Noor, Albert secreted the diamond in a Swiss bank.^[2]

ACTemplars Black Cross confronts Gift — Albert Bolden confronting Gift

In February 1927, Albert was sent by the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Order in London to assassinate the corrupted Grand Master of the British Rite of the Templar Order Thaddeus Gift. Albert killed him and took his Templar ring. In April, Albert arrived in Shanghai, to investigate on the local Templar Rite. During his mission, the General and Templar ally Chiang Kai-shek ordered the massacre of the Chinese communist against the order of the Rite. The Black Cross had to save the actress Ruan Lingyu and Darius Gift, Thaddeus' son, from Flowery Flag, an henchman of Green Gang, a criminal syndicate ally with Chiang. Wounded during the fight, Bolden was shot by Darius who seek revenge for his father's death. Albert fell of a ledge seemling died in the street.^[1]

Albert survived from his fall and was sent to an hospital to be treated. Bolden decided to not reported his survive to the Order and disappeared. A year later, the British Templar and Instruments of the First Will Rufus Grosvenor met Albert in a opium den. He tried to blackmail the former Black Cross, threatening to reveal to the Order that he was alive if he didn't gave him the Koh-i-Noor. Bolden refused and left China to recover the Koh-i-Noor before reconnecting with his family.^[2]

ACUp Ignacio and Albert in Spanish Civil War — Cardona and Bolden during the Spanish Civil War

In 1937, Bolden found his family killed by Grosvenor and the diamond was stolen. Albert hunted down the Templar and arrived in Spain in the middle of the Spanish Civil War. During his quest, he allied with the Spanish Assassin Ignacio Cardona to take down Grosvenor, who had manipulated Cardona's Assassin cell to use the Koh-i-Noor. Bolden and Cardona confronted Grosvenor in a church of a village destroyed by the war. Using the power of the artifact, Cardona made the church collapsed and created an illusion of the diamond explosing while in fact it stayed under the ruins of the church. After Grosvenor's escape, Cardona asked if Bolden will join the Assassins. The former Black Cross refused but said that he will not work for the Templars if they continued to ally with Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. Bolden also promised to stay in Spain to protect the Koh-i-Noor and to help Cardona to fight the Nationalist Army.^[2]

Passing Black Cross legacy[]

In 1944, Albert had a son, André Bolden. He never knew about his family connection with the Templar Order, but like his father before him, André enlisted in the U.S Army during the Vietnam War. He returned from the war with PTSD. A decade after his return, André fell in love with a woman who had a daughter. He decided to live with her and adopted her daughter but due to his troubles she left him with their daughter in 2006.^[1]

ACTemplars Bolden Black Cross — André passing his family heirloom to Berg

In 2016, André was contacted by Abstergo Industries, who pretending to wish to cure him of his PTSD. In fact Abstergo was the modern front organization of the Templar Order, who wanted to have access to his DNA to find the Koh-i-Noor. He was brought in one of Abstergo's facility in Philadelphia. Under the watch of the Inner Sanctum member Juhani Otso Berg, André was put in an Animus, a device which permitted to relive the memories of Jan van der Graff. He discovered the truth about his family and the Assassin-Templar War. After André finished to experience Graff's memories, he convinced Berg to take the mantle of the Black Cross.^[1]

In 2017, André helped Berg in his unofficial status of Black Cross, investigated on the Instruments of the First Will and taking the mantle of the Black Cross before the Inner Sanctum when Berg was in the same room.^[2]