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He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. This article contains spoilers, meaning it has information and facts concerning Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple. If you do not want to know about these events, it is recommended to read on with caution, or not at all. |
The British Brotherhood of Assassins, also known as the London Brotherhood,[1] was the guild of Assassins based in the British Isles which had existed since the late 1st century CE as a branch of the Hidden Ones. Growing in the British Isles during the era of the Roman Empire, the Hidden Ones retreated from Britain in the 5th century due to the departure of the Romans.
In 872, Basim Ibn Ishaq and Hytham, two members of the Alamut Brotherhood in the Middle East, were sent to establish a new chapter in England. They allied with the Norse Raven Clan and installed their bureau in the clan's colony of Ravensthorpe. Hytham also formed an alliance with the clan's shieldmaiden Eivor Varinsdottir, who aided his efforts to eliminate the last remnants of the Hidden Ones' sworn enemies, the Order of the Ancients. Hytham and Eivor were secretly assisted in their endeavors by the Order's own Grand Maegester, King Alfred of Wessex, who used the destruction of the Order as an opportunity to reform it in his own image, resulting in the eventual formation of the Order of the Knights Templar.
Reorganized as the Assassins during the High Middle Ages, the British Brotherhood took part in the political conflicts in England, especially when the British Rite of the Templar Order was involved. In the 13th century, the guild took part in the First Barons' War against King John Lackland, who was manipulated by the Templars. In the 16th century, the Assassins killed the Templar Margaret of York for plotting to usurp King Henry VII. They also assassinated Queen Mary I as she was allied with the Templars, and placed her half-sister Elizabeth on the throne.
In the 18th century, the British Brotherhood knew its peak under the leadership of Edward Kenway and Miko before the two were killed by Templars led by Grand Master Reginald Birch. Left leaderless, the Assassins lost their grip on London and relocated their headquarters to Crawley, acting more carefully against the Templars who were well-implanted in the British Empire. In 1868, the actions of the twin Assassins Jacob and Evie Frye diminished the Templars' influence in London, permitting the guild to regain its strength in the country.
Like many other European guilds, the British Brotherhood was very active during World War I, sending Assassins on the front and in seats of power. In 2000, the guild was nearly wiped out during the Great Purge initiated by the Templars, leaving only a few members alive.
History[]
Roman Britain[]
Pre-foundation[]
- "For years we have scratched at the pillars of empire, toppling one or two when the foundation seemed too strong, and the weight of one Caesar's ambitions seemed too pressing. But there is a limit to how many supports a building may lose before it topples to the ground. We might have been more careful. We might have been more selective, more cautious in our approach to liberty."
- ―Magister Vitus, describing the Hidden Ones' activities in England in a letter left in the London bureau.[src]-[m]
The abandoned Hidden Ones bureau in Camulodunum in the 9th century
During the late 1st century CE, decades after the conquest of Britain by the Roman Emperor Claudius, a precursor incarnation of the British Brotherhood was formed by the Hidden Ones, establishing six bureaus in the province.[2] During this time, the Hidden Ones received The Magas Codex, a retranscription of the Hidden Ones' final synod around 30 BCE. The pages of the manuscript were distributed between the bureaus of Londinium, Eboracum, Camulodunum, Venta Belgarum, Ratae, and the Temple of Ceres.[3]
In the 90s, the Hidden Ones sent requests and pleas to Emperor Domitian and his governor Verus to accord Roman citizenship to the Iceni. When they ignored the request, the Acolytus Anicius killed Verus in public at Camulodunum to send a message to the Senate.[3]
In 122, as Emperor Hadrian planned a war against the northern native people of England, the Hidden Ones decided to assassinate him. The Acolytus Caius infiltrated his villa in Londinium but was discovered and killed before he could accomplish his mission.[3]
In 161, Emperor Marcus Aurelius came to power and the Hidden Ones made motions towards him to broker peace in the region. In 164, Aurelius agreed to cease hostilities and retreat south from the Antonine Wall to the more easily defensible Hadrian's Wall. Although the Hidden Ones trusted Aurelius to abide by the deal, they sent Magister Eghan to oversee the retreat in order to verify that Aurelius kept his word. In 211, as the Imperator Septimius Severus flouted the terms of the treaty by overseeing the fortification and reoccupation of the Antonine Wall, the Magister Khloe assassinated him in his villa in Eboracum.[3]
In 306, the Acolytus Beatha delivered a letter to Emperor Constantine I pleading for the protection of the Christians who were killed by the Belgae warriors.[3]
In 383, as Emperor Magnus Maximus took most of his troops to march in Gaul, the Hidden One Marcellus ordered the evacuation of the bureaus of Eboracum and Venta Belgarum as the local population turned against them.[3]
During the late-4th century, the Christian Church executed the Belgae pagans. The Hidden Ones tried to convince Emperor Theodosius I to a compromise. As he didn't respond, the Acolytus Teague and his Magister were sent to kill the church fathers Vitus, Secunda, and Agapitus during a public spectacle. The Hidden Ones succeeded but the Magister was wounded and died.[3]
Departure of the Roman Hidden Ones[]
With the death of Emperor Honorius in 423, the Magister Vitus wrote to his English brethren stationed at a bureau in Leicester, warning them that Britain would be imminently unstable, due to the local tribes who harbored ill sentiments towards the Hidden Ones and their mission having filled the power vacuum left by the departing Roman legions. Reasoning that it would be better to restart the branch later than to suffer the loss of its members to unnecessary bloodshed, he ordered that the letter's recipient immediately evacuated and moved their headquarters to the German city of Cologne, joining forces with the local chapter.[3]
The evacuation was not unanimously accepted among the Brotherhood, though, as Magister Maya explained her doubts to Magister Sebastos and saw the Hidden Ones' departure to be premature and cowardly.[3] Despite this, Vitus' remains were buried in a secret tomb in near Dover in Kent and his robes was dispersed across England.[4]
Viking Age[]
Return to England[]
Hytham requesting Eivor's help to eliminate the Order of the Ancients
In 872, two Hidden Ones from the Abbasid Caliphate, the Master Basim Ibn Ishaq and his apprentice Hytham, were tasked by their Mentor Rayhan to establish a new chapter in England with the help of Sigurd Styrbjornsson, a Viking of the Raven Clan whom they had befriended.[5] The two accompanied the clan from Norway to England[6] and set up a bureau in their new settlement of Ravensthorpe.[7]
The Hidden Ones also forged an uneasy alliance with Sigurd's adopted sibling, the shieldmaiden Eivor Varinsdottir, who helped them break the Order of the Ancients' grasp over the British Isles.[8] Hytham, unable to fight in the same capacity due to an injury sustained during a failed assassination attempt on Kjotve the Cruel,[9] spent most of his time at the Ravensthorpe bureau, gathering information on various Order members with the help of an anonymous informant known as the "Poor-Fellow Soldier of Christ".[8]
Meanwhile, Basim followed his own ambitions, hoping to revive the memories of Sigurd's past life as the Isu Týr. Their travels together led them to the discovery of the Saga Stone, an ancient tablet taken from the Isu temple housing Yggdrasil to England by Ragnar Lothbrok. Basim, Sigurd and a reluctant Eivor subsequently formed an alliance with the scholar Fulke to acquire the Saga Stone,[10] only for Fulke to later betray them and have Sigurd imprisoned by King Alfred of Wessex.[11]
Basim and Eivor finding the injured Sigurd
Realizing Fulke was a member of the Order, Basim and Eivor worked together to hunt her down and rescue Sigurd. With the help of Eivor's various allies in England, they besieged the castle of Portcestre in Sussex, killing Fulke and freeing Sigurd,[12] who had been tortured and had his right arm cut off during his imprisonment.[13] This inadvertently benefited Basim's goals, as the torture had awakened Týr's memories inside Sigurd and he started to believe himself a god.[14]
Defeating the Order of the Ancients[]
- Eivor: "His devotion to Christ and what he calls a Universal Order set him against them from the start. With all sincerity, he loathed the title and the duty he had inherited, and wished them destroyed."
- Hytham: "Wonderful. With his abdication, the last stronghold of The Order has been dismantled. All that remains are scraps, here and there."
- —Eivor and Hytham discussing Alfred's actions, 878.[src]-[m]
In 877, Sigurd decided to seek out "Valhalla" and convinced Eivor to accompany him back to Norway, where the siblings found the Yggdrasil Chamber and connected themselves to the device. Basim, having deduced Eivor to be Odin's reincarnation, secretly followed them and waited for the siblings to be disconnected from Yggdrasil, whereupon he ambushed them. Being a reborn Isu himself as the reincarnation of Loki and seeking revenge on Odin, Basim attempted to kill Eivor, but the Viking ultimately defeated and trapped him in Yggdrasil's simulation.[15]
Alfred explaining his plan to reform the Order to Eivor
Following her return to England, Eivor hunted down the last remaining members of the Order and discovered King Alfred to be their Grand Maegester.[8] Meeting with the king following his defeat at the Battle of Chippenham and subsequent exile,[16] Eivor learned that Alfred was the "Poor-Fellow Soldier of Christ" who had helped her and Hytham track down Order members across the country. Alfred explained that he had done so because he was against the Order's veneration of the Isu and hoped to reform it as a Christian organization, a plan which Eivor and Hytham allowed him to carry out.[17]
Protecting Excalibur[]
In 878, the Hidden Ones expanded their influence towards Lunden with the Hawk's Nest as their new covert headquarters. Hytham instated the Roman Hidden One Marcella to act as its bureau leader. To garner support, they sent out letters of invitation to notable warriors across the isles.[18] However, only one arrived: Niamh of Argyll, who was secretly an undercover agent of the Women of the Mist sent to investigate the Hidden Ones.[19] Nevertheless, after testing Niamh, the Hidden Ones tasked her to find and eliminate a priest named Deoric in Cote, who was a covert member of the Order of the Ancients.[20]
Once Niamh arrived back from her mission, despite some mistakes, the Hidden Ones inducted her as an initiate and granted her a Hidden Blade.[21] Hytham later offered Niamh to accompany them to find a captive woman taken by Cyrus, an Order member and slaver who was at a keep along the Tamesis River.[22] Together, they infiltrated the keep and saved Ebba from the Order's grasp as Niamh later dealt with Cyrus.[23]
After saving Ebba, Niamh and Hytham talked with Marcella about the current alliance between the Order and the Descendants of the Round Table and their search for Excalibur.[24] Hytham agreed to let Niamh and Valka investigate the Order's nunnery for the Hidden Ones.[25] Once Niamh returned, the Hidden Ones' bureau leader Marcella challenged her integrity and challenged her to a fight, though Hytham broke it up and later conferred with Niamh alone.[26]
Their next plan was for Niamh to accompany Hytham to Caledonia and meet Eivor to discuss Excalibur.[26] After trekking through the marshes and past Hadrian's Wall,[27] they soon met Eivor and helped her fight a troupe of Pict warriors. While Hytham spoke to Eivor afterwards, Niamh secretly tried to obtain Excalibur for the Women of the Mist.[28] Although both Hytham and Eivor caught Niamh stealing, they could not stop her from leaving with the blade.[29]
Fighting the Descendants[]
Hytham was later called back to Ravensthorpe by Valka after she found a wounded Niamh, who had survived an attack on the road. As Hytham and Valka talked about Niamh's reasons for the theft, Niamh noticed incoming Descendant soldiers and attacked them first, giving time for Hytham to join and help defeat them. Despite some mistrust, both Hytham and Valka understood why Niamh had taken Excalibur, and all three concocted a plan to make a spectacle of "destroying" the sword by way of ritual burning.[30]
While Hytham and Valka took a copy of Excalibur to sacrifice at White Horse,[31] Niamh returned to Avalon with the real sword.[32] With the false sword destroyed and the real weapon safely hidden away, the Descendants disbanded. Weeks later, the Hidden Ones started an alliance with the Women of the Mist as Niamh was named the next Lady of Avalon, much to Hytham's happiness.[33]
Activities in Scotland[]
At some point in the late 9th century, Hytham recruited the copyist monk Edward,[34] who had been kidnapped by Eivor during a raid on his village,[35] into the Hidden Ones. Following his brother Ecbert's supposed death, Edward investigated it and convinced Hytham to send him to Lunden with the Viking Niels Gunnarsson to follow up on a lead he had found. There, the two met and were trained by the Hidden One Adelaïde before infiltrating an Isu temple located underneath the Loch Ness lake in Scotland.[34]
Inside the temple, Edward and Niels discovered a Christian cult led by the monk Columba, who used the Codex of Eden to convert the population. The two were ultimately able to flood the temple, destroying the cult, and Edward was reunited with Ecbert, who had faked his death and infiltrated the cult to recover the codex on King Alfred's behalf. However, in an attempt to acquire the codex, Adelaïde killed Ecbert, causing a furious Edward to push her off a cliff to her death. Edward later recovered the codex's fragments and brought them to Alfred, joining his Order, while Niels returned to Hytham and declined his invitation to join the Hidden Ones.[34]
Building up the Brotherhood[]
By 889, Hytham had several Hidden One initiates, namely the Ravensthorpe residents Yanli, Rowan, Tove, and Eluric, training under him. Though Hytham hoped to recruit Eivor into the brotherhood as well, the Viking politely turned him down and left England for good not long after.[36]
By 978, the Hidden Ones had spread their influence to South West England. That year, a spy working for the Templars, the order founded by King Alfred, infiltrated the Hidden Ones' ranks in Dorset.[37]
Wars for the Crown[]
First Barons' War[]
- "Our so-called King meets with his Templar advisers in London. Shall we pay them a visit?"
- ―Robert Fitzwalter calling for King John's disposal.[src]
Robert Fitzwalter, leader of the Barons
By the time of the High Middle Ages, the British branch of the Hidden Ones had been rebranded as the British Brotherhood of Assassins. The earliest known actions of these new Assassins was their backing of the French-supported baronial uprising against the King during the First Barons' War from 1215 to 1217. Led by Robert Fitzwalter, the Assassins were determined to end the despotic rule of King John, who they knew was nothing but a pawn of his Templar advisors.[38]
However, the Master Assassin William of Cassingham, operating independently from the Brotherhood, led a guerrilla force supporting the King, firstly because he refused to side with the French but mainly because he was a staunch supporter of John's son, Prince Henry.[38]
Tudor era[]
On 23 November 1503, a team of Assassins sent by the Italian Mentor Ezio Auditore arrived in London to assassinate the Templar Margaret of York, who plotted to claim the throne of England.[39] As the Templars tried to lead a rebellion against King Henry VII, the Assassins killed the Templars involved in the plot and discovered that they had infiltrated the Star Chamber.[40] Investigated on the matter, the Assassins exposed the Templar allies to the King, who granted the Brotherhood a seat in the Star Chamber.[41]
By 1515, the English Assassin Hiram Stoddard was sent to Italy to train under a retired Ezio Auditore, and quickly became bitter rivals with another of Ezio's students, Giovanni Borgia.[42] After failing to recover an Apple of Eden from the Templar Dei Petrucci in Florence, Stoddard and Borgia fought, leading to their common love interest, Elena, accidentally falling to her death.[43] Stoddard subsequently went rogue and tried to recover the Apple to resurrect Elena. In 1516, he stormed an Assassin hideout in Greece to steal the artifact but was defeated by Borgia, who took back the Apple and spared his life.[42]
On 17 November 1558, the Assassins killed Mary I of England as she was allied with the Templars and placed her younger sister, Elizabeth I, on the throne.[44]
British Empire[]
Salem witch trials[]
In the early 1690s, word reached the British Assassins of an artifact hidden somewhere in Salem, Massachusetts. The Brotherhood sent Master Assassin Thomas Stoddard, who had earned a legendary reputation for tracking Precursor artifacts, to North America to recover this rumored Piece of Eden. Around the same time, reports of young girls with strange illnesses led the Puritan villagers of Salem to accuse one another of witchcraft in early 1692, leading to the Salem witch trials. After the Templars Samuel Parris and William Stoughton arrived looking for the artifact, they took a central role in the persecutions of accused witches.[45]
Stoddard and Querry facing Puritans
In June 1692, Stoddard arrived in Salem and met the local Assassin Jennifer Querry. The two infiltrated a warehouse, where they freed a young girl named Dorothy Osborne and a mute boy named David from Templar imprisonment. When Dorothy became possessed by the Isu Consus, Stoddard discovered that she was the artifact they had been looking for,[45] and he brought her to safety at the Salem docks. However, the Assassins, Dorothy and David were soon captured by Puritans and brought to Stoughton and Parris.[46]
During their interrogation, while the Templars were distracted by Dorothy becoming possessed by Consus, Querry managed to kill a guard and free Stoddard before being killed by Stoughton. While Stoddard was also shot in the arm by Stoughton, the Templar was betrayed by his remorseful accomplice Parris before he could finish off the Assassin.[47]
Dorothy, overcome by guilt for Querry's death and wishing to prevent the Templars from exploiting her connection to Consus, decided to kill herself in a fire. With Dorothy dead, Stoddard abandoned his quest and Parris allowed the Assassin to leave the city alongside David.[47]
Great Recoinage of 1696[]
In 1696, the Great Recoinage in Great Britain resulted in the rise of money counterfeiters in the country. The Assassin William Lowndes, the Secretary to the Treasury, was tasked by King William III to resolve the issue through the help of the warden of the Royal Mint, Isaac Newton. Lowndes, in turn, employed his fellow Assassin Omar Khaled to help Newton as his new assistant.[48]
After tracing counterfeiters to William Chaloner, Omar and Newton attended a ball held by Lord Benedict Crystal that Chaloner would attend. There, Omar reconnected with childhood friend Rose Galloway. After her jewelry got stolen and she chased the thief, Omar discovered she also possessed Eagle Vision, leading him to recruit her into the Brotherhood. Upon informing Lowndes and having his suspicions about her skills confirmed, Omar started Rose's training. From the jewelry thief, Omar and Newton recovered the addresses of blackmailers.[48]
The first two counterfeiting locations were seized and Omar and Newton left for the last location in Bristol. There, they found Newton's former assistant Nicolas Fatio de Duillier naked in the house, and returned him to Newton's London residence. After Omar and Isaac evaded a Templar attack, they discovered that Chaloner had false evidence planted to become the new Warden of the Royal Mint and have Newton arrested for counterfeiting. Subsequently, after Omar stopped Rose's training and Newton escaped Newgate Jail, he and Omar discovered from his butler Finnegan that he had planted the evidence, before he was killed by Rose from above.[48]
From Rose's father Nigel, they learned of her working for Chaloner and the latter's plot to destroy the counterfeiting evidence in the Tower of London. Omar confronted Rose in the Tower's catacombs, and dismantled the evidence by opening the floodgates, drowning Rose in the process. Meanwhile, Newton confronted Chaloner and discovered he had abducted Nicolas, though Nicolas managed to knock Chaloner out when he was distracted by Newton. Chaloner was arrested on Lowndes' orders, and Newton handed Omar a counterfeited coin with the inscription "Je maintaindrai" ("I will maintain") as a gift before Omar departed.[48]
Duncan Walpole's betrayal[]
In the early 18th century, an Assassin sailor working for the East India Company introduced Duncan Walpole to the Order. Duncan joined the British Brotherhood and eventually became a Master Assassin, though his immoderate temper and arrogance were seen as a liability to most of the Order. This lack of loyalty led Duncan to secretly defect to the Templar cause and begin corresponding with Laureano de Torres y Ayala, the Grand Master of the West Indies Rite.[49]
Duncan Walpole shipwrecked alongside Edward Kenway
In 1714, Duncan was tasked by his Mentor Phillip Randall to travel to the Caribbean and assist Ah Tabai, the Mentor of the West Indies Brotherhood, in his search for a Sage.[50] However, rather than help the Assassins, Duncan betrayed them by stealing a set of maps detailing the locations of their bureaus in the Caribbean.[51]
In June 1715, while attempting to deliver the maps to Torres and the Templars in Havana, Duncan's ship, HMS Intrigue, engaged a pirate ship, the Jacobite, resulting in both vessels' destruction. Shipwrecked in Cape Bonavista alongside Edward Kenway, the only survivor of the Jacobite's crew, Duncan was ultimately killed by the pirate.[51]
Rise of the London Assassins[]
- "In the eighteenth century, the London Brotherhood was basically led by two people: a man known only as Miko, and Edward Kenway. They met shortly after the latter returned to London from the West Indies, and for a time it seemed like the English Assassins would be stronger than ever."
- ―Shaun Hastings, 2015.[src]-[m]
In 1723, Edward, who had become affiliated with the West Indies Assassins, returned to England and joined the British Brotherhood. He quickly ascended to the rank of Master Assassin and effectively became a co-leader of the branch alongside Miko. Together, the two managed to bring great stability to the Brotherhood, creating vast connections throughout London ranging from the noble high society to the criminal underworld. This further expanded their forces and presence and thus managed to diminish the Templar threat in the country. Outside of London, Miko began searching all over Europe for Pieces of Eden whilst making connections and providing his aid to the various regional branches.[1]
Over the following years, Edward continued his research, utilizing his commercial activities to locate Isu sites across the globe; he discovered several Temples located in Italy and Alamut.[52] Additionally, Edward attempted to discover the location of the Grand Temple and thus recorded his research in his personal journal.[53]
At some point during his travels, Edward discovered the Shroud of Eden, a powerful Isu artifact capable of healing fatal injuries. Upon learning of its power, Edward elected to keep the artifact hidden and thus concealed the artifact in a case constructed by the Isu which could only be opened by a key of the same design. In order to ensure its secrecy, Edward stored the artifact underneath the Tower of London and placed the key within a secret room above the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral.[54]
The Assassins warning Tessa about the plot to kill Edward
In 1725, Edward's search for an Isu site led him to Southeast Asia.[55] During his quest, Edward made a number of allies, including the Dutch navigator John Young,[56] the Chinese laborer Zhang,[57] the pirate captain Mustafa,[58] the Joseon scholar and engineer Yun Pyeong-Gyu,[59] the Chinese medic Xialun Qing,[60] and the Japanese samurai and former Templar Shimazu Saito.[61] These allies greatly aided the Assassin in his search for the Isu artifacts and together they established the Zhang Wei Union, a shipping company that would continue to work alongside the Brotherhood for generations to come.[62]
During Edward's absence from London, the Brotherhood was alerted by the West Indies Assassin Adéwalé that the Templars had prepared a trap for Edward in Southeast Asia and were planning to kill him.[63] Consequently, three Assassins warned Edward's wife Tessa that her husband's life was in danger,[64] prompting her to travel to Southeast Asia herself and find Edward so she could tell him about the plot.[65]
Decline of the Brotherhood[]
Following his return to England, Edward retired from active Assassin duty and focused on raising his son Haytham in the Order's ways, hoping to one day induct him into the Brotherhood. However, in 1735, Edward was killed in his own home by mercenaries employed by his property manager Reginald Birch, who was secretly the Grand Master of the British Templars. Although the attack's main purpose was to steal Edward's journal, Birch took advantage of the Assassin's death to take the young Haytham under his wing and indoctrinate him into the Templar Order.[53]
The death of Edward Kenway
Following Edward's death, Miko assumed sole leadership of the British Brotherhood. At some point, he became acquainted with Achilles Davenport, the Mentor of the newly established Colonial Brotherhood. In 1751, Miko informed Achilles that Birch had begun searching the world for various Pieces of Eden and the Grand Temple, and that he feared the Grand Master would send his deadliest agent, Haytham Kenway, to the colonies.[66]
By 1753, Miko had arrived in Corsica to protect Lucio Albertine, a codebreaker and ally to the Order. With Corsica in the midst of a revolution, the two resided in an encampment along with several rebels fighting for independence against Genoa. One night, their camp was attacked; while Miko fought against the Genoese soldiers, Lucio attempted to escape, only to be kidnapped by Haytham. With haste, Miko caught up and engaged the Templar in battle. Despite a valiant attempt, Haytham managed to fend Miko off. After climbing a rope, Miko was forced to end his pursuit of the Templar, for fear of falling to his death, and Haytham was able to escape with both Lucio and Miko's Hidden Blade.[53]
Miko confronted by Haytham Kenway
The following year, Miko encountered Haytham again, this time while attending a performance of The Beggar's Opera at the Theatre Royal in London with his nephew. After a brief exchange of words, Haytham ended Miko's life using the same Hidden Blade he had taken from him in Corsica. The Templar then stole the Grand Temple Key that was in Miko's possession and escaped the theatre before anyone was even made aware of the murder.[67]
Following Miko's death, the Brotherhood tasked Louis Mills with pursuing Haytham and eliminating him. To accomplish his mission, Mills boarded the Providence, posing as one of its crew members, and secretly threw marked cargo overboard each night, leaving a trail for the Assassins' ship, the Aquila, to pursue the Providence. The plan ultimately failed, however, as the Providence managed to lose the Aquila by sailing into a storm while Mills was killed by Haytham in a duel.[68]
With both of its leaders dead, the British Brotherhood entered a long period of decline, to the point where the Assassins were completely eradicated from London by the Templars.[1] Forced to retreat to the countryside, the few Assassin survivors planned to retake control of London, but as the British Templars' influence had only grown stronger, the Brotherhood would fail to make any major move against the Templars for the next century.[69]
Industrial Revolution[]
Operations in Crawley and India[]
During the 19th century, the British Brotherhood was led by an Assassin Council, forming a more structured and ordered branch that attempted to solve matters in a more methodical approach. At some point, Ethan Frye joined the Brotherhood alongside his wife Cecily; the pair became high-ranking members who undertook missions for the Brotherhood in Crawley. Ethan later rescued a local mill worker, George Westhouse, from robbers and recruited him into the Order, where he and Cecily acted as his mentors.[70]
Ethan Frye receiving the Koh-i-Noor from Arbaaz Mir
In 1841, Ethan went to India to retrieve the Koh-i-Noor, a Piece of Eden sought by the British Templars. In the process, he met and befriended the Indian Assassin Arbaaz Mir, who had recovered the Koh-i-Noor from the Templars and gave it to Ethan for safekeeping. The British Assassin proceeded to hide the artifact somewhere in India, where it would remain until the end of the century.[71]
In 1847, Cecily died while giving birth to her and Ethan's twin children, Jacob and Evie. Broken by his wife's death, Ethan left his children in his mother-in-law's care and went to India to train Arbaaz's son, Jayadeep Mir. In 1853, Ethan returned in England to train his children as Assassins. Evie became a master in planning missions while Jacob had a more carefree attitude.[72]
In 1859, Ethan returned to India after learning that Jayadeep risked being executed by the Brotherhood for failing his first assassination mission. He saved his apprentice, requesting the Indian Brotherhood to banish Jayadeep to London as punishment. Without the permission of the Assassin Council, Jayadeep became Ethan's contact in the city, which was under the control of the industrialist Crawford Starrick, the Grand Master of the British Templars.[72]
Liberation of London[]
- Main article: Liberation of London
In 1861, Ethan and Jayadeep were approached by fellow Assassins Simeon Price and his apprentice, Pierrette Arnaud, who requested their aid in their hunt of the "Magus," who was secretly Price's former mentor, Oscar Kane. However, Ethan and Jayadeep were unable to ascertain Kane's whereabouts, leaving Price and Arnaud to continue their search alone.[73] The next year, the British Brotherhood was informed by Price of Kane's demise.[74] After Price left England, Pierrette started to train with the Frye family, but was later instructed by George Westhouse to travel to Egypt to learn more about the Assassins' roots.[75]
In 1862, Jayadeep infiltrated the Templar Order, associating with the Templar Cavanagh. He learned that the Order searched for an Apple of Eden during the excavation of the Metropolitan Railway, but at the same time, Cavanagh discovered Jayadeep's true allegiance after interrogating the Indian Assassin Ajay. Cavanagh then attempted to reveal Jayadeep's allegiance, but the Assassin fled before he was able to do so. Ethan, his children, and Westhouse later cornered Ajay, who confessed to his betrayal before committing suicide.[72]
Realizing that Jayadeep was in danger, Ethan saved him from Cavanagh, but the Assassins ultimately lost the Apple to the Templars. After learning that one of his friends, Maggie, had been killed by the Templars, Jayadeep refused to work for the Brotherhood anymore and retired to the sewers. Following a visit from his parents Arbaaz and Pyara Kaur in 1865, Jayadeep regained his resolve and resumed his work under Ethan, adopting a new identity: Henry Green.[72]
In time, Henry became the leader of the Assassins in London and was able to make several connections across the city, gaining resourceful information and considerable allies. Among his allies were Alexander Graham Bell, an inventor whose ingenuity aided the Brotherhood, and Frederick Abberline, the Chief Inspector of the Metropolitan Police Service whose aid became beneficial for keeping the Assassins' activities secret from the populace.[76]
The Frye twins meeting Henry Green
In January 1868, Ethan died of pleurisy in his home in Crawley.[72] George Westhouse agreed to continue Jacob and Evie's training on his behalf and, the following month, tasked the twins with the killings of two high-ranking Templars in Croydon: Rupert Ferris, the owner of Ferris Ironworks,[77] and Sir David Brewster, a scientist who was experimenting on the Apple of Eden recovered by the Templars six years prior. Although the twins succeeded in their respective tasks, Evie failed to recover the Apple while infiltrating Brewster's laboratory, due to the artifact being destroyed in an explosion.[69]
As Jacob and Evie were unsatisfied with their missions in the countryside and wished to take on the Templars in London, they asked Westhouse for permission to travel to the city. After Westhouse denied their request, as the Assassin Council still felt the Templars were too powerful, the twins decided to disobey him and go to the city without informing the Council.[69]
Upon their arrival, the Frye twins met Henry Green and the three Assassins worked together to eliminate the oppressive Templar presence in London. To combat the Templar-controlled Blighters, Jacob took over the local Clinkers gang and renamed them the Rooks, whose ranks would grow over the following months as the Frye twins took control of various Blighter strongholds.[76]
Evie fighting Lucy Thorne
However, the twins had diverging goals; Jacob simply wanted to kill Templars, neglecting that their deaths would affect the citizenry, whereas Evie and Henry focused their efforts on locating the Shroud of Eden hidden by Edward Kenway in the Tower of London, which the Templars also sought.[78] Evie entered a race against the Templar occultist Lucy Thorne to recover the Shroud and, though she eventually managed to kill her rival at the Tower, she learned that the Shroud was no longer there.[79]
Meanwhile, Jacob managed to single-handedly kill most of Crawford Starrick's closest agents, including John Elliotson, Pearl Attaway, Philip Twopenny, James Brudenell and Maxwell Roth. This deprived the Grand Master of his support in ruling over London, but also created problems for the city's economic, political and social situation, which Evie was forced to fix.[80]
Jacob and Evie moments before killing Starrick
With his influence dwindling, Starrick discovered the Shroud of Eden to be hidden beneath Buckingham Palace and planned to eliminate all heads of state and church at a party thrown by Queen Victoria at the palace. While the Frye twins killed Starrick's agents at the party, the Grand Master recovered the artifact from the crypt and a battle ensued between him and the twins. The Assassins ultimately overcame their enemy with Henry's help, but decided to leave the Shroud in the crypt.[81]
In 1873, following her return from Egypt, Pierrette Arnaud met with George Westhouse in a Crawley pub to discuss possible Templar ties with various businesses.[82] For the next nine years, Pierrette remained with the Brotherhood[83] and sought to find any trace of Konstanze von Visler, who had recently betrayed the Assassins and Simeon Price[84] and rejoined the Templars.[85] While caring for her friend Tillie's son Spider Wallin, Pierrette was assigned by Westhouse to protect Queen Victoria from a possible assassination attempt.[83] At Windsor Royal Station, she safeguarded the queen with the help of Spider. However, Pierrette berated him for partaking in a dangerous mission without permission, which led to him running away.[86]
Autumn of Terror[]
- Main article: Whitechapel murders
With the defeat of the London Templars, the British Brotherhood began to recover and rebuild their ranks. Evie later married Henry and moved with him to India, subsequently joining the Indian Brotherhood. Jacob remained in London to strengthen the Assassins' presence and thus recruited several initiates into the Brotherhood, among them a young apprentice named 'Jack the Lad' whom Jacob had liberated from Lambeth Asylum. In 1873, Jacob traveled to India alongside Jack and other initiates, visiting his sister Evie and brother-in-law Henry, who taught them the fear tactics of the Indian Assassins.[87]
Jacob confronted by Jack the Ripper
By 1888, a mentally unstable Jack had developed an extremist view of the Assassins' mission and decided to usurp control of the Rooks from Jacob. Radicalizing his followers, Whitechapel, the center of Jack's operations, descended into a cesspool of crime and depravity. Jacob sent Assassins disguised as prostitutes after Jack, but he brutally killed them all, earning him the pseudonym "Jack the Ripper". Jacob was later captured by Jack, but not before the Master Assassin sent a letter summoning Evie back to London.[88]
Following her return from India, Evie went on to assassinate Jack's underlings before tracking him down and putting an end to the Ripper, saving Jacob in the process. To avoid public exposure of the Brotherhood, Evie requested Inspector Frederick Abberline to cover up the Ripper's identity and death, and he agreed to do so.[89]
Infiltrating the Golden Dawn[]
Moina meeting Samuel
A year before Jack's crimes, the Assassins learned that the Templars funded Samuel Liddell Mathers, a man who had the Book of Abraham, for the creation of an occultist group. The Brotherhood sent Mina Bergson to pretend to take an interest in Mathers and spy on him. At the end of the year, Mathers founded the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn with William Wynn Westcott and William Robert Woodman.[90]
In 1890, another Assassin and Mina's friend, Annie Horniman, joined the Golden Dawn. The same year, Mina married Samuel and took the name of Moina Mathers. In 1891, Woodman was killed by a hitman who worked for his associates. With Woodman dead, Samuel took the leadership of the Order. The Assassins wanted Moina to leave the Golden Dawn but she refused and left the Brotherhood instead. Becoming the Seeress of the Golden Dawn, Moina could communicate with Woodman's spirit.[90]
Around 1896, Westcott and Samuel fought for the leadership of the Order. Westcott was forced to leave and Samuel was the last founder of the Golden Dawn in place but he lost the Book of Abraham after this event. In 1900, while he was in Paris, Samuel met the Secret Chief, a Templar, who explained to him that their partnership was over because of Woodman's assassination. Later, the other members defied Samuel's authority and in 1903 Samuel was expelled from the Golden Dawn and the Order collapsed.[91]
20th century[]
World War I[]
Following the breakout of World War I, many British Assassins such as Sam Crowder and an Assassin medic enlisted in the army. On the Christmas truce of 1914, the Assassin medic treated wounded British soldiers while German artillery hit the British trenches. As the British and German troops fraternized, the medic assisted the German general and Templar Erich Albert with saving the life of a wounded German soldier. Following this, Albert showed his ring to the medic. In return, the medic revealed the Assassin brand on his finger and killed Albert with his Hidden Blade before the Templar could react.[92]
Lydia meeting Winston Churchill
In 1916, at the behest of Winston Churchill, the Assassin Lydia Frye, Jacob's granddaughter, eliminated a German spy ring operating out of Tower Bridge.[93] The ring was led by a man known as the Master Spy, who was both a Templar agent and a Sage. Lydia ultimately located and assassinated the Master Spy, putting an end to the Templars' activities in London.[94]
Spanish Civil War[]
In 1936, the British Brotherhood sent Norbert Clarke to eliminate an entire Templar branch in Tallinn.[95] The following year, an Assassin cell led by Ignacio Cardona in Spain requested the Brotherhood to send at least a dozen Assassins to aid them in the Spanish Civil War. However, the British Assassins sent only Clarke, who died on the road after meeting the Templar and Instrument of the First Will Rufus Grosvenor, who manipulated Clarke into committing suicide, allowing Grosvenor to impersonate him.[96]
World War II[]
- "It was the Templars who delivered Germany into Nazi hands. If we do nothing, the world will crumble. In the age of shadows, the price doesn't matter, we need to stop them."
- ―Boris Pash to Eddie Gorm, 1942.[src]
During the Blitz in September 1940, Eddie Gorm, a descendant of a lineage of Assassins, was contacted by the American Assassins Boris Pash and Julia Dusk to infiltrate the Nazi's atomic endeavor, the Uranprojekt. After two years undercover as an SS officer, Gorm blew his cover when he took hostage Dr. Werner Heisenberg, who revealed to him the construction of Die Glocke for the Uranprojekt.[97]
Gorm fighting Kramer in the Vemork facility
After this event, Gorm officially joined the Brotherhood and was sent to Vemork on 27 February 1943 to stop the Uranprojekt. While infiltrating the base, he was captured by the Templar Obergruppenführer Gero Kramer. Gorm was placed in Die Glocke, a machine powered by an Apple of Eden that could read the genetic memory of an individual and their ancestors. Kramer wanted to explore the memories of Gorm's ancestors to uncover new Pieces of Eden to create weapons for the Templars.[97]
After starting the machine, Die Glocke exploded and the British commandos attacked the base. To protect him, Kramer sent Gorm in a basement with the scientist Nikola Tesla, who had been abducted by the Templars to construct Die Glocke. Dusk infiltrated the place and rescued Gorm.[98]
Gorm and Dusk recovering Tesla's Apple
On 15 July 1943, with the information given by Tesla, Gorm and Dusk went to Książ Castle in Poland to recover the Apple while a team of Assassins led by Pash stormed the castle. Gorm killed Kramer and Dusk recovered the Apple before reuniting with Pash after the mission. During their meeting, Gorm met Tesla who explained to him that Pash wanted to use the Apple for Project Rainbow and worked with the Templars.[98]
As Pash tried to explain that he made an allegiance with the Templars to stop the war, he wounded Gorm who tried to stop him. To impeach Pash to recover the Apple, Dusk armed a hand grenade in a failed attempt to destroy the Piece of Eden, killing herself in the process. Pash then took the Apple, leaving the wounded Gorm behind.[98]
On 28 October 1943, onboard the USS Eldridge in Philadelphia's shipyard, Pash and his Templar ally, John von Neumann, launched Project Rainbow: by using the Die Glocke and the Apple of Eden, they tried to travel in time to stop the war before it began. Gorm, no more an Assassin, infiltrated the ship and killed Tesla as he believed that Pash wanted to use his knowledge to create an atomic bomb. After Pash revealed his plan to Gorm, the former Assassin committed suicide.[98]
Modern times[]
In early December 2000, the British Brotherhood was nearly wiped out by the Templars during the Great Purge alongside many other Assassin branches.[99]
Techniques[]
The members of the British Brotherhood were trained in the methods of stealth, eavesdropping, marksmanship, hand-to-hand combat, and freerunning, as well as pickpocketing and lockpicking.[80]
A cane-sword utilized by the Frye twins
During the 18th century, the two co-leaders Edward Kenway and Miko were known to utilize Hidden Blades, swords, and pistols alongside the cane-sword,[53] which over the following years became a significant weapon for the British Brotherhood due to the weapon's concealed usage and efficiently which was passed down through the following centuries.[80]
During the 19th century, the standard Hidden Blade of the British Assassins acquired two new insertions. These included a rope launcher and the ability to fire hallucinogenic darts; firing a dart into an open flame would result in a poisonous gas cloud, allowing the Assassin to eliminate multiple enemies from a distance.[80]
While in London, Jacob and Evie Frye were introduced to kukris, brass knuckles, revolvers and voltaic bombs. During the 20th century, Lydia Frye would continue using some of these weapons.[80]
Members[]
- Roman Britain
- Viking Age
- Adelaïde
- Edward (betrayed)
- Eluric
- Hytham (leader; c. 889)
- Basim Ibn Ishaq
- Marcella
- Niamh of Argyll
- Rowan
- The Dragon Knight
- Tove
- Yanli
- Middle Ages
- Robert Fitzwalter (leader; c. 1215)
- William of Cassingham (independent)
- Colonial era
- Samuel Bellamy
- Rose Galloway (betrayed)
- Edward Kenway (leader; c. 1723 – 1735)
- Omar Khaled
- William Lowndes
- Miko (leader; c. 1723 – 1754)
- Louis Mills
- Jennifer Querry
- Phillip Randall (Mentor; c. 1714)
- Bernard Ruddock (excommunicated)
- Thomas Stoddard
- Duncan Walpole (betrayed)
- Victorian era
- Angelica
- Pierrette Arnaud
- Annie Chapman
- Catherine Eddowes
- Cecily Frye
- Emmett Frye
- Ethan Frye
- Evie Frye
- Jacob Frye (leader, London; began 1868)
- Annie Horniman
- Jack (went rogue)
- Moina Mathers (left)
- Jayadeep Mir (Indian Brotherhood)
- Mary Ann Nichols
- Simeon Price
- Elizabeth Stride
- George Westhouse
- 20th century
Allies and puppets[]
- Viking Age
- Alfred the Great (secretly)
- Raven Clan
- Women of the Mist
- Renaissance
- Colonial era
- Victorian era
- 20th Century
Trivia[]
- In the non-canon modern part of Assassin's Creed – The Hawk Trilogy, the Assassin cell based in London is composed of Stella Crow, Jonathan Hawk, Nancy and Steve.
Appearances[]
- Assassin's Creed II (first mentioned) (indirect mention only)
- Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: Revelations – Discover Your Legacy
- Assassin's Creed III
- Assassin's Creed: Forsaken
- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
- Assassin's Creed: Black Flag
- Assassin's Creed: Pirates
- Assassin's Creed: Memories
- Assassin's Creed comic series
- Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
- Assassin's Creed: Underworld
- Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India
- Assassin's Creed: Last Descendants – Locus
- Assassin's Creed: Conspiracies
- Assassin's Creed: The Official Movie Novelization
- Assassin's Creed: Uprising (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Gold
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Sword of the White Horse
- Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Magus Conspiracy
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – The Hidden Codex
- Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple
- Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Resurrection Plot
References[]
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