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The British Rite of the Templar Order is the rite of the Templar Order based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest organized Templar rite and was established around 878 by King Alfred of Wessex.
The Templars' predecessors, the Order of the Ancients, had operated in the British Isles since the time of the Roman Empire. By the 9th century, however, with the rise of Abrahamic religions and the decline of polythetic religions across Europe, the Order's influence started to dwindle. The last vestiges of the Order were ultimately eliminated during the 870s by the Raven Clan shieldmaiden Eivor Varinsdottir, a Hidden One ally, with the aid of King Alfred, the Order's own Grand Maegester.
Following the destruction of the Order of the Ancients, Alfred reformed the organization into one that more closely followed his Christian beliefs, while still retaining the Order's original goal of seeking the betterment of humanity. Alfred's reformed Order would slowly spread its influence all across the world over the following centuries and eventually became known as the Templars.
During the public era of the organization between the 12th and 14th centuries, the British Rite was well implanted in England, having a headquarters in London and influencing King John Lackland. Even after their public disbanding, the Rite continued to influence the English monarchy, allying with the Lancaster during the Hundred Years' War, trying to restore the House of York during the reign of Henry VII and influencing Queen Mary I.
During the 17th century, the British Rite influenced the works of intellectuals such John Locke, Isaac Newton, and Francis Bacon to further their goals, leading to the Age of Reason.
During the 18th century, under the leadership of Grand Master Reginald Birch, the Rite expelled the British Brotherhood of Assassins from London, increasing its power in the city for over a century. The Rite also had a great influence across the wider world, leading operations in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Other rites often contacted Birch to receive his support or advice for their own operations. By sending his best agent Haytham Kenway to the Thirteen Colonies, Birch permitted the formation of the Colonial Rite of the Templar Order.
During the 19th century, even though some Templars were reluctant about the reforms of the French Templars brought by François-Thomas Germain, the British Rite controlled English society through capitalism. The Rite also had agents in the East India Company, interfering in Indian politics while searching for the Koh-i-Noor, a powerful Piece of Eden.
By 1862, the Grand Master Crawford Starrick used his corporate empire to control every aspect of London's society: the medical field, politics, transport and science. With their gang, the Blighters, the Templars also had control over the city's criminal underworld. However, in 1868, Starrick and his allies were killed by the twin Assassins Evie and Jacob Frye. As a result, the Assassins returned to prominence in London while the British Rite collapsed into a civil war, with one faction attempting to organize multiple terrorist attacks around the city, which were thwarted by the Fyes.
During World War I, the British Rite was infiltrated by the Instruments of the First Will, a group seeking to restore the Isu as the rulers of humanity. Under the leadership of the Master Spy, a Sage, they collaborated with the German Empire and ran a spy ring in London, which was eventually dismantled by the Assassin Lydia Frye with the assistance of Winston Churchill.
By the 21st century, the Templars have returned to prominence in Great Britain, mainly through the establishment of their front company, Abstergo Industries.
History[]
Early Middle Ages[]
Briton England[]
- "King Arthur died in disillusionment, having been betrayed by his wife, his best friend, and his son. [...] [His] idealistic view was not the best path for the Templar Order."
- ―Alan Rikkin's thoughts on King Arthur, 2016.[src]
Arthur pulling out Excalibur
During the Roman expansion, the Order of the Ancients in the Roman Empire spread their reach to new territories, including the British Isles. After the Empire's collapse and the Romans' retreat from Britain in the 5th century, the Order remained and continued to build up their influence.[1] By the early 6th century, they secured an alliance with King Arthur, the wielder of a Sword of Eden known as Excalibur, which he used to lead the nation's defense against invading Saxon tribes.[2]
In time, Arthur joined the Order and became one of its leaders,[3] but due to the Ancients' meddling, he eventually died during the Battle of Camlann,[2] after being inadvertently betrayed by his wife, his best friend, and his son.[4] After Arthur's death, the Order tried to acquire Excalibur, but one of the king's trusted allies, believing that the Sword's power should not belong to anyone, hid it away.[5]
Viking Age[]
- "In a strange irony, I am grateful for the Danes and their invasion of Northumbria. My title should have gone to Aella. Being dead, it fell to my brother and then to me. God's unlikely gift. I will use it to destroy what I loathe so deeply about this sickening Order, and start afresh. Goodwin is with me, as are men on the continent. I will soon find others."
- ―Alfred the Great's commentary in a document, 870s.[src]-[m]
By the 9th century, the Order of the Ancients had established a solid foothold in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England, which became one of the last strongholds of the organization as its other branches around the world were slowly wiped out. By this time, King Æthelwulf of Wessex held the position of Grand Maegester within the Order, with King Ælla of Northumbria in line to succeed him.[6]
Alfred the Great and his older brother Æthelred
In 867, Ælla was killed by the invading Great Heathen Army, in retaliation for his execution of Viking leader Ragnar Lothbrok a few years earlier.[7] As a result, the position of Grand Maegester passed to Æthelwulf's son, King Æthelred I, and then to the latter's younger brother Alfred,[6] following Æthelred's death from wounds sustained at the Battle of Merton.[8] Unlike his father and brother, Alfred despised the Order for their polytheism and worship of the Isu, which went against his Christian beliefs, and secretly vowed to destroy the organization from within so that he could rebuild it in his image. However, his plans were slowed down by the Viking invasions of England.[6]
By the 870s, the Order in England was divided into five different sects: the Wardens of War, the Wardens of Law, the Wardens of Wealth, the Wardens of Faith and the Wardens of Relics. Each of these sects was firmly entrenched into various aspects of Anglo-Saxon society, be it the military, law enforcement, politics or the Catholic Church. The leaders of these sects were known as Maegesters and they answered directly to the Grand Maegester. Additionally, members of the Order held the rank of either Palatinus or Preost, and they hired a group of mercenaries known as the Zealots to eliminate any opposition to their rule.[1]
Downfall of the Order of the Ancients[]
Eivor facing the Ancient Vicelin in Lunden
In 873, the Raven Clan from Norway settled in the Kingdom of Mercia, establishing the colony of Ravensthorpe and forming an alliance with the Hidden Ones Basim Ibn Ishaq and Hytham, who sought to eradicate the Order's presence in England.[9] Hytham enlisted the help of the Raven Clan shieldmaiden Eivor Varinsdottir to hunt Order members across the country, which soon attracted the attention of Alfred.[10] Seeing an opportunity to achieve his goal of reforming the Order, the king began sending Eivor anonymous letters under the moniker of a "Poor-Fellow Soldier of Christ", listing key targets in the cities of Lunden,[11] Jorvik,[12] and Wincestre.[13]
During her travels in England, Eivor also freed Grantesbridge from the Ancient Wigmund's control,[14] and protected Lincolnshire from the schemes of the Ancient Herefrith.[15] She later tracked down and killed the Maegester Gorm Kjotvesson in Vinland, where the latter was searching for the Grand Temple, guided by the Isu Juno through a Crystal Ball.[16] Eivor then recovered the artifact and gave it to Konwahawíhshon, a Kanien'kehá:ka woman from the village of Karonhiakèn:iate'.[17]
In Lunden, the Ancient Stowe worked as a go-between for the Order's different branches and was tasked with safeguarding half of an Isu dagger once wielded by Vejovis. Stowe later sent the blade to the Levant, shortly before he was tracked down and killed by the Viking warrior Alva of the Raven Clan, who was secretly a Sage of Vejovis.[18]
Fulke being confronted by Eivor
Meanwhile, the scholar and Ancient Fulke researched the Isu, specifically their ability to be reborn as different human beings. Due to her knowledge of the Saga Stone, an Isu artifact containing Precursor script, she was approached by Basim, Eivor and her adoptive brother Sigurd Styrbjornsson, who were unaware of her allegiance to the Order.[19]
After working together to besiege Cyne Belle Castle and recover the Saga Stone, Fulke betrayed her new allies and captured Sigurd to experiment on him, having deduced he was the reincarnation of the Isu Týr.[20] Although she was later hunted down and killed by Eivor, Basim and their allies, Fulke succeeded in her goal of awakening Sigurd's dormant memories of his past life.[21]
Birth of the Templar Order[]
By 878, with the Order of the Ancients in England all but wiped out, Alfred sent Eivor a letter inviting her to the village of Athelnay, where the king lived in exile following his defeat during the Battle of Chippenham.[22] There, he revealed to the Viking that he was both the "Poor-Fellow Soldiers of Christ" and the Grand Maegester of the Order, and explained his plan to reform the organization. Having grown to greatly respect Alfred, Eivor decided to spare his life, allowing the king to carry out his plan and establish the Knights Templar, otherwise known as the Templar Order.[6]
Alfred laying the foundations of the Templar Order
However, some surviving members of the Order of the Ancients opposed Alfred's reforms and continued their old practices with support from the Church. One such group allied with the Descendants of the Round Table to recover Excalibur, which had been found by Eivor.[23] However, the Hidden One Niamh of Argyll stole the sword first and brought it back to her people, the Women of the Mist,[24][25] while the Order and the Descendants witnessed Niamh's allies, Hytham and the seeress Valka, burn a fake replica of Excalibur, leading them to assume the Piece of Eden had been destroyed.[26]
Besides their partnership with the Descendants, the Order continued to forcibly convert communities away from paganism, either through the Church[27] or by abducting women from their homes and enslaving them under their philosophy.[28][29] However, their influence over Cote came to an end once Niamh killed Father Deoric, an Order member.[30]
At some point in the late 9th century, the monk Ecbert became an agent of King Alfred and faked his death to infiltrate a Christian sect led by Columba and recover an Isu artifact in their possession, the Codex of Eden. Ecbert's mysterious disappearance was investigated by his younger brother Edward and his allies, the Viking Niels Gunnarsson and the Hidden One Adelaïde, who discovered and infiltrated the sect's hideout inside the Loch Ness Temple in Scotland.[31]
After finding Ecbert, the group worked together to flood the temple and destroy the sect, before escaping with the Codex of Eden. Upon learning that Adelaïde planned to deliver the artifact to her brotherhood, Ecbert attacked her, leading to the Hidden One killing him. Enraged by his brother's death, Edward pushed Adelaïde off a cliff, killing her and breaking the Codex. Edward later recovered the Codex's fragments and brought them to Alfred, agreeing to join his Order.[31]
High And Late Middle Ages[]
Crusades[]
As the Order became publicly known in Europe as the Knights Templar, it could act in plain sight as a military force in the Holy Land for the Crusades and as a bank service in Europe. During the 12th century, they constructed the Temple Church in London as their headquarters.[32] During this period, members of the Gift family from Knightsbridge were active members of the Templar Order.[33]
Maria Thorpe serving as a decoy for Robert de Sablé
At the end of the 12th century, Maria Thorpe joined the British Rite and went to the Holy Land during the Third Crusade to serve under Robert de Sablé, Grand Master of the Levantine Rite. In 1191, she was his body double to foil an assassination attempt organized by the Master Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. After the Assassin discovered the trick, he decided to spare Maria's life, as she was not his intended target.[34]
Following de Sablé's death by Altaïr's blade, Maria worked under the order of Armand Bouchart, the de facto leader of the Levantine Templars in Cyprus. During an attack on Acre by the Levantine Assassins, Bouchart left Maria behind to be captured by Altaïr. Forcefully accompanying the Assassin to Cyprus, Maria came to see the flaws of the Templars after witnessing their corruption under Bouchart, and ultimately defected from the Order.[35]
First Barons' War[]
During the 13th century, the Templar Order was well implanted in England during the reign of John Lackland, with some of its members acting as advisors to the English King, whom they turned into their pawn. However, their plan were countered by the British Assassins, who rallied the English nobility against John's tyrannical rule during the First Barons' War. Led by Robert Fitzwalter, the Assassins were determined to end the rule of the Templars and allied themselves with the French Crown, who backed the rebellion against King John.[36]
Hundred Years' War[]
After the public disbandment of the Templar Order in 1312, the British Templars worked in the shadows. Even though their power was weakened for a century in Europe, the Templars continued to act on the political field.[37]
"Jeanne d'Arc" burning on the stake
During the mid-14th century, the Houses of Valois and Plantagenet fought for the Crown of France, beginning the Hundred Years' War. The Templars backed the English kings while the Assassins supported the French rulers. In 1420, the Treaty of Troyes was signed, which declared that the English King Henry V would inherit the French Crown after the death of the current King of France, Charles VI. However, as Henry passed away two months before Charles, a succession crisis ensued.[4]
The English installed Henry's son, Henry VI, as King of France, but his position was disputed by Charles' son, who proclaimed himself Charles VII of France. Additionally, due to Henry VI's young age, a regent was assigned to rule in his place: his uncle, John of Bedford, who was secretly a member of the Templar Order.[4]
Bedford fought off the French numerous times until the arrival of Jeanne d'Arc, who wielded a Sword of Eden that granted her a religious halo as she claimed God had sent her to liberate France from the English. As Jeanne crowned Charles VII in Reims and won battles, the Templars saw her as a threat and captured her during the Siege of Compiègne in 1430, taking her Sword in the process. Bedford sent Jeanne to an ecclesiastical court in Rouen where the French Templars condemned her to burn for witchery. However, the Assassins secretly saved Jeanne by replacing her with her protegee, Fleur, who sacrificed herself on the stake.[4]
Renaissance[]
Fighting for the English Crown[]
- "Margaret of York has died a "peaceful" death. Outside the Brotherhood, King Henry alone knows of our involvement. We will let him believe our services were bought with royal coin, but, in truth, we have dealt a major blow to the Templar scheme in England."
- ―An Assassin, regarding their attempts against Yorkist Templars, 1503.[src]-[m]
Mary I of England
During the late 15th century, the Templars made attempts to obtain the English throne. However, their plans were thwarted by King Henry VII, as he imprisoned Lambert Simnel and had Perkin Warbeck hanged. In November 1503, the Templar Margaret of York and her co-conspirators were killed by a group of Italian Assassins sent by their Mentor, Ezio Auditore da Firenze.[38]
The Assassins also killed a group of Templars instigating riots over Margaret's death, and captured and interrogated one of them, learning that the Order had infiltrated Henry's Star Chamber. The infiltrators were subsequently found and eliminated by the Brotherhood.[38][39]
On 19 July 1553, the Templar-affiliated Mary I ascended the throne of England and Ireland following the death of her father, King Henry VIII. As a monarch, she used violent attempts to restore Catholicism as the state religion of England, burning hundreds of Protestants at the stake in the process. The Assassins killed Mary for her tyranny on 17 November 1558, and helped her half-sister Elizabeth I to ascend the throne.[3]
Starting the Age of Reason[]
During the 17th century, the Templars in Europe wanted to forget the "Dark Age of the Order" when the corrupt Borgia ruled over the Roman Rite. As such, they rethought their role as advisors of the rulers and no more as rulers themselves. To achieve this, they used and influenced the works of intellectuals such John Locke, Isaac Newton and Francis Bacon to make philosophy and rationalism flourish in society to advance their goals. This period saw a great scientific revolution and the beginning of empiricism and liberalism.[40]
Salem witch trials[]
Samuel Parris and William Stoughton observing Bridget Bishop's execution
In 1692, in the city of Salem, Massachusetts, a young girl named Dorothy Osborne came into in contact with an unidentified Piece of Eden which gave her the ability to speak with the Isu Consus. This caught the attention of the Templar and Puritan minister Samuel Parris, who began witch trials in the city after other women became "ill." His fellow Templar William Stoughton served as the magistrate of the court during the trials, imprisoning women suspected of witchcraft to create more oracles like Osborne.[41]
During the trials, the Assassin and artifact hunter Thomas Stoddard arrived in the city to recover the Piece of Eden. With the help of fellow Assassin Jennifer Querry, he liberated Osborne, but the group was tracked by the villagers under the order of the Templars, who manipulated them into believing Stoddard was the Devil in flesh. Once the Assassins were captured, Stoughton tried to interrogate them, but was interrupted by Consus delivering a cryptic message through Osborne.[41]
Querry used this distraction to escape, but was promptly killed by Stoughton. After Osborne sacrificed herself in the flames to prevent the Templars from using her, an enraged Stoughton tried to kill Stoddard in retaliation, but was shot and stopped by Parris. Disagreeing with Stoughton's violent methods and wishing to bring an end to the bloodshed, Parris allowed Stoddard to leave the city with David, Querry's son.[41]
The New World[]
The Kenways[]
- "Haytham, I am a member of an influential and important organization. A kind of club, or society. One of the many advantages to membership is that we have eyes and ears everywhere. [...] The Templars, Master Haytham. I am a Templar Knight."
- ―Reginal Birch informing Haytham Kenway of his Templar affiliations, 1735.[src]
In the early 18th century, the Templars recruited British merchants and tried to take advantage of the economic growth of the British Empire. In Bristol, the Templars Emmett Scott and Aubrey Hague founded the Trade Organization, an association of merchants protected by their Order, and destined to put the Bristolian commerce under their control. After Scott's daughter, Caroline, married Edward Kenway against her father's wishes, he ordered the members of the Trade Organization to burn the farm of the Kenways, to prevent his daughter from going back there after Edward's departure to the Caribbean Sea in 1712.[42]
By 1714, the Templars at the East India Company had learned of the Assassin Duncan Walpole's dissatisfaction with the Brotherhood and saw an opportunity to recruit him. When Duncan was tasked by his Mentor, Phillip Randall, to assassinate Henry Spencer, a member of the company's Court of Directors, he tailed his target from the East India House to a tavern. There, he decided to strike a conversation with Spencer, during which it became clear his target was a Templar and aware of Duncan's own affiliations. Despite this, the exchange proceeded peacefully.[43]
After Spencer left, Duncan followed him, intending to complete his assassination. He pursued his target via the rooftops and eventually leapt upon him, putting a Hidden Blade to his throat. Despite this, Spencer made no move to escape and instead explained his intention to recruit the Assassin into the Templar Order. Convinced that the Templars would allow him to attain the fame and fortune he desired, Duncan accepted and met up with Randall the following day to take his next assignment, intending to use it to sabotage the Assassins before officially joining the Order.[43]
Duncan Walpole shipwrecked alongside Edward Kenway
Duncan was tasked to travel to the Caribbean to receive further training from the West Indies Assassins.[44] During his time there, he acquired a set of maps showing the locations of the Assassins' bureaus in the region, which he intended to deliver to the Templars in Havana.[45] However, while on his way to Cuba in 1715, Duncan's boat engaged a pirate ship, the Jacobite, resulting in both vessels' destruction. Duncan and Edward Kenway, who was serving aboard the Jacobite at the time, were the sole survivors, though the rogue Assassin was killed by Edward shortly after they were both stranded in Cape Bonavista.[46]
In 1723, Edward returned to England after having joined the Assassins and learned of his wife Caroline's passing years prior. Upon discovering the reason behind the burning of his parents' farm, as well as the fact that Caroline's death had been caused by her father's arrogance, Edward set out to exact revenge on Emmett Scott and his Templar brothers. After killing Scott and his associate Wilson, Edward went after Matthew Hague, though he was prevented from killing him by Robert Walpole, a neutral party who negotiated a truce between the Assassin and the Hagues.[42]
Reginald Birch, Grand Master of the British Rite
By the mid-18th century, under the leadership of Reginald Birch, the British Rite held a leading position among the various Templar Rites.[47] Through Robert Walpole, Birch became acquainted with Edward Kenway, for whom he began working as a senior property manager. Knowing of Edward's research on Isu sites, Birch intended to steal the man's journal.[48]
In 1733, Birch began courting Edward's daughter Jennifer as a pretext to visiting the Kenway Mansion and interrogating Edward's young son, Haytham, who unintentionally revealed the journal's location. Eventually, Jennifer discovered that Birch was a Templar and warned her father, who cut ties with him as a result. Despite this, Birch had already obtained what he was after.[48]
On 3 December 1735, Birch orchestrated an attack on the Kenway household, hiring five mercenaries from his Templar brother and British Army lieutenant Edward Braddock to kill Edward and obtain his journal. The attack was successful and, following Edward's death, Birch became Haytham's legal guardian, intending to indoctrinate the boy into the Templar Order.[48]
Under the pretext of searching for Jennifer, who had been abducted by the mercenaries and sold into slavery, Birch took Haytham on a five year journey across Europe, during which time he taught the boy the ideals of the Templar Order. Eventually, the two abandoned their search due to the War of the Austrian Succession, and Birch took over the Droupt-Saint-Basle chateau near Troyes, France as a base of operations, where he continued Haytham's training.[48]
Search for the Temples[]
- "It could contain certain knowledge. Perhaps a weapon. Or something as yet unknown, unfathomable in its construction and purpose. It could be any of these things. Or none of them. [...] But of one thing I am certain: whatever waits behind those doors shall prove a great boon to us all."
- ―Reginald Birch talking about the Grand Temple, 1754.[src]-[m]
Jack Weeks, James Wardrop, Samuel Smith and Lawrence Washington
With Edward's journal in his possession, Birch began scouring the globe, investigating several leads to potential Isu artifacts and sites. In 1738, he inducted Lawrence Washington into the Templar Order; Washington later rose in the ranks and became a Master Templar, at which point Birch tasked him with locating the Grand Temple in the British Colonies. The British Templar James Wardrop joined Washington in the New World and began to secure land and wealth for the Order. In 1744, Wardrop built a trade network from the Colonies to the West Indies for the Templars.[47]
During this time, new members were inducted into the British Rite, including Samuel Smith, who became the treasurer of the Templars in America; and William Johnson, who became Colonel of the Warriors of the Six Nations. In 1750, unimpressed with Washington's progress finding the Grand Temple, Birch sent another of his Templar agents, Colonel George Monro, to further their efforts.[47]
Around 1746, the frontiersman Christopher Gist became an ally of the Templar Order. He was later recruited by Monro to explore the west colonies, as well as strengthen the Templars' relation with the indigenous tribes in order to secure alliances and commercial lanes. At some point, Gist encountered a young thief named Jack Weeks who attempted to pickpocket him. Despite Weeks being caught in the act, Gist was impressed by his skill and audacious attitude, and took him on as an errand boy; Gist later began tutoring Weeks at Monro's suggestion. In 1751, both Gist and Weeks were inducted into the Templar Order by Monro.[49]
In 1746, Birch liberated the Spanish scientist Antonio de Ulloa following his capture by the British authorities, and introduced him to both the Royal Society of London and the Templar Order. Around 1748, at the request of the Templar Madeleine de L'Isle, Birch used his influence to sabotage the trading company of Philippe de Grandpré, forcing Philippe to marry Madeleine in order to alleviate his financial troubles. This was part of a ploy by Madeleine to acquire a Piece of Eden called the Heart of the Brotherhood, which was in the possession of Philippe's placée, Jeanne.[47]
In 1750, Rafael Joaquín de Ferrer, a Templar whose family had a debt to Birch, attempted to find a Precursor box to erase his family's debt. While he did not find the box, during his search de Ferrer discovered the abandoned Maya city of Chichen Itza and set up an excavation site to uncover Precusor sites he believed to be hidden underneath the ruins. The British Templar John Harrison organized a slavery operation in Gorée Island to provide manpower for the Chichen Itza excavation. Fearing to be discovered in Africa, the Templars relocated the operation to Florida and later to New Orleans, where it was overseen by the recently-established Louisiana Rite, led by Madeleine de L'Isle.[47]
In 1751, Lawrence Washington learned that François Mackandal, Mentor of the Haitian Assassins, had obtained two powerful Precursor artifacts: the Precursor box and the Voynich manuscript, which aided the Brotherhood in locating several Precursor sites, with one located in Port-au-Prince. Washington traveled to Haiti and tracked down Vendredi, one of Mackadnal's students who had indirectly triggered a massive earthquake during his investigation of a Precursor site.[47]
When Vendredi attempted to escape the site, he became trapped and was killed by Washington after he had tricked the Assassin into revealing the location of Mackandal's camp. From the camp, Washington managed to steal the Precursor box and the manuscript,[47] but while returning to the colonies, he was pursued by the Assassin Adéwalé. Washington was able to evade him upon reaching New York,[50] and later gave the box and the manuscript to Samuel Smith and James Wardrop, respectively.[51]
In July 1752, Washington organized a party at Mount Vernon to cover a reunion with his Templar brothers. Revealing he was dying from tuberculosis, Washington asked his fellow Templars to leave his younger brother out of their affairs; a choice that the Templars respected. After the reunion, Washington was killed by the Colonial Assassin Shay Cormac.[51] With their leader dead, James Wardrop assumed leadership of the Templars in the colonies and worked to translate the Voynich manuscript.[52] Samuel Smith, meanwhile, traveled to Europe with the Precursor box to find someone to make it work.[53]
Haytham's investigation[]
- "You think you’ve made a name for yourself, Haytham Kenway. The killer. The Templar blademan. Because you’ve killed a couple of fat merchants? But to me you’re a boy. You’re a boy because a man faces his targets, man to man, he doesn’t steal up behind them in the dead of night, like a snake... like an Assassin."
- ―Haytham Kenway being confronted by one of Jack Digweed's captors, 1747.[src]
Haytham and Birch pursing the mercenary
In 1744, Haytham Kenway was inducted in the Templar Order and performed his first assassination in Liverpool, killing a greedy merchant to protect the interests of the Templars. He was an efficient killer for the Order and in 1747 was sent to Spain to kill Juan Vedomir, a rogue Templar who had stolen Edward's journal. After completing this mission, Haytham continued his investigation on what had happened on the night his father had been murdered.[48]
Haytham and Birch traveled to Germany to interrogate Jack Digweed, a former servant of the Kenway family who had been blackmailed into giving the key to the plate room to the mercenaries. Arriving at Digweed's cabin, the Templars found the man being tortured by two British soldiers, who fled upon seeing them.[48]
Haytham pursued one of the fleeing soldiers and discovered that he was one of the mercenaries who had attacked the Kenway Mansion. The mercenary told Haytham that his father had been an Assassin and had been killed for an object in his possession, but died before he could say more. While Haytham pursued the mercenary, Birch killed Digweed to silence his implication with the mercenaries.[48]
Haytham and Tom Smith arrested by British troops
Following this, Haytham discovered a document on the dead mercenary that implied the man who had murdered his father was in the Dutch Republic. Investigating this lead, Haytham found the man but they were both knocked out by Edward Braddock's men. The British soldiers, thinking they were both deserters, attempted to hang them; while Haytham managed to escape, the mercenary was not as lucky and died on the rope. Braddock later told Haytham that the mercenary was Tom Smith and one of his soldiers, but concealed the fact that he had him hanged to cover Birch.[48]
As Haytham wanted to find the last mercenary among Braddock's troops, the general agreed to let him investigate on the condition Haytham enlisted in his army. Haytham accepted and aided the British Army in fleeing during the Siege of Bergen-op-Zoom. During this event, he witnessed Braddock killing civilians in cold blood. As Braddock became crueler and more violent during the war, he decided to leave the Templar Order, thinking they were weak to not apply the sword more liberally and more often. In response, Haytham cut all ties with Braddock and left the army alongside the soldier Jim Holden, whom he had befriended during the war.[48]
In 1753, Birch captured Monica Albertine, an ally of the Assassins who could decode Edward Kenway's journal. As she couldn't complete her work without her son Lucio, Birch sent Haytham to Corsica to capture him. Lucio was protected by the leader of the British Assassins, Miko, who also helped the Corsicans in their revolt against the Genoese. Haytham captured Lucio and defeated Miko, stealing the Assassin's Hidden Blades in the process.[48]
Establishing the Colonial Rite[]
Haytham preparing to assassinate Miko
In 1754, Birch asked Haytham to meet at the Theatre Royal during a performance of The Beggar's Opera, where he gave him his next mission: to kill Miko, who was part of the audience, and retrieve an amulet in his possession. Haytham accomplished the mission and escaped the theatre without being noticed.[54] With the death of Miko, the Templars were able to gain complete control of London from the Assassins, and kept the city under their thumb for over a century.[55]
Haytham later presented the amulet to Birch, who revealed it to be the key to the Grand Temple. Birch subsequently booked Haytham transport to Boston so that he could locate the Grand Temple and simultaneously establish a strong Templar presence in the colonies.[54]
Traveling aboard a merchant ship called the Providence, Haytham discovered that one of the sailors, Louis Mills, was in fact an Assassin who had followed him after Miko's death. Haytham killed Mills, but the Assassin had already thrown several barrels of cargo overboard, which were followed by the Aquila, the flagship of the Colonial Assassins' Navy. The Aquila tried to sink the Providence to kill Haytham, but the Templar directed the ship into a storm where it managed to lose its pursuers.[56]
During Haytham's journey, the Assassin Shay Cormac killed Samuel Smith upon his return from Europe and James Wardrop during the Albany Congress. As a result, the Templars lost both the Precursor box and the Voynich manuscript, and the leadership of the Templars in the colonies was vacant once again.[53][52]
Haytham meeting Charles Lee
Arriving in Boston in July 1754, Haytham met an ally of the Templar Order, Charles Lee, who was a soldier under the command of Edward Braddock, who was currently serving in the colonies during the French and Indian War. Lee served as a contact between Haytham and the Templars in the colonies and they installed their headquarters in the Green Dragon Tavern.[57]
Haytham first met William Johnson, who informed him that his research had been stolen by mercenaries. Haytham and Lee subsequently helped Johnson's assistant and fellow Templar Thomas Hickey recover the research, allowing Johnson to confirm whether the Grand Temple Key's markings were connected to the native Kanien'kehá:ka.[58]
While Johnson attempted to pinpoint the location of the Grand Temple, Haytham and Lee decided to recruit the surgeon and Templar Benjamin Church, who they found had been captured by a corrupt British officer named Silas Thatcher. The Templars rescued Church,[59] before setting their sights on recruiting John Pitcairn, who was also a soldier serving under Braddock. After Braddock refused to release Pitcairn from his command, Haytham and Lee assaulted Braddock during one of his patrols to force him to comply.[60]
Learning that Thatcher was running a slave operation out of Southgate Fort, Haytham decided to put an end to it, believing that doing so would earn them the favor of the Kanien'kehá:ka, which could prove essential in their expedition to find the Grand Temple. After intercepting one of Thatcher's slave convoys and disguising themselves as British soldiers, the Templars infiltrated the fort, killed Thatcher and freed his slaves, including a woman named Kaniehtí:io.[61]
Haytham showing Kaniehtí:io the Grand Temple Key
Haytham was intriguted by Kaniehtí:io and, believing she could lead him to the Grand Temple, decided to seek her out. After finding her in the Frontier, the two striked an alliance: in exchange for Kaniehtí:io's assistance, Haytham would have to kill Braddock, who had taken lands from the natives.[62] Haytham accepted and discovered that Braddock was preparing an expedition to take the French-occupied Fort Duquesne.[63]
In July 1755, the Templars prepared an ambush with the Lenape, the Shawnee, the Abenaki and the French troops. Haytham infiltrated Braddock's army with a British uniform and when the attack began, he pursued Braddock and mortally wounded him. Haytham then took Braddock's Templar ring to signify his betrayal of the Order's principles and, assuming Braddock to be dead, left to meet with Kaniehtí:io. As promised, she showed him the entrance to the Grand Temple, but when Haytham tried to access the site using his key, he was unsuccessful.[64]
The foundation of the Colonial Rite
Later, Haytham returned to the Green Dragon Tavern, where he informed his fellow Templars of his findings. Believing that they should abandon the search for the Grand Temple and focus on increasing their power and influence in the colonies, Haytham then inducted Charles Lee into the Templar Order, officially founding the Colonial Rite.[64]
Over the following weeks, Haytham entered into a romantic relationship with Kaniehtí:io, though she became upset after learning that he had not upheld his end of their deal by making sure Braddock was dead; in reality, the general had died four days after the attack. After also learning about Haytham's affiliations and what the Templars truly sought, Kaniehtí:io ended their relationship and forced Haytham to leave while concealing her pregnancy from him.[48]
Haytham's revenge[]
- "What you did is a corruption of everything I believe, and do you know why? You did it not with the application of our ideals but with deceit. How can we inspire belief when what we have in our heart is lies?"
- ―Haytham confronting Reginald Birch, 1757.[src]
Haytham eventually returned to Europe after receiving a letter from Jim Holden informing him that he had located his long-lost sister, Jennifer Scott. As Haytham had become distrustful of Birch, he lied to him that he was going to the Middle East to investigate a possible lead to a Precursor site. In reality, Haytham and Holden continued to search for Jennifer.[48]
In 1757, the two learned that Jennifer had been forced to serve as a concubine at the Topkapı Palace in Constantinople, before being moved to Damascus due to her age. Disguising themselves as eunuchs, Haytham and Holden rescued her; however, Holden was captured by the guards and taken to the Abou Gerbe monastery on Mount Ghebel Eter in Egypt to undergo operations to become a eunuch. Haytham arrived too late to save his friend from the operation but avenged him by killing the priests and burning the monastery.[48]
Following her rescue, Jennifer informed Haytham of the truth regarding the attack on the Kenway Mansion. Learning that Birch was responsible and had been lying to him for years, Haytham decided to seek revenge. Alongside Jennifer and Holden, he attacked Birch's chateau in Troyes, killing the Grand Master's guards and John Harrison before confronting Birch himself. The Grand Master tried to defend his actions by claiming they had been in the service of the greater good, but was killed by a vengeful Jennifer.[48]
Haytham then liberated the Albertines, who were still being held prisoner by Birch, but was impaled by Lucio with a sword. Despite this, Haytham ordered Holden to let the Albertines go before falling unconscious. Holden complied and, over the following months, nursed Haytham back to health alongside Jennifer. Once Haytham had fully recovered by January 1758, Holden committed suicide, unable to cope with his own injury.[48]
Following Holden's funeral, Haytham decided to return to the colonies to lead the Colonial Rite as its Grand Master while Jennifer went back to London to live in the Kenway Mansion.[48] The two stayed in touch over the following years through letters, and Haytham also protected his sister and their family home by preventing the British Rite from claiming the mansion for as long as Jennifer lived.[65][66]
American Revolution[]
In 1773, just prior to the start of the American Revolutionary War, the British warship Windermere sailed around the Bahamas carrying a mysterious shipment of Templar interest. The ship and her fleet were destroyed by the Aquila, now captained by the Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton, Haytham's son.[67] Later that same year, the Leviathan, another British warship, attempted to sail from the Bahamas to England with an important Templar emissary, but it too was destroyed by the Aquila.[68]
French Revolution[]
In the years leading up to the French Revolution, the British Templars became worried about the political and societal turmoil growing in France and by the rising power of the reformist faction in their French counterparts. As such, the Carrolls, a high-ranking family of the British Rite, took it upon themselves to eliminate Julie de la Serre, the wife of the traditionalist Grand Master François de la Serre. Julie was also her husband's second-in-command and, although more moderate than him, was herself a reformist. The British Templar Frederick Weatherall was Julie's lover before her marriage and he became her confidant and the swordmaster of her daughter, Élise de la Serre.[65]
The assassination attempt on Julie de la Serre
In 1776, the Carrolls made an unsuccessful attempt on Julie's life; one of their hitmen, the former Assassin Bernard Ruddock, left a clue of their involvement, which prompted Élise to travel to London ten years after her mother's death of consumption in 1778. During her trip, the Carrolls discovered that Élise, as the future French Grand Master, was not herself a staunch supporter of the monarchy or the old Templar ways, but they nonetheless decided to use her to infiltrate the Kenway Mansion and recover Haytham Kenway's old letters, which the Carrolls wanted to burn to hide Haytham's idea of uniting the Assassins and the Templars, a concept the British Templars saw as heresy.[65]
The Carrolls had killed Monica and Lucio Albertine to allow Élise to pose as one of their descendant, Yvonne Albertine, and gain access to the Kenway Mansion. While Élise recovered the letters from Jennifer Scott, the Carrolls took Weatherall hostage and tried to kill Ruddock to eliminate his ties to them, but Élise saved her mentor and arrived in time to warn Ruddock to leave. She then gave the Carrolls letters from her lover Arno Dorian, claiming there were Haytham's notes, and they burnt them before immediately trying to kill Élise. However, their daughter May was killed instead, and Élise fled with the help of Weatherall, who had to have his leg amputated after it was shot.[65]
At the eve of the French Revolution, the British fears came true when François was killed by the reformist Templars loyal to François-Thomas Germain, who became the new Grand Master of the French Rite. Later, as Élise tried to claim back her birthright and avenge her father, the feud between her and the Carrolls prevented her from counting on any help coming from the British Templars, who had been turned against her by the vengeful parents. Only Frederick Weatherall helped Élise in her quest for revenge.[65]
The Crimson Rose
During the Reign of Terror, Templars of the Old Guard were guillotined in Paris by the radical faction of Germain. A British Templar decided to rescue them and took the name of the Crimson Rose, founding the Crimson League. The Crimson League was helped by Arno Dorian, who was an Assassin and oblivious to the fact that the Crimson Rose was a Templar.[69][70] The two later discovered each other's allegiance and all the members of the Crimson League, including the Crimson Rose himself, were promptly killed by Arno.[71]
In 1794, Élise died during a confrontation with Germain in the Temple of Paris. Before her death, she gave Haytham's letters to Weatherall, who was residing in the Maison Royale de Saint-Louis with Élise's former handmaiden Hélène and her husband Jacques. Élise also sent a letter to Ruddock where she promised he would receive Haytham's letters and be reintroduced in the Brotherhood if he contacted Arno, who was no longer an Assassin but had helped Élise in her vendetta and killed Germain. However, Ruddock had been secretly hired by the Carrolls to kill Weatherall and Hélène for their involvement in their daughter's death, and used this opportunity to try and complete his mission.[65]
After meeting with Arno as instructed, Ruddock followed him to the Maison Royal, where he tried to kill everyone present after explaining his true intentions. He decided to begin with Arno, but just as he was about to shoot him, the rogue Assassin was killed by Weatherall. Afterwards, Weatherall allowed Arno to keep all of Élise's former belongings, including Haytham's letters.[65]
In 1805, Jennifer Scott passed away and the British Templars purchased the Kenway Mansion to discover its secrets. However, they left the estate mostly untouched for several years, out of respect for Haytham's memory.[66]
Victorian Era[]
Conquest of India[]
- "You're one of a kind. Benevolent, they say. All castes and creeds under one roof. You haven't even the temper to order the death of one lowly thief. It takes more nerve than that to bring the world to order."
- ―Francis Cotton to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, 1839.[src]
At the dawn of the 19th century, the British Templars made use of the East India Company, who controlled the majority of the Indian subcontinent's landmass. By the 1830s, the Templars in India were led by Francis Cotton, a general of the British Army who accompanied William Hay Macnaghten, the aide of the Governor-General George Eden. Macnaghten became an ally of the Templar.[72] Cotton was also in possession of a Precursor box, which had been recovered from the French Assassins by the Templar Shay Cormac decades prior.[73][74]
Another British Templar, William Sleeman, was a captain of the East India Company and organized the suppression of the Thuggee assassins in India between 1835 and 1839. Sleeman believed that the Thuggee had a connection with the Indian Brotherhood of Assassins but it was never proven.[74] Sleeman also met the Scottish explorer Alexander Burnes and inducted him in the Order. Burnes then began a search for the Pieces of Eden, especially the scepter of Alexander the Great, which was believed to be in Afghanistan.[75]
Cotton and Mzcnaghten meeting Arbaaz Mir
In 1839, the Sikh Empire was the last independent kingdom of India. Cotton planned to assassinate the Maharaja Ranjit Singh to take his empire as well as the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which was in reality a Piece of Eden. During a party at Singh's summer palace in Amritsar, Cotton met the Assassin Arbaaz Mir, who posed as an emissary. Each one understood the allegiance of the other, but even though Mir had been tasked with protecting Singh, he told Cotton that he had his own grieves against the Maharaja.[72]
Mir also searched for the Koh-i-Noor and found it hidden in a vault under the palace. However, Cotton alerted the palace guard to the presence of a thief, and Mir was promptly caught and imprisoned. This act allowed to Cotton to have a private meeting with the Maharaja.[72]
As Macnaghten discussed with Singh, Cotton poisoned the Maharaja's tea. Mir managed escape from the palace's dungeon with the help of Pyara Kaur, Singh's great-daughter, and interrupted the meeting. However, the Assassin arrived too late, as the Maharaja had already ingested the poison and died soon after. While Mir fought the palace guards, Cotton tried to make his escape, only to run into Pyara, who was carrying the Koh-i-Noor. Assuming she was an Assassin, Cotton prepared to stab her, but was attacked by Raza Soora, Mir's servant. As he tried to kill Soora, Pyara activated the Koh-i-Noor and was possessed by the Isu Durga. Scared, Cotton shot the Koh-i-Noor, shattering the Piece of Eden into pieces and creating an explosion which killed the Templar.[72]
Burnes and Sleeman discussing the Koh-i-Noor
After Cotton's death, Sleeman took over Templar operations in India and focused on locating Pieces of Eden. He obtained Cotton's Precursor box and information about the Isu vault in Amritsar and the Koh-i-Noor.[74] In 1841, the Templars kidnapped the Mentor of the Indian Brotherhood, Hamid, and took the reconstructed Koh-i-Noor from him.[76] Sleeman then ventured into the Isu vault underneath the Maharaja's summer palace, intending to use the Precursor box and Koh-i-Noor to unravel the locations of more vaults.[77]
Arriving in the Prophecy room, Sleeman used the Koh-i-Noor as a power source for the box and a holographic map appeared, showing the locations of several Isu temples. The Templar took notice of one temple in Herat, Afghanistan, before being confronted by Arbaaz Mir, who had saved his Mentor and followed Sleeman into the vault. Sleeman fired his gun at the Assassin but Mir dodged the bullet. The shot provoked the collapsing of the vault, though Sleeman managed to escape and traveled to Herat with Burnes and an army to investigate its temple.[78]
Herat was under siege due to the ongoing war between the British Army and the Afghans. While the British defended the fortress in the heart of the city,[79] Sleeman and his guards entered the Isu temple, which was located underneath the citadel. They made their way to the center of the temple, where they found a pedestal and Mir, who had again followed the Templars' trail.[80] After the Assassin was knocked out and captured, Burnes took him to the Katasraj Temple in Punjab, Pakistan to interrogate him while Sleeman stayed in Afghanistan to fight in the war. However, Mir soon managed to escape[81] and defeated Burnes, though he chose to spare the Templar's life. He then escaped with the Koh-i-Noor and the Precursor box, which Sleeman had given to Burnes for safekeeping.[82]
Sleeman holding Pyara hostage while bargaining with Arbaaz
Following Burnes' failure to stop Mir, Sleeman returned to Amritsar to personally deal with the Assassin and recover the lost Pieces of Eden. Invading the Maharaja's summer palace, Sleeman took Pyara Kaur hostage to lure Mir into a trap. However, the Assassin survived his ambush and killed his guards before confronting Sleeman, who bargained Pyara's life against the Koh-i-Noor and the Precursor box. When Mir sent the artifacts, Pyara stabbed Sleeman and fled with the Assassin to safety. Although Mir had managed to grab the Koh-i-Noor in the confusion, he lost the box, which was promptly reclaimed by Sleeman for the Templars.[83]
During the 1842 retreat of Kabul, the Templar and British Army colonel Walter Lavelle deserted with a corporal named Cavanagh, who discovered his allegiance and wanted to use his influence in exchange for saving his life. The two flew with a sepoy and confronted Afghan hillmen. Cavanagh received a scar in the face during the battle. They disguised as the hillmen but met a group of Afghasn. Cavanagh gave the sepoy as their prisoner and the two British went to Jalalabad. Years later, Lavelle returned to London with Cavanagh and introduced him to the Templar Order. Cavanagh killed Lavelle with the consent of the Order.[84]
Starrick Industries[]
- "This tea was brought to me from India by a ship, then, up from the harbor to a factory, where it was packaged and ferried by carriage to my door, unpacked in the larder and brought upstairs to me. All by men and women who work for me. Who are indebted to me, Crawford Starrick, for their jobs, their time, the very lives they lead. They will work in my factories and so too shall their children."
- ―Crawford Starrick talking about his influence in London, 1868.[src]-[m]
The Grand Master Crawford Starrick
By the 1860s, Crawford Starrick, the owner of Starrick Industries, became the Grand Master of the British Rite. Through his company and his leadership, the Templars brought under their control almost all forms of governance within the city of London. With Starrick Telegraph Company, the Templars controlled the information in the city. Starrick's cousin, the Templar Pearl Attaway controlled the transport network while the political, medicinal and scientific fields were being guided by the Earl of Cardigan, Dr. John Elliotson, and Dr. David Brewster, respectively.[85] In 1862, Starrick purchased Ferris Ironworks and inducted its owner, Rupert Ferris, into the Templar Order.[86]
Moreover, by paying off criminals to form their own gang, the Blighters, and installing their own as their leaders under the supervision of Maxwell Roth, in a decade the Templars had taken almost complete control of London's streets and boroughs, and operated a monopoly on organized crime in the city.[85]
The Templars also searched for Pieces of Eden in the city. During an auction for a manuscript, Starrick was outbid by Lucy Thorne, a young occultist. As she refused to give up the manuscript, Starrick inducted her into the Order as his lieutenant and Thorne helped him to find Pieces of Eden.[87] Around 1862, the Templars located an Apple of Eden under the Metropolitan Railway's construction sites. They sent Cavanagh to recover the artifact, unaware that Cavanagh hoped to use the Apple to overthrow Starrick and become Grand Master.[84]
Working as the director of the construction site, Cavanagh was associated with the Templars Marchant, manager of the construction site, and Robert Waugh, a pornographic photographer. Boot, Waugh's associate, was interrogated by the Assassin Ethan Frye for information on Templar activities. To hide his identity, Waugh shot Boot in the head and tried to kill the Assassin but accidentally killed a bystander girl. Frye killed Waugh and ordered his apprentice Jayadeep Mir to place the corpse on the Metropolitan Railway's construction site.[84]
The body was discovered by the engineer John Fowler and the solicitor Charles Pearson and his wife. They called the Police Constable Frederick Abberline to investigate the murder. As Cavanagh was interrogated by Abberline, Jayadeep, who was posing as a worker under the name of Bharat Singh, came to the defense of Cavanagh by leading the Constable on a false track and swapping Waugh's body with a dead pony. As he had helped them, Jayadeep infiltrated the Templars.[84]
As Abberline continued his investigation, the Templars beat his colleague, the Constable Aubrey, to send a message. Cavanagh also became suspicious of Jayadeep's identity, so he ordered the Templars in India to capture the Assassins Kulpreet and Ajay. The first Assassin committed suicide but the second one agreed to join the Templars in London and revealed Jayadeep's true allegiance. Cavanagh subsequently ordered Jayadeep to kill Pearson to prove his loyalty. Cavanagh wanted to frame the Assassin and recover the Apple of Eden that Pearson had discovered on the Metropolitan Railway's construction site and used as an ornament.[84]
Dr. Brewster experimenting on the Apple of Eden
In September 1862, the construction of the Metropolitan Railway was finished. During the celebration, as Jayadeep refused to kill an innocent, Cavanagh assassinated Pearson and took the Apple of Eden. Cavanagh tried to kill Jayadeep and Ethan Frye with the Piece of Eden but the tunnel collapsed due to the artifact's powers. As the two Assassins fled, Cavanagh was assassinated by Marchant on the order of Starrick, who had learned about Cavanagh's plan to usurp the position of Grand Master. The Templars also took revenge on Jayadeep by killing his friend Maggie who lived in the Thames Tunnel.[84] Later, the Apple was given to David Brewster to be examined in his secret laboratory in Croydon.[88]
In 1867, the Templar Philip Twopenny became the de facto governor of the Bank of England.[89] That same year, Starrick purchased the transport company of Malcolm Millner, who was known to sabotage the companies of his competitors. After Millner was inducted into the Order, a rivalry began between him and Pearl Attaway to control the transport monopoly.[90]
In February 1868, in Croydon, Rupert Ferris and David Brewster were respectively killed by the Assassins Jacob and Evie Frye, Ethan's twin children.[91] During the assassination of Dr. Brewster, the Apple of Eden which had been connected to a machine created an explosion that destroyed the laboratory and the Piece of Eden itself. Even if the Templars lost the artifact, Lucy Thorne was on the track of another Piece of Eden: a Shroud of Eden.[88] Starrick wanted to use this artifact to become the sole ruler of London after the Templars eliminated the heads of church and state.[92] The only information on the Shroud was that Edward Kenway had hidden it in London over a century ago.[93]
The Blighters and the Rooks battling for control of Whitechapel
After the double assassination in Croydon, the Templars began to lose power in London as the Frye twins came to the city. The two Assassins allied with Jayadeep, known at this time as Henry Green, and formed their own gang, the Rooks, to fight the Blighters.[94] Their first confrontation was in Whitechapel, where the Blighter leader and Templar Rexford Kaylock demanded a gang fight for control of the borough. After Kaylock's death, the Blighters under his control joined the Rooks.[95]
The Frye siblings continued to claim the boroughs of London by killing Templars, arresting Blighters for Sergeant Abberline, liberating child workers from Templar factories and attacking gang strongholds. The Blighters' operations were also sabotaged by the Fryes during their work with the criminal Ned Wynert, who gave information on the Blighters' contraband. When the Rooks challenged the control of a borough, the Templar leader of that borough set up a gang fight between the Blighters and the Rooks, but the latter emerged victorious every time, with the Templar leaders slain by the Frye twins.[85]
As the Starrick Telegraph Company controlled the information in London, the inventor Alexander Graham Bell allied with the Frye siblings to sabotage the Telegraph Company.[96] With the information they received, the Assassins destroyed a poison cargo.[97] When the Templars later tried to intimidate Bell, the Frye twins protected him.[98]
Later, Dr. John Elliotson, who at the time was the director of Lambeth Asylum, developed Starrick's Soothing Syrup, a concoction containing distilled opium and datura stramonium which made London's citizens easier to control.[99] As the Syrup damaged the minds of the people, Jacob Frye and Charles Darwin destroyed the Syrup's distillation factory, ending the production of the concoction.[100] Later, Dr. Elliotson was killed by Jacob in the middle of a public operation at Lambeth Asylum.[101] With Elliotson dead, the Templars couldn't reproduce the Syrup. Some criminals tried to sell their own concoctions but they either failed to help, or made people outright sick. The new director of Lambeth Asylum, Florence Nightingale, tried to treat the ill with the help of Evie Frye.[102]
As Charles Darwin had helped Jacob to destroy the Syrup, the Templars later targeted Darwin, ridiculing his theories and trying to kill him. The Frye siblings protected Darwin and his work.[85]
Attaway dealing with Jacob Frye
The rivalry between Starrick and Attaway grew as the Grand Master tried to buy Attaway Transport to control all the transport of London with Millner. As Millner sabotaged her carriages, Attaway struck a partnership with Jacob Frye, who was oblivious of her Templar allegiance. The Assassin destroyed Millner's omnibuses[103] and stole internal combustion engines for Attaway.[104] After Jacob assassinated Millner, Attaway met with Starrick and bargained her reconciliation with the Grand Master against the internal combustion engines.[105] In Waterloo station, while Attaway was preparing the transportation of the engines in her train, Jacob killed her after having discovered her true allegiance. The Assassin then stole the engines again, this time from the Templars.[106]
Attaway's death was a heavy blow to Starrick, who was deeply in love with her despite their blood relation. In response to her demise, Starrick reinforced the Templar presence in London to track down the Fryes.[106] With the deaths of Millner and Attaway, the transport monopoly was suffering of a power vacuum. The Blighters wanted to create their own company and forced the omnibus builder Edward Bayley to work for them. Evie Frye managed to save Bayley and stole the deed to Attaway Transport from the Blighters, allowing Bayley to establish the London General Omnibus Company.[107]
Thorne attacking Evie Frye
As Lucy Thorne searched for the Shroud, she discovered a crate containing many objects, among which was the journal of Edward Kenway. The Frye twins stole the crate but only recovered the journal as the Templars followed them.[93] Later, Thorne investigated the Kenway Mansion to discover clues about the location of the Piece of Eden but Evie Frye and Henry Green discovered a secret room before Lucy and took the objects in it before Thorne could catch them.[108]
Thorne later decided to follow Evie to a secret vault in St. Paul's Cathedral, where Edward Kenway had hidden the key to the box that held the Shroud. The Templar and the Assassin fought and Thorne fled with the key.[109] Afterwards, Thorne located the Shroud in the Tower of London. With other Templars, she infiltrated the castle to search for the artifact. They found no trace of the Piece of Eden but one of the guards brought Evie before Thorne. Unbeknownst to Thorne, the guard was an ally of the Assassins and had in actuality helped Evie get close enough to Thorne to assassinate her. Following Thorne's death, Evie reclaimed the key.[110]
With his position as governor of the Bank of England, Philip Twopenny, under the pseudonym of "Plutus," organized heists to finance the plans of the Templars. His crimes attracted the attention of Sergeant Abberline and Jacob Frye, who later discovered that the heists were inside jobs.[111] During one of his robberies, Twopenny was killed in his personal vault by Jacob and his acolytes were arrested by Abberline.[112] The news of the death of the Bank of England's governor led to the near-total collapse of the British economy.[113] Starrick increased his workers' wages in order to stave off the effects of inflation, and to maintain his grip on the workforce.[112] Some of Twopenny's acolytes fled with the printing plates to counterfeit money but Evie Frye found the plates, took them back and burned the fake money, restoring trust in British currency.[113]
As the new Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli wanted to pass the Corrupt Practices Act to reduce electoral corruption, the Earl of Cardigan hired hitmen to kill Disraeli and stop the vote. However, the hitmen were thwarted by Jacob Frye, saving the life of the Prime Minister.[114] During the vote session of the Corrupt Practices Act in the Palace of Westminster, the Earl of Cardigan was killed by Jacob, ending the political plots of Starrick.[115]
Roth and Jacob working together against Starrick
As the Rooks took control of the boroughs of London, Maxwell Roth decided to rebel against Starrick and teamed up with Jacob to weaken the Grand Master's position.[116] However, their alliance quickly shattered when Jacob realized Roth was willing to go to such extremes as bombing a factory full of child laborers in order to disrupt Starrick's production lines.[117] Jacob later killed Roth inside the Alhambra Music Hall after it had been set on fire by the latter, marking the end of the Blighters.[118]
Left as the last member of the British Rite, Starrick accelerated his plans to obtain the Shroud and eliminate the ruling class of England.[118] The Templars recovered the plans of a secret vault underneath Buckingham Palace where the Shroud was hidden.[119] During a party at the palace, the Templars took the place of the royal guards, intending to eliminate Britain's head of church and state, but they were foiled and killed by Jacob. Meanwhile, Starrick met Evie and, after forcing her to share a dance, managed to steal the key from her. After the Templars destroyed the entrance to the Shroud's vault with explosives, Starrick went inside and retrieved the artifact.[92]
Starrick killed by the Frye twins
However, Starrick's victory was short-lived, as he was soon confronted by the Frye siblings. Despite wearing the Shroud, which healed his every injury, and gaining the upper hand at first, Starrick soon lost his advantage after being distracted by a recently-arrived Henry Green with a throwing knife. This distraction allowed Jacob and Evie to separate Starrick from the Shroud and finally kill him. With Starrick's death, Templar control over London came to an end and the British Rite was brought to its knees.[92]
Loss of power in London[]
Despite Starrick's death, several lower-ranking Templars remained active in London as the British Rite scrambled to replace their leadership. One such faction attempted to regain power by committing acts of terrorism around the city. One of their attacks targeted the Palace of Westminster, where they hoped to kill Prime Minister Disraeli, but the Frye siblings killed their leader and disarmed their bombs.[120]
The Templars, led by Brinley Ellsworth, later aligned themselves with the British Indies Company in attempting to stop Duleep Singh from reclaiming his birthright as Maharaja. Their first plan was to kill Duleep in Buckingham's Gardens but the Fryes stopped this.[121] The Templars also stole the Maharaja's letters and India's gold but the Assassins recovered them.[122][123] As Duleep tried to send the gold to India, the Templars sought to stop the ship departing from London with the gold but they were once again thwarted by the Assassins.[124]
As an act of vengeance, the Templars later attacked Duleep in Southwark Station and stole the Fryes' train hideout. The Assassins protected Duleep and reclaimed their hideout after killing the Templars.[125] In the Tower of London, the Templars attempted to frame Singh for stealing the Koh-i-Noor, but their plot was thwarted by the Frye twins, who took the diamond and left the castle with it.[126] Ellsworth's true allegiances were exposed to Singh after the Assassins destroyed his factory concocting sleeping gas.[127] Later, when Singh confronted Ellsworth, rather than let Evie Frye assassinate him, he chose to let Ellsworth live.[128]
Even though the Templar presence in London had significantly decreased, the Order remained active within the city. In 1887, the Templars, known as the Secret Chiefs, financed the occultist Samuel Liddell Mathers to found the Hermetic Order of Golden Dawn.[129]
During the Autumn of Terror in 1888, the rogue Assassin and serial killer Jack the Ripper captured Templars and sent them to his personal prison at Deptford. Some of them were killed during executions overseen by the prison's warden John Billingsworth until Evie Frye rescued them.[130] One Templar was later interrogated by the police but was killed by the Ripper as the former Assassin erased his traces.[131]
Involvement in the Boshin War[]
In 1855, due to the lack of a strong Templar presence in Japan, the British Templar William Lloyd was sent to the country with the objective of restoring Imperial power, which the Order believed would allow them to regain their influence. By 1867, Lloyd had gained a position as an advisor to Harry Parkes, the British Consul to the Tokugawa shogunate.[132]
Using his political position, Lloyd exerted his influence to help mount support for the young Emperor Meiji and rally forces against the shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu. Faced with pressure for reforms, Yoshinobu abdicated and restored Imperial power. This caused the Japenese Assassins to retaliate against the British, with the Assassin Issa making an attempt on Harry Parkes' life inside the British Consulate, which was thwarted by Lloyd.[132]
Despite the shogun's abdication, in January 1868, forces loyal to Emperor Meiji entered into conflict with those loyal to the shogun in what became known as the Boshin War. Amidst the conflict, Lloyd was tasked with recovering the Musashi Masamune, the famed sword of legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi. Lloyd was unsuccessful in retrieving the weapon during an attack on the camp of its owner, Saigo Kayano, a Tokugawa loyalist, and it fell into the Assassins' hands.[132]
Having been tasked with winning the war at all costs, Lloyd participated in the Battle of Aizu, where he recovered the Musashi Masamune from the daimyo Matsudaira Katamori, who had been killed in battle. He was subsequently confronted by the siblings Shiba Atsuko, who had been training alongside the Assassins, and Shiba Ibuka, who previously distracted Lloyd during his attack on Saigo Kayano's camp. Despite defeating Atsuko, Lloyd met his end at Ibuka's hands. Nonetheless, the Templars' goal of restoring Imperial power was successful, as the forces loyal to Emperor Meiji won the Boshin War in June 1869, putting a definite end to Tokugawa rule in Japan.[132]
Modern times[]
One of the Secret Chiefs
In 1900, one of the Secret Chiefs dissolved the ties between the Order and the Golden Dawn after discovering that Mathers had killed the co-founder of the Golden Dawn, William Robert Woodman.[129]
During the World War I, the Templars organized a spy ring in London on behalf of the German Empire. These Templars were led by a man known as the Master Spy, who was also a Sage, a reincarnation of the Isu Aita. The spies became a part of the Instruments of the First Will, a group that worshiped Aita's wife, the Isu Juno, as the ruler of humankind. The group caught the attention of Winston Churchill who worked with the Assassin Lydia Frye, Jacob's grand-daughter, to eradicate the spy ring.[133] The Master Spy was killed by the Assassin in 1916 and his followers were driven out of London.[134]
By 1927, Thaddeus Gift had become Grand Master of the British Rite, though he betrayed the Order by stealing from his fellow Templars and using their contacts to embezzle money. Gift's corruption led to The Nine ordering their feared inquisitor, the Black Cross, to execute him for his crimes. In February, the current Black Cross, Albert Bolden, tracked Gift across the streets of London and killed him. He then cut out his Templar ring finger, leaving his body in the street.[33]
Churchill with the Templar puppets Roosevelt and Stalin at the Yalta Conference
The Templars were later responsible for starting World War II, a Templar plot devised to create their New World Order. To this end, they influenced various world leaders, including Winston Churchill, who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at the time.[3]
From 1979 to 1990, Margaret Thatcher was manipulated by the Templar shadow-company Abstergo Industries while she held the position of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. During her reign, she installed Boris Yeltsin, another Templar puppet, as Russia's new president.[135]
Members[]
Order of the Ancients[]
- Celtic Britain
- Arthur Pendragon (leader; early 6th century)
- Viking Age
- Æthelwulf, King of Wessex (Grand Maegester; until 858)
- Æthelred I, King of Wessex (Grand Maegester; 865 – 871)
- Alfred the Great (Grand Maegester; 871 – c. 873) (betrayed)
- Offa of Mercia
- Ælla of Northumbria
- Lerion
- Stowe
- Deoric
- Cyrus
- The Adder's Son
- Wardens of War
- Main article: Wardens of War
- Gorm Kjotvesson (Maegester; Norse Rite)
- Vicelin
- Avgos Spearhand
- Frideswid
- Leofgifu
- Hunta
- Kjotve (Norse Rite)
- Wardens of Relics
- Main article: Wardens of Relics
- Fulke (Maegester)
- Wardens of Law
- Main article: Wardens of Law
- Wardens of Wealth
- Main article: Wardens of Wealth
- Wardens of Faith
- Main article: Wardens of Faith
- Zealots
- Main article: Zealots
British Rite[]
- Viking Age
- Alfred the Great (founder)
- Ecbert
- Edward
- First War of Scottish Independence
- Hundred Years' War
- Renaissance
- Golden Age of Piracy
- Christopher Condent
- Hilary Flint
- Aubrey Hague
- Francis Hume
- Samuel Parris
- Benjamin Pritchard
- Henry Spencer
- Emmett Scott
- William Stoughton
- Wilson
- Georgian and Colonial Eras
- Reginald Birch (Grand Master; c. 1735 – 1757)
- Edward Braddock (left)
- May Carroll
- Peter Carroll
- Mrs. Carroll
- Benjamin Church (Colonial Rite)
- Christopher Gist (Colonial Rite)
- John Harrison
- Thomas Hickey (Colonial Rite)
- William Johnson (Colonial Rite)
- Haytham Kenway (Colonial Rite)
- Charles Lee (Colonial Rite)
- George Monro (Colonial Rite)
- John Pitcairn (Colonial Rite)
- Crimson Rose
- Samuel Smith
- James Wardrop (leader, Thirteen Colonies; 1752 – 1754)
- Lawrence Washington (leader, Thirteen Colonies; 1738 – 1752)
- Frederick Weatherall
- Jack Weeks (Colonial Rite)
- British Templar naval captain
- Victorian Era
- Pearl Attaway
- Argus Bartlett
- Rose Bartlett
- Phillip Beckinridge
- Thomas Blackroot
- Louis Blake
- Johnnie Boiler
- Wallace Bone
- David Brewster
- Alexander Burnes (India)
- Hattie Cadwallader
- James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan
- Cavanagh
- Charlie
- Martin Church
- Ada Cobleigh
- Clyde Cobleigh
- Edgar Collicott
- Francis Cotton (leader, India; until 1839)
- Crimson Rose
- Eveline Dipper
- Harold Drake
- Tom Eccleston
- John Elliotson
- Brinley Ellsworth
- Rupert Ferris
- Francis Fletcher
- Josephine Fletcher
- Lilla Graves
- Beatrice Gribble
- Samuel Hargrave
- Hardy
- Other Hardy
- Kent Jekyll
- Raphael Jekyll
- Rexford Kaylock
- Walter Lavelle
- William Lloyd (Japan)
- Victor Lynch
- Marchant
- Malcolm Millner
- Peter Needham
- Bloody Nora
- Pearce
- "Big" Pete
- Myrtle Platt
- Octavia Plumb
- Benjamin Raffles
- Reynolds
- William Sleeman (leader, India; began 1839)
- Smith
- Crawford Starrick (Grand Master; until 1868)
- Cletus Strain
- Chester Swinebourne
- Edith Swinebourne
- Lucy Thorne
- Philip Twopenny
- Robert Waugh
- Modern era
- Ferris
- Thaddeus Gift (Grand Master; until 1927)
- Darius Gift
- John Maynard Keynes
- Simon Hathaway
Allies and puppets[]
- Viking Age
- Middle Ages
- Renaissance
- Rodrigo Borgia (Roman Rite)
- Cesare Borgia (Roman Rite)
- Lambert Simnel
- Mary I of England
- Colonial Era
- Duncan Walpole (British Brotherhood)
- Rafael Joaquín de Ferrer (Louisiana Rite)
- Élise de la Serre (Parisian Rite)
- Benjamin Franklin
- George II of Great Britain
- Jim Holden
- Julian
- Tom Cobleigh
- Tom Smith
- Victorian Era
- 20th Century
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
- Assassin's Creed II (appears in Glyphs)
- Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (appears in Rifts)
- 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: Brahman
- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (indirect mention only)
- Assassin's Creed: Black Flag
- Assassin's Creed: Rogue
- Assassin's Creed: Unity
- Assassin's Creed: Unity novel
- Assassin's Creed comic
- Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
- Assassin's Creed: Underworld
- Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India
- Assassin's Creed: Templars
- Assassin's Creed: Heresy
- Assassin's Creed: The Official Movie Novelization
- Assassin's Creed: Rebellion (mentioned in Database entry only)
- Assassin's Creed: Gold
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Blood Brothers (as the Order of the Ancients)
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Sword of the White Horse (as the Order of the Ancients)
- Assassin's Creed: Fragments – The Blade of Aizu
- Assassin's Creed: Escape Room Puzzle Book (as the Order of the Ancients)
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – The Hidden Codex
- Assassin's Creed: Nexus VR (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed Roleplaying Game (mentioned only)
References[]
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