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"The Assassins in this part of the world are like ghosts. We know they are here, but we can never find them. They have woven themselves into the very mythology of this place."
John Harrison describing the Indian Assassins in a letter to William Johnson, 1748.[src]-[m]

The Indian Brotherhood of Assassins is the branch of the Assassins which has been operating in India since at least the 1st century CE. Following the reforms of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Mentor of the Levantine Assassins, in the early 13th century, the branch was reconstituted as an Assassin Guild.

During the 16th century, the Indian Assassins maintained a headquarters in Calicut and were responsible for defending the region from incursions by the Portuguese Templars. Nevertheless, they failed to hold back the tide of British conquests in the 19th century, a development that led to clashes between the British Templars and Sikh Assassins over Isu Temples and Pieces of Eden in Punjab and Afghanistan, most notably the Koh-i-Noor.

Unique to the Indian Brotherhood was the strategy of exploiting fear to minimize the need for bloodshed. To that end, they developed a myriad of tools and techniques specially tailored for instilling fright in their enemies, innovations that they shared with the British Brotherhood in the latter half of the 19th century.

Like many other Assassin Guilds, the Indian Assassins were nearly wiped out in the modern era by the Templars, but some of their members were still active a decade later.

History[]

Establishment[]

Prior to the establishment of the Indian Brotherhood, the Hidden Ones were known to operate within the territories of modern-day India as early as the 1st century CE.[1]

Renaissance[]

During the early 16th century, the Indian Assassins received help from the Italian Assassins to fight off the Portuguese employed by the Templars' puppet Manuel I of Portugal in Calicut. They set Pedro Álvares Cabral's storehouses and shops on fire, and took out several key commanders of his army. After Cabral's departure, the Assassins found out that they knew the location of the Calicut Assassins Guild.[2]

After Manuel I sent Vasco da Gama to Calicut to enforce the Portuguese rule, the Indian Assassins hid several relics and documents before evacuating their family and friends. They established an army of disguised Assassins and killed most of Gama's commanders in plain sight, forcing them to flee.[2]

Sikh Empire[]

Quest for the Koh-i-Noor[]

Ethan: "You have my thanks, Arbaaz. It can not have been easy to retrieve the diamond."
Arbaaz: "Take good care of it, Ethan. It is truly unique; it would be a shame if its fate was to remain hidden in a safe."
Ethan: "I will. You have my word; the diamond's journey is just beginning..."
—Arbaaz Mir entrusting the Koh-i-Noor to Ethan Frye, 1841.[src]-[m]
ACBM-Arbaaz and Hamid

Arbaaz and Hamid inside the Amritsar hideout

In 1839, the Indian Assassin Arbaaz Mir was in search of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, a powerful Piece of Eden, which was held by the Sikh Empire's ruler, Maharaja Ranjit Singh. This artifact was also sought after by the British Templars, notably General Francis Cotton. While the Templars' plan to assassinate Singh were successful, transgressions led to the Koh-i-Noor being shattered into many shards.[3] However, the artifact would later rebuild itself and be secured by the Indian Brotherhood's Mentor, Hamid.[4]

In 1841, British Templars led by William Sleeman managed to locate the Indian Assassins' hideout in Amritsar and ransacked it, kidnapping Hamid and stealing the Koh-i-Noor. After saving his Mentor, Arbaaz embarked on a quest to recover the artifact from the Templars, which led him to Herat in Afghanistan and Punjab in Pakistan. Eventually, Arbaaz managed to secure the Koh-i-Noor, as well as a Precursor box in the Templars' possession, after defeating Alexander Burnes, Sleeman's right-hand man.[4]

ACCI Rescue (9)

Arbaaz giving the Koh-i-Noor to Ethan Frye

Upon his return to Amritsar, Arbaaz learned that the Templars had taken his lover, Princess Pyara Kaur, hostage to exchange her for the lost artifacts. During a confrontation with Sleeman inside the Maharaja's Summer Palace, Arbaaz was forced to give up the Koh-i-Noor and the Precursor box, though he managed to recover the former after Pyara stabbed Sleeman with a knife, allowing her and Arbaaz to escape. Afterwards, Arbaaz entrusted the Koh-i-Noor to his friend Ethan Frye, a British Assassin, who proceeded to hide it.[4]

In 1847, Arbaaz began training his son Jayadeep Mir as an Assassin with the help of Ethan, until 1853, when Ethan returned to England. In 1859, Arbaaz accompanied his son on his first mission to assassinate the Templar Tjinder Dani and was forced to intervene when Jayadeep failed to eliminate his target due to his reluctance to kill. Jayadeep's incompetence was seen as a breach of the Creed's tenets and he was sentenced to death by Hamid. Hearing of his student's plight, Ethan returned to India and was able to negotiate a deal to have Jayadeep banished to England instead.[5]

Liberation of London[]

"Brother George. It is as I feared. London has fallen. Thrice I have written to you, begging your aid. Thrice you've responded - with silence. And yet I write again, so desperate my need, so few my options. I need you. London needs you."
―Henry Green in a letter to George Westhouse, 1868.[src]-[m]

In England, Jayadeep, posing as migrant worker Bharat Singh, investigated the Templars in London, who were searching for an Apple of Eden. When the Templar Cavanagh began to suspect Jayadeep's true identity, he had the Indian Assassins Ajay and Kulpreet captured and interrogated. While Kulpreet killed herself along with one of her captors, Ajay betrayed the Brotherhood to save himself and confirmed Cavanagh's suspicions, only to later commit suicide due to the guilt he felt. Despite knowing the truth, Cavanagh was ultimately unable to eliminate Jayadeep, and was later killed by a fellow Templar, Marchant, for plotting to overthrow Grand Master Crawford Starrick.[5]

ACS Somewhere That's Green 6

Jacob and Evie Frye meeting Henry Green

After the Templars killed his friend Maggie, Jayadeep sank into a deep depression until his mother Pyara helped him recover a few years later. He would thereafter become the leader of the Assassin bureau in London and focus on liberating the city from the Templars' control and locating an artifact known as the Shroud of Eden. During this time, he would also adopt a new name, Henry Green.[5]

In 1868, Henry succeeded in both of his goals thanks to the assistance of Ethan's children, Jacob and Evie, who travelled to London after his death. After securing the Shroud and eliminating the London Templars, Jacob stayed in the city to rebuild the weakened Brotherhood while Henry married Evie and moved with her back to India.[6] Around 1873, the couple would welcome Jacob and several of his Assassin initiates, including a boy named Jack, whom they trained in the fear tactics of the Indian Brotherhood.[7]

Modern times[]

The Indian Brotherhood was among the Assassin guilds that were targeted by the Templars in their Great Purge in December 2000.[8] However, some members managed to survive the Templars' purge and were still active over a decade later.[3]

Search for the Koh-i-Noor[]

"Abstergo is a front for some really bad people. Templars. They're combing India for anyone linked to the diamond. We're doing what we must to keep it out of their hands. Let's just say it would be bad for life as we know it if they find the diamond before we do."
―Jasdip Dhami to Jot Soora, on the Koh-i-Noor, 2013.[src]
ACBM Jasdip Interrogation

Jasdip Dhami interrogating Jot Soora

In 2013, Jot Soora stumbled upon secret coding which allowed him to see the memories of himself and his girlfriend Monima Das, whose ancestry intertwined through that of Arbaaz Mir and his servant Raza Soora. With this information, Jot was highly sought out by both the Templars and the Assassins, having told the latter that he was Mir's descendant. The Assassins sent agents Siobhan Dhami and her brother Jasdip while the Templars sent a strike team led by Juhani Otso Berg.[3]

The Assassins were ultimately successful in retrieving Jot and plugged him into the Brahman V.R. to obtain the location of the Koh-i-Noor. To their dismay, Jot had in fact lied about his heritage and thus provided them with nothing. The Templars soon found them, killing Siobhan in the process. Jasdip managed to escape with Jot, triggering an explosive in Siobhan's Hidden Blade so Abstergo Industries could not extract her DNA, causing Jot to become separated from him.[3]

Jasdip later came to Jot's rescue after he and Monima Das were abducted by Abstergo, accidentally causing their vehicle to plunge into the water. Jasdip managed to rescue Jot, though Monima tragically drowned. Jasdip brought Jot to a safehouse run by Dinesh. Jot soon connected the Brahman to their computers, which alerted Abstergo to their location. Dinesh then discovered that Monima was Arbaaz Mir and Pyara Kaur's descendant. Realizing her genetic memories could lead to the Koh-i-Noor, Dinesh backed up the data and wiped it from the Abstergo Cloud.[3]

The Templars soon attacked, killing Dinesh, but Jasdip and Jot separately escaped, the latter having gotten away with the phone containing the information that could lead to the Koh-i-Noor. With the Brahman destroyed and the false information on the cloud, the Templars were led to believe that they were no closer to finding the Koh-i-Noor than the Assassins.[3]

Jasdip's betrayal[]

In 2015, Jasdip was assigned to find Álvaro Gramática's laboratory, with no success.[9] However, unbeknownst to the Assassins, Jasdip had defected from the Brotherhood and joined the Instruments of the First Will.[10]

Weapons and gadgets[]

Arbaaz Mir was equipped with a variation of the Hidden Blade known as the Trident Blade, though other Assassins employed the traditional blade.[3]

ACS JtR Fear Bomb

A fear bomb

The Indian Assassins were equipped with typical Assassin gear, as well as a variety of knives like the kukri.[6] After marrying Henry Green and moving to India around 1868, Evie Frye was introduced to fear-inducing weapons including spikes and fear bombs. Initially nonlethal, Evie used these tools in London while tracking her brother Jacob's former apprentice Jack in 1888.[7]

Indian Assassins in the late 19th century also seemed to use a fear-inducing hallucinogenic in their clothing that they could release at will, such as during brutal, non-lethal takedowns of enemies or in conjunction with their spikes.[7] They also utilized golden discs known as fighting karas in close combat in a manner akin to that of brass knuckles.[11]

Practices[]

The Indian Assassins practices were heavily influenced by the culture in which they lived. They were known to execute those members of their own Order who were seen to have breached the Creed, either through dangerous incompetence or by bringing attention to the Order, as in the case of Jayadeep Mir in 1860, though on this occasion the execution was ultimately suspended.[5]

Members[]

Sikh Empire and British India
Modern times

Allies and puppets[]

Sikh Empire and British India

Appearances[]

References[]

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