The Louisiana Brotherhood of Assassins, also known as the Assassin Brotherhood of New Orleans, was the guild of Assassins based in Louisiana. It was established in 1759, during Louisiana's rule by the Kingdom of France, by Agaté, a former member of the Saint-Domingue Brotherhood who survived his guild's collapse.
During the 18th century, the Louisiana Brotherhood was relatively small-scale, consisting of Agaté and his two apprentices, Aveline de Grandpré and Gérald Blanc. With Agaté unable to set foot in New Orleans due to the risk of being recognized by the Templars, he had Aveline and Gérald act as his agents in the city to sabotage the Templars' control, which strengthened during Louisiana's administration by Spain following the end of the Seven Years' War.
In addition to fighting the Templars, the Louisianan Assassins sought to acquire the pieces of the Prophecy Disk, an Isu artifact buried in Chichen Itza, Mexico, which was also desired by the Templars. Although successful in this endeavor, Aveline and Agaté started to grow apart due to the former's disobedience and the latter's secretive nature, culminating in a fight between pupil and Mentor after they both discovered the Louisiana Templars were led by Aveline's stepmother, Madeleine de L'Isle.
Following Agaté's death at Aveline's hands, the latter surrendered the Prophecy Disk to Madeleine under the guise of switching allegiances to the Templars. With all leading members of the Louisiana Rite gathered at the Saint Louis Cathedral for Aveline's induction into the Order, the Assassin seized the opportunity to eliminate them, ridding New Orleans of Templar influence.
Over the following years, Aveline continued to operate in Louisiana and the newly-established United States of America, assisting the Colonial Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton in his mission to build up his own Brotherhood. By the 19th century, the Louisiana Brotherhood remained operational and several of its members participated in the American Civil War.
History[]
Establishment[]
In 1758, after the execution of the Saint-Domingue Brotherhood's Mentor, François Mackandal, secretly engineered by the Templar Madeleine de L'Isle,[1] the branch was nearly dissolved. In the wake of this defeat, one of Mackandal's apprentices, Agaté, left Saint-Domingue in pursuit of his former lover, Jeanne,[2] who had stolen an artifact known as the Heart of the Brotherhood from the Assassins.[3]
Agaté went to New Orleans, where Jeanne lived with the French merchant Philippe de Grandpré, who had purchased her years prior and made her his placée bride.[4] To alleviate his company's financial problems, Philippe had also married Madeleine, who took an interest in Jeanne and the Heart.[5] However, shortly after Agaté's arrival, he discovered that Jeanne had fled the city, manipulated by Madeleine.[2][6]
Aveline and Gérald, the only two Assassins of New Orleans
After Agaté learned that Jeanne had a daughter named Aveline with Philippe, he decided to remain in New Orleans to watch over her. In 1759, he intervened after Aveline got into trouble for attempting to liberate a slave. Impressed by the young girl's dedication to freedom and justice, Agaté took Aveline under his wing and, following a few months of intense training, inducted her into the Assassins. That same year, he recruited Aveline's childhood friend Gérald Blanc and trained him as a spy and information officer, officially founding the Louisiana Brotherhood as its Mentor.[7]
However, the Templars in New Orleans soon caught wind of Agaté's presence, forcing him to flee the city and hide in the Louisiana Bayou.[8] From there, he continued to direct Aveline and Gérald, who established a network of informants throughout New Orleans to uncover the Templars' schemes.[6]
French and Spanish Louisiana[]
Investigating the disappearing slaves[]
Aveline with a dying Governor d'Abbadie
In 1765, slaves in New Orleans began to disappear and Aveline investigated on the matter.[9] Her search led her to Rafael Joaquín de Ferrer, a notable Templar who worked with the Governor of Louisiana, Jean-Jacques Blaise d'Abbadie. Infiltrating the Governor's Mansion, Aveline learned that d'Abbadie supplied slaves to a Templar known as the "Company Man" in exchange for the Order using their influence to keep Louisiana French, in spite of the Treaty of Paris which declared that control of the colony was to be ceded to Spain.[10]
After de Ferrer departed, Aveline killed d'Abbadie, temporarily ending Templar control over New Orleans.[10] She then chose to flee the city and hide in the bayou until the commotion caused by the governor's assassination died down.[11]
The Eve of Saint John[]
- "Deep in the bayou, a dangerous imposter spreads real roots. He calls himself François Mackandal, my own mentor – the leader, the priest, the Brother, to whose cause I devoted my life. He was put to death by fire. I failed to prevent it. Who is this imposter, and what are his affiliations? This, you will need to uncover."
- ―Agaté giving Aveline her mission, 1766.[src]-[m]
Agaté giving Aveline a blowpipe
In 1766, Agaté learned that a man impersonating François Mackandal was trying to take over the smuggling operations in the bayou, and sent Aveline to discover the impostor's identity and eliminate him.[12] During her investigation, Aveline saved the smugglers Élise Lafleur and Toussaint Roussillon who were attacked by Mackandal's followers.[13] With their help, she learned that the Mackandal impostor prepared a sacred ceremony on the Eve of Saint John.[14]
At the ceremony, Aveline discovered the false Mackandal to be Baptiste, a former Assassin and brother-in-arms of Agaté, who had followed him to Louisiana and formed his own voodoo cult. Baptiste planned to poison the nobles of New Orleans to avenge the death of the slaves of Saint-Domingue, and also worked with de Ferrer to track down Agaté. Aveline ultimately killed Baptiste, who with his dying breath revealed his knowledge of her mother Jeanne and implied that Agaté was hiding certain secrets from her, shaking Aveline's trust in her Mentor.[15]
Louisiana Rebellion[]
By 1768, the Templar Antonio de Ulloa had been appointed the Spanish Governor of Louisiana and placed strict trade laws and restrictions over the colony that benefited the Templars' interests. This caused the French Creoles to rebel against the governor's rule.[16] Aveline, who continued to investigate the slaves' disappearances,[17][18] decided to take advantage of the chaos in New Orleans to get close to Ulloa and interrogate him for information on where the slaves were being sent.[19]
Aveline and Gérald stealing a gunpowder carriage
With Gérald's help, Aveline incited a massive riot to force Ulloa to leave his fort, La Balize. The two Assassins intercepted a gunpowder delivery, though the cart later ended up crashing into a winery,[19] and Aveline sank one of the Spanish Navy's ships.[20] These actions had the desired effect and Ulloa attempted to flee New Orleans to escape the rebellion.[21]
Learning about the governor's Templar affiliations, Agaté traveled to the city and instructed Aveline to kill Ulloa. However, his pupil disobeyed him and, after intercepting Ulloa's convoy, decided to spare the Templar's life when he informed her that the missing slaves were taken to a work camp in Chichen Itza. The governor also gave Aveline a lens used to decipher encoded Templar documents, and she warned him that his Templar colleagues would not be as merciful as her, causing Ulloa to resign from his position as governor.[21]
After Aveline informed Agaté of her decision to spare Ulloa, the Mentor was furious and forbade her from traveling to Mexico.[21] However, Aveline disobeyed him again and, after disguising herself as a slave and giving her weapons to Gérald, boarded a Templar ship bound for Chichen Itza.[22]
Search for the Prophecy Disk[]
- Agaté: "You should have left it where it lay. Do you have any idea of its purpose or power?"
- Aveline: "I was hoping you could enlighten-"
- Agaté: "Had you not insisted on dredging it up, no one would need to know! Remove it from my sight."
- —Aveline and Agaté discussing the Prophecy Disk, 1771.[src]-[m]
Aveline meeting her mother in Chichen Itza
In 1769, Aveline reached Chichen Itza and found that the slaves worked and lived freely on the excavation site under the Templars' protection.[23] Upon further investigation, however, she discovered that de Ferrer brutalized every worker that stepped out of line.[24] As she continued to explore the camp, Aveline found clues that her mother Jeanne was there. In her diary, Aveline found a map of an Isu temple underneath the dig site.[25]
Entering the temple, the Assassin found a part of the Prophecy Disk, a Piece of Eden, moments before de Ferrer also accessed the temple by blowing up a wall, which destabilized the site. In the resulting fight, Aveline killed de Ferrer and his guards before escaping the collapsing temple. In the process, she ran into Jeanne, though her mother rejected her after discovering her daughter was an Assassin.[26]
In 1771, Aveline returned to New Orleans and was informed by Gérald of a faction of rogue Spanish soldiers trying to take control of the Louisiana Bayou.[27] Through her investigation, Aveline discovered that a Templar named Diego Vázquez was responsible and decided to warn Agaté of the intrusion.[28] After a brief argument regarding Aveline's long absence from Louisiana, she showed her Mentor the piece of the Prophecy Disk she had found, only for Agaté to warn her to hide, claiming it would doom them.[29]
Agaté explaining his plan to deal with Vázquez's men
When Aveline told Agaté about Vázquez's plans, the Mentor revealed that he was already well-aware of them and that he had devised his own plan to deal with the Spanish troops. Aveline offered to assist him and poisoned the soldiers to make them believe they were under a voodoo curse.[29] Later, with the help of the bayou's smugglers, Aveline stole supplies from Vázquez's ship and found a document containing orders to reclaim the worksite in Chichen Itza, leading the Assassin to hurriedly journey back to Mexico.[30]
When she arrived in Chichen Itza in 1772, Aveline was reunited with her mother, who decided to help her find the second piece of the Prophecy Disk before the Templars. After retrieving the artifact from another Isu temple, Aveline invited her mother to return to New Orleans but Jeanne decided to stay to survey the community in Chichen Itza and protect the region from further Templar incursions. Aveline accepted her mother's choice, promised to remain in contact with her and returned to New Orleans.[31]
Hunting the Company Man[]
- Aveline: "I was a child when you brought me into the Brotherhood and made me an Assassin. You pretended to protect me, to root out the enemy! And all along, my own stepmother, Madeleine, was the Company Man."
- Agaté: "Iniquity runs in the family."
- —Aveline revealing the Company Man's identity to Agaté, 1777.[src]-[m]
In 1776, Aveline resumed her quest to uncover the identity of the "Company Man", the mysterious leader of the Louisiana Templars. With the ongoing war between the British Crown and its colonies in the north, the Governor of Louisiana supplied the Patriots via the smugglers of the bayou. Diego Vázquez sent soldiers to attack the smugglers, but Aveline protected them.[32]
Aveline with Ratonhnhaké:ton in New York
Believing Vázquez to be the Company Man, Aveline later assassinated him at a soiree in New Orleans, only to discover that her assumption had been incorrect. Furthermore, she was informed that her father Philippe had succumbed to an apparent illness he had been battling for some time, leaving his business in Gérald's care while his mansion was inherited by Madeleine.[33]
In 1777, Gérald learned with the help of the Colonial Assassins that a Loyalist officer named Davidson worked for the Company Man. Traveling to New York, Aveline worked with the Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton to infiltrate the fort where Davidson was hiding. Upon confronting the officer, Aveline was surprised to discover that he was George,[34] a slave she had helped flee Louisiana the year prior.[35] George tried to escape, but Aveline shot the gunpowder in the back of his carriage, mortally wounding him.[34]
After George revealed the Company Man's identity to be Madeleine in his final moments, Aveline returned to New Orleans and confronted her stepmother, who admitted to knowing of Aveline's Assassin affiliations and grooming her to join the Templars. Aware of Aveline's growing distrust of Agaté, Madeleine asked her to kill her Mentor as a final test of loyalty before being inducted into the Order.[36]
Agaté committing suicide
At Agaté's hideout in the Louisiana Bayou, Aveline informed the Mentor of the Company Man's true identity, leading him to attack her, assuming that his pupil had betrayed him and the Brotherhood. Aveline reluctantly fought Agaté, who used hallucinogenic gases against her, and ultimately defeated him, but refused to take his life. In response, Agaté committed suicide by jumping from the top of his hideout, believing that the humiliation he had endured was a fate worse than death.[37]
Inside the Saint Louis Cathedral, Aveline delivered Agaté's necklace to Madeleine as proof of his death, and also presented the two halves of the Prophecy Disk. Believing Aveline wished to pledge herself to the Templar cause, Madeleine welcomed her stepdaughter into the Order before the assembled Louisiana Rite.[38] She then tried to activate the Prophecy Disk and uncover the secrets it contained, but found that she was unable to do so due to lacking the final component: the Heart of the Brotherhood.[39]
Aveline dicovering the message of the Prophecy Disk
At that moment, Aveline revealed her true intentions and killed Madeleine's guards before fighting and mortally wounding her stepmother. As she lay dying, Madeleine questioned why Aveline would turn on her, to which the Assassin revealed that she knew Madeleine was responsible for both her mother's abandonment and her father's poisoning. Although the Templar tried to justify that all of her actions had been in service of the greater good, Aveline saw through her act and claimed that she would never serve her.[39]
With Madeleine's death, the Louisiana Rite of the Templar Order was wiped out and Aveline inserted the Heart of the Brotherhood, which she had been carrying as a necklace, into the Prophecy Disk. The artifact displayed a holographic message depicting the election of Eve as the leader of the human rebellion during the Human-Isu War, just as Gérald walked into the cathedral and witnessed the recording alongside Aveline. The two Assassins then declared that their work was done, having successfully liberated New Orleans from Templar influence.[39]
Later activities[]
- "I have attempted to recruit Patience for the Brotherhood, but she will not allow me to approach her with help. Your name is legendary among the slaves, even as far North as Newport, I believe you will have more success. She was last seen on Goat Island. Start your search there, if you accept."
- ―Ratonhnhaké:ton in his letter to Aveline, 1784.[src]-[m]
Aveline with Patience Gibbs
In 1784, Aveline was contacted by Ratonhnhaké:ton, who by this point was attempting to rebuild the Colonial Brotherhood. Having tracked an escaped slave by the name of Patience Gibbs to Newport, Rhode Island, Ratonhnhaké:ton unsuccessfully attempted to recruit her into his Brotherhood and asked for Aveline's assistance due to her legendary reputation among the slaves.[40]
Accepting the mission, Aveline traveled to Newport and found that Patience had been captured by the Templar Edmund Judge, who sought a charm – a Piece of Eden – in her possession.[40] After saving Patience,[41] Aveline worked with her to infiltrate Judge's stronghold and retrieve the stolen charm. Aveline killed the Templar and Patience recovered the artifact, which she claimed allowed her to "see into all things", before agreeing to accompany the Assassin to the Davenport Homestead so that she could join the Colonial Brotherhood.[42]
At some point in the late 18th century, Hubert Marchand operated as a member of the Louisiana Brotherhood.[43]
American Civil War[]
Abstergo Madrid's collage of Callum's Louisianan Assassin ancestry
Around the time of the American Civil War, Callum Lynch had several Assassins ancestors from Louisiana who fought in the conflict.[43]
Members[]
- Colonial Era
- Agaté (Mentor; 1759 – 1777)
- Gérald Blanc
- Aveline de Grandpré
- Hubert Marchand
Allies and puppets[]
- Colonial Era
Appearances[]
- Assassin's Creed III: Liberation (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: Initiates (mentioned in Database entry only)
- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag – Aveline
- Assassin's Creed: Memories
- Assassin's Creed film (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed Roleplaying Game (indirect mention only)
References[]
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