Manila

Manila
Political information
Sovereign state	Philippines
Government	Bruneian Sultanate (16th century) Spanish Empire (1571 – 1898) United States (1898 – 1941) Empire of Japan (1942 – 1945) Philippines (1946 – present)
Historical information
Date founded	c. 13th century
Additional information
Notable landmarks	Manila Cathedral Fort Santiago
Assassination targets	Mad monk

Manila (Filipino: Maynila) is the capital and largest city of the Philippines. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, when the Philippines were a colony of the Spanish Empire, Manila served as the capital of the Spanish East Indies.

History

Golden Age of Piracy

In 1719, the Governor-General of the Philippines, Fernando Manuel de Bustillo Bustamante y Rueda, ordered the arrest of the Archbishop of Manila Francisco de la Cuesta and all of his monks. In retaliation, the Archbishop's supporters stormed Bustamante's mansion and killed him in the streets.

In 1725, a merchant hired the Assassin Edward Kenway and his organization, the Zhang Wei Union, to escort his trading vessel from Macau to Manila, fearing attacks from pirates en route. During their brief stay in Manila, Edward's friend John Young went to party with the locals, from whom he learned that the East India Company and the Far East Company had begun recruiting people for an expedition in Southeast Asia. Edward deduced this to be a sign that the Templars were preparing to begin their search for the lost city of Angkor, a presumed Isu site.

Later that same year, the Union members and their ally Jan van Aert, the Chief Navigator of the Dutch East India Company, were attacked by two Spanish Men O' War during their voyage to Cebu, where they sought to investigate a lead to Angkor's location. After surrendering, they were brought to Manila and arrested by the Spanish authorities due to Jan's alleged involvement in the assassination of Governor Bustamante six years prior.

Manila during the riot

While Jan and his crew were imprisoned in the dungeon underneath Fort Santiago, the Union members were forced to remain aboard their ship, the Fenghuang, under the watch of several guards. After escaping, Edward took advantage of an ongoing protest in the streets to infiltrate Fort Santiago and rescue Jan and his men. However, he then witnessed the protest turn into a violent riot, led by a monk who wielded a Piece of Eden in the shape of a crescent amulet.

Together with Shimazu Saito, Edward decided to face the monk and take the amulet from him. They cornered him in an alley and killed all of his followers, but the monk then used the amulet's powers to resurrect them. Realizing that the resurrected acolytes were resistant to pain and that the only way to stop them was to dismember them, Edward and Saito proceeded to do so. However, the monk then used the amulet on Saito, causing her to experience visions of her deceased friends.

After the monk used the amulet to conjure apparitions of himself and an oni, Saito was eventually defeated while Edward was able to overcome the artifact's powers. The monk then tried to escape, using the amulet to command several civilians to attack Edward and tamper with his Eagle Vision, but the Assassin cornered him again. When he tried to take away the amulet, the monk activated the artifact and Edward experienced several visions of both the past and the future while his body became paralyzed.

The monk tried to take advantage of this to kill Edward, only to end up being killed himself by Rajah, the leader of a Visayan resistance against the Spanish colonists in the Philippines. Rajah then claimed the amulet, intending to use it to end the foreign occupation of his people's lands, and though Edward confronted him, the Assassin was quickly defeated. Fortunately, Saito came to his rescue and the two escaped back to the Fenghuang, being forced to leave the amulet behind due to the arrival of the Spanish Army.

The Zhang Wei Union members fighting Spanish soldiers at the Manila harbor

At the same time as Edward and Saito's fight against the monk, the remaining Union members engaged in a shootout against the Spanish soldiers at the harbor, in order to retrieve their confiscated supplies. In the process, the Union's engineer Yun Pyeong-Gyu discovered a warehouse filled with barrels of petroleum, which he required for the production of Greek fire, and ordered the Fenghuang's crew to load the barrels onto the ship.

Once Edward and Saito returned to the Fenghuang, the ship sailed away from Manila, followed closely by Jan van Aert and his crew. When the Spanish Navy gave chase, Jan volunteered to lure away their pursuers, allowing the Union members to escape.

The day after the riot, the Qing businesswoman Lee Huiyin, who was also on Angkor's trail, arrived in Manila and negotiated a deal with the Lieutenant Governor-General. In exchange for Lee's company trading goods with the Spanish, her ships were granted passage to the Southern Seas, allowing her associates—Admiral Jeong and the Chinese Assassins Xiao Han, Liu Qing, and Xue Yan—to freely search for leads to Angkor's location.

Xiao Han also conducted his own investigation in the city and learned that Rajah and his resistance fighters had seized the crescent amulet during the riot. He and his fellow Assassins then decided to intercept the rebels on their way to Cebu and recover the artifact.

Seven Years' War

In 1742, the British Templar John Harrison was stationed in Manila to look for Isu sites throughout Asia. Although unsuccessful in his search, the time there allowed Harrison to pick up the trail of the Precursor box once held by the Assassin Shao Jun and trace its journey out of China and into the West Indies.

During the Seven Years' War, the Templars sent agents to the city to disrupt the interests of the Spanish presence in Manila. As a result, the city was conquered by the British, though it was returned to Spain a year after the war.

Gallery

The harbor of Manila in 1725

The Manila harbor

The Zhang Wei Union's ship departing Manila

Edward Kenway overlooking the city from atop the Manila Cathedral

Shimazu Saito freerunning across Manila's rooftops

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Rogue (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple (first appearance)