Parisian Brotherhood of Assassins

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Parisian Brotherhood of Assassins
Organizational information
Leader's title	Mentor
Operational center	Chinon Paris
Locations	France
Historical information
Active	c. 1st century CE–6 December, 2000 (purged) 2014

The Parisian Brotherhood of Assassins, also known as the French Brotherhood of Assassins, was the Guild of Assassins located in France at least since the 1st century CE. During the fall of the Roman Empire, while other branches retreated to Cologne, the Hidden Ones stayed in Gaul. In 870 CE, they worked with their Egyptian bretren to stop the Snake-Eaters who worked for the Order of the Ancients to control the Silk Road.

As the Assassins, their most notable feats was their involvement in the public disbanding of the Templar Order in 1307, breaking the power of their nemesis for over a century in Europe. Another major act of the guild was the training of the peasant girl Jeanne d'Arc to fight the Templars and the English Army during the Hundred Years' War, using her unusually high rate of Isu DNA to use a Sword of Eden.

In 1593, the Assassins stole the Shroud of Eden 1 to the Parisian Rite of the Templar Order. During the Labourd witch-hunt of 1609 the Assassins prevent the Templar from recovering it, sending the Piece of Eden to the New World. During the 18th century, the guild was led by a Council which had a strong influence across the world, having ties with the government and military of the Ottoman Empire, preparing the foundation of the guild in North America, and constructing the flagship Aquila for its Navy.

Before the outbreak of the French Revolution, the Assassin Charles Dorian and later the Mentor Mirabeau made a controversial attempt to end the Assassin-Templar War through an uneasy peace with the Grand Master of their Templar counter-part François de la Serre. The murders of the two leaders by members of their own factions show the difficulty of this project even if the Assassin Arno Dorian and the Templar Élise de la Serre tried to honor the work of their fathers. During the French Revolution, the French Assassins strove to moderate the revolution and steer it in a peaceful direction against the manipulations of the radical Templars led by François-Thomas Germain. As the Templars executed the former king Louis XVI of France and established the Reign of Terror, the Assassins tried to prevent any more bloodshed while fighting the Austrians and royalists to establish back the monarchy. Thanks to the initiative of Arno and Élise who turned the public against Maximilien de Robespierre and killed Germain, the Brotherhood eliminated the Jacobins, ending the Reign of Terror.

During the 19th century, the Parisian Assassins were greatly involved in France politics, preventing the assassinations of both Bonaparte emperors, sending Jules Brunet as a liaison for the Japanese Brotherhood, protecting Paris during the Franco-Prussian War and supporting the Paris Commune in 1871. In 1889, the Brotherhood was manipulated by the Templar Konstanze von Visler to blow up the Eiffel Tower to frame them as terrorists but it was prevented by the Assassins Pierrette Arnaud and Simeon Price. During the World War I, like the other European Brotherhoods, the French Assassins were pulled in every direction, in order to have a presence in every theatre of war and seat of power.

In 2000, the Parisian guild was wiped out as the entire Assassin Brotherhood during the Great Purge led by the Templar Order. In 2014, a new headquarters was established in Paris by the Assassin and Initiates Eric Cooper.

History

Roman Gaul

Around the 1st century CE, a branch of the Hidden Ones was formed in the province of Roman Gaul, establishing bureaus in Lutetia, Champlieu Ruins, Diodurum Ruins, and Gisacum Ruins.

In 423 CE, following the departure of the Hidden Ones of Britannia for the bureau of Cologne, the Hidden One known as "C. C." ordered the evacuation of the Gallic Hidden Ones to join their British brethren in merging with the local Hidden Ones in Germania. They sealed Lutetia bureau and hid the keys in the other bureaus. Some Hidden Ones refused to leave Gaul and stayed active in the province for centuries.

Middle Ages

Francia

After the death of Charlemagne, Emperor of the Carolingian Empire and Grand Maegester of the Order of the Ancients, the Hidden Ones recovered his sword Joyeuse, hidding it in the Lutetia bureau's ruins.

By 870 CE, the Hidden Ones established a bureau in Chinon. This year, Oisel, a young Hidden One based there, received a letter from Basim Ibn Ishaq, the Mentor of the local branch of Hidden Ones in Constantinople, which asked him to follow Basim's travels in the Levant, starting in Antioch.

Lutetia Bureau opened in the 9th century

In 886 CE, the Hidden One Abbo of Cernuus operated under the alias "AC" as he killed Frankish guards who were tasked to open the Lutetia bureau by the Bellatores Dei's leader, Isidore Mercator. During his mission, Abbo saw the jarlskona Eivor Varinsdottir, an ally of the Hidden Ones in England. The Hidden One decided to let her recover the keys to reclaim Joyeuse, and left a letter to Eivor explaining that the Hidden Ones were still active in Francia. During his patrol, he also maintained the integrity of the ruined Abbey of Saint Germain by killing Viking invaders and a captain sent by Mercator.

Through Reda, the Hidden One Alexandre Douce offered a contract to eliminate a Frankish soldier in order to expand the Hidden Ones' influence. In response, Eivor took the contract and succeeded in killing the target.

By the mid-11th century, the Hidden Ones became the Assassin Brotherhood and tracked the successor of the Order of the Ancients, the Templar Order. In Normandy, an Assassin received a contract on a Templar target.

Destruction of the Knights Templar

In the 12th century, the Assassins installed a sanctuary under the Île de la Cité in Paris, serving as a nerve center for the tunnels across the city. When the Sainte-Chapelle was built, the Assassins used the building as a secret entrance.

Early in the 14th century, the French Assassins manipulated King Philip IV of France to destroy their arch-enemies, the Templars, who at the time had taken the guise of a knightly monastic order. Guillaume de Nogaret, the Mentor of the French Brotherhood and councilor of King Philip, poisoned Pope Benedict XI and had him replaced with Clement V, who unknowingly served the Assassins. The Templars were subsequently branded as heretics, and their Parisian stronghold was attacked by the King's forces on 13th October 1307 with the help of Assassins disguised as Flemish mercenaries.

Thomas de Carneillon during the attack of the Temple

During the attack, Thomas de Carneillon tried to steal the Codex Pater Intellectus and a Sword of Eden, an Isu technology which granted powers and charisma to its wielder. The Assassin was stopped by a Templar Knight who hid the two artifacts in a secret vault before being killed by de Carneillon. The Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay, was captured during the attack and burned at the stake alongside sixty other knights on 11 March 1314. However, unbeknownst to the Assassins, nine Templar leaders had gone underground and continued their work in secret, despite the public disbanding of their Order.

Later, de Carneillon became the Mentor of the French Assassins and tracked the last Templar remnants in Europe. After his death, his armor became a heirloom for the Brotherhood, kept in a vault under the Île Saint-Louis and gave only to an Assassin who did a great service for the Brotherhood and for France.

Hundred Years' War

During the 14th and 15th centuries, the Houses of Plantagenet and Valois fought for the Crown of France during what it would come to be known as the Hundred Years' War. Around 1429, the Brotherhood's Mentor was Queen Yolande of Aragon, mother-in-law to Charles VII of France. As France was under the control of English Templar John of Bedford, the Assassins tried to establish Charles as the true king of France. Yolande tasked her apprentices to find a woman who would deliver France per prophecy.

"Jeanne d'Arc at the Coronation of Charles VII" by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

The Assassin and noble Jean de Metz met a young woman, Jeanne d'Arc, who desired an audience with the King at Chinon to liberate France from the English as the angels said to her. Believing she was the Chosen One of prophecy, Jean began to train Jeanne and her cousin Gabriel Laxart to become Assassins. Jeanne had heard the voice of Consus, an Isu which she believed was a messenger of God. Later she recovered de Molay's Sword of Eden and the Heart, another Piece of Eden which unlocked the full potential of the Sword. With these, Jeanne led the French Army to victories against the English. Later, she liberated Orléans and participated in the crowning of Charles VII in Reims.

Jeanne was captured by the Templars during the siege of Compiègne in 1430. The Templars took the Sword of Eden and judged Jeanne for witchery. The Assassins rescued Jeanne by replacing her with Fleur, a former prostitute who had become Jeanne's protégé. To thank her, Jeanne gave Fleur the Heart as she went to the stake. After this, Jeanne cut her ties with the Brotherhood and lived with Laxart.

Early Modern Period

Renaissance

In the early 16th century, King Louis XII left Paris and quarrelled with Ferdinand II over the ownership of Naples, leaving his foreign ministers in charge. However, the King was unaware of their ties to the Borgia, and it allowed them to target the religious reformist Desiderius Erasmus.

To escape the plague, Erasmus had planned to hire a carriage out of town, though the Templars disguised themselves as travelers and offered him a ride. With Erasmus' life in danger, the French Assassins and a team of Ezio Auditore's Italian apprentices tracked them down and killed all of the guards. After rescuing Erasmus, he told them that the Templars were holding another Assassin captive.

Following this, the Assassins tried to find their Brother, who had been captured by the men working for the Borgia. A group of Italian Assassins sent from Rome by Ezio were able to receive information from corrupted ministers about the Assassin's whereabouts, and tracked down Archbishop Georges d'Amboise, before interrogating him. He revealed the names of the ministers associated with the Templars, whom the Assassins later disposed of.

After that, the Italian Assassins rescued the French Assassin from the manor he was held in, but he eventually succumbed to his wounds. Before passing, he informed his Brothers that he had only revealed false information to his torturers, and warned his rescuers to be wary of the House of Orsini, who had ties to the Templars.

In 1511, King Louis XII acted on Marseille's threats of secession motivated by the French Assassins and ordered his army to banish all Assassins from the city. Aided by Ottoman Assassins sent from Constantinople by Ezio Auditore, the combined Assassin force hindered the army's efforts, though without violence.

During the 16th century, the seals which opened Thomas de Carneillon's vault were broken and dispersed across Paris. The seer Nostradamus wrote clues to recover the different part of the seals.

Enlightenment

In 1690, the French Mentor sent Louis-Joseph d'Albert de Luynes and three other Assassins to recruit a skilled epeeist and singer Julie d'Aubigny. Due to d'Albert's misogynistic comments, the swordwoman refused the offer and attacked them. Later, the Master Assassin Maréchal recruit her and tutored her to hone her acting skills.

By 1721, the French Brotherhood was led by Mireille. When her lover the legendary highwayman Louis-Dominique Cartouche was captured and sentenced to death, Mireille bribed the executioner to fake his death. She recruited Cartouche in the Brotherhood and trained him. When he became old, Cartouche gave his memoirs to an Assassin who took the name of Cartouche, continuing his work. Later, another Assassin took the mantle of Cartouche and his diaries.

In the early 18th century, the Assassin Council was formed at some point where they became acquainted with the French Assassin John de la Tour whom they sent to the Thirteen Colonies to spread the Assassin's influence. In 1740, de la Tour became acquainted with Achilles Davenport, who was sent by the Mentor of the West Indies Brotherhood, Ah Tabai.

The Aquila, flagship of the Colonial Assassin Navy

Together they worked to establish a new Brotherhood in the colonies which the French Council aided them in their efforts, they helped construct the Aquila, a ship designed to serve as the Colonial Brotherhood's naval fleet. In 1745 during the Battle of Louisbourg De la Tour sacrificed himself to allow Achilles time to escape the battle; he subsequently became Mentor of the growing Colonial Brotherhood.

In 1749, the French Assassin Nicolas de Saint-Prix send a letter to Achilles Davenport to announced the construction of the Aquila, which would become the flagship of the Colonial Assassins.

Pierre Bellec, a French colonial soldier who served during the Seven Years' War discovered his Assassin lineage and eventually joined the Brotherhood in 1756. Around 1762, Bellec left the military and traveled to France only narrowly escaping the Colonial Assassin purge. He soon became a Master Assassin where he was tasked with training several new apprentices and eventually met Charles Dorian, who was from an old Assassin lineage, whom he came to form a strong bond with. On one mission Dorian was attacked by a Templar, fortunately, to be saved by Bellec.

In 1759, the Assassins acquired the Café Théâtre on the Île Saint-Louis. The coffee house served as the Assassin's intelligence gathering front as well as an enter for their sanctuary. Over the years, other establishments, such as the Café Procope, gradually supplanted the Café Théâtre in prominence.

During France's involvement in the American Revolutionary War, the Assassin William de Saint-Prix was sent to aid the Thirteen Colonies.

Mirabeau with the Council

In 1776, Mirabeau, who would become a political leader of the French Revolution, joined the Brotherhood and effectively rose to the position of Mentor of the French Brotherhood where he became acquainted with Charles Dorian for a time. Mirabeau also took a seat as head of the Council, which was formed by four Master Assassins including Pierre Bellec, Sophie Trenet, Hervé Quemar and Guillaume Beylier.

The same year, Beylier was contacted by the Haitian Assassin Eseosa who requested aid following a slave revolution in Haiti, however, due to their present situation, the French Branch was unable to provide reinforcement but maintained a correspondence.

Charles Dorian assassinated by Shay Cormac

Later Charles Dorian attended an Assassin meeting at the Palace of Versailles to conduct business with King Louis XVI where Dorian was entrusted with safeguarding the Precursor box, however, moments later he was killed by the American Master Templar Shay Cormac who took possession of the artifact. Charles' son Arno was made a ward of the Grand Master François de la Serre but didn't try to inducte him in the Templar Order in memory of his father.

After Charles' tragic death, Bellec spent several years investigating mysterious cryptic glyphs and hidden messages subsequently getting himself incarcerated in several prisons.

French Revolution

Truce with the Templars

Mirabeau meeting with Grand Master de la Serre

During the Estates-General of 1789, the Grand Master François de la Serre sought to establish a truce between the Parisian Rite of the Templar Order and the French Assassins. The Assassin Mentor, Mirabeau, supported the idea, which led to a time of relative peace between two factions. Shortly after, the Grand Master was killed by his fellow Templar Charles Gabriel Sivert and the Roi des Thunes, on the orders of a former Templar and a Sage, François-Thomas Germain. De la Serre's ward Arno Dorian was accused of the murder and imprisoned in the Bastille, while Germain was elected as the new Grand Master, and began working with his supporters to stage a revolution in France.

During his imprisonment, Dorian met Pierre Bellec, who offered him a chance to settle the score with de la Serre's killers, by joining the Assassin Order. Following the escape from the Bastille during a storming of it by the citizens, Dorian sought out the Assassins and was inducted into the Brotherhood to make amend for his indirect role in de la Serre's assassination. At the beginning of the Revolution, the Assassins helped the people of Paris by providing access to food which was hoarded by Joseph Foullon de Doué. On 5 October, during the Women's March on Versailles, the Assassins protected Théroigne de Méricourt from the Templars who attempted to make the march more violent against the royal family.

After the first months of the Revolution, Mirabeau negotiated with the King to maintain a peaceful revolution, and also allow him to pay off his debt. With the truce maintained by Mirabeau, the Assassins could only fight smugglers and thugs. By the 1790, the Café Théâtre fell into near-ruin, becoming a rundown bar, more likely to host a second-rate bawdy comedy show than an impassioned debate. In late 1790, the former Minister of finance Jacques Necker stashed vast sums of cash and valuables in various locations around the Bièvre to influence the Revolution. While he prepared to leave France, Arno stole his stash for the Brotherhood, even paying Necker's right of way with his own gold.

By January 1791, the Assassins sent three Assassins to track the Roi des Thunes, the leader of the Cour des Miracles but without result. Among them, Brasseur was killed by the Roi who took his pistol and kept his body as a decoy.

Near the Sainte Chapelle, Bellec and Dorian eavesdropped on a reunion between Sivert and Arpinon, who was extorting money from both the nobility and clergy. Bellec assassinated Arpinon and Dorian proceeded to loot a book from his body revealing that Sivert would be at Notre-Dame. With this information, Mirabeau decided to end the truce and authorized Arno to assassinate Sivert.

Hervé Quémar and Arno Dorian before Carneillon's armor

The Council also gave to Dorian the stewardship of the Café Théâtre, using the place as his residence. With the help of its manager, the Assassin Charlotte Gouze, Dorian renovated the building to its former glory. The Assassin fencing master Augustin Grisier trained Dorian in the Café to further his skills. During his stewardship, Dorian protected the Café from Les Actes des Apôtres, a group of royalists led by Renard. As Master Quemar spoke about Thomas de Carneillon's sealed vault, Dorian resolved the Nostradamus Enigmas, opening the vault and reclaiming the armor for himself.

After killing Sivert at Notre-Dame, Dorian saw in his memories that the Roi des Thunes also killed de la Serre and he was connectred to Aloys la Touche. For his success, the Council granted to Dorian the title of Assassin along with a Phantom Blade, and sent him to kill the Roi des Thunes. While planning to attack directly la Touche at the Cour des Miracles, Dorian ran into the Marquis de Sade who advised him to follow la Touche. After interrogating La Touche, Dorian knew that le Roi hid in the catacombs. He killed him and recovered Brasseur's pistol. In his target's memories, Dorian learned that de la Serre's killers worked for a Master. Dorian met again Sade who was the new Roi des Thunes. The Marquis show him the Templar pin used to kill de la Serre and informed him that it was craft by a silversmith named Germain. Bringing the pin to the Council, Dorian was permitted to resume his investigation and Beylier authorized him to keep Brasseur's pistol.

When Dorian met Germain, the Grand Master faked to be a hostage of the Templar and lied, saying that Chrétien Lafrenière was the new Grand Master of Templar Order. Without the permission of the Council, Dorian destroyed Lafrenière's weapon stock and subsequently assassinated him. However, the Assassin learned that Lafrenière sent the letter warning de la Serre from the treason. He also discovered that Lafrenière planned an attack on the Hôtel de Beauvais. After learning that he had overridden the Creed, most of the members of the Council wanted to remove Dorian from his investigation, except Mirabeau, who authorized the Assassin to pursue his lead into the Hôtel de Beauvais.

Pierre Bellec's assassination

Inside the Jacobin Club, Dorian eavesdropped on a secret reunion between the radical Templars and learnt that they planned to kill Élise, de la Serre's daughter. He intervened and saved Elise from the trap, and decided to bring her before the French Assassin Council and try to re-establish a truce between the two factions. Most of the Council was against but Mirabeau was ready to discuss. While Arno and Elise discovered that Germain was the Grand Master, Bellec poisoned Mirabeau, seeing a truce as a treason. In an attempt to discredit Élise and prevent peace from being achieved, he left the Templar pin used by to kill de la Serre. However, Dorian discovered the deception and confronted Bellec at Sainte-Chapelle who was planning to poison other members. Bellec tried to convince his apprentice to join him, but Dorian refused, leading to duel. As Bellec was defeated, he ordered his apprentice to finish his lif and, Dorian stabbed him with his Hidden Blade. Following the death of two Master Assassins, the Council punished Dorian, forbidding him from continuing his investigation into Germain and refused the truce with Elise.

The fall of Monarchy

During the summer of 1792, the people were starving because of the actions of the Templars Flavigny and Marie Lévesque, who stole the food which entered in the city, intending to create riots in the city. Théroigne de Méricourt with the help of a team of Assassins found the food and distributed it to the people. The Assassins killed Flavigny and his thugs.

Arno receiving his mission from the Council

On 10 August of the same year, the people stormed the Tuileries Palace after the announcement that the Austrian and the Prussian armies would help to restore the power of the King Louis XVI. The Council tasked Arno Dorian with infiltrating the Palace and destroying the correspondence between Mirabeau and the king, in fear that if someone published the letters, the Templars would strike the Assassins across France. Dorian succeeded in his task and burnt the letters. He left the palace by a secret exit with the help of Napoleon Bonaparte. During their escape, Captain Rouille, who worked for the Templars, entered the King's office in the search of the documents.

On 2 September, at the beginning of the Republic, a spy ring led by the Comte de Gambais informed the Austrian forces about Paris' defenses with the plan to attack the capital and restore the Monarchy. One of the spies was trapped by Danton and several guards, but he succeeded to kill the guards and engaged Danton in combat. A team of Assassins saved Danton and killed de Gambais and his spy ring.

During the same month, Arno and Élise continued their investigation into Germain without the knowledge of the Council. Dorian killed Rouille in le Grand Châtelet during the September Massacres and learned that Marie Lévesque planned to incriminate the royals in the hoarding of food. He foiled her plans and assassinated her during a party in the Luxembourg Palace. His next target was Louis-Michel le Peletier, who had condemned the King during his trial. When Dorian killed him in the Palais-Royal, he learned that Germain would be in attendance at the execution of the King.

Germain and the guards confronting Arno

Arno and Élise confronted Germain at the execution, but he escaped in a carriage. Élise ordered Arno to follow Germain but the Assassin stayed behind to protect her from Germain's men. After they lost the Grand Master, Élise reproached to Arno that he preferred saving her than killing Germain and decided to leave Arno. When the Council learned what happened in the Place de la Révolution, they condemned Dorian and expelled him from the Assassin Order.

During the year 1793, France began to fall under the control of the Templars. In June, after an insurrection of Sans-culottes led by the Commander General of the Paris National Guard François Hanriot, the Girondists were under house arrest. The Assassins rescued them and help them to leave the city. A month later, the Templar General Marcourt and fellow Templars planned a coup d'état to accelerate the revolution. But one of the conspirators, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, was, in fact, an ally of the Assassins and informed the Brotherhood about Marcourt's plan. Marcourt organized a tournament for recruiting men for the coup. A team of Assassins infiltrated the tournament to approached Marcourt and killed him and his conspirators in the Invalides. In August, the Assassins tried to rescued Marie Antoinette who was imprisoned in the Conciergerie, but a Templar agent, Jean Gilbert, revealed the plot. He would receive recognition for his action but was killed by an Assassin sent by the Council.

Reign of Terror

Didier Paton uncovering the Templar Order

In September, Germain and Maximilien de Robespierre installed the Reign of Terror for eliminating all enemies of the Revolution and achieve the Great Work. In November, Didier Paton, Robespierre's spy, uncovered the Templar Order. Oblivious of the fact that his master was a Templar, Paton informed him and was condemned to death and his notebook was confiscated. The Assassins recovered his notebook containing the names of many Templars and saved Paton from the guillotine. After this, Paton joined the Brotherhood.

Later in February 1794, the Templars planned to use Jacques Roux and his Enragés to take Paris. A team of Assassins was sent to kill Roux who was imprisoned in the Salpêtrière Hospital, but they failed and were imprisoned in the asylum. A second team of Assassins rescued the first team and succeed in killing Roux. Later one of Roux's lieutenant prepared a riot against the government. The Assassins killed him.

George Danton and his ally sent to the guillotine

On 5 April, Danton and other Indulgents were sent to the guillotine as a traitor of the Nation. A team of Assassin wanted to rescue their ally but Danton accepted his fate and asked the Assassins to protect his friends who will be arrest by Robespierre's men. In May, the population of Paris wanted to remove the ashes of Mirabeau from the Panthéon after they learned that Mirabeau negotiating with the King. The Assassins, who feared that Templars would expose the Brotherhood from the view of the population with the discovery of an Assassin crypt, entered in the sanctuary and removed the relics of their Mentor.

On 27 July, Robespierre and his followers were arrested by the Convention and executed the next morning. Just after that, Théroigne de Méricourt and the Assassins stormed the Jacobin Club and killed the last Templars who tried to leave France. This event ended the Jacobin influence on the French politic and the Terror.

At the end of the Revolution

Arno preparing the Apple of Eden for the Brotherhood

On 7 August 1794, an Assassin was contacted by Arno Dorian who uncovered an Apple of Eden under the Basilica of Saint-Denis. The former Assassin entrusted him the Piece of Eden and tasked him to sent it to the Mentor Al Mualim in Cairo to protect the artifact from Napoleon Bonaparte. For this act and also for killing the Grand Master François-Thomas Germain during his excommunication, the Council reinstated Dorian in the Brotherhood, even granted him the rank of Master.

In 1795, the Assassins wanted to save Louis XVII of France who was a hostage of the Templars. Dorian saved the hostage, who was, in fact, the servant of the Prince, who died in the Temple. In the late 1790s, the Templars infiltrated the Council of Five Hundred and wanted to continue the Terror. Dorian killed the Templars in the government.

On 24 December 1800, a team of Assassins rescued Napoleon Bonaparte from an assassination attempt organized by royalist and killed their leader, François-Joseph Carbon.

19th Century

Second Empire

By 1855, the Brotherhood expanded their influence with multiple bases within Paris, especially underneath the Gare de l'Est. The team underneath Gare de l'Est consisted of Amira Benyamina, Michel Moulin, and Henri Escoffier. Soon, they met and welcomed the deserted soldier Simeon Price to be trained by them. Within the year, he was inducted into the Brotherhood by Benyamina and given a hidden blade by Escoffier.

On 14 January 1858, Price looked for any clues or sights of the "Magus" or his puppet, Felice Orsini, at the opera theater of Rue le Peletier, but caught nothing. However, once Emperor Napoleon III and his wife Eugénie de Montijo arrived, a series of bombings occurred with the Emperor and Empress as their targets. Luckily, the French acrobat Pierrette Arnaud and Price assisted each other to stop a bomb from being thrown. However, Arnaud was knocked out as Price held onto the casing and aided Arnaud.

Afterwards, Simeon brought Pierrette to Gare de l'Est and discussed her presence in Paris. Despite some hostility, Simeon reluctantly offered to train Pierrette as an Assassin. However, training went sour as both tried and failed to decipher the Magus' identity. Later joined by Benyamina and Moulin, dots were connected as Michel mentioned Kane's presence in Paris to help find the Eye. Although the Assassins were doubtful of Kane's involvement, Pierrette remembered that she was told by a woman she spied on that a man called "Mr. Waistcoat" was spotted days before the bombings. Shocked, they all soon realized that Kane and the Magus were the same person.

In 1868, the Brotherhood sent French Army officer Jules Brunet to assist their Japanese counterparts in defending the waning Tokugawa shogunate from the Templar-backed Imperial Court.

In the spring of 1870, the Brotherhood were investigating the whereabouts of both Austrian Templar Art Hennighan and the Ankh. Now the leader of the Brotherhood, Michel Moulin aided Simeon into finding Hennighan by assigning to interrogate and kill Templar Virgile Donat. Successful, the Assassins learned the Ankh was being used for the Engine of History. However, Moulin worried about the pressures of incoming war and assigned Simeon to take Fabrice Sabourin and Jules Sabourin to cut down telegraph lines. Yet, it was all for naught as France declared war on Prussia.

While the war rages on, the French Assassins reused their old base at the Gare de l'Est and saw the Second French Empire fall as Napoleon III abdicated his throne. Simeon was assigned to transport the Empress Eugénie de Montijo out of Paris while telling Pierrette about Countess Konstanze von Visler's contact with the French Templars and how most Templars were moving to Tours.

Following his advice, Pierrette stationed herself there. Later, Michel organized an attack on the Prussians at Le Bourget, in order to kickstart the government to finally take action. On 27 October, Simeon and the Assassins took over the commune from the Prussians for Parisians. Yet, after three days, they retreated after no reinforcements were sent. Michel and Simeon then looked at the messages from Madame Charpentier's pigeon coops and uncovered corresponence between French Templar Victoire L'Estocq and the countess. As a result, Simeon was sent to find and confront the countess.

While going by hot-air balloon, Simeon was attacked by its engineer Lebrun, who was a Templar assigned to carry the Ankh. After their scuffle, Simeon threw him overboard along with the Ankh, while he leaped off the falling balloon. Walking to Tours, Simeon found a note to meet at a café. While Simeon waited, Pierrette noticed him from the rooftop but saw a sniper as well. Confronting the sniper, Pierrette saw that it was Hennighan and began a cat-and-mouse chase. Ultimately, she gained the upper hand and killed him. With Simeon catching up with her, they discussed to setup a heliograph to communicate with Michel in Paris while Simeon left for Brussels to confront Konstanze.

Belle Époque

Nearly two decades later, the French Brotherhood were on the lookout for the renewed Templar Countess von Visler, who betrayed the Zurich Brotherhood of Assassins after her first mission as an Assassin. In 1889, Simeon resided in Montmartre and took lesser tasks by the Assassins as he was outcast for falling in love with Konstanze and vouching for her. One of his tasks was to kill French Templar gang member Centime, which was completed with haste and mercilessly. The next day after his mission, he was met by Fabrice, who recently joined the Assassins. Fabrice informed Simeon that Konstanze was in Paris and how he and others were tasked to assassinate her.

Knowing better, Simeon traced her presence at a hotel and investigated her room. However, he was found by Fabrice, who followed her here. Quiet, they both heard someone escaping from the window. Simeon jumped out of the window and caught up with the escapee, but saw it was a young decoy. Meanwhile, they found a puzzle box and brought back to Moulin and his wife Mary Fitzpatrick. The Assassins deduced the puzzle and found a note between Konstanze and another Templar stating the Engine of History was near its completion and the Assassins would be wiped out. They later saw a picture of the construction site of the Eiffel Tower behind the note.

Simeon immediately sent a letter to Pierrette about Konstanze's plans and later received her and her ward Spider Wallin. Altogether with the other Assassins, they planned to bomb the tower to stop the engine. Alone with Simeon, Pierrette promised that Konstanze must die for her deeds. However, while the rest readied themselves, Pierrette kept thinking and called Anne Blunt to share the news of Ada's notes. After the call, Pierrette realized the lines from the notes were of a prediction method Ada developed for horse races. Coming together, she deduced the Assassins were setup to be framed as terrorists for a bombing and went to inform the others with Spider.

Unfortunately, while racing to stop Michel's plan, Pierrette was shot by the countess but was saved by Spider. Spider promised to inform the Assassins while Pierrette awaited the police to aid her. Meanwhile, while the Assassins planted the explosives, Simeon noticed Konstanze and the decoy enter and climb the tower. Confronting them, Simeon was introduced to the girl Gisela as their daughter. Nevertheless, Simeon chased after the girl while injuring Konstanze by a knife to her leg. At the summit, Simeon was soon put into a motionless state as Gisela used an Apple of Eden. Fortunately, Spider wrestled her down and told Simeon of the Templars' true plans.

Realizing the truth, Simeon turned to an incoming Konstanze and set down the handkerchief with the countess' initials on it. Fighting, Simeon held her against an iron pole with his blade. Hesitating, Simeon was instantly pushed by Gisela, who unintentionally caused the blade to slice Konstanze's neck. Both Simeon and Spider saw both Konstanze and Gisela escape through their gliders but watched Konstanze fall to her death. Wasting no time, they sent a Morse code through the lights atop the tower to the Assassins below. Within the last moments, the explosives were stopped. After saving the day, the Assassins quickly disarmed their bombs. Unfortunately, they did not find Gisela or Konstanze from their search. Nevertheless, the Assassins stopped the Engine's prediction from coming true.

Modern Era

Abstergo Industries had a lab in Paris used for researching Precursor artifacts and genetic material until it was destroyed in October 2014 by a team of Assassins led by Gavin Banks. ^{[citation needed]}

In November 2014, Eric Cooper set up an Assassin headquarters in Paris to help infiltrate a data hub for the Helix, Abstergo Entertainment's upcoming cloud-based game service.

Origins and appearance

At the beginning of the 14th century some French Assassins, like Thomas de Carneillon, wore robes similar to the Master Assassin robe of the Levantine Brotherhood, with some differences, like the color and with a leather hood. During the French Revolution, most of the Assassins, like Pierre Bellec, wore a white, yellow or black military uniform with a dark hood and a mask to hide their faces. The female Assassins had shorter robes and, sometimes, wore masquerade masks. Other Assassins, like Master Trenet and Quémar, wore leather robes. Arno Dorian, in his early years in the Brotherhood, wore a blue robe and later wore different robes. The Master of the French Brotherhood received an honorific robe.

Most of the French Assassins were French people but some Assassins had other origins, like the Canadians John de La Tour and Pierre Bellec, or Guillaume Beylier and Augustin Grisier, who had African heritage.

Techniques

The French Assassins were trained in stealth, combat, and parkour, using most of the tactics created by the Levantine Brotherhood. Unlike the other branches, the French Assassins wore only one hidden blade but they developed a tactic for assassinating two targets with one blade. In another departure from tradition, when an initiate became an Assassin, they received the Phantom Blade, a little crossbow incorporated in the Hidden Blade which could shoot blades or poison darts. The French Assassins used a variety of weapons in their arsenal, ranging from crossbows, swords, maces, long weapons, and axes, to diverse sorts of firearms in the form of rifles, muskets, and pistols. Like the Ottoman Assassins, the French Assassins used different kinds of bombs to lure or cripple their enemies, like smoke bombs, cherry bombs, stun bombs, money pouches or poisonous bombs.

Members

Roman Empire

• "C. C."

Carolingian Empire

• Aline
• Abbo of Cernuus
• Alexandre Douce
• Mahaut
• Matthias
• Oisel

Persecution of the Templars

• Thomas de Carneillon (Mentor; c. 1307)
• Guillaume de Nogaret (Mentor; c. 1307)

Hundred Years' War

• Jean de Metz
• John II of Alençon (betrayed)
• René of Anjou
• Yolande of Aragon (Mentor; c. 1429)

Renaissance

• Avicenne
• Helene Dufranc (deserted)
• Florine
• Margaux
• Isaac du Queyran

Age of Enlightenment

• Unidentified Assassin (Mentor; c. 1690)
• Louis-Joseph d'Albert de Luynes
• Julie d'Aubigny
• Louis-Dominique Cartouche
• Cartouche II
• Charles Dorian

• Maréchal
• Mireille
• Nicolas de Saint-Prix
• William de Saint-Prix (Colonial Brotherhood)
• John de la Tour

French Revolution

• François Auverlot
• Louise Auverlot
• Pierre Bellec (Colonial Brotherhood)
• Camille Berteau
• Pierre Berteau
• Hubert Besy
• Guillaume Beylier
• Simon Bonhomme
• Guillaume Bourgeois
• Brasseur
• Jacques Cagnard
• Cartouche III
• Claude Chemin
• Angélique Chevrier
• Charles Chevrier
• Couillaud (betrayed)
• Geneviève Dalle
• Joseph Deshais
• Arno Dorian
• Antoine Faroy
• Antoine Fieve
• Nicolas Fribourg
• Paul Ganchard
• Pierre Gard
• Alexandre Garnier
• François Garnier
• Jacques Girard
• Gabriel Godin
• Charlotte Gouze

• Anne Grelet
• Augustin Grisier
• Pierre Guilbert
• Louise Harly
• Camille Hautcoeur
• Philippe Hélissant
• Marguerite Huet
• Claude Hure
• Catherine Imbert
• Charles Imbert
• Edmé Leblanc
• Simon Leblanc
• Laurent Lemaire
• Claude Lejeune
• Madeleine Leroux
• Marguerite Mignot
• Mirabeau (Mentor; ? – 1791)
• Paul Morot
• Didier Paton
• Hervé Quemar
• Élisabeth Roger
• Laurent Rousseau
• Germain Savin
• Thomas Simon
• Le Téméraire
• Sophie Trenet
• Denis Varlet

Second French Empire

• Jean-Baptiste Barbeau
• Amira Benyamina
• Jules Brunet
• Mary Fitzpatrick
• Henri Escoffier
• Michel Moulin
• Simeon Price (British Assassins)
• Fabrice Sabourin
• Sami Zidane

Allies and puppets

Carolingian Empire

• Farid (Spanish Hidden Ones)
• Hytham (Hidden Ones)
• Basim Ibn Ishaq (Hidden Ones of Constantinople)
• Jessamyn (Egyptian Hidden Ones)
• Kalim (Egyptian Hidden Ones)
• Rashid (Egyptian Hidden Ones)
• Sihem (Egyptian Hidden Ones)

Persecution of the Templars

• Clement V
• Esquieu de Floyrac
• Philip IV of France

Hundred Years' War

• Jeanne d'Arc (trained)
• Charles VII of France
• Fleur
• Gabriel Laxart (trained)

Renaissance

• Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Italian Brotherhood)
• Fabrizzio Auditore (Italian Brotherhood)

Seven Years' War

• Louis XV of France

French Revolution

• Napoleon Bonaparte
• Jean-François Champollion
• Georges Danton
• Thomas-Alexandre Dumas
• Chevalier d'Éon
• Antoine Lavoisier

• Marie Anne Lenormand
• Théroigne de Méricourt
• Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade
• Élise de la Serre (Parisian Rite)

Second French Empire

• Georges Clemenceau
• Madame Charpentier
• Nathalie Lemel
• Pierrette Arnaud (British Assassins)

World War II

• Eddie Gorm (British Brotherhood)

Gallery

French Assassins in their Sainte-Chapelle headquarters

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed II: Discovery (first mentioned)
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
• Assassin's Creed III (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Initiates (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Rogue
• Assassin's Creed: Unity
  • Dead Kings
• Assassin's Creed: Unity novel
• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Heresy
• Assassin's Creed: Fragments
  • The Blade of Aizu
  • The Witches of the Moors
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – The Siege of Paris
• Assassin's Creed: The Silk Road (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Magus Conspiracy
• Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Resurrection Plot