Assassin's Creed Wiki
Advertisement
Assassin's Creed Wiki

The Philadelphia Project, also known as the Philadelphia Experiment or Project Rainbow, was an experiment that took place on the USS Eldridge in Philadelphia on 28 October, 1943. It was conducted by members of the American Brotherhood of Assassins and the German Rite of the Templar Order in an attempt to change the past and alter the present.[1]

History[]

While the Templar Order attempted to manipulate world leaders such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, and Adolf Hitler to instigate World War II, it eventually became too difficult for the Templars to steer them toward the Order's interests. With their influence over the Third Reich dwindling, they sought to eliminate Hitler instead.[1]

Colonel Boris Pash of the United States Army, a high-ranking Assassin, cut a deal with the Templars after hearing Templar physicist John von Neumann's theories on Die Glocke. Von Neumann believed that this early version of the Animus could allow them to alter the course of history and kill Hitler before his rise to power.[1]

To utilize this plan, Pash recruited Eddie Gorm into the Brotherhood and tasked him with killing Templar Obergruppenführer Gero Kramer, who intended to use Die Glocke to rise through the Templar ranks. After Gorm's initial attempt in February 1943 failed, he and Julia Dusk succeeded in July 1943, and Die Glocke and the Nazis' Apple of Eden fell into Pash's hands. However, Gorm and Dusk turned on Pash after they were informed of Pash's deal with the Templars by Nikola Tesla, whom they also rescued from Kramer's captivity.[1]

On 28 October, 1943, Pash and von Neumann brought Die Glocke and the Apple of Eden aboard the USS Eldridge in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in effort to change history by preemptively killing Hitler. However, Gorm infiltrated the ship and killed Tesla, hoping this would stop Pash's project, before subsequently taking his own life.[1] Tesla's death did not stop the project from continuing, but the effort ended in catastrophe as it claimed hundreds of marine soldiers' lives.[2]

Aftermath[]

According to Abstergo Industries CEO Alan Rikkin's personal files, the project was ultimately a failure.[1] In an email in 2012, he detailed how the ship instead temporarily manifested in a future state for approximately 18 minutes and how the Piece of Eden was severely damaged in the process. Abstergo later used the genetic memories of their Animus Project's "Subject 12" to collect data on the experiment's results, the mechanics behind the artifact, and how to repair it. Although they achieved these goals and managed to reconstruct the Piece of Eden, Abstergo's administration maintained that the risks paradoxes from tampering with time were too dangerous and subsequently initiated a policy that any objects discovered to be capable of time manipulation were to be securely contained.[3]

Appearances[]

References[]

Advertisement