Changes: Spanish Brotherhood of Assassins

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The Spanish Brotherhood of Assassins is the Guild of Assassins operating in Spain, who, during the Renaissance, cultivated ties with the royal houses of Castile, Aragon, and the Emirate of Granada.

Much of their operations in this period revolved around vying for influence with the Christian monarchs against the Templars, resulting in several Assassins such as Raphael Sánchez and Luis de Santángel being appointed as prominent officials. The Templars in turn preyed on the religious zealotry of the Catholic Monarchs through the Spanish Inquisition, and at the peak of that institution, the Assassins across Spain were targeted as heretics. Thanks in part to the intervention of Ezio Auditore da Firenze of the Italian Brotherhood, the Spanish Assassins survived the purge and became instrumental in putting an end to the Granada War and saving as many civilians as they could from the Inquisition.

In that same period, the Assassins were also pivotal in securing the Genoese navigator Christopher Columbus the sponsorship of Queen Isabella I of Castile, personally funding half of the expenses and thereby facilitating his explorations of the New World. The exposure of the continent to European powers would spark a frenzy by the Spanish Empire to conquer indigenous American empires such as the Inca and Aztecs, leading to the Spanish Assassins to send secret agents with the conquistadors abroad to keep a watchful eye over their activities.

The Spanish Brotherhood was traditionalist in comparison to other branches, and by the 15th century, they still retained archaic practices such as the amputation of the ring finger as part of the induction ceremony, a sacrifice no longer required for the use of Hidden Blades.

History

Granada War

In 1491, Tomás de Torquemada was fooled by Rodrigo Borgia, the Grand Master of the Roman Rite of the Templar Order, into believing that the Assassins were heretics. As a result, the Spanish Inquisitors arrested and burned numerous Spanish Assassins. Luis de Santángel, an Assassin and companion of Christopher Columbus, informed the Italian Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze of the Inquisition, which caused Ezio to sail for Spain. The spokesman of the Spanish Assassins, Raphael Sánchez, met with Ezio, and assigned him to kill several high-ranking Inquisitors. With help from other Spanish Assassins, Ezio rescued several captured Brothers, and killed many Inquisitors. He failed to kill Tomás de Torquemada however, and later spared him, saying that he was not a Templar, just blinded by his faith.^[1]

In 1492, the Mentor of the Brotherhood, Benedicto, led a team of Assassins to a rural village in Andalusia to rescue Ahmed of Granada, the son of Sultan Muhammad XII from the Spanish Templars. The Assassins were initally successful, but were eventually overwhelmed by the Templars. Many of the Assassins were killed and Benedicto, Aguilar and Maria were captured. The three Assassins were brought to Seville where they were branded as heretics and to be burned at the stake. Benedicto was burned alive but Aguilar and Maria managed to escape the village.^[2]

Sometime later, the two Assassins made their way to Alhambra to prevent the Sultan from handing the Apple of Eden to Torquemada. Maria was killed in the process but Aguilar managed to kill Ojeda and retrieved the Apple, escaping in the process. Realizing that the Apple will never be safe in his possession, Aguilar entrusted the Apple to Christopher Columbus, an ally of the Assassins who would keep the Apple until his death.^[2]

By 1498, the Inquisition killed most of the Assassins,^[1] although they managed to kill Torquemada.^[3] By that same year, Santángel had died, leaving the Assassins with no grip on the Spanish royal family and the branch nearly deserted. Ezio, now co-leader of the Italian Assassins along with Niccolò Machiavelli, sent his apprentices to reorganize the branch.

These apprentices, searched Santángel's room, found his journal, and realized that he had been slowly poisoning Queen Isabella. They felt at first that it was retaliation for slaughtering his family. However they kept an eye on the Queen, and found that she was threatened by the Borgia to help spread the Inquisition. They decided to finish what Santángel started, poisoning the Queen. They found the recipe of the poison, and doubled the dose to ensure her death. They found that one of the Queen's servants was a collaborator, and through her, they administered a fatal dose.^[4]^[5]

Age of Discovery

By 1511, the Spanish Assassins had regrouped and occasionally received aid from Turkish Assassins sent from Constantinople by Ezio Auditore. This year, the Spanish Assassins once again faced problems from the Inquisitors, who were now acting on orders of Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros. With help of the Ottoman Assassins, the Spanish Assassins eliminated the culprits.^[6]

Age of Enlightenment

By the mid-18th century, the Spanish Brotherhood had allied themselves with the Spanish Crown. In 1748, Gaspar Velasquez, a Spanish shipbuilder, had begun the designs of a brig that would serve as the primary fleet of the Colonial Brotherhood. However, as he and his colleagues' progress grew, the British Templars posed an imminent threat towards them. Gaspar decided to send the plans to the French Assassin Council in the hope of completing the Aquila and, by the next year, was fully constructed and sent to the Colonial Brotherhood.^[7]

Spanish Civil War

By the 20th century, the brotherhood was still active and a cell led by Ignacio Cardona consisting Glaucia Acosta, Miguel Carasso, Dwight Adams were part of the Spanish Civil War, fighting on the side of the Republicans. Facing difficulties, the cell requested aid from the British Brotherhood of Assassins, who sent Norbert Clarke in response.^[8]