Yangon

He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow.

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Yangon (Burmese: ရန်ကုန်), formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. It formerly served as the country's capital until 2006, when it was replaced by Naypyidaw. The city is home to the gilded Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's most sacred and famous Buddhist pagoda.^[1]

History[]

Early history[]

Yangon was founded by the Mon people in the 6th century CE as Dagon, a small fishing village built around the Shwedagon Pagoda. It remained an important pilgrimage pagoda town for centuries and, in 1755, it was captured by King Alaungpaya, the founder of the Konbaung dynasty, who renamed the town to Yangon and greatly expanded it.^[1]

Toungoo dynasty[]

In 1608, during Burma's rule by the Toungoo dynasty, the Portuguese adventurer Filipe de Brito e Nicote plundered the Shwedagon Pagoda and attempted to make off with its 300-ton Great Bell of Dhammazedi.^[2] However, the bell fell into the Bago River, where it remains lost to this day.^[1] After this incident, security around the pagoda greatly increased, with a number of guards conducting 24-hour rotating patrols around the sacred site.^[3]

ACFT - Yangon outskirts — Edward Kenway and Shimazu Saito overlooking Yangon

Secretly, the Shwedagon Pagoda housed a Piece of Eden which was protected by a group of Buddhist monks. In 1725, the Zhang Wei Union members learned about the Piece and traveled to Yangon to retrieve it. Thanks to Zhang having established contact with the monks beforehand, the Union members were granted safe passage into the city, as the monks believed it was safer to allow them to claim the artifact than risk having it fall into unworthy hands.^[3]

Once in Yangon, the Union members devised a plan to infiltrate the Shwedagon Pagoda without the guards noticing. As Shimazu Saito refused to get the monks involved any further, she and the British Assassin Edward Kenway instead decided to fly over the pagoda using the Celestial Chariot, a hot air balloon built by the Union's engineer Yun Pyeong-Gyu. From there, Edward and Saito parachuted onto the pagoda and entered the temple through a hole in the roof.^[3]

After retrieving the Piece of Eden, Edward and Saito left the pagoda through a secret tunnel, just as the guards were alerted to the theft of the artifact and began searching for the culprits. Fortunately, Edward and Saito were able to escape unnoticed with the help of the Buddhist monks, who handed them disguises to allow the pair to blend in with them. Edward then thanked the monks for their assistance and promised to return the Piece of Eden to the Shwedagon Pagoda once he was done using it.^[4]

Modern times[]

In 2023, Shimazu Sei, Noa Kim, Yuki, and Nathan Zhang traveled to Yangon following their escape from Abstergo Industries in Singapore, seeking to retrieve the Piece of Eden housed within the Shwedagon Pagoda. Despite the ongoing civil war in Myanmar, the group easily passed through a security checkpoint and entered the city, whereupon they went to a hotel near the pagoda. There, Sei talked with Noa, who believed himself to be his ancestor Edward Kenway due to the Bleeding Effect, and convinced him to help recover the Piece of Eden from the pagoda.^[5]

At night, while Nathan and his Doom Eagle thugs attacked the soldiers near the Shwedagon Pagoda as a distraction, Sei and Noa infiltrated one of the nearby temples. There, they found a secret underground passage leading to the central pagoda and used it to reach their destination.^[5] However, as they approached the Piece of Eden, the artifact created illusions based on Sei and Noa's deepest fears and desires, intended to test their wills and determine whether they were worthy of claiming the Piece.^[6]

ACFT - Shwedagon Pagoda battle aftermath — The damaged Shwedagon Pagoda after the shootout between Doom Eagle and Sigma Team

Noa ultimately overcame the artifact's illusions and retrieved the Piece, which created a Synch Nexus between him and Edward, allowing the two to briefly speak across time.^[7] Meanwhile, Abstergo's Sigma Team also arrived at the pagoda, seeking to capture Noa and Sei and seize the artifact in their possession. Yuki, Nathan, and his men fought off the agents before leaving to pick up Noa and Sei so they could all escape Yangon together.^[8]

Later, the group returned to the city to look for a way to leave Myanmar and escape from the Abstergo forces hunting them. Infiltrating Yangon's harbor, which was guarded by both Burmese soldiers and Sigma Team, Noa, Sei, and Yuki made their way to a hangar containing a seaplane while Nathan went to free his men who were being held captive aboard their own ship. However, he was discovered, initiating a fight with Sigma Team.^[9]

As Nathan decided to retrieve the group's Animus, slowing him down, Yuki chose to face Sigma Team alone to buy him enough time to reach Noa and Sei so they could escape. Yuki was ultimately killed by the agents, though not before detonating a grenade which took out multiple Sigma Team members with her.^[10]

Despite Yuki's sacrifice, Sigma Team managed to corner Noa, Sei, and Nathan inside the hangar, prompting Sei to seize the crescent amulet in Noa's possession and use it to subdue the agents. This allowed Noa and Nathan to escape with the Piece of Eden they had retrieved from the Shwedagon Pagoda, while Sei was captured by Abstergo alongside the amulet. Before her capture, Sei put her faith in Noa that he would rescue her and stop Abstergo's plans to acquire the last Piece of Eden located in Southeast Asia.^[11]