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Description

After the Mongols sacked Masyaf, the Assassins were forced to go underground and become a secret organization once again. But they were far from giving up. They still had their agents across the world, ready to strike back at the Templars, such as the Polo family, who managed to infiltrate Kublai Khan’s palace in 1275 and reclaim Altaïr’s legendary codex that the Mongols had stolen. Marco Polo would later scatter the codex pages across Italy upon his return to Venice.

After that little victory, the Assassins quickly got to work on destroying the Templars and the regime they'd established since the Crusades. The mentor of the French Assassins, Guillaume de Nogaret, poisoned Pope Benedict XI in 1304, allowing Pope Clement V, a friend of the Assassins, to take his place. Clement, along with King Philip IV, another Assassin ally, used their powers and influence to turn Europe and the Church against the Templars, labeling them as heretics. And thus the tides quickly turned as a witch hunt began on the Templar order. Master Assassin, Thomas de Carneillon, oversaw a massive attack on the Templars in Paris on 1307. This attack saw the capture of the last public Grand Master of the Templar Order, Jacques de Molay, who was put on trial and burnt at the stake in 1314. After that, the Templars were all but destroyed, and the Assassins were free to liberate Europe once again… or so they thought.

In 1321, an Assassin named Domenico Auditore found the body of Dante Alighieri, famous poet and Assassin, killed by the Templars, revealing that they weren't destroyed, just driven underground like the Assassins had been. Domenico and his family were attacked later that year while at sea. His wife tragically did not survive. Domenico later found his father and Marco Polo had met the same fate in 1324. Now especially determined to stop the Templars, Domenico and his son, Renato, bought a large villa in Monteriggioni, and thus the city became the central hub for the Italian Assassins.

Meanwhile, a terrible plague called the Black Death started spreading all across Europe, killing almost a third of the population. A Templar offshoot called the Brothers of the Cross used the plague as cover to search for the Ankh of Isis in the 1340s. An Assassin named Lukas Zurburg put a stop to them by 1350. In 1355, the Assassins stole a Shroud of Eden from Geoffrey de Charney and hid it underneath the Villa Auditore. In 1431, the Templars had Jeanne d’Arc burned at the stake so that they could acquire her Sword of Eden.

So yeah, the Middle Ages were kind of a grim point in history, weren't they? Oh well. That all was thankfully about to change. Because by 1434, a famous family had grown to have massive wealth and influence: the Medici. Cosimo de’ Medici became the Lord of Florence that year, and he and his family for generations would become patrons of countless painters, sculptors, writers, etc. Several other famous families would do the same soon enough, and when they did, it would send Italy into a new age of artistic and cultural extremes. A golden age, a rebirth.

A Renaissance.

Description

After the Mongols sacked Masyaf, the Assassins were forced to go underground and become a secret organization once again. But they were far from giving up. They still had their agents across the world, ready to strike back at the Templars, such as the Polo family, who managed to infiltrate Kublai Khan’s palace in 1275 and reclaim Altaïr’s legendary codex that the Mongols had stolen. Marco Polo would later scatter the codex pages across Italy upon his return to Venice.

After that little victory, the Assassins quickly got to work on destroying the Templars and the regime they'd established since the Crusades. The mentor of the French Assassins, Guillaume de Nogaret, poisoned Pope Benedict XI in 1304, allowing Pope Clement V, a friend of the Assassins, to take his place. Clement, along with King Philip IV, another Assassin ally, used their powers and influence to turn Europe and the Church against the Templars, labeling them as heretics. And thus the tides quickly turned as a witch hunt began on the Templar order. Master Assassin, Thomas de Carneillon, oversaw a massive attack on the Templars in Paris on 1307. This attack saw the capture of the last public Grand Master of the Templar Order, Jacques de Molay, who was put on trial and burnt at the stake in 1314. After that, the Templars were all but destroyed, and the Assassins were free to liberate Europe once again… or so they thought.

In 1321, an Assassin named Domenico Auditore found the body of Dante Alighieri, famous poet and Assassin, killed by the Templars, revealing that they weren't destroyed, just driven underground like the Assassins had been. Domenico and his family were attacked later that year while at sea. His wife tragically did not survive. Domenico later found his father and Marco Polo had met the same fate in 1324. Now especially determined to stop the Templars, Domenico and his son, Renato, bought a large villa in Monteriggioni, and thus the city became the central hub for the Italian Assassins.

Meanwhile, a terrible plague called the Black Death started spreading all across Europe, killing almost a third of the population. A Templar offshoot called the Brothers of the Cross used the plague as cover to search for the Ankh of Isis in the 1340s. An Assassin named Lukas Zurburg put a stop to them by 1350. In 1355, the Assassins stole a Shroud of Eden from Geoffrey de Charney and hid it underneath the Villa Auditore. In 1431, the Templars had Jeanne d’Arc burned at the stake so that they could acquire her Sword of Eden.

So yeah, the Middle Ages were kind of a grim point in history, weren't they? Oh well. That all was thankfully about to change. Because by 1434, a famous family had grown to have massive wealth and influence: the Medici. Cosimo de’ Medici became the Lord of Florence that year, and he and his family for generations would become patrons of countless painters, sculptors, writers, etc. Several other famous families would do the same soon enough, and when they did, it would send Italy into a new age of artistic and cultural extremes. A golden age, a rebirth.

A Renaissance.