[English] ASSASSIN'S CREED GENESIS (75,000 - 6,000 b.C.)

Assassin's Creed Origins and Assassin's Creed Odyssey tell the story of the Greek, Persian, and Egyptian founders of the Assassin Brotherhood. However, the real origins of the Templars, the Assassins, and their hidden-blade were much older than Greece and Egypt. The war between free will and absolute control is as old as humankind itself.  

This is ASSASSIN'S CREED GENESIS, a non-official, alternative story about: 

• The first Assassins
• The first Hidden-Blade
• The first Templars
• The first Instruments of the First Will
• The expanse of these societies/groups all over the world
• The seed of the first human civilizations
• Sumerian and Biblical myths and legends

This story combines:

• Assassin's Creed lore
• Sci-fi and fantasy elements
• Post-apocalyptic scenarios
• African stone-age scenarios

It is worth mentioning that the part of the text written in orange tells the exact, canonical lore of the saga as seen throughout the games. The text written in blue, however, is my fan-made contribution to the story - a made-up scenario for a possible first episode in the Assassin's Creed saga. 

Ready for a story about prehistoric Templars and proto-Assassins? Here we go!

Evolution, as we know it, is a lie. The ancient Order of the Knights Templar is still operative today, and has kept the secret for centuries: hundreds of thousands of years ago, we, human beings, were genetically designed by the Isu, an advanced humanoid civilization with superior technology. 

The Apples of Eden were used to control
human population.

We were designed as the Isu's expendable working force - mere slaves. Men and women were born with a synthetic neurotransmitter in their brain which forced them to obey the Isu's Apples of Eden. These were spherical artifacts designed to control human behavior through illusion and to override human will. 

Over time, however, interbreeding between humans and their creators made some men and women to be born with their neuro-transmitter inactive. For the first time, we human beings had the choice to disobey... and we started a rebellion. 

The Biblical Eve is but a distorted memory of this time: she was one of the first free human beings. Together with Adam, Eve stole an Apple of Eden and liberated a group of slaves.

Their Isu DNA allowed Eve and her followers to get close to their creators without being noticed... and to kill them. These hybrid human beings were the ancestors of the modern Assassins. Half Isu, half humans, they would be remembered as demigods in the myths and legends throughout the world. 

Adam and Eve escape from the Isu factories.

Eve was chosen to lead the non-hybrid human slaves in a war against the Isu.

Although they were genetically and technologically superior, the Isu were soon outnumbered by the liberated humans. Then, 75,000 years ago, the Toba catastrophe took place: most of the world was burned to a cinder, and both sides suffered heavy losses.

But humans were resilient and abundant. The Isu, on the contrary, had been weakened and would eventually disappear. 

The scarce human survivors lived now in a world without masters, wild and unexplored. However, some would still remember the power of the Isu technology: time after the end of the great war and the Toba catastrophe, Cain would kill his brother Abel to obtain the Apple previously stolen by Eve and govern men and women. For this crime, he was branded with a red cross, the Mark of Cain. 

Neolithic paintings in Algeria showing what looks like
the long-forgotten Apples of Eden.

Ten thousand years have passed. Now, the first free human beings live in tribal communities all over the African continent. Most of these tribes remember nothing of their ancient masters nor the advanced technology they once new. We are at the Palaeolithic / Neolithic period in Africa.

African tribes are nomads: they hunt and gather their food. Their neighbors are the buffalo and the elephant; and they fear the lion and the leopard. This is a hard and dangerous lifestyle. But men and women are free. 

Nobody approaches the weird, silver ruins that once belonged to the Isu. A green, deep jungle covers now the streets and buildings where, legend has it, spirits and demons dwell. 

Our story begins with the tribe of the Akil, a group of nomads that celebrate a meeting with the tribe of the Travelers at the Olduvai Gorge. Both tribes feast and tell each other about their journeys. This time, the Travelers bring news and rumors from the West: strange lights come from the ruins of the Isu; the sound of thunder accompanies these flashes. The Travelers have also heard rumors of strange armies painted in red that march across the savannah in silence. They are spirits, they say, the souls of the dead that have arisen from the Isu tombs. 

Of course, these rumors mean nothing for Ninsu, a young huntress of the tribe of the Akil. Ninsu and her sister, Eresh, are the daughters of the chief. But while  Eresh is a serious, disciplined warrior, Ninsu thinks of nothing but love and adventures. 

Ninsu is about to marriage her fiancé, Éa, from the tribe of the travelers. While both tribes adorn the sacred place in Olduvai with cave paintings to prepare the wedding, Éa and Ninsu take different paths in search of a good prey to sacrifice during the ceremony. They carry wooden bows and stone axes, knives, and spears. Ninsu even has an eagle pet called Zu that follows her everywhere. Through its eyes, Ninsu can see strange, luminous symbols carved along kilometers of rock in the savannah.

During her ceremonial hunt, Ninsu runs into those mysterious red-warriors mentioned by the Travelers. They are not painted in red, but they wear weird tunics and rusted pieces of armor. 

When the sky turns black and it starts to rain, it looks almost as if the storm obeys these warriors. 

Ninsu deviates from her path to avoid the red-warriors and takes cover from the storm that follows them. 

When she enters a series of caves, Ninsu finds herself inside of one the ancient and forbidden Isu ruins. Plants have taken over the place, but there are still shiny objects and screens everywhere - the place is an ancient laboratory.

In this weird scenario, Ninsu meets Atram-Hasis, an old hunter from an unknown tribe that dwells in the ruins. Atram-Hasis descends from Adam, Eve, and their rebel lineage. Unlike most human beings, Atram-Hasis remembers. 

He warns Ninsu: those red-warriors are the Children of Cain. They have explored and plundered the Isu ruins for centuries. They do not praise the Isu, yet they use their "magical" technology to submit the free tribes on the continent. Theirs is the power to suppress human will, control the beasts, and even conjure storms. The Children of Cain have enslaved thousands of free people already.

Atram-Hasis, of the Children of Eve - one the first
proto-Assassins

Ninsu remains skeptical. She waits for the storm to cease, gets back hunting, and returns to the sacred place... to find out the Akils and the Traveleres have been slaughtered by the red-warriors. Where is Éa, her fiancé? The only survivor, a wounded, old woman, has the answer: the red-warriors have taken the young as slaves. 

Ninsu gets furious. She swears to find the so-called Children of Cain, avenge her people, and rescue Éa. But first, she will need training.

Ninsu gets back to Atram-hasis' caves. There she learns about the Human-Isu war. She also learns that Atram-hasis was once the chief of a tribe slaughtered by the Children of Cain, and that all the chiefs of the tribes of the East descend from Eve. This means that Ninsu and her sister Eresh have Isu DNA.

Atram-hasis iniciates Ninsu into the teachings of the Children of Eve: now that men and women are free, they have forgotten their ancestors' sacrifice and take freedom for granted. Since human beings have a short memory, Eve's fight for freedom will  never come to an end. Now, it's Ninsu's responsibility to unite the scattered tribes and fight the Children of Cain.

Ninsu receives combat training and learns to follow the mysterious lines along the savannah: they are ancient highways that connect the old Isu cities. She also receives a mysterious artifact used to kill the Precursors by Eve herself: the real first hidden-blade. 

The first hidden-blades came from the simple tools used by the human servants of the Isu at their factories. They used the blades to cut circuits and graphene plates which would be incorporated into the high-tech machines of the Precursors. Eve and the first rebels modified these blades to create hidden weapons that could well pass for simple worker tools. 

In her journey through the heart of Africa, Ninsu infiltrates the megalithic fortresses built by the Children of Cain and liberates the enslaved, hunter tribes. She also  explores the post-apocalyptic scenarios of fallen Isu cities, from where she retrieves ancient artifacts to build up the first Assassin armor in history. With this amazing technology, Ninsu will learn to lead the African fauna against the Children of Cain: she will be able to communicate with buffalos, hippos, elephants, zebras, and even lions and leopards the same way she can communicate with Zu, her eagle pet. 

After a journey full of dangers, Ninsu finds her fiancé at last: Éa works as a slave inside the impressive Isu ziggurat of En-Lil, the leader of the Children of Cain. En-Lil possesses an ancient staff capable of releasing powerful storms. When Ninsu defeats En-Lil, he releases a storm that sinks the city and hundreds of kilometers around. This is the origin of the deluge mytheme later to be found in all myths and legends.

Ninsu and Éa have survived the deluge, but the huntress' journey is not over. Éa has news concerning her sister, Eresh, who was not killed during the red-warrior invasion: Eresh and a group of followers managed to free themselves from the Children of Cain and followed the mysterious source of lightning and thunder that the Travelers mentioned in their meeting. 

That mysterious place is no other than the first Isu city ever built - Eve's garden of Eden. Even if it was abandoned long ago, the city still has beautiful gardens, impressive silver towers, and high technology all around. The digital projection of the Isu named Juno governs this paradise lost. And Juno controls Eresh now: it is Juno's will to bring the Isu back to life and regain control over humans, just as she will try to do for the next several millennia. 

If the Children of Cain that slaughtered Ninsu's tribe were the ancestors of the Templars, now Ninsu has to face a new enemy: her sister, who has become the head of the Instruments of the First Will. As Juno's puppet, Eresh is convinced that her Eve/Assassin bloodline is but a prove of the greatness of their creators, the Precursors. Ninsu, who is now an experienced Assassin, remembers her oath: to remind humankind of the price and value of freedom. But Juno will not abandon Eresh body until she is dead - Ninsu and Eresh will have to fight each other: it is a combat between two of the most ancient Assassins in history. In the end, if she wants to stop Juno, Ninsu has no option but to kill her sister. 
Before she dies, Eresh recognizes Ninsu and tells her of a way to override Juno's machines and set fire to the city. It is the only way to stop Juno -for now- and prevent others from reaching the ruins of Eden. The sisters share an emotive farewell. Then, Ninsu leaves the collapsing Isu city. 

Assassin jumping of Masyaf... no, wait, the African
ruins of those who came before.

Years after her sad fight against her sister, Ninsu has children with Éa: their names are Sim, Kham, and Japetus, who will be remembered as the Biblical Shem, Ham, and Japheth. From Ninsu, they learn that the Children of Eve must spread across the world to prevent the Children of Cain from controlling the free peoples. They also must prevent the Instruments of the First Will from bringing back Juno and the Isu. It will be a fight that will span millennia, yet it is a necessary fight, for humankind has a short memory and will kneel before the Children of Cain repeatedly: with the technology of the Isu, the Children of Cain will master the elements and develop agriculture; they will build the first cities in Sumer, Egypt, and the Ancient China; and will, eventually, rule the entire planet. 
But wherever there is a Child of Cain... or Templar, there will be a Child of Eve with a hidden-blade ready to fight back. 

Thank you for reading! If you liked this story, please, leave a comment in the comment section or just share the Assassin's Creed Genesis idea in your social networks. But please, remember to credit my writing: I am Guillermo Lance, a Spanish teacher and writer, and a great Assassin's Creed fan.

Gmail: guillermolance.write@gmail.com
Twitter: @GuillermoLance_
Instagram: @GuillermoLance_

See you in the Animus!