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Assassins Creed: Shadows

 

So Ubisoft announced the latest Assassin Creed game.

This one is set in Feudal Japan … and you can imagine my shock and excitement that one of the main characters is Yasuke!

Well guess he’s an Assassin now!

Make sure to watch the trailer.

 

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Character Introduction / Shogun Clan0

Sylum Inspiration: Yasuke

Shogun: Hunter

Yasuke was taken from his home country of Ethopia and was sold into slavery.

He arrived in Japan in 1579 in the service of the Italian Jesuit Alessandro Valignano, who had been appointed the Visitor (inspector) of the Jesuit missions in the Indies. He accompanied Valignano when the latter came to the capital area in March 1581 and his appearance caused a lot of interest with the local people.

When Yasuke was presented to Nobunaga he suspected his skin to be have been coloured with black ink, Nobunaga had him strip from the waist up and made him scrub his skin. These events are recorded in a 1581 letter of the Jesuit Luís Fróis to Lourenço Mexia and in the 1582 Annual Report of the Jesuit Mission in Japan, also by Fróis. These were published in Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Jesus escreverão dos reynos de Japão e China II, normally known simply as Cartas, in 1598.  When he realized that his skin was not coloured and in fact black Nobunaga seems to have taken an interest in him. At some point, although when is not clear, Yasuke entered Nobunaga’s service.

Yasuke was taught Japanese, perhaps due to Nobunaga talking with him. He was perhaps the only non-Japanese retainer that Nobunaga had in his service, which could explain Nobungas interest in him.  

In June 1582, Nobunaga was attacked and forced to commit seppuku in Honnō-ji in Kyoto by the army of Akechi Mitsuhide. Yasuke was there at the time and fought the Akechi forces. Immediately after Nobunaga’s death, Yasuke went to join Nobunaga’s heir Oda Nobutada who was trying to rally the Oda forces at Nijō Castle. Yasuke fought alongside the Nobutada forces but was eventually captured. When Yasuke was presented to Akechi he said that the black man was an animal as well as not Japanese and should thus not be killed but be taken to the nanban-dera or nanban-ji. There is no further written information about him after this.

It was soon after, that Yasuke met Katsumoto who had admired his skills and gave him a new opportunity.  He took it without hesitation.

For more information contact the Vampire Council Library

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Character Introduction / Vampire Council0

Sylum Inspiration: Ezio Auditore da Firenze

Vampire Council: Hunter

 

Ezio was born in Florence on 24 June 1459, as the second son of Giovanni and Maria Auditore. He appeared to be stillborn, but, after some words of encouragement from his father, he began to cry, leading his father to call him a “fighter”.

Up until the age of 17, Ezio lived a life of luxury amidst the members of the Florentine noble class; he was apprenticed to the renowned banker Giovanni Tornabuoni, who worked alongside Giovanni Auditore’s banking business, but was all the while unaware of his father’s allegiance to the Assassin Order.

In the year 1476, Ezio, his older brother Federico, and friends of the family fought with Vieri de’ Pazzi and his gang. Just before the fight, Ezio received a gash down across his lip – caused by Vieri throwing a stone – which would scar, and remain for the rest of his life.

Ezio’s mother introduced him to an artist that she patronized, Leonardo da Vinci. On the walk home, Leonardo struck up a conversation, beginning a friendship between the two men that would last throughout their later lives.

Ezio returned home after a errand for his father to find his home ransacked, his father and brothers missing, and his mother and sister dead. Learning that city guards had been ordered to arrest Giovanni and all of his sons, Ezio made his way to the Palazzo della Signoria, where his father and brothers were being held.

Climbing the building and speaking to his father through his cell window, Ezio was instructed to find a chest hidden in his office, take everything out of it, and deliver a sealed letter to Uberto Alberti, Gonfaloniere of Florence and a close friend of the Auditore family. Doing so, Ezio found his father’s Assassin robes, a broken Hidden Blade, and a letter containing details of a plot against the city of Florence and the Auditore family.

Ezio brought the incriminating documents to Uberto, and was assured that his family would be released the following day, when the information was presented as evidence of their innocence. Ezio then traveled to the home of Cristina Vespucci, where he spent the night once again.

The next day, Ezio returned to the Piazza della Signoria to find Uberto presiding over the execution of his family.

Giovanni declared their innocence, citing the information given to Uberto as evidence, but the Gonfaloniere denied any knowledge of such information. Ezio shouted that Uberto was lying, but his efforts to prevent the execution were ultimately in vain.

Ezio could only watch helplessly from the crowd as his father and brothers were hanged. When he attempted to charge the gallows to avenge his kin, Uberto ordered the city guards to kill him.

Ezio fled the Piazza della Signoria and sought shelter in a brothel run by the sister of the Auditore housemaid, a courtesan named Heather. He then fled Florence to his Uncle Mario’s home Monteriggioni. It was here he learned about the Assassin Order, and his heritage.

After learning of his heritage from his uncle, Mario Auditore, Ezio began his Assassin training and set about on his quest for vengeance against the Templar Order, and their Grand Master, Rodrigo Borgia, who had ordered the execution of his kin.

During his travels, Ezio managed to not only unite the pages of the Codex, written by Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad, Mentor of the Levantine Assassins, but also to save the cities of Florence, Venice, and Rome from Templar rule.

It was in Venice he discovered about Vampires.

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