A Creed of a Assassin

A Creed Of An Assassin (ACA)



CHAPTER 1:

The grandson of Renato Auditore, Giovanni was born in Monteriggioni in 1436, two years after his elder brother Mario. From an early age, both Giovanni and his brother were taught the ways of the Assassins, although Giovanni was also tutored in banking and other subjects as well. At some point in his younger life in Monteriggioni, Giovanni also explored the Auditore Family Crypt.



In time, Giovanni left the family villa and joined Ilario in Florence, who served as Gonfaloniere to Cosimo de' Medici. In 1452, Giovanni met and married Maria de' Mozzi, to whom he revealed himself to be an Assassin. After four years, their first son Federico was born, followed by Ezio in 1459, Claudia in 1461, and Petruccio in 1463.Around the early 1450s, Giovanni first encountered a young Lorenzo de' Medici, grandson to Cosimo. Lorenzo had fallen into the Arno river, and would have drowned had Giovanni not jumped in and rescued him. As a result of this event, Lorenzo later became Giovanni's close friend and patron; forging the ties between their families.



In 1454, Giovanni also aided the members of his Brotherhood in dealing with the Shroud of Eden. After Mario had uncovered the artifact underneath Monteriggioni, he summoned his brother to bring it out of the city, and into the protection of the Order.



Giovanni also eventually revealed his true nature as an Assassin to Lorenzo, and undertook several missions for him behind the backs of his own children. In 1476, Giovanni tracked down Rodrigo Borgia, Grand Master of the Templar Order, in a Florentine alleyway.



Although Giovanni managed to eliminate two of his bodyguards and incapacitate the third, Rodrigo escaped. The Assassin then handed the third guard over to Uberto Alberti, the current Gonfaloniere of Florence, for questioning.



Pursuing Rodrigo Borgia



Through torture, the bodyguard revealed that Galeazzo Maria Sforza, the Duke of Milan, was to be assassinated by the Templars, of which Giovanni was quickly sent to prevent it. Though he unfortunately arrived too late to save the Duke, Giovanni was able to eliminate some of his murderers, while the Duke's bodyguards killed the rest.









With all the assassins dead, Giovanni searched the corpse of Giovanni Andrea Lampugnani, and found a pouch of coins stamped with the winged lion of Venice. Recognizing the seal, he immediately set off for the city.



Arriving in Venice, Giovanni infiltrated the Basilica di San Marco and eavesdropped on a group of men conversing in a nearby room. The two men, Marco and Silvio Barbarigo, then dispatched a courier, with a message for their master in Rome.



Giovanni chose to pursue the courier, before finally confronting him in a secluded area. After a lengthy battle, he overpowered and pinned down the courier, with his Hidden Blade held to the man's throat. However, refusing to answer his questions, the courier impaled himself on the blade, leaving Giovanni frustrated, albeit with a letter sealed with the crest of the House of Barbarigo. From there, Giovanni returned to Florence and presented the letter to Lorenzo, although they found that it was encoded.



That night, Giovanni was summoned to meet with Lorenzo and Uberto. Before leaving, Maria reminded her husband that their son, Ezio, who was watching them from behind a nearby haystack, was becoming suspicious of his banker father having to leave their home at night so often. Giovanni promised that he would speak with him soon, and then left.



Arriving at the meeting, Uberto falsely claimed that Father Antonio Maffei had been unable to decrypt the letter, and that the only course of action was for Giovanni to deliver the letter himself. To this, Giovanni agreed, and headed for Rome with a copy of the letter in hand.



In Rome, he delivered the letter, and followed it until it reached the hands of Rodrigo Borgia. Giovanni then followed Rodrigo into Basilica di San Pietro, where the two finally exchanged words. Rodrigo remarked his respect for the Assassin's skills, and offered him the chance to join the Templar Order, so that he could live to see the "new world."





Giovanni refused, and was subsequently attacked by a number of Rodrigo's henchmen. Despite being heavily outnumbered, he prevailed, although a knife thrown by Rodrigo wounded him gravely, and allowed the Templar the opportunity to escape.



Giovanni returned home, where his wife tended to his wound. During this time, he confessed to her that he feared the assassination of the Duke of Milan had only been the beginning of a much wider conspiracy. Before he could go on however, the two were interrupted by their son Federico, who warned him that Father Maffei had arrived with armed guards.



Asking his son to provide him cover, Giovanni slipped out of the palazzo through a secret passage within the fireplace.



Betrayal and execution



"You are the traitor, Uberto – and one of them! You may take our lives this day, but we will have yours in return, I swear! We will"At some point after this, Giovanni found evidence suggesting Francesco de' Pazzi had committed murder, and so he had Uberto Alberti arrest him. As a result, Francesco's son Vieri developed an intense rivalry with his son Ezio.



In 1476, following a brawl between the two on the Ponte Vecchio, Giovanni scolded his son for his behavior, although he noted that it reminded him of himself when he was younger. He then tasked Ezio with delivering a letter to Lorenzo, but was surprised to learn that Lorenzo had left the city for a short while. Undeterred, Giovanni had Ezio deliver several more letters, and had him pick up a letter from a pigeon coop near to the Piazza della Signoria.



While his son was away, however, armed guards sent by Uberto suddenly invaded the Palazzo Auditore. As a result, Giovanni and his two other sons were arrested, and taken to be imprisoned in the tower of the Piazza della Signoria.



Before long, Ezio had managed to climb the clock tower, where Giovanni told him to empty his chest in the room behind the fireplace, and retrieve the evidence exonerating him and his family. Ezio did so, and delivered the evidence to Uberto that night.





The next day however, Giovanni was shocked to find Uberto and Rodrigo Borgia together, with Uberto denying ever receiving any evidence. Following this, Giovanni and his sons were sentenced to death on the grounds of treason. A horrified Ezio, who witnessed the ordeal from below, cried out that Uberto was lying, but he was unable to prevent his father's hanging.

Hours later, Giovanni's corpse was to be disposed of in the Arno, though Ezio was able to retrieve his father and his kin's bodies, before giving them a proper funeral by floating them out on the river in pyre ships.



CHAPTER 2: A LEGACY



"My dear sons, dark skies are rising over Florence and time is running low. The enemy is closer than I thought. Now, the final battle is about to unfold. Every man is mortal, every life bounds to an end but certain things will never change. Federico and Ezio, my sons, always remember: we are the Auditore da Firenze and we are Assassins." ―Giovanni Auditore.



Ezio retrieving Giovanni's Assassin equipment





Despite his death, Giovanni's actions would have lasting consequences for his surviving family members, particularly his son, Ezio Auditore.



Having priorly prepared for a turn of events such as those what ultimately happened, Giovanni had arranged for his live-in servant Annetta to take his wife and daughter to her sister's establishment, where they would be safe. There, Annetta's sister Paola, a courtesan that Giovanni had previously represented in court and had introduced into the Assassin Order, provided Ezio with some basic training in blending, and gave him the skills necessary to execute his revenge on Uberto Alberti before he left the city.



When Ezio arrived in Monteriggioni, his uncle Mario was shocked to discover that his brother had never told Ezio of his Assassin heritage, or that Giovanni himself had indeed been an Assassin. Despite this, Ezio soon vowed to take up his father's work, which included locating what remained of the Codex, and to avenge his death with the blood of Rodrigo Borgia and his Templar allies.