Assassins Creed 2 - ending explained

[JRD]

I've been doing some research after the thick background story of the Assassins Creed series. Oddly, the first game of the serie is the one with more info available or, at least, in a logical way so to speak!

None of these is my w%&k, only copy+pasted here so we can open a discussion about the story line.

Source:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091128125718AAaDz9Z

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Q: when he's in the animus when in italy killing all those people is he just killing them because there templars??

A: A lot of that stuff can be solved if you played AC 1 before hand, but I will admit that somethings are definitely a bit confusing still. I'll try to answer your questions to the best of my abilities in the order you asked them in: *Warning: spoilers through out*

At first Ezio is killing them to get back at them for killing his family, but as time goes on and he finds out more of the hidden planning, he is killing them also because they are Templars.

Q: in the animus why does that minerva girl call him desmond instead of ezio.

A: Minerva is not speaking to Ezio, that's why she tells him to merely be quiet and listen. She is actually using Ezio as a kind of messenger to carry the message to the future for Desmond (the character you really play as, when you are outside the Animus). This means that either Minera's people knew that a man called Desmond would see these past memories and find this message hidden in the DNA, or her people were so advanced that the message would automatically insert the name of the person into itself, so it would seem Minerva was actually speaking to Desmond.

Q: Is absertego a modern day templar??

A: Abstergo is a company formed by many Templars, and they are hunting for a piece of Eden. They have already found one, but their experiments failed with a large explosion that rendered the piece unusable for their task, the complete control of almost every last person on Earth, much like the task that the ancient Templars were trying.

Q: Are they trying to find a piece of eden in the modern world?? And whats this subject 16 stuff about and that girl in those secret videos? Is that subject 16 with that girl?

A: Subject 16 was the previous person before Desmond (Subject 17) to go into Abstergo's animus, and he was put through incredible trials: mostly spending far longer than Desmond inside the Animus. This caused him to experience widespread "Bleeding", an effect here the person can no longer differentiate between his own memories and situations and those of all of his ancestors. However, before his mind became totally destroyed Subject 16 was able to find the "Truth", a secret long hidden away by the Templars about the origin of mankind.

That video is about Adam and Eve, according to the game, breaking free of the First Civilization (Minerva's people), those who were thought to be Gods. It is believed that the apple mentioned in the bible is the first piece of Eden, and Adam and Eve stole it hoping to gain freedom from the First Civilization. There were somewhat successful because that brought on the war between humans and the First Civilization, then the cataclysm happened, causing the almost extirmination of both humans and the FC. The FC remained hidden away to try and survive, becoming myth and gods in the process.

The message Minerva gives is that that cataclysm is returning and it is up to Desmond and the modern assassin's to either stop it or help lessen the effects, meaning that they have to find the other vaults scattered across the globe where remains of the FC first studied the cataclysm. (I personally believe that these vaults are the Assassin symbols that appear on the codex map once you have completed it at the beginning of Sequence 14. Then there are the numerous other little dots spread across the map, maybe these play a part too.)

Q: whose that girl Altair kisses when he's in Akka??

A: That woman Altair kisses is the woman who was basically supposed to pose as Robert de Sable (a high ranking Templar from AC 1) to act as a decoy against the assassin's. Rather than killing Maria, Altair falls in love with her and sires a child (the blacked out scene on top of the tower). This had to have happened since Ezio and Desmond are genetic decedents from Altair.

Q: Is lucy ialso really an assassins as well??

A: Lucy and the two others you meet in the Assassin's brotherhood hideout are all Assassin's. There are also many other Assassin's spread across the globe, acting on the info pulled out of Desmond's head, trying to keep the Templars from finding and activating the pieces of Eden.
Source(s):
Personal experiecne and personal thoughts throughout the whole thing.

[PZ]

Excellent story - much of which I knew and some that I did not.  I never did many of the glyph puzzles in AC2, so some of the story line is unknown to me - this description helps.

Spoiler

Because of AC1 and AC2, I knew who Maria was in ACR when doing one of the Sophia missions.  It is too bad that she ended up dead killed by that bastardo that executed Altair and Maria's son.

[mandru]

A couple thoughts to toss on the fire of this discussion.

We know from digging through the information to be found in the glyph sequences that "the story line proposes" that scientists have discovered that there is a chemical receptor in the neurons of the human brain that are apparently completely functional and yet fully inactive.  Why humans would have such a feature present in their brain structure with no evolutionary explanation for the need of such a development is of great curiosity and inexplicable.

My take on this introduced concept (I'll attempt to make a long story short) is that it was a manipulation of the proto-humans by the first civilization (gods created man in their own image  ;) ) to establish a slave race that could be controlled through the influence of the Piece of Eden we saw Adam and Eve steal from the Truth video segments.  The Bonfire of the Vanities sequence of the game shows the general population being lied to and manipulated through the power of the Orb stolen from an injured Ezio by the black monk missing a finger.  I think bringing these two lines of thinking and game events together partially connects some of the dots.



Not every Assassin has the gift of eagle vision.  That power skips generations and possibly whole centuries before emerging again in a family line of people who are directly descended from Altair through Ezio as evidenced in Subject #16 and our boy Desmond.  Again I'm drawing out of information obtained from the glyph clues left by Subject #16 hidden in the animus data Lucy retrieved from Abstergo's files before fleeing with Desmond.  Those messages in a bottle could not be cracked open and read by anyone who lacked the gift of eagle vision.  The animus could detect it (Shawn gave Desmond a heads up that there was something strange to investigate) but eagle vision was required to access the data.

Desmond approached the glyph puzzles at relative ease so it is entirely possible that anyone with eagle vision but under the duress of being forced by Abstergo would lack the concentration to gain access to the messages.

There is at least one of the glyphs as well as a fair portion of the art collected by Ezio for the Auditore family villa that have a common theme present in the painting "Lida and the Swan".  That common thread is revealed as that of a god (usually in disguised form) having offspring with a human.

I'm proposing that Altair, Ezio and Desmond are of a family line that has in its past exactly that infusion of first civilization genetics and that is the one thing that makes it possible for them to have eagle vision as well as the ability to properly control the Pieces of Eden without it's power consuming them to dominate the rest of the human race.

It also makes it possible for the individuals from the first civilization (those gods Desmond meets as revealed in game climaxes) to reach out across the span of time and speak directly to Desmond through his ancestors (literally in the now, not as prerecorded message (place spoiler from AC:R here  >:D ) ).  Mention of the Philadelphia Experiment (from AC1) shows that the Templars tried to tamper with an POE that had the ability to transcend time but didn't have the right genetics to apply that power correctly.

Spoiler

There's a reason revealed in AC:R that Minerva handles the time calculation part of things.  Sorry, you'll have to w@&k for it and find that on your own because I'm not willing to drop that big of a spoiler.   

[PZ]

Have you guys done all of the glyph puzzles in AC2?  I did not, so am feeling a few holes in my history.

Your proposal, mandru, appears spot on considering the data.  :-X

[mandru]

Did I do all the glyphs in AC2?   :-()

Yeah, I'm a bit obsessive about digging out all the back story I can on a game.  I'm a cheap a$$ ba$t@rd who wrings every bit of enjoyment I can get out of a game and then set about gnawing the shards of gristle off the joints and suck all the marrow out of the bones by the time I'm done with it.

That's why FC2 has lasted me so long as one of the two other games loaded in my computer before AC:R.  It came free with my comp because I bought the NVIDIA GPU and I'm not yet done finding all of the FC2 goody-bits though it is getting a bit of a vacation while I'm still busy dismantling AC:R.   :-D

I've got more findings and thoughts on AC2 to contribute here but I'll let the discussion develop and add it as it fits in to the flow of of conversation.   ;)

A lot of the information that comes from the glyphs is jarring and seems incongruous to the activities you are participating in inside the game but it wouldn't be presented if it didn't fit into the entirety of the puzzle somehow.  I try to link up the obscure connections as I can.  For me because I'd not done AC1 and encountered the wall of blood writings from Subject #16 I've had a lot of gaps in being able to connect the dots.  JRD's other thread Assassins Creed 1 with spoilers was most informative.   :-X

[PZ]

I feel like a slacker now  :-()

I hardly ever play a game to the fullest extent possible; for some reason I lose interest in collecting feathers, Animus fragments, diamonds, etc.  Even though I know fully well that I would find "ah-ha" moments, I've never been able to motivate myself enough.

[mandru]

Not every feather, Animus fragment and diamond etc is necessary to affect a favorable outcome in the game.  It's worthwhile knowing what's important and meeting those requirements.

I tend to chase them down to be able to say I have or in the case of UBI's UPlay feature earn the points awarded for objective completions.  I have UPlay points coming out my ears because I'm not going to buy static wallpaper (a screensaver might interest me) or mulit-player perks for part of the game I'll never look at hold no interest for me.  I also have a lot more time on my hands than most people to chase out all those odds and ends.   :-\\


Back on topic.  One of the glyphs in AC2 reveals that the female Australopithecus skeleton discovered (amusingly also popularly named Lucy) was a construct intentionally placed by the Templars to discredit religion and distort an accurate understanding of human history.

[PZ]

It is interesting to note the disclaimer regarding the development team with diverse religious beliefs at the beginning of each of the games - like Ubi expects to field complaints.

[JRD]

I found all glyphs in AC2 but there`s a couple left to be solved... I got a bit tired of doing the puzzles as I was near the end so I came back to the action. I found only one or two glyphs in AC:B as I wasn`t even searching for them

After finishing AC2 I immediately started AC:B and after AC:B I immediately started AC:R so there`s a lot of stuff left to do and collect on those games. Yesterday I had a couple hours free to play but AC:R was downloading an update so I went back to AC:B to finish doing missions and upgrading shops and places.

I think I`ll do a sweep over the three finished games before starting the series again so I can get glyphs and do side missions I left behind, this way I might put some pieces together and focus on the core story line when playing all three games again!  8)

[PZ]

I may do the glyph puzzles some day, but for now I'm seriously enjoying just playing through as the young, brash Ezio again.  I'm just now entering Venice, and am honing my primitive, but relatively effective fighting skills.

On a completely different note, one of the entertainment trends that is completely annoying to me is the strobe-like flashing that everyone seems to feel is essential to grab your attention.  For instance, instead of moving seamlessly from one scene to the next, the idiot producers will throw in a flash bulb to make the transition.  These are even evidenced in many video games, the AC series included.  in ACR, every time you loot a treasure chest, a flash bulb goes off in your face, while that is not true in AC2. [/rant]

[fragger]

I haven't read any of these "... ending explained" topics as yet, for three reasons:

1) I haven't played any of the AC titles, but I think I may do so soon and I don't want to read any revealing spoilers;

2) They'd be over my head anyway, and;

3) Er... okay, two reasons.

But I did sneak at peek at the AC1 one, and boy did it pique my interest! I must get into this series... soon... I must...

[Art Blade]

Nonononono, no. You'd be utterly disappointed and turn away in a fit of epic disgust along with compulsory vomit-attacks.

:-D

[PZ]

I'm playing through the series again, but started at AC2 because I wanted to focus on Ezio and his lifetime of activities.  One thing I noticed after playing ACR, the graphics that I though were spectacular when I initially played AC2, seem now to be a bit outdated in comparison.  Playing AC2 now really demonstrates the stunning increase in graphic beauty.

:-X

[JRD]

We know from digging through the information to be found in the glyph sequences that "the story line proposes" that scientists have discovered that there is a chemical receptor in the neurons of the human brain that are apparently completely functional and yet fully inactive.  Why humans would have such a feature present in their brain structure with no evolutionary explanation for the need of such a development is of great curiosity and inexplicable.

My take on this introduced concept (I'll attempt to make a long story short) is that it was a manipulation of the proto-humans by the first civilization (gods created man in their own image  ;) ) to establish a slave race that could be controlled through the influence of the Piece of Eden we saw Adam and Eve steal from the Truth video segments.  The Bonfire of the Vanities sequence of the game shows the general population being lied to and manipulated through the power of the Orb stolen from an injured Ezio by the black monk missing a finger.  I think bringing these two lines of thinking and game events together partially connects some of the dots.

Neither Altair nor Ezio are affected by the Apple. There's an email revealed at the end of AC1 and described here that says:

Email: "The others and I have finished reviewing the Animus recordings from Subjects 12-16. While the Piece of Eden remains our priority, we must continue working to locate and understand the remaining artefacts. I am sure you can understand our reasoning behind this. Although satellite is accomplished to a fair portion of the w@&k for us, we will certainly need to deal with those who are either immune to - or protected from - its effects.

Explanation: There are multiple artefacts that Abstergo want to possess in order to control the world, and they all have different powers. Once the satellite is in orbit most of Earth's population will be under their control, but some people will be immune to its effects. They need to secure other artefacts to help deal with these people, otherwise their plans will be exposed and Abstergo will be under attack from rebels.

Now pay attention to "immune to - or protected from - it's effects".  So either that particular Piece of Eden (the Apple) has no effects on certain people or certain people are somehow protected from it's effects. It can be that the Apple alone would not be able to control all popultaion of the world, hence other artifacts existing elsewhere, leading to your theory of a slave race controlled by the Apple and the other artifacts or... the First Civilization, creators of the Pieces of Eden are immune to its powers and a lineage of people descending from the FC would be immune as well, just as you said.

I'm proposing that Altair, Ezio and Desmond are of a family line that has in its past exactly that infusion of first civilization genetics and that is the one thing that makes it possible for them to have eagle vision as well as the ability to properly control the Pieces of Eden without it's power consuming them to dominate the rest of the human race.

That could be linked somehow to Desmond stabbing Lucy at the end of Brotherhood under the influence of the Apple. He had no control over his actions and were driven by Minerva who also says something I can't remember exactly but that means basically "she is not the one and must not be in the way". After that event Desmond is locked somewhere within the Animus (the Animus Island we see in Revelations) that is keeping him alive until he finds out about his own truth and origin. Now I didn't get to the end of Revelations yet SO TRY NOT TO SPOIL MY FUN, PLEASE!  ;D

Also, what are the other Artifacts? Abstergo found one which was destroyed as they tried a first satellite launch but what else do we know about those? Everything seems to be focused on the Apple but there's more than meets the eye here!  ????

The map Ezio put together at the end of AC2 shows lots of dots and so does the globe shown in the end of AC1... so there are more Artifacts spread out there!!!

[PZ]

...Also, what are the other Artifacts? Abstergo found one which was destroyed as they tried a first satellite launch but what else do we know about those? Everything seems to be focused on the Apple but there's more than meets the eye here!  ????

The map Ezio put together at the end of AC2 shows lots of dots and so does the globe shown in the end of AC1... so there are more Artifacts spread out there!!!

Excellent observations, JRD, way more detailed that I've considered!  :-X

[mandru]

Just briefly saying while trying to not spill too much as you've requested JRD, when Desmond (through Ezio as the conduit) observes Minerva's message at the end of AC2 there is reference made to a couple of Minerva's first civilization peers and I'm pretty sure Juno was one of them.

I don't believe Minerva was the first civilization personality attempting to force Desmond's actions when Lucy was killed in AC:B.  I think that it was Juno who from mythology was known as the Protector Goddess.  She had very warlike tendencies and was the mother of Mars the God of War.  One of the lines delivered during that scene in AC:B was something like "The cross casts a shadow on the horizon" which I believe was a statement that Lucy was double dealing the modern day assassins as a Templar spy.  The cross referred to is the Templar symbol.

In AC:B Juno would be acting as the first civilization's security enforcement officer for mission "save the future" and poor Desmond not being pure FC DNA resists with everything he's got causing Juno to scold him saying "You have no choice in this matter.  Stop resisting!"  The final stroke for Lucy came from a "Press any Key" prompt.

Not something Juno could force Desmond to do.   ;)



There are probably many other FC artifacts scattered around the world of varying degrees of importance.  We know that Rodrigo Borgia had a staff that would combine with the apple increasing their power.  The Masayaf keys in AC:R that Ezio has to collect are obscenely high tech post-it notes encoded by Atair through the apple he possessed with messages that are directly drawing from the same processes to be found in the modern day Templar and Assassin Animus systems only in a really compact format.

Mythology and folklore is filled with objects that have empowered their possessors to feats far beyond normal mortal abilities. 

Though Ezio and Atair have had their run in the AC series I'm sure there will be more games to come in the AC series with each new release to expose more of these FC artifacts.  Precious Items of danger and wonder.   :-X

[PZ]

Also excellent observations, mandru.  :-X

All I can say is that I'm looking forward to the subsequent AC games, and hope that they do not lose their ambiance.  I really loved 15th century Italy, and 16th century Istanbul to some degree (but less).

[JRD]

As I dig into the whole back story my mind gets filled with questions. Sometimes I have trouble seeing the big picture here and get too concerned about details.

For instance: we keep talking about Templars but they only appeared in history in the beginning of the Crusades in the 11th  century. But the Apple of Eden and all other Artifacts as well as their crafters, the First Civilization, dates way back in time, maybe in the beginning of Human history! So:
1) What are those artifacts and why were they crafted? (your theory of a slave race would fit in here)
2) Who had the AoE before the Templars? it is said in past records of the game story that it was used to disseminate a lie.

Altair discovers just what the artefact, the Third Piece of Eden, is capable of. It can make people believe anything, and was responsible for many Biblical illusions such as the parting of the Red Sea (in 'reality' it did not happen - the artefact simply made people think that it did).

but on the other hand

Maybe the Piece of Eden has been used not to support a lie about Christ, but to cover up the very truth of the matter.

3)How did the Templars get the AoE and when?
4) In AC1 we see that Al Mualim had the AoE... how did he get it?

Man... talk about loose ends!  :-\\

I feel like I'm watching LOST all over again!  I was like: WTF ????

[mandru]

Interesting questions JRD.  ????  I like that they guide me to look at parts of the storyline from a different point of view other than my own.   :-X

I haven't played AC1 and I've not pounded Youtube for some of the missing bits and pieces the way I have for AC:B so I'm having to make some some intuitive leaps as I try to understand things (which I will identify as blind guesses when I make them  ;D ) but mostly I will try to w@&k from what I've been able to put together from the information I've been able to verify as provided in the games.

1. The artifacts from the First Civilization (FC) being created by an extremely advanced society were intelligently designed to an ideal standard that the most economical tool is one that is self powering and never wears out.  The easy answer to "What are they?" would be to say "They're magic.   >:D "  because we don't have a level of scientific expertise to begin to figure out how or why they w@&k but even Leonardo in AC2 avoided that easy out recognizing the PoE as very old but advanced technology.

I think some artifacts are discovered items found as the FC ruins have been exposed through erosion and carried as talisman through history and eventually collected by the two factions that eventually became Templar/Assassin but the more potent items that the game centers around were specifically placed by the FC (as marked on the map Ezio assembles in AC:2) and are targeted towards being in the hands of those leading the effort in our time to save the world from the upcoming 12/21/2012 crisis.

2. I'm still unclear enough to provide good answers or venture a reliable theory here so I'll fill in some of what I have been able to dig out of the clues.   :-(

Templar or Assassin are simply the names that were used to identify the two groups for us in the storyline but they are not titles of authority and opposition applied to them by the FC.  The glyphs in AC2 had a theme that occurred a number of times where a historical figure had the favor of (the) God(s) or supernatural power from God(s) (usually because of the possession of an FC artifact) and a usurper would kill them or steal the object of authority to gain that favor or power. 

3. Continuing from 2. The FC artifacts probably changed hands again and again over a period of time (personal observation here) that may go back over 200,000 years as there no geological records (or from the study of the human genome) of the type of die off from natural catastrophes as the one that critically destroyed the FC.  Interestingly the human genome and study of mitochondria (while in every cell, mitochondria are only contributed from the mother and allow detailed mapping of who is related to whom as well as how long ago) shows that there was a huge die off restricting the total population of humans to scattered groups totaling a number smaller than 10,000 individuals at one time.

You'd be amazed to find out how much of our DNA is the left over waste by products of viruses that failed to kill us.   :-D

4.  :knockout


I hope that gives you something to kick around and give some feedback with.  Maybe between all of us we'll figure out more of these intriguing details.   :-X

[JRD]

I keep alternating between the big picture and details so I may a bit confusing in my ideas, anyway, the discussion is great!  8)

1. The artifacts from the First Civilization (FC) being created by an extremely advanced society were intelligently designed to an ideal standard that the most economical tool is one that is self powering and never wears out.  The easy answer to "What are they?" would be to say "They're magic.   >:D "  because we don't have a level of scientific expertise to begin to figure out how or why they w@&k but even Leonardo in AC2 avoided that easy out recognizing the PoE as very old but advanced technology.

I think some artifacts are discovered items found as the FC ruins have been exposed through erosion and carried as talisman through history and eventually collected by the two factions that eventually became Templar/Assassin but the more potent items that the game centers around were specifically placed by the FC (as marked on the map Ezio assembles in AC:2) and are targeted towards being in the hands of those leading the effort in our time to save the world from the upcoming 12/21/2012 crisis.

So it would be fair to say that once upon a time, when Men were still starting to evolve, there were a very advanced civilization who created the artifacts - Apple of Eden, Piece(s) of Eden, Holy Graal (as it became known long after) - for purposes beyond our comprehension. To see the people of that First Civilization as gods would be very easy as we tend to believe in supernatural explanation when we simply don't understand something.

That civilization was somehow exterminated from the face of the Earth. The loss (or theft?) of one artifactct (AoE) could be related to that (see below how it goes against your ideas). Even wipped out from the Earth they kept means of communicating with people (humans or hybrids) bearing their DNA (remember that Minerva, or Juno, speaks to Desmond through Ezio in the end of AC2). The idea would be to prevent the AoE from falling in wrong hands creating another massive extermination of life on Earth. In that sense Assassins would be guarding the AoE.

Now another question... in The Truth video we see Adam and Eve stealing the AoE from a place that is a very advanced, high tech facility... somewehre in the FC domains proably. Now why would the FC help protecting the very race that stole the AoE from them, hence creating the events that could've led to their (FC) extermination?  ????

Of course, I see your ideas point to another direction here.

The FC artifacts probably changed hands again and again over a period of time (personal observation here) that may go back over 200,000 years as there no geological records (or from the study of the human genome) of the type of die off from natural catastrophes as the one that critically destroyed the FC.

A few major points here:
- Did Adam and Eve stole the AoE from the FC? Why?
- Did the theft of the AoE led somehow to the extermination of the FC?
- If not, then what happened to the FC? They seem to be helping the Assassins to prevent another catastrophe which is somehow tied to the AoE!


As to another point raised previously:

2. Templar or Assassin are simply the names that were used to identify the two groups for us in the storyline but they are not titles of authority and opposition applied to them by the FC.  The glyphs in AC2 had a theme that occurred a number of times where a historical figure had the favor of (the) God(s) or supernatural power from God(s) (usually because of the possession of an FC artifact) and a usurper would kill them or steal the object of authority to gain that favor or power. 

Agreed... Whoever is guarding the AoE became known as the Assassins Brotherhood and whoever is trying to use it against mankind became known as Templars at the time of the 3rd crusade. They could've been known by any other designation before the crusades!  :-X

4.  :knockout

If the Assassins are guardins of the AoE, then it would be in their possession at a given time. Anyone holding the AoE would be tempted to control mankind, even a master assassin as Al Mualim... that sounds pretty Lord of the Rings, doesn't it?  ::)

Well... I'll keep cooking my brains out and spraying my ideas around here, mandru... nice to have this conversation with you. Makes me enjoy even more the game as I play through it!  :-X

[fragger]

I haven't played any of these games as yet, but there's one thing I'm sure of from following this thread (I know, I said earlier that spoiler fear would compel me not to, but curiosity is certainly going to kill this particular cat one of these days :-()): Whoever created this series was more than a little clued in regarding certain mysteries of ancient history and ideas about pre-civilization civilizations. These things are right up my alley.

Tell me - is there any mention of the Freemasons in these games? If not, there ought to be...

That does it. I'm going into town tomorrow and see if I can't snaffle a copy of AC2 from one of the local gaming shops. I have to start getting in on this action 8)

[JRD]

That does it. I'm going into town tomorrow and see if I can't snaffle a copy of AC2 from one of the local gaming shops. I have to start getting in on this action 8)

Dooooo it.  :-X


@mandru. I finished ACR last night and some of my questions were answered.

Spoiler

So a natural catastrophe exterminated the FC but I still don't get what the theft of the AoE fit into all this.  ????

[mandru]

I haven't seen an open mention of the Freemasons fragger but there have been a lot of cultural symbols and icons that have appeared throughout so it is possible that they may be in the mix.


JRD as I was typing this up I noticed that you slipped in under me to respond to fragger.  I also see that you've completed AC:R so I feel a lot more comfortable posting some of this as I had to do a lot of tap dancing around to avoid dropping too big of spoilers for the point you were at in the game.  But still to protect some of this info I'll put this here:

Spoiler

I don't think that the theft of the PoE caused the destruction of the FC rather it allowed some of the humans to escape control from the FC and make their own way into the world.  From bits and pieces (vague hints here and there) Adam and Eve were assisted in their actions by some members of the FC society as if they (the FC sympathizers on behalf of the humans) were having questions of conscience of the FC's treatment towards slaves.  I believe (lot's of my impressions from what's been given in clues) at this point there were many humans that already had FC DNA in their blood lines in spite of the original creator's intentions.

The position (the mindset) of the group that Minerva was allied to may have been something like "Yes, humans were created to serve us but at what point in our repeated raising (a step by step notching up the level of) their intelligence and their self awareness to make them more efficient servants did we cross the line and they stopped being tools but become thinking feeling creatures deserving of their dignity and rights.

The humans were a tool created to serve the FC but they became a wedge that split the FC population polarizing them into what must have been two opposed groups and probably many FC bystanders who were busy with just trying to live their lives in the new climate they found themselves.  Centuries of infighting between the two factions FC against FC, human against human kept the attention of the FC scientists on the ground instead of looking outwards to see the coming event that would cause the sun to enter a period of hyper activity emitting solar flares that eventually left only a remnant of the once enormous populations of FC and human.

FC scientists on both sides sought a way to protect the world and they came close but but their measures fell too short and too late.

This is where the FC civilization fell.  Even after all this the wars to reclaim all of the slaves continued probably even more frantically as the FC faction favoring slavery of humans would be inclined to take the position that their survival as a species demanded it and that necessity over rode any rights the created humans could have.  Who knows, if the side favoring slavery had agreed to recognize human rights maybe the FC could have been saved but all that passed on from them (still strongly present and voiced in the Templar point of view even at the point of death as Ezio provided last respects) was the slaver's beliefs that humans were lowly, base, worthless and in need of a firm hand to control them to give them any justification of existence.

The FC took the hit the hardest.  Dependency on their technology, on the luxury they had become accustomed to of having doting slaves and on requirements of a narrow margin of necessary environmental conditions to sustain their lives the humans proved to be far hardier.  There were FC individuals that lived on among the humans but their ability to maintain population fell below a critical level and they began a slow spiral towards extinction.  It is fortunate for the assassins of Desmond's time that there were a few forward looking FC pro-human sympathizers who took the position that "You are us.  We pass this birthright to you that we may continue through you."

It is also fortunate that the FC slavers thought so little of their slaves that they left none of the messages in a bottle for their followers that were provided for the Assassins.   ;)

[PZ]

Glad to see that you're going to join the mix, fragger; I don't think you'll be disappointed.  :-X

Very interesting read, mandru - have you guys done all of the glyph puzzles to divulge the entire "clue" movie?

[mandru]

Thanks PZ, I have finished all the glyphs in AC2 to unlock the "Truth" movie which in addition to arranging all of the clips into proper order also adds a sound track which is mostly music and sound effects.   :-D