#antonio de magianis

[rk1kincorrect]

ezio, altaïr’s biggest fanboy: yeah the isu died but honestly altaïr’s been through so much more. the hardships he's faced aren't even comparable to dying to the toba catastrophe. until the isu have done what altaïr has done, i don't feel sympathy.

antonio:

antonio: i asked if u wanted coffee.

[teatitty]

EzioLeo but it’s all Antonio’s POV so you get to actually see an outside perspective into how utterly insane these two are when they plan shit together and enable eachother’s terrible, wonderful ideas

[prometheanvisions]

So I ask you Ezio, who are the true nobles of Venezia? Men like Carlo Grimaldi and Marco Barbarigo? No! I say WE are ; the thieves, mercenari and whores.

Antonio de Magianis (AC: 2)

[wardisahi]

You guys do know latte means milk in Italian, right?

ac2 ➳ ezio invents the latte

[historybehindassassinscreed]

In Game:

Christoffa Corombo (Italian: Cristoforo Colombo), better known by the anglicized Christopher Columbus, was an Italian navigator, colonizer, and explorer who worked with the nation of Spain. His voyages across the Atlantic Ocean exposed the existence of the Americas to the Europeans and planted the very first seeds of the Spanish Empire, though his original intention was to find a western route to India and China.

It was in 1491 that he was first contacted by a Rodrigo Borgia, Grand Master of the Templar Order, who he knew only as "the Spaniard". The Spaniard offered a long-term business partnership with Christoffa, whereby he would sponsor his voyage. Luis, secretly an Assassin, suspected that the meeting was a trap, but the desperate Christoffa refused to heed his warnings.

Faced with little choice, Luis accompanied Christoffa to Venice, where Christoffa was to meet with his sponsor for the very first time. While Christoffa hurried to the meeting, Luis left for the local Thieves Guild to request its Assassin leader Antonio de Magianis for help in protecting his friend. Luis's intuition proved correct: the meeting was indeed a set-up, and the Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze assigned by Antonio to oversee the meeting arrived just in time to save Christoffa from murder; the Spaniard himself never showed.

Once his safety had been secured, Christoffa and Luis attempted to return to their lodgings, only to find that it had been raided by Borgia soldiers. Though their hostel's occupation would have been of little consequence to them, Christoffa's prized atlas was still inside. Its loss would not only jeopardize Christoffa's goal, but as it exposed the existence of the Americas, Luis feared the ramifications should it fall into the hands of the Templars. Without the means to fight the Borgia forces, they awaited Ezio at the Garden District, having asked him to meet them there should the meeting have gone askew. Ezio, unaware that Luis was an Assassin and not wishing to act as a mercenary-for-hire, was ever as reluctant when Christoffa and Luis asked Ezio to help them retrieve the atlas. Even so, he acquiesced due to the mission's possible connection with his archenemy, Rodrigo Borgia.

While the Assassin left to sneak into the hostel, Christoffa and Luis prepared for their departure at the Venetian harbor. As expected, Ezio returned with the atlas after escaping a pursuit by Borgia soldiers through the catacombs and streets of Venice. Although some parts of the atlas were indeed lost in the attack, they were able to retain the most significant maps—those drawn by the famed Turkish cartographer Piri Reis. While Christoffa momentarily left to check on the ships, Ezio advised Luis that he and Christoffa should bring their own protection the next time they come to Italy, to which Luis explained that their failure to do so owed to the Assassins of Spain being wiped out by the Spanish Inquisition, a remark that would prompt Ezio to venture to Aragon to save these Assassin on his own initiative. It was then that Christoffa returned to notify Luis that their ship was waiting on them to depart, and the two set sail back to Spain.

In Spain, Christoffa resumed his protracted negotiations with Castile in the hope that they would at some point finally concede to his requests for funds. Nevertheless, the prospect of such a sponsorship was kept perpetually on hold while Castile remained embroiled in their war against the Emirate of Granada, the last Moorish state in Iberia. With their treasury tied up in such a conflict, there was little cause for Queen Isabella to invest in a risky expedition.

Unbeknownst to Christoffa, this setback was orchestrated by the Templars themselves, who had one of their spies routinely provide false counsel to Emir Muhammad XII of Granada to dissuade him from surrender. By deliberately prolonging the war, they hoped to exhaust Castile's treasury and delay Christoffa's voyage, having failed to kill him, providing them with an opportunity to journey to the Americas and dominate the continent before its existence became common European knowledge.

Thanks to the intervention of Ezio, however, the Templar plot was ended, with the Assassin freeing Muhammad XII from Templar captivity after they took him hostage in retaliation for their spy's assassination and convincing the emir to at last abdicate the throne. Christoffa was present in Granada itself as it fell to the Spanish forces, meeting with Ezio, Luis, and their friend Raphael Sánchez just as Spanish soldiers entered the city. Despite how little time had passed since the surrender of the city, Christoffa immediately set out to urge Queen Isabella to lend him the funds for his voyage.

As soon as Luis had been informed by Queen Isabella of Christoffa's departure, he instantly deduced that the supposed offer by Louis XII was a trap and anxiously sent Ezio to save Christoffa's life yet again. To persuade him to return to him, he told Ezio to preemptively tell Christoffa that Queen Isabella had changed her mind, intending to fund half the expedition out of his pocket for his sake. Ezio intercepted Christoffa just moments before he was ambushed by a Templar guard captain, who Ezio slew after a brief fight. While Christoffa was skeptical of Ezio's claim that Louis XII had never actually offered his sponsorship, Ezio assured him that this was a moot point given that Queen Isabella was now open to his proposal. With that, Christoffa returned with Ezio to meet with Queen Isabella, just as she reached an agreement with Luis to sponsor Christoffa's voyage at last—but only because Luis promised to cover half the expenses.

That same year, the Assassin Aguilar de Nerha entrusted Christoffa with an Apple of Eden, tasking him to keep it safe after having wrestled it from Tomás de Torquemada when Grand Inquisitor sought to take it from Muhammad XII.

Christoffa kept the artifact until his death, and he was eventually buried with it at the Seville Cathedral. There, it would remain until the Templars, learning of its location from viewing the genetic memories of Aguilar through the Animus, took it from his tomb in 2016.

In Real Life:

Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, part of present-day Italy, in 1451. His parents’ names were Dominico Colombo and Susanna Fontanarossa. He had three brothers: Bartholomew, Giovanni, and Giacomo; and a sister named Bianchinetta. Christopher became an apprentice in his father’s wool weaving business, but he also studied mapmaking and sailing as well. 

His career as a seaman began effectively in the Portuguese merchant marine. After surviving a shipwreck off Cape Saint Vincent at the southwestern point of Portugal in 1476, he based himself in Lisbon, together with his brother Bartholomew. Both were employed as chart makers, but Columbus was principally a seagoing entrepreneur. In 1477 he sailed to Iceland and Ireland with the merchant marine, and in 1478 he was buying sugar in Madeira as an agent for the Genoese firm of Centurioni.

In 1479 he met and married Felipa Perestrello e Moniz, a member of an impoverished noble Portuguese family. Their son, Diego, was born in 1480. Between 1482 and 1485 Columbus traded along the Guinea and Gold coasts of tropical West Africa and made at least one voyage to the Portuguese fortress of São Jorge da Mina (now Elmina, Ghana) there, gaining knowledge of Portuguese navigation and the Atlantic wind systems along the way. Felipa died in 1485, and Columbus took as his mistress Beatriz Enríquez de Harana of Córdoba, by whom he had his second son, Ferdinand.

In 1484 Columbus began seeking support for an Atlantic crossing from King John II of Portugal but was denied aid. (Some conspiracy theorists have alleged that Columbus made a secret pact with the monarch, but there is no evidence of this.) By 1486 Columbus was firmly in Spain, asking for patronage from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. After at least two rejections, he at last obtained royal support in January 1492. This was achieved chiefly through the interventions of the Spanish treasurer, Luis de Santángel, and of the Franciscan friars of La Rábida, near Huelva, with whom Columbus had stayed in the summer of 1491. Juan Pérez of La Rábida had been one of the queen’s confessors and perhaps procured him the crucial audience.

(Image source)

Christian missionary and anti-Islamic fervour, the power of Castile and Aragon, the fear of Portugal, the lust for gold, the desire for adventure, the hope of conquests, and Europe’s genuine need for a reliable supply of herbs and spices for cooking, preserving, and medicine all combined to produce an explosion of energy that launched the first voyage. Columbus had been present at the siege of Granada, which was the last Moorish stronghold to fall to Spain (January 2, 1492), and he was, in fact, riding back from Granada to La Rábida when he was recalled to the Spanish court and the vital royal audience. Granada’s fall had produced euphoria among Spanish Christians and encouraged designs of ultimate triumph over the Islamic world, albeit chiefly, perhaps, by the back way round the globe. A direct assault eastward could prove difficult, because the Ottoman Empire and other Islamic states in the region had been gaining strength at a pace that was threatening the Christian monarchies themselves. The Islamic powers had effectively closed the land routes to the East and made the sea route south from the Red Sea extremely hard to access. 

Thus a great number of interests were involved in this adventure, which was, in essence, the attempt to find a route to the rich land of Cathay (China), to India, and to the fabled gold and spice islands of the East by sailing westward over what was presumed to be open sea. Columbus himself clearly hoped to rise from his humble beginnings in this way, to accumulate riches for his family, and to join the ranks of the nobility of Spain. In a similar manner, but at a more exalted level, the Catholic Monarchs hoped that such an enterprise would gain them greater status among the monarchies of Europe, especially against their main rival, Portugal. Then, in alliance with the papacy (in this case, with the Borgia pope Alexander VI), they might hope to take the lead in the Christian war against the infidel.

(Image source)

The ships for the first voyage—the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María—were fitted out at Palos, on the Tinto River in Spain. Consortia put together by a royal treasury official and composed mainly of Genoese and Florentine bankers in Sevilla (Seville) provided at least 1,140,000 maravedis to outfit the expedition, and Columbus supplied more than a third of the sum contributed by the king and queen. Queen Isabella did not, then, have to pawn her jewels (a myth first put about by Bartolomé de Las Casas in the 16th century).

The little fleet left on August 3rd, 1492. The admiral’s navigational genius showed itself immediately, for they sailed southward to the Canary Islands, off the northwest African mainland, rather than sailing due west to the islands of the Azores. The westerlies prevailing in the Azores had defeated previous attempts to sail to the west, but in the Canaries the three ships could pick up the northeast trade winds; supposedly, they could trust to the westerlies for their return. After nearly a month in the Canaries the ships set out from San Sebastián de la Gomera on September 6th.

Adverse winds carried the fleet to an island called Ayti (Haiti) by its Taino inhabitants; on December 6th Columbus renamed it La Isla Española, or Hispaniola. He seems to have thought that Hispaniola might be Cipango or, if not Cipango, then perhaps one of the legendarily rich isles from which King Solomon’s triennial fleet brought back gold, gems, and spices to Jerusalem (1 Kings 10:11, 22); alternatively, he reasoned that the island could be related to the biblical kingdom of Sheba (Sabaʾ). There Columbus took at least enough gold and prosperity from the natives to save him from ridicule on his return to Spain.

On January 16th, 1493, Columbus left with his remaining two ships for Spain. The journey back was a nightmare. The westerlies did indeed direct them homeward, but in mid-February, a terrible storm engulfed the fleet. The Niña was driven to seek harbor at Santa Maria in the Azores, where Columbus led a pilgrimage of thanksgiving to the shrine of the Virgin; however, hostile Portuguese authorities temporarily imprisoned the group. After securing their freedom Columbus sailed on, stormbound, and the damaged ship limped to port in Lisbon. There he was obliged to interview with King John II. These events left Columbus under the suspicion of collaborating with Spain’s enemies and cast a shadow on his return to Palos on March 15.

On this first voyage, many tensions built up that was to remain through all of Columbus’s succeeding efforts. First and perhaps most damaging of all, the admiral’s apparently high religious and even mystical aspirations were incompatible with the realities of trading, competition, and colonization. Columbus never openly acknowledged this gulf and so was quite incapable of bridging it.

The gold, parrots, spices, and human captives Columbus displayed for his sovereigns at Barcelona convinced all of the need for a rapid second voyage. Columbus was now at the height of his popularity, and he led at least 17 ships out from Cádiz on September 25th, 1493. Colonization and Christian evangelization were openly included this time in the plans, and a group of friars shipped with him. The presence of some 1,300 salaried men with perhaps 200 private investors and a small troop of cavalry are a testimony to the anticipations for the expedition. 

By the time he died on May 20th, 1479, he had had a total of four voyages across the Atlantic. Columbus had reached Spain in November 1504 after his final voyage. He was not in good health. He spent much of the last of his life writing letters to obtain the percentage of wealth overdue to be paid to him, and trying to re-attain his governorship status, but was continually denied both. He died firmly believing that he had traveled to the eastern part of Asia.

Sources:

http://www.history.com/topics/exploration/christopher-columbus

https://www.biography.com/people/christopher-columbus-9254209

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christopher-Columbus/The-fourth-voyage-and-final-years

http://exploration.marinersmuseum.org/subject/christopher-columbus/

[bravelives-archive]

assassin’s  creed  muses  tags.   part  ii. 

[assassinscreedconfessions]

I think Diego Luna would make a great Antonio if AC2 were adapted into a film.

[madeinmasyaf]

We have much to discuss. || An Unpleasant Turn of Events

[iarinthel]

The Eagle and Lightning

Main Scenario

013.5

Chapter 9

Antonio recruits Tifa

Tifa deals with a full on street brawl with aplomb and impresses Antonio and Rosa.

Rosa has seen a lot of things when she's joined Antonio's little band of thieves in Venezia, many of which other people would never have believed possible, some of which she's not too sure should have been able to happen in the first place, but this is the first time she's seen a woman who's able to take down a group of guards with nothing but her bare fists. It's rather entertaining to watch, if she's perfectly honest with herself. She always knew that the guards were useless weaklings, but this defies everything she's ever thought that the guards weren't capable of.

In fact, by the looks of it some of the guards are holding their sides, coughing out blood, some of them look like the bones of their arms have pierced through their skin, while others are lying out cold on a wall with a large impact crater on it with a human shaped impression on it. The few guards still standing looked like they were about to run away or had pissed their tights in fear, holding their weapons in shaking hands with overwhelmed and fearful expressions on their faces. The brave ones who are standing their ground and fighting the woman were all too slow and all ended up with large bruises on their skin, while those few who wore full body armor had noticeable dents on them. The brave ones were also more likely to be used as a makeshift club by the woman for her to beat the other guards with, and while she never liked the louts she can't help but find it hilarious seeing a grown man being thrown around like a rag doll by a woman who seems to be rather slim and small in comparison to the human weapon she wields.

The woman has a rather intimidating look on her face, a look of deep concentration and intense determination to survive, one that spoke volumes about how much experience she must already have fighting in a battlefield, or possibly even in a war. It scared Rosa more than if she had a bloodthirsty smile on her face, because it means that although she's perfectly capable of killing people she finds no pleasure in it, and so means that she's only managed to become so strong through countless trials and tribulations, not because she enjoys it. It also means that she can become even stronger, and for all Rosa knows, she might even be holding back in this fight…

The most astounding part in all of this is that the woman herself doesn't even look like she's broken a sweat nor did she looked like she had gotten any kind of wound from the fight!

"Hmph. What a puttana. She's showing so much skin! Even Teodora and her girls cover more skin than she does!" "I personally rather like her choice in clothes. It's very…alluring." "You would, Antonio pervertito." "Argh!"

It was also the first time she's ever had to duck under a fully armored guard thrown over her head by a woman who looks like she's almost a head shorter than the man. Antonio, the bastardo, only needed to just tilt his head to the side to avoid the man-turned-flying-projectile with a small smirk on his face.

"Do you think we should help her?" "What for? She's certainly not in any danger of getting defeated." "Well yes, that's true, but if we don't interfere that archer up at that rooftop might kill her." "Merda!"

Rosa followed Antonio's outstretched hand to the stray archer who was staring down at the fight while bringing out an arrow from his quiver. Before the archer could even notch his arrow though the woman turned to him, pinpointing his position with scary accuracy, before she did something completely staggering by throwing a brute guard she's fighting with at the archer from 15 meters down on the ground! Rosa can hear Antonio's whistle of appreciation as they watched the archer fall on the roof shingles underneath the militiaman that was thrown at him, taking careful note that the woman has used this as a distraction to nimbly and quickly take down two more of the guards surrounding her while bringing down another as they watched.

"It seems we don't need to assist her after all." "It also seems like she's finished fighting."

As they watched the woman knock out another guard by literally crushing his skull like an overripe grape, helmet and all, the rest of the militia screamed like little girls before running away as fast as their skinny little legs can carry them; dropping their weapons and making themselves look like complete fools in the process. When she was sure all of the guards had been taken care of the woman gave a sigh of relief before she turned to stare straight into their eyes and speaking to them.

"I know you're there. Why don't you show yourself before I drag you out here?" "Looks like we've been caught Rosa."

Antonio came out of the shadows to introduce himself to the woman. Rosa could only shake her head in exasperation before following right behind him. Antonio can be called many things, but cowardly certainly isn't one of them. Still, a little caution wouldn't be remiss, especially against someone like her… The man had just seen with his own two eyes this woman beat men up more than twice her size with nothing but her bare fists and he's now walking up to her as though they were close friends. One of these days Antonio will walk into his death because of all the risks he takes, Rosa thinks while following right behind him in his shadow while keeping a distrusting eye on the newcomer, who she's still wary of.

"You have impressive fighting skills. Tell me, who trained you?" "…I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to." "Oh? And why is that?" "I don't remember much other than my name." "…That's tragic."

Antonio looked away; feeling a little awkward about what he had just brought up, Tifa just stared at them, though her eyes were suspiciously damp while Rosa just tsked at the sideline at Antonio's lack of manners. It was times like this that Rosa always wonders how Antonio managed to live for so long and be a leader for a thieves' guild when he can be such a tactless fool. Finally Antonio gathered up his courage again and spoke once more.

"Ah, where are my manners. My name is Antonio de Magianis and this fine woman with me is Rosa." "Just Rosa is fine, thanks." "Nice to meet you, I'm Tifa Lockhart." "You have a strange name." "Indeed. Are you a foreigner?" "…You could say that." "Well, foreigner or not we could certainly use your skills. Would you be so kind as to come with us?" "To where?" "To our guild, that is, if you want." "Sure, I'd be glad to, but only if you have some food or drink for me there. I'm famished from all the fighting." "Of course!" "Excuse us a minute, would you Tifa? I need to speak with Antonio for a moment." "All right."

Rosa dragged Antonio off a few meters away from Tifa, who watched on with a bemused look on her face as she noted Rosa's irritated facial expression and Antonio's long suffering sigh. Once Rosa was sure they were far away enough from earshot she let out exactly what she thinks of Antonio's proposition.

"What is wrong with you? Pazzo bastardo!" "Why? What did I do?" "Why are you inviting this puttana to our guild?! She could bring down the buildings on our heads!" "Yes, but that same strength could be an asset to our guild if we can get her to agree to be one of us." "Why on earth would she want to be a thief? She could just beat someone bloody for their florins! She'd be better off becoming one of the guards to some unscrupulous merchant who would pay her for her services." "If a merchant were to pay her for any type of service, I doubt it would be to become their bodyguard." "And that's another thing! Why should she be a part of our guild when she'd fit in so much better with Teodora's girls anyway? She certainly already looks the part!" "Someone with her strength will most likely intimidate any customers she'd manage to get, and I'm quite sure that Teodora doesn't want one of her girls to kill her clients unless she specifically orders them to. If she became one of ours however she can take out the guards while the others go out and steal from the nobles.” “Are you certain about this decision Antonio? This will most likely bring up a lot of objections from the others in the guild. Some of them may choose to leave the guild for this, you know that.” “I do know, thank you for your concern Rosa…”

“You know if you didn’t trust me you can just tell me so instead of whispering behind my back.”

“Gah!”

Rosa quite literally jumped when she heard Tifa’s voice behind her, scared completely out of her wits by the surprise. Antonio was just as shocked, if his wide eyes and opened mouth was any indication though his eyes were strangely rather amused as well. Tifa herself looked she wanted to laugh at Rosa’s reaction but decided it would be rude to laugh at her face so just gave the two of them a rather large grin instead.

“What…How did you get up here? We’re on the rooftops and had left you down on the street!”

Tifa silently pointed to the side of the wall with the rather large grin widening ever so slightly, where a ladder was conveniently situated only a few feet away from where Rosa and Antonio were speaking. It was obvious that Tifa found all of this extremely entertaining, and the smile on her face made her look all the more attractive. Rosa looked crossed that she hadn’t considered that when looking to get away from the stranger. Antonio however was very much amused though wisely said nothing about it. He instead decided to just enjoy watching Tifa’s face light up with her charming smile…and how beautiful her legs looks when she cocks her hips to the side like that…

“So, does this mean you don’t want me in your group?”

“No! I mean, don’t worry about Rosa, she’s just worried about how the rest of the guild will react when they learn of you. My offer still stands, Lady –“ “You can just call me Tifa.” “I apologize, Tifa. I would still be honored to have you join our guild, that is, if you wish to.” “All right, sure I’ll join.” “That’s good to hear. Now come, I believe I was going to show you the way to the guild?” “Lead on Antonio.” “Well then Rosa, are you not coming as well?”

Rosa could only sigh in defeat before nodding as she followed behind Antonio and Tifa as he led her to their guild in the San Polo district. She still has many misgivings about this Lockhart girl but if Antonio believes that she will be an asset to the guild who is she to question the guild master’s decisions?

[goldenmask]

[asscreedtranscribed]

Skype recon

[historybehindassassinscreed]

In Game:

The Flying Machine was a glider-like vehicle designed and built by Leonardo da Vinci. It was first tested by the Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze in Venice in 1485.

The first time Ezio caught a glimpse of the Flying Machine was when he went to help Leonardo fix the wheel of his carriage in the Apennine Mountains. After Ezio asked him what it was, Leonardo replied that it was just an idea, one that might be able to make a man fly. Ezio simply dismissed the thought with a laugh, and the two climbed into the wagon and set off.

Sometime after arriving in Venice, Ezio and Antonio de Magianis attempted to find a way into the Palazzo Ducale, so as to save Doge Giovanni Mocenigo from assassination by the Templar Carlo Grimaldi. Upon stating with frustration that only birds could enter the heavily-guarded palazzo, Ezio remembered Leonardo's invention, and promptly left for his friend's workshop.

Initially, Leonardo thought that he would not be able to find someone crazy enough to test his machine, as it required them to jump off a tower; however, Ezio readily volunteered. The machine only allowed the Assassin to fly for a couple of seconds, but Leonardo was pleased that it could fly at all. After checking the design to see if the duration of the flight could be extended, Leonardo gave up and cursed the machine, throwing the plans for it into his fireplace.

This, however, only inspired Leonardo, as he saw the paper levitating above the fire, buoyed by the hot air. With this, he suspected that the Flying Machine could work in the same manner. As a result, Antonio de Magianis instructed his thieves to set up fires across the city, allowing Ezio to fly over them and successfully make his way to the palazzo.

Later on, when Leonardo was forced into becoming an engineer for the Borgia, he significantly improved the design of the Flying Machine, alongside three other war machines. The new Flying Machine, called the Bomber, could then be used more aggressively, rather than just for travel. The fire cannon it bore also allowed it to travel over greater distances, without pre-set fires on the ground.

When the woodworker Lance O'Donnell received plans from France for a folding chair, he was also given plans for Leonardo's Flying Machine. In his excitement, Lance built the device and Ratonhnhaké:ton chose to test it.

However, they were unaware of the heat required to provide elevation for the machine, and it promptly crashed into the bay of Davenport Homestead during the flight attempt.

In Real Life:

Leonardo da Vinci’s flying machine (also known as the "ornithopter") was one of his most famous inventions. He produced more than 35,000 words and 500 sketches dealing with flying machines, the nature of air, and bird flight.  These investigations of flight are scattered throughout the many da Vinci codices and manuscript collections, but he did produce one short codex almost entirely on the subject in 1505-1506, the Codice sul volo degli uccelli (Codex on the Flight of Birds).

In less than 20 pages of notes and drawings, the Codex on the Flight of Birds outlines a number of observations and beginning concepts that would find a place in the development of a successful airplane in the early twentieth century.  Leonardo never abandoned his preoccupation with flapping wing designs, and did not develop the insights he recorded in the Codex on the Flight of Birds in any practical way.

The flying machine itself had a wingspan that exceeded 33 feet, and the frame was to be made of pine covered in raw silk to create a light but sturdy membrane, not unlike that of a bat.

Leonardo’s interest in flight appears to have stemmed from his extensive work on military technology which he performed in the employ of the Milanese court.  He filled many notebooks with countless sketches of weapons, military machines, and fortifications.  They included a giant crossbow, a tank, and a submarine, to name just a few.  However, as far as it is known, none of these inventions were ever built.  Leonardo’s focus on military technology and tactics lead him to the idea of aerial reconnaissance.  He became obsessed with the idea of allowing someone to fly. 

(Image source)

The pilot would lie face down in the center of the invention on a board. To power the wings, the pilot would pedal a crank connected to a rod-and-pulley system. The machine also had a hand crank for increased energy output, and a head piece for steering. As the busy pilot spins cranks with his hands and feet, the wings of the machine flap. The inspiration of nature in the invention is apparent in the way the wings were designed to twist as they flapped.

In theory, although it is unknown if Leonardo was actually able to convince someone to actually jump off of a building to test this flying machine, it may have been able to be flown once it was in the air, a person could never have created enough power to get the device off the ground. Despite this, Leonardo’s flying machine has been depicted in flight in several different pop culture outlets, such as Futurama.

Sources:

http://www.flyingmachines.org/davi.html

http://www.da-vinci-inventions.com/flying-machine.aspx

https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/leonardo-da-vinci-and-flight

[adhdavinci]

my fav part of ac2

[discardedjedirobe]

You know what I've never ever seen before?

Antonio/Ezio/Rosa threesome.

Hell, Antonio/Ezio is rare enough.

WILL ANYONE SHIP THIS WITH ME?

PLEASE CONTACT ME