#like black flag to syndicate

[teecupangel]

Hello. I wanted to ask for some thing soft and heart warming for assassins. These guys rarely get enough kindness. The life of an assassin is just too dark and full of violence for a human. They can hardly trust, hardly love, hardly enjoy the moment and worse ot all "They didn't even choose to live like that." They were just humans wanted to live but turned into killing machines is just... not fair. These guys(Altair, Ezio, Desmond) really need some one to take care of them after hard missions, heal their wounds, hear their words and help them get through all rough things ahead of them.

If you don't mind it would be perfect if you use the wild assassins that were some times behaving like animals. Use girlfriends, friends and boy friends or whatever that is better. And I think it would be much more exiting if Altair had joined Maria during her journey. That during a fight Altair lost his controll and even hurt Maria but she just calmed him down so he wouldn't get afraid to get close to people he loves.

Anyway I love you. I love your blog. Take care of yourself angle.

I know you wanted a Maria calming Altaïr version for this one but this idea just wanted to be written. I hope you still enjoy this:

.

Altaïr

The first time he held his son in his arms, he didn’t know what to do. He had never held a baby before and he looked so… fragile.

Altaïr had been afraid.

Afraid that he would hurt such an innocent small child.

Yet, Maria was patient with him, whispering softly to not wake the child.

Although Altaïr couldn’t help but think she was trying not to spook him instead.

He was warm.

And so small in his arms.

Altaïr couldn’t believe it, couldn’t even fathom the very idea that this was his son.

That this child was a gift, created with love that Altaïr never dreamed of ever having himself.

So when the child opened his eyes and stared at Altaïr with such curious trusting eyes…

Altaïr couldn’t help the tears that fell from his eyes.

He couldn’t help the way he leaned down, touched the baby’s forehead with his gently…

As he whispered…

“Hello, Darim.” His voice cracked as he continued, “I’m your father…”

And saying those clumsy awkward words…

Made everything feel real.

He was a father.

He had a son.

And, even as tears continued to fall from his eyes…

It was the happiest day of his life.

.

Ezio

Leonardo did not ask any questions, he simply opened the door to his workshop and guided Ezio to the small room with a bathtub with a gentle push. Ezio’s hands were still drenched in the blood of Uberto Alberti.

The rage had come to pass, leaving Ezio feeling… empty.

He needed to return to his mother and sister.

He needed to get them out of Firenze.

But…

His hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

“It’s alright, Ezio.” Leonardo whispered softly as he took Ezio’s hands, helping him take off…

Clothes that felt so big…

Clothes that didn’t even belong to him.

No.

It belonged to him now because…

Ezio’s breath hitched as Leonardo washed away the blood and sweat with water. Once the water ran clear, Leonardo guided him into the bathtub and Ezio’s muscles relaxed even though his mind stayed in that ever cycling limbo of alertness and numbness.

“Take your time, my friend.” Leonardo whispered as he patted Ezio’s shoulder, “The guards will not come here.”

Ezio nodded and closed his eyes, letting the water warm his body.

Just for a few minutes…

He’d stay here for just a few minutes…

Once the water is cool and the guards have stopped looking for him…

He will do as he must…

As an Auditore.

.

Ratonhnhaké:ton

The homestead was too quiet.

It had always been shrouded in silence but…

Now that Achilles was gone…

It had become too quiet.

“Connor!”

Ratonhnhaké:ton stepped out of the office where he was planning out the next convoys just in time to see the door open.

“Hello, Hunter.” Ratonhnhaké:ton greeted with a nod as the young child grinned at him, holding the door knob with both hands raised above his head.

A few feet outside, he could see Warren waving at him.

Ratonhnhaké:ton nodded at Warren before his attention was caught by Hunter, “Mother’s cooking looots of food for my birthday! You must come!”

Hunter gave him a grin that showed some of his teeth still missing as he asked, “Please? Pllleeeaassseee?”

Ratonhnhaké:ton chuckled as he nodded, “Of course. It would be an honor to celebrate this wonderful day with you.”

Hunter grabbed his hand with both of his hands and Ratonhnhaké:ton let the child drag him out of the silent manor.

A small smile appearing on his face as they walk towards the tavern instead of Warren and Prudence’s home.

The tavern was noisy, filled with the merry voices and music.

And Ratonhnhaké:ton chuckled when Maria, Ellen’s daughter, grabbed his other hand as she began to tell him about the feast everyone was making…

To celebrate Hunter’s birthday.

And when he got inside, Prudence wrapped her arms around him, thanking him once more for being there to help her.

And Ratonhnhaké:ton’s smile grew.

As the noises of merriment warmed his heart.

.

Desmond

“You’re gonna get a cold if you stay out like this.” Rebecca commented as she placed a blanket over Desmond’s shoulders. Desmond simply hummed as he kept his attention on the evening sky, littered with so many stars.

“You okay?” Rebecca asked softly as she sat next to Desmond.

The back garden of Villa Auditore wasn’t as maintained as it used to be but Rebecca couldn’t help but think it was just as beautiful as it was before.

“Yeah. Just…” Desmond looked at his hands, “Had an episode.”

“Oh.” Rebecca hesitated for a moment before she asked, “Want to talk about it?”

“I felt him.” Desmond said quietly, “Altaïr’s son…”

“Eh?”

“He was… so small.” Desmond dropped his hands and sighed as he looked up at the sky once more, “And… I felt Altaïr’s…”

“Happiness.” Desmond said so quietly that Rebecca almost didn’t hear him.

Desmond sighed as he admitted, “Sorry. Just… wanted to get some fresh air after that.”

“Don’t worry about.” Rebecca’s lips curved into a small smile as she said, “I told Lucy and Shaun that the Animus needed some time to update anyway. And…”

Rebecca leaned close as she whispered, “The update won’t finish until I type the code.”

Desmond turned to look at her as she leaned back, blinking with an unsure expression on his face. Rebecca’s smile became gentler and she patted Desmond’s back as she said, “So… take your time, Desmond.”

Desmond’s eyes briefly widened before he looked away.

He kept his eyes on the evening sky as he whispered, “Thanks…”

Rebecca simply patted his back once more and said nothing more.

[darkaac]

Fin.

[syninplays]

Random gifs I made while exploring France with Arno 💫

[vinnymauro]

don't underestimate my ability to either watch a show and want to play an assassin's creed game i'm reminded of or play an assassin's creed game and want to watch something related to the game. but i will not watch the film.

[beastblade69]

also my shay cormac obsession has evaporated and now I just stay blank. and try not to go full on bonkers

[charliechats]

bro im reaaally into assasins creed at the moment and it doesnt help that most of the games are like 70% off atm through xbox

[baneshake]

For the release of Assassin’s Creed Mirage, I decided to look at ten other series preexisting characters who, like Basim, could potentially lead interesting games of their own.

[allegorism]

assassin's creed is the call of duty of rpgs in the sense that each year you get a new game, but the worst thing is that they add a completely new massive map. like, i don't even want to imagine the crunch those employees must be suffering because of a series that should have finished 10 years ago

[lookinghalfacorpse]

dreamzablade where they get caught in an explosion and cTechno only has a moment grab the nearest bf and shield him bc humans are so, so fragile, and cTechno isn’t sure he’s big enough to protect them both :(

/dsmp /rp tw for descriptions of injury, blood, concussions, explosions, tinnitus

“Well, I guess it depends on what you consider ‘safer.’  Is it safer to be out of sight but crammed in a… in a little space like this?” Dream said, being a bit of a contrarian.  He liked to play devil’s advocate.  “Or is it safer to be out in the open, but able to move freely?  It’s a trade-off.”

“Bruh, I dug this tunnel specifically to keep us hidden, and I’d appreciate a bit of gratefulness, alright?”  Techno joked.

Technoblade, Dream, and Philza had been walking through this tunnel for at least twenty minutes.  It was connected to a mine that Phil started many years ago, so it didn’t look too suspicious for all three of them to enter at once, but its long and winding path eventually led to the Syndicate meeting room.  Despite its tactical advantage, it wasn’t the most comfortable travel.  Techno had to duck his head through some sections, and they had to pass single-file through the support beams.  Not to mention that it was cold, damp, and drafty.

“I’m just saying,” came Dream’s reply, his face briefly illuminated as he walked past a torch, only to be cast in shadow again moments later.

Phil chuckled, casting a glance over his shoulder.  He walked in front, his wings scraping against the walls.  Techno, directly behind him, was slightly hunched.  Dream trailed behind, still bearing a slight limp from his time in the Vault.  This would be Dream’s first time at the Syndicate meeting room, and Techno went all-out to ensure he’d be safe for the journey.

“This cold is brutal,” Phil complained.  “It’ll take a while to warm the meeting room up.  Hope you both dressed well.”

“We still have blankets, right?” Techno asked.

“We should.  So long as Niki didn’t steal them all.”

“I will not be sitting on my first Syndicate meeting with a blanket on,” Dream mused from behind them.

“Right, so lesson number one about the Syndicate is that we’re all friends, and we treat each other like friends,” Techno said, “Now, I know this is kind of a foreign concept to you, but friends normally don’t act like business partners.  If you’re cold, you’re wearin’ a blanket, no matter how–”

Upon Philza’s next footstep, Techno heard an observer click.  Faint and muffled– imbedded somewhere in the tunnel wall, perhaps– following by an even quieter but distinct buzz as a TNT fuse was lit.

“Phil, to me!” Techno bellowed, already turning around and taking Dream into his arms.  He lifted the human easily and pressed him into the bulk of his chest.  Dream’s breath left him on the impact, but with his limp, Techno worried about the boy’s ability to get out of harm’s way quickly.  He extended a hand towards Philza– his lifelong partner, his most trusted friend– and snatched his wrist, pulling him quickly into himself.

Techno remembered feeling the rush of adrenaline through his torso, his muscles seizing and stiffening as he turned himself into a shield for his partners.  He saw a flash of fear on Dream’s delicate, sharp features, his eyes lighting with concern.  He saw Phil’s hair flash like a flag as he rushed to them, and Techno put an arm around his wing to prevent him from wrapping it around them.  He worried about hurting them, but he determined it was worth the risk.  They were both too small, too fragile, too painfully shatterable to survive a blast at this range.  He pressed them into his stomach and prayed his size would be enough.

He remembered feeling an intense pressure at his back, a ringing in his ears, and blackness.

—

When Techno was next aware of himself, he was laying facedown on the muddy floor of the tunnel.  The blast had pushed him a notable distance.

The pain only hit when he tried to move.  His back was torn to shreds; he was grateful he wasn’t able to see it, but the hot pain (like the whips and flogs of the arena– how long has it been since he knew this pain?) gathered where his muscles flexed.  The ringing in his ears persisted as he raised himself from the ground.

Dream was pinned beneath him, eyes open but unseeing.  Philza, only half-tucked beneath Techno’s shoulder and arms, began to writhe.

“No, no no,” Techno started, finding his voice quiet compared to the tinnitus, “Hey.”

With a hand under Dream’s jaw, he discovered that the young human must’ve hit his head when they were flung, and his forearms were scorched and bruised.  He might’ve wrapped his arms around Techno at the last second.  Philza’s shoulder and neck were covered in burns, and his neck was bleeding badly.  Despite his initial writhing, his mumbles were unintelligible and his movements slow.  He was pale.

“No, no.” Techno scrambled for the remains of his cape, his hands searching along the ground for anything he could use to stop the bleeding.  It was burned off his back, but a few scraps of it remained a few feet in front of them.  He grabbed it and pressed it, desperately, into Phil’s neck.

Phil almost appeared to make eye contact, but his eyes held little intelligence.

“Don’t die, okay?  Don’t die,” Techno told him.  The tinnitus blocked out the voices of his Chat– a small blessing.  “Tell Kristin that it’s still my turn with you.”

Dream whined– a high-pitched sound from somewhere in his throat– and began to stir.  Techno placed his open hand flat on the boy’s chest.  “Hey, Dream.  Don’t move too much.”

“Wha–” Dream started.  He’d just began to recover from the head trauma Quackity inflicted on him, and Techno feared long-term repercussions.  “Techno.  Techno.  You’re bleeding.”

“We’re all bleedin’, dude.  You gotta take it easy.”

“No, Techno, you’re bleeding.”  

Technoblade was distantly aware that the blood on his back was seeping forward, drenching his white shirt with a maroon shade.  He was distantly aware that the string at his collar was dripping blood onto Dream.  He could think of nothing besides the fact that his two most beloveds were dying in front of him.

“It’s cool, it’s cool.  I’m fine.”  Techno leaned forward until he could press his forehead against Dream’s, just for a second, hoping to comfort him.  “You have anythin’ in your inventory?  Health pots, gapples?”

“Y.. Yeah, I… I do, I–” Dream tried to sit as he moved into action, and Techno gently pushed him back to the ground.

“Don’t move, dude.”

“Techno…” “Health pots, Dream,” The piglin reminded him, noting that the concussed boy seemed to have already forgotten his request.  Dream pulled up his inventory from his position on his back, clumsily sorting through the many items he carried with him.  Techno watched him, guiltily.  Phil’s hands roamed aimlessly around his own upper body, trying to clutch at the places that hurt him.  He found Techno’s fingers and clawed at them with his fingernails.  “Look, I’m so sorry,” Techno said, addressing both of them but knowing his words may not reach them, or may be forgotten, “I tried to protect both of you and I think I did a pretty bad job of it.  You both gotta live, okay?”

Dream’s head momentarily lulled to the side as he lost consciousness again, but he recovered quickly.  His green eyes wandered fearfully over Philza, lying half-dead beside him, before landing again on the spots of Techno's blood that landed on his shirt.

Techno felt his vision fade, and he was gone before he had the chance to warn them.

—

He’d wake on Philza’s living room floor, laying on his stomach.

Someone must’ve transformed the living room into a giant nest.  He was lying on a mattress that was a little bit too small for him– one of the human mattresses, surely– and his limbs hung ungracefully off its edges, but a few layers of blankets separated his fur from the cold wooden floor.  He noticed a tight weight around his whole torso.  He was wrapped in bandages from naval to collar, with some smaller bandages adhered to his long ears and neck, and the scent of burnt fur filled his nostrils.  The small hand of a human rested, comfortable and limp, in the palm of his hand.

Disoriented, he wondered for a moment why they chose to nap in such an odd spot.  Remembering the blast, he nearly leaped from the mattress, but the pain stopped him.

“Whoa, Techno.  Not so fast, alright?” came Philza’s warm voice.  

Techno never felt so relieved to hear him.  He lifted his head until he could face the direction of the fireplace, and there he found the beautiful sight of Philza and Dream cuddling together, Dream fully asleep with his face resting on Phil’s diaphragm.  It was Dream’s hand that was placed neatly in Techno’s, outstretched towards him as he slept.

Both of them were wrapped in bandages, their hair tousled and messy.  But they were alive.

“You saved us, love,” Phil continued, “I just wish you didn’t hurt yourself so badly in the process.”

“Worth it.”  Techno squeezed his hand around Dream’s.  “How’d we get home?”

“Not sure.  I think Dream did a lot of it.  And he hurt himself doing it, too.  He’s all bruised, and I think he pulled something in his shoulder.”  Phil ran a hand through Dream’s long hair.  “You two have that in common.  Self-sacrifice.”

An ironic statement from a man who lost a wing to protect his son.  Techno didn’t argue with it.  “Who would trap the tunnel?”

“Don’t know.  But I’m worried they know about the meeting room.  When we’re healthy, we should go check on it.”

“Or ask Niki to.  I don’t want either of you near it right now.”

“We could ask Connor.”

Techno snorted.  “We could ask Connor.”

In his sleep, Dream nuzzled into Phil and sighed.  Techno got accustomed to Dream sleeping constantly as he recovered from the last concussion, and he supposed he’d have to prepare himself for a similar recovery.  Techno imagined Dream dragging his giant piglin body through that tiny tunnel while his head injury raged, his thin body straining, his shoulder popping out of place.  But at least they were all alive.  So long as they lived, they would be okay.

But Technoblade has destroyed nations over smaller offenses than this. The moment he healed, he would solve this, and he wouldn't use cowardly tactics like traps.

[ipilokko]

I am obsessed

I’M OBSESSED WITH ASSASIN’S CREED ll

The soundtrack the gameplay THE MAP I CAN’T

Thank god i like to tour around so that the game will end much slower 🌱🌱🌱

Here i drew Ezio and Federico i was so in the vibe 😭

Under the cut is me yapping about the game and the soundtrack 🤭

Ac ll is my first assasin's creed game (and it’s the first game I’ve ever bought… well after superliminal but i bought them the same day so WHO CARES) and god i love it so much. I am planning on also buying brotherhood (maybe revelations too) , black flag, unity and syndicate hence i heard that they are the most stealth based ones... I like the stealthy assassinations the most.

The parkour in the game merged with the soundtrack make me feel FREE like i get this weird feeling i can't really name

LOOK

LOOK AT THE SOUNDTRACK

Okay the last one is not from ac 2... I haven't played Revelations yet but i got the track spoiler... I was just looking at the soundtracks then the name caught my attention because well, i am from Istanbul and i was curious so i opened it AND THANK GOD I OPENED IT

IT IS SO AMAZING I CAN'T STOP LISTENING

Every damn second is perfect

I'M OBSESSED

Also thanks if you read till here i can't gush about games to my family since well they don't know anything about games NHHHWHNM

[piratekenway]

I had. A THOUGHT.

before they all separate, wishing each other luck (with Jacob and Evie hugging a bit and Evie making Jacob promise that he will be VERY careful) I like to think Shay finally pulls Arno off to the side. asks him who he is, really—he and Haytham knew de la Serre. the man had a daughter and not a son. Arno admits that he’s not a de la Serre, save perhaps in the wanting: he and Elise were together. were close. he loved her and she him. and her father was the closest thing he had to one as well, after someone left his father’s corpse in Versailles.

Shay does not say he’s sorry. he’s certain Arno would throw hands if he did. he does, however, prepare to flex his fingers, pull out his hidden blade.

Arno just looks at him, flatly, and says something that catches Shay off his guard: “I’m not going to kill you, Cormac,” he says. “don’t misunderstand me. a significant part of me wants you fucking dead, and it will never be satisfied so long as you live.”

“it would be difficult,” says Shay, “to satisfy such a part of yourself, considering.”

“it would be,” says Arno. “so I won’t even bother to try feeding it. you...” he pauses, lets out a breath. “you are dead. you, Shay Cormac, in the real world, have long since died. so have I. so have the rest of us here. we’re all just—data in the shape of people’s memories. so it’s not worth it anyway. and besides, I...”

Shay watches him for a moment, this Assassin who used to be a young boy playing with a little redheaded girl in the gardens. “you what?” he prompts.

“Elise died for her vengeance,” says Arno. “I tried to save her. then I tried to kill Germain before he could kill her. each time I never even came close. it took me so long and so many tries to realize...she was never going to stop. not even for me. revenge took her and killed her and she let it happen, and I’m sick of it. I’m sick and tired of it.” he runs a hand through his hair, dark like his father’s. “I hate you. I will never forgive you for what you’ve done to me.”

“I’m not asking for your forgiveness,” says Shay. “I would have to feel like I did something wrong in the first place.” still—he feels something, all right, speaking with Charles Dorian’s son. something that makes him unsteady on his feet.

“good,” says Arno. “but I’m not going to kill you, because there are bigger and more important things at stake here than me and you and my hatred. and because, quite frankly, I heard you when you saw that thing with your face.” his eyes are steely when they meet Shay’s. “is that what you want to become? is that the path you want to tread? do you want to prove me and Abstergo right?”

and that’s what stays in Shay’s head. is that what you want to become?

--

so it’s Shao Jun, Shay, and Ezio walking into Abstergo. Shao Jun is keeping a wary eye on Shay, bc Ezio’s pretty hell-bent on finding Desmond and therefore someone has to watch his back bc there’s a known traitor in their presence and she frankly doesn’t trust this Shay not to stab them all in the back somehow. she doesn’t trust Haytham Kenway either, but Edward’s grandson vouched for him and Aveline vouched for Connor. Shao Jun trusts Aveline, so.

god she misses Aveline already.

what they find when they get to Desmond’s cell in Abstergo is...uh. apparently nothing? but then they go into Eagle Vision and are HIGHLY DISTURBED by all of Clay’s notes, written in, y’know, his blood. and Desmond has added a few just for them. well, just for Ezio, really: meet me in the parking lot.

they book it down to the parking lot, where Desmond and Lucy are fighting off Abstergo’s men. cue rip-roaring action scene and Shay at one point realizing he has a clear line of sight on Ezio with Shao Jun busy ramming her footblade into a man’s chin before he whips around to fight off an Abstergo goon with the rest of them. (Arno’s voice, once again, the steely eyes: do you want to prove me and Abstergo right? he does not need or want Arno’s forgiveness, but—the way that the antivirus had looked. the sheer hatred in his eyes. had the Templars he’d helped build up forgotten Lisbon? had he?)

(he pretends he does not notice the way Desmond looks at him and smiles, just that little bit.)

Lucy gets in the car. Desmond watches her for a long moment. “she put me in the trunk when this actually happened,” he says, nostalgic.

“you’re not going in the trunk, mio fratello,” says Ezio. “I’m sure we can all cram in the back and you can...ah, what’s the term these days?”

“ride shotgun?” Desmond says.

“that,” says Ezio.

Shao Jun crams herself in between Shay and Ezio. “for insurance,” she says.

“hey, don’t worry,” says Desmond, “there’s actually two Templars in this car right now. pretty sure neither of them want to hurt us.” and he jerks a thumb at Lucy, who glitches a little as she looks up and asks, “what was that?”

“nothing,” he says, “Bleeding Effect, go, floor it.”

--

they don’t reach the warehouse. they reach Monteriggioni, but not the one of Ezio’s memories: the one of Desmond’s, with electric lights and cars parked places and the Villa Auditore standing on the hill, well-maintained for a long-abandoned villa. they all get out, and while Lucy jogs up to meet with Rebecca and Shaun, Desmond and Ezio walk towards the villa, look up at it. (Shao Jun and Shay stay with the car and awkwardly try not to look at each other.) Ezio puts his hand on a pillar and breathes out, slowly, softly.

“five hundred years and this is still standing,” he says. “I can hardly believe it.”

“the Auditore are not dead,” says Desmond, distantly, and Ezio recalls his own voice saying that, so long ago. “we’re still here. the Brotherhood is still here. and so long as we are, we’ll fight.”

Ezio looks at him then. “how did you end up here?” he asks.

so Desmond tells him: the whole bloody mess of it. says, at some point, a little half-laughing, that it’s probably kind of a let-down, right? sorry that I’m the guy you’re the Prophet of.

Ezio: don’t be sorry. you saved the world, did you not? Desmond: I’m hoping I did. I’m not always sure. there was this whole mess last year, Edward might know, it involved his memories. I did what I knew to be the right thing at the time, and I still do think that, I just... Ezio: it’s like you said. so long as we are here, we’ll fight back—whether it’s the Templars or this Juno.

Desmond smiles. fading into gold already, as Ezio pushes the door open—

—and he, Shao Jun, and Shay find themselves tumbling end over end into Animus Island.

Desmond’s there, asleep. this is the facet they’ve come to rescue, but the memory they need to wake him up is beyond that gate.

and so is Clay, who stands up, looks at all three of them, and says, “you guys too, huh? the memory you want’s that way, but it’s got a lock on it.” he nods to the sleeping Desmond, who’s cradling his hand. “good thing there’s three of you,” Clay continues, “because there’s three parts to unlocking it, all on this island. and you all better get moving.”

he nods to the data sea beyond them. is it just them, or is it...trembling?

“Frye and Dorian are buying you guys time.”

--

MEANWHILE

this is literally what’s happening with Arno, Jacob and Dionysus. I cannot emphasize how much fun Jacob is currently having with the grenade launcher. Dionysus has managed to get some security measures going and somewhere in the code has managed to dig up various other weapons, so, you know, they’re all set for the time being.

I wonder if you’ve ever thought about like, a glitch or a virus in the Animus accidentally causing all the playable ancestors to become self-aware and sentient. I kind of like the idea of them realizing they’re all essentially kinda stuck in the Animus servers and then banding together to essentially blow up Abstergo. hell, maybe Desmond is the reason why they’re all sentient, something about the Apple and the Eye started doing weird things to the samples they took from him so now the ancestors have to find his consciousness!

also I am ngl I think it would be very funny for them to occasionally be able to break into each other’s simulations for various purposes. Edward popping into the American Revolutionary War to say hi to his kid and grandkid. Jacob and Evie and Henry in Constantinople. Altaïr rolling around in the Caribbean, god help this poor non-swimmer.

(and maybe once they’ve gotten him out of wherever he’s been stashed Desmond can teach these guys how to like actually get into Abstergo’s servers and start ruining their lives?)

Ooooohhh, this would be fun and, considering which company Abstergo partnered with to develop the Animus games, this could have just as easily happened because bugs had always been part of the course when it concerned the games they have published.

It might have been a flaw in the Animus game console itself, simply because they had developed a ‘console’ that either didn’t require that the user be related to the genetic memory at all (which had been necessary to stabilize and synchronize with the memories) or they had included a ‘data set’ that includes the DNA origin to stabilize and synchronize with the memories (which meant that they were dealing with a setup they had not fully checked yet (considering Black Flag’s modern day setting was set in 2013 and was released before Rogue’s modern day setting in 2014, that would mean that their Animus iteration had to have been developed and send to Abstergo Entertainment with Sample 17’s data in a year or less).

Also, also, we have seen how ‘viruses’ can interact with the Abstergo games. Liberation’s secret ending which shows the ‘scenes’ that Abstergo tried to remove so that it seemed like Aveline joined the Templar Order in the end could only be accessed by finding a specific NPC in the game in various memory blocks.

So, in this scenario, the whole ‘non-canon character’ popping into other games could have happened during development BUT the Animus game they ship was meant to copy the memory blocks that research analysts got in development so those small inconsistencies could have happened during their breaks or flat-out during a time when no one was using the Animus at all.

The easter eggs (or some fans like to call them “too unrealistic and plain fanservice”) would be included in all the copies of their specific games those games only had minor tweaks to ensure they won’t crash (and have DRMs, I guess) and lesser time for Q&A because, let’s face it, they needed to cut costs somewhere before they were shipped off to ensure they had a yearly release.

It became just a normal part of the charm of these games and Abstergo is just going “Yes, it’s meant to show that we are all connected no matter how many centuries we are from one another!” but internally there are memos going “WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING???”.

Also, also…

We should set up some kind of timeline, I guess?

Because, as far as we can be sure, the only confirmed games that Abstergo Entertainment released are the following:

Liberations (based on Liberation with Aveline) - Prior to 2013

Pirates of Nightmares (based on Black Flag with Edward) - Around 2013 (also has a movie version called Devils of the Caribbean)

Note: We do not have any confirmation that they released any games based on Shay Cormac and, honestly, with how much Shay’s defection hinged on the power of the artifact (which they had probably had to cut out since they were going for ‘realism’), any games based on Rogue would probably need a lot of cuts and edits. They might have just, you know, given up on that in the end.

Buuuuutttt we have confirmation of these games as having been published prior to Arno Dorian’s memories being checked:

Not counting the three on the bottom which we don’t really have any information about, this means that we have confirmation that the following have been released (and, in Edward’s and Aveline’s case, this could have been a re-release ala HD remastered style which Liberation did get in the PS4 era):

Altaïr

Shao Jun

Ezio (also, it’s just sooo Abstergo to go for ‘Fear and Loathing in Florence’, a reference to AC2, but use Ezio’s Brotherhood robes… soooo like Abstergo to use the Brotherhood!Ezio model)

Ratonhnhaké:ton

Aveline

Edward

BUT then you also get

Jacques De Molay

Rodrigo Borgia

Haytham Kenway

This means that if you want the Animus servers' data to be sentient then you can make at least these three Templars sentient as well if you wish to add more conflict to the entire thing.

Now, if we keep the supposed release date with the idea that they released it as Aveline → Edward → Altaïr → Shao Jun → Ezio → Ratonhnhaké:ton → HD releases (or maybe Helix is meant to be a collection like the real-world example of Ezio Trilogy or Rebels Collection)

Then what can happen is that Aveline is the first one to ‘wake up’ and she finds herself in the Caribbean, waking up on Edward’s ship. She tries to ask where she is and her appearance caused Edward to snap out of the ‘Animus control’ and gain sentient.

Then they decide to try and find out where they are via the Jackdaw, sailing her beyond the supposed walls of this place they find themselves in.

It’s during their travels and checking the strange ports (imagine lots of glitching + the entire vibe of Animus Island back in Revelations with each map turned into an island so this means that landlocked maps like Florence and Monteriggioni are now islands) that they see an Assassin taking down a target at the port before running away. They give chase and that’s how they meet Altaïr in Acre docks. Their appearance snapped Altaïr into gaining sentient but not just that…

He remembers up to his death, unlike Aveline who remembers up to her wedding night and Edward who remembers up to a night with Tessa.

No.

Altaïr knows more about where they are than he should.

And that’s when he sees it.

A figure walking the streets of Acre, walking further and further away from them, clad in white that did not belong in his time.

Altaïr gives chase and the two followed him because Altaïr knows more than them, that was for sure.

Altaïr still loses him but he feels like he knows that figure… knows it’s a man and he’s important.

He points at Edward as he says, “Important to both of us.”

But he also knows the man isn’t here in the island composed of Altaïr’s memories anymore.

And Aveline and Edward get a crash course of who they truly are (digital construct of the memories of long-dead Assassins) and where they are. The where is more confusing because Altaïr uses words like “the Animus must always be online to connect to the servers”, “this is the server that has all the data of all researched and analyzed memories”, etc but Edward just summarized it as “prison created by Templars, right?”

“In a way.”

So they board the Jackdaw to try and find an exit and to find this supposed man that was important to Altaïr and Edward.

Along the way, they docked in a port that ends with them waking up Shao Jun as she’s running away from those hunting her. She remembered that this was the memory where her mentor told her to find Ezio Auditore and Altaïr thinks he knows the name.

“But I know of a different name for him as well… Prophet. He was… He was the prophet of that man.”

Shao Jun joins them and she recognized Florence so they docked there and they find Ezio who was looking for feathers.

Ezio stares at Altaïr for a moment then he stares behind Altaïr, his eyes going wild. Altaïr immediately knew what he was looking at he quickly turned around.

This time, the figure was running the rooftops of Florence and the two gave chase, making the rest run after them.

During the chase, Ezio shouts, “Desmond!” and the figure stopped and turned around.

Before they could see his face, a flock of birds flew between them, and the man was gone.

They reached where they last saw the man and Ezio recognized it.

This… was where he and Federico wished that their lives would not change… the day before Ezio’s entire life turned upside down.

With Ezio becoming part of their crew, Ezio had the same information as Altaïr. He knows who he is, where they are, and what they truly are.

But his memories end after seeing Altaïr’s remains underneath Masyaf.

And… he also has his Apple.

Altaïr sees the Apple and realized…

He opened his pouch and, yes…

He has an Apple as well.

So Ezio joined them too and they continue to sail Jackdaw. (If you’d like Adéwalé to be sentient as well even if we have no confirmation that Abstergo profited from his memories as well, this would be a good time to do it)

This time, they get into a naval combat with an unknown ship and Edward is enjoying himself. The ship was beautiful and whoever was in command knew what they were doing.

So Edward decided to ram it and they’d all pile onto the other ship. The crew wouldn’t be able to win against 5 Assassins after all.

But the moment they rammed the ship, both of their ships began to glitch just as they hear a man with a British accent shout, “How is it you came to captain a ship, given the way you sail?”

When the glitching stopped, the Jackdaw looked like it had absorbed the other ship, creating a new ship that seemed to be a merged version of the two.

And there was an Assassin on board that they didn’t know. An Assassin holding an Apple and… he was looking to their right.

Where a lone island filled with buildings taller than any towers they had ever seen could be seen just before the horizon.

The Assassin pointed at the island and turned to face Edward as he said, “He’s waiting for us there… grandfather.”

(If you want Haytham to gain sentient, he’s in the captain’s quarters and he’d open the door a few seconds later with a splitting headache, telling Ratonhnhaké:ton his sailing is shit then stop when he sees Edward. Cue awkward family reunion)

Other Unorganized Notes:

I’m sorry I couldn’t include Jacob, Evie, and Henry, nonny. :(

This was focused on the idea that the Abstergo servers mainly have data of the published ‘games’ while the memories still being researched are in another more secured private server.

Although, considering that Arno and the Frye twins were more ‘modified’ by the Assassins, maybe they could come in as a virus before Edward and the others meet Ratonhnhaké:ton. I think it would be a change of pace if Arno and the Fryes (with Jayadeep) know more than the ‘old guards’. Hell, they could say “We hitched a ride with the virus Erudito sent to find Sample 17 because the public noticed he always makes an appearance as an NPC in all the games so the Assassins think that he’s somewhere here.” “He’s not 17. His name is Desmond.” “Right, didn’t mean to offend anybody.”

[saberamane]

It's really late but I have the last of the 4x4 AC insignia canvas series stencils cut out, these include:

AC 2, 2 Black Flag logo's, Odyssey, Valhalla, Mirage, Syndicate, Unity, and another rogue, they will be done in the coming days. I think I'm going to switch around the sets so they are more in order, I'm thinking something like this:

Set 1: Abstergo, Templar, Assassin logo

Set 2: Levant, Apple of Eden, Desmond

Set 3: Ac 2, brotherhood, and revelations

Set 4: AC 3 (colonial) and 2 black flag

Set 4: Both Rogue logo's, Unity, and Syndicate

Set 5: Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla, Mirage

I'm kind of torn, because the ones I've used mica powder on are going to be more expensive as it's more expensive to create, but I'm not sure if anyone will buy those if they're separate, but putting them in a set will make the set more expensive...

What do you guys think? I'm trying to balance out pricing vs the time and cost it takes to make each one. I know for sure all of Ezio's will be mica powder as they're just too...intricate to outline in this size.

[gnost-stories]

Assassin's Creed's Approach to Opt-In Storytelling

Assassin's Creed's Modern Day (hereafter shorthanded to MD for ease) story has been in a troubling spot for about 12 years now, by most accounts. It's a controversial element of the franchise, to say the least; many love it and wish for it to return to grander overarching narratives sweeping multiple entries, others couldn't care less - or worse, actively view it as obstructing the historical elements which they center their enjoyment of the games around.

So what gives? It seems as if the wants of these two groups are irreconcilable. Attempting to meet the desires of one will invariably dissatisfy the other. Well, dear reader, not only do I not think these groups' needs are irreconcilable, I believe Ubisoft have already stumbled into the solution, though with mixed execution.

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ALL ASSASSIN'S CREED GAMES

Enter Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. The first mainline entry in the series following Desmond's death at the end of the previous game, this game serves as, for all intents and purposes, the audience's first glimpse into the new approach to telling the MD story in Assassin's Creed. And the reception of this new approach was, cool, to say the least. No longer were we the prophesied Desmond Miles, armed with the knowledge of Altair and the abilities of Ezio, but a faceless and nameless new Abstergo Entertainment employee. For the Agents, a term I will be using throughout this essay to refer to the pro-MD crowd, this is a downgrade on all conceivable levels. If you're a Historian, a player only here for the historical simulation aspect of the series, you're still getting interrupted after each memory sequence to engage with a part of the game you've decided you don't enjoy. Neither camp is happy with this. Assassin's Creed Rogue's MD sections are very similar if not identical in terms of MD scope and gameplay.

However, there were still elements that worked to the benefit of MD sections. On the surface, it all seems banal, pointless, maybe even kitschy in that way that corporate millennials trying to market themselves as hip, fun, and approachable often come off - but if you were an Agent, you'd be likely to explore, and in that you'd uncover some interesting details about Abstergo's history, base of knowledge, and operations both overt and clandestine. Among the most interesting details is the rise of the Instruments of the First Will, an Isu cult centered around newly-liberated Juno.

However, there were deep flaws with this approach shared by Black Flag and Rogue. Chiefly, being nameless, faceless, and without any real clear motive are massive roadblocks to getting any actual investment from the audience. In addition to that, being forced out of the Animus in order to engage with this story's surface level will only serve to irritate those Historian players, and the lack of connection to a MD protagonist to replace the Desmond-shaped hole in our hearts means that Agents aren't getting as much from the experience as they want either.

Right, new console generation, new start for Assassin's Creed. With the sibling releases of Unity and Syndicate in 2014 and 2015 respectively, came a new slightly less anonymous and slightly more bodiless MD protagonist: The Initiate. We have a title now. Neat! The downside is that this Initiate seems to be represented by... you, the player, playing this video game shipped by Abstergo on their Helix platform. Less neat. If Agent players didn't already feel too disconnected from the action of the MD plot in Black Flag and Rogue, they certainly would now, and Historians are still being interrupted with even less interactive (in some ways, less relevant) cutscenes than before. For many members of the community, this is about where the conversation ends: "There is no Modern Day in Unity/Syndicate!" they smugly chant. This criticism rings as understandable but not entirely accurate, by my reading.

In Assassin's Creed Unity, one of the many (MANY) side activities throughout the game are the Helix Rifts, effectively timed nonlinear parkour courses littered with data fragments, fun enough to play while listening to several-hour long video essays. The reward for completing these rifts is primarily the unlock of Assassin Intel, text and audio files that give further details on the conflict between the Assassins and Templars as it continues into the modern era. In Syndicate, Assassin Intel returns, but is obtained through Helix Glitch collectibles. This approach is great for Historian players because they are never really forced out of the Animus (at least, they certainly aren't for as long, and don't have to be), and yet there's still an avenue for Agent players to dig deep into MD story elements.

By the time of Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, Layla Hassan becomes a new face for MD players, and yet the Animus interruptions become even less frequent, seemingly disappearing entirely save for the early game and endings.

Some steps forward, some steps backwards. There are strengths and drawbacks to each approach, and any designers somehow stumbling upon this humble essay should hopefully be striving to incorporate the strengths of each while navigating around or adapting to the weakness each approach presents.

I believe a MD section should be unobtrusive, easily looked past by the more casual Historian audience which wants nothing more than to have a wide-open historically-inspired playground to run around in. However, it should also be rewarding to Agent players who want to dig deep and put on their best investigative hats to uncover secrets.

The big twist of this essay is that Ubisoft have already done this, twice: once in the game that started it all, and once again in the oft-overlooked PSVita title, Assassin's Creed Liberation. Both games have secrets for dedicated players to sift through but will not hesitate to let the player skip out on all of that to get straight back to the Animus. Every game after Liberation and before Origins has that much in common.

The main criticism I have of the MD in those games (Liberation through Syndicate) is that the activities involved in uncovering the "true story" or "secret endings" of the games feel so disconnected from the goal. I believe Assassin's Creed 1 and Black Flag come the closest to making your actions feel truly pursuant to snooping around in the Modern Day. Both games see their protagonists eavesdropping, pickpocketing, hacking computers and intercepting clandestine correspondence to figure out what's really going on.

Much as it pains me to say it, MD may be best served by being missable entirely by the uninterested Historians, but it should still be able to signal its promise of depth to Agents. Unity/Syndicate have the ideal subtlety (though perhaps one should take a note from the most recent AC games and remove Animus Interruptions entirely), and the actions to access it should take inspiration from AC1 (this would be a great way to once more explore the Bleeding Effect as it pertains to taking game experience obtained inside the Animus outside the Animus). the MD story is still worth including and developing, and deserves to be seen by players who are invested in its stories, while allowing the space for casual players who aren't as invested to continue with the core gameplay uninterrupted. There is space for both, especially with how big Ubisoft games have been getting in general in the past few years.

[dailyanarchistposts]

I.3.6 What about competition between syndicates?

This is a common question, particularly from defenders of capitalism. They argue that syndicates will not co-operate together unless forced to do so, and will compete against each other for raw materials, skilled workers, and so on. The result of this process, it is claimed, will be rich and poor syndicates, inequality within society and within the workplace, and (possibly) a class of unemployed workers from unsuccessful syndicates who are hired by successful ones. In other words, they argue that libertarian socialism will need to become authoritarian to prevent competition, and that if it does not do so it will become capitalist very quickly.

For individualist anarchists and mutualists, competition is not viewed as a problem. They think that competition, based around co-operatives and mutual banks, would minimise economic inequality, as the new economic structure based around free credit and co-operation would eliminate non-labour (i.e. unearned) income such as profit, interest and rent and give workers enough bargaining power to eliminate exploitation. For these anarchists it is a case of capitalism perverting competition and so are not against competition itself. Other anarchists think that whatever gains might accrue from competition (assuming there are, in fact, any) would be more than offset by its negative effects, which are outlined in section I.1.3. It is to these anarchists that the question is usually asked.

Before continuing, we would like to point out that individuals trying to improve their lot in life is not against anarchist principles. How could it be? “Selfish is not a crime,” John Most and Emma Goldman noted, “it only becomes a crime when conditions are such as to give an individual the opportunity to satisfy his selfishness to the detriment of others. In an anarchistic society everyone will seek to satisfy his ego” but in order to do so he “will extend his aid to those who will aid him, and then selfishness will no more be a curse but a blessing.” [“Talking about Anarchy”, Black Flag, no. 228, p. 28] Thus anarchists see co-operation and mutual aid as an expression of “self-interest”, in that working with people as equals is in our joint benefit. In the words of John O’Neill:

”[F]or it is the institutions themselves that define what counts as one’s interests. In particular, the market encourages egoism, not primarily because it encourages an individual to be ‘self-interested’ — it would be unrealistic not to expect individuals to act for the greater part in a ‘self-interested’ manner — but rather because it defines an individual’s interests in a particularly narrow fashion, most notably in terms of possession of certain material goods. In consequence, where market mechanism enter a particular sphere of life, the pursuit of goods outside this narrow range of market goods is institutionally defined as an act of altruism.” [The Market, p. 158]

As such, anarchists would suggest that we should not confuse competition with self-interest and that a co-operative society would tend to promote institutions and customs which would ensure that people recognised that co-operation between equals maximises individual freedom and self-interest far more than individualistic pursuit to material wealth at the expense of all other goals. Ultimately, what use would it be to gain the world and loose what makes life worth living?

Of course, such a society would not be based on exactly equal shares of everything. Rather, it would mean equal opportunity and free, or equal, access to resources (for example, that only ill people use medical resources is unproblematic for egalitarians!). So a society with unequal distributions of resources is not automatically a non-anarchist one. What is against anarchist principles is centralised power, oppression, and exploitation, all of which flow from large inequalities of income and private property. This is the source of anarchist concern about equality — concern that is not based on some sort of “politics of envy.” Anarchists oppose inequality because it soon leads to the few oppressing the many (a relationship which distorts the individuality and liberty of all involved as well as the health and very lives of the oppressed).

Anarchists desire to create a society in which such relationships are impossible, believing that the most effective way to do this is by empowering all, by creating an egoistic concern for liberty and equality among the oppressed, and by developing social organisations which encourage self-management. As for individuals’ trying to improve their lot, anarchists maintain that co-operation is the best means to do so, not competition. And there is substantial evidence to support this claim (see, for example, Alfie Kohn’s No Contest: The Case Against Competition and Robert Axelrod’s The Evolution of Co-operation present abundant evidence that co-operation is in our long term interests and provides better results than short term competition). This suggests that, as Kropotkin argued, mutual aid, not mutual struggle, will be in an individual’s self-interest and so competition in a free, sane society would be minimised and reduced to sports and other individual pastimes. As Stirner argued, co-operation is just as egoistic as competition (a fact sometimes lost on many due to the obvious ethical superiority of co-operation):

“But should competition some day disappear, because concerted effort will have been acknowledged as more beneficial than isolation, then will not every single individual inside the associations be equally egoistic and out for his own interests?” [No Gods, No Masters, vol. 1, p. 22]

Now to the “competition” objection, which we’ll begin to answer by noting that it ignores a few key points.

Firstly, the assumption that a libertarian society would “become capitalist” in the absence of a state is obviously false. If competition did occur between collectives and did lead to massive wealth inequalities, then the newly rich would have to create a state to protect their private property against the dispossessed. So inequality, not equality, leads to the creation of states. It is no co-incidence that the anarchic communities that existed for millennia were also egalitarian.

Secondly, as noted in section A.2.5, anarchists do not consider “equal” to mean “identical.” Therefore, to claim that wage differences mean the end of anarchism makes sense only if one thinks that “equality” means everyone getting exactly equal shares. As anarchists do not hold such an idea, wage differences in an otherwise anarchistically organised syndicate do not indicate a lack of equality. How the syndicate is run is of far more importance, because the most pernicious type of inequality from the anarchist standpoint is inequality of power, i.e. unequal influence on political and economic decision making.

Under capitalism, wealth inequality translates into such an inequality of power, and vice versa, because wealth can buy private property (and state protection of it), which gives owners authority over that property and those hired to produce with it; but under libertarian socialism, minor or even moderate differences in income among otherwise equal workers would not lead to this kind of power inequality, because self-management and socialisation severs the link between wealth and power. Moreover, when labour becomes free in a society of rebels (and, surely, an anarchist society could be nothing but) few would tolerate relatively minor income inequalities becoming a source of power.

Thirdly, anarchists do not pretend that an anarchist society will be perfect. Hence there may be periods, particularly just after capitalism has been replaced by self-management, when differences in skill, etc., leads to some people exploiting their position and getting more wages, better hours and conditions, and so forth. This problem existed in the industrial collectives in the Spanish Revolution. As Kropotkin pointed out, ”[b]ut, when all is said and done, some inequalities, some inevitable injustice, undoubtedly will remain. There are individuals in our societies whom no great crisis can lift out of the deep mire of egoism in which they are sunk. The question, however, is not whether there will be injustices or no, but rather how to limit the number of them.” [The Conquest of Bread, p. 94]

In other words, these problems will exist, but there are a number of things that anarchists can do to minimise their impact. There will be a “gestation period” before the birth of an anarchist society, in which social struggle, new forms of education and child-rearing, and other methods of consciousness-raising increase the number of anarchists and decrease the number of authoritarians.

The most important element in this gestation period is social struggle. Such self-activity will have a major impact on those involved in it (see section J.2). By direct action and solidarity, those involved develop bounds of friendship and support with others, develop new forms of ethics and new ideas and ideal. This radicalisation process will help to ensure that any differences in education and skill do not develop into differences in power in an anarchist society by making people less likely to exploit their advantages nor, more importantly, for others to tolerate them doing so!

In addition, education within the anarchist movement should aim, among other things, to give its members familiarity with technological skills so that they are not dependent on “experts” and can thus increase the pool of skilled workers who will be happy working in conditions of liberty and equality. This will ensure that differentials between workers can be minimised. In the long run, however, popularisation of non-authoritarian methods of child-rearing and education (see section J.6) are particularly important because, as we suggested in section B.1.5, secondary drives such as greed and the desire the exercise power over others are products of authoritarian upbringing based on punishments and fear. Only if the prevalence of such drives is reduced among the general population can we be sure that an anarchist revolution will not degenerate into some new form of domination and exploitation.

However, there are other reasons why economic inequality — say, in differences of income levels or working conditions, which may arise from competition for “better” workers — would be far less severe under any form of anarchist society than it is under capitalism.

Firstly, the syndicates would be democratically managed. This would result in much smaller wage differentials, because there is no board of wealthy directors setting wage levels for their own gain. So without hierarchies in the workplace no one would be in a position to monopolise the work of others and grow rich as a result:

“Poverty is the symptom: slavery the disease. The extremes of riches and destitution follow inevitably upon the extremes of license and bondage. The many are not enslaved because they are poor, they are poor because they are enslaved. Yet Socialists have all too often fixed their eyes upon the material misery of the poor without realising that it rests upon the spiritual degradation of the slave.” [G.D.H. Cole, Self-Government in Industry, p. 41]

Empirical evidence supports anarchist claims as co-operatives have a far more egalitarian wage structure than capitalist firms. This can be seen from the experience of the Mondragon co-operatives, where the wage difference between the highest paid and lowest paid worker was 4 to 1. This was only increased when they had to compete with large capitalist companies, and even then the new ratio of 9 to 1 is far smaller than those in capitalist companies (in America the ratio is 200 to 1 and beyond!). Thus, even under capitalism, ”[t]here is evidence that the methods of distribution chosen by worker-controlled or self-managed firms are more egalitarian than distribution according to market precepts.” [Christopher Eaton Gunn, Workers’ Self-Management in the United States, p. 45] Given that market precepts fail to take into account power differences, this is unsurprising. Thus we can predict that a fully self-managed economy would be just, if not, more egalitarian as differences in power would be eliminated, as would unemployment (James K. Galbraith, in his book Created Unequal, has presented extensive evidence that unemployment increases inequality, as would be expected).

It is a common myth that managers, executives and so on are paid so highly because of their unique abilities. Actually, they are so highly paid because they are bureaucrats in command of large hierarchical institutions. It is the hierarchical nature of the capitalist firm that ensures inequality, not exceptional skills. Even enthusiastic supporters of capitalism provide evidence to support this claim. In the 1940s Peter Drucker, a supporter of capitalism, brushed away the claim that corporate organisation brings managers with exceptional ability to the top when he noted that ”[n]o institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organised in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership of average human beings.” For Drucker, “the things that really count are not the individual members but the relations of command and responsibility among them.” [Concept of the Corporation, p. 35 and p. 34] Little has changed, beyond the power of PR to personalise the bureaucratic structures of corporations.

Secondly, having no means of unearned income (such as rent, interest and intellectual property rights), anarchism will reduce income differentials substantially.

Thirdly, management positions would be rotated, ensuring that everyone gets experience of the work, thus reducing the artificial scarcity created by the division of labour. Also, education would be extensive, ensuring that engineers, doctors, and other skilled workers would do the work because they enjoyed doing it and not for financial reward.

Fourthly, we should like to point out that people work for many reasons, not just for high wages. Feelings of solidarity, empathy, friendship with their fellow workers would also help reduce competition between syndicates.

Of course, the “competition” objection assumes that syndicates and members of syndicates will place financial considerations above all else. This is not the case, and few individuals are the economic robots assumed in capitalist dogma. Indeed, the evidence from co-operatives refutes such claims (ignoring, for the moment, the vast evidence of our own senses and experiences with real people rather than the insane “economic man” of capitalist economic ideology). As noted in section I.3.1 neo-classical economic theory, deducing from its basic assumptions, argues that members of co-operatives will aim to maximise profit per worker and so, perversely, fire their members during good times. Reality contradicts these claims. In other words, the underlying assumption that people are economic robots cannot be maintained — there is extensive evidence pointing to the fact that different forms of social organisation produce different considerations which motivate people accordingly.

So, while recognising that competition could exist, anarchists think there are plenty of reasons not to worry about massive economic inequality being created, which in turn would re-create the state. The apologists for capitalism who put forward this argument forget that the pursuit of self-interest is universal, meaning that everyone would be interested in maximising his or her liberty, and so would be unlikely to allow inequalities to develop which threatened that liberty. It would be in the interests of communes and syndicates which to share with others instead of charging high prices for them as they may find themselves boycotted by others, and so denied the advantages of social co-operation. Moreover, they may be subject to such activities themselves and so it would wise for them to remember to “treat others as you would like them to treat you under similar circumstances.” As anarchism will never come about unless people desire it and start to organise their own lives, it is clear that an anarchist society would be inhabited by individuals who followed that ethical principle.

So it is doubtful that people inspired by anarchist ideas would start to charge each other high prices, particularly since the syndicates and community assemblies are likely to vote for a wide basis of surplus distribution, precisely to avoid this problem and to ensure that production will be for use rather than profit. In addition, as other communities and syndicates would likely boycott any syndicate or commune that was acting in non-co-operative ways, it is likely that social pressure would soon result in those willing to exploit others rethinking their position. Co-operation does not imply a willingness to tolerate those who desire to take advantage of you. In other words, neither mutual aid nor anarchist theory implies people are naive indiscriminate altruists but rather people who, while willing to work with others co-operatively, will act to stop others taking advantage of them. Mutual aid, in other words is based on reciprocal relationships. If someone or a syndicate does not co-operate but rather seeks to take advantage of others, then the others are well within their rights to boycott them and otherwise protest against them. A free society is based on all people pursuing their self-interest, not just the few. This suggests that anarchists reject the assumption that those who lose by competition should be altruistic and let competition ruin their lives.

Moreover, given the experience of the neo-liberal period from the 1980s onwards (with rising inequality marked by falling growth, lower wage growth, rising unemployment and increased economic instability) the impact of increased competition and inequality harms the vast majority. It is doubtful that people aware of these tendencies (and that, as we argued in section F.3, “free exchange” in an unequal society tends to increase, not decrease, inequality) would create such a regime.

Unsurprisingly, examples of anarchism in action show that there is working together to reduce the dangers of isolation and competition. One thing to remember is that anarchy will not be created “overnight” and so potential problems will be worked out over time. Underlying all these kinds of objections is the assumption that co-operation will not be more beneficial to all involved than competition. However, in terms of quality of life, co-operation will soon be seen to be the better system, even by the most highly paid workers. There is far more to life than the size of one’s pay packet, and anarchism exists in order to ensure that life is far more than the weekly grind of boring work and the few hours of hectic consumption in which people attempt to fill the “spiritual hole” created by a way of life which places profits above people.

[dazed-poltergeist]

A Wild Accusation

Pairing: I wanted to squeeze an Ezio x Reader into this plot but it didn't fit :(

Warnings: None. Unless extramarital affairs trigger anyone..?

Summary: A male Reader gets accused of having an affair with a noblewoman.

Add. Notes: Just a drabble that was sitting in my drafts for a month, taking place during AC2. I’m trying to start writing in third person so I could feel like I have a little more flexibility with POV’s lol

<✉️> { I haven't written anything in forever. I guess I was busy with school and playing AC Syndicate and Black Flag and whatnot, but hey, now it’s summertime and I got all the time in the world. I went back to my older writings to get a ref for the pre-fic formatting but why did I change so many of them to be in blue?? Ik I had a blue theme going at one point but why did I change my fics for that??? Trying to maintain the aesthetics ig idk (T0T ) I also watched “Midsommar” :) My review: What the fuck }

-Simon, June 2024 __

Leonardo had left to a local nobleman’s place to work on a commission from the said noble’s wife. The work on that commission has been ongoing for the last few weeks. Fortunately, these particular aristocrats were lenient when it came to how Leonardo worked and allowed his “assistants” to come along with him. These said assistants were Ezio and (Y/N), whose job was to merely keep him company and, sometimes, unintentionally distract him.

The two “assistants” were sitting on some couches placed in the lounge that Leonardo worked in for his commission. While the latter discussed with the nobleman on what he would need for the next parts of the artwork, the wife walked in with an announcement for her husband. Unfortunately for the two nobles, everybody else could hear them, too.

“I have something to tell you, caro mio [my dear]” the wife started, “and I'm afraid you will not like it.”

“Did something happen? What is it?”

“I, um… I have had an affair with someone that lately has been working for us.”

(Y/N) and Ezio immediately looked at each other after hearing that, with the half-joking assumption that the other man was in the affair. They made fake flabbergasted faces at each other, and silently laughed at their own reactions while shaking their heads in denial of any involvement. Leonardo, who was eyeing them the whole time, was relieved to know that they had no part in the affair.

The husband stated after a pause, “From what I know, affairs are supposed to be kept secret,” the artist and his assistants raised their eyebrows at that part, “why are you telling me this?”

The whole ordeal was already unhinged for (Y/N), who began to pour himself a drink from the lounge table.

The wife, though hesitantly, answered: “I'm pregnant.”

(Y/N) paused his drink-pouring. Then he gave another surprised look at Ezio and Leonardo, but he finished filling his glass. As he started taking slow sips, he and the other two men were listening to the continuing conversation.

“You must promise me that you won't hurt the man once I tell you who he is,” the wife pleaded, “not in any way.”

“I already have a guess at the father's identity,” the nobleman established in an aggravated tone while wearing a forced smile.

“Oh good lord, he-”

“It's the (Y/L/N), is it not?”

(Y/N) accidentally inhaled some of his drink over that, and proceeded to have a coughing fit. Leonardo, Ezio, and the aristocrats were waiting for him to respond to the sudden accusation, which wasn't making the fit any better.

When the assistant finally managed to clear his airpipe, he began his objection: “I can confidently assure you that I had nothing to do with her romantically, intimately, platonically, or in any other way. In fact, I was always at least an arm’s length away from her.”

The nobleman turned to Ezio, who shook his head in denial, and Leonardo spoke before the aristocrat could make more wild accusations.

“I find it bold, and personally insulting, that your first assumption was directed at my assistants.” While he wanted to stand up to his friends, Leonardo didn't dare to continue, since the commission he had at hand meant a lot to him and he didn’t want to anger his host.

The said host eyed everyone in the room, all while trying to wrap his head around the whole scenario and think of a rational way to respond to it. His wife finally spoke in his place.

“I believe that it is best that you all leave for today. Not to worry, Signore da Vinci, you can finish your commission, we just need some time to resolve this new ordeal.”

She didn't need to say more. Ezio and (Y/N) took Leonardo’s heavier art supplies and left the room with them, then the painter followed his two assistants and closed the door behind him.

But, Leonardo still managed to hear one more bit of the nobles’ conversation.

“I wanted to tell you that the man I had the affair with is the butcher.”

“The butcher? Of all people! To be honest, I would've felt better if it was one of the young men that helped Signore da Vinci.”

__

[beastblade69]

I'm on a final ac rogue sequence and DOG I FUCKING HATE IT SO MUCH. I remember when I was playing it for the first time I wasted like 30-40 mins on a ship battle itself and honestly I fucking hate this shit fuck. I ALMOST BEAT EM BUT THEY FUCKING ENDED ME SEND HELP I DON'T WANT TO PLAY IT ANYMORE