Rafiq

A Rafiq, also known as a bureau leader or Keeper,Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles – was a graduated scholar of the Hidden Ones and their successive form, the Assassin Brotherhood. While the rank was first adopted by the organization's Levantine branch during the Middle Ages and is most commonly associated with it, bureau leaders have existed across many different time periods and geographical regions.
A Rafiq was responsible for coordinating Assassin missions in their assigned city or district from an Assassin bureau. In this capacity, the Rafiq provided valuable information for agents in their field work, such as the locations where information could be obtained about assassination targets, and determined whether or not the assassination could be conducted.
==Role==
The primary duties of a Rafiq was as a teacher and field contact to the Assassin visitors of their city, in turn providing them with suggestions on where and how to gather information. A Rafiq also coordinated and gathered the information gathered by the Assassin informers of the city, who also acted as contacts in specific city districts.Assassin's Creed – 
Upon receiving a contract from the Mentor, lower-ranked Assassins were required to report their findings about their target to the local Rafiq before being allowed to proceed with the assassination. If the Rafiq deemed that the Assassin possessed the proper information—including where, when, and how—to stage a successful assassination, he or she would present the agent with a feather marker to be stained with the target's blood. This would later be shown to the Rafiq as evidence of success, and as such simultaneously serves as a token of approval for the assassination.
Aside from bureau responsibilities, each Rafiq held a particular skill or talent that they could teach, in addition to philosophy, religious doctrine, or adherence to the Assassins' Creed. The skill would be translated into a profession, with the Rafiq establishing a business as a front for the Assassin bureau. For the Rafiq, this business was in itself legitimate, such that the store served not just to disguise Assassin operations, but also as a means to generate income for themself and the order. For instance, the bureau leader of Jerusalem in 1191, Malik Al-Sayf, was a cartographer; the Rafiq of Damascus in 1190, Rafik, was a silk merchant and his successor, a potter; Hamid of Tyre was a carpet merchant; and the Rafiq of Acre, Jabal, was a scribe.
==Dai==
The Dai was a rank only slightly higher than that of Rafiq and was the direct representatives of the Imam, the exalted spiritual leader of the people. Though superior to Rafiq, they possessed similar responsibilities and duties.
Upon preparing for the assassination of Majd Addin, Altaïr spoke to Malik, the bureau leader of Jerusalem, with the address of "Dai." This suggested that Malik had been elevated to the rank of Dai after he had successfully completed the mission to retrieve the Templar treasure from Solomon's Temple, surpassing Altaïr's previously higher rank as Master Assassin and field instructor.
Some time before the retaking of Masyaf, while devising a plan on how to approach Al Mualim, Malik in turn referred to Altaïr as Dai, suggesting either that Altaïr had held this rank before his earlier demotion and had just re-attained it, or that he had surpassed his rank as Master Assassin in that moment.
==Known bureau leaders==
Tahira render.png|TahiraAssassin's Creed: Origins – The Hidden OnesKlysma, Sinai(? – 38 BCE)
ACMirage DB Fuladh.png|Fuladh Al HaamiAssassin's Creed: MirageSharqiyah, Baghdad(860s)
ACMirage DB Tabid Al-Nubi.png|Tabid Al-NubiAbbasiyah, Baghdad(860s)
ACMirage DB Rebekah.png|RebekahKarkh, Baghdad(860s)
Wiki noimage.jpg|MahautAssassin's Creed: The Silk RoadChinon(c. 870)
ACV Basim render.png|Basim Ibn IshaqConstantinople(c. 870)
DTVA Hytham.png|HythamAssassin's Creed: ValhallaRavensthorpe(873 – ?)
Wiki noimage.jpg|MarcellaAssassin's Creed: Valhalla – Sword of the White HorseLunden(878 – ?)
Rafik.jpg|RafikDamascus(c. 1190)
Hamid.jpg|HamidTyre(c. 1190)
AC Malik render.png|Malik Al-SayfJerusalem(c. 1191)
AC1 Jabal.png|JabalAcre(c. 1191)
DBL V.png|Damascus bureau leaderDamascus(c. 1191)
ACReb Diego de Alvarado.png|Diego de AlvaradoAssassin's Creed: RebellionBurgos(? – c. 1492)
AC4 Opía Apito render.png|Opía ApitoAssassin's Creed IV: Black FlagCayman Islands(c. 1716 – ?)
AC4 Antó render.png|AntóKingston(c. 1716 – ?)
AC4 Rhona Dinsmore render.png|Rhona DinsmoreHavana(c. 1717 – ?)
AC4 Upton Travers render.png|Upton TraversNassau(c. 1717 – ?)
AC4 Vance Travers render.png|Vance TraversNassau(c. 1717)
ACS Henry Green Render.png|Jayadeep MirAssassin's Creed: UnderworldAssassin's Creed: SyndicateLondon(1865 – c. 1868)
==Trivia==
*Both Jabal and the leader of the Damascus bureau were addressed merely as "Rafiq", rather than by their name.
*Scholars, who were teachers of a higher rank than Rafiq, were based at the library in Masyaf and wore attire similar to a Rafiq though their djellaba were white with red decorative markings.
*Rafiqs did not appear in Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines, but key members of the Cypriot Resistance, such as Alexander of Limassol and Markos, acted in a similar manner to them and were situated in Resistance safe houses similar to Assassin bureaus.
*During modern times, "Rafiq" was used as a code-word which, coupled with a photograph of a feather as a receipt, granted access into Assassin safehouses.Assassin's Creed: The Fall (TPB)
*Rafiq, رفيق, is an Arabic word meaning 'friend'.
==Appearances==
*Assassin's Creed 
*Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles
*Assassin's Creed: The Fall 
*Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade
*Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
*Assassin's Creed: Memories 
*Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
*Assassin's Creed: Underworld
*Assassin's Creed: Origins
**The Hidden Ones
*Assassin's Creed: Rebellion
*Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
*Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Sword of the White Horse
*Assassin's Creed: The Silk Road
*Assassin's Creed: Mirage
==References==
Category:Assassin ranks