Assassination (Civ3)/Civilopedia

Sometimes military force is not the answer. Sometimes the removal of key leaders, whether political, religious,
military or scientific, will cause such disruption to the enemy that their removal would be more profitable than
the deaths of thousands of enemy soldiers. Or maybe a nation simply does not want to be associated with unfortunate
accidents suffered by unfriendly leaders. When this is the case, the assassin is the primary weapon of choice.
Assassins are experts in stealth and killing. The method of killing may be silent: poison, a dagger in a darkened
bedroom, a garrote in a quiet alley, bare hands, or a bow from a distance. The killing may also be noisy: a gunshot
(or several), a bomb, or an engineered accident. The key point is, the target is killed. Professional assassins will
then flee the scene, whereas most political assassins don’t care what happens to them afterward. The term assassin
comes from a secret Muslim sect, founded by Hassan ben Sabbah in the 11th century. This sect was a militant group
of the Nizari branch of Ismaeli Muslims, which believed in the murder of its enemies as a religious duty. These
militants were called hashshashin, an Arabic word meaning ‘hashish-eaters,’ because the members were thought to be
under the influence of that drug when they went on their missions. The sect flourished in Syria and Persia, and it
spread over much of the Middle East until the Mongols and Mamelukes subdued it during the 13th century. The efficient
study of anatomy and herbalism, to better kill their enemies, led many assassins to be quite proficient at medicine
as well.