Protectors of Persia

A secret group whose express goal was to protect Persia and its people from tyranny waged a covert war against the Order of the Ancients over their puppetry of the Achaemenid Empire. Led by Artabanus, who would later come to be known as "Darius", its most notable feat was the 465 BCE assassination of King Xerxes I of Persia, one of the Order's puppets. 
Despite its initial success, the organization disbanded not long after Xerxes' assassination due to an ideological split between its members. This conflict was caused by Darius' insistence on preemptively assassinating Xerxes' successor Artaxerxes I, a decision opposed by Darius' closest comrade Amorges and other members of the group. These members ultimately defected to the Order and protected Artaxerxes before conducting a decade-long extermination campaign against Darius' family and associates. 
Due to its opposition against the Order and similar belief in fighting for peace and freedom, the group is considered one of the early precursors to the Assassin Brotherhood, with Darius retroactively honored by members of the Brotherhood as one of their own.
==History==
===Assassination of Xerxes===
In August 465 BCE, the group's members, including Artabanus, Amorges, and Pactyas, ambushed King Xerxes I and his entourage as they were travelling. While the others distracted and eliminated the king's guards, Artabanus, disguised as one of the guards, assassinated the kingAssassin's Creed: Odyssey – Legacy of the First Blade: Hunted – Shadow of a Legend using a weapon of his own creation:Assassin's Creed: Odyssey – Legacy of the First Blade: Shadow Heritage – Theatrics and Espionage the Hidden Blade. This would become the first recorded use of the Hidden Blade, centuries before the blade became the Assassins' signature weapon.Assassin's Creed II – A Change of Plans
===Collapse===
After Xerxes' death, Artabanus sought to prevent the Order of the Ancients from exerting their influence on the king's son and successor, the young Artaxerxes I, and planned to kill the new king before he could be manipulated. However, he faced opposition from Amorges, who instead persuaded the rest of the group to join forces with the Order and use their combined resources to create a better future for Persia. The group completely disbanded when Amorges turned on Artabanus during the latter's attempt on Artaxerxes' life, which forced Artabanus and his family into exile.Assassin's Creed: Odyssey – Legacy of the First Blade: Hunted – Protector of Persia
Amorges and the Order subsequently spent the next few decades hunting down Artabanus and his family, though Artabanus, who had taken up the alias "Darius", and his son Natakas constantly managed to avoid them.Assassin's Creed: Odyssey – Legacy of the First Blade: Hunted During this time, just like Darius had anticipated, the Order attempted to sway the young king Artaxerxes like they had done with his father. After they were unsuccessful,Assassin's Creed: Odyssey – Legacy of the First Blade: Bloodline – Smoke and Fury they made a failed attempt on his life using poison that left the king blind and on the run,Assassin's Creed: Odyssey – Prince of Persia and framed Darius for the plot.
===Legacy===
The Hidden Ones, still remembering Darius' deeds hundreds of years later, posthumously honored him as one of their predecessors. By the 9th century CE, the members of the brotherhood had learned about the circumstances surrounding the collapse of Darius' group. In a letter to Roshan, the Greek Hidden One Itamos pondered whether Darius had ever returned to Persia following the betrayal of his allies.Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Notes from Basim's travels: The First Blade
By the time of the Renaissance, the Hidden Ones, since rechristened as the Assassins, regarded Darius not just as their predecessor, but as an early member of their organization. Alongside six other prominent figures, he was memorialized with a statue at the Villa Auditore in Monteriggioni, and a secret tomb was erected for him within the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella in Florence, Italy.
==Behind the scenes==
Darius' organization was originally referred to as the Persian Brotherhood, a branch of the Assassin Brotherhood, in the first edition of Assassin's Creed: The Essential Guide. Following the introduced in the 2017 video game Assassin's Creed: Origins that shifted the Assassins' founding from prehistory to 47 BCE, all references to Darius and his group were expunged from The Essential Guides second edition.
Darius features as a major supporting character in the 2018 game Assassin's Creed: Odysseys three-part downloadable expansion Legacy of the First Blade, with his group's story and conflict with the Order of the Ancients being told via flashbacks. Although this conflict parallels the one between the Assassins and Templars, Darius' group is never referred to as the Persian Brotherhood in-game nor does it have any connections to the Assassins beyond Darius' teachings being passed down to his descendants—one of whom, Aya, is a co-founder of the Hidden Ones, the earliest incarnation of the Assassins. 
The organization is furthermore never expressly identified by a name at all. When recounting his assassination of Xerxes, Darius refers to himself as "Protector of Persia" although it is unclear if this is an epithet uniquely held by him or if it was commonly held by members of his group. Nonetheless, he goes on to repeatedly describe his organization as having been "protectors" throughout the rest of the story. For this reason, the name Protectors of Persia has been chosen as the placeholder title for this article on the group.
==Known members==
*Artabanus 
*Amorges
*Pactyas
==Gallery==
ACOD LotFB Assassins Attack Xerxes Convoy.png|The group attacking Xerxes' convoy
ACOD LotFB Freedom Fighter.png|One of the group's members
ACOD Darius assassinate Xerxes.png|Artabanus assassinating Xerxes
ACOD LotFB Protector of Persia - Amorges Stopping Darius.png|Amorges confronting Artabanus
ACOD LotFB Protector of Persia - Amorges and Darius Fighting.png|Amorges stopping Artabanus from killing Artaxerxes
==Appearances==
*Assassin's Creed: Initiates 
*Assassin's Creed: Rebellion 
*Assassin's Creed: Odyssey – Legacy of the First Blade: Hunted 
*Assassin's Creed: Mirage 
==References==
zh:阿尔达班集团
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Category:Proto-Assassin groups