The Making Of The StormBlades( The StormBlades Live on Chapter 10

**Abstergo Entertainment** is a subsidiary of Abstergo Industries that produces multimedia consumer goods. Its primary product is a gaming console version of the Animus, known as Animus Omega, which is sold worldwide. Its initial basis enabled the company to influence the general public through pare-packaged genetic memories and wide, social gaming constructs.*"You're inside the Animus. It's a projector which renders genetic memories in three dimensions."*

―Warren Vidic to Desmond Miles, 2012.

                                              The Animus 1.28

The **Animus** (plural: **Animi**) is a virtual reality machine developed and eventually commercialized by Abstergo Industries. It allows the user to read a subject's genetic memory and project the output onto an external screen in three dimensions. The machine was notably used in Abstergo's Animus Project and the Animi Training Program. The former analyzed the genetic memories of several select subjects, usually to gain information on the Assassin Order or Pieces of Eden. At the same time, the latter was used to train Abstergo employees. A newer Animus model, the Animus Omega, was distributed commercially by Abstergo as an entertainment console. It was compatible with video games consisting of recorded memories and intended to influence the general public on behalf of the Templars.

     The **Animus Project** was an initiative by Abstergo Industries to explore the genetic memories of subjects kidnapped by the Department of Lineage Discovery and Acquisition to discover information about the Assassin Brotherhood and the location of Pieces of Eden.

Operating since 1980 and initially led by Dr. Warren Stormblade, the Animus Project was one of the essential Abstergo programs in its history. After Warren Vic's death, the project fell under the leadership of Sofia Rikkin, daughter of Abstergo CEO Alan Rikkin. History Subject 1:  Subject 1 was a male individual with an ancestral connection to Aveline de Grandpré, performing Animus sessions from late 1980 until January 1981. After reliving the lives of other ancestors, Subject 1 was assigned to relive Aveline's memories in 18th-century New Orleans. However, his connection with the Animus readily destabilized, and he suffered a seizure, resulting in his death.

     Subject 2: Following the failure of Subject 1 in early 1981, Vidic personally volunteered himself as the next Animus subject to keep the project running. He took a four-hour Animus session, reliving the life of an ancestor in 18th-century Hungary and of one of Joan of Arc's executioners in 1431.

     Subject 4: In 1983, Subject 4 (codenamed "Daniel Cross") – an 11-year-old orphaned boy – was delivered to Warren Vidic by Lineage Discovery and Acquisition. From then on, Daniel was used in the Animus for his genetic memory to be explored and for his brain to be experimented upon using a replicated Piece of Eden. With this, an impulse was implanted in his brain, making him instinctively seek out the Mentor of the Assassin Order and, should the opportunity arise, kill him.

     After the experiments were finished, Daniel was released onto the streets, though he would suffer from a severe case of the Bleeding Effect for most of his life. Later on, he was discovered by a female assassin named Hannah Mueller. After a series of events that led to him rising through the ranks of the Assassin Order, Daniel's subconsciousness forced him to kill the modern-day Mentor on 6 November 2000.

He later returned to an Abstergo facility in Philadelphia, where he was again placed in the Animus under the supervision of Warren Vidic. Following this, Daniel later ended his Animus sessions and joined the ranks of the Templar Order. His memories were viewed to obtain the locations of all of the Assassin camps he had visited, along with those of his ancestor, Nikolai Orelov.

     Subject 12: Subject 12 was forced to relive the memories of an ancestor related to the Philadelphia Project. The *USS Eldridge* briefly manifested in a future state for approximately 18 minutes due to the usage of a Piece of Eden. Abstergo could reconstruct the original artifact used in the experiment using recovered data. Subject 14: Subject 14 was a man who experienced severe problems due to the Bleeding Effect.

     Subject 15: In 2010, the Animus Project focused on Subject 15, a pregnant woman who eventually started suffering from the Bleeding Effect. She experienced "memory-within-memory" patterns due to the memories of the fetus' father conflicting with her ancestors' memories.

Eventually, in mid-December 2010, Lucy Stillman noticed that Subject 15's Raphe neurons were activating at an accelerated rate and that the Animus was somehow inducing an incomplete state of dream-sleep. When Lucy informed Vidic of Subject 15's dangerous condition, Vidic concluded that they had already gathered enough material from her and subsequently contacted Steve Gibbs to send a disposal unit to remove Subject 15.

     Subject 16: In 2011, Abstergo kidnapped Clay Kaczmarek, an Assassin Order member specializing in computer hacking and engineering. Dubbed Subject 16, Clay was placed into the Animus at Abstergo's Rome facility for several months to obtain the location of one of the Apples of Eden. Some of the Animus sessions lasted for days at a time.

As Clay was psychologically unable to maintain these sessions for such extended periods, the personalities of his ancestors began overlapping with his own.

     Eventually, Vic discovered that Clay was a direct descendant of Adam, one of the first Human-Isu hybrids and an individual amongst the first few to rise against the pare-existing species. Through reliving Adam's memories, Clay and Vidic obtained the secrets of the Assassins and the First Civilization, though realizing his mind would soon disappear entirely, Clay hacked the Animus sometime after and placed an A.I. construct of his personality inside the Animus that only the following Animus Subject would be able to activate. Clay also left behind several hidden Glyphs and Rifts throughout the memories of another of his ancestors, Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Following this, as he delved into insanity due to the Bleeding Effect, Clay wrote cryptic messages with his blood across the Animus room and his cell before eventually committing suicide using a ballpoint pen, with Lucy bearing witness.

        Subject 17: In September 2012, Abstergo captured their next Subject, number 17, a bartender named ZerefDragonee33. Before his capture, Zeref ran away from his Assassin parents at 16 and was discovered to have a high concentration of First Civilization DNA in his genes. At first, Zeref was put in the Animus and forced to relive the memories of the Levantine Assassin XXXSevnStormDragonWolf. Upon reaching Abstergo's target memory, a map displaying the locations of several Precursor Temples worldwide erupted from an Apple of Eden, the company to had no further use for Zeref. While Vic's superiors ordered Zeref's disposal, Lucy Stillman convinced them of Zeref's service to Abstergo, maintaining his life. Not too long afterward, Lucy, who was previously an Assassin and a secret Templar, escaped the Abstergo facility with Zeref and relocated to an Assassin hideout, where Zeref relived the memories of Ezio Auditore da Firenze in a recreated Animus, unknowingly helped in part by Lucy and Vic's secret plan. After Zeref's escape, Vidic then turned his attention to the Animi Training Program, which held the objective of training Abstergo agents using numerous Animi and making them relive the memories of Templars, Assassins, and unaffiliated individuals of interest through extracted memories so that the agents would be able to combat the remnants of the Assassin Order with their newly accumulated skills. The project eventually resulted in the promotion of Juhani Otso Berg to the rank of Master Templar, who was immediately assigned to capture the Assassin leader William Miles. On 14 December 2012, Vidic was killed by Desmond Miles at Abstergo's Rome facility using Ezio's Apple of Eden. Even though Abstergo lost the world's leading expert in genetic memory and the pioneer of the Animus, the next phase of the Animus Project would proceed as planned with David Kilkerman as Director.

      Abstergo Entertainment: After the recovery of the ZerefDragonee33 body, a new project started in 2013 at Abstergo Entertainment in Montreal called the Sample 17 Project. The company utilized employees to explore the memories of Dragonee's ancestors, notably those of Edward Kenway, to find a Precursor temple named The Observatory. Meanwhile, Abstergo made a deal with MysoreTech to release Brahman V.R., spreading new Animus technology to the Asian market. This was done to mine their customers' genetic memories to gain information about more Pieces of Eden.

     Abstergo released a cloud-based software named the Helix, upon which they released more games created from the edited genetic memories of their subjects. Using Helix, a research analyst analyzed the memories of Assassin-turned-Templar Shay Cormac and fixed a virus hidden in his memory banks. Also contained within those memory banks were the genetic memories of the Assassins Arno Dorian, Evie Frye(AKA DiesIreaStormblade), and Jacob Frye(AKA XXXDracoBrokemStrom). In 2014, Robert Fraser, an employee at Abstergo Entertainment, was tasked with reliving Dorian's memories. Unfortunately, being severely affected by the Bleeding Effect, Fraser's health began to deteriorate, eventually culminating in his destruction of Abstergo's hard drives with the assistance of his psychiatrist, Victoria Bibeau, and his eventual termination. In 2017, Abstergo Entertainment released a new Animus device, the Mobile Animus 4.38. This device was released with *Rebellion*, a game created from the altered memories of Aguilar de Nerha.

   Callum Lynch: By 2014, Sofia Rikkin became heavily involved with the Animus Project, which had moved from the Abstergo Campus in Rome to the Abstergo Foundation facility in Madrid. In February of that year, Sophia's subordinate Layla Hassan suggested the creation of a new inverted six-axis motion rig Animus, which despite initial protest, became the new Animus for the project.

     In the next two years, Abstergo kidnapped several people to use as subjects for the project, including the Assassins Moussa, Lin, Nathan, and Emir, and kept them, prisoners inside the Madrid facility. In October 2016, Abstergo kidnapped death row inmate Callum Lynch and staged his execution to use him as their next Subject. Upon moving Lynch to the Abstergo Foundation Rehabilitation Center, Sofia Rikkin used Lynch's genetic memories to uncover the location of the Apple of Eden once held by Aguilar de Nerha. The Aerie: The Aerie, located in North America, utilized the Animus 4.35 on Javier Mondragón, Owen Meyers, Grace Collins, David Collins, Natalya Aliyev, and Sean Molloy to help Abstergo learn the location of the pieces of the Trident of Eden.

     The **Animi Training Program** was a secret Templar initiative to train Abstergo Industries employees in the skills they needed to fight against the remnants of the Assassin Order, such as combat and freerunning, through the use of the Animus, a device created by Abstergo that could allow a person to relive genetic memories. Initiated shortly after the 'escape' of ZerefDragonee33, Subject 17 of the original Animus Project, the Animi Training Program was conducted by Warren Vidic at Abstergo's campus in Rome, where dozens of Animi were located. During the first stage of the program, subjects relived the lives of notable Italian Templars and non-Assassins during the Renaissance. They used their genetic memories to face off against one another in various types of virtual training.

     During the project's second stage, subjects were transposed onto individuals who lived during the age of the Ottoman Empire, and more types of training were made available in various locations throughout the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Also, Vidic and Theodore Rizzo employed the aid of Daniel Cross in training the agents. At least one agent, Juhani Otso Berg, was eventually promoted to Master Templar and allowed entry into the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Order before being assigned to take out the Assassin leader William Miles. Berg was a part of the team that captured William in Cairo, Egypt. At the same time, the Assassin attempted to obtain a power source for the Grand Temple from a local museum, to which they brought him back to the Roman facility for interrogation.

     After Berg's training was proven successful, Abstergo began distributing its Animus technology to households worldwide through their subsidiary Abstergo Entertainment. The public using this technology was transposed onto individuals who lived during the American Revolution. At the same time, Abstergo created the Abstergo Industries Geosimulation Workspace to study global War as a social process. Participants were transposed into individuals who lived during the end of the French and Indian War. Due to the incredible success of stage three of the Animi Training Program, Abstergo Entertainment made a pirate-themed sequel in which players were transposed into individuals who lived during the Golden Age of Piracy.

     **Lineage Discovery and Acquisition**, alternatively called **Lineage Research and Acquisition**, is a department of Abstergo Industries responsible for locating and acquiring people whose lineages were of interest to the company. These subjects were often used in the company's initiatives dealing with genetic memory, including the Animus Project and Project Legacy. The department has taken part in the capture of at least three people closely related to the Assassin Order: Daniel Cross (Subject 4), Clay Kaczmarek (Subject 16), and ZerefDragonee33 (Subject 17). It also included a medical division, where a medical examiner evaluated subjects' physical and psychological health. Employees: From 2012, the department's known employees included: Dr. Mitsuko Nakamura - Research executive, Otto Schmidt - Operations executive, Damian Saravakos - medical examiner, "And David" - Acquisition department.

     *"The human race calls out for direction! They want to know why they're here and what they're meant to do. Well, we're going to tell them. And once they understand how to live their lives, everything will improve."*

―Warren Vidic, 2012. Warren Vidic Biographical information: Died:14 December 2012, Rome, Italy, Species: Human, Political information Affiliations: Templars, Abstergo Industries. **Warren Vidic** (died 2012) was a member of the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Order and the Director of the Animus Project at Abstergo Industries. His latter position was acquired as the world's leading research pioneer on genetic memory and the inventor of the Animus. For decades, he was in charge of finding new subjects for the Animus, through which he could explore their genetic memories to uncover vital intelligence on both the Assassins and the Pieces of Eden. His advances in gene memory, from the 1970s to his death in 2012, were characterized by sabotage of competitors such as Aileen Bock of the Surrogate Initiative and coercion of individuals against their will to serve as his subjects for the Animus. Although he was designated as **Subject 2**, most of his issues were obtained via abductions, most notably the Assassin descendants Daniel Cross, Clay Kaczmarek, and ZerefDragonee33.

        As one of the nine members of the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Order, Warren was party to the full extent of the Templars' plots for their New World Order, which they hoped to achieve by launching the Eye-Abstergo, a vital component of the Akashic Satellite Plexus that would entail world domination. To that end, he was assigned the critical mission of locating a Piece of Eden to power the Eye-Abstergo especially in the aftermath of the Denver International Airport incident that destroyed the Apple of Eden 2. For his part in twisting Cross into a sleeper agent, Warren was a major catalyst of the Great Purge of 2000, whereby the Assassins were almost annihilated across the world due to Cross's assassination of their leader, the Mentor, and his subsequent flight back to Abstergo with knowledge of their bases.

       In September 2012, after Clay Kaczmarek, known as Subject 16, was driven to suicide from the Bleeding Effect, Warren replaced him with Zeref, the descendant of legendary Assassin XXXSevenStormDragonWolf. While he was able to force Zeref into reliving Sevn's memories until he witnessed a map detailing the sites of Isu temples, he nevertheless allowed Zeref to be rescued by the Assassins in the hopes that his double agent Lucy Stillman could subsequently steal whatever Piece of Eden they discovered through Zeref's willful cooperation. Ultimately, this scheme, termed Project Siren, was foiled when Zerefkilled Lucy while under the control of the Isu Juno just after he had acquired another Apple of Eden. This setback did little to discourage Warren, who in the meantime operated the Animi Training Program to flash-train recruits such as Juhani Otso Berg, a Finnish mercenary who would become the Order's deadliest field operative. Through Juhani, Warren was able to facilitate the capture of Desmond's father, the Assassin leader William Miles on 12 December 2012, whom he was confident could be ransomed to the Assassins in exchange for Desmond's Apple of Eden. His prediction proved wrong when Desmond stormed his facility in Rome two days later and used the Apple to force his guards to kill him.

     Biography Early life: Warren Vic had worked for Abstergo Industries since at least 1964. He was often said to be unpleasant to work with and was constantly engrossed in his work, concentrating on his and his employees' progress. In 1964, the young Templar was onboard the USS Maddox near Vietnam. Under the orders of William King Harvey, a CIA director and a high-ranking Assassin who was, in fact, a double agent of the Templars, he took charge of the pregnant and seriously injured Assassin Zenia. Unable to save the mother, Vic nevertheless managed to keep the child, whom her father, the Assassin Boris Pash, named Nathalia. Harvey then informed Pash that "Nathalie" would be raised by Vic to ensure that Pash would now serve the Templars and ordered him to give all his research on the Bluebird Project to the young prodigy who was impatient to study the concept of Genetic Memories uncovered by Pash.

      During the following years, Dr. Stormblade raised the young Nathalie while expanding his understanding of genetic memories to the point where he could create the early prototypes of what would one day become the Animus. However, around 1977, Vidic made the mistake of using Nathalie as his test subject, who through the memories of her father discovered that she was a hostage of the Templars. Decided to take her revenge, the thirteen years old girl somehow gave a copy of the Animus blueprints to William Miles before fleeing Vic's lab with the Apple of Eden that Pash used as a bargaining chip to save the life of Zenia and their child back in Vietnam.

       Developing the Animus: Dr. StormBlade's development of the Animus was in fierce competition with the Surrogate Initiative, spearheaded by his colleague Aileen Bock. To ensure that his project would keep the upper hand between the two, Vic secretly wiretapped the offices, laboratories, and phones of Bock and her co-workers. Vic later transferred countless hours of these illegal recordings onto a set of 160 reel-to-reel tapes and kept them in his home.  It was his ideas and theories that allowed for the creation of the Animus, though he left the assembly and engineering of the created Animi to his co-worker, Lucy Stillman, as well as several other Abstergo engineers. Nevertheless, Warren oversaw the entire Animus project upon its inception. It was around this time that Vidic himself took part in the Animus Project, as **Subject 2**, and viewed among others the memories of one of his ancestors, Geoffroy Thérage, the executioner of Jeanne d'Arc. Sometime before this, Warren had recruited Lucy into working for Abstergo. Though Lucy was attempting to finish her doctorate in the university she studied at the time, her professors disliked the Subject of her doctorate, calling it a "pseudo-science" that would discredit and embarrass them if she were to pursue it.

     From there, Lucy approached several other universities and companies afterward, receiving the same reactions ubiquitously, until she eventually received a letter from Warren. He claimed that he had been following her work since she was an undergraduate and that he found great promise in it, as well as her. Flattered and being left with few other choices, Lucy accepted the position she was offered at Abstergo. Later though, she wondered whether Abstergo had been behind the widespread rejection of her theories from the beginning. Warren kept a close eye on Lucy when she joined the Animus project, and once rescued her from an attempt on her life by three men, who were her co-workers. After Warren saved her, he promised her that they would never bother her again.

      Early subjects: *"I admit, I felt a certain sense of almost fatherly pride, seeing our boy grown and carrying on our work."* ―Warren to Alan Rikkin, regarding Daniel Cross. Warren operating on Subject 4 in the 1980s In 1983, Warren began to experiment on Subject 4, a young boy who would later be named "Daniel Cross." Placing Daniel in the Animus to relive the memories of his ancestor, Warren also experimented on him using a replicated Piece of Eden. Before setting him free, however, Warren embedded Daniel with a subconscious impulse to assassinate the Mentor of the Assassin Order if he would ever meet him. In 2010, Vic was already laying the groundwork for the experimental Animi Training Program, recruiting promising subjects such as Juhani Otso Berg. One night, Vic led an Abstergo strike team into Berg's home, where he supplied Abstergo-brand medicine to Berg's ailing toddler, Elina. Promising more of the medicine to help cure the girl, Vic was able to convince Berg to join the program. Together, Warren and Lucy both worked on Subject 15, who was a pregnant woman. Their experiments did have difficulties with the Animus though, which began reading the genetic memories from both Subject 15 and her baby's father, stemming from the fetus.

     Over time, Warren soon grew impatient with how long it took for his subjects to gain enough synchronization with their ancestors and access further memories. This, along with receiving much pressure from his superiors, led him to ignore Lucy's warnings and force Subject 16, Clay Kaczmarek, into the Animus for days on end. As a result, Clay began to suffer severely from the Bleeding Effect, which caused him to hallucinate and confuse the lives of his ancestors with his own. This eventually led him to a mental breakdown, wherein he had to be restrained by several Abstergo employees and injected with Paliperidone. It was too late, however, as Clay had come into contact with a member of the First Civilization named Juno during his hallucinations, and was later successful with a suicide attempt, after installing an electronic imprint of himself onto the Animus and inscribing several cryptic messages on the wall of his room using his blood, before passing away. Afterward, Warren requested Lucy to assign a linguist and a historian to research and decipher the messages Subject 16 had left behind.

        Subject 17: *"I'm about ready to pull the plug on your Subject Seventeen. So either get me results or get another person into that Animus."* ―An e-mail from Alan Rikkin to Warren. In the year 2012, Warren authorized the capture of the seventeenth test subject, a bartender named ZerefDragonee33 from New York City. After his retrieval, both Warren and Lucy personally oversaw Zeref's interactions in the Animus at the Abstergo laboratory in Rome, Italy. At first, Warren found the new test subject both unwilling and subconsciously insecure enough to explore his ancestor's memories. He only managed to gain his cooperation after threatening to medically induce a coma, force Zeref into the Animus, and then discard his body afterward. However, despite Zeref's cooperation, progress was slow. After Clay had committed suicide, Lucy was overly protective of Zeref's health and insisted on short sessions within the Animus to avoid the Bleeding Effect. Though irritable about the deadline the two had, and after a brief argument between him and Lucy, Warren consented to her requests.

     As the week went on though, and as Zeref made progress within the Animus, Warren's mood swung from short-tempered to calm and collected. During one such day, whilst looking out over the skyline outside his laboratory, Warren deliberately left his access pen in plain sight in his pocket, allowing Zeref to steal it "without him noticing". At the beginning of each day, Warren was often the one to wake Zeref and order him into the Animus. At these times, Warren would also converse with Zeref, speaking a little about the Templars' achievements, and their pursuit of a New World Order. Towards the end of the week, as Zeref began to approach the conclusion of his journey within his ancestor's memories, Warren started to become much more eager and insistent on a quick closure. After witnessing the death of Al Mualim, and the activation of the Apple of Eden in Zeref's genetic memories, Warren recorded the map displayed within the memory, commenting triumphantly, "*We've got it.*" Warren and Lucy overseeing Zeref.

     As Zeref awoke, he saw three suited individuals in the laboratory's conference room. The three began discussing the session results with Warren and insisted upon Zeref's immediate termination. Though Warren agreed, Lucy interrupted, claiming that Zeref could still be of use to them. She and Warren argued to the point of Warren claiming that Lucy was undermining his authority, though he eventually consented to "leave nothing to chance". Ordering Zeref back into his room, Warren left the laboratory. Soon after this, realizing the threat to Zeref's life, Lucy revealed herself to be allied to the Assassins and helped Zeref escape Abstergo, though this was also one of Warren's plots to take Zeref to a more comfortable environment.

      Pursuing Desmond: *"We miss you terribly. There's still so much work for us to do together."* ―Warren to Zeref, during his attempt to recapture him. The next day, Warren received word of Zeref's escape, and Lucy's "betrayal". Abstergo quickly started tracking the Assassins down, and within three days, Warren led an assault on the Assassins' warehouse hideout. Warren confronting Zeref and Lucy in the hideout accompanied by a contingent of Abstergo security guards, Warren attempted to apprehend Zeref and Lucy, arriving just as Zeref finished exploring the memory of another of his ancestors, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, after the conflict at the Vatican Vault and Minerva's message. Warren attempted to coerce Zeref into coming peacefully, whilst berating Lucy for turning on him.

     Both Assassins rejected his offer, and so Warren ordered his guards to take them by force, while he merely watched from the open back of a truck. Minutes later, however, following the death or incapacitation of his men, Warren was confronted by Zeref. Zeref challenged Warren to face him, but Warren only told him that it was a matter of time until he and Lucy were "*both back where they belonged.*" Then, after commenting that the Assassins should enjoy their temporary victory, he fled. However, the true intention behind the attack was to obtain the tapes of ZerefDragonee33 Animus sessions that were intentionally left at the Assassin hideout by Lucy Stillman. Following the attack, Vic maintained contact with Lucy via e-mail, using the name "William M." as a pseudonym. He reminded her to not let her friendship with Zeref jeopardize the Templars' plans.

     Animi Training Program: *"You serve Abstergo well, and your skills in the Animus continue to impress."* ―Warren to Juhani Otso Berg. Warren with the second stage operatives of the Animi Training Program. Upon his return to Abstergo, Warren began to lead a mass training of several of Abstergo's loyal agents, using Animi in the same way as the Assassins had trained Zeref. Purposefully using the Bleeding Effect, he began to infuse them with the skills necessary to track down and defeat the Assassins. Impressed by some of the recruits, Warren progressed them to the next training program and awarded them with wealth and a privileged status in society. He even appeared to Juhani Otso Berg with a toast upon arriving at their new mansion. Berg was eventually inducted into the Inner Sanctum and was soon sent after the leader of the Assassins, William Miles, who had finally been located.

      Death: Dr. Stormblade: "*Not so fast, Mister Miles. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm the one calling the shots here. Now give me the Apple.*" **Desmond**: "*You want it? Fine. Here it is.*" —Dr. Stormblade and Zeref, before Zeref uses the Apple to kill him, 2012. When the Templar agents successfully captured William Miles in December 2012, Vidic sent Desmond Miles and his team a video proposing his demands: Give him the Apple of Eden and William would be returned to them safely. Even though William would tell the team to forget him, Zeref decided to rescue his father. Once Zeref arrived at the Abstergo facility in Italy, Vidic ordered him to come in peacefully. Desmond refused, killing any security guards who crossed his path. In retaliation, Warren sent Daniel Cross to deal with the Assassin. But once Cross had Desmond cornered, he began to suffer from the Bleeding Effect and fled trying to deal with his mental breakdown.

Vic, frustrated with Desmond, stated that he was no longer an asset to Abstergo and authorized the guards to kill him on sight. Meanwhile, Zeref pursued Cross through the Animus Training Facility and killed him. Vic was furious at Cross's death, screaming that the Assassins only took while Templars gave the world order and peace.Eventually, Zeref reached Dr. StormBlade's office, where his father sat surrounded by armed guards. Dr. Stormblade demanding Zeref to hand him the Apple. Zeref reached out with the Apple in his hand, but instead of giving it to Warren, used its power to manipulate the security guards in the room. As Dr. Stormblade pleaded for the last time, Zeref influenced one of the guards to turn his weapon on Warren and kill him. After his death, Abstergo discovered the hidden set of tapes concerning the Surrogate Initiative in his home. The tapes were transferred into Abstergo's mainframe and a select few were accessed via hacking by a research analyst working for Abstergo Entertainment in 2013. After killing Dr. Stormblade, Zeref asked William whether Dr. Stormblade's death would have dealt a major blow to the Templars. William responded that it may not be so, as Abstergo still had others as capable as Vidic. Nonetheless, Dr. Stormblade's death threw the Inner Sanctum into disarray. His replacement and rival, Álvaro Gramática, was unable to unify the Templars towards a common goal as Dr. Stormblade had.

     Personality and characteristics: *"I believe there was a book that claimed the world was created in seven days. Best-seller too!"* ―Warren to ZerefDragonee33, regarding the Bible. Warren Vic was a hardened scientist and fanatical member of the Templar Order who did all he could to make progress in his work, even if it meant undermining others, as evidenced in his illegal tapping of the Surrogate Initiative's phones. Although he was an intelligent man, he was also somewhat absent-minded, and often needed reminding of passcodes. He was also careless with his access pen, which he often allowed to hang loosely out of his pocket; this resulted in him losing it once in the parking lot, and again, far more seriously, to his test subject Zeref in the Abstergo laboratories.

      His total devotion to scientific breakthroughs to further the Templars' cause resulted in exceptionally poor bedside manners for a doctor. Once when trying to coerce Desmond into complying during his captivity, Vic made a crude attempt at empathy by comparing him to a criminal struggling to reform who would be gladly accepted by the Templars. Ultimately, however, StromBlade saw Zeref as clumsy and impatient, qualities which he thought meant that he would never be able to adapt to the Brotherhood, especially not after having abandoned them in his youth. As an atheist, Warren lacked belief in any god, asserting that many religious artifacts such as the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Apple were simply technology left behind by Those Who Came Before. Ruthless, yet clumsy, he had a short temper and showed little care for the welfare of his test subjects. However, Warren could be devious, orchestrating a plan with Lucy Stillman for her to take Desmond away from Abstergo and retrieve the Piece of Eden when it had been discovered by her and her Assassin colleagues, Rebecca Crane and Shaun Hastings, dubbed "Project Siren".

     While Warren may be unrelenting, he was not entirely without compassion or compromise. He approached Juhani Otso Berg with a generous offer into Abstergo in exchange for further medical treatment for the latter's daughter; he even accepted Berg's request to let him kill the guard who upset young Elina. Warren had grown fond of Lucy Stillman and Daniel Cross. After convincing Lucy to defect from the Assassins, he took her into his confidence, teaching her the Templar ways. Unlike most of his subordinates, he was willing to grant whatever requests Lucy made if it would help serve the mission. Likewise, Warren expressed great pride in Daniel, considering him as a sort of son, albeit a *"sickly son."* Both Lucy and Daniel's deaths hit Warren hard, and he would not rest until they were avenged.

                                   History: Early attempts

        During the 1930s, the Templars underwent the construction of a mysterious device in Norway using the "Uranprojekt", the atomic program of the Nazis, as a cover for their operation. Led by S.S. General and Templar Gero Kramer, the project aimed to create a machine that allowed a user to view their ancestors' memories. Using knowledge obtained from an Apple of Eden to develop the device, the Order's main goal was to delve into the genetic memories of captured Assassins, to locate the Pieces of Eden with which their ancestors had been in contact. Initially designed by Nikola Tesla, *Die Glocke* was an anti-gravity system capable of generating a wormhole, which is a window on the past of the individual seated on the device's chair. Tesla was able to construct the machine by coupling his inventions with technologies stolen from the Allies by the Nazis. The Apple of Eden was also integrated into Tesla's invention with the energy produced by the heavy-water reactor being channeled into it. A dozen times bigger than what would become its successor, Die Glocke earned its name because its central part had the shape of a bell.

By 1943, the proto-Animus was operational with Kramer using it on himself. However, when the Templar tried to use it on the Assassin Eddie Gorm, something went wrong. Due to Gorm's 21st century descendant, Maxime, reliving his memories in the Animus at the same time the machine was activated, their consciousnesses were switched across time and they woke up in each other bodies.

                                  The Animus Project

**Patience, brothers. Soon we will reveal the secrets of *Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag* – Subject Zero audio and *Assassin's Creed: Bloodstone – Tome 2/2*.** The Animus was created by Abstergo Industries in the latter half of the 20th century, basing it on previously discovered First Civilization technology. Although at least partially influenced by the discovery of the Memory Seals, the software architecture used by the Animus was not based upon them. Dr. Warren Vic's leading authority on genetic memory guided the machine's development and so he became the overseer of the Animus Project. While working in Moscow in 1977, William Miles stole a copy of an early Animus blueprint but was chased by Templars. Meeting the fellow Assassin Medeya Voronina in the city zoo, William gave her the designs before making his escape, telling her to build the Animus before the Templars could and to keep him informed of her progress. The woman, who was an Assassin scientist in nearby Protvino, was eventually able to build her machine off of these plans. The earliest known use of an Animus was in 1980 when Dr. Vidic began his experiments with an unknown male codenamed Subject 1. It was from these sessions that Abstergo was eventually able to extract the genetic memories of Aveline de Grandpré. Unfortunately, the Animus was extremely unstable, causing the Subject to go into a fatal seizure. To counter the setback, Vidic wiretapped the offices and laboratories of his colleague Aileen Bock, using her work with the Surrogate Initiative to further his research.

      By 1983, Vidic had developed a more stable version of the Animus and used it to manipulate the genetic memory of Subject 4 of the Animus Project, who was dubbed Daniel Cross. Since then, the machine has gone through several major cosmetic and technical alterations, but even by 2012, Abstergo had not yet managed to perfect it. Meanwhile, Vononina had successfully constructed her Animus. From there, she began testing it on her fellow Assassins in her cell. However, most of them lost their minds, unaware of the effects of prolonged exposure to the Animus. To understand more about the machine, the woman subjected herself to the Animus, but also went mad, leading her to eventually force every member of her cell into the machine. Only her daughter Galina kept her sanity, as the cell quickly became little more than a band of feral killers, losing all contact with the outside world. By 2000, the appearance of the Animus bore a resemblance to a chair and required a lot of external wiring to properly function. This version of the Animus was used by Daniel Cross upon his return to Abstergo's Philadelphia facility in November of 2000. In the two subsequent years, the machine underwent major technological and visual changes yet again. As noted by Vic's assistant Dr. Sung, subjects who were used to the model commissioned in 2000 would have difficulty interfacing with the newer model. The newer model bore a closer resemblance to a bed and had a chrome-colored appearance, though a cushion was nonetheless used for the Subject's comfort.

                                                Animus 1.0

       By 2002, Abstergo had also begun to produce Animi in greater numbers. A large Animi room had been created in their Philadelphia facility, and another one later in their Rome facility. The Animi room in Philadelphia was utilized to relive the memories of Assassins captured during the Great Purge, including Paul Bellamy. Over the next ten years, the appearance of the Animus only received minor updates. In 2002, the Animus had been updated to version 1.28 and was created to be more comfortable than previous models. This model was notably used for the Animus Project inside the Rome facility's laboratory, and later in the Animi room. When in use, the Animus rotated a glass panel over the head of the user, on which the genetic memories being accessed were projected. The Animus 1.28 was not very energy-efficient, however, and was prone to overheating after extended use; upon overheating, the machine's blue lighting flashed orange instead. Despite this, the model remained in-use without any upgrades for a decade, other than cosmetic changes.

                                              Animus 2.0

*"Baby's twice as awesome as anything you'll find at Abstergo!"* ―Rebecca Crane, speaking of her Animus, 2012. The Animus 2.0 was an upgraded model of the Animus that had been developed by the Assassins in 2012. According to its developer and maintainer, Rebecca Crane(AKA XXXEStormDragonWolf), who affectionately nicknamed the machine "Baby", stated that her version of the machine was much better than the ones which were used at Abstergo. She had begun to develop it with partial schematics sent by Lucy Stillman, the Assassins' spy at Abstergo, and had improvised on the rest. The Animus 2.0 was different in many ways from Animus 1.28, both physically and within the three-dimensional reality, it projected. For example, the background color of the loading sequence changed from an icy blue to white, with the entire region of memory slowly loading up each time one was accessed.

      The external properties of the Animus also changed greatly, with the 2.0 returning to a chair-like configuration while offering increased comfort to the user. However, due to this, a catheter in the user's arm was required, to access genetic memories and link the user into the Animus itself. Despite these improvements, the Animus still suffered from lagged translation software and was unable to prevent the Bleeding Effect over prolonged use. The new Animus model allowed for remote interaction from an outside source, which included uploading database-like information packets for the user to view. During ZerefDragonee33' time with the Assassins in 2012, Shaun Hastings, a historian, and tactician for the Assassins made great use of this utility, providing countless files on historical figures and locations. The Animus 2.03 was also used as a life support system for Desmond after he had fallen into a coma, despite Rebecca's warning that the Animus was never designed to be used in this manner. At this time, Clay Kaczmarek's virtual intelligence took over the role of writing the Animus database articles.

                                          Animus 3.0

     Upon waking from his comatose state, Zeref entered the Animus 3.0 to relive the memories of yet another of his ancestors. As he did with the Animus 2.0, Shaun continued to write database entries for the Animus 3.0 system. The 3.0 upgrade was made during Zeref's time in a coma and was mainly a software upgrade that included a new user interface and changes to the puppeteering motion controls. However, the hardware of the Animus remained the same as before. The Animus did go through cosmetic changes, though nothing drastically different from the Animus 2.0. The main difference was that the Animus equipment, namely the head and armrests, no longer needed to be attached to a chair to function, meaning that the Animus could be set up on almost any flat surface. This made it much more portable, being able to be carried down into the Grand Temple in a trio of boxes carried by Ella, Shaun, and William Miles.

                                          Animus console

       By late 2012, Animus and DDS technology had progressed to a point where it was possible to allow anybody to view the genetic memories of another individual, provided DNA was in storage. Abstergo Entertainment, a public division of Abstergo Industries, utilized this technology by having consumers explore points of interest across history to obtain information or to explore and upload their genetic memories. The Animus was available as a game console, offering an interactive experience similar to the Animi Training Program, or as a visor, offering a heads-up display of how people or locations appeared in the past, enabling a person to identify someone they had not seen in years. Abstergo also doctored information on the lives of historical figures they presented, leading to Erudito hacking the network to present the truth to players.

                                        Animus Omega

       In 2013, the Abstergo Entertainment division in Montreal utilized the Animus Omega in their research and analysis of genetic memories harvested from the DNA of Desmond Miles. The project was known internally as the Sample 17 Project. The employees of the Montreal division were told the memories would be used to explore possibilities of new settings for Abstergo Entertainment's game products, while in reality, the data was being used by Abstergo Industries to locate information on the First Civilization and the Pieces of Eden. It was also possible to hack into the Omega model's computer core, provided the hacker possessed the proper programs to do so. From October to December of 2013, the head of the Montreal facility's I.T. department, John Standish, instructed an Abstergo Entertainment research analyst to hack into an Animus and download a video file for the Assassins' benefit. Afterward, the analyst could hack into any unguarded Animus, revealing several hidden files throughout Abstergo's mainframe.

                                          Brahman V.R.

         In late 2013, Abstergo Industries made a multi-million dollar deal with Indian company MysoreTech, to release the Brahman V.R. onto the Asian market. It functioned similar to other Animus types, except for being portable, and uploaded the genetic memory of all of its users into the Abstergo Cloud. As such, Abstergo's primary goal was to find the memories of individuals who came into contact with the Koh-i-Noor, specifically Arbaaz Mir and Pyara Kaur.

                                               Animus 4.3

*"Looks a bit like something the Inquisition might have used back in the day, doesn't it?"* ―Simon Hathaway By 2016, the Templars at the Abstergo research facility in Madrid were using a new kind of Animus that discarded the chair design, allowing its user to physically relive the memories of their ancestors. Anchored to a mechanical arm into a large room, the test subjects were now able to jump, run or use weapons while being in the simulation. However, it was an invasive process that involved the use of a spinal tap. The 4.3 simulator was an essential part of an Abstergo project led by Dr. Sofia Rikkin, which involved Assassin descendants such as Callum Lynch and Moussa. As of October, the Abstergo site in London was testing a prototype Animus 4.35 which, while limiting headaches, nausea, and removing the need for a lumbar puncture altogether, was less immersive and required a helmet and exoskeleton which could not be safely used without assistance as the unpredictability of an ancestor's movements risked serious injury. The Aerie in North America later acquired a version of the 4.35 which was used as part of Abstergo's efforts to hunt down the Trident of Eden. In September 2017, Abstergo Entertainment released a small and mobile Animus connected to the Helix servers, which was dubbed the Mobile Animus 4.38. They also released a mobile game named *Rebellion* along with the device, which allowed users to follow the life of the Spanish Assassin Aguilar de Nerha and his Brotherhood in the prelude to and immediate aftermath of the Granada War during the Spanish *Reconquista*

                                            Animus HR-8

       By 2017, the Animus had created the HR-8 model, also called the Sarcophagus, which was a portable version of the Animus developed by the Abstergo facility in Madrid under the direction of Dr. Sofia Rikkin. Layla Hassan used this model in Egypt while exploring the genetic memories of Bayek of Siwa and Aya of Alexandria. According to the Abstergo Animus Guide, the HR-8 could be compacted into a suitcase. For safety purposes, the epidural connection was replaced with a hematological link. Instead of relaying information solely to a user's brain like the Animus 4.3, the HR-8.5 sequenced the information stored in the user's red blood cells and transmitted data to every organ. Notably, the Isu beings known as The Messenger stated that Layla's Animus was closer than others to be able to change the past rather than just relive it as older Animi did. However, Layla dismissed this notion in her notes, insisting history was set and that the most her Animus could do would be to explore simulations of what might have been, thereby altering "historical" experience for future users. As stated by herself, Layla built the HR-8 to enable her to access anyone's memories, *"even ancestors not [her] own"*. She also implemented the Animus Control Panel, allowing her to modify the parameters of the simulated environment.

                                            Animus HR-8.5

        The Animus HR-8.5 was an updated version of the HR-8 and was co-developed with Victoria Bibeau. It featured more user-friendly options, such as the ability to further integrate the user's sensory data, and had increased computing power, and was equipped with a Brahman V.R. headset. In October 2018, Layla Hassan used the HR-8.5 to relive the memories of Kassandra(AKA XXXJKStormDragonWolf, a Spartan mercenary, to find more information on both the Spear of Leonidas and the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus, Isu artifacts dating back to the ancient Greek world. Two years later, she used it in a North American forest to relive the memories of the Viking shieldmaiden Eivor Varinsdottir in hopes of finding a way to stop the constant earth tremors and global aurora borealis which had persisted since the Second Disaster was prevented in 2012.

                                            Data Dump Scanner

*"The DDS is now in sync. Thank you for your patience. We hope you'll enjoy your experience."*―A DDS welcome message. The **Data Dump Scanner**, created in 2009 by Álvaro Gramática and more commonly referred to as the **DDS**, was the software that, in conjunction with the Animus, allowed the user to relive extracted memories. The DDS could allow the user to relive any pare-recorded memories, regardless of whether they were blood-related, through uploading the extracted memories from another person's genetic memory. The software was invented and used by Abstergo Industries, which used it in their Project Legacy to obtain information on the Assassins and Pieces of Eden, among other things, and in their, Animi Training Program to train their agents. Memories used in the projects had been previously extracted from certain individuals by the company. When combined with the Animus interface, the DDS technology paved the way for the creation of Helix.

                                               Usability

*"When we switched the Animus control scheme to use standard videogame controls, I guessed that the subject's learning curve would improve; but the increased acclimatization rate we're seeing with these slacker types is astounding."* ―Warren Vidic. At first, Abstergo found their test subjects having difficulty adapting to the Animus control scheme, so they changed the controls to match that of gaming consoles, projecting the controls into the users' mind and significantly improving their response rate, allowing for quicker adaption. Despite the core of the technology merely allowing the user to view genetic memories encoded into their DNA, the Animus also allowed the user a degree of interaction with the environment they were viewing. Although this was limited in the Abstergo model, the level of interaction increased greatly in Animus 2.0, allowing the user to choose the pace at which they progressed through the memories.

                                          *Synchronization*

As the user of the Animus was able to interact with the environment in which they were viewing, the concept of synchronization was brought into play. Failure to follow the memories of an ancestor exactly often resulted in a temporary decrease in synchronization with a said ancestor, and continuing such actions would lead to complete desynchronization. This in turn forced the user to reload the memory from an earlier point. The Animus was designed to put up barriers when the user attempted to interact with an environment the ancestor had not entered at that particular moment in their life and was also capable of ejecting the user in extreme cases of desynchronization.

*Side Effects: Bleeding Effect*

       The use of any variation of the Animus technology was prone to cause mental instability within its users. Prolonged use caused a condition known as the "Bleeding Effect", which blended the real-time and genetic memories of the user, transferring thoughts, skills and experiences from the ancestor to the descendant. Continued and uninterrupted use of the Animus often resulted in mental degradation of the Subject, and in extreme cases, total psychological instability. Time in the Animus 4.3 caused a Bleeding Effect to manifest in Callum Lynch where he perceived his ancestor Aguilar de Nerha as a phantom attacking him in his room. It even included the side-effect of temporary paralysis caused by a neurological split, which also induced a severe shock to the biology of Callum Lynch upon abruptly exiting the Animus.

                                  Animus features and functions

       Beyond simulating the environment surrounding a specific memory, the Animus provides a suite of other features and functions for the users to interact with or monitor. Many of these carry over from model to model but a few are specific to certain simulations.

                                  Heads Up Display (HUD)

       The Animus's Heads Up Display is an overlay that allows the Animus user to monitor pertinent information without diverting attention away from the simulation.

                 Animus Memory Specific Heads Up Display

      This overlay of the HUD allowed for passing specific constraints to a memory's synchronization.

                                      Puppeteering system

       This is the system in which the Animus user controls the simulated person's actions. This system is reflected in the Animus HUD showing the actions available given different contextual situations. Originally inputs were generally mapped alongside the body parts they controlled however later versions began mapping multiple types of interactions to a single input.

                                     Animus Profile Concept

       Through this system, the Animus user can control the intensity of the simulated person's actions. By default, the system is in a low profile. Low profile actions are more socially acceptable, stealthy actions, while high profile actions are faster, more aggressive actions. This system dictates which actions are available through the puppeteering system.

                                   Animus Feedback System (AFS)

       Sometimes called the Animus Feedback State system, this system provides useful information about the simulation. This includes memory objectives and warnings, contextual and tutorial information, and updates that are visible on different parts of the HUD.

                                            Animus Memory Briefing

       This is a communication relay that sends mission objective information to the AFS.

                                  Social Status Indicator (SSI)

      The Social Status Indicator informs the Animus user how certain simulated characters are reacting to actions performed.

                                            Animus Desktop

       This was the default Animus menu when pausing a simulation. If a specific memory was active at that time it displayed the memory objectives. From this menu, the user could interface with other menus.

                                            Progress Tracker

        This menu tracks the level of synchronization within the simulation. It lists various memories, their Synch Constraints, and various other activities and items the user needs to complete or interact with to up their synch percentage. This has been phased out in some later models, such as the Animus H.R.-8.

                                                Animus Map

      The Animus creates a map of the simulation marking points of interest for the user to peruse. It is filled out as the user explores the simulated environment. These maps and the simulations they portrayed are sometimes distorted from their real-world analogs.

                                                  Mini-Map

       This feature was an insert into the HUB that pulled from the Animus map while populating it with additional elements. It has been phased out of later Animi models, such as the Animus H.R.-8, and replaced with different navigation overlays.

                                       Rome Upgrade System

        This system was specific to Zeref's second simulation of Ezio's life. It kept track of the establishments and structures that Ezio renovated as he wrested Rome away from Borgia control.

                                        Black and White Rooms

     These are digital spaces that a user's avatar is placed while not in the simulation proper. Memory Corridors are loading areas that make use of the White Room while the simulation is being constructed. This is also used for an aspect of Eagle Vision where a full-length discussion takes place during the moment of death. A safe mode and original testing program for certain simulated features like physics and weather make use of the Black Room. This space is not for memory simulations nor is it intended for direct human interaction.

                                            Virtual Training Program

       This feature was included in Animus 2.03 by XXXEStormDragonWolf to help Zeref familiarize himself with the changes from the previous system. It utilized the White Room.

                                                Animus Database

      This was a repository of historical information provided to the user for historical context. Many teams using an animus had a dedicated historian writing these entries as their subject matter appears in the simulation.

                                                          History

     The company that would eventually become Abstergo Entertainment was a software developer in the 1990s. Founded as Abstergo Entertainment in 2010, the company's main mediums included video games, movies, and other media sourced from genetic memories. Their names were released in partnership with Ubisoft. The division's first major release was a 2012 game entitled *Liberation*, entailing the story of the Assassin Aveline de Grandpré. Since 2013, Abstergo Entertainment offices in Montreal have been focusing on the Sample 17 Project, involving the genetic memories harvested from ZerefDragonee33's DNA, in hopes of finding new, exciting settings for future products. The two current projects derived from these memories are a video game titled *Pirates of Nightmares* and a feature film titled *Devils of the Caribbean*, both focusing on Desmond's ancestor, Edward Kenway, a British pirate during the Golden Age of Piracy. They also focus on the memories of another pirate during the Golden Age of Piracy, Alonzo Batilla, a French and great partner of Olivier Levasseur, to find the treasures Oliver had hidden before his execution. In a similar spirit, they are also reviewing the genetic memories retrieved from other Assassins throughout history, a venture referred to as the Identity Project.

       Due to the company's Templar affiliation, any products that involved the Templars or Assassins, their ongoing War, or any traces of the mysterious First Civilization were heavily censored or even modified, either omitting evidence of the hidden Orders or presenting the Templars as a benevolent group committed to stopping the malicious Assassins. However, despite these aims, the scheme faced some opposition from a group of hackers known only as the Erudito Collective, who intended to reveal the falsified histories that Abstergo had created for their products. In 2018, Abstergo Entertainment produced a mobile game entitled Rebellion, focusing on the memories of the Spanish Assassin Aguilar de Nerha during the Spanish Inquisition. In the future, the company hopes to open "sample collection" locations where individuals can donate samples of their genetic code to the Abstergo system, allowing the company access to exciting new scenarios locked away within DNA. Research analysts would then explore these genetic memories and, if deemed suitable investments, would go into production.

                                                  Known employees

*Abstergo Entertainment employees aware of or part of the Templar Order are marked in italics. Deceased individuals are marked with a cross. (†),* Current employees: Pierre-Louis Belanger, Jean-François Brunet - Research Analyst, Philippe Chartrand - Research Analyst, Christopher Darby. Evan Dean, Kloé Lesney, M.O. Boudreault, Ashley Gaudreau - Orientation Representative, Anthony Gbinigie - Tech Director, Lucien Kershner-Albl - Producer, Raphael Lacoste, *Melanie Lemay* - Chief Creative Officer, Darby McDevitt, Jill Murray, Kama Neron, Marc Scheling, Jennifer Tam, *Journeyman,* Philipa Tran - Security Officer, Kristina Uhrich, *Percy Westcreek* - Project Manager, *Helix research analyst* - Research Analyst, Former employees: *Victoria Bibeau* † - Staff psychiatrist, *Juhani Otso Berg* - Security Contractor, Aidan St. Claire † - Project Manager, *Violet da Costa* † - Security Contractor, *Robert Fraser* † - Research analyst, *Olivier Garneau* † - Chief Creative Officer, *John Standish* † - Head of IT, *Abstergo Entertainment research analyst* - Research Analyst, Sari Yonge, Scout Smester