Doctor Stephanie Chiu, also referred to affectionately as Chewy, is a member of the Initiates group and part of the Assassin Order stationed aboard the Altaïr II. She serves as the ship's medical officer.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Born to a couple of pharmacologists that worked in Beijing, Stephanie's life was planned out carefully by her parents, with their aim being to have her study hard, qualify as a doctor and work in their family business; through this plan, Stephanie was sent to an Abstergo-funded university, where she gained degrees in medicine, biological and chemical engineering, and a post-doctoral fellowship in membrane technology. However, seeing her family's intention to work alongside them as boring, and considering other options, Stephanie deviated in her studies to research information security and network science, viewing Abstergo's work as a good idea and their greater abundance of openings in advanced technology.[1]
This all changed when Stephanie discovered that her father was responsible for the creation of New Fluoride. Noticing its ill effects on people all over China and how Abstergo had never been apprehended for New Fluoride's distribution in her home country, she fled to Hong Kong. Chased by Abstergo all the way, Stephanie eventually came across Gavin Banks and Susan Drayton, who took her aboard the Altaïr II and recruited her into the Brotherhood.[1]
Mission in Japan[]
When the Altaïr II arrived in Osaka, Japan in December 2013 to search for the Assassin cell in the city, Stephanie participated in the hunt for information on the Onmoraki-Gumi, a branch of the yakuza suspected of attacking the cell. On 13 December, she discovered a tweet that suggested that the leader of the Onmoraki-Gumi was a castrated ex-porn star.[1]
On 23 December, Stephanie changed the bandages on Emmanuel Barraza's hand, which had been impaled by the Hidden Blade of Kiyoshi Takakura during a misunderstanding. Gavin complained that she was making a fuss over Emmanuel's wounds while he had been left to tend to his own, but Stephanie told him that he was the one who had picked a fight with a trained yakuza Assassin half his age.[1]
On 31 December, Stephanie traveled to Tokyo with the rest of the crew. She went with Emmanuel and Kiyoshi to a karaoke bar, where she filmed Emmanuel singing on her phone, which caused him to threaten to break his vow never to kill again if she ever showed it to someone.[1]
Spy hunt[]
Shortly after a mission to Moscow resulted in Russian Assassin Galina Voronina joining the ship as Gavin's enforcer, Stephanie and the rest of the Altaïr II crew were directed by Gavin to find out where William Miles was hiding from a clue in the latter's journal. They deciphered the riddles within to a hidden cove in Norway, and on 1 May 2014 the Altaïr II arrived at William's whereabouts.[1]
When Rebecca Crane began upgrading the systems on the Altaïr II, she discovered that a spy on the ship was uploading reports to a database run by a group called the Initiates. Stephanie and the rest of the crew, except for Gavin and Galina, were confined to their quarters on the ship until they could be interrogated and cleared of suspicion by William. On 8 May, Stephanie was the second crew member to be interviewed by William, answering questions regarding her former ties to Abstergo, the New Fluoride scandal, and her meeting with Gavin and Susan. On 10 May, while in his interview with William Miles, Eric Cooper mentioned that he held a close friendship with Stephanie, who would also assist Eric in regulating his hormones.[1]
Stephanie being defended by Eric
On 23 May, William finally gathered the crew members to announce the identity of the spy. He promptly named Stephanie as the traitor and ordered Galina to kill her. However, Eric Cooper intervened, frantically claiming to be the spy instead. Stephanie then tried to deflect blame back to herself by insisting that Eric had only been the one writing the reports, but she had been the one uploading them to the Initiates database. To their relief, William admitted that his order was only a prank, having already decided to spare them both after coming away impressed with them in their interviews.[1]
Partnership with the Assassins[]
On 30 May, Stephanie and Eric shared with Rebecca, Shaun, and William their "Outernet", a separate private network transmitted via series of small satellites, much to the Assassins' amazement. Following this, Shaun sent out a formal message to the Initiates around the world on 16 June inviting them to ally with the Assassins.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
Stephanie Chiu is a character created for the multimedia project, Assassin's Creed: Initiates. Her surname, Chiu, is a romanization of the Chinese family name Zhao, as it is pronounced in Cantonese, through the Hong Kong government system. This implies that she is actually born in Hong Kong even though her parents are said to have worked in Beijing. While Zhao and Chiu are romanizations of various Chinese family names, most commonly it is Zhào (趙), a name derived from an ancient state of the same name in the Warring States period of China.
Appearances[]
References[]