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"Better in the hands of the Earth, than in the hands of Man."
―Mario Auditore, after the Papal Staff was lost during the Renaissance, 1499.[src]

The Staves of Eden are Pieces of Eden embodying sovereignty and dominion.[1]

Known throughout history by various names, the Staves have been used by various Egyptian Pharaohs and Priests, Israelite Prophets and Scholars, Roman Catholic Popes, and Russian Tsars.

Powers[]

Designed to control men's minds and bodies, the Staves often held a cradle in their headpiece capable of fitting an Apple of Eden, which would then enhance the Apple's mind control. This combination of two Pieces of Eden could also be used to open the door to the Isu locations such as the Vatican Vault.

The Staves' ends were usually sharpened, and could be wielded as a spear in combat. The artifact also granted the possessor the ability to conceal their presence entirely, and the ability of levitation; though whether these were physical effects or simply manipulations of the viewers' perceptions remains unknown.[2]

The Shattered Staff of Eden was able to create tangible holograms of soldiers, able to attack and injure while controlled by the Staff's wielder.[3]

When Nikolai Orelov approached one Staff in 1908, he heard several voices of the past emanating from it, playing almost like recordings, and projecting speech such as "Always the fighter," "Adam, I have it," "Just like your father," and "Eve."[4]

Known Staves[]

Papal Staff[]

Main article: Papal Staff of Eden

A Staff passed into the hands of the first disciple of Jesus, Saint Peter, who established Christianity and became the first Pope. It is assumed that the Staff circulated through the hands of the Roman Catholic Popes until it was used by Rodrigo Borgia, who became Pope Alexander VI in 1492 so that he could use the Staff to gain access to the Vatican Vault.

On the 28 December 1499, the Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze infiltrated the Sistine Chapel to confront Rodrigo, and a fight ensued, during which Rodrigo wielded the Staff as a spear against Ezio. Eventually, Ezio defeated Rodrigo and used the Staff (combined with his Apple of Eden) to enter the Vault.[2]

When leaving the Vault, Ezio tried to remove the Staff from the center of the room where it was secured within the Vault's antechamber floor. Upon doing so, Ezio activated machinery that made the Staff descend underground, despite Ezio's efforts to retrieve it.[5]

Imperial Sceptre[]

Main article: Imperial Sceptre

By 1888, a Staff had been recovered by Tsar Alexander III, and was used as the Imperial Sceptre to maintain the monarch's power over the Russian Empire. This particular Staff was named "Piece of Eden 34" by Abstergo.[2]

On October 29 of that year, while returning home to Petrograd, the Tsar was attacked by the Assassin Nikolai Orelov. After the Russian Imperial Train was derailed, Alexander threw the Staff to Nikolai, challenging his assailant to attack him with it.

The Tsar subsequently repelled the assassination attempt, leaving with the Piece of Eden still in his possession.[6] After his death, it was passed on to his son Tsarevich Nicholas II.[7]

However, the Staff was secretly stolen and replaced with a replica by Grigori Rasputin, who had infiltrated the Russian Royal House,[2] and brought the Staff to a Templar research station in Tunguska.

Tungaska Explod v

The Tunguska Explosion

In the summer of 1908, members of the Assassin Order contacted Nikola Tesla and offered him a chance for retribution on the Templars, for his dis-accreditation by the Templar Thomas Edison. Using his mastery of electricity and the Wardenclyffe Tower, Tesla broadcast destruction into the facility, creating one of the largest explosions in history, which was estimated to have a force of more than 30 megatons of TNT, and flattened more than 2,000 kilometers of forest. The explosion also obliterated the research facility and the Staff within.

The event was a complete Assassin victory, though Nikolai Orelov was the only one to survive the event.[4] Nikolai later returned to his partner Anna, bloodied and barely alive, muttering that the Staff had finally been destroyed.[7]

However, Nikolai's statement proved to be untrue, as there was at least one shard that remained. This shard somehow came into the possession of Rasputin, who used it to manipulate Nicholas' wife Alexandra Feodorovna and psychologically scar one of his disciples, a woman named Khioniya Guseva, after her failed attempt to kill him.[7]

In 1916, Rasputin was assassinated by the Assassin Brotherhood,[2] and he took the shard with him to his grave. In 1917, Nikolai, having learned of the shard's existence from the Tsarevich and concluding that even a fragment of the Staff would be a threat, exhumed Rasputin's body and retrieved the shard from his corpse.[7] As of October 2002, the shard was in possession of Nadya Orelov.[8]

Alexander's Staff[]

Main article: Alexander's Staff of Eden

During the 4th century BCE, the Templars somehow managed to acquire a Staff of Eden. They entrusted their ally Alexander the Great with it, who used it to create one of the largest empires in history.[1] After Alexander's death, the staff was buried along with him in a tomb in Alexandria, the city he founded. It would remain there for almost 300 years until it was discovered in 48 BCE by Bayek and Aya.[9]

In 47 BCE, the Order of the Ancients recovered the staff along with an Apple of Eden from Apollodorus in the tomb and brought it a vault in Siwa, where they unlocked the secrets within it. Shorty afterwards, Lucius Septimius left Egypt and brought the staff with him, where he gave it to the Order based in Rome.[9]

Shattered Staff of Eden[]

Main article: Shattered Staff of Eden

Rumored to have belonged to Saint James, at some point before the Reconquista, this staff was broken into three parts: the top section, the upper section and the shaft. Spanish Inquisition leader Tomás de Torquemada coveted both the Staff and the Apple of Eden in order to control Spain and destroy the Brotherhood, sending his soldiers to hunt for the parts.[3]

After battling many staff-created enemies and Torquemada himself the assassins managed to silence Torquemada and take the Staff. To avoid it falling into Templar hands again, it was destroyed, using the Isu architecture in the Forge. The Ancient vault disappeared, buried under the Monastery of Saint Thomas, and the Staff of Eden along with it.[3]

Staff of Hermes Trismegistus[]

Main article: Staff of Hermes Trismegistus

Created by the Isu Hermes Trismegistus around 75 100 BCE, the Staff was used by the Isu Loki as a vessel for the consciousness of his dying lover Aletheia, securing that they will meet one day again. During the 6th century BCE, Hermes met the Greek scholar Pythagoras and designate him as the new wielder of the staff.[10]

The artifact expanded the life of Pythagoras until the end of the 5th century BCE. Around 422 BCE, on the advice of Aletheia, Pythagoras handed over the Staff to his daughter Kassandra who sealed the Atlantis with it.[11] Later, Kassandra was contact by the consciousness of Aletheia which tasked her as the Keeper to unleash the power of the staff for the Heir of Memories. In the Atlantis' sealed room, Kassandra experienced simulations of the Elysium, Underworld and Atlantis, discovering the true potential of the artifact.[12]

Kassandra remained the keeper of the Staff until the year 2018, when she met in Atlantis the Heir of Memories, Layla Hassan, an Assassin who had relived Kassandra's memories with an Animus to recover the staff. Kassandra untrusted the artifact to Hassan, asking her to destroy it after bringing balance between Order and Chaos. After Layla took the staff, Kassandra died instantly.[11]

Later, Aletheia consciousness spoke with Hassan and asked her to relive Kassandra's memories in the simulations she created to control the staff.[13] While Hassan relived the memories of Kassandra and her Trials, the staff started corrupting her due to her low amount of Isu dna. After Hassan accidentally killed her friend Victoria Bibeau with the Staff, the Assassins decided to kept the artifact under glass while monitoring Hassan with a mood stabilizer.[14]

In 2020, Hassan used the Staff to protect her from the radiation while entering the Yggdrasil vault in Norway. After approaching the Yggdrasil device, Hassan was picked up by the machine, when entering the simulation she dropped the staff to the floor below. The artifact was quickly recovered by Basim Ibn Ishaq, a Sage of Loki and a former member of the Hidden Ones trapped in the Yggdrasil since 877 CE. The Sage used the power of the Staff to rejuvenate his old body. Basim returned to Hassan safe house with the Staff and delt and alliance with the Assassins Rebecca Crane and Shaun Hastings.[15]

Other Staves[]

ACBM-Durga statue

The Staff held by Durga's statue

  • The earliest known use of a Staff was by the prophet Moses, who used its innate powers of illusion and mind control to "part" the Red Sea, freeing the Israelites from Egypt.[2]
  • One Staff of Eden is also known to have been used by the Pharaoh Shabataka, who used it to rule over Ancient Egypt in the early 7th century BCE. It was likely used by various pharaohs before and after him.[2]
  • John the Baptist, the prophet and religious leader who baptized Jesus Christ, was in possession of a Staff of Eden during his lifetime.[2]
  • A statue of Durga in the First Civilization ruins amongst the caverns beneath Ranjit Singh's summer palace was – by 1839 – depicted to have held a Staff of Eden, similar in appearance to the Imperial Sceptre.[16]

Trivia[]

  • Unlike most Pieces of Eden, each known Staff of Eden so far has looked very different from the others, the Papal Staff has a cross on the tip and four bars extending to the sides. The Imperial Scepter is very simplistic, it was quite small, and had a tip resembling the container of the Apple of Eden in the first Assassin's Creed game, the Alexander's Staff was also quite simplistic, but was much longer, and had a stand on the tip where an Apple of Eden could be placed, and finally, the Staff of Hermes was much more ornate, with wings and two coiling snakes decorated on the tip.
  • In Assassin's Creed II, while facing Rodrigo Borgia in the Sistine Chapel, the Staff could be knocked from his hand by using the disarm smash technique with a heavy weapon picked up from a dead Brute nearby. After this, the Staff could be picked up and wielded, though none of its powers could be used.
    • Additionally, the Staff's statistics - Damage, Speed, and Deflect - were maxed out, making it one of the most powerful weapons in the game.

Gallery[]

Appearances[]

References[]

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