Mesopotamia
The Assassin’s Creed meta-story, specifically the First Civilization mythology is based on the Ancient Astronauts theories that claim that an extraterrestrial civilization came to Earth, long ago and either created the human race, or interfered in the evolutionary process of pre-existing species to create a docile workforce, and early humans, due to the vast gap in the evolutionary level and knowledge of both races, viewed that extraterrestrial race as gods. Except that in Assassin’s Cree, this race is not extraterrestrial, but rather natives who evolved on Earth, and reached a highly advanced evolutionary and technological level, that they managed to create the human race, also as a docile workforce.
The Sumerian Civilization is one of the oldest civilizations known to mankind, alongside Ancient Egypt and those along with the Mayans have had their share of connections to the Ancient Astronauts theories.
An artifact known as “Baghdad Battery” was mentioned in present day files, in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag which is an ancient battery that was found in Iraq. It’s a clay jar that can actually use some sort of acid and rods to generate electricity, basically some form of galvanic cell, and that’s about 3000-6000 BC. So not only how did they know how to do it but what for? This artifact exists in real life, and ACIV:BF shed a light on, along with other artifacts known as “out of place artifacts” that fueled theories like these about a highly advanced civilization that may or may not have come from space, but either way, they created or helped early humans evolve from other species.
Some stories that came from tablets, written in cuneiform, told stories of ancient Sumerian kings that reigned for 43,000 years. This reminds me of how First Civilization members can live a lot longer than humans.
Juno is about a 100 years old and she’s considered young. Minerva said “For centuries, Tinia and I walked the Earth”, after Toba Catastrophe, meaning that they can very well live over a thousand years, if not more. Stories of massive animals, bulls with wings, horses that can fly, dangerous monsters, mighty rulers and kings, a flower growing at the bottom of a sea that can great it’s consumer eternal life, in addition to various miraculous events that defy logic.
All this can be exaggerated yes, but one thing we’ve learned from Assassin’s Creed and history, is how a real event, can grow to become a story, and in time as a myth, until eventually being forgotten.
In addition to that, a lot of miraculous events in history, were explained by Assassin’s Creed as either the result of using a Piece of Eden, or a false image, an illusion projected inside the mind of the witnesses, put under the effects of a Piece of Eden.
Mesopotamia could be a really rich era to explore since it’s historical and not fictional and it can easily link to the Pieces of Eden and the First Civilization. If you go back to the Assassin Intel in Assassin’s Creed: Unity, an image taken from an extremely short video that Abstergo recorded from the memories of The Sage, John Standish, shows First Civilization members, dressed in warriors attires, in front of human rebels, and in the background, the architecture highly resembles Babylonian/Sumerian ones, as well as Ancient Egyptian. And that is also written in the description of the screenshot.
So Babylonian and Sumerian civilization are indeed connected to the First Civilization, one way or another. We do know that Toba Catastrophe occurred circa. 75,000 BC, way before any recorded historical evidence of the Mesopotamia or Ancient Egypt, but some theories claim for example that the Pyramids have existed long before we think they were, about 12,000 years ago.
Since we know the franchise does use certain pseudo-scientific theories and/or historical theories that aren’t confirmed 100% to be true, but are interesting, nevertheless, in addition to that, a large portion of the history of Mesopotamia is shrouded in mystery, which gives room to the developers to innovate and create fiction within the facts. Instead of being limited to solid historical facts, and have more freedom creating a world that is historically accurate and free wherever there’s room for freedom.
The cities of ancient Sumer and Babylon are mesmerizingly beautiful, as shown in many concept arts, drawn by various artists according to what’s know about these cities. They had a range of massive structures, towers, beautiful castles, a big walled city, rivers, agricultural areas, deserts, small and humble houses..etc.
This wide range of scenery could present an outstanding and distinguished one-of-a-kind exploratory experience. The city of Eridu, for example, shown in the figure, is considered the oldest city in southern Mesopotamia and argued to be the oldest city in the world.
In Sumerian Mythology, Eridu was the home of the god, Enki, later known by Akkadians as Ea, who is considered to be the founder of the sity. His Temple was called E-Abzu, as Enki was believed to live in Abzu, an aquifer from which all life was believed to stem. Since we know that First Civilization members like Juno, Minerva, Jupiter, Consus..etc. were eventually regarded as gods and their names changed from one civilization to another, but they all referred to First Civilization members who were neither mythical gods, nor magicians, but rather a highly advanced race.
Therefore, Enki and his “Temple” could very well be a First Civilization scientist who had something to do with the evolution/creation of the human race, that’s why he’s considered that all life was believed to come from him, according to the early humans.
In the Sumerian king list, Eridu, also known as Eridug, is named as the city of the first kings. The king list mentions Alulim, a king who ruled for 28,800 years, and Alalngar ruled for 36,000 years. They both ruled for 64,800 years and then Eridu fell and the kingship was taken to Bad-tibira. Babylonian texts talk about the creation of Eridu by the god Marduk, as the first city “the holy city, the dwelling of their [the other gods] delight”.
So if we take a step back and examine the details above, we have beautiful cities that were never explored in a movie or game, and presenting such setting would be a massive change from the usual Assassin’s Creed in European or American regions circa. 1500-1900.
The wide variety of structures and scenery will encourage exploration, the vibrant colors and the power of today’s graphics would help present something everyone will be eager to explore. With massive structures like the Ziggurats, castles, and temples, as well as structures that we know as myths, but could very well be real, like The Tower of Babylon would be great landmarks and enjoyable structures to climb and one of them could be home to a First Civilization artifact, stored in a high tech facility built by the Isu underneath those structures.
The cities could be crowded in people doing their daily chores, working, praying, shopping and their chatter could be heard, all mixed with beautiful ambient sounds and/or music. Merchants would be standing on their caravans, and warriors riding their horses and training outside the city walls.
Temples would be crowded during certain times of the day and empty in others, allowing players to plan their timing to enter and explore, as exploring wouldn’t be so free with the guards and people being fully alert in high activity times…etc.
The ports and river banks would be crowded in daytimes and more empty during the night. People performing various activities there, such as seeing off loved ones whom are traveling, while fishermen are fishing. Farms lie on both sides of the rivers, as farmers harvest or water the plants and animals roam around.
The detailed historical myths, stories and facts will create a great stage for a very engaging story and a rich lore to explore, and the new cities, sacred figures (referencing First Civilization members) will create a whole new original world to explore that could very well span 2-3 more games to finish the arc and properly explore Mesopotamia in Sumerian and Babylonian ages. Assassin’s Creed also known mentioned Iltani, an Assassin from Babylon (depicted in the figure in a beautiful art render, created by BB22Andy on DeviantArt) who used poison to Assassinate her targets.
This puts the magnifying glass on a different method of Assassination that is used in multiple Assassin’s Creed games, but was never a main weapon. Setting a game around that time period could show us how the Hidden Blade was created and what weapons were used before it. And we’ve also known historically that weapons were different in that time, meaning we won’t be using rifles and guns nor any complex weaponry, but rather have a light, skilled Assassins with simple, yet efficient weapons, further promoting stealth, something the franchise often wants to enforce through compulsory and optional objectives, in various shapes and forms.
In addition to that, the people, their beliefs, the architecture, their lifestyle, language, music, fashion, politics, social values, rules..etc. were entirely different from those that came later, which were often inspired by religion and more modern cultures.
Mesopotamia is also an area rich in water, with two rivers, The Tigris and The Euphrates, being two essential arteries that facilitated transportation as well as agriculture. Concept arts show boats used in that time period, which, if implemented in game, could be a great way to travel the vast regions of ancient Iraq, on water, and bring back sailing in smaller scale than Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, but in an equally entertaining manner.
All this would create an brand new and original experience that could very well be the most impressive Assassin’s Creed to date, given that the fictional story, set around that time, around the Assassins, the Templars as well as the modern day and First Civilization story which knits all this together, is engaging and memorable enough, with interesting characters, and an experience that is long and detailed enough to evoke the emotions of the players and cling in their minds like Altair and Ezio did to most fan of the franchise.
