A Lineage of One: The Origins of The Sages
After the outbreak of the human rebellion in 75010 BCE, Aita helped Juno, Minerva, and Jupiter sort through the solutions given to them at the Grand Temple, in order to prevent the First Disaster, which he was able to do until the fifth solution was tested. After their first three attempts at preventing the First Disaster failed, Juno and the others sought to save their race by means of smaller proportions.
The fifth solution was to change their physical bodies by transferring their minds to other vessels, using mechanical and human bodies as test subjects. Pleading with her husband to help her, Juno managed to persuade him to volunteer for the experiment.
After his mind was transferred into a machine and through to a human body, Aita's mind swiftly deteriorated; while his body would survive, his mind became brittle and catatonic. With enough will, he asked his wife to end his suffering, though she would spend the next months finding ways to help him. She eventually devised a plan to add samples of Aita's genetic code into the human DNA that would eventually result in the births of children with Aita's genetic code.
After revealing her intentions to him, she complied with his wish and stabbed him in the heart.
Throughout the next millennia, Aita was reincarnated in the bodies of various humans - known as Sages - such as Thom Kavanagh, Bartholomew Roberts, François-Thomas Germain, and John Standish, giving them his appearance and memories. Kavanagh wasn't able to make sense of the dual memories until he arrived at the Observatory years after he began experiencing them. Germain also experienced these visions as well. It is unknown if Roberts or John experienced similar confusion. According to the Assassins, there had been over eight confirmed Sages as of 1716.
Here’s a list of genetic memory fragments and textual sources that refer or belong to known Hyper-Hominids (a.k.a. Sages). The list is in reverse chronological order, beginning in the present and receding into the past:
Name: JOHN STANDISH
Born: August 16th, 1975
Status: DECEASED
Samples extracted and body preserved.
Name: DAVID JONES
Nationality: Possibly English
Born: Mid 20th century
Status: Unknown
In the 1970s and 80s, a few scattered reports of a man resembling a Sage surfaced. He is said to be “otherworldly”, “extraterrestrial” and possessed by multiple personalities”. So far, these reports have proven inconclusive.
Name: UNKNOWN
Nationality: French
Born: Early 18th century, France.
Enough genetic material extracted from Samples 123355, 422356 and 777561 are available, to adequately investigate this lead. Abstergo search is about to ramp up.
Name: JOHN "BARTHOLOMEW” ROBERTS
Born: 1682, Wales.
Status: Killed and deposed of by the Assassin Edward Kenway in 1722 off the coast of Africa.
His body was never recovered. Abstergo is searching for genetic memories belonging to members of his crew and those who knew him well.
Name: THOMAS KAVANAGH
Born: 1652, Boston
Status: Abstergo’s knowledge about Mr. Kavanagh comes from their research into the life of Edward Kenway, gleaned from a series of letters collected over an eight-year period in the early 1700s. It is believed that Mr. Kavanagh passed away somewhere on the northern shores of Jamaica at some point around 1706, but no intact genetic material has even been recovered from this Sage or from people who knew him.
Name: UNKNOWN
Born: Late 14th century, China, Hongwu Emperor’s reign.
Status: Multiple references taken from three separate text sources contain descriptions of a probable Sage living in the early period of the Ming dynasty. All three sources refer to this Sage as a “Confucian scholar” and a member of the Emperor’s court.
Name: UNKNOWN
Born: 6th century, Byzantium. During the Justinian reign.
Status: A fragmented series of memories from a Christian Bishop point to the possibility that a member of his congregation was a Sage. Abstergo Industries is currently mining for further memories from this period.
Name: “The Wanderer”
Born: Judea
Status: Believed to have encountered Christ en route to Golgotha. All references to this Sage are anecdotal, however. It can also be noted that this figure strikingly resembles, if not the same as what is known as “The Wandering Jew”. Awaiting further information.