#multi-game

In Game:

George Washington was the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783, and served as the first President of the United States from April 30th, 1789 to March 4th, 1797.

Born in the colony of Virginia in the British colonies of America, Washington joined the Virginian militia during his youth and participated in the French and Indian War with the British Army, fighting against the French and their indigenous allies. During the war, he ordered the burning of the neutral village of Kanatahséton.

Due to the lack of progress of his military career in the British Army, Washington instead turned to politics. When the American Revolutionary War broke out, Washington supported the Patriots. Following the creation of the Continental Army, the Continental Congress of 1775 appointed Washington as its Commander-in-Chief, though he didn't feel he was worthy of the command.

The Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton, also known as Connor, subsequently protected Washington from the Templar Charles Lee, who was angered that he had been passed over for the position. Though the Continental Army suffered many losses under Washington's command, the aid of Connor and his apprentices managed to gain the army small victories.

However, Washington fell out with Connor when the Assassin discovered he was responsible for the attack on his village, Kanatahséton, and signed for a second burning after Lee manipulated Connor's people into siding with the Loyalists. However, the Assassins continued to aid Washington when necessary, such as the investigation of a conspiracy at West Point.

After the Continental Army emerged victorious against the British Army in 1781, Washington obtained an Apple of Eden. It gave him a nightmarish vision of what would happen if he were crowned king of the United States with its power in his possession, and so he passed the Apple to Connor for it to be disposed of. This experience strengthened his belief in the Republican Constitution of the United States.

In Real Life:

George Washington was born February 22nd, 1732, the first child of Augustine Washington and his wife Mary Ball Washington, at Wakefield on their Popes Creek Estate in the Colony of Virginia. He was then a subject of the British Empire, under the reign of George II, descended primarily from the gentry of Sulgrave, England. His great-grandfather John Washington emigrated to Virginia in 1656. He was a tobacco planter who accumulated land and slaves, as did his son Lawrence and his grandson Augustine.

Washington spent his early years in the rich open farmlands of Virginia's Tidewater region. His father was a moderately wealthy planter, justice of the peace, and county sheriff who had 10 children, four by his first marriage to Jane Butler and six by his second marriage to Mary. Washington was one of seven surviving children, including older half-brothers Lawrence and Augustine, and full siblings Samuel, Elizabeth (Betty), John Augustine, and Charles.

He had early educational opportunities, learned mathematics, and soon launched a successful career as a surveyor which enabled him to make significant land investments. He then became a key leader of the Virginia militia in the French and Indian War.

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In December 1752, Washington, who had no previous military experience, was made a commander of the Virginia militia. He saw action in the French and Indian War and was eventually put in charge of all of Virginia’s militia forces. By 1759, Washington had resigned his commission, returned to Mount Vernon and was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, where he served until 1774. In January 1759, he married Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy widow with two children.

By the late 1760s, Washington had experienced firsthand the effects of rising taxes imposed on American colonists by the British, and came to believe that it was in the best interests of the colonists to declare independence from England. Washington served as a delegate to the First Continental Congress in 1774 in Philadelphia. By the time the Second Continental Congress convened a year later, the American Revolution had begun in earnest, and Washington was named commander in chief of the Continental Army.

Washington proved to be a better general than military strategist. His strength lay not in his genius on the battlefield but in his ability to keep the struggling colonial army together. His troops were poorly trained and lacked food, ammunition and other supplies (soldiers sometimes even went without shoes in winter). However, Washington was able to give them the direction and motivation to keep going.

Over the course of the grueling eight-year war, the colonial forces won few battles but consistently held their own against the British. In October 1781, with the aid of the French (who allied themselves with the colonists over their rivals the British), the Continental forces were able to capture British troops under General Charles Cornwallis in Yorktown, Virginia. This action effectively ended the Revolutionary War and Washington was declared a national hero.

In 1783, with a peace treaty signed between Great Britain and the U.S., Washington, believing he had done his duty, gave up his command of the army and returned to Mount Vernon, intent on resuming his life as a gentleman farmer and family man. However, in 1787, he was asked to attend the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and head the committee to draft the new constitution. His impressive leadership there convinced the delegates that he was by far the most qualified man to become the nation’s first president.

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At first Washington balked. He wanted to return to a quiet life at home and leave governing the new nation to others. But public opinion was so strong that eventually he gave in. The first presidential election was held on January 7th, 1789, and Washington won handily. John Adams, who received the second-largest number of votes, became the nation’s first vice president. The 57-year-old Washington was inaugurated on April 30th, 1789, in New York City.

He promoted and oversaw implementation of a strong, well-financed national government, using the economic plans of his Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, while remaining impartial in the fierce rivalry between Hamilton and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. When the French Revolution plunged Europe into war, Washington proclaimed a policy of neutrality to protect American ships, while the controversial Jay Treaty of 1795 normalized trade relations with Great Britain. He set numerous precedents that have endured, such as the Cabinet advisory system, the inaugural address, and the title "Mr. President". His seminal Farewell Address strongly warned against political partisanship, sectionalism, and involvement in foreign wars.

In December 1799, he caught a cold after inspecting his properties in the rain. The cold developed into a throat infection and Washington died on the night of December 14 at the age of 67. He was entombed at Mount Vernon, which in 1960 was designated a national historic landmark.

Square Enix And Marvel Team Up In A Multi-Game Partnership

This morning, Square Enix dropped a big load on us. As it turns out, the studio is collaborating with Marvel on a multi-game partnership. This partnership is being led with a project simply titled The Avengers Project. Not much more is known, but here’s what we do know: (more…)

In Game:

Historically, a courtesan was a woman who engaged in the activity of prostitution. During several historical periods, courtesans were a group allied with the Assassin Brotherhood or the Templar Order.

During the Renaissance, though courtesans were mainly based in brothels within a city, many were known to stand along the streets – usually in groups of four – to entice customers. Each possessed a standard style of dress and hairstyle, as was deemed appropriate for those in their profession at the time.

After the execution of Giovanni, Federico and Petruccio, Ezio Auditore da Firenze sought sanctuary with Paola and her courtesans, who taught him how to conceal himself in a crowd, pick pockets, and be "seen, but unseen" as they were.

Afterwards, Ezio hired courtesans to distract the guards and allow his remaining family to escape the city, and would continue to use their services from then on, usually instructing them to seduce a group of nearby guards in order to allow him to slip past unseen. Alternatively, they would follow Ezio along the streets, concealing him among them by walking around him in a diamond formation, in a similar manner to how Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad blended with scholars.

Upon traveling to Rome, Ezio aided the courtesans by funding the renovations for their main brothel, the Rosa in Fiore, as well as renovating smaller brothels throughout the city. After his sister took over Rosa in Fiore's administration, he volunteered to teach the girls several skills.

During the 18th century, courtesans were referred to as "dancers" who commonly worked at taverns and streets. They operated in a similar process as courtesans of the Renaissance by working as groups of four.

Prostitution and brothels were still popular by the mid and late 18th century. Women were sold in taverns or kidnapped to entertain rooms and even ships.

In 1757, Edward Kenway's daughter, Jennifer Scott, was kidnapped by mercenaries. The Templar Reginald Birch sold her to Turkish slavers and became a concubine in the Topkapı Palace. The palace included the Harem for raising and educating wives of future royalty. She was then transported to Damascus to serve under the Ottoman governor in charge, As'ad Pasha al-Azm. By her mid-40's, Jennifer worked as a servant for the concubines due to her age. Ultimately, her half-brother Haytham and a friend, Jim Holden, infiltrated the palace to find and rescue her.

By 1788, the Templar Élise de la Serre and a young girl named Hélène were saved from becoming prostitutes of the Middle Man by Byron Jackson, an English ship captain.

Due to poverty and the lack of jobs in Victorian England, many turned to prostitution as a way to earn a living. After assassinating Crawford Starrick and his Templar control over London, the twin Assassins Jacob and Evie Frye recruited initiates from child labor, orphans and prostitutes. A couple female initiates took upon the identity of courtesans who worked in a Whitechapel brothel owned by Olwyn Owers, as undercover agents.

In Real Life:

Prostitution has been practiced throughout ancient and modern culture. Prostitution has been described as "the world's oldest profession," and despite consistent attempts at regulation, it continues nearly unchanged.

Perceptions of prostitution are based on culturally determined values that differ between societies. In some societies, prostitutes have been viewed as members of a recognized profession; in others they have been shunned, reviled, and punished with stoning, imprisonment, and death. Few societies have exercised the same severity toward clients; indeed, in many societies, clients suffer few if any legal repercussions. In some cultures, prostitution has been required of young girls as a rite of puberty or as a means of acquiring a dowry, and some religions have required prostitution of a certain class of priestesses.

In ancient times, Mesopotamian religious practices gave birth to the prostitution trade, as women in Ishtar’s service would help men who offered money to her temples with the ‘sacred’ powers of their bodies. Achieving a priority of communication with the goddess from their fertility, only women enjoyed this religious position. Thus Ishtar temples became knowledge centers concerning birth, birth control, and sexuality. Priestesses became the nurses and sacred sex therapists of these early societies. Men of all rank could hire these women and, in turn, make an offering to the goddess from whose temple the prostitute came.

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The Greeks and Romans mandated that prostitutes wear distinctive dress and pay severe taxes. Sexual schools rose in the Greek city states, where girls would be purchased from slave markets and trained to provide revenue by selling sex. Many young slaves prostituted themselves to earn money, which meant that, being women or slaves, prostitutes consisted of those excluded from Athens’ Popular Assembly. Hebrew also law did not forbid prostitution but confined the practice to foreign women. Among the ordinances laid down by Moses to regulate public health were several dealing with sexually transmitted diseases.

In Europe during the Middle Ages, church leaders attempted to rehabilitate penitent prostitutes and fund their dowries. Nevertheless, prostitution flourished: it was not merely tolerated but also protected, licensed, and regulated by law, and it constituted a considerable source of public revenue. Public brothels were established in large cities throughout Europe. At Toulouse, in France, the profits were shared between the city and the university; in England, bordellos were originally licensed by the bishops of Winchester and subsequently by Parliament.

Italian courtesans knew freedom like no other prostitutes of the Renaissance period. While most women during this time were only truly able to educate themselves if they were sent to a convent, courtesans were able to study freely. Furthermore, courtesans were able to obtain the same security and stability as married women, and, unlike married women, they were actually able to embrace their sexuality.  Widely considered the best educated and most cultured women of their time, these women were able to hold philosophical conversations and discuss poetry with their clients, in addition to providing sex services. Their influence became so great that they were actually able to affect politics by sharing their views with the politicians among their clientele.

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By the end of the 15th century attitudes began to harden against prostitution. An outbreak of syphilis in Naples during 1494, which later swept across Europe, may have originated from the Colombian Exchange. The prevalence of other sexually transmitted diseases during the earlier 16th century may have caused this change in attitude. By the early 16th century the association between prostitutes, plague and contagion emerged, causing brothels and prostitution to be outlawed by secular authority. Furthermore, outlawing brothels and prostitution was used to “strengthen the criminal law” system of the sixteenth century secular rulers. Canon law defined a prostitute as “a promiscuous woman, regardless of financial elements.” The prostitute was considered a “whore … who [was] available for the lust of many men,” and was most closely associated with promiscuity.

The Church’s stance on prostitution was three-fold. It included the “acceptance of prostitution as an inevitable social fact, condemnation of those profiting from this commerce, and encouragement for the prostitute to repent.” The Church was forced to recognize its inability to remove prostitution from the worldly society, and in the fourteenth century “began to tolerate prostitution as a lesser evil.” However, prostitutes were excluded from the Church as long as they continued with their lifestyle. Around the twelfth century, the idea of prostitute saints took hold, with Mary Magdalene being one of the most popular saints of the era. The Church used Mary Magdalene’s biblical history of being a reformed harlot to encourage prostitutes to repent and mend their ways.

Stricter controls were imposed during the 16th century, in part because of the new sexual morality that accompanied the Protestant Reformation and the Counter-Reformation. Just as significant was the dramatic upsurge of sexually transmitted diseases. Sporadic attempts were made to suppress brothels and even to introduce medical inspections, but such measures were to little avail.  In some periods prostitutes had to distinguish themselves from other with particular signs. They sometimes wore very short hair or no hair at all, and sometimes they wore veils in societies where other women did not wear them. Ancient codes regulated the crime of a prostitute that dissimulated her profession.

In the late 19th century a variety of changes in Western societies revived efforts to suppress prostitution. With the rise of feminism, many came to regard male libertinism as a threat to women’s status and physical health. Also influential was a new religious-based moralism in Protestant countries. Antiprostitution campaigns flourished from the 1860s, often in association with temperance and woman suffrage movements.

History books and novels written during Victorian era portray a sophisticated and classy society, but in reality, there were more brothels than schools in London during this time. Prostitutes were considered “fallen women” because it was believed that women of the society would never opt to become a prostitute. In fact, the period between mid-1700 up to late 1800 is said to be the golden years of prostitution in London. They were termed as the ladies of the night. 

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International cooperation to end the traffic in women for the purpose of prostitution began in 1899. In 1921 the League of Nations established the Committee on the Traffic in Women and Children, and in 1949 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a convention for the suppression of prostitution.

In the 21st century, Afghans revived a method of prostituting young boys, which is referred to as bacha bazi. Since the break up of the Soviet Union thousands of eastern European women have become prostitutes in China, Western Europe, Israel and Turkey every year. There are tens of thousands of women from eastern Europe and Asia working as prostitutes in Dubai. Men from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates form a large proportion of the customers. India's devadasi girls are forced by their poor families to dedicate themselves to the Hindu goddess Renuka. There are also hundreds of sex trafficking rings around the world.

In Game:

The Crusaders were the Europeans who undertook the call-to-arms by the Papacy to participate in the Crusades, a series of religious wars enacted against the enemies of the Latin Church. The first three, and most prominent, of these conflicts involved a declaration of war upon the Muslim rulers of the Holy Land, aiming to forcefully reclaim it in the name of Christianity.

There were a number of Christian military orders who worked in unison with these European kingdoms. These orders were largely founded in the Holy Land itself, ostensibly to protect Christian pilgrims. Among their number were counted knightly orders such as; the Knights Hospitalier, the Knights Teutonic, and Knights Templar.

By the year 1191, the Crusaders were commanded by Richard I of England—better known as Richard the Lionheart—who sought to reclaimed Jerusalem during the Third Crusade.  The Knights Templar, who were a part of the Crusader army, besieged the Assassin fortress at Masyaf twice during the Third Crusade, although both attempts ended in failure.

The first, in the year 1189, was led by the Templar Haras, who was a part of the Assassin Order until he betrayed them, hoping to locate the Apple of Eden. The second, in 1191, was led by the Templar Grand Master himself, Robert de Sablé. In all, both sieges were quelled due to the efforts of the Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad.

By the year 1191, the Crusaders had conquered the cities of Jaffa and Acre, and were on the march towards Jerusalem. During this time, Crusader troops could be found patrolling through the wilderness that divided the cities of Acre, Damascus and Jerusalem.

The same year, Altaïr set out to eliminate several corrupt men, who were secretly Templars. Several of these men were important Crusaders and Saracens, which almost led to the two factions uniting in an attempt to try and destroy their common enemy. In order to prevent this, Altaïr set out to assassinate the Templar Grand Master, Robert de Sablé, and succeeded in killing him after a long duel, during the Battle of Arsuf, to convince Richard that the Templars were traitors to his army.

By 1191, the Crusaders controlled the city of Acre and had guards stationed throughout the Kingdom, the region between Acre, Jerusalem, Masyaf and Damascus.

In Real Life:

The Crusaders were the Europeans that traveled to the Holy Land during a series of religious wars sanctioned by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The most commonly known Crusades were the campaigns in the Eastern Mediterranean aimed at recovering the Holy Land from Muslim rule, but the term "Crusades" is also applied to other church-sanctioned campaigns, such as the crusade against the Cathars and the Baltic Crusades. These were fought for a variety of reasons including the suppression of paganism and heresy, the resolution of conflict among rival Roman Catholic groups, or for political and territorial advantage. At the time of the early Crusades the word did not exist, only becoming the leading descriptive term around 1760.

Despite the fact that the Crusades originally started when the Emperor of the Byzantine empire called upon Pope Urban II for aid which was under attack by Muslim Seljuk Turks, the main the emotional and spiritual motivation of the Crusades for many of the Crusaders was to “recapture” the Crusades from the Muslims.

Many of the Crusaders were not knights; in fact, many were actually peasants who were recruited into the wars through propaganda that promised they would receive both spiritual and earthly rewards should they “take up the cross.” The spiritual reward was the indulgence, or the forgiveness, of sins. The earthly rewards included plunder from conquest, forgiveness of debts, and freedom from taxes, as well as fame and political power. Crusaders did not only fight for control of the Holy Land; they also worked to secure the Church’s power in Europe. It was the French monk Guilbert of Nogent wrote in his twelfth century chronicle of the Crusades, “God has instituted in our time holy wars, so that the order of knights and the crowd running in its wake… might find a new way of gaining salvation. And so they are not forced to abandon secular affairs completely by choosing the monastic life or any religious profession, as used to be the custom, but can attain in some measure God’s grace while pursuing their own careers, with the liberty and in the dress to which they are accustomed.”

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One example of peasants joining the war was when a fanatical group of German peasants decided in 1096 that a goose had been “blessed by God.” They followed it around for a while, and along the way attacked and killed any Jewish people they encountered. There was also the Children’s Crusade in 1212, in which  thousands of children from France and Germany were marching to the Holy Land. It was probably more aimless shuffling of homeless people than a crusade, but a bunch of kids apparently did show up in Marseille to seek passage to the Holy Land. Most of them ended up being sold into slavery in North Africa.

This is not to say that there were only peasants participating in the crusades.  The Crusades set the stage for several religious knightly military orders, including the Knights Templar, the Teutonic Knights, and the Hospitallers. These groups helped attack the Holy Land and protected Christian pilgrims traveling to and from the region.

Millions of people, Christian and non-Christian, soldiers and noncombatants lost their lives during the Crusades. In addition to the enormous loss of life, the debt incurred and other economic costs associated with the multiple excursions to the Middle East impacted all levels of society, from individual families and villages, to budding nation-states. The wars also resulted in the destruction of cities and towns that lay in the crusaders’ wake.

In Game:

Bayonets were weapon attachments that could be fit onto the muzzle of muskets and rifles, often as sharp spikes or knives.

During the Louisiana Rebellion and American Revolutionary War, bayonets were utilized by soldiers from the French, Spanish, British and Continental armies, though generally as last-resort ancillary weapons.

The Assassins Aveline de Grandpré and Ratonhnhaké:ton, as well as the Templar Haytham Kenway and pirate Edward Kenway were able to disarm soldiers for their muskets, while the latter three could also grab them from nearby racks, in order to slash or impale nearby enemies. While a bayonet was embedded in a soldier's torso, Ratonhnhaké:ton, Haytham, and Edward could also aim and fire the musket itself, efficiently eliminating two opponents in quick succession.

In Real Life:

Bayonet, short, sharp-edged, sometimes pointed weapon, designed for attachment to the muzzle of a firearm. The inventor is unknown, but the first bayonets were made in Bayonne, France, in the early 17th century and became popular among European armies. The Maréchal de Puységur described the earliest bayonets as having a straight, double-edged blade a foot long with a tapering wooden handle, of equal length, that could be inserted into the muzzle of a musket. The new weapon, considerably shortened, spread through Europe and supplanted the pike. Historically, bayonet charges were meant to instill an aggressive nature in the weapon’s user and a psychological terror in the enemy

The first use of bayonets was simply a knife stuck on the end of a musket barrel used by French hunters catching wild boar.  This combination was then used in warfare, and became known as a plug bayonet. Though an effective weapon, a downside of the plug bayonet was that the musketeer could not shoot after affixing it. 

The plug bayonet was succeeded by the socket bayonet, which fit over the muzzle of the barrel.  A zig-zag motion around the bayonet lug allowed the musketeer to easily affix or remove the bayonet while still securing it in place.  The major advantage to the socket bayonet was that the musket could still be fired while the bayonet was attached. 

To overcome the fact that not all soldiers used the same weapon, or weapons with the same barrel sizes, the socket bayonet was modified to have a split down the side.  An intentional slit running the entire length of the socket allowed for an adjustable fit of the socket to the size of the barrel.  Unlike the plug bayonet, the socket and split-socket bayonets had three edges, giving them the name “triangular bayonets”.  Given forging processes at the time, a triangular blade was easier to create, and offered increased stability from a two sided or knife blade bayonet without much additional weight. During the War of 1812, bayonets for the British Brown Bess, French Charleville, and United States Springfield muskets were between 12 and 15 inches in length, and continued to have the triangular shape.

Socket bayonets were used through the middle of the 20th century; however the triangular shape became obsolete after the late 1800’s.  Though many claim that the triangular bayonet was outlawed in the Geneva Convention in 1949, this is actually not the case.  The Geneva Convention set many of the rules of war, and in response to bayonets it prohibits “bayonets with a serrated edge” (International Committee of the Red Cross).  Triangle bayonets are not explicitly mentioned in the Convention. Since the wound inflicted by triangular bayonets is difficult to repair, and causes more initial bleeding than that of a two sided bayonet, one could classify triangular bayonets under a clause which prohibits weapons causing undue suffering after the conflict has ended.  Indeed, the wounds caused by a triangular bayonet were recorded to last for years after a battle, or to never heal at all.  However this would be a stretch.  Prior to the mid-1900’s, this also meant that the wound was especially prone to becoming infected, the main cause of deaths in the War of 1812.

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In 19th Century warfare, including the War of 1812, bayonets were primarily used to drive the enemy from the field.  The victor of a battle was the one controlling the land when all was said and done. Though the wounds from bayonet stabbings were brutal, less than 3% of casualties during the war were actually from bayonets.  This is because the opposing side often dispersed as they were being charged.

The development of repeating firearms greatly reduced the combat value of the bayonet, particularly beginning to wane in popularity during the rise of rapid-fire weapons after World War I. Nevertheless, it was retained through World Wars I and II, though shortened into an all-purpose knife, equipped with a hand grip and carried in a scabbard when not affixed to a rifle.

In Game:

Tomahawks are a type of one-handed axe, which were most effective when wielded in close combat. They were commonly used by Native Americans, as well as European colonists.

The tomahawk could be used for stealth kills, melee combat, or to perform menial tasks; such as cutting a rope or traversing ziplines, in a similar manner to the Hookblade.

The Assassin Tomahawk was a uniquely designed weapon, with an axe-head closely resembling the Assassin insignia, that originally belonged to John de la Tour, the first Assassin who arrived in the American Colonies. The Louisianan Assassin Aveline de Grandpré later obtained an Assassin Tomahawk, which she used to eliminate the Templar George Davidson, a member of Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment. 

Kesegowaase, a Wolastoqiyik member of the Colonial Brotherhood, used a tomahawk in combat during the Seven Years' War. During the American Revolution, the Kanien'kehá:ka Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton used various tomahawks in combat, often dual-wielding the weapon alongside his Hidden Blade.

In Real Life:

The tomahawk is an axe-like weapon with a wooden handle which, when first developed by Native Americans, had a head made of stone. Tomahawks originated from the Algonquian Indians. The term tomahawk was derived from the Algonquian words “tamahak” or “tamahakan." The Native American Indians regularly used tomahawks made from stone heads which were attached to wooden handles secured by strips of rawhide. They used tomahawks for general uses such as hunting, chopping, cutting, or mainly as a weapon. 

Many Native American tomahawks were also used to confirm friendships and even establish treaties.  In this case, native American tomahawks were a little more fancy than the ones in everyday use.  Perhaps these native American tomahawks were made from silver or pewter and engraved ornately and were owned by those chiefs who were considered to be prominent.

It was the Europeans who introduced the metal blade to these native Indians about 400 years ago. The local tribes became very good at using it in battle. By then, the tomahawk’s poll, which is the side opposite the blade, consisted of a hammer, spike or a pipe. These became known as pipe tomahawks, made of a bowl on the poll and a hollowed out shaft, were created by European and American artisans for trade and diplomatic gifts for these Indian tribes. The local tribes considered the pipe tomahawks, which consisted of a bowl on the poll and a hollowed out shaft, as very useful general purpose tools.

Perhaps the most common embellishments on native American tomahawks were medicine bundles, thought to bring about supernatural victories during battles.  Another common decorum on native American tomahawks was eagle feathers, earned for acts of bravery.

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Captain John Smith was the first European to mention the tomahawk in 1612 using the term 'tomahack' and described the weapons as "a long stone sharpened at both ends". Tomahawks were later described as hatchets or pickaxe style weapons and tools. The versatility of the tomahawk was so appreciated by the European settlers and traders that this weapon was adopted as an essential item and widely used in the New World.

During the Revolutionary War in the late 18th century, the Continental Congress required the military men to carry either a tomahawk or cutting sword. Guns were unreliable and took a long time to reload so the tomahawks served as a weapon for hand to hand or melee combat.

A few American soldiers used the tomahawks during the World War II and the Korean War. But as technology progressed, the use of guns also advanced, causing tomahawks to lose its prominence. Tomahawks resurfaced again between 1966-1970 when Peter La Gana, a World War II veteran of Mohawk – descent, crafted and sold thousands of tactical tomahawks to the American troops serving in Vietnam. These tactical tomahawks were sturdier and featured a penetrating spike for the poll. Today, tomahawks are manufactured on a large scale in Europe or created by individual makers and companies in America. There are also some Indian blacksmiths who are expert in creating the tool. Tomahawks come in different shapes, designs and purpose. Its useful in camping and bush craft scenarios and is often used as an alternative to hatchets, since its lighter and slimmer.  Modern tomahawks are now made of drop forged, differentially treated, alloy steel. This allows the blade and the spike to be harder and shock resistant. Tomahawk throwing is also fast becoming a popular and enjoyable sport with hundreds of enthusiasts engaging in tomahawk throwing competitions.

In Game:

Wanted posters were printed signs found in cities that featured the face of an Assassin, demanding for their immediate capture.

Ezio Auditore da Firenze first encountered them after the execution of his family. The posters prominently displayed the Pazzi family emblem and promised awards of 50,000 florins to anyone who killed or captured the Assassin once he had committed socially unacceptable behavior.

In the mid 18th century, the Assassin Aveline de Grandpré found need to remove wanted posters bearing the image of her slave persona, to decrease any negative focus of her in the public eye.

Around the same time, the Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton also removed wanted posters to reduce his notoriety, or could bribe printers to stop producing them altogether. Contrary to the posters issued for Ezio, in Colonial America, the depicted image would update as Ratonhnhaké:ton grew older and became a full Assassin.

In Real Life:

Wanted posters (or wanted sign) is a poster distributed to let the public know of an alleged criminal whom authorities wish to apprehend. They will generally include either a picture of the alleged criminal when a photograph is available or of a facial composite image produced by police. They are most commonly associated with the wild west, especially in the media.

The poster will usually include a description of the wanted person(s) and the crime(s) for which they are sought. There is typically a set monetary reward offered to whoever catches the wanted criminal that is advertised on the poster. Wanted posters are commonly produced by a police department or other public government bureaus intended for public display such as on a physical bulletin board or in the lobby of a post office. Today many wanted posters are displayed on the Internet. Wanted posters also might include rewards for providing aid in the capture of the wanted person, usually in the form of money.

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Wanted posters for particularly notorious fugitives frequently offer a bounty for the capture of the person, or for a person who can provide information leading to such capture. Bounties provided an incentive for citizens to aid law enforcement, either by providing information, or by catching the criminal themselves. More modern wanted posters may also include images of the fugitive's fingerprints. People who, as a profession, chase wanted individuals with the intent to collect their bounties are referred to as bounty hunters.

Historically, some wanted posters offering a reward contained the phrase "dead or alive". Thus one would get a reward for either bringing the person or their body to the authorities. This could indicate that the person was an outlaw, and that it was permissible to kill them. Alternatively it might mean that it was permissible to kill them if they resisted arrest.