Through history, many things have been said about the original order of the Assassins. Their enemies claim and continued the lies that they were users of hashish, making them into villains in their drug-free, Muslim culture. This has been said of them for hundreds of years, that the only reason the great Hassan-i Sabbah kept his followers in check was with drugs and illusions of paradise.
The truth is a little simpler than that. Hassan-i Sabbah liked to call his followers Asasiyun, or the people who are loyal to the foundation of the faith. He used the younger, stronger, most agile of recruits to carry out murders against his enemies and their supporters. They weren’t only skilled at killing, they were smart enough to blend within the lives of their target. The men, what we would consider high schoolers would be able to speak like their target, move like their target and think like their target, but the most important part of their mission was to never sympathize with their target.
The Assassins were formed at a very tumultuous times in the history of Islam. Not only were they fighting for strength against Christianity, who had their own force of super soldiers in the Knights Templar, but also against other sects of Islam who sought the Holy Land and the power it included for their own.
Just like it is portrayed in video games and movies, Assassins preferred to kill their targets in a public space, blending in with the crowd and eliminating or threatening their prey in broad daylight. After all, what better way is there to win the favor of a people you wish to oppress, by killing their oppressors right in front of their eyes.
Two centuries of murder, intrigue and espionage is a lot for the modern order of Assassins to live up to.
©2013 DEDWIN HEDON
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