"When I was very young, I was foolish enough to believe that our Creed would bring an end to all these conflicts. If only I had possessed the humility to say to myself, I have seen enough for one life, I've done my part. Then again, there is no greater glory than fighting to find the truth" - Altaïr in 1257, during a Mongol attack on Masyaf
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Altaïr was born in Masyaf (the capital of the Syrian Assassins) on the 11th January 1165. His father, Umar Ibn-La'Ahad, was a respected member of the assassin order, having earned the rank of master assassin His mother however had died at child birth. During a Saracen siege of Masyaf Umar killed a nobleman, which ultimately lead to his execution. Altaïr, who was only eleven years old, watched as his father was executed, calling out his name moments before his death. Ahmad Sofian later revealed to Altaïr that he had revealed to the Saracens that Umar was the killer of the nobleman, before committing suicide in front of the young boy because of his guilt.
Altaïr was raised and trained alongside Abbas Sofian (the son of Ahmad) and was told by Al Mualim (the mentor of the Syrian assassins) never to reveal to Abbas the truth about his fathers death. Abbas and Altaïr became best friends, however this changed when Altaïr told Abbas of his fathers suicide. Abbas accused Altaïr of lying and tried to kill him in a training exercise the next day. As a punishment Abbas was forced to train for another year, while Altaïr became an assassin.
Master Assassin
Al Mualim later tasked Altair with finding an ancient artifact known as the chalice, which was also desired by the Templars. The chalice was thought to be either an artifact that belonged to Jesus Christ or the descendant of Jesus himself! Altaïr's quest lead him to the temple of the sand, where he discovered the chalice had already fallen into Templar hands. In Jerusalem he discovered the chalice was in fact a woman named Adha, who he fell in love with. The two planned to run away together but unfortunately Adha was kidnapped by the Templars and Altaïr was unable to rescue her. It is unknown how or when but Adha did die, as mentioned later by Altaïr in his legendary codex.
The Hunt for the Nine
In 1191 both the Assassins and Templars had learned the location of the location of another artifact, under Temple Mount, in the ruins of King Solomon's Temple. Altaïr, Malik and his brother, Kadar were all tasked with retrieving the artifact. Altaïr's arrogance leads him to attempt to assassinate the Templar grand master, Robert De Sable, he fails however and is forced to abandon Malik and Kadar, who have been revealed to the Templars. Back at Masyaf Al Mualim is furious at Altaïr's failure and arrogance. Malik later arrives with the artifact and a broken arm (which is later amputated). Malik reveals that Altaïr had broken all three tenants of the assassin order in the temple and inadvertently caused the death of Kadar.
Due to Altaïr's failure the Templars are aware that the assassins have stolen the artifact and launch an attack on Masyaf. Altaïr and the assassins are able stop the attack and remain in possession of the artifact but afterwords Altaïr is killed in front of a crowd by Al Mualim as a punishment for his behavior.
Altaïr later awakes confused and Al Mualim explains that his 'death' was merely a trick. Altaïr is offered a trade, nine lives in exchange for his own. He agrees and is tasked with hunting down and assassinating nine men, who are corrupt and profit of the third crusade.
Altaïr begins to kill the men, for what he is told to be the betterment of the holy land. As his quest continues however he begins to wonder what the real goal of the assassinations is. He learns from Al Mualim that the artifact from Solomon's temple is one of the legendary pieces of Eden and one of the six apples of Eden. Al Mualim explains that the Templars aim to use the apple to conquer the holy land.
With one target left to kill, none other than the Templar grand master Robert De Sable, Altaïr begins to wonder what connect his targets together. He begins to speculate that they were all collaborating to create a new world order using the apple. When he tracks down Robert in Jerusalem he finds that it is actually a woman known as Maria and that the real Robert is planning an attack on Arsuf, in an attempt to unify the Templars with the Saracens against the assassins. He reveals this to Malik, who had previously forgiven Altaïr for the death of his brother. At Arsuf Altaïr reveals Roberts treachery to King Richard of England (Richard the Lion heart) and kills him. Robert used his dying breath to reveal to Altaïr that Al Mualim was in fact a Templar who was using him to eliminate all others that knew of the apples existence.
Al Mualim's Treachery
At Masyaf Altaïr is confronted with hordes of hypnotized villagers and assassins. Malik and a group of assassins that still retain their mind hold off the the controlled assassins so that Altaïr can break into Masyaf castle and confront Al Mualim.
Al Mualim reveals that he intends to use the apple to achieve the assassins goal of world piece. But controlling the minds of men to achieve world piece goes directly against the belief of Assassins, that all men should have free will. For that very reason Altaïr attempts to stop Al Mualim, who creates multiple clones of himself using the apple. Despite all of his masters tricks Altaïr is able to fight and kill him. He is then challenged by Al Mualim to go through with his promise to destroy the apple. As he gazes apon it however, he finds himself unable to do so because as Al Mualim said, the apple is simply temptation given a form. The apple then activates itself and reveals to Altaïr a 3D hologram of Earth, which shows the location of various other pieces of Eden scattered across the planet.
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