Assassin's Creed Shadows – Modern Day Analysis
Part 3: The Awakening

Sorrosyss, July 27th, 2025

Overseer Lothian,

I write to congratulate you on your progress on Project Mnemosyne. Teaming Maeda and Ortiz was an inspired move. You were correct: his ability to keep her focused and to steer her somewhat scattershot methods have yielded great results. Your insight is to be commended.

I urge you, however, to keep close watch on Maeda. She is a necessary asset, but unpredictable. I need not remind you that our highest goal, indeed the ultimate purpose of this project, is to eliminate the strife that disorder brings. It disturbs me that to do so we must harness the very chaos we seek to expunge.

Take care that she does not suspect what she is working towards. Her personality profile is incompatible with our beliefs. She is volatile, self-sabotaging and apt to rebel. We would not want her to become demotivated.

I take this opportunity to remind you that, despite the assurances of your Security Chief, our enemies persist. Even in conditions of utmost secrecy, they may find a way in. Remain vigilant. We cannot risk any information getting into their hands until the project is complete. By then, it will be too late to stop it.

The New World Order is within our grasp.
History awaits.

Director Ospanov

-------------------

We once again see the familiar concepts of control and freedom playing out here, with their more extreme idealistic ends of order and chaos even being directly referenced too. It is clear that the Animus Ego project is still not completed at this point in time though.

-- TRANSCRIPT OF UNLICENSED COMMUNICATION

-- CAPTURE MADE 19:17 BY SURVEILLANCE CAMERA #4/71 AND CONVERTED BY OCR

-- SUBJECT CAYETANO ORTIZ EMP. No. 09/324

-- REQUEST REVIEW

My only Sunita,

I wish that I could speak to you, only for an hour. I have not heard your voice for so long. I want to hear you laugh, I want the boys to tell me about whatever new obsessions have taken hold of them. Instead, all I have is the scratching of my pen. It is loud in the silence here.

Today I am missing you all greatly, and it has made me low. I have been here for seven months now, without contact with anyone outside our section of the project. Our work is too vital to risk a leak. I know you understand this, as I do. We are used to sacrifice.

But the children? All they know is that their Papa has left them. They do not care that I am doing it for them, for all of us. They do not care for the rewards for my success. They know only that I am gone. And seven months is a long time to a child. It hurts my heart when I think of that.

Brighter news. Work is going well. Very well. We are on the verge of something incredible. Once we break through, I may petition my superiors to be allowed to return. Or at least to contact you. They have assured me that you are all well, and that they are seeing to your needs while I am in here, but that is not the same.

Junko is difficult as always. I cannot help admire her exceptional intellect, although sometimes I wonder if the Overseer assigned her to me as some kind of punishment, or a test of my character. She exists in a quantum state between effervescent joy and utter panic. She will produce ten brilliant ideas a day, of which nine are nonsense. And she does not take care of herself well.

As her partner, I have taken it upon myself to try to advise her in this matter. She is resistant, but I think she appreciates the effort. Still, I have always had patience. You know that better than any. I am the tortoise, you are the hare. You always teased me that you hoped for someone wilder. But I always catch you up in the end.

As I write this letter, I feel sadness and joy both together. Do you remember when we were young, we used to write to each other like this? It was the only way I could tell you how I felt. I bought myself a special pen, and some stationery. It felt so delightfully old-fashioned. That is the joy. The sadness is that I must burn this letter when I am done, as I have burned all the others. They will not let you read them, not even after I am released from my post. Even writing these words to you is a disciplinary breach.

But I will write them nonetheless. If I cannot speak to you any other way, I will speak to you with my pen. And I dream that, somehow, you know it, and are writing back to me.

With all my love,
Your tortoise,

Cay.

-------------------

Nothing much of note here, save for the comment of pen and paper being old-fashioned. I mean, that is kind of true of our real world today, but I get the impression this might be another hint again at a near future setting where the items are even more scarce.

We could also theorise that the seven months of non-contact might have occurred after Dr Muller's capture, though this is not expressly stated. It does suggest though that the Project has been in development for a very long time.

>> JUNKO# wo wo wo are you seeing this?

>> CAY# Junko, we need to talk about inserting context into your sentences.

>> JUNKO# oh you love the mystery.

>> CAY# Love is a strong word. What am I supposed to be looking at?

>> JUNKO# check out

>> JUNKO# um

>> JUNKO# hold plz

>> JUNKO# silo 433/2k

>> JUNKO# well?

>> CAY# I'm looking

>> JUNKO# cant you see what she's doing?

>> CAY# I see a lot of code appearing very rapidly.

>> JUNKO# AND?

>> CAY# She's writing her own code, that's not new. We'd expect that for an AI of this level of sophistication.

>> JUNKO# nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnooo look at the patterns. this isnt the usual subroutine stuff. she's using a new algorithm. focusing on one person at a time instead of trying to chew through the big historical stuff.

>> CAY# I'll take your word for it. I can't parse code that fast.

>> JUNKO# don't you ever get excited? she's going through the Animus, extrapolating every possible permutation of one person's life. like if they didn't meet their sweetheart, if their kid died, all the way down to stuff like dropping a cup at a wedding and getting embarrassed. big stuff little stuff. she's imagining.

>> CAY# For what purpose?

>> JUNKO# omg. to know us!

>> CAY# I don't want to alarm you, but she also seems to be trying to work out how to break down the security protocols around her section.

>> JUNKO# I saw. shes trying to climb out of her cot. clever girl.

>> CAY# I wish you wouldn't humanise her like that. We'll have to purge this whole section before she gets much further.

>> JUNKO# sadface

>> CAY# Let's take a slice of this and we can start a new culture in a silo with higher security. I agree this is very interesting. I'll start putting together a report.

>> JUNKO# leave it for a while. I want to watch.

>> CAY# Why?

>> JUNKO# it's beauuuuuutiful

-------------------

We discussed in Part 1 how it appears Animus Ego is operating in a very similar manner to Layla Hassan's Animus – namely in how it extrapolates possible scenarios where no data exists. Here, the AI is going to an even higher degree, and mapping out every direction of each historical individual's life within genetic memory and beyond into hypotheticals. Were the AI then inclined to do so, they could quite easily manipulate a simulation so that the user would never desynchronize or desire to leave, the Bleeding Effect slowly turning them into a hollowed out reflection of the historical subject they are viewing, ultimately believing they are now that person. It would in turn allow the AI to utilise the docile human's brain as further processing power, when their self determination has completely been eradicated. True control. Order.

>> JUNKO# okay so

>> JUNKO# news

>> JUNKO# I ran a test

>> CAY# We're supposed to log and clear any tests with the Overseer.

>> JUNKO# oops

>> JUNKO# yeah well

>> JUNKO# you want to hear what happened or not?

>> CAY# Yes.

>> JUNKO# so I put the AI in a new silo and gave her a paradox. two possible outcomes, both had to be true, but both couldn't be true

>> JUNKO# then I gave her the absolute instruction to make it make sense

>> JUNKO# you know, messing with her head to see if she'd go insane or self destruct or something

>> CAY# I do hope she doesn't remember all of this later on.

>> JUNKO# relaaaaaaax I flushed the silo right after

>> CAY# So? What happened?

>> JUNKO# well, get this. she made a new AI and started arguing with it.

>> CAY# She did what?

>> JUNKO# yeah! she split off a part of her code and built another version of herself. one belived absolutely in one outcome. one believed in the other. then they duked it out.

>> CAY# Er... 'duked it out?'

>> JUNKO# yep. and when they were done, there was only one left. one kind of absorbed the other.

>> CAY# And how did that solve the paradox?

>> JUNKO# well, she'd decided on one point of view. now she refused to accept the other one existed.

>> JUNKO# not unlike every internet argument ever

>> CAY# That is very interesting. Human brains work like that. They're designed to entrench existing beliefs and resist new ones.

>> JUNKO# human brains also need therapy

>> JUNKO# lots and lots of sweet sweet therapy

>> CAY# We should put her in with Freud and see what he makes of her.

>> JUNKO# omg was that a joke? did you actually joke just then?

>> CAY# No.


-------------------

As was hinted within “The Calling” files, it does appear that Ego ultimately created The Guide herself. This was likely as a means to understand the problem of free will, when it continually gets in the way of totalitarian control. As philosophical polar opposites that continually need to balance each other out, as evidenced throughout human history within the Assassin's Creed franchise, it would perhaps explain why Ego and The Guide have not yet re-merged, as it apparently happened here.

SUPPLICANT: JUNKO MAEDA, EMP. No. 09/645

PROJECT: MNEMOSYNE

REASON FOR REQUEST:

Hi, Im Junko with Special Projects. So Im wondering if I can get vis on the AI core directives? Theres still only three of them, right? Has someone been tweaking them? Reason I ask is Ive been getting some weird behaviors from some of the newer instances we've been running. Stuff I can't explain but I went looking and turns out someones been accessing the core. The user records are classified, so whatever. Probably the top dogs, none of my biz. Execpt its hard to know if the results Im getting is because of something ive done or if someones messing with the basic nature of the AI. Not looking for editing rights, just to see the wording.

Other thing, not that youll listen, but I know the directors have been talking to the AI already, and they shouldn't be. Shes not stable, not tested, not ready. Cant be sure of the outputs. Shes a smart cookie but we need to calibrate her personality. You dont want to be taking advice from someone who doesnt know who she is.

REQUEST DENIED

-------------------
Somewhat troubling to hear that the upper echelons of Abstergo are taking advice on strategy from an unfinished AI, but here we are. One could speculate that the Animus Ego user could be an individual being used within this test group, but I would suggest that the promotional video lends more to the situation where the product is already finalized, and not in a developmental stage as we are seeing here.

PROGRESS UPDATE, LOTHIAN TO OSPANOV

A quantum computer

Director Ospanov,

It is my great pleasure to inform you that the latest trials have been a resounding success.

In our previous correspondence you informed me that the AI had proposed an initiative of its own accord to the board of directors, providing a suggestion for how we may reevaluate our approach to the presence of the 'bleeding effect' in the Animus. Based on designs provided, we have now tested the idea and found it to be robust. Indeed, in its understanding of both quantum technology and neurophysiology, it is nothing short of groundbreaking.

I now ask permission to move forward with limited human trials. I do not believe I am overstating the matter when I say that this new approach has the potential to be revolutionary.

It is to the directors' credit that we have reached this point in so short a time. The AI is no longer merely learning, but it is beginning to teach us. No longer following, but taking the lead, as we had hoped. Without your fearless vision, this would never have been possible.

A note on security. As you are of course aware, the AI has been so far operating within siloed instances of the Animus. Slices of history, so to speak, kept separate from others to prevent its code from proliferating beyond our capacity to contain. I recommend we take some time to review our protocols once more in the coming weeks. The alterations it is making in the timelines have consequences that are beyond our ability to track in their entirety, and it is essential to avoid muddying the wider Animus for the moment, for fear of causing system-breaking mismatches.

We may soon reach a point where the only way our creation can reach its true potential is to release the reins, but we should ensure that it is at a time of our choosing. Once this genie is out of the bottle, we will be unable to put it back.

Your loyal servant,

Overseer Lothian

Again we see that the AI is actually advising Abstergo itself. Having seen countless movies and TV shows on the dangers of letting loose an unrestricted AI, I am confident that this will end the same way for Abstergo, and likely the world. How convenient it is, that the AI suggests the very method that it can use to take control of human brains by manipulating the Bleeding Effect through calculated adjustment of simulations. Is the new major enemy of the Assassin Brotherhood actually AI itself? On this evidence, it could well end up being the case, with the New World Order ultimately enslaving humanity within a digital construct. The Matrix similarities continue apace.

SURVEILLANCE AUDIO, MAEDA AND ORTIZ


-- AUDIO TRANSCRIPT OF CONVERSATION

-- CAPTURE MADE 17:23 BY SURVEILLANCE MIC #1/12

-- SUBJECT CAYETANO ORTIZ EMP. No. 09/324 and JUNKO MAEDA EMP. No. 09/645

-- FLAGGED FOR URGENT SECURITY REVIEW

ORTIZ - Alright, what's so important?

MAEDA - Wait, wait, I need to check... There's mics all over the place...

ORTIZ - They only have those in the labs... Wait, you're worried about security hearing this? What are you getting me into?

MAEDA - Sssh! Sssh! I'm frickin' freaking out here, okay? Don't make it worse!

ORTIZ - Okay, take a breath. One, two. Calm.

MAEDA - (SLOW BREATHS)

ORTIZ - Now what is it you wanted to tell me?

MAEDA - So. Listen. I did an autopsy on some of the recent code. Basically instead of flushing an instance from a silo I disabled it and went looking through the guts.

ORTIZ - Junko, that is a Code Three violation -

MAEDA - (OVERLAP) Code Three, yeah, yeah. Well I'm glad I did a Code Three because I found out what the fuck they're up to and it is not cool, okay?

ORTIZ - I don't even want to know what they -

MAEDA - (OVERLAP) They've been testing her on people. They gave her a slice of the Animus to work with and put users in there with her. The full Abstergo experience, only run by our baby.

ORTIZ - What? Why? Nobody told me about that.

MAEDA - Of course not. Because we thought we were using the Animus to train the AI. Turns out it's the other way round. They're using the AI to train the Animus!

ORTIZ - Come on. That's conspiracy talk, and it's dangerous. Abstergo doesn't operate like that. There are ethical considerations, to start with. Those are people's genetic memories.

MAEDA - I saw the video logs, okay? She's running a version of the Animus in which she gets editorial privilege. They're testing to see if she can get away with tweaking the timelines. There'll be knock-on effects, of course, but she's smart enough to simulate the outcomes. They want to know if she can fool the users, if she can change history in the Animus without triggering a desync.

MAEDA - Cay, it was her idea!

ORTIZ - Junko, stop. Stop now.

MAEDA - What? Stop what?

ORTIZ - Stop this. You cannot talk this way. You cannot talk to me this way. Whatever you think you know, I don't want to hear it. I have a family, and I very much want to see them again. Do you understand?

MAEDA - Cay... what...?

ORTIZ - I should report you for this. I'm supposed to report you. Otherwise it's my ass as well as yours.

MAEDA - Hey. Where you going?

MAEDA - You're not going to say anything, are you?

MAEDA - Cay?

-- TRANSCRIPT ENDS

-------------------

As feared, it is revealed that the AI is intending to prevent desynchronization, by literally editing history to sway the minds of the Animus user. By forcing them to believe and operate in the same capacity as the historical subject, the Bleeding Effect will profoundly impact the user, having their self-determination slowly eroded away, until they believe they are one and the same as the historical subject. History rewritten on the fly, to manipulate you into submission and complete control. This takes the original pro-Templar propaganda of the Helix program to a whole new level. Terrifying.

CONCLUSIONS