"He who owns this diamond will own the world, but will also know all its misfortunes. Only God, or a woman can wear it with impunity."
Assassin's Creed: Brahman is an Expanded Universe comic book set in the Assassin's Creed series and published by Ubiworkshop.
The comic follows Jot Soora, a computer programmer for MysoreTech, a Indian technology company secretly controlled by Templar front Abstergo Industries. While working a virtual reality system, Jot discovers he and his fiancé Monima Das are descendants of two 19th century Assassins: Raza Soora and Arbaaz Mir. When their genetic memories are uploaded to Abstergo's cloud server by the device, they become embroiled in the ongoing conflict between the Assassins and the Templars, while in 1839, Arbaaz and Raza work with Pyara Kaur, a granddaughter of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire, to keep a Piece of Eden out of Templar control.
It was released online on October 30, 2013 and was released in stores on January 29, 2014.
Tropes:
- Ambiguously Evil: Ajay Rana is hinted to either be a Templar or their ally, giving what could be interpreted as subtle threats to Jot. At the Assassin hideout, a stolen MysoreTech computer can be seen connected to the Abstergo Cloud using Ajay's credentials, which identifies him as an "Agent".
- Animal Motifs: Arbaaz is Eagle in Urdu.
- Anachronic Order: The present day narrative is conducted in flashback, the past is told through Animus segments in several fragments shown out of order.
- Artifact of Doom: According to the legend, the Koh-I-Noor brings nothing but misery to whoever owns it, including the Persian ruler Nader Shah. As Hamid tells Arbaaz, "Only God, or a woman may wield it with impunity". Jot Soora later discovers that the engagement ring that he had given Monima contained a fragment of the diamond, she had taken off that ring before going to Bombay telling Jot to keep it for her until she gets back. It's only then that Jot's luck gets worse.
- Benevolent Boss: Ajay Rana seems like one, he and Jot Soora play squash together despite the former being his superior, though Jot suspects that Ajay is trying to hit on his girlfriend.
- Benevolent Precursors: Durga, a member of Those Who Came Before, uses the Koh-I-Noor to possess Pyara Kaur and pass on a cryptic message that seems aimed at getting humanity to unite and fulfill their full potential.
- Big Bad: Francis Cotton in the past storyline, Juhani Otso Berg for the modern day storyline.
- Big Brother Is Watching: The Brahman VR technology allows users to access their genetic memory while secretly uploading the same to Abstergo's Cloud Servers. This greatly upsets Jot Soora and he raises concerns on the same to his boss who is either indifferent or complicit in the spread of Templar surveillance.
- Bilingual Bonus: In the first splash page of the Brahman Menu, the Hindi Alphabet sentence spells out, "All that glitters is not gold!" alluding to the revelation in the story that the Kohinoor Diamond that adorns the Crown Jewels is a fake.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Assassins succeed, sort of, in their mission, but Siobhan and Dinesh die, Monima Das dies, and Jot Soora is left devastated and alone at the end.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: Besides the Assassins, Francis Cotton also claims to have a hidden blade, indicating he killed an Assassin at some point and took it as a trophy.
- Boom, Headshot!: In the modern day storyline, Siobhan and Dinesh are both killed by being shot in the head.
- Chase Fight: Jasdip pursues the Templars who kidnapped Jot and Monima by jumping onto their van from a bridge, and proceeds to jump from the vans roof onto one its motorcycle escorts, killing the Templar agents riding them before shooting out the van's tires. This sends the van over the edge of the highway and into the water below, where the last two Templar agents drown, along with Monima, with Jot being rescued by Jasdip.
- Contrived Coincidence: So the descendants of Arbaaz Mir and Raza Soora somehow managed to find each other and fall in love over one-hundred years later?
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Ajay Rana has no reservations about marketing a product like Brahman V.R. which can potentially upload the memories of its users and ancestors onto the Abstergo Cloud database without their consent, giving Abstergo free reign to plunder their memories for their own uses.
- Country Matters: The Hindi word, "Chutiya" which means more or less the same thing in English is thrown around a lot.
- Crazy-Prepared: The Assassins wear bombs on their gauntlets to destroy their bodies if they are killed in order to prevent the Templars from getting ahold of their genetic material.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: When Francis Cotton foolishly shoots at the Koh-I-Noor in the hands of a Pyara-Possessed-By-Durga, it shatters and unleashes a blue energy blast that incinerates everyone near by, while a blue tiger of energy breaks out and mauls Cotton to pieces. Arbaaz and Raza escape by diving into a nearby pool.
- Dies Wide Open: Siobhan, and Jot wakes up from the Brahman to find their eyes staring straight at him.
- The Everyman: Jot Soora shows what happens when an ordinary everyday person gets involved in the cloak-and-dagger Conspiracy Kitchen Sink world of Assassins vs. Templars, he is confused, used by both factions and ends up getting his life wrecked.
- Eye Scream: Jasdip rips the mask off of one Templar agent's face and uses part of it to stab another Templar agent through his mask and into his eye.
- Famous Ancestor: In-story, Monima Das is a descendant of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Jot Soora however is a rare aversion for a protagonist, his ancestor was not only no one famous in history but also not an Assassin, they were a simple, ordinary lower-class indentured servant, which makes the present-day middle class IT professional feel insecure in his relationship with the gorgeous Bollywood actress.
- Faceless Goons: The Templar agents in the modern-day storyline all wear high-tech masks that enable them to spot Assassins wearing slip-suits, leaving only their jaws visible.
- Fling a Light into the Future: Durga, of the First Civilization, possesses Princess Pyara Kaur and gives this message:Durga: We are one of many but essential to the unity of all. Splintered though we may appear within the limited notion of this moment, we exist as one, as we always have and always will. You have been fragmented, children, but know that you are also whole. Do not allow your concept of time to act as a paralyzing veil when the fate of all you hold dear rests in your hands. We speak through this vessel to you, this time and medium and anchor that we might commune. We must exist freely at all points for your race, our children, to exist and to remain free. Shroud this intelligent lens until you become united and can realize this heart, our heart, to be the one that endowed your precious breath."''
- As per developers, this was a Sequel Hook that foreshadowed Assassin's Creed: Unity.
- Genetic Memory: With the new Animus headset, called Brahman in India, people can now view other peoples ancestors as well. At several points Jot relives Arbaaz's memories instead of his own ancestor Raza.
- Good Is Not Nice: Assassin Jasdip Dhami is a massive jackass who regularly threatens Jot after kidnapping him, but he still tries to rescue him and Monima from the Templars and is determined to prevent them from gaining the Koh-I-Noor diamond and using it to further their plans to dominate the world.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: It's largely in English, which is a language that is widely spoken in India, but several Hindi words are interspersed with English, especially Mumbai Hindi slang.
- Gray-and-Grey Morality: The Assassins and the Templars don't especially care that Jot Soora and Monima Das are innocents caught up in their game. While the Assassins are nicer and friendlier to Jot, he is nothing more to them than a means to complete their mission of hiding the Koh-I-Noor and both of them get upset at him when he lied to them about his Assassin ancestry simply because he felt ashamed of his poor roots.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Jot is insecure about his relationship to the wealthy and glamorous Monima, and gets jealous at the wealthy and smarmy Ajay Rana for his over-familiar interactions with her. He however gets even more insecure after she relives Pyara Kaur's memories in the Brahman VR and relives her memories of a tryst with Arbaaz Mir, who Monima sheepishly admits she found very attractive and handsome, though she reminds Jot that he was probably her ancestor so its ridiculous to get jealous.
- He Knows Too Much: Why Jot Soora and Monima Das are targeted, both of whom are civilians.
- Hologram: The First Civilization repository below the Summer Palace is hidden by a hologram of a wall, and when Raza tries to touch the Koh-I-Noor a hologram of a tiger appears and jumps at him.
- Hindu Mythology: The Hindu gods are hinted at being based on members of the First Civilization, with Arbaaz and Raza discovering statues built in a hidden cavern under the Summer Palace which looked like certain Hindu deities but have some differences. An unidentified four-armed member of the First Civilization, Durga most likely, later manifests itself by using the Koh-I-Noor to posses Pyara Kaur.
- The Koh-I-Noor as per Indian folklore in real life, was long rumored to be the Syamantaka Gem which is the most famous gemstone in Hindu scriptures. This is confirmed here along with a Whole-Plot Reference of the Gem being stolen and changing hands often. A fact alluded to by Arbaaz:
The diamond excels at being stolen. - Historical Domain Character: Maharaja Ranjit Singh and William Hay Macnaghten.
- History Repeats: The death of Ranjit Singhji occurs in the same fashion as the Doge's death in Assassin's Creed II, the assassin is too late to prevent the poisoning of his target and the cunning Templar uses the confusion to frame him as the culprit by siccing the guards on him.
- In Medias Res: The comic starts with Jot kidnapped by the Assassins and put into the Brahman to relive his ancestors memories before going back one week to show he became involved in the Assassin-Templar conflict.
- Lack of Empathy: Jasdip has no sympathy towards Jot over Monima's death, mostly because he blames him for his sisters death due to Jot lying about his heritage.
- Lantern Jaw of Justice: Jasdip has one.
- Le Parkour: As is normal for the series, this is how the Assassins navigate cities.
- Living MacGuffin: Jot Soora and Monima Das, with both the Assassins and Templars hunting for them so they can access their genetic memory and discover the location of the real Koh-i-Noor diamond.
- Mineral MacGuffin: The Koh-i-Noor diamond, which turns out to be a Piece of Eden that can enhance the power of other Pieces of Eden. Arbaaz Mir is trying to keep it out of Templar hands in the past, while in the present, the Assassins and Templars are racing to find a descendant of his so they can access his memories and discover where it is located. The real diamond was fired at by a stupid Templar and shattered into several pieces, one of these pieces is the engagement ring worn by Monima Das as Jot Soora discovers at the end.
- The Mole: Siobahn serves as the Assassins mole in MysoreTech.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Arbaaz Mir is not very interested in political intrigue, he only wants to steal the Kohinoor Diamond, complete his task and maybe romance the beautiful princess on the side. He very reluctantly decides to stop the assassination of Ranjit Singh, and that reluctance prevents him from saving his life.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Francis Cotton is a colonialist asshole.
- Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: When Francis Cotton shoots at Durga after she manifests herself from the Kohinoor, she gives a terse warning:Durga: And never doubt the lengths to which we will go to protect what is precious to us.
- Shout-Out: Quite a few to Inception.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Siobhan and Jasdip Dhami have completely opposite personalities, with Siobhan being nice and sympathetic towards Jot, while Jasdip is a total jackass who threatens him.
- Sleeves Are for Wimps: Both Abraaz Mir and Jasdip Dhami's Assassin outfits lack sleeves, showing off their muscular arms.
- Spy Catsuit: Jasdip wears a "slip suit", which apparently has some sort of stealth technology that is supposed to make it hard for others to spot him. It is useless because the Templars have some sort of headgear that lets them spot people wearing one.
- Somebody Set Up Us the Bomb: Jasdip takes out the second Templar strike team by detonating the device strapped to Siobhan's wrist after he left her body behind.
- The Speechless: Raza Soora, who is mute.
- Tragic Mistake: Jot Soora lying to Siobhan about his descent to Arbaaz Mir rather than the Sudra Raza Soora. He did this out of shame and insecurity at his roots, but it ends up sending a chain of dominoes that leads to the deaths of Siobhan, Dinesh, and Monima Das.
- Type Caste: Raza Soora was born into the Sudra (servant) caste, and first served Assassin Mentor Habid before being bought by Arbaaz Mir for one gold coin.
- Unequal Pairing: A major source of angst in Jot and Monima's relationship is the fact that he is a simple programmer who is descended from a lower caste, while Monima is a famous actress and the descendant of royalty and a Assassin. This is largely one-sided with Jot, its clear that Monima truly loves him for who he is and completely faithful to him.
- Would Hit a Girl: Francis Cotton attacks Pyara Kaur after mistaking her for an Assassin.
- Would Hurt a Child: Hamid has no problem beating Raza due to him being from a lower caste. Francis Cotton likewise has no problem attacking Raza after he attacks Cotton to save Pyara.
- You Are Too Late: Arbaaz arrives to stop Cotton from poisoning Ranjit Singh, slapping the poisoned drink out of his hands. However, he had already drunk from the cup, and his death means the British, and by extension the Templars, will be able to takeover India.
