Isu (Assassin's Creed)

Those Who Have Gone Before are a species that feature in Assassin's Creed.

History

The Isu were a hominid species that developed on Earth thousands of years ago where they emerged as the leading intelligent civilization on the planet.

In time, they came to be known by a variety of names by humanity who called them the Precursors, the First Civilization and as Those Who Have Gone Before.

They were noted to had been the creators of Homo Sapiens which they considered simple biological machines. In fact, it was determined that most of the hominid species on Earth were the result of the Precusors with the genome of Homo Neaderthalensis bearing such signs of deliberate craftmanship. It was held that the Isu had explicitly designed Neaderthals to be built for military or expeditionary work.

The height of their civilization was referred to as a time period known as the Isu Era.

The theft of the Apple of Eden by Adam and Eve came to instigate a human rebellion that soon erupted into a full-scale war against the Isu. In this conflict, the Isu maintained technological superiority and were stronger than the humans but mankind had the advantage in numbers. This war was said to had lasted for a decade and only abruptly ended when the Great Catastrophe occurred. This was a coronal mass ejection from the sun that threatened to wipe out all life on Earth. Several Isu became aware of an impending solar flare which would result in both the humans and Isu facing extinction. Realizing that a solution was needed to counter the oncoming coronal mass ejection, some Isu choose to ignore the war and instead focused on finding solutions to save Earth. The seventh attempt which had a chance of succeeding involved a supercomputer named Yggdrasil that could store an Isu's essence and reincarnate it into the human gene pool across eons.

Though both races survived the Great Catastrophe, few of either species remained. Working together, they rebuilt their world, and while humanity continued to view their counterparts as gods, they no longer worked in servitude to them. Despite their survival, however, the Isu were unable to fully recover their numbers, and began an inevitable decline toward extinction.

In the year 1923 of the Isu Era, the Shrouds were created to heal the injuries caused by the devastating Swords of Eden weapons.

In order to investigate a coming cataclysm, a trio of precursors consisting of Juno, Jupiter and Minerva formed the Capitoline Triad' that dedicated in preventing their civilizations destruction from the impending solar flare.

Afterwards, the species had died off rapidly leaving Humans and Neanderthals behind who came to advance at a startling rate with evidence to indicate that these two species dismantled and salvaged Precursor sites as a means of survival.

Human followers of the Isu known as Hermes came to call themselves the Hermeticists and followed his religious and philosophical teachings.

Overview

In appearance, the Isu were humanoids that were indistinguishable from their creations that became mankind with them being designated as Homo sapiens divinus (H.S.D.). They were distinguished for being more physically imposing with their kind standing 20 inches taller than humans. The Precursors were revealed to possess a triple helix DNA structure. In addition, they were said to possess six senses compared to the five senses of humans with their sixth sense being called 'knowledge'. The Isu were said to possess a natural longer lifespan compared to humanity though they were not immortal. It was noted that the minds of a Precursor were incredibly powerful.

Their society was divided into a number of castes such as the Illuminat.

They had an understanding of mathematical rules for the universe allowing them to change it through their 'equations of reality' theory. This theory posited that the nature of the universe was dictated by mathematical equations and someone that was able to understand them was able to rewrite reality.

Precursor architecture was a combination of styles used by various human civilizations such as Sumerian, Egyptian and Babylonian.

Isu technology was noted to be highly advanced and far greater than mankind. They made use of ultra-modern alloys as part of their metals with this being named Bathoricka which reacted specifically to thoughts. The Precursors could embed microscopic technology within fibres with them doing this to much of their relics. Another material was Adamant that was a metal of extraordinary properties capable of restructuring the portion of the human brain responsible for emotions with it capable of removing fear.

Their mastery of biological sciences allowed them to create new species with them being responsible for the creation of Humans and Neanderthals with signs of deliberate craftmanship within their respective genetics. The Isu considered bodies akin to being constructs and had the technology to upload minds as programs into computer systems. They also had the means of recording genetic memories allowing for such knowledge to be passed onto descendants. One device created by them was the Shroud of Eden that was able to heal injuries such as those sustained from war. It operated on the access of accessing the recovery centers of the body and repair damage to specifications by using the body's stored blueprints as if it were a machine. Multiple such Shrouds were created after the prototype was developed with it effectively operating as a factory reset for a body.

Project Anthropos was a scientific effort by the Æsir branch of the Isu to create the human race. Originally begun with the sole intent of having the humans worship their creators as gods but other Isu soon saw the benefits of the docile beings and forced them to a subservient slave workforce. Under their Olympos Project, they developed a series of hybrid organisms that were powered by Precursor relics.

A device constructed by the Isu was a machine called the Eye that allowed them to perform calculations and predict possible or even alternate futures.

The Isu were also the creators of the supercomputer Yggdrasil that was able to store an Isu's essence and reincarnate it into the human gene pool across eons.

One of their lasting creations were the Pieces of Eden that allowed them to control the network of neurotransmitters in human brains. These devices could take a variety of forms such as an Apple or a Stave.

The Precursors were responsible for creating a virtual existence known as the Gray that operated as a kind of afterlife for their kind.

Members

• Yaldabaoth : the Father of Understanding
• Samael : the Sacred Voice
• Saklas : the Mother of Wisdom
• Aita : husband to Juno who was part of an experiment to digitise their races consciousness but instead he fell catatonic forcing his wife to kill him but his consciousness came to be reborn in humanity that took the form of a Sage.
• Aletheia :
• Aphrodite
• Hades :
• Hekate :
• Hermes Trismegistus :
• Juno :
• Jupiter :
• Minerva :
• Persephone :
• Poseidon :
• Ampheres :
• Eysa :

Notes

• The Isu was created by Patrice Désilets, Jade Raymond and Corey May where they featured in the setting of Assassin's Creed.
• Originally, they were referred to as Those Who Have Gone Before but were identified as the Isu in Assassin's Creed: Syndicate.

In other media

Films

• In Assassin's Creed, the species was alluded to in the setting of the 2016 live-action film.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed:
• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate:

External Links

• Assassin's Creed Wiki Entry

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