Complexities of Culture & Questions About The Isu

As an Anthropology student, you take a lot of classes to learn the different aspects of humanity: biological anthropology lets us understand the human body, archaeology allows us to study the humans of the past (though is considered an sub-section of history outside the US), linguistic anthropology which studies human language, and finally cultural anthropology- that one speaks for itself. Naturally each of these have their own sub-sections and that is what helps lead to various specializations. If you have ever seen the crime drama Bones, the main character in that show- Temperance Brenan- is a forensic anthropologist which is part of biological anthropology.

But what does any of that have to do with the Isu? It’s simple: one of the main things we haven’t seen from the Assassin’s Creed series is the culture of the Isu. We have only gotten a few glimpses and some of those glimpses have been distorted by the person seeing them and having their own culture influencing it. In the Atlantis DLC for Odyssey we see some of the Isu, but the buildings and clothing around them are very clearly Greek with only a slight sci-fi or magic twist as far as Juno and Aita are concerned. And in Valhalla, we see them through the lens of Norse Mythology with them being seen as blue skinned frost giants, even though we know some of those frost giants are Minerva and Juno. And finally, in Assassin’s Creed II, we get the closest to genuine looks at the Isu world and culture in the video provided by Subject 16 Clay Kaczmarek. But how much of that was distorted by his own cultural influences is hard to know. The comics are also rather similar where we only get a few very brief glimpses in flashbacks but not really enough to understand their culture. And that comes with several questions.

Odyssey is the one where I believe we get the best look at the Isu and their culture. As we explore Atlantis as Kassandra (or Alexios) we can come across some Stele that give us the story of an Isu man who fell in love with a human woman and how they ended up having a child they called Eve. He also talks about the efforts going into hiding Eve and protecting her. Even in the beginning, we knew the Isu saw humans as slaves and lesser, but these notes left behind give us a much darker look at just how badly humans were looked down on by the Isu. Eve’s father feared that Eve would be taken from him and experimented on and even fled Eden in order to better protect his human lover and his child. So we have a glimpse of the hierarchy among the Isu. We are also aware, looking at Juno’s history, that the Isu follow as Caste system, though we are not really allowed to explore, though. There is so much that could be gleaned just from being able to see the different castes. 

Another interesting cultural aspect we see but is not explained is the glowing lines we see on the bodies of some of the Isu. These lines are shown primarily along limbs of the Isu, but we are never given a reason for them leading to some very curious questions. If the lines are genetic, given we see in Atlantis some Isu without them, does this mean they are a possible mark of their caste? If the lines are a cultural marking (be it tattoo or scarification), are they a coming of age thing or are they a rank thing? Do they have to be earned? Simple marks could tell us a lot about their culture. Knowing the significance- if any- of the lines opens up to some interesting side stories for future assassins who encounter such memories. Imagine a Sage who after interacting with a Piece of Eden is shown to have glowing lines. Or if you want something a bit darker, one who disfigures themself trying to give themselves those lines. Perhaps an antagonist of some kind tries to become Isu and after interacting with the tech, starts to have the lines added to their body, but they start to burn because they can’t handle it. 

Another aspect that can tell us a lot about the culture is food. We know from the Atlantis DLC that the Isu (namely Aita) created a lot of plants and animals themselves. So what foods were already available to them and what ones did they create. Were there any spices that no longer exist that the Isu favored? How was trade among their culture? Were their foods as diverse around the world as ours or was the world different enough at the time where they ate a lot of the same stuff with only minor cultural variants like what we might see in a large country like the United States. What about meats? If they did create such a variety of animals, did they create some specifically for food? Aurochs are a prehistoric extinct cow species. Were they possibly used by the Isu the way our ancient ancestors might have used them? Would they have been eaten by the Isu? Used the way we use dairy cows? Or were they simply beasts of burden? This could all be explored possibly by finding the notes of a Cultist or Templar researcher trying to recreate the foods either for commercial sale or to try and please Juno. You can tell a lot about a culture by their food as it is often a reflection of what they have available to them and what might be prized or treasured or what might be considered a delicacy. It could also show us what intoxicants they might have favored and how their alcohol was made and if there was any sort of ritual that might have gone into either making or consuming it. (A modern example being communion wine or pouring one out for a deceased loved one). Not to mention it could be interesting and a way to increase profits if they made a cookbook of Isu food.

Music is also an interesting aspect of culture that we could really benefit from in the games. Isu music being part of the soundtrack when going through memories, coming across a temple that has remnants of instruments or recordings of the musicians. Three things nearly all cultures have in common is some form of fried bread, some form of alcohol, and music. Minerva makes mention when defending human rights that humans are making their own music and culture, so how much of that was influenced by the Isu and what would Isu music sound like? What was their musical scale, their preferred instruments? Did they have any electric instruments similar to an electric guitar or a synthesizer given their technological advancement? It would be incredible to possibly have Isu music be part of the soundtrack for a game and they could use people making fan videos of them trying to create or replicate the music as a marketing ploy. I know people who even if they don’t like the game or the movie, will still purchase the soundtrack because they like the music within. 

And finally, an aspect that could both shed light on the Isu and I feel is important to understanding them as a people: religion. Even if at their fall they were a very logical and agnostic people, it is incredibly unlikely that they started that way or that all Isu chose not to believe in anything. We see Isu Temples, but none of them are really religious. What was the religion of the Isu like? Were they like early humans where you have the Venus statues and a worship around fertility? Were they polytheistic or monotheistic? Were their religions as diverse as the ones we have today? Did they lean more towards the enlightenment and wisdom that we see practiced with Buddhism? This is an aspect that ties into some of the others as a lot of religions make food a part of their rituals be it as offerings or as part of a ceremony. A lot of religions also use music either as a form of service, a meditation too, or a form of worship. Did the Isu have religious wars? Was religion a factor in the war against humans or even in the creation of humans? Could religion have led to better or worse treatment of humans? We have seen some of that in our own history, but Isu were considered above us, so was that an issue for them or have they gone the Star Trek route where they did in the past but by the time humans came along that wasn’t an issue? We know that astronomy as the cosmos was something that was studied by the Isu, did their religion revolve around the stars and astrology? And if so, what could their constellations have looked like? Even today a lot of us are seen differently or are different in other cultures.

The Isu culture is an aspect of Assassin’s Creed that I feel is under utilized considering it is such a core part of the games. These are the beings that are the reason for the games in the first place, yet we know so little about them despite having direct interactions with them and having conversations with them. We have Basim now and he clearly has his memories of Loki, not to mention Minerva running around, and we haven’t even really seen much of Jupiter in the games really at all. There is a lot that can be explored and not just in the story, but in a way to make us more attached to these characters. You could have Basim talking to Alethieia and perhaps one or both of them mentioning an aspect of the Isu that they miss or have someone trying to recreate something? Shaun Hastings being the historian that he is, would likely love trying to recreate food or understand the religion, if for nothing else than to compare and contrast. The Isu are a whole civilization that has had their most important aspect seemingly forgotten. And I hope future installments fix that.