The city at the intersection of Europe and Asia, of the old world and the new, of Ottoman consolidation and Byzantine remnant. Constantinople's density is the game's dramatic resource: every faction present, every interest represented, every secret with a stake in the Masyaf keys. The crossroads as the game's central metaphor — Ezio himself is a crossroads, the place where the Italian Brotherhood, Altaïr's legacy, and the Templar's current operations all converge.