7. A Murderous Elite
The Assassins’ killers did not expect to survive their missions. Indeed, not surviving was the whole point. They wanted to die while killing for the Old Man of the Mountain, so they return to the “heaven” in whose existence they had been drugged into believing during their recruitment.
However, unlike modern suicide bombers, the Assassins’ suicide killers were carefully selected and well trained in combat and disguises. Aside from the requisite physical fitness, they had to be quick thinking, well-read, intelligent, patient, calculating, and cold. They also had to possess no small degree of charisma, in order to infiltrate their opponents’ defenses, and gain access to and come within striking distance of their target.
