Assassin's Creed sets Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's main story in 1191, during the Third Crusade.
The game takes place across several historical cities in the Levant, including Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus. Its fictional plot is layered onto the real conflict between forces associated with the Crusader states and the Muslim Ayyubid world. Richard the Lionheart, a historical leader of the crusade, also appears in the story.
The date is sometimes confused with 1187, the year Saladin recaptured Jerusalem, or 1099, the year of the First Crusade's capture of the city. Neither is the principal year of Altaïr's campaign. Assassin's Creed uses real political and military figures, but its Assassin and Templar storyline is fictionalized. The setting establishes the series' recurring method: placing invented characters inside recognizable historical periods and locations.