In the first Assassin's Creed game, Masyaf is home to the Assassins' bureau led by Al Mualim.
Masyaf is a fortified mountain settlement in modern-day Syria and serves as the headquarters of the Levantine Brotherhood in the game's 1191 storyline. Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad returns there after missions to receive guidance, training, and new targets.
The fictionalized game setting draws on the historical Assassins, a Nizari Ismaili community associated with mountain fortresses in the medieval Middle East. Masyaf was a real fortress, although the game adapts its appearance and history for the story. It is sometimes confused with the mission cities of Acre, Damascus, and Jerusalem, which Altaïr visits during the campaign.
Masyaf also appears in later Assassin's Creed stories, especially Assassin's Creed Revelations, where Ezio Auditore investigates the original Brotherhood's legacy. The settlement therefore links the series' modern protagonists to its earliest historical Assassins.