In the original Assassin's Creed, Damascus is the first city Altaïr visits after Masyaf.
Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad begins the game at the Assassin stronghold of Masyaf, where a failed mission leads to his demotion. To regain his rank, he must eliminate several targets connected to the Templar Order. His first major urban investigation takes place in Damascus, one of the game's three principal city settings.
The game presents Damascus as a large, divided city with distinct poor, middle, and rich districts. Altaïr gathers information there before pursuing his target, Tamir, a wealthy arms merchant. Players sometimes confuse the order of the game's cities because Jerusalem and Acre are also central locations, but neither is Altaïr's first post-Masyaf destination.
Damascus is also one of the historically significant cities represented in the game, whose story is set during the Third Crusade in 1191. The fictional plot combines real medieval places with invented characters and organizations.