Bayek (born c. 85 BCE), also known by the alias Amun, was one of the last Medjay of Egypt and the co-founder of the Hidden Ones alongside his wife, Aya.
Growing up in the remote village of Siwa, Bayek inherited the mantle of Medjay from his father, Sabu, and dedicated his life to protecting the security and welfare of his people. He also tried to raise his son, Khemu, in the Medjay ways, but this took a dramatic turn in 49 BCE, when Khemu was killed during an altercation with the Order of the Ancients, who had tried to interrogate Bayek to learn how to unlock the Siwa Vault.
Swearing vengeance on the Order, Bayek abandoned his Medjay duties and, alongside Aya, embarked on a quest to avenge their son by systematically assassinating every individual responsible. In process, they became allied with the exiled queen Cleopatra VII, who revealed that the Order's reach and power far exceeded their initial belief. Although wary, Bayek followed Aya's lead and pledged his service to Cleopatra as her personal Medjay, in the process embroiling himself in the Alexandrine war against Ptolemy XIII.
Following the conflict's conclusion, Cleopatra and her ally, Julius Caesar, betrayed Bayek and Aya by aligning themselves with the Order. In response, Bayek gathered their allies to form the Hidden Ones, a secret brotherhood that swore to fight against the Order and safeguard peace and freedom. However, this came at the expense of his marriage, as Aya elected to travel to Rome to establish her own branch of the Hidden Ones there.
For the remainder of his life, Bayek led what would someday become the Egyptian Brotherhood of Assassins, expanding the organization by recruiting new members from all walks of life, and combating the oppression and atrocities perpetrated by the new Roman rule of Egypt. As the forefather of the Assassins, he planted the seeds for their progressive philosophy, devising the Creed and its strict tenets on discretion and never harming an innocent life.
As the organization steadily grew during his travels, Bayek came across a deadly curse in the city of Thebes and set out to stop the one responsible by allying himself with the locals of the town that would help him with the endeavour. Ultimately discovering an Apple of Eden once owned by the pharaoh Akhenaten to be behind the curse, Bayek retrieved the artifact and gave it to the thief Sutekh, trusting him to hide it somewhere where no one would find it.
Unlike Aya, who would gain legendary status among the later Assassins, Bayek was—by choice—largely forgotten by members of the Brotherhood over the centuries, until his re-discovery in 2017 by Layla Hassan.
