While the core games' stories span around 821 years, from the first Assassin's Creed in 1191 to around 2012 and Desmond Miles' modern-day plot, Ubisoft has constructed a large, Star Wars Expanded Universe-style backstory loaded with mythology and intertwined with historical events. According to the publisher, the first known assassin was Xerxes, who assassinated King Darius of Persia, according to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, indicating that the custom dates back millennia.