Ishmael Ashur

Ishmael Ashur, known to many of the Pitt's inhabitants as "Lord Ashur", is the leader of The Pitt, a raider and slaver town, in the year 2277.

Background
Ashur reveals his personal history and motives, as well as much of the history of The Pitt, in a series of holotapes found in his personal safe, addressed to his daughter Marie. He reveals he was once a member of the Brotherhood of Steel, and participated in their assault on the Pitt twenty years ago, known as the Scourge. During the fight, Ashur was caught in an explosion and was presumed dead, so the Brotherhood left him within the mill. After being pulled out of the rubble by scavengers trying to steal his armor, Ashur impressed them with some even considering him a god (Midea sarcastically calls him the "God-King"). He then brought together the scavengers in the area, starting the city.

He chose to start the city in The Pitt because he was touched by the tenacious locals, and the fact that it contained the only operational steel mill the Brotherhood had ever run into. So he recruited everyone in the area, killed raider leaders and made the rest follow him. When that wasn't enough, he resorted to using slaves (whom he insists on calling "workers" to remind them that they all have a chance at freedom, no matter how slim); he admits he hates to do this, but claims "it has to be done" since citizens of The Pitt are unable to have children due to the Troglodyte Degeneration Contagion. His ultimate goal is to create the first city that is "producing" once again, and he claims that every other post-War community (including the Brotherhood of Steel) has lived off of leftovers and has been unable to create things anew.

The accuracy of this statement by Ashur is unclear, as is whether or not he is including The Enclave or the New California Republic in his assessment, since those communities clearly do have advanced capacity to produce and manufacture new material. Despite Ashur's condemnation of the Brotherhood of Steel as "lazy" scavengers, in the original Fallout set many, many years before Fallout 3, they were also depicted as possessing some form of manufacturing capabilities. It's entirely possible he knew about these facts, but kept them secret to inspire the slaves further, although it is unlikely that most if not all factions in the Wasteland have anywhere near the industrial capacity of Pittsburgh, a major steel-producing location, even if it has only a fraction of its pre-war capacity intact. It is noteworthy that The Pitt is the only location in Fallout 3 that has visible ammunition production operations, an aspect of the city that the player can eventually utilize.

Daily schedule
Ashur is found in his office at the top of Haven, and gives speeches to the slaves of The Pitt every once in awhile. He also runs the Pitt's radio station.

Quests

 * Unsafe Working Conditions: Your first interaction with Ashur is when he gives a speech to the slaves to pick a fighter for The Hole.
 * Free Labor: After you're done fighting in The Hole, he will ask to meet you and talk to you about becoming a Pitt Raider. You can then choose to side with him or Wernher, and if you side with him you fight to stop the slaves revolt, and if you side with Wernher you kill him.

Behind the scenes

 * Both Ishmael and Ashur are Biblical names. Ishmael was the son of Abraham, who was exiled by his own parents. Ashur was the name of an ancient empire that used to conquer and enslave many of its neighbors, including the Jewish kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Bugs

 * Sometimes when you kill Ashur, Pitt Raiders will not become hostile towards you except for the ones in the area you killed Ashur. Sandra will still become hostile towards you.
 * Sometimes after the initial meeting dialog with Ashur he will repeat the words "Don't let me keep you" a few times to forever before leaving. This appears to be a bug, supposedly caused by speaking to others in Haven before speaking to Ashur or by skipping through too much of Ashur's dialog.
 * Ashur will sometimes fall down (exactly like Harkness if you tell Zimmer about him) at random moments. You can also loot him while he is in this state and guards will not be hostile when he gets back up.
 * If you choose not to kill Ashur at first, continue the game and after turning off the flood lights and coming back to the surface, Ashur will confront you and tell you he should have killed you. If you once again choose not to kill him and sneak away, he will sometimes die standing up if killed by Trogs.
 * Usually, after finishing the main quest, and regaining entry to Haven, Ashur will be waiting for you on his floor, alive but having only what was left after looting his corpse. He is marked essential hereafter, and cannot be killed. However, unusual glitches have been reported (e.g. Dismembered limbs floating near their appropriate areas, and Ashur walking weirdly, as if skating. Also, if you remove Ashur's head, when you return it will be at his feet and on his body. When you enter VATS, you can target the one at his feet but the one still attached to his head won't register. When talked to, the head at his feet will speak.)
 * In the above case, Ashur cannot be killed, nor looted for any possessions. He will simply go unconscious repeatedly with no XP gain, and no Loss or Gain of Karma. Thus in doing so, all you really get is a waste of ammo. In addition, if he still has his combat shotgun, he may shoot it at you while he is on the ground, even if it is not pointed at you.
 * Sometimes Ashur stops in the middle of his speech and nothing happens when you are chosen to fight in the pitt. This forces you to reload to your last save and try it again.

Appearances
Ashur appears in The Pitt add-on for Fallout 3.

Ishmael Ashur Ишмаэль Ашур