Without giving away too many spoilers: Sometime in the first 3rd of the game you will become Connor (the guy on the cover and in all the ads), a Native American who is equipped with a tomahawk from the start. I'd recommend just playing through until at least this part because its when the game really starts to take off story wise, and it opens up a lot of non-story things to do (naval missions, homestead missions, faction challenges, hunting challenges, liberation missions, etc) that are fun, and give you plenty of reason to take your time with the main story.
ok. i should stop asking and just play.
