Templars

"May the Father of Understanding guide us."

- Templar motto.

The Templars, also known as the Order of the Knights Templar, were a monastic military order-turned-corporate giant formed during the prehistoric era. The Templars sought to create a perfect world, although the means by which they sought to do so - through force and control - were questionable. Because of this, they were the sworn enemies of the Assassin Order, who believed that mankind should always have the ability to choose; to have free will, even if it means a flawed humanity. With these conflicting ideologies, the two groups have fought over the course of thousands of years for the control and fate of humanity.

Prehistory
The Templar Order was likely founded by Cain, whose 'mark' was used as the Templars' crest. The Templars quickly became the archenemies of the Assassins, who, as opposed to the Templars, fought to allow the people to retain free will.

Roman era
During the Roman era, the Templars went under the alias "Senatus Populusque Romanus", ruling the Roman Empire. However, their rule was continually thwarted by the Assassin Order. A notable example of this was the plot against Gaius Julius Caesar, who was appointed as a dictator for life. Forty Assassins, most notably Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, had infiltrated Caesar's inner circle as senators. They actually planned to assassinate Caesar, a plan which they successfully executed on 15 March 44 BC. Additionally, on 24 January 41, the Assassin Leonius stabbed Caligula with a dagger.

During the 1st century, the Templars found out that one of the Pieces of Eden, the Shroud, was in the hands of Jesus Christ. Wanting the Piece for their own purposes, the Templars crucified Jesus in order to gain it.

Formation as a Knightly Order
During the Middle Ages, the Templars removed themselves from the underground and founded themselves as a Knightly Order, the Knights Templar, or just "Templars" for short. It would become the label that both they and their Assassin enemies would use to identify the Order from that point on.

In the 1129 Council of Troyes, the Order was officially recognized by the church, and in 1139, Pope Innocent II granted them diplomatic immunity in all provinces and territories and exemption from taxes. This allowed the faction to grow in numbers, strength and wealth quickly, and as they became a larger force, their responsibilities increased accordingly: the Order's many members were prominent figures in the second crusade.

Third Crusade
''This section of the article deals specifically with the Knights Templar faction's activities during the Third Crusade. If you were looking for information on the specific enemy type in Assassin's Creed, see their article under Crusaders.''

In 1191, after the theft of the Apple of Eden by the Assassins Malik A-Sayf and Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad from the Templars, the Brotherhood entered into a brief period of sustained conflict with their Assassin enemies. Over the course of that year, ten Templar leaders from both Crusader and Saracen backgrounds fell to the blades of the notorious Assassin, Altaïr, who was serving penance for breaking the three tenets during the theft. The deaths included not only the Grand Master Robert de Sable, but also Al Mualim, leader of the Assassins in Syria and the only Templar not willing to share the power of the Apple with his nine brothers.

With their leadership effectively wiped out by a single Assassin, the Brotherhood retreated to the island of Cyprus under the command of a new Grand Master, Armand Bouchart. Pursued by Altaïr, the Templars were wiped out once again, although the treasures of the Templar Archive in Limassol were spirited away before they could be found. The death of Armand forced the Order to consider its position carefully, and by 1312 the Order had publicly disbanded. In reality, the Order continued to thrive, adopting a much more secretive position in world affairs. As the Templars withdrew into near anonymity in the eyes of the world, the Order of the Assassins also retreated into the shadows, as said in Altaïr's fabled Codex.

Renaissance
By the late 15th Century, the Templars had regained a position of strength on the world stage, spreading deep into the Church and nobility of Italy. Under the command of Rodrigo Borgia, the Templars sought to unify northern Italy under their command, and regain the Apple of Eden which they knew to be buried in Cyprus. Targeting Lorenzo de' Medici, the de facto ruler of Florence, the Templars found themselves confronted by the Assassin Giovanni Auditore, who whilst not knowing of their Templar allegiances, was rapidly piecing together the clues. Following two near fatal encounters with Giovanni himself, Borgia arranged for the trial and execution of Giovanni and his three sons – Federico, Petruccio and Ezio – for the crimes of high treason against the city of Florence, having corrupted the city official Uberto Alberti. The city guards arrested Giovanni and two of his sons, narrowly missing their chance to capture the third, Ezio, who had been delivering and collecting letters for his father.

Realizing too late the treachery of Uberto Alberti, whom his father had considered a friend, Ezio appeared at the execution of his family, watching in horror as his father and brothers were hanged; he narrowly escaped the same fate himself. Unconcerned with the remaining Auditore, the Templars continued in their mission to assume control of the cities of northern Italy. In 1478, the Templar affiliated Pazzi family made their push for control. In what would become known as the Pazzi Conspiracy, the family struck against the Medici during High Mass at Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, killing Giuliano de' Medici and critically wounding Lorenzo, who was saved only by the timely intervention of Ezio Auditore, the son who had evaded Templar capture. Lorenzo's survival and the arrival of Ezio spelled doom for the Pazzi family, who were left to their fate by Rodrigo Borgia. Vieri, Francesco and Jacopo de' Pazzi were all slain by the lone assassin whilst the Templars acknowledged their defeat in Florence, instead turning their attention to the city of Venice.

Utilizing the Barbarigo family, the Templars assumed control of Venice briefly in 1486, before they were once again overthrown by the lone Assassin. The distraction of controlling the city had been beneficial to the Templars however, as it had distracted the Assassins from noticing the preparations being made for the retrieval of the Piece of Eden from Cyprus. Two years later, in 1488, the Templar expedition returned to Venice with the Apple in hand. Bringing it to Rodrigo, an undercover Ezio engaged the Templar Grand Master and, with the assistance of his fellow Assassins, forced the Templars out of the city once more. With the Apple in the hands of the Assassins, the Templars approached the Orsi brothers – Ludovico and Checco – to obtain a map detailing the location of the Codex pages from the wife of the Templar Girolamo Riario – Caterina Sforza. Invading Forlì, the Orsi brothers demanded the map, and the Apple in exchange for the lives of Sforza's children. The brothers were rebuked, and assaulted the Rocca di Ravaldino. Together with the city guards, the Assassins Ezio Auditore and Niccolò Machiavelli held off the assault, although a second succeeded in claiming the Apple briefly.

Despite the loss of the Apple, Rodrigo Borgia was ultimately unfazed, and in 1492 he became Pope Alexander VI in order to gain access to the Papal staff, another of the Pieces of Eden, and in turn the devotional dominion of the church. In 1499, Rodrigo was confronted again by the Assassin Ezio within the Sistine Chapel, and the end result once more favored Ezio. The Templar's defeat however, was not permanent, as Rodrigo's son Cesare besieged Monteriggioni to regain the Apple of Eden and attempted to kill Ezio. Four years later, Ezio went to the heart of the Templars itself, namely Rome, to strike back at the Templars and retrieve the Apple.

Facing setback after setback due to harassment from the Roman Assassins led by Ezio Auditore, the impatient Cesare grew tired of his father's resistance to give him more power and money, and after becoming aware about his father's intentions to kill him, he took what remained of the poisoned apple he had taken a bite out of and shoved it into Rodrigo's mouth, forcing him to swallow the same toxin that was in his system, before demanding the location of the Apple of Eden out of his sister Lucrezia. After being weakened by the cantarella from the poisoned fruit, Cesare was later imprisoned by Pope Julius II under the charges of murder, betrayal and incest, but he escaped with help from his loyal friend Micheletto. Ezio continued to chase Cesare down until finally learning his location by looking into the Apple of Eden. Cesare was ultimately thrown off from the walls of Viana's Castle during the Siege of Viana after a brutal fight with Ezio, ending the dominance of the Templars in Italy.

After the end of the Italian Templar's reign, they allied themselves with the Byzantine and plotted to use the army to seize control of Constantinople from the Ottoman Empire. However, they also focused their attention on Masyaf, where one Seal out of five was hidden, which could unlock a weapon to allow the Templars to destroy the Assassins. Though, this soon turned into a race against time as the Assassins worked on recovering all five seals as well. The Byzantine Templars also patrolled various parts of Constantinople and worked to consolidate their influence.

Modern times
By the 19th century, the Templars gained a significant amount of power and influence within the Russian Empire; with a number of the Tsars, including Alexander II and his son Alexander III, being Templars themselves. In the Tsars' possession; the Staff of Eden, granting the autocratic rulers great power over their citizens. In 1908 however, their control over the Russian Empire was greatly diminished with the destruction of the Staff in Tunguska, thanks in part to the combined efforts of Nikola Tesla and the Assassin Nikolai Orelov.

Infiltrating and establishing countless corporate entities, by the 20th Century the Templars had positioned themselves within several world-defining positions, controlling whole nations and improving the planet's technological level significantly. The Templars also worked to stifle world progress however; Adolf Hitler used a Piece of Eden to rise to power in Germany, and subsequently started a world-wide conflict. He was "fought" by his Templar contemporaries Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, who under the guise of the Allied nations ultimately won the conflict, despite having planned the war all along, and orchestrating the peace that would follow.

By the early 21st Century, the Templar fronted Abstergo Industries had expanded into a global entity, far larger and more powerful than most companies that had come before it. For the most part this was not treated as suspicious, although there were those within the general population who viewed the company with suspicion, believing it to be "too large" a company. Among the nations whose economic and political affairs which Templars interfered included Chile, Argentina, and Iran.

During this time, the Templars had access to a number of Pieces of Eden, however, the actions of the Assassins, coupled with the DIA satellite accident forced the Templars into stepping up the Animus-project, in the hope of finding another Piece capable of controlling the minds of humanity. By September of 2012, sixteen test subjects had been "retired" before the company succeeded with the seventeenth – Desmond Miles, a descendant of both Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, and Ezio Auditore da Firenze.

Upon being captured by Abstergo, and for seven days, Desmond Miles was forced to relive the genetic memories of his ancestor Altaïr in order to reach one specific memory the Templars were seeking. The memory that was valuable to Abstergo registered the moment his ancestor found a holographic map containing the locations of all Pieces of Eden scattered across the world. With the information they had long sought in hand, the Templars set about gathering the remaining Pieces to ensure "absolute peace", although they soon found themselves in a race against the Assassin Order to obtain the Pieces first. They planned to send a satellite with a Piece mounted on it into orbit, with the launch scheduled on December 21, 2012.

Ideals and goals
The existence of the Templars became known to the public in 1129, when its military order was founded to counter the greatly increasing threat against the Holy Land by the Saracens, and to protect the city of Jerusalem. Over time, the Templars began to believe it within their power to unite the world in peace.

Their system of belief changed greatly upon the discovery of the Pieces of Eden; they began to speculate that God was a myth and this led the Order to become atheistic, although they publicly maintained the pretense of following the Christian ways so as to not lose the support of the Church.

Realizing the power that the Pieces of Eden held over man, the Templars began to seek out the artifacts. In 1191, Robert de Sable, then the Grand Master of the Order, personally sought the fabled Apple of Eden, buried in the catacombs beneath Solomon's Temple. The theft of the piece of Eden by the Order of Assassins brought the two great powers into a sustained conflict with one another, ending with the death of Armand Bouchart in Limassol. Despite this setback, the Order maintained its belief in creating a world of peace through manipulation of the Pieces of Eden.

By their reasoning, with no afterlife or ultimate punishment or reward after death, there was no reason to oblige notions of morality or ethics: the end always justified the means, no matter how heinous those means were. They thought that only this life was important, rather than preparing for a thought-to-be nonexistent next life. With so many lower class people kept in line by the promise of an afterlife, and so many upper class men blissfully ignoring such ideals, the Templars vowed to make a better world; one of lasting peace, no matter what the cost. However, not all Templars are comfortable with this idea and many are simply unaware of the atrocities committed in the name of the greater good. Some, such as Maria Thorpe, choose to leave the Templar Order after realizing what the Templars do. Others are silenced before they are able to escape.

As time progressed, the Templars interest in the Pieces of Eden became more about seeking the power and domination that the artifacts offered. Their goals changed as they sought to control and unify the entire world using the Pieces of Eden to create a "New World Order".

Templar groups
There are groups who act as unofficial divisions of the Templars, unrelated to them publicly, but in fact commanded by Templars (some of them through the membership of their leaders and others are part of the Templar Order itself).


 * Roman era
 * Roman SPQR banner.svg SPQR: Senatus Populusque Romanus, the ruling body of the Roman Empire.
 * Renaissance
 * Pazziingame.png Pazzi: The Pazzi family were Tuscan nobles that were involved in the banking industry in Florence during the 15th century. They are most famous for the Pazzi Conspiracy.
 * 150px-Agostino Barbarigo.png Barbarigo: The Barbarigo family were Venetian nobles who were involved in the banking and trading industries during the 15th century. The most famous member of the family was Agostino Barbarigo, the 74th Doge of Venice.
 * Blason famille it Borgia01 svg.png Borgia: The Borgia family were Spanish-Italian nobles during the 15th and early 16th century. The most famous members of the family were Rodrigo Borgia, Cesare Borgia, and Lucrezia Borgia.
 * Modern times
 * Ford logo.png Ford Motor Company: An automobile company founded by Templar Henry Ford.
 * Nazi flag 375.jpg Nazi Party: A political German party which controlled Germany during the early to mid 20th century. This was started by Adolf Hitler.
 * CIA.svg Central Intelligence Agency: A "civilian" intelligence agency, in fact secretly working to keep the Templar Order in control.
 * Animuslogowhite.svg Abstergo Industries: A modern pharmaceutical company, that works in secret to create the New World.
 * BP Logo.svg BP: A global oil and gas company headquartered in London, England, that helped to create the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and then cover it up.
 * NASA logo svg.png NASA: A governmental company that created the Apollo missions to retrieve an Apple of Eden from the Moon.
 * 180px-State flag of Iran 1964-1980.svg.png SAVAK: A secret police force established in Iran to protect Templar interests in Iran, oil in particular.

Appearances

 * Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles
 * Assassin's Creed
 * Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy
 * Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
 * Assassin's Creed II
 * Assassin's Creed: Renaissance
 * Assassin's Creed II: Discovery
 * Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
 * Assassin's Creed: The Fall

Notes and references
Templarios