User blog comment:The Crimson Eagle/Crimson Poll XIV/@comment-5266147-20120813144117

if altair had never existed i would think the templars would have come a whole lot closer to their goal a lot earlier, but it would not be fully realised untill the tech had enabled them to execute some form of their current plan. though it would probably have been a templar decendent of al mualim instead of desmond.