Parisian Rite of the Templar Order

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"In the wake of revolution, the Order will adapt. They will retreat to the shadows and we will, at last, be the secret masters that we were meant to be."

―François-Thomas Germain to Élise de la Serre, regarding the Templars' agenda, 1794.

The Parisian Rite of the Templar Order is the rite of the Templar Order operating in France. It has been active since at least the 9th century, as a branch of the Order of the Ancients.

Originally maintaining a strong presence in France under Charlemagne's leadership, the Order's influence declined due to the rise of Abrahamic religions in Europe and, by the end of the 9th century, the organization had been completely dismantled. Thanks to the reforms of King Alfred of Wessex, the Order would eventually be reborn as the Knights Templar, who maintained a strong public presence in Europe.

In the early 14th century, the Templars were driven underground after being persecuted by King Philip IV, who had secretly been manipulated by the Assassins. Continuing to operate in the shadows, the French Templars collaborated with the Roman Rite during the Renaissance to fight against both the French and Italian Assassins while manipulating King Louis XII.

In the 18th century, the Parisian Rite enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity under the leadership of Grand Master François de la Serre, who negotiated an uneasy peace with the Assassins. However, de la Serre was assassinated and overthrown by the radical Templar François-Thomas Germain, a Sage who believed that the Order had become complacent and intended to reform it in Jacques de Molay's vision. Germain and his supporters engineered the French Revolution as a means of removing the monarchy and creating a capitalist society that the Templars could more easily control. Their efforts were opposed by the Assassins, as well as the Templar Élise de la Serre, and the subsequent civil war within the Rite left it decimated, although Germain's plan was largely successful.

In the 21st century, the Templars continue to maintain an active presence in France through their front company, Abstergo Industries.

History

Middle Ages

Carolingian Empire

"Outwardly, Charlemagne was a pious defender of Christ's word. It seems impossible to believe he was under the sway of this corrupted cult. But the Order is expert at hiding its motives."

―Alfred the Great, on Charlemagne's affiliation with the Order of the Ancients, 870s.

Tapestry depicting Charlemagne

By the late 8th century, the Order of the Ancients had spread their influence to Francia, infiltrating all of the kingdom's institutions. In 803, the scholar Alcuin, invited by Emperor Charlemagne to serve in his court, uncovered the Order's activities after a thorough investigation and tried to warn the emperor about the Ancients' efforts to corrupt the church and monasteries of Francia. However, Alcuin failed to realize that Charlemagne himself was the leader of the Order and, before the scholar could send his letter to the emperor, he died under mysterious circumstances.

Formation of the Knights Templar

"For the first time in our long history, our Order was made public, but its truest and noblest agenda remained secret."

―A transcript from an Abstergo file, 2012.

After the destruction of the Order of the Ancients in the late 9th century, the organization would be reformed by King Alfred the Great and continued to operate in Francia and elsewhere in Europe. By the 11th century, members of the Order had begun calling themselves the Templars. At least one Templar operated in Normandy, where they were assassinated by a member of the Assassin Brotherhood.

Hugues de Payens, the first public Grand Master

In 1119, the Templar Order became a public organization for the first time in its history under the leadership of the French knight Hugues de Payens, who presented it as a monastic and knightly order that would protect pilgrims traveling to and from the Holy Land. However, their main goal remained the establishment of a New World Order using the power of the Pieces of Eden, ancient artifacts created by the Isu.

In 1129, the Order of the Knights Templar was officialy recognized as a Christian military order in Troyes, which later became a Templar stronghold. While de Payens became its first Grand Master, the abbot Bernard de Clairvaux wrote the Latin Rule, the code of the Templar Order.

Serving first as protectors, the Knights Templar became a military force used by the Latin States during the Crusades in the Holy Land. All over Europe, the Order possessed fortresses from which to train their recruits. One of these strongholds, the Temple, was their headquarters in Paris. Many French Templars went to the Holy Land to serve in the Crusades. During the Third Crusade, the Lévesque family became affiliated with the Templar Order.

Persecution

"Pope Clement, hear me! Before this year is out, you will answer for your crimes before God almighty. And you, King Philip, no punishment is too heinous for the great evil you have inflicted upon the Temple. I curse you! Curse you to the thirteenth generation of your blood! You shall be cursed!"

―Jacques de Molay cursing Pope Clement V and King Philip IV, 1314.

In 1307, King Philip IV of France was manipulated by the French Assassins' Mentor Guillaume de Nogaret into accusing the Templars of heresy, forcing Pope Clement V to disband them. The Templars were branded as heretics, and their stronghold in Paris was attacked by the king's forces and Assassins disguised as Flemish mercenaries. During the attack, Thomas de Carneillon tried to steal the Codex Pater Intellectus and a Sword of Eden but was stopped by a Templar Knight, who hid the two artifacts in the vault of Grand Master Jacques de Molay before being killed by the Assassin.

De Molay burning at the stake

When de Molay was arrested, he smuggled the Heart with him into the Château de Chinon, where he was imprisoned. There, he carved a hole into the dungeon's wall and placed the artifact inside, before covering up the hiding place with plaster. De Molay also left drawings that hinted at the Heart's location, as well as a quote in Latin, "If the heart is strong, it will not break", indicating how the artifact was to be used. In 1314, de Molay was burned at the stake, cursing King Philip and Pope Clement as he died.

Prior to his death, de Molay had passed his knowledge to nine of his most trusted subordinates, whom he sent into the world to continue the Templars' work in secret, having realized that the Order could no longer function as a public organization. In 1312, Pope Clement issued the papal bull Vox in excelso, which officially disbanded the Templars and gifted all of their assets to the Knights Hospitalier.

Hundred Years' War

In the 14th century, the Order's influence in Europe decreased but they remained active behind the scenes. In 1355, the Templar knight Geoffroy de Charny possessed the original Shroud of Eden until the artifact was stolen and replaced with a forgery by the Italian Assassins.

During the Hundred Years' War, the Templars sought to help the kings of England reclaim the crown of France. The Order counted amongst their ranks members of the ruling class, including the regent of France John, Duke of Bedford, Philip III of Burgundy, Georges de la Trémoille, and John II of Alençon, who was secretly a novice French Assassin. The Templars controlled much of the country, as the House of Valois' heir Charles VII only ruled southern France from Bourges.

"Jeanne d'Arc" burning at the stake

King Charles was supported by the Assassins and helped by Jeanne d'Arc, a young peasant girl who recovered Jacques de Molay's Sword of Eden and the Heart. As Jeanne won many battles for the French Army, the Templars captured her and returned the Sword of Eden to de Molay's vault. They decided to judge the woman for witchcraft and sent her to Rouen. There, in 1431, the Templars Pierre Cauchon and Jean d'Estivet condemned her to burn at the stake.

Before her execution, Jeanne was secretly saved by a group of Assassins as Jeanne's protégé, Fleur, volunteered to switch places with her. The deception was successful, but had the unfortunate effect of making John II lose faith in the Brotherhood and join the Templars, believing the Assassins had left Jeanne to die.

Renaissance

During the Renaissance, once the Roman Rite's Grand Master Rodrigo Borgia was elected Pope Alexander VI following the 1492 papal conclave, the House of Borgia allied themselves with King Louis XII of France to ensure the French Army's support as well as the loyalty of the Templar Octavian de Valois. Louis moreover left the kingdom under the leadership of foreign ministers while he fought King Ferdinand II of Aragon. These courtiers were secretly members of the Templar Order and were eventually eliminated by a group of Italian Assassins sent by their Mentor, Ezio Auditore da Firenze.

Even after the fall of the Borgia, the Templars continued to exercise their influence over King Louis. Around 1511, the king's Templar advisors persuaded him that the Assassins were behind Marseille's threats of secession from France; as such, he ordered all Assassins banished from the city. The Assassins stopped his army's efforts, and later eliminated the advisors. After the failed purge of the Assassins in Marseille, the Templars completely lost their influence in the city.

Around 1527, the Templar agent known as "The Viper" traveled to Basel and discovered the Assassins' intentions to locate the second half of the mysterious tome known only as "the Book." The Viper carried a letter containing detailed descriptions of the Assassin Giovanni Borgia and his companion Maria Amiel back to the Templar base in Troyes.

The Viper, with Giovanni Borgia behind him

Later that year, Giovanni and Maria visited Troyes, though they were cautious about entering the Templar-controlled city. The following day, the Viper was identified by the Troyes Cathedral. As the Templar came over to Maria and began whispering in her ear, Giovanni approached the Viper from behind and assassinated him. In retaliation, a group of Templars known as the "Minions of the Cross" chased Giovanni and Maria out of Troyes, but the former fought them off.

Labourd witch-hunt

By 1593, the French Templars were in possession of the original Shroud of Eden, but the Assassins Isaac du Queyran and Florine stole the artifact and gave it to Catherine, a healer living in the Landes in southwestern France. In 1609, the Master Templar Pierre de Lancre was tasked to recover the Shroud. Appointed as an Inquisitor during the Labourd witch-hunt, the Templar captured Catherine along with her daughter Ermeline and her adoptive daughter Margaux. As Catherine refused to talk, she was burned at the stake. The Templars kept Ermeline hostage while Isaac took the Shroud and saved Margaux, training her as an Assassin.

While the Assassins planned to save Ermeline, the Templars attacked them, killing the Assassin leader Avicenne and taking the Shroud, which they later gave to their member François Ascair. Isaac was captured by the Templars and burned at the stake. During the riot, an Assassin tried to kill de Lancre but the Templar La Morguy killed the Assassin. In the meantime, Margaux joined Fabrizzio Auditore and other Assassins to storm the Castle of Saint-Pée. Auditore and Ascair killed each other in a duel, and the Templars failed to secure the Shroud, which was taken by Margaux to North America.

Age of Enlightenment

"Your masterful handling of your father's business has not escaped our notice. Your elevation into the upper crust of New Orleans society has not escaped our notice. Your discovery of our Order hiding beneath the skin of the world has not escaped our notice. You have our attention."

―Magdelaine Lévesque in a letter to Madeleine de L'Isle, 1747.

By 1747, the Templar Magdelaine Lévesque, a member of the noble Lévesque family, had taken notice of Madeleine de L'Isle's handling of her father's business, integration into the upper echelons of New Orleans society, and her discovery of the Templar Order. Because of this, Magdelaine sent a letter to Madeleine where she offered her a position within the Order's ranks, and tasked her with finding something of immense value beneath the ancient Maya structures in the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.

Around 1751, Madeleine was promoted to the rank of Master Templar and established a new Templar Rite in Louisiana, which answered to the Parisian Rite. The Louisiana Rite's main task was the excavation of the Maya ruins in Chichen Itza to find Isu artifacts, and the Lévesque family helped supply the excavation site with slaves through their shipping company. The Colonial Assassins soon took notice of this, though they were unable to confirm the nature of the ships' cargo or their destination.

As leading members of the Parisian Rite, the Lévesque family maintained close communications with the British and Spanish Rites, regularly exchanging information, intelligence, and gifts. Magdelaine Lévesque approved of the British Grand Master Reginald Birch's request for the Templars to exploit colonialism as a means of searching for Pieces of Eden.

During this time, the French Templar Charles Gabriel Sivert ran an artifact smuggling ring to help fund the operations of Haytham Kenway, the Colonial Rite's Grand Master, and at one point was involved in a disastrous attempt to recover an unknown object. In 1748, Sivert arranged for Jean-Jacques Blaise d'Abbadie's release from British captivity and employment in the naval bureaucracy, turning d'Abbadie into a puppet of the Templars.

French Revolution

New leadership

"What we Templars know, is that despite exhortations otherwise, the people don't want real freedom and true responsibility, because these things are too great a burden to bear, and only the very strongest minds can do so."

―François de la Serre to his daughter, 1775.

By 1768, the Parisian Rite was led by Grand Master François de la Serre, who became a close confidant of King Louis XVI and of Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, the Mentor of the French Assassins. He was married to fellow Templar Julie and together they had a daughter, Élise.

Julie and Élise during the assassination attempt

In the spring of 1774, the De la Serre family was visited by a British Templar family, the Carrolls, due to their concerns regarding François' plans for keeping France in order. When Mrs. Carroll expressed her and the London Templars' concerns to Julie, the two ended up arguing about change and loyalties. Julie assured Mrs. Caroll that she would abide by the Templars' principles and would not allow her husband to be swayed by his advisors.

In 1776, while Julie and Élise were shopping in Paris, they were stalked by two assailants, an Assassin and a lamplighter. Julie fought off the Assassin and killed the lamplighter with her footblade, protecting Élise. After the Assassin fled, the two returned home, where Julie told François and his Templar advisors about the incident. However, she omitted to mention that one of the attackers had been an Assassin, to avoid an open war with the Brotherhood.

The assassination attempt prompted François and Julie to inform their daughter of their Templar affiliations and begin training her to become the future Grand Master of the Parisian Rite. Under the mentorship of the British Templar Frederick Weatherall, Élise trained in combat and tactics while learning the Templar principles and beliefs from her parents.

François taking Arno Dorian under his wing

In December 1776, the Colonial Templar Shay Cormac killed the Assassin Charles Dorian at the Palace of Versailles to acquire a Precursor box in his possession. François, who was also at the palace to meet with King Louis, took pity on Charles' orphaned son Arno and decided to adopt him into his household. Out of respect for Charles' memory and at the request of Julie and Élise, François did not make any attempts to indoctrinate Arno into the Templar Order.

After Julie succumbed to a terminal illness in 1778, Élise was sent to the Maison Royale de Saint-Louis at Saint-Cyr to complete her education as a proper lady and Templar knight. She studied there until January 1788, when she left for London to investigate the man who had attempted to kill her and her mother over a decade prior. Alongside Frederick Weatherall and her handmaiden Hélène, Élise sought the help of the Carroll family, who in return requested the letters written by Haytham Kenway, the late Grand Master of the Colonial Rite, to his sister Jennifer Scott.

Élise meeting Jennifer Scott

Meeting Jennifer at the Kenway Mansion, Élise convinced her to hand over the letters after the two discussed Haytham's dreams of uniting the Assassins and Templars, which both Jennifer and now Élise came to share. However, while returning to the Carrolls, Élise discovered that they had taken Weatherall hostage and were planning to eliminate Bernard Ruddock, the Assassin they had hired to kill Julie. Élise saved her mentor, warned Ruddock to run away, and escaped back to France with Weatherall and Hélène after fighting the Carrolls, resulting in May Carroll's death.

Coup d'état

"De la Serre's death was only the first stage. This is the culmination. [...] The King is... merely a symbol. A symbol can inspire fear, and fear can inspire control - but men inevitably lose their fear of symbols. As you can see. This was the truth de Molay died for: the Divine Right of Kings is nothing but the reflection of sunlight upon gold. When the Crown and Church are ground to dust, we who control the gold will decide the future."

―François-Thomas Germain to Arno Dorian, 1793.

After discovering the Codex Pater Intellectus, written by Jacques de Molay, in a vault beneath the Temple in Paris, François-Thomas Germain, a high-ranking Templar and Sage, became influenced by the ideals of the long-dead de Molay, also a Sage, regarding the shape of the Templar Order and humanity itself. Germain proposed radical changes to Grand Master de la Serre, advocating for the removal of the monarchy and the distribution of the aristocracy and the church's power to the middle class, in order to create a capitalist society that could be more easily controlled.

Germain being taken away after his expulsion

However, de la Serre deemed Germain's ideas too radical and expelled him from the Templar Order when he refused to renounce them. In response, Germain came to believe that the Order had become corrupt and that its position among the aristocracy had made the Templars forget their true purpose. In secret, he began plotting with other members of the Parisian Rite who shared his ideals, and recruited individuals disillusioned by the corruption of the French monarchy.

Among Germain's first recruits was Marie Lévesque, the only member of the Parisian Rite who had defended him during his trial. Others included Louis-Michel le Peletier and Charles Gabriel Sivert, the former for his convictions and the latter for his lack of appreciation by François. Sivert, in turn, recruited the Roi des Thunes and his lieutenant Aloys la Touche, taking advantage of the Beggar King's bitterness over being declined membership into the Order by François. Germain also likely used his own network to contact other Rites, such as those in Spain, Italy, and America, convincing them that overthrowing Grand Master de la Serre was necessary.

On 5 May 1789, Germain decided to assassinate Grand Master de la Serre, but Chrétien Lafrenière, an advisor to the Grand Master, caught wind of this conspiracy and hurriedly sent a letter warning François of the imminent peril. When the messenger Perrault arrived at the de la Serre residence in Versailles, however, the Grand Master had already left for the Estates-General to meet with the Assassin Mentor Mirabeau, having been inspired by Élise to try and negotiate a permanent truce with the Brotherhood. As a result, François' foster son Arno took the letter, but failed to deliver it and left it under the door to François' study.

François de la Serre succumbing to his wounds

That evening, the members of the Parisian Rite gathered at the Palace of Versailles for Élise's induction into the Templar Order. It was here that Germain launched his coup against François. Sivert and the Roi des Thunes lured the Grand Master into the palace gardens, assassinated him, and incidentally framed Arno for the murder when he arrived at the scene moments before the guards. François' death allowed Germain to become the new Grand Master, but his ascension was opposed by the moderate Templars led by Lafrenière and a vengeful Élise.

During this time, Germain found a new recruit in Frédéric Rouille, a young guard who was passionate for revolutionary ideas but had been spurned by his idol Mirabeau. On 5 October 1789, the radical Templars attempted to make the Women's March on Versailles more violent and kill Théroigne de Méricourt, but the Assassins protected the crowd. That day, they ambushed Élise and her followers when they met at the Hôtel de Lauzun. The old guard members were killed, except Élise, who jumped into the Seine to escape. After this event, the last of Élise's allies either defected to Germain's faction or were purged.

In January 1791, Sivert began to extort money from nobles and members of the clergy as a means to fund Germain's operations. Sivert, however, was killed by Arno Dorian, by now an Assassin, at the Notre-Dame Cathedral. A few days later, Arno assassinated the Roi des Thunes and learned that François' murder had a connection with a silversmith named Germain.

Lafrenière speaking to his supporters

On 31 March, Arno investigated Germain's workshop and found the silversmith, not knowing that he was the new Grand Master. With subtle manipulation, Germain led Arno to believe that he was a prisoner of Lafrenière, the last of Élise's supporters, and that Lafrenière had orchestrated François' murder. The Assassin subsequently killed Lafrenière while the latter was amassing his own forces to launch an assault on Germain's followers later that night.

With Lafrenière out of the picture, the radical Templars met at Hôtel de Beauvais without incident and discussed the last steps of their plan to overthrow the French monarchy and to publicly condemn and execute the king. Marie Lévesque was to hoard food to trigger a famine; through starvation, the desperate population would become frenzied and violent towards the royal family. Rouille was to prove that the king collaborated with the Austrians to jeopardize the revolution, and le Peletier was to ensure that the National Assembly condemned Louis XVI to death. In the meantime, la Touche informed them of Lafrenière's demise; in disarray, the remaining members of the moderate faction would be wiped out, leaving Élise as the sole survivor.

Arno, having eavesdropped on the meeting, learned that Germain planned to kill Élise the next day in another ambush. Shortly after, the Templars became alerted to his presence but failed to prevent his escape. The next day, the Assassin saved Élise from the radical Templars' ambush and together they decided to join their forces against Germain.

Taking over France

"Jacques de Molay, vous êtes vengé. (Jacques de Molay, you are avenged.)"

―Germain as King Louis XVI was executed, 1793.

Rouille and his men storming the Tuileries Palace

On 10 August 1792, after a year of hoarding, the people of Paris rioted against the royal family and stormed the Tuileries Palace. Rouille went to the king's bureau to find the documents that proved not only Louis XVI's alliance with the Austrians, but also his correspondence with the late Assassin Mentor Mirabeau. The public, hailing Mirabeau as a great hero of the revolution, would come to see him as a traitor to their cause should his negotiations with the king be exposed. Once again, Arno intervened, burning Mirabeau's letters before Rouille could take them.

On 2 September, Rouille participated in the September Massacres at the Grand Châtelet. Arno, who continued his investigation without the permission of the Assassin Council, killed Rouille. During the summer of that year, Théroigne de Méricourt tried to stop the hoarding planned by Madame Flavigny, but she was captured. The Assassins saved her and, with her help, killed Flavigny. On 31 October, Marie Lévesque stocked food at Luxembourg Palace to frame the royal family for the hoarding, but Élise prevented the plot, and Arno assassinated Lévesque.

King Louis' execution

Despite the deaths of many of his subordinates, Germain succeeded in effecting a death sentence on the king through the tie-breaking vote of le Peletier at the Legislative Assembly. On 21 January 1793, Germain attended the execution of Louis XVI. Arno, who had killed le Peletier, discovered Germain's whereabouts and confronted him alongside Élise. However, the Grand Master escaped after his guards attacked Élise, and Arno chose to protect her, valuing her safety more than pursuing vengeance against Germain.

With the monarchy gone, it was replaced by the Republic of France, a new regime where Maximilien de Robespierre, as one of its leading politicians, could begin the Templars' widespread purge. In June 1793, the Templar puppet François Hanriot led an insurrection of Sans-culottes that targeted the Girondists. The Assassins rescued the Girondists and helped them to leave Paris by boat.

Marcourt and his conspirators preparing the coup

A month later, General Marcourt and a group of fellow Templars planned a coup d'état in order to accelerate the revolution, but one of the conspirators, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, was in fact an ally of the Assassins and informed the Brotherhood of Marcourt's plot. When Marcourt organized a tournament to recruit men for the coup, the Assassins infiltrated it to get close to Marcourt and killed the general and all of his co-conspirators.

Reign of Terror

"New order never comes without destruction of the old. And if men are made to fear untrammeled liberty, so much the better. A brief taste of chaos will remind them why they crave obedience."

―Germain to Arno Dorian, 1794.

In September 1793, Germain and Maximilien de Robespierre initiated the bloodiest period of the revolution, a period of mass purges of all opposition that would go down in history as the Reign of Terror, which they thought essential for the "Great Work". Germain believed that with the horrors of the resulting anarchy, the people would once again submit themselves to a higher power rather than to themselves. Simultaneously, he hoped to eradicate the country of all elements he saw as incurable ills, to "purify" France as he thought he did for the Templars.

Paton presenting a Templar necklace to Robespierre

In November, one of Robespierre's spies, Didier Paton, discovered the Templar Order's existence and revealed it to his master, not realizing that Robespierre was also a Templar. Paton was consequently arrested on charges of treason and condemned to death. The Assassins recovered his notebook, where many key Templars were listed, and rescued Paton, who joined the Brotherhood shortly afterward.

Later in February 1794, the Templars planned to use Jacques Roux and his Enragés to seize Paris and create chaos to further the Terror. A team of Assassin was sent to kill Roux, who was imprisoned at the Salpêtrière Hospital, but they failed and were imprisoned in the asylum. A second team of Assassins rescued the first and succeeded in killing Roux.

On 5 April, after the opposition of Georges Danton and other Indulgents, Robespierre sent his long-time friend and ally to the guillotine for treason along with Danton's allies. Though the Assassins were able to save many of Danton's followers, they stopped short of rescuing Danton himself when he asked that they allow him to be executed, believing that his martyrdom would expose Robespierre's madness.

Revolutionaries gathered outside the Panthéon

In May, letters between Mirabeau and Louis XVI were published even though Arno had disposed of some copies previously. After learning of his correspondence with the king, the devastated Parisian revolutionaries, believing to have been deceived by their exalted hero, rioted for the removal of Mirabeau's ashes from the Panthéon. The Templars tried to retrieve the ashes along with other Assassin secrets, but the Brotherhood arrived first and successfully transferred them to a safer location.

Collapse

"All you have accomplished is to delay the inevitable. One death cannot stop the tide. Perhaps it will not be my hand that shepherds mankind back to its proper place – but it will be someone's. Think on this when you remember her."

―Germain's dying words to Arno, 1794.

In July 1793, La Touche was personally conducting the Reign of Terror in Versailles, presiding over numerous executions. Arno, after spending a period of time wallowing in depression from his expulsion from the Brotherhood and his argument with Élise, assassinated him by posing as a prisoner.

On 4 June 1794, Robespierre began to lose the popular opinion as he verged closer and closer to establishing a dictatorship, going as far as to host a festival for his personal, newly-devised religion: the Cult of the Supreme Being. During the festival, Élise drugged Robespierre to make him look even more mad while he delivered a speech to the crowd, and Arno leaked lists of deputies targeted by the Templar. Consequently, public opinion turned against Robespierre as the people realized that he was willing to brand all opposition as "enemies of the state".

Germain's death

With Robespierre no longer of use, Germain abandoned him and, on 27 July, the National Convention moved to arrest Robespierre at the Hôtel de Ville. Arno and Élise interrogated him just before he was captured and learned that Germain had taken refuge in the Temple. The pair subsequently infiltrated the fortress, where Germain used Jacques de Molay's Sword of Eden to fight them. In the ensuing battle, the Sword was damaged and released a powerful blast that killed Élise and wounded Germain, allowing Arno to finish him off. In his last moments, Germain expressed confidence that his plan would not end with his death, as someone else would continue to shepherd humanity.

On 28 July, Robespierre was guillotined and the remaining Templars from the Jacobin Club were killed by the Assassins before they could escape the city via a tunnel system. With the death of their leaders, the Templars no longer posed a threat to France, although they continued to operate in Paris.

Under the Directory, several Templars managed to infiltrate the Council of Five Hundred, seeking to continue the Reign of Terror and oppose Napoleon Bonaparte's efforts. However, Arno tracked them down and eliminated them. The Templars also attempted to end the royal bloodline by killing a servant of Louis XVII whom they mistook for the prince, but Arno saved him.

19th century

Franco-Prussian War

In 1870, while the Second French Empire and Prussia were on the brink of war, the French Templars were contacted to aid the Austrian Templar Art Hennighan, who was carrying a Piece of Eden, the Ankh. Virgile Donat provided shelter to Hennighan and learned of the Ankh's part for the Engine of History. However, Donat was soon killed by the British Assassin Simeon Price. Through use of Konstanze von Visler's telegraph lines, the Templars later influenced the correspondence between French officials to start a war with Prussia. As the Franco-Prussian War broke out in the fall of 1870, most Templars fled Paris and set up a temporary base of operations in the city of Tours.

One of the remaining Templars in Paris, Victoire L'Estocq, visited the Assassins led by Michel Moulin and proposed an end to the war in favor of establishing a new government. However, her proposal was met with skepticism and ultimately rejected. Before leaving, the Templar remarked that it did not matter as her Order held items of godly powers. From a letter sent by carrier pigeon, Victoire corresponded with Konstanze to transport the Ankh safely out of Paris and told the countess that her team in Brussels was concocting a plan to set up a new French government.

With Konstanze watching Price's movements, she tasked the French Templar and engineer Lebrun to transport the Assassin via hot air balloon and kill him mid-flight. However, his attack was thwarted by Simeon, who overpowered Lebrun and threw him and the Ankh out of the balloon's basket, killing the Templar.

Testing the Engine of History

In 1889, the French Templars, with the help of newly rejoined member Konstanze von Visler, laid out a plan to frame the Assassins as terrorists with the countess' new Engine of History. The engine was a method to predict the Assassins' methods and planning, to which the Templars devised a false plan to use the construction of the Eiffel Tower as a means of location. Leaving clues for the Assassins, they predicted that the Brotherhood would blow up the tower and thus be labelled enemies of France. However, their plan was discovered by British Assassin Pierrette Arnaud, who in turn told her ward Spider Wallin to inform the Assassins. In response, the Assassins stopped the explosion in time, foiling the Templars' plan to frame them as terrorists.

Modern times

At the end of the 19th century, one of the Secret Chiefs of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn met Samuel Liddell Mathers, accompanied by the disembodied being of William Robert Woodman, in Paris. The Chief, who wore a ring marked with the Templar insignia, informed Mathers that his Order's partnership with the Hermeticists was over due to the death of Woodman.

In the early 21st century, Abstergo Industries, the Templars' front company, operated a secret laboratory in Paris for the purpose of researching Isu artifacts and genetic material. Dr. Álvaro Gramática conducted experiments with a Shroud of Eden and the body of the Sage John Standish at the laboratory, until it was destroyed in October 2014 by a team of Assassins led by Gavin Banks. During the attack, Gramática was mortally wounded by the Assassin Galina Voronina and used the Shroud to heal himself, causing the artifact to lose its power.

In 2016, following his discovery that the Sword of Eden in Abstergo's possession was missing the Heart, the Templar Simon Hathaway traveled to Paris and managed to recover it from where he believed Geoffroy Thérage had cast Fleur's ashes centuries ago. He subsequently delivered both the Heart and the Sword to Abstergo's CEO and Grand Master Alan Rikkin.

Members

Early Middle Ages

• Charlemagne (leader; c. 800 – 814)

High Middle Ages

• Bernard de Clairvaux
• Hugues de Payens (Grand Master; 1119 – 1136)
• Geoffroi de Charney
• Geoffroy de Charny
• Jacques de Molay (Grand Master; 1292 – 1314)
• Jacques de Molay's advisor

Hundred Years' War

• Georges de la Trémoille
• Jean d'Estivet
• John II of Luxembourg
• John II of Alençon
• Philip III of Burgundy
• Pierre Cauchon

Renaissance

• The Viper
• Pierre de Lancre
• La Morguy
• François Ascair
• Ermeline
• Alexandre de Hautecourt (Grand Master; c. 1609)

French Revolution

Radical faction

• Arpinon
• Duchesneau
• François-Thomas Germain (Grand Master; 1789 – 1794)
• Flavigny
• Jean Gilbert
• Marie Lévesque
• Marcourt
• Denis Molinier
• Payen
• Louis-Michel le Peletier
• Maximilien de Robespierre
• Roi des Thunes
• Frédéric Rouille
• Charles Gabriel Sivert
• Aloys la Touche

Moderate faction

• Jean Burnel
• Jean-Jacques Calvert
• Comte de Choisy
• Crimson Rose (British Rite)
• Le Fanu
• Marquis de Kilmister
• Chrétien Lafrenière
• Magdelaine Lévesque
• Marquis de Pimôdan
• Élise de la Serre (leader; 1789 – 1794)
• François de la Serre (Grand Master; 1768 – 1789)
• Julie de la Serre
• Marquis de Simonon

Second French Empire

• Centime
• Virgile Donat
• Lebrun
• Robert L'Estocq
• Victoire L'Estocq

Allies and puppets

Hundred Years' War

• John, Duke of Bedford (British Rite)

Renaissance

• Rodrigo Borgia (Roman Rite)
• Cesare Borgia (Roman Rite)
• King Louis XII
• Octavian de Valois (Roman Rite)

Seven Years' War

• Haytham Kenway (Colonial Rite)
• Jean-Jacques Blaise d'Abbadie
• John Harrison (British Rite)
• Madeleine de L'Isle (Louisiana Rite)
• Reginald Birch (British Rite)
• Shay Cormac (Colonial Rite)

French Revolution

• Arno Dorian (French Brotherhood)
• François Hanriot
• Frederick Weatherall (British Rite)
• Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau (French Brotherhood)
• Pacon
• Perrault
• Jacques Roux

Second French Empire/Third French Republic

• Art Hennighan (Austrian Rite)
• Konstanze von Visler (Austrian Rite)

Trivia

• In Assassin's Creed: Rogue, Achilles Davenport has a wall where he collected information on the Parisian Rite. One of the Parisian Templars was named Charlette Lévesque.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (first mentioned)
• Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations
• Assassin's Creed: Rogue (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Unity
• Assassin's Creed: Unity novel
• Assassin's Creed: Heresy
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Fragments – The Witches of the Moors
• Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Resurrection Plot
• Echoes of History – Assassins vs Templars