Templar Rite

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Manuel: "I should have been Constantine's successor. I had so many plans."

Ezio: "Your dream dies with you, Manuel. Your empire is gone."

Manuel: "Ah, but I am not the only one with this vision, Assassin. The dream of our Order is universal. Ottoman, Byzantine... these are only labels. Costumes and facades. Beneath these trappings, all Templars are part of the same family."

—Manuel Palaiologos talking to Ezio Auditore about the universality of Templars, 1512.

A Templar Rite, otherwise known as a Rite of the Templar Order and collectively known as the Outer Temple of the Templar Order, is a regional, usually country-specific branch of the Templars and collectively a separate governing structure from the Inner Sanctum. As the Order spread across the globe, Rites were established in virtually every country. All Rites are led by a single Grand Master or, in the absence of one, a Master Templar.

The regional administration of a Rite mirrors that of its counterpart in the Assassin Order, with Rite leaders being the supreme authority of the branch and overseeing all of the Rite's activities from a main headquarters, while their subodrinates typically operate in an assigned district or administritative division. These subodrinates are directly answerable to the Rite's leader and oversee the Templar facilities in their assigned district to ensure the Order can efficiently maintain control over the local population. Over the centuries, these facilities have varied from towers, dens taken from the Assassins, gang headquarters, and even public and military offices.

Since at least the 17th century, following the creation of the Inner Sanctum and the Council of Elders, the entire collective of Rites became the Outer Temple and were not given access to the complete plans of the Templar Order going forward. With the creation of the Black Cross, their service in the Outer Temple shifted to combating corruption and searching for Pieces of Eden while securing the Inner Sanctum's plans and maintaining the Order's integrity by enforcing the Templar principles within the various Rites' governing structures.

Structure

Founding

In the the Thirteen Colonies, James Wardrop followed in his father's footsteps, he was inducted into the Templar Order in 1720. Wardrop's main role in the Order was to secure land and wealth, slowly and surely building up the foundation for the Colonial Rite. By 1744, Wardrop began to build a trade network for the Order that ran from the American colonies to the West Indies. By 1750, he worked with Christopher Gist to acquire North American land for the Order.

Authority

Main article: Grand Master of the Templar Order

Main article: Master Templar

Rodrigo: "Enough with your inane prattle! The choice of Doge was never up to any of you, and you were never given permission to make plans."

Marco: "Forgive us, Maestro. We wish only to serve."

—Rodrigo and Marco on the plan of the Roman Rite.

A Grand Master controls a specific geographic region and their Rite is named after it. Under their leadership was the ability to appoint a Lieutenant as their second-in-command. Despite holding the highest attainable rank within their Rite, a Grand Master is not all-powerful and is dependent on the support of their fellow Templars and other Rites around the world. Nevertheless, their duties are essential to the proper functioning of the Templar Order as a whole, so Grand Masters may elect to have bodyguards to protect them at all times, as were the cases with Frederick Weatherall for the de la Serre family, and El Tiburón for Laureano de Torres y Ayala. With the Grand Master themselves being the ruling authority for their own Rite's plans, all members required their superior's approval to enact any changes.

Rite Council

Guard: "Floyrac, the Council's message was absolute. You're not welcome here."

Floyrac: "I must speak with the Grand Master."

—Floyrac and a guard discussing the Council of the Parisian Rite.

During the end of the Golden Age of the Templar Order, was the only known Council of a Rite, this Council of the Parisian Rite under the leadership of Grand Master and Sage, Jacques de Molay, were one of his Advisors served. Had in a previous session about Esquieu de Floyrac made an decision to not welcome him in their headquarters, in the Temple in Paris.

Regional

The Templars leadership of a Rite, commonly held important powerful and influential positions over their region, in general being highly educated individuals that were mistrusted for their knowledge or ideals.

Local

A Borgia Tower in the Campagna district

During the Renaissance, in the city of Rome, the Roman Rite had established Borgia towers that were fortified and lead by Borgia captains. These areas were taken by the Borgia family for their desirability of the areas and for themselves, lead by twelve captains in total and in the districts of Centro District with Iacopo de Grassi, Pietro da Siena, Valentino da Siena, Belardino da Verona and Domenico da Padova as the five captains of the district. With captain Iacopo de Grassi being the first assassinated by the Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze after his arrival in 1500.

In the Ottoman Empire, the Byzantine Rite fought over districts in Constantinople and since 1506 had been growing in numbers from being a small faction.

Known Rites

• Algerian Rite
• American Rite (formerly known as the Colonial Rite)
• Austrian Rite
• British Rite
• Canadian Rite
• Chinese Rite (also known as the Shanghai Rite)
• Egyptian Rite
• German Rite
• Greek Rite
• Japanese Rite
• Levantine Rite (also known as the Knights Templar)
• Libyian Rite
• Mexican Rite
• Mongolian Rite
• Parisian Rite
• Portuguese Rite
• Roman Rite
• Russian Rite
• Spanish Rite
• Swedish Rite
• Tunisian Rite
• West Indies Rite (also known as the Caribbean Rite)

Former Rites

• Byzantine Rite
• Louisiana Rite (also known as the Templar Order of New Orleans)

Trivia

• Although the Templars' predecessors, the Order of the Ancients, also maintained multiple regional branches, it is unknown if these branches were called Rites or if another term was used.