History of the Templars

"Even when your kind appears to triumph... Still we rise again. And do you know why? It is because the Order is born of a realization. We require no creed. No indoctrination by desperate old men. All we need is that the world be as it is. And THIS is why the Templars will never be destroyed."

―Haytham Kenway to the Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton about the Templars, 1781.

The Templar Order, also known as the Order of the Knights Templar, is a secret organization dedicated to ensuring the creation of a New World Order through force and control. Throughout the 12th to early 14th century, the Templars acted as a knightly military order, and by the mid 20th century had become a corporate giant after the foundation of Abstergo Industries.

Throughout history, the Templars have manipulated individuals and events to further their goals, notably during the Roman era, the Crusades, the Renaissance and modern times. Their endeavours often clashed with the ideologies of their sworn enemies, the Assassin Order.

Because of this difference in ideology, the Templars became involved in a covert war against the Assassins, spanning centuries, with their opposition's motivating belief being that mankind should always have the ability to choose; to have the freedom of liberty, even if it meant accepting that humanity would always be flawed in their ways.

History

Prehistory

"Behold: the mark of Cain!"

―Clay Kaczmarek during one of his Glyph puzzles for Desmond Miles, 2012.

The origins of the Templar Order remain a mystery; it is believed that the Templars have existed since the dawn of humanity, or at least since humanity claimed its freedom from the First Civilization.

Sometime after the Toba catastrophe of 75000 BCE, Cain, the son of Adam and Eve, murdered his brother Abel to acquire an Apple of Eden. It is speculated that Cain was a Templar or that he at least inspired or played an active role in its foundation. The mark of Cain became the emblem of the Order, and some of the earliest Templars considered themselves to be the Children of Cain.

Ancient world

"Officially, the Order of the Knights Templar was created in 1129, but we have endured, under various appellations, since well before the 12th century."

―A transcript from one of the Abstergo Files, 2012.

The earliest known instance of Templar influence in history dates back to the 5th century BCE, when they aided Darius I, fourth king of the Achaemenid Empire, in overthrowing the usurper and ascending the throne of Persia. The Templars aided his son and successor, Xerxes I, in his suppressions of revolts in Egypt and Babylon and conquering of most of Greece. Xerxes I was killed by the Assassin Darius in 465 BCE, the first recorded usage of the Hidden Blade.

During the 4th century BCE, the Templars entrusted Alexander the Great with one of the Staves of Eden, which Alexander used to become one of the most successful conquerors in history. However, this also made him a target of the Assassin Brotherhood, as he was poisoned by the Babylonian Assassin Iltani in 323 BCE.

In the 3rd century BCE, the Templars supported Qin Shi Huang, who united China and became its first Emperor under the Qin Dynasty. Qin Shi Huang's rule quickly became tyrannical, and he was assassinated by Wei Yu of the Chinese Assassin Brotherhood.

Formation as a military order

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

―A transcript from one of the Abstergo Files, 2012.

In 1118, the French abbot Bernard de Clairvaux realized that the Templars needed the Church as its ally. He sent nine of his most trusted men to the Holy Land in search of Solomon's Temple, and upon their return, reinvented the Order alongside Grand Master Hugues de Payens, creating the Latin Rule. The Knights Templar were recognized and confirmed during the Council of Troyes in 1129. For the first time the Order made itself public, but their real goals and purpose remained a secret.

In the wake of the First Crusade, the Crusader army managed to maintain a presence in the Holy Land. The Knights Templar, as well as the Knights Hospitalier, were among the military orders that heped maintain their foothold, until Saladin managed to unite much of the Islamic world. Later, during the Third Crusade, the Knights Templar again spread out to the Holy Land. During the Siege of Acre, Grand Master Gerard de Ridefort was captured and beheaded by Saladin, at which point the position was left vacant until 1191. Lord Basilisk, a high-ranking Templar, stepped in to become the de facto leader during 1190.

Struggle for the Apple of Eden

"You know not the things in which you meddle, Assassin. I spare you only that you may return to your Master, and deliver a message. The Holy Land is lost to him and his. He should flee now while he has the chance. Stay, and all of you will die."

―Robert de Sable to Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, 1191.

In 1191, Robert de Sable took up the mantle of Grand Master. Under de Sable's leadership, several eight notable participants in the Third Crusade from both the Crusader and Saracen sides secretly joined the Templar Order. The Grand Master, these eight men joined forces with Al Mualim to find one of the Apples of Eden, and discovered the artifact located in an ancien vault located beneath the remains of Solomon's Temple.

De Sable and the Templars at Masyaf

In order to obtain the artifact for himself, Al Mualim betrayed the Templars and sent Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and Malik and Kadar Al-Sayf to retrieve it. Simultaneously, de Sable attempted to gain the obtain it as well, and Altaïr attempted to assassinate the Grand Master in the vault. The Assassin failed, but Malik was able to carry the Apple with him during his escape to their headquarters in Masyaf. The Templars followed in pursuit, and laid siege to Masyaf village. Arriving at the Masyaf citadel, they were routed by Altaïr, who unleashed a trap of falling tree trunks on the Templars.

In response, Al Mualim sent Altaïr on a quest to take down the nine Templars. In the months of July and September, Altaïr travelled to the cities of Damascus, Acre and Jerusalem to take down each of his targets. The Grand Master, realizing the threat to his life, assigned Maria Thorpe to pose as him at the funeral of one of the killed targets, Majd Addin, while de Sable himself rode to Arsuf to attempt to unite the Crusaders and Saracens against the Assassins. After having fallen for the trap, Altaïr confronted the Grand Master while the latter was consulting with King Richard I of England, who allowed to two to engage in a duel. De Sable fell to the Assassin's blade, but revealed Al Mualim's betrayal to Altaïr, who then proceeded to kill his Mentor.

Post-Third Crusade activity

"Our so-called King meets with his Templar advisers in London. Shall we pay them a visit?"

―The Assassin Robert Fitzwalter to his supporters, c. 1215.

Outside of their presence in the Crusades, the Knights Templar continued to hold sway over positions of power. King Richard I's brother and successor, John, was one such target, being under the influence of his Templar advisors. The Assassin Robert Fitzwalter rose up against the King, gaining support from the English barons and sparking the First Barons' War in 1215.

A Templar Knight killed by the Assassin

In 1250, the Knights Templar in Egypt saw an opportunity to retrieve a Precursor artifact called the Scepter of Aset, when the artifact was being brought to the rebelling Mamluks by an Egyptian Assassin. However, their attempt to obtain the artifact resulted in failure.

By the 1260s, Alexander Nevsky, Grand Prince of Vladimir and a Templar ally, was using his alliance with the Golden Horde, a division of the Mongol Empire, to protect medieval Russia from becoming a target of the Mongols. However, his connection to the Templars instead made him a target of the Mongolian Assassins, and he was killed by Nergüi in 1263.

Fall of the Knights Templar

"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 to Pope Clement V and King Philip IV, 1314.

In 1307, the Mentor of the French Assassins, Guillaume de Nogaret, councillor to King Philip IV, used his influence in the French court to turn the King and Pope Clement V against the Knights Templar. They were branded as heretics, and Philip ordered the arrest of all members of their Order. On 13 October of that year, Esquieu de Floyrac led a force of Assassins disguised as mercenaries in an attack on their Temple in Paris. Realizing the danger they were placed in, Grand Master Jacques de Molay ordered his advisor to hide their Codex Pater Intellectus and Sword of Eden in their vault.

Jacques de Molay arrested

Finding the artifacts stolen by Master Assassin Thomas de Carneillon, the advisor went into pursuit of the Assassin and retrieved them. However, after hiding the objects in the vault, de Molay was captured by the Assassins, and the advisor was killed by de Carneillon. The Grand Master was held in captivity, and after standing trial, was burned at the stake on 18 March 1314 alongside Geoffroi de Charney.

Shortly before his death, de Molay realized that the Order could no longer function as a public organization. He selected nine of his most trusted men and sent them out into the world, armed with the knowledge of the Ancients, to continue the Templars' plans outside of the public eye.

Rebirth as a secret order

"History teaches they were disbanded nearly 200 years ago in France. Only they weren't. Merely pushed underground where they continued their nefarious work."

―Mario Auditore about the Templars, 1477.

In 1321, the Templars made their continued existence known to the Assassins when they killed Dante Alighieri, a prominent member of the Italian Assassins, in an effort to retrieve the Codex of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. They hired a group of pirates to follow the Assassin who would later be known as Domenico Auditore to the Otranto harbor to obtain the book, but Domenico had already scattered and hid its pages. By 1324, the Templars had killed Domenico Auditore's father and Marco Polo, other prominent members of the Italian Brotherhood.

Templars fighting Numa at Karnak

In 1340, Egyptian Templars stole the Scepter of Aset from the court of the reigning Bahri dynasty, and smuggled the artifact to their hideout at Karnak. On 7 June 1341, Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad himself was killed by the Templar agent Leila. Not too long afterwards, the Scepter was retrieved by the Assassin Numa Al'Khamsin. After Leila's capture, she wound up sharing a cell with Numa. The two escaped, though after the Templars lured Numa into a trap, the Assassin was killed by Leila. Retrieving the Ankh-shaped box containing the Scepter from the Assassin's apprentice, Ali Al-Ghrabe, Leila discovered it to be empty upon wanting to give the artifact to the Emirs of Egypt. The Templar agent discovered the Scepter to be hidden in a well near Edfu Temple, but fell while trying to retrieve it, and became amnesiac, having no recollection of her allegiance to the Templars.

Several years later, in 1348, a Templar group called the Brothers of the Cross travelled through Europe offering protection from the Black Death; secretly, they were looking for the Ankh, a Precursor artifact. Two years later, the Brothers of the Cross vanished, alongside the Assassin Lukas Zurburg.

At the end of the 14th century, the Knights Templar in Scotland started an expedition to the New World, led by Henry Sinclair and James Gunn. The expedition landed in North America on 2 June 1398.

Four years later, the Templars played a role in the ascension of the Yongle Emperor. Using their influence in the Imperial court, they managed to have Yongle initiate a purge of the Assassins in Eastern China, resulting in the deaths of thousands of citizens, including the Assassin leader Fang Xiaoru. In 1424, the Yongle Emperor was killed by a survivor of the purge, the Assassin Li Tong.

The Templars also maintained a presence during the Hundred Years' War. After discovering that the French warrior Jeanne d'Arc was in possession of a Sword of Eden, they orchestrated her capture and burning at the stake in order to obtain the artifact.

During the middle of the 15th century, the Templars were engaged in a struggle with the Ottoman Empire, with the Templar Vlad the Impaler, the Prince of Wallachia, taking a center role in the conflict. In December 1476, Vlad was defeated by the Ottoman Assassin leader Ishak Pasha, and he was later killed by the Ottomans.

Purge of the Chinese Assassins

Shao Jun: "The emperor is a cruel man. He prefers ling chi to beheading."

Ezio Auditore: "Ling chi?"

Shao Jun: "Slow process. Many thousand cuts. Then dead."

—Shao Jun and Ezio Auditore about the Jaijing Emperor, 1524.

After the Zhengde Emperor of China died heirless on 20 April 1521, the country was momentarily left in a state of chaos. While the Imperial court was searching for a successor, the Templars used their influence to help the ascension of the Jiajing Emperor, Zhengde's nephew. In 1524, the Templars manipulated their puppet emperor into initiating a purge of the Chinese Assassins, effectively destroying their Brotherhood.

The Imperial guards pursued the remnants of the Chinese Assassins as they escaped to other parts of the globe. Shao Jun and her mentor attempted to escape to Italy to find the retired Mentor Ezio Auditore da Firenze, though her mentor was killed after they had reached Venice. The Imperial guards continued to pursue Shao Jun to Ezio's villa in Tuscany, where she had come to enlist his aid. The remaining Imperial guards were killed by Ezio and Jun during an attack on the villa in the middle of the night. Shao Jun returned to China in 1526, in an attempt to rebuild the Chinese Brotherhood and combat the Templars' presence.

Expansion to Japan

"These converts are our foothold in this country."

―The Jesuit Alessandro Valignano about the Templars' influence in Japan.

After suffering multiple defeats at the hands of the Assassins during the first half of the 16th century, the Templars searched for new areas to expand their influence. Circa 1549, the Jesuit Francis Xavier turned his attention to Japan, seeing an opportunity to spread both Christianity and the Templar ideals. Landing in Japan in the middle of the Warring States era, the Templars struggled to gain a strong footing in the country, resolving instead to utilize the few native sympathizers they could find. After hearing of the Templars' presence in Japan, the Assassins quickly followed suit, finding allies among the ninja clans.

Mochizuki Chiyome with her kunoichi

One of the Japanese Templars, the warlord Uesugi Kenshin, fought various battles with his rival Takeda Shingen, the owner of a Sword of Eden. Their rivalry ended when Shingen was assassinated in 1573 by the Tokugawa and the Assassins, and Kenshin himself was killed by the Assassin Hattori Hanzō in 1578. The Italian Templar and Jesuit Alessandro Valignano meanwhile maintained a presence in the country, continuing to gain converts and Templar recruits, going as far as forcing Francisco Cabral to resign his post as Superior of the Jesuit Mission when he found out about Valignano's Templar activities.

By the 1590s, the Templars had managed to recruit the kunoichi Mochizuki Chiyome, Shingen's spymaster, gaining a vast information network that helped spread their philosophy throughout Japan. She was nonetheless killed by the Assassin Hattori Hanzō, shortly before his own death in 1596 at the hand of Fūma Kotarō.

Search for the Observatory

"For two decades now I have endeavored to locate this Observatory... a place rumoured to contain a tool of incredible utillity and power. [...] With this device, there would be no secrets among men. No lies. No trickery. Only justice. Pure justice."

―Laureano de Torres y Ayala to his fellow Templars, 1715.

During the later part of the 17th century, the Templar Counsel had entrusted Laureano de Torres y Ayala, Grand Master of the Templar Order in the West Indies, with the task of finding the Observatory, an ancient First Civilization complex with the power of monitoring the life of any individual. By 1673, Torres had managed to determine that the Observatory was somehow linked to individuals known as Sages – humans born with the genetic code and memories of Aita, the First Civilization architect of the Observatory. That year, while visiting Peter Beckford's residence in Jamaica, Torres encountered a Sage known as Thom Kavanagh among Beckford's employees, and wanted to find out more about the man; however, Kavanagh was taken from the Beckford residence by the Assassin leader Bahlam that same evening.

Du Casse, Rogers, Kenway and Torres

In 1715, the Templars had managed to locate another Sage known as Bartholomew Roberts, and Torres had managed to recruit several new members for the Order – privateer Woodes Rogers, smuggler Julien du Casse and Assassin Duncan Walpole, who was killed by the pirate Edward Kenway before his arrival at Torres' residence in Havana, Cuba. After Rogers, du Casse and Kenway, taking up Walpole's identity, were formally inducted into the Order and made aware of their search for the Observatory, Roberts arrived in Havana and his blood was poured into a blood vial; however, Roberts managed to escape captivity before more information on the Observatory could be distracted from him, and Kenway betrayed the Templars after deciding to take the Observatory's contents for himself. Kenway was brought aboard a vessel of the Spanish Treasure Fleet to deliver him to British Templars in London, but managed to escape alongside other captives and destroyed the fleet.

French Revolution

"For centuries we've focused our attentions on the trappings of power: the titles of nobility, the offices of Church and State. [...] When our brother Templars see old the institutions crumble, they will adapt. They will retreat to the shadows and we will, at last, be the Secret Masters we were meant to be."

―François-Thomas Germain about the Templar Order, 1794.

By the late 18th century, the Templars in Paris, under the leadership of François de la Serre, had built up a steady relationship with King Louis XVI and the Assassins under the leadership of the comte de Mirabeau. A member of the order, the Sage François-Thomas Germain, began suffering from strange visions of the time of the First Civilization, and later found the Codex Pater Intellectus in Jacques de Molay's vault. Feeling a connection to de Molay through their Sage genetics, Germain was inspired to reshape the Templar Order in his vision, by removing the power of the aristocracy and the church and distributing it to the middle class, but was cast out by de la Serre for his radical ideas circa 1778.

Germain secretly managed to gain the support of other members of the Order, and orchestrated the Grand Master's assassination at the Palace of Versailles on 5 May 1778. Now effectively the new Grand Master, Germain continued to face opposition from the conservative Templars Élise and Chrétien Lafrenière. Germain was imprisoned within his own workshop by Lafrenière, where he was rescued by the unwitting Assassin Arno Dorian, seeking revenge for the murder of his adoptive father, the old Grand Master. Germain convinced Arno that Lafrenière was the perpetrator, and Lafrenière's subsequent death destroyed much of the opposition.

Per Germain's plan, the French population began to rise up, fueled by inflation of grain prices by Marie Lévesque. Eventually, the Templar Louis-Michel le Peletier cast the final vote that condemned King Louis to death at the National Convention. On 21 January 1793, the Grand Master attended the King's execution by guillotine at the Place de la Révolution, and later entrusted control of the new French Republic to the Templar Maximilien de Robespierre, a leading figure in the radical Jacobin Club. Robespierre proceeded to enforce Templar rule through the Reign of Terror, resulting in the executions by guillotine or imprisonment of thousands of citizens.

At the Festival of the Supreme Being on 8 June 1794, held by Robespierre, Arno Dorian and Élise de la Serre managed to turn public opinion against Robespierre, and Germain abandoned him. After escaping from the National Guard on 27 July, Robespierre fled to his Jacobin supporters, but was forced to give the location of the Templar headquarters at the Temple. Arno and Élise infiltrated the Temple, where they confronted Germain in Jacques de Molay's vault. Managing a final stand utilizing de Molay's Sword of Eden, Germain killed Élise, but in turn lost his life at the hands of Arno, leaving the French Templars leaderless. Nonetheless, Germain was convinced that his Templar brothers would embrace his vision for the Order.

Conquest of India

"You're one of a kind. Benevolent, they say. All castes and creeds under one roof. You haven't even the temper to order the death of one lowly thief. It takes more nerve than that to bring the world to order."

―General Francis Cotton to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, 1839.

By 1839, the British Templars had turned their attention towards India, hoping to gain control of the region through the British Empire's conquests. In 1839, the Sikh Empire remained the last bastion of resistance to the British Empire in the Indian subcontinent. Seeing an opportunity to take control of India under the banner of the British Empire, the British Templars focused on removing Maharaja Ranjit Singh from power, and taking the Koh-i-Noor, a powerful Piece of Eden, from his possession.

File:ACBM-Singh fight.jpg

Cotton facing the Maharaja after poisoning his tea

On 27 June 1839, William Hay Macnaghten and his companion, General Francis Cotton, a Templar, attended a feast at the Maharaja's summer palace, secretly intending to poison him in order to weaken the Sikh Empire's power. There, Macnaghten and Cotton stumbled upon the Assassin Arbaaz Mir, posing as a Kashmiri emmissary. Despite the Assassin's insistence that he would not meddle with his plans, Cotton decided to follow Arbaaz, finding him taking the Koh-i-Noor from the Precursor ruins beneath the palace. Cotton alerted the Imperial guards, who proceeded to arrest Arbaaz. During their meeting with the Maharaja that evening, Cotton poisoned his tea, ultimately killing him, but faced opposition from Arbaaz.

The Templar fooled the Imperial guards into thinking that Arbaaz was the murderer, and they chased him to the palace courtyard, where Cotton stumbled upon the Maharaja's granddaughter Pyara Kaur holding the Koh-i-Noor. Kaur activated the artifact, taking the appearance of a Precursor. Cotton accidentally destroyed the Koh-i-Noor in the process while firing at the Precursor. Enraged, the Precursor unleashed a blast of energy across the area, killing Cotton and the remaining palace guards. Despite Cotton's death, their plan to weaken the Sikh Empire was a success, and control of the region fell to the Templars, under the British banner, after the empire's downfall in 1849.

Revolutionary Russia

"Russia has made some very powerful friends. She will be a new Eden on Earth."

―Tsar Alexander III of Russia on his alliance with the Templars, 1888.

By the late 19th century, the Templars managed to hold sway over Russia through their influence over Tsar Alexander II, until his death on 13 March 1881 during a bomb attack by the Narodnaya Volya, a front for the Russian Assassins. His son and successor, Alexander III, became a willing ally of the Templars and was entrusted with a Staff of Eden, which became the Imperial Scepter.

On 29 October 1888, Tsar Alexander III was confronted by the Assassin Nikolai Orelov while travelling by train to Saint Petersburg, and Alexander was stabbed in the kidney during their fight, which resulted in the Borki train disaster. Alexander died of kidney failure in 1894, and was succeeded by his son Nicholas II. In order to continue holding influence over the Russian Imperial court, the Templar agent Grigori Rasputin grew close to the Imperial family, and retrieved the Imperial Scepter, taking it to a Templar research facility in Tunguska.

On 30 June 1908, the Assassins raided the facility, and their ally Nikola Tesla unleashed a burst of electricity to the facility, destroying the artifact and resulting in a huge explosion. Rasputin retrieved a splinter of the artifact, which he utilized to continue holding sway among the Romanov family, until he was killed by the Assassins in 1916. The Assassins eventually managed to help the rise of the Soviet Union after the Russian Revolution.