Editing Black Templars (section)

==Keeps==
As the Black Templars are too busy being useful, they feel no need to have a permanent Chapter monastery. Instead, they will throw a keep on every few worlds they pass by, they ''are'' Imperial Fist successors after all. In fairness, their flagship the ''Eternal Crusader'' is a [[Gloriana-class Battleship|Gloriana class battleship]]. You know, the same class the Emperor Himself used as His flagship, so they don't really need a base beyond that.

Some fans have speculated that because of this, combined that they have been doing this for 10000 years, the Templars could have fuckhuge numbers of Marines. This is a retarded joke started by TTS that makes no sense. Not every Keep is staffed with Marines at all times. The 9th edition Supplement makes this fact abundantly clear, as did the 4E Codex back in its day. Which contradicts their lore and that of the Imperial Fists, which is that the keeps are their source of recruits. So, we're to believe they willingly limit their own number of recruits or that they abandon worlds that allow them to build those keeps despite it being a very important part of their function and culture inherited from Dorn. Although, it wouldn't be entirely unreasonable for them to staff keeps nearby the crusades' path, considering travel times in 40K. You don't want to wait for recruits coming from the other side of the galaxy.

When Keeps are staffed they are commanded by a Castellan, who is responsible for the upkeep and defense of said Keep. He is also responsible for the recruitment of Aspirants into the chapter, who go through some of the most intense training of perhaps any chapter. By which we mean they are forced to fight each other, walk through traps in the dark, and throw their arm into a blazing fire while reciting fucking scripture, all while being [[Grimdark|indoctrinated into complete and unquestioning loyalty to "the will of the Emperor".]] Yeah, the Templars are absolute lunatics. To be fair, their methods do create both incredibly deadly Space Marines and incredibly loyal Space Marines.

But how does one become an aspirant? It generally depends on the location of the Keep. On Death worlds, an aspirant might fill the back of some dangerous beast with swords and bring an offering. On other worlds, prospective warriors might be press ganged, or even kidnapped into service. Just to remind you that ADB's interpretation of the Black Templars can be full of shit.

To add further insult to Injury, the Templar's keeps serve no purpose defensively, or even to improve the lives of the people on the planet. They serve only the Black Templars interests.

Why no one has called out the Templars for leaving empty fortifications all across the galaxy that any genius could steal for themselves can only be called a miracle. Must be high faith in the security system. That or the fear of getting a firm righteous backhand from the Templars for questioning their methods. Or, much more likely, they aren't empty and everyone is too terrified to call out the Black Templars on that.