Editing Templar

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[[File:Templars.jpg|right|500x|thumb|Pictured here: Some Knights Templar doing their job]]
'''Templars''', better known as the Knights Templar, were a Catholic military order founded in Jerusalem in 1119 AD/CE.  Contrary to popular belief, they were forcibly disbanded in 1312 and official the name of their order wasn't the Knights Templar, their official name was '''"Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon"'''.   

They also helped inspire the fantasy concept of "holy knights" and "travelling warrior fighting for a higher cause", especially if the previous two have supernatural powers and/or the aid of a supernatural being.  As such, despite the word "Templar" denoting a specific group of people from a specific religion, it's often been used for multiple groups in fiction and real-life (to be fair, the same could be said for assassins).  

== Fictional Types ==
=== [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] ===
Apart from the real-life Templars being one of the main inspirations for the [[Paladin]] class, in DnD, Templars are a social and sometimes adventuring class for [[Dungeons & Dragons]] native to the 2e [[Dark Sun]] setting. Templar is the generic term used for the various mystic-bureaucrats who directly serve the will of the various Sorcerer-Kings, using a combination of magical powers drawn directly from their worship of a patron Sorcerer-King and their social rank as lawmakers and city-guard to enforce their master's will.

As abstracted further from their real-life namesake, they're [[Cleric]]s for [[grimdark|any setting where all the gods are dicks and their followers all NPCs]]. (Developing from ''[[Dragonlance]]'', arguably. Although ''that'' setting will relent.) As such the DM doesn't have to balance them, so [[CoDzilla]] is more feature than bug.

=== [[Dark Sun]] ===
[[File:Baxa-page-published-1z85.jpg|right|thumb]]
In ''Dark Sun'', as a Priest variant, Templars gained spellcasting slots more slowly than the conventional Cleric, but with much more spellslots available to them by the time they maxed out their class. They also had the ability to create scrolls and potions, lacked any arms & armor restrictions, and had social-related powers in their native city-state due to their serving as the legal arm of the Sorcerer-King. However, they had to be Neutral or Evil in alignment, since, y'know, they were a brutal bunch of self-serving enforcers and power-mongers, worshipping and serving evil tyrants like gods.

They lost this status in the Revised Edition of the Dark Sun setting. Although still a social class, they were restricted to NPCs, although as "Templar" was emphasized as being a social state, one could still technically play an (ex) Templar by fluffing an elemental [[Cleric]] or a Defiler (especially a hybrid or multiclassed Fighter/Defiler) in the right way.

The Athas Dot Org 3E update made Templars charisma based [[Cleric]]s with better weapon options, more skill points and spell progression in exchange for a more restricted spell list and the RP problem of being the bitch of one of the setting's main antagonists that walks around with a target on their back if you were fighting a ''different'' one of the main antagonists. The [[Dragon Magazine]] update instead just made Templars clerics of the dragon kings.

===The Inevitable Afterbirth===

Meanwhile the spirit of the Evil Not-Cleric spread to d20 / OGL third-party wares, not least the Legate in ''[[Midnight]]''. ''[[Arcana Unearthed]]'' pushed in this direction too with the Mage Priest.

4th edition took a look at the history of Templars and decided they fit perfectly under the [[Warlock]] umbrella, simply creating a new Pact, the Sorcerer-King, to represent the origins of their magic and creating unique new spells to go with it. This was in addition to making Templars as a theme, which keyed them to supporting teammates by giving them better means to hit enemies and benefits like a Leader class.

== Real-life Templars ==
A little-known fact is that the Knights Templar were the among early examples of [[Knight|knights]] considered heroic defenders.  In the earlier part of the Middle Ages, knights were considered thugs, overrunning the countryside and looting villages to line their own pockets or get their rocks off. The Knights Templar and their contemporaries The Knights Hospitaller and The Teutonic Order among others created a different model in which members were monks, sworn to poverty, chastity, and obedience... either protecting the faithful, giving aid to the sick and dying or committed to fighting “infidels” in the Holy Land for God and country.  While not all lived up to their order's ideals, the fact remains the idea of knights as virtuous defenders of the weak was unheard of prior to Knights Templar.

Based around the concept of protecting Christian pilgrims, the Templars were closely tied to the Crusades; when the Holy Land was lost, support for the order faded.  Rumors about the Templars' having a secret initiation ceremony and their growing presence in infrastructure created distrust, and King Philip IV of France – deeply in debt to the order – exploited this distrust to destroy them and erase his debt (along with possibly acquire the wealth they were storing for himself). In 1307, he had dozens of the order's members in France arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, and burned at the stake, including their last Grand Master.  Pope Clement V disbanded the order in 1312 under pressure from King Philip.

There is also an interesting legend regarding possible Divine judgement over the ruin of the Templars.  While accounts of last words and the effects vary, what is verified is that shortly before his execution, Jacques de Molay - the 23rd and last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, stated that God would avenge their deaths, and within a year of de Molay's execution both Pope Clement and King Philip IV died (the former wracked with guilt over his role in ruining the Templars).

The abrupt reduction in power and dissolution of a significant group in Christendom and European society gave rise to speculation, legend, conspiracy theories and legacy through the ages.

=== Myths and facts ===
[[File:KnightsTemplar.jpg|290px|thumb|left|Thems standing lookin cool n stuff]]The real life Knights Templar are one of the few groups to rival [[Ninja|ninjas]] for the amount of myths associated with them, to the point that the image people associate with the Knights Templar in fact has almost nothing to do with how they actually were.  Anyway, ideologues and conspiracy theorists, prepare to have your lives ruined, for here are some of the myths people believe about the Knights Templar.  
# They did not begin as violent religious extremists or with the goal of conquest.  They were founded to protect Christian pilgrims travelling to and from the Holy Land.  The area outside Jerusalem was not secure, so bandits, highwaymen and prejudiced Muslim marauders often preyed upon and slaughtered many Christian pilgrims heading to the Holy Land, sometimes killing hundreds at a time.  In response, the Knights Templar were founded in 1119 in Jerusalem by the French knight Hugues de Payens.  Hughes approached King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and Warmund, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and proposed creating a monastic order for the protection of these pilgrims and King Baldwin II agreed.

# They did not invent the motto "Deus Vult!"  The earliest recorded use was in 1096, 23 years before the Knights Templar were founded (even Hughes - their future founder - was only a child at the time), and it was shouted by pilgrims during the first Crusade as Prince Bohemond I's forces gathered.
# The Templar's goals weren't to proselytize or forcefully convert non-Christians to Christianity.  While individual members may have, this would have been rare and there are no verified cases of forced conversions to Christianity induced by the Templars.
# The Knights Templar did not start the idea of “Friday the 13th” being bad luck.  This was started by superstitious scholars based on how their leaders incarceration began on originates with the date of the simultaneous arrest of many templars at the behest of King Philip IV on Friday, 13 October 1307.  This superstition was also pushed into the public eye in modern times by the notoriously inaccurate author [[C.S Goto|Dan Brown (of "The Da Vinci Code" infamy)]].
# The Knights Templar are not connected to the Freemasons.  The Knights Templar were stamped out in 1312 while the Freemasons weren’t formally organized until 405 years later in 1717.  While the Freemasons may have drawn some basic inspiration from them, the only commonality is an interest in spirituality (even there it’s not the same, as the Knights Templar were strictly Christian while the Freemasons are multifaith).  
# Despite their origin as a military organization, they weren't all combatants and later expanded to provide other services.  Non-combatant members of the order made up the majority of their order, at times as much as 90% of their members.  Apart from non-combatant roles for the order including chaplains and cooks, they also created and managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom, developing innovative financial techniques that were an early form of banking, building its own network of nearly 1,000 commanderies and fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land.  The deposit and withdrawal system they set up even helped lay the groundwork for what would become modern banking. They were effectively the world's first multinational corporation.
# The Templars had strict codes of conduct that they were expected to adhere to in battle and their daily lives.  They had to take vows of poverty, chastity, piety, and obedience upon initiation as well as vows to never retreat unless their commander gave the order and all their flags had fallen.  Their founder established 72 clauses about how they were to go about daily life, including a limit on the possessions they could own, rules on how they ate their meals and prohibiting physical contact of any kind with women.
# They did not have elaborate initiation rituals.  This rumor was started based on them discouraging outsiders from attending the ceremony, which accounts describe as a profound commitment and solemn affair. 
# Becoming a member of the Knights Templar wasn't a path to knighthood, as the Templars did not perform knighting ceremonies.  Anyone wishing to become a Knight Templar had to be a knight already.
#  While they were one of the wealthiest groups of their time, this was more due to every new member willingly signing over all their wealth and goods and establishing a credit system to store wealth for other people and groups.
# Beards were not prescribed by the Templar Rule, but later became customary for members of the order to wear by choice, and were long and prominent.  They were also permitted to shave their beards off under certain circumstances, including to avoid detection.
# Membership wasn’t required to be lifelong.  While most brothers joined for life, some were allowed to join for a set period.
# They did not go underground or form a secret conspiracy after their dissolution.  The remaining Templars around Europe were either arrested and tried under the Papal investigation (with virtually none convicted), absorbed into other Catholic military orders or pensioned off and allowed to live out their days peacefully.
# While they did seek religious relics at times, the vast stores of treasures that the order allegedly possessed have never been verified or discovered.  Some of them, like the supposed statue of Baphomet, may not have even existed (no one had seen the statue and there were various accounts of its appearance.  Given it was cited as part of a charge of heresy against the Templars, the statue might have been a fabrication as part of the slander against the Templars).  On that note, the Holy Grail is considered mythical by most scholars, Christian and non-Christian alike.

=== Templar weapons and gear ===
[[File:Hith-knights-templar-51240573.jpg|right|thumb]]
An armor list dating from circa 1165 AD sheds light on the protective equipment worn by the knights of the Templar Order. 
* Padded jerkin: The jerkin,  or haubergeon, was worn beneath the main armor and as such provided additional protection. 
* Mail hauberk: This went over the jerkin, basically comprising a long-sleeved mail shirt extending till the head – known as mail coif (fort et turcoise), the hands – mail mittens (manicle de fer), and thighs – cuisses.
* Surcoat: Arguably the most recognizable element of a Knights Templar panoply, which not only made them identifiable (within Crusader contingents) but also mitigated the hot Levant sun that could beat down on the relatively heavy armor underneath. In any case, the iconic white surcoat of the Templars was possibly the monastic capae – as referred to by Pope Gregory IX in circa 1240 AD.  It often sported the iconic red cross, which was a symbol of martyrdom. 
* Mail coif: A coif of mail worn over the head for protection.
* Helmets or helms: Worn on the head over the coif, these were initially open-faced but later on adopting the closed-faced variety (with riveted iron-plates, eye-slits, and ventilation holes). By the 13th century, few of the knights and most mounted sergeants (sergents) possibly adopted the chapeau de fer, the kettle hat-shaped iron helmet with a wider brim for potentially deflecting enemy blows.  
* Broadsword: The typical broadsword resembled the cruciform with the crossguard cutting a right angle across the grip which extends into the blade. Such imagery must have played its psychological role in bolstering the morale of many spiritual Crusaders.
* Lances: The ubiquitous lance, the Knights Templars' lances were preferably made of sturdy yet flexible ashwood, with lengths of around 13 ft.
* Multiple types of knives: The Knights Templar tended to wield three types of knives in battle, including a combat dagger and they also had a bread knife.
* ‘Turkish’ mace: A weapon grudgingly adopted from their Muslim foes, likely due to the armor-shattering capacity of such heavy weapons. 

Some codified statutes also hint at the use of rather ‘exotic’ non-knightly weapons such as crossbows – that were fired from both horsebacks (in a stationary position) and on foot.

=== Pop Culture Templars ===
The abrupt reduction in power of a significant group in European society gave rise to speculation, legend, and legacy through the ages.  The Knights Templar Order and its members increasingly appear in modern fiction, though most of these references portray the medieval organization inaccurately (one of the most infamous examples being the Templars in the Assassin's Creed franchise, even factoring in the Alternate History angle and fantastical elements).  

In modern works, due to loss of historical records, conspiracy theories and various ideological agendas depending on the writers, the Templars generally are portrayed as villains in fiction.  Most common is the raging fanatics cliche, but there's also misguided zealots and/or representatives of an evil secret society.  Templars being portrayed as heroes in modern works is rare, and then usually it’s as the keepers of a long-lost treasure (such as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).  

That said, while the actual Knights Templar themselves often get the short end of the stick in fictional portrayals, fictional individuals or groups inspired by them tend to get more even-handed portrayals.  This means just as much, if not more, heroic portrayals of their fictional equivalents.

== See Also ==
* [[Space Marines]]: The Emprah's [[Original character, do not steal]] transhuman, (initially) humanist version
* [[Paladin]]: The DnD class they inspired.

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Category:Dungeons & Dragons Classes]] [[Category:Dark Sun]]