The Templar Order has existed in one form or another for at least two thousand years. Much of it's history has been lost, distorted, broken, or outright fabricated.
To tell the History of the Templar is to tell a history that has mostly been lost to time itself. Still, some contemporary Templar Chapters have made an effort to preserve and keep their history as best as possible, and it is through them that most of the information of the Templar can actually be found.
Though most of what is known comes
after the three Schisms, there is still some information about the Templar before they broke.
What is known of this time is sparse, and tells of a world where the Templar were as powerful as nations and as beloved as ones neighbors. The Order worked together, under one Leader and one Council. They fought the evils of the world. Mages, Vampires, and creatures of the dark that could only be imagined within the horrors of the human mind.
The Order was strong, and it used it's strength for the good of others.
This was the story told for nearly a thousand years, a Templar Organization that kept the people safe and used it's powers to influence and change nations for the better. Yet everything comes to an end, and as a thousand golden years began to dwindle, things within the Templar began to change.
Over the years the Templar gained more power, and with that power came corruption. Garrisons, Lord Captains, and even members of the Council of Nine began to use their influence for their personal benefit. Always this was checked by the Grandmaster, but eventually even the greatest office of the Templar fell to corruption.
A man whose name is lost, or perhaps erased, claimed the office of Grandmaster. From here he used his power for his own gain, attempting to turn the Templar into a force not against Evil, but his own personal army.
His twisted purpose was brought forth, and half the Council of Nine fell into revolt. This began the first of the three schisms.
Though not much is known about the war itself, the historical record shows that the revolting members of the Council of Nine were ultimately victorious. The fighting itself apparently took a heavy toll on the Templar themselves, and many of the great Fortresses were either brought to ruin or fell to intervening nation states.
The first schism began the 'downsizing' of the Templar, and after this
event many nations and great
cities within Arethil began to naturally distrust the Order.
Unfortunately this distrust only grew with the Second Schism.
Only a short time after the first schism elements of the victorious Council of Nine began a debate within the Templar themselves. This debate centered not around corruption, but rather the practices and tolerance of mages around the world.
Three of the Nine councilors argued and fought with their brethren about what they saw as the root of evil within the world; magic.
This argument raged on for nearly a decade, and eventually swept through the ranks of the Order itself. The lowest squire held as strong an opinion as the most educated Lord Captain. Eventually this argument broke the Templar, and the second schism erupted.
Much worse than the first, the second schism was not only a war within the Order itself, but a war across all of Arethil. Those Templar against mages enforced their ideal through blood and blade, sweeping across the lands and scouring those mages they could find.
The second Schism lasted for nearly half a century, with individual Templar Garrisons fighting against each other, groups of mages, and city states who sought to protect their magical interests. This conflict was eventually brought to heel by the final Grand Master of the Templar Order, a woman named Valeria Aneth.
Though the histories are unclear of where she came from, Valeria was in her time perhaps the greatest of all Templar. She, it is told, single-handedly managed to gather a force strong enough to quell the revolting Templars. Bringing back reason and diplomacy, Valeria managed to wrangle in garrison after garrison, bringing the Order together once more and forging them together into one whole.
After the reforging of the Order Valeria began to institute dozens of reforms, all aimed at creating a more stable Templar Order. Distrust of the organization had grown around the world, and most of Valeria's reforms aimed at regaining the love of the people.
In order to achieve this Valeria abolished first the Council of Nine, and then her own office. Instead the Templar would be lead by the Lord Commander's working in conjunction with one another, each garrison focusing upon their own zone of command, with Valeria herself taking up position in what was then the new city of
Vel Anir.
This worked for a time, allowing no one within the Templar to gain enough power to overwhelm any of the other. This kept the Templar even, and their goal of protecting the people whole.
However, after several hundred years things began to change.
Templar Garrisons around Arethil began to gain more power than others. Either through recruiting methods or more unnatural means, these Garrisons outstripped their smaller brothers, and just as before some fell to corruption.
Called the Templar War by some who remember it, the Third and final Schism was perhaps the worst of all.
Several Garrisons throughout Arethil erupted from their holds not as defenders of the peace, but as armies seeking conquest. Whether for good reasons or bad, these Garrisons assaulted nations, cities, and
villages.
Seeing the actions of their brothers the remaining garrisons split off from the Order itself, declaring themselves in exiles, independence, or sovereignty all their own. The third schism saw the birth of the dozens of Chapters that now exist within the world, forged from the blood and betrayal that was the Templar War.
Though the conflict lasted for some time, the assaulting Garrisons were eventually turned back and broken by the various city states they had attacked. In the
Allirian Reach the City Guard as well as the Rangers beat back the Templar, in the
Falwood the Templar were sundered by the
Elves, and in the east the mages of
Elbion broke
the spine of those Templar who had challenged them there.
The Third Schism was the most permanent, and the splintering of the Order has lasted well into the modern day. Most of the world is still populated by the Individual Templar Chapters, each with their own creeds, ideals, rules, and practices.
Despite this, over the last year several Chapters have begun diplomacy anew. The small group have started to work together in an attempt to forge new bonds and recreate the Templar of old.
