Levantine Rite of the Templar Order

The Levantine Rite of the Templar Order,Assassin's Creed: The Essential Guide also known as the Knights Templar, was the branch of the Templar Order which operated throughout the Levant. Founded during the period of the Crusades, the Levantine Rite was synonymous with the very arm of the Templar Order that reformed into a public organization in the guise of a Christian military order. As such, it was also the flagship branch of the global organization.
During the Third Crusade, the Levantine Templars were one of the principal forces of the English and French Crusaders, fighting alongside the Knights Hospitalier and Teutonic Knights against the Saracens of the Ayyubid Sultanate in Egypt and Syria. Because of its true nature, unlike the other Crusader orders, the Templars consisted of agents who infiltrated the various factions of the regional conflict, including the Saracens themselves. Even the Grand Masters of the Knights Hospitalier and the Knights Teutonic ranked among the nine secret leaders of the Templars.
In 1189, the first year of the Third Crusade, the Levantine Rite suffered a critical setback with the demise of their Grand Master Gerard de Ridefort at the Siege of Acre. Frustration at the prolonged double siege would prompt a plot by the Templars to poison the water supply of the city to kill all of its inhabitants. Though this operation was foiled by Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, a member of the Levantine Brotherhood of Assassins, the Crusaders ultimately managed to capture the city in the last year of the war.
Until the election of their new leader, Basilisk took the reins, and under his direction, the Templars sought to acquire the Chalice, an artifact rumored to bestow the power to unify the factions of the war. Their subsequent capture of the relic, actually a woman named Adha and lover of Altaïr, resulted in Basilisk's death at the Master Assassin's blade. Though the Templars ultimately escaped with Adha, she proved to be less than what they had expected, and they had her executed, an act that would further lead to the deaths of all those involved by her vengeful lover.
Upon Robert de Sablé's accession in 1191, the Rite directed their next objective to the retrieval of the Apple of Eden from the ruins of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, hoping that with its power, they could inaugurate their dream of a New World Order. To this end, they conspired with Al Mualim, the leader of their mortal enemies, the Levantine Assassins, but they soon lost the Piece of Eden to the traitorous Mentor, who sent his agents to steal it. All nine leaders of the Levantine Rite later fell in rapid succession to Altaïr's blade as directed by Al Mualim, who sought to keep his treachery secret. Despite de Sablé's attempt to adapt by exploiting the deaths to unify the Crusaders and Saracens against the Assassins, this last-ditch effort unraveled when he himself was slain by Altaïr at the Battle of Arsuf.
Shortly after Al Mualim was slain by Altaïr, who had uncovered his mentor's treachery, the remaining Levantine Templars retreated to their new base onCyprus, which they had purchased from King Richard I. There, under the leadership of Armand Bouchart, they sought to rebuild their forces and relocate all the artifacts kept in their secret archive. However, the Templars' misrule of the island quickly provoked an insurgency, which, coupled with the arrival of Altaïr, led to another critical defeat as the Rite was driven away from Cyprus in 1193.
By the time of the Renaissance, the Levantine Rite would reestablish their presence in Jerusalem and Damascus, only to be expelled once again by the Assassins, this time at the hands of the Ottoman Brotherhood.
==History ==
===Crucifixion of Jesus===
During the 1st century, the Order of the Ancients discovered that one of the Pieces of Eden, the Shroud, was in the possession of Jesus of Nazareth, who used it to perform restorative miracles. Wanting the Piece for their own purposes, the Ancients crucified Jesus in order to acquire it.Assassin's Creed II However, Jesus' disciples were able to recover the Shroud and attempted to harness its powers to resurrect him.Assassin's Creed: Initiates
===Formation as a Knightly Order===
When Christian European lords tried to take the Holy Land from its Muslim occupiers during the Crusades, Bernard de Clairvaux decided the Templars needed the Church as an ally. In 1119, he sent nine of his trusted men, including Hugues de Payens, to the Holy Land, searching for Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. After arriving in Jerusalem, de Payens proposed to King Baldwin II that the Order be founded to protect pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. Baldwin approved this, and ceded the Al-Aqsa Mosque to the Templars as a headquarters.Assassin's Creed Encyclopedia
Upon returning nine years later, de Payens, together with Bernard, created the Latin Rule, and reorganized the Templars into a public order of knights, whose apparent sole purpose was to protect pilgrims to the Holy Land. In the 1129 Council of Troyes, the order was officially recognized by the church.
Just a few decades previously, the Templars' mortal adversaries, the Hidden Ones, had also been reconstituted into a public organization as the Levantine Brotherhood of Assassins; as they were primarily based in the Levant at the time, the two factions clashed frequently.
===Third Crusade===
====Siege of Acre====
In 1189, the Templars became involved in the Third Crusade, fighting on the side of fellow Crusaders such as the Knights Hospitalier and the Knights Teutonic. Under the leadership of Grand Master Gerard de Ridefort, a great force of them were involved in the Siege of Acre. Ridefort was personally executed by Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, when the Saracen army arrived in an attempt to lift the siege. His death would result in a year without an official Grand Master, with de facto leadership undertaken by Lord Basilisk.
After many months, the Templars became agitated by the stalemate and devised a scheme to poison every water source in the city in the hopes that it would kill off its entire population by the next morning, allowing them to seize Acre without a fight. The plot failed to come to fruition when the Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad stopped the operation by infiltrating the Templar camp and assassinating its commander. In spite of this setback, the Crusaders still managed to capture Acre after two years of siege,Assassin's Creed leading to a temporary truce between the Crusaders and Saracens.
====Assault on Masyaf====
At some point in 1189, the Templars laid siege to Masyaf, the main headquarters of the Levantine Assassins, with the help of their agent Haras, a former Assassin who had betrayed his Brotherhood. Despite inflicting heavy casualties on their opponents, the Templars were ultimately routed thanks to the efforts of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, who killed Haras and led the successful defense of Masyaf.Assassin's Creed: Revelations
Wounded during the attack, the Assassin Faisal, who was secretly a Sage of the Isu Vejovis, later rode to Damascus, weakening the Templars' forces along the way. Upon arriving in the city, Faisal met a Templar known as "The Hideout" who, believing the Assassin had defected to their cause, gave him part of the dagger once wielded by Vejovis in order to deliver it to Beirut. Their meeting was interrupted by the Assassin Rafee, whom Faisal was forced to kill to maintain his cover. Faisal then delivered the dagger to Beirut and, from there, to Constantinople.Assassin's Creed: Escape Room Puzzle Book – Chapter 4: Deceiving the Assassins
====Quest for the Chalice====
During Basilisk's tenure as Templar leader in 1190, the Order searched for a powerful artifact known as the Chalice, rumored to be hidden in the Temple of Sand. To that end, they furiously pursued the three keys thought to be needed to enter the temple, as well as the map to its location. Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad thwarted their attempts at every turn, retrieving the keys and the map for his own use, but ultimately, they managed to launch an expedition to the Temple and break into its premises anyways even without these items.Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles
The Temple turned out empty, and they discovered that the Chalice was in fact a woman named Adha, who they would soon after hold hostage in Jerusalem. In the meantime, they bribed Harash, the second most senior member of the Levantine Assassins, to serve as their spy. Though Altaïr successfully rescued Adha, the Templars recaptured her in Tyre while the Assassin was dealing with Harash in Alep.
Before they set sail with Adha, Altaïr confronted their forces at the Tyre harbor. The lone Assassin managed to fight his way through the army, killing even Basilisk himself in single combat, but the Templars escaped with Adha nonetheless. For many days and nights, the Templars hurried to their destination, all while the Assassin pursued them across the Mediterranean Sea not far behind. By the time he caught up, they had executed Adha, an outrage that would result in the death of every Templar responsible for her capture at the hands of the vengeful Assassin.
====Attempt to acquire the Apple====
By 1191, the Templars had appointed Robert de Sablé as Ridefort's official successor. De Sablé began covertly recruiting men on both sides of the war, including Garnier de Naplouse, William of Montferrat and Sibrand of the Crusaders, and Tamir, Talal, Abu'l Nuqoud, Majd Addin and Jubair al Hakim of the Saracens. Each of these men cooperated to obtain the Apple of Eden hidden within the Ark of the Covenant at the Jerusalem Vault in Solomon's Temple, believing that the artifact would allow them to realize their vision of a New World Order.
While Tamir produced weapons for the Templars and Abu'l Nuqoud provided funds which he stole from the wealthy citizens of Damascus, Talal provided slaves for Garnier to experiment on in the hopes of developing drugs that could render people subservient to their will. Meanwhile, Jubair purged Damascus of books he found in conflict with the Templar ideology, and Sibrand prepared his fleet for a blockade that would deter Europe from sending reinforcements once the Levant was under Templar control. William and Majd Addin served as regents for Acre and Damascus, respectively, and the former's execution of three thousand Saracen prisoners-of-war would reignite the war with Saladin.
De Sablé also formed a secret alliance with Al Mualim, the Mentor of the Levantine Assassins, who helped the Templars find the Apple of Eden. However, Al Mualim, wishing to keep the artifact for himself, later betrayed de Sablé and sent three of his agents — Altaïr and the brothers Malik and Kadar Al-Sayf — to retrieve the Apple ahead of the Templars. When de Sablé and several of his men arrived at Solomon's Temple to recover the Apple, they were confronted by the Assassins, resulting in a fight. Though the Templars routed Altaïr and killed Kadar, Malik managed to bring the artifact into Assassin possession even after losing an arm.
This event prompted de Sablé to attack the Assassins' fortress of Masyaf in an attempt to recover the stolen Apple. However, while the Grand Master was threatening Al Mualim and demanding the return of the artifact, the Templars fell prey to a trap set by the Assassins and many of them were crushed by falling tree logs. Consequently, de Sablé and his surviving men retreated from Masyaf, abandoning their plans to acquire the Apple for the time being.
====Hunt for the Nine====
With the Apple of Eden in his possession, Al Mualim had to ensure his collaboration with the Templars remained a secret by eliminating all those who knew of his treachery. As Altaïr had broken the tenets of the Assassins' creed during his mission to Solomon's Temple, the Mentor saw the perfect opportunity to achieve his goal and sent his student on a quest to assassinate the nine Templar leaders in the Levant, under the pretense of offering Altaïr a chance at redemption.
One by one, Tamir, Garnier, Talal, Abu'l Nuqoud, William, Majd Addin, Jubair and Sibrand all fell to Altaïr's blade, leaving only de Sablé. Anticipating that the Assassins would target him, the Grand Master assigned Maria Thorpe to impersonate him at Majd Addin's funeral in Jerusalem, while he himself rode for Arsuf, where Saladin's army had intercepted the Crusaders on their way to Jaffa. There, he hoped to capitalize on the deaths of leaders on both sides of the war at Altaïr's hands to unite the Crusaders and Saracens against the Assassins, a plot that would necessitate murdering King Richard I of England.
In Jerusalem, Altaïr fell for the decoy, but survived the Templars' trap and spared Maria, who told him of de Sablé's plot. Riding for Arsuf, Altaïr intercepted the Grand Master and his men in Richard's camp, where he exposed their treachery before the king, sparking a "trial by combat" in which de Sablé was slain by the Assassin. Before dying, he revealed to Altaïr that the last conspirator was his own master, prompting the Assassin to hurry back to Masyaf to verify this claim. After Altaïr killed Al Mualim, he withheld the Apple of Eden, keeping it for the rest of his life as he studied its mysteries.
====Relocating to Cyprus====
Following de Sablé's death, control of the Knights Templar fell to his lieutenant, Armand Bouchart. Not long afterwards, Bouchart bought the island of Cyprus from King Richard, which was formerly ruled by the secret Templar Isaac Comnenus. Planning to retrieve all the artifacts that were hidden in Templar Archive underneath Limassol, the Templars set sail from Acre to Cyprus in the fall of 1191.Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
The Templars quickly expanded their reach, starting with building strongholds in Limassol but rapidly taking control of Kyrenia as well. As the Templars used brute force to stay in control, the people formed a resistance force that aimed to route the Templars from Cyprus. Additionally, the Templars were followed by Altaïr, who had taken Maria Thorpe as a captive after defeating her in Acre. Though Maria tried to escape and warn her fellow Templars several times, she ultimately lost faith in the Order's cause to control humanity and sided with the Assassin.
Due to Altaïr and Maria's efforts, all of Bouchart's generals in Limassol and Kyrenia were assassinated, and the Templars began to lose their grip over Cyprus. Despite this, Bouchart was successful in his goal to ship out all of the artifacts in the Templar Archive, ensuring they stayed out of Assassin hands. When Altaïr and Maria ventured into the archive, Bouchart confronted them but ultimately fell to the Assassin's blade, marking the end of the Templars' rule over Cyprus.
====Later activities====
Between 1201 and 1208, the French crusader Philippe du Plessis served as the 13th Grand Master of the Knights Templar.Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy In 1228, the Templars would manage to retake their archive on Cyprus, due to Abbas Sofian, who had usurped leadership of the Levantine Assassins, refusing to send reinforcements to defend it.
===Renaissance===
By 1511, despite no longer operating as a public organization, the Templars had managed to regain their influence in the Levant, controlling the cities of Jerusalem and Damascus. That year, however, their rule was challenged by the Ottoman Brotherhood of Assassins who, with the aid of apprentices sent by the Italian Mentor Ezio Auditore, drove them out of the region once more.Assassin's Creed: Revelations – Mediterranean Defense
==Members==
 
;Public
* Bernard de Clairvaux
*Hugues de Payens 
*Philippe du Plessis 
*Gerard de Ridefort 
*Basilisk 
*Basilisk's champion
*Roland Napule
*Nazim
*Sadad
*Qasim
*Robert de Sablé 
*Armand Bouchart 
*"Barnabas"
*Fredrick
*Geoffroi de Charney
*Jacques de Molay 
*Jacques de Molay's advisor
;Secret
*Majd Addin 
*Jubair al Hakim
*Isaac Comnenus
*Faisal 
*Haras 
*The Hideout
*Master of the Tower
*Apprentice of the Tower
*Garnier de Naplouse 
*Abu'l Nuqoud
*Osman
*Sibrand 
*Shahar
*Shalim
*Talal
*Tamir
*Tamir 
*Maria Thorpe 
*William of Montferrat
*Jean Lemoine
===Allies and puppets===
;Third Crusade
*Al Mualim 
*Conrad of Montferrat
*Dark Oracle
*Demetris
*Emin
*Guy of Lusignan
*Moloch
*Philip II of France
*Pirate Captain
*Richard I of England
*Salāḥ ad-Dīn
*Abbas Sofian 
*Telemachos
==Trivia==
*In Assassin's Creed, 60 Templar knights are hidden across Damascus, Acre, Jerusalem, and the Kingdom and essentially function as interactive collectibles to be killed, counting towards the achievement Personal Vendetta. These Templars are distinguished by a , like those worn by other Crusader commanders, and are the most formidable enemy units players can encounter. Other Templars, even commanders, encountered throughout the game in story-specific scenes, do not count towards this collectible because they are not registered as part of this group of sixty Templar agents in hiding.
==Gallery==
AC1-Templar Knight Render.png|A Templar knight during the Third Crusade
Mentor's keeper 5.png|Templars fighting Assassins during an attack on Masyaf
AC1 Funeral Fight.png|Templars fighting Altaïr at Majd Addin's funeral
==Appearances==
*Assassin's Creed 
*Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles
*Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
*Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy 
*Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade
*Assassin's Creed: Revelations
*Assassin's Creed: Revelations novel
*Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag 
*Assassin's Creed: Rogue 
*Assassin's Creed: Rebellion – The Eagle's Shadow
*Assassin's Creed: Escape Room Puzzle Book
==References==
fr:Templiers du Levant
Category:Templar Rites