Templars

*"I told you that one day I will kill you. I kept my promise, didn't I? So long, Fox. May the Father of understanding guide us."*
―Wolf O'Donnell revealing to Fox McCloud that he is now part of the Templar Order before killing him

## Organizational information

### Allies

Star Wolf
Order of Ancients
Anglo-Saxons

### Enemies

Assassins
Hidden Ones

**Templars** (テンプル騎士団, *Tenpuru kishi-dan*), also known as **Templar Order**, **Knights Templars**, **Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon** or **Order of Solomon's temple** is a secret transnational organization which for thousands of years has striven to seize control of humanity in the name of uplifting their condition and inaugurating lasting, world peace. Their vision of a perfect, global society, which they term the New World Order, is one which entails a world government under their dominion, whether directly imposed or in the form of a shadow regime manipulating states and society from behind-the-scenes.

In this light, the Templars have frequently infiltrated state governments throughout history to position themselves in the central loci and highest echelons of power, operating as a deep state. They are commonly united in the classical realist beliefs of the inherent depravity of human nature and the privileging of security as a metric for peace, and these assumptions buttress their conviction that true peace can only be achieved when humanity is shepherded by a society of enlightened individuals—in their eyes, them.

A hallmark of Templar methodology has been the notion that no cost is too great for the eventual realization of their grand project, and there are no means that cannot be justified by the nobility of their end dream. This has translated into a penchant for orchestrating complex political crises on a monumental—at times global—scale as a means of securing their long-term objectives and, alongside this, the pursuit of the Pieces of Eden and other relics left behind by the ancient Isu which can grant power over other humans. Historically, there have also frequently been Templars who exploited their membership to consolidate power and wealth for their own self-interests rather than advancing their collective mission, as was the most infamous case of the Borgia family.

While the Templar Order is one and the same with the Knights Templar of the Crusades, their history stretches far further back to at least the formation of the Order of the Ancients by the Egyptian pharaoh Smenkhkare. Their reorganization as a monastic Christian military order by Bernard de Clairvaux and Hugues de Payens was a disguise for their operations and lasted until their purge in the 13th century by King Philip IV of France, whereupon they withdrew into the shadows and feigned extinction. By then, the name "Templar" had cemented itself for their organization. Since the internal revolution of Grand Master François-Thomas Germain, the Templar focus has shifted from puppeteering nobles and aristocracy to socioeconomic control through capitalism, a plan that led to the founding of the multinational conglomerate Abstergo Industries in the 20th century as their new public front.

Owing to their opprobrium of human agency, the Templars have a long record of relying on coercive measures, indiscriminate political violence, and state terror, and this catalyzed the formation of the Hidden Ones at the end of Ptolemaic rule. The emergence of the Hidden Ones, whose evolution into the Assassins in the Crusades paralleled that of the Templars, precipitated a millennia-long shadow war that has persisted to this day.