Faction - Knights Templar (small outline)
1.0 Introduction:
First I want to thank King Kong for granting me the opportunity to present the outline of what I think will soon be the faction of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon(Pauperes commilitones Christi templique Salomonici Hierosalemitanis)!
I have collected some data, I've actually thought about this quite a lot so I hope you guys will like my ideas!! It also seemed to me that King Kong expressed quite an interest in the Knights Templar, so I'd like to share this with him.
2. Important References:
I will post four links below. There are two reasons because of which I will/can not present the data in this thread. The first reason is that there are copyright restrictions by the website and second I will save myself the time to summarize what has been summarized a hundred times.
I urge you, especially the creators of this mod to carefully read the pages the links lead to. They contain pivotal information on The Knights Templar. The website is credible, Historically accurate and extremely well organized, most probably the best on the internet on the Knights Templar!
1: http://www.ordotempli.org/knights_te..._research1.htm
(This page contains detailed information on the Knights Armour, their Behaviour in Battle and their training)
2: http://www.ordotempli.org/grand_masters_heraldry.htm
(This page contains detailed information on the Grandmasters Heraldry. From Hugo de Payens to Jacques de Molay)
3: http://www.ordotempli.org/knights_te...o_remember.htm
(This page contains important Knight's Templar Dates to remember, basically the Order's involvement in the Crusades...excellent!!)
4: http://www.ordotempli.org/templar_research_archive.htm
(This is a link to the Templar Research Archive of the Greatest website on the Knights Templar. It contains any data concerning the Order...brilliant)
2.1 Extract from the Templar Rule:
From The Order Rule of the Knights Templar
On the Dress
17. We command that all the brothers' habits should always be of one colour, that is white or black or brown. And we grant to all knight brothers in winter and in summer if possible, white cloaks; and no-one who does not belong to the aforementioned Knights of Christ is allowed to have a white cloak, so that those who have abandoned the life of darkness will recognise each other as being reconciled to their creator by the sign of the white habits: which signifies purity and complete chastity. Chastity is certitude of heart and healthiness of body. For if any brother does not take the vow of chastity he cannot come to eternal rest nor see God, by the promise of the apostle who said: Pacem sectamini cum omnibus et castimoniam sine qua nemo Deum videbit. That is to say: 'Strive to bring peace to all, keep chaste, without which no-one can see God.'
On the Commitment of Sergeants
67. As the squires and sergeants who wish to serve charity in the house of the Temple for the salvation of their souls and for a fixed term come from divers regions, it seems to us beneficial that their promises be received, so that the envious enemy does not put it in their hearts to repent of or renounce their good intentions.
On White Mantles
68. By common counsel of all the chapter we forbid and order expulsion, for common vice, of anyone who without discretion was in the house of God and of the Knights of the Temple; also that the sergeants and squires should not have white habits, from which custom great harm used to come to the house; for in the regions beyond the mountains false brothers, married men and others who said they were brothers of the Temple used to be sworn in; while they were of the world. They brought so much shame to us and harm to the Order of Knighthood that even their squires boasted of it; for this reason numerous scandals arose. Therefore let them assiduously be given black robes; but if these cannot be found, they should be given what is available in that province; or what is the least expensive, that is burell.
On Animals and Squires
51. Each knight brother may have three horses and no more without the permission of the Master, because of the great poverty which exists at the present time in the house of God and of the Temple of Solomon. To each knight brother we grant three horses and one squire, and if that squire willingly serves charity, the brother should not beat him for any sin he commits."
This is taken from the official Templar Order rule, on the dressing of Knights and Sergeants. There is also a very small reference to turcopoles, or auxilliaries. It's said that they "Fought in the Turkish way (meaning, with Bow and Arrow, also from the horse)". So I'd suggest Turkopole cavalary (The ones you could get as mercenaries in Asia Minor) for the mounted turkopoles, maybe Armenian archers for non-mounted (I remember that the armenian troops wore a "jacket" with a small cross, so I think they look the nearest to the actual turcopoles)...I would also definately include the sword wearing moorish or egyptian city guard, proably with armour upgrades later on.
On the Knights and Turcopoles
The amount of turcopoles was probably not a constant figure because they were mercenaries specially recruited for certain campaigns from the local Syrian populations. However certain Templar castles seemed to have maintained a number of turcopoles for a while. So is the castle of Safed which, during the 1260s, had a force of 50 knight-brothers, 30 sergeants, 50 turcopoles and 300 archers. For specific campaigns the number of turcopoles was larger. In 1168 for example, King Amaury I promised the Order of the Hospital extensive revenues to be levied on certain Egyptian cities in return for 500 knight-brothers and 500 turcopoles.
These mounted archers were paid as mercenaries and placed under the Turcopolier (a Templar brother), himself under the command of the Marshal of the Order. The archers were also mercenaries. And so were certain Frankish knights who remained in Syria for regular pay. For example, in 1218 when Walter d'Avesnes went back to the West, he left 40 knights behind and paid them for a year. The Templars used this type of additional forces when they hired 50 knights left behind by the Count of Nevers. These mercenaries were very useful for the defense of the kingdom and the law was in their favor. Failure to pay them could be appealed to the Haute Cour.
The bulk of the Templar's military might was comprised of knights and sergeants. Although both classes of Templars were as likely to die in battle, the knight had a higher ranking within the Order.
Knights had to be men of noble birth and wore the white mantle that is the most familiar garment of the Order. Each knight was permitted one squire and three horses.
2.2 Hierarchy of the Knights Templar:
3: Suggestion for the Unit Roster
Now in order to make the Knights Templar a proper faction, the most important thing might be the Unit Roster. I think my idea really could work, it might not be that historically accurate, but sometimes we have to sacrifice historical acurracy in order to increase game play!
The Basic Idea is that the forces of the Temple mainly consist of the Mounted and Dismounted Knights Templar we know from the Original Mod.
As you can see in the Table of Hierarchy above this chapter, there was a rank, the Turcopolier, who indeed was in command of the Turcopole forces (check On animals and Squires). In the game there are in fact already two units,the Turcopole horse archers and the Armenian Archers, which can be used as Templar Turcopole forces. The Armenian archers fit well, because they don't look too oriental and also have a little cross stitched on their padded armour.
The next step down the Hierarchy would be the Conventual Officers of Tripoli, Antioch, France, Hungary, England, Aragon, Apulia and Portugal. So my suggestion would be that in this mod, The Knights Templar can "recruit" mercenaries from different regions.
I will list a few examples below.
Imagine The Units listed below with the Templar tabards underneath
(Lets say these below are the colours we put on the units tabard, instead of the actual ones. This is just a sample)
1: Armoured Crossbowmen recruited from the Chapter Houses in Apulia
2: Dismounted Squires/Novices of the Knights Templar
3: Dismounted Huscarls recruited from the Chapter Houses in Hammaburg
4: Armoured Nordic Warriors recruited from the Chapter Houses in Northrine Westphalia
5: Armoured Converted Muslim Swordsmen recruited from the Chapter Houses in Antioch and Tripoli
All of them are of course optional. I'd actually also wanted to add Welsh Longbowmen and Swiss Pikemen, they'll make an excellent addition and I'm somehow missing them in the actual game!! I think this way the faction can become really interesting, because you could actually add a couple of typical European units, just get away from the old dusty historically written things! It's somewhat like in the Mortal Combat games, you always have one fighter in the end which combines all fighting skills in one fighter, so you can actually be everybody!
The actual Roster is of course open for discussion, but of King Kong asks me I have something prepared already. Also I think that creating the Roster might be easier, because you don't have to re-texture and re-skin all units. The only things which actually might get changed arc the coat-of-arms of course, maybe shield and if the mod's skinner's and texturer's like, some helmets. I'm also pretty fond of that little fantasy touch. Like, I've always found Historical novels more interesting to read than Historical specialized books. They are nice to read but in the end a little creativity and fantasy never gets old!
I'm really looking forward to further develope that idea. With the help of some skilled modders like yourselves, I'm sure of it, it will turn out to be fun.
This is it actually, a small summary of the idea of the Knights Templar as a Faction.
Thanks for reading
(The Data above, plus the data indirectly provided by me through linking the important pages, can be used for the first step of creating the Faction. Such like unit description, faction description, events, traits, heraldry etc. If the creators of Stainless Steel agree, more data can quickly be organized and processed.)
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Originally Posted by Allu X
