Paladins Templar
The Paladins Templar. (Not Paladin's Templar or Paladins' Templar.)
Nature and Purpose: Simply speaking, the Paladins’ Templar is a very loose organization that gathers together holy warriors and points them toward quests that match their particular talents and preferences. Speaking broadly, the overriding purpose of the Templar is to fight Evil in all its myriad forms. The Order also serves as a ‘talent pool’ of sorts, giving Paladins the means to contact others of like mind to aid them on their chosen quests. The Templar is a relatively small organization, having no more than five hundred members, speaking generously.
History: The Templar sprang from the Order of the Paladins, founded in the city of Hannigan by Cecil. During the Great War, when the Dark Gods were headquartered in Baron, the Paladins led the local resistance. Years later, when a number of original Paladins expressed a disinterest in fighting certain Evils, Tassadar Zakarum led two-thirds of the whole order to leave Hannigan and found a new Order in Eblan: the Templar.
Structure: The leader of all the Paladins takes the title Master of the Holy Armies—the Paladins remaining in Hannigan have their own Master, but Tassadar, the leader of the Templar, seems better at making his title stick. Although the Paladins are nowhere near as organized as a professional army, they do nonetheless have a rank structure.
Supplicant: Less like a rank and more a designation, “supplicant” refers to someone who has made the application for membership to the Templar, but has not yet undergone his Ordeal and is not yet a member. Such individuals sometimes remain on the Citadel’s grounds for a time before they undergo the Rite. The Rite of the Paladin is performed atop Mount Ordeals, one of the tallest mountains in the Web of Worlds. Before he can undergo the Rite and purge all evil from his body and soul, a Supplicant must first climb the mountain. (Initiates are prone to brag—with a sense of irony—that climbing the mountain is the easy part of the induction.) The rite itself involves a crystal chamber that seems to somehow resonate with the soul of the future Paladin, in which a Supplicant must face his darkest fears, greatest failings and so forth. (As an example, to become a Paladin, Cecil fought a mirror-image of himself as a Dark Knight.) Theoretically, membership is open to all, as anyone who can complete the Rite is accepted into the Order … but in practice, few survive the climb. Fewer still survive facing their darkest self. Those who do, become fledgling Paladins.
Initiate: Initiates have undergone their Ordeal, but are not full members of the Templar yet. They generally train with one or more members of the Holy Council (see below), until they “earn their wings”, at which point they become full Templar.
Templar: Also called “Templar Proper”, these are the rank-and-file of the Order. The vast majority of the Paladins hold this rank, and almost all have accumulated some miraculous gifts from their deity. Notably, many Supplicants already have some miraculous power when they approach the Order. More such gifts go hand in hand with advancement—one tends to lead to the other.
Crusader: Outstanding Templar are called “Crusaders” and many have a truly frightening array of supernatural gifts stemming from their Faith. Preternatural speed and strength are popular. Extremely rapid healing, while uncommon, is not unheard of. At this level, however, a Paladin will still avoid using his gifts, as they are generally too draining to employ excessively. In addition, when the Holy Council holds a Convocation, an elite cadre of Crusaders known as “the Wall” stands guard.
Virtue: A Crusader who performs a great Deed for the Order or his church earns an equally great gift: a custom Seraphim, powered by his Faith. The gifts a Paladin receives from his god are not given lightly, but this one in particular is not bestowed often, or without cause. All Virtues are highly accomplished and extremely capable, even without a giant robot. Virtues could probably be viewed as the “officers” of the Templar, to the Crusaders’ NCO. When Cadres go into the field, they are usually (but not always) led by a Virtue.
Council of the Most Holy: Often called the Holy Council for short, this advisory body of a dozen or so of the most able Virtues guides the Order as a whole and acts as intermediary party between the rest of the Order and the Master of the Holy Armies. The Council elects a chairman or leader who is more of a first among equals than a true ‘leader’.
Master of the Holy Armies: Only Tassadar Zakarum holds this title, as he is the first and only Master of the Templar. Some say that they see retirement in his near future while others claim that he merely has a ‘hands-off’ style of leadership. Regardless, he seems to be spending more time on his duties as a leading member of the Church of Tahran. Which is just as well, because the Templar don’t really need that much leadership.
Organization: The Templar aren’t particularly organized. “Assignments” as such are rare. The Order generally views its purpose as keeping an eye out for possible wrongs to be righted and pointing agreeable Paladins in the appropriate direction. Insofar as any organization exists, there are a number of “Cadres” that take on certain classes of task—and there are more than one for each ‘type’; sometimes there are MANY more. A Cadre is an informal group of three to eight Paladins usually led by a Virtue or Crusader. In instances where there is more than one member of the same rank, the individuals involved work things out—sometimes they take turns as mission leader, other times the most senior always leads. One Paladin will typically be a ‘member’ of between two and five such Cadres. Most find membership in more than three Cadres unmanageable. In this way, the highest ranks are connected indirectly to the lowest ranks.
People: Following is a list of important individuals within the Templar, in no particular order. Most, but not all, of these are members of the Holy Council.
Tassadar Zakarum is the Master of the Holy Armies and the highest-ranking Paladin. He uses a walking stick, but it’s well known that if he weren’t a hellacious fighter, he would never have gotten where he is. Nevertheless, he isn’t getting any younger, and the murmurs about his retirement continue. (On the other hand, Yves—see below—isn’t getting any younger, either, and nobody talks about HIM retiring.)
Uriel Grammaton is the elected chairman of the Holy Council. He has been seen to do things in battle (usually without much effort) that most people would simply term “impossible”. He seems to be a pragmatist, and doesn’t hesitate when there’s a clear course of action. Some have dubbed him the “de facto” leader of the Templar, but he’s happy to submit to Tassadar’s judgment when the older Paladin is around. It’s probably easiest to view Uriel as sort of like a highly capable secretary. Uriel is highly interested in the doings of the demonic creatures of Hell, as well as their counterparts on earth, and keeps as close a watch on them as he is able.
Yves is the Order’s resident librarian. Supplicants and Initiates have complained of getting lost in the shelves of his archive after being sent to speak with him—some for hours at a time. They do always find their way out, though. Yves is the oldest Paladin around—older even than Tassadar. It is Yves who receives all Supplicants and arranges for their ordeals. He also guides many new Initiates, once they have completed an ordeal (this encourages them to make Templar rank as soon as possible, since Yves is known for his aggravating crypticism). Interestingly, Yves is also one of the oldest members of the Church of Tahran, and holds the rank of Illuminatus Primus in that organization.
Raphael Dolan acts as a sort of ‘lesser of two evils’ when Paladins are called on to do research. Her library is not as extensive as that of Yves, but neither is she as cryptic or dodgy in her answers. She generally comes off as a grandmotherly type, but as always, she wouldn’t be on the Council if she hadn’t earned her place. She is also an Illuminatus Primus of the Church of Tahran.
”Jordi”, a black-scaled Priman, is among the few on the Holy Council who, most people agree, could match Uriel in a one-on-one fight. Like Uriel, Jordi always dresses impeccably, though his choice of color runs toward navy-blue, rather than Uriel’s white. Jordi seems to share Uriel’s fascination with Hell, and has been allowed to sit in on at least one briefing from Mort (below).
Gabrielle Hamilton is widely regarded as crazy. Which is probably because she is. Unlike all of the preceding individuals, who are followers of Tahran, Gabrielle is an Elementalist. The theory is that whatever recreational substances she has consumed have reacted badly with her body chemistry. Whatever the reason, it seems to be a permanent state. However, she’s never attacked a fellow Paladin, nor harmed any innocents … at least, not yet. The Council finds her too unpredictable to control, too useful to destroy and too dangerous to set loose. They try to guide her in circles (mostly succeeding), and keep her away from areas they find too populated—just in case.
William “Teflon Billy” Gilman, another Elementalist, is highly adept in the use of magic, and while definitely odd, is not as crazy as Gabrielle. He seems to enjoy the ‘fighting’ aspect of the Templar, and frequently brags about how many evildoers he’s slain. Most of his fellows try to ignore him.
Pyriel Favro, a Tahranist, is also crazy … but while Gabrielle makes you want to keep your eye on her, while at the same time being generally entertaining, Pyriel makes you want to stay away from him altogether. He’s known for overkill … among other things. To his credit, he is a highly capable Paladin, but he almost always works alone, and he seems to have few acquaintances or friends, even inside the Order.
Mort, though not a Paladin (as far as anyone knows), is an occasional sight around the Citadel’s grounds. He mainly associates with Uriel, but he’s been known to strike up conversations with random passersby as well. He seems to be Uriel’s link to Hell, showing up to give the Chairman reports of doings in the Realm Below every so often. Neither he nor Uriel will say how they met.
Relations: The Templar attempt to remain as neutral as possible, given that they pretty much have to ‘rent out’ whatever place they’re using as their base of operations. The King of Eblan (in whose nation the Citadel is located) seems to tolerate them, but not all Eblanese are so inclined. The Templar, as a rule, do not seek out relations with other nations, beyond asking for what they need. (More often, they get such things from churches, who are generally happy to contribute.) Tassadar does work to gain support from national governments—he gave Paladins great freedom in Tasnica when he convinced that nation to encourage its corporations to give Paladins free lodging by making such contributions tax-deductible. Mysidia has made some motions toward ‘getting friendly’ with the Templar, such as ceding some land on and around Mount Ordeals, but in light of that nation’s relationship with the Scandians, who are violently atheist, no one (even the Paladins themselves) are sure of what the Order’s “official” reaction will be. Notably, Templar have relative freedom of movement internationally, due to the Grand Army passports Tassadar has obtained for the Order.
Facilities: The Citadel is the Templar’s primary base of operations. The main building contains mostly a series of dormitories in addition to a well-appointed gymnasium, a large meeting hall, auditorium, armory, a low-capacity dining room (supplemented by a number of ‘sub-kitchens’ throughout the main building). There are a few outbuildings included in the Citadel, mainly the “shop”, where the vehicles are kept, including the Virtues’ Seraphim.
