Guild concept and history

Ordo Templari started as a small group of learned scholars, searching for an old Atlantean temple complex site which they had for quite some time suspected to exist. Once the place was found during an expedition to the Pict wildlands, its knowledge fascinated not just the scholars, but their guards, families and merchants that followed them.

With time, a village was built up around the site while the Order studied more artifacts. The village was so heavily influenced by the grandness of the Atlantean culture, that people began to adopt many of the ancient habits and clothing styles. Years passed, and Ordo Templari began to see themselves as an important movement to bring back the glory of Atlantis to all of Hyboria. Their initial guard force shaped into a military force, and their scholars travelled and became more and more influential in all sites of civilization around Hyboria.

And thus people from all the far corners of Hyboria came to the Templari site, to live and to study. Aquilonians, Nemedians, Argossans, Shemites, Bossonians, Gundermen, Cimmerians, Zingarans, Stygians - all with different pasts, but with a common dream - reshape a city in the image of Atlantis. The main activities of the Templari became to send expeditions far and wide to secure ancient Atlantean artifacts, or destroy the corrupted Acheronian relics that were also found. Many were those who jealously coveted the priceless treasures the Templari kept safe in their vaults, and so the Ordo gained many enemies over the years, further strengthening the need for the military branch to protect the scholars.

During the Aquilonian war against Nemedia, the Ordo was called upon to help King Conan. A Templari phalanx was assembled and sent into battle with the Aquilonian army. Fighting bravely against hard odds, things went from bad to worse after the supporting Aquilonian cavalry was destroyed by sorcery in the Battle of Valkia. The Templari force was trapped and crushed. Most soldiers were killed in or directly after the battle, and many others were sold into slavery. At the same time the Temple City, as it was now called, was pillaged and destroyed by another Nemedian force while the main Templari army was being crushed at Valkia.

The few Templari who survived these two calamities managed to eventually regroup and carry on the legacy of their now dead elders. The Ordo Templari was rebuilt from scratch, at a new location in the Aquilonian landscape Potain, granted to the group by a grateful king Conan for their services during the war. Under the leadership of a Cimmerian former Templari guard captain by the name Leoric Wulfenbane, the Ordo had in record time made new contacts and gathered enough funds to raise an impressive new city, this one named Thunder Keep after the nearby river that cuts through the landscape. It was during this time that a full out war was had with the mercenary group known as the Black Lion Company after several attempts by the latter to kidnap Templari scholars, learn their secrets and steal their treasures. After some time, the Black Lions seemed to fade into obscurity, but the Templari are sworn be there to stand against them on the day they return.

The new and more strongly built Thunder Keep walls were recently tested during a several months long siege by picts. The keep held out until help arrived, and the pict army was destroyed - once again at the cost of many Templari lives. However glorious victory was, the siege lasted long enough to deal a serious blow to the Templari order, and for a long time not a single Templari oathsworn could be found wandering Hyboria. The name of the Ordo was beginning to slip from the minds of noble and peasant as the world turned.

Now, with the Keep liberated, work begins again. Filling the gaps in the ranks, replacing dead friends and loved ones, refreshing contacts with old friends and allies. Templari expeditions for artifacts will once again be launched, and Templari scholars will once again travel to the major cities to hold speeches and enlighten the common people about the wisdoms learnt of days past. This time under more armed protection than before, ordered by the military minded Grand Master.