Founding

Compared to the arcane, the knowledge of the Gift of Light is young, and whether it belongs to the whole range of true magic is a subject of heated debate. The first individuals having the “Spark of Light” were discovered in ancient Vaalbara during the very beginnings of the Church of Ceros when it was still deemed as little more than another cult. As it was the Faith’s founder who discovered the first of those talents and taught them, it cannot be said how many more with the same talent lived in earlier days ignorant of their gift.

Not many years after the Dutchies of Brydd declared The Church of Ceros as the religion of the land, a lone Knight rode out from the capital on a personal quest that he could not name. All he knew was that he was being called to find something and that it was vital to his very soul. He journeyed for many years only to fail in his quest. He is near death from starvation, dehydration, and exposure. Exhausted, he has even stopped guiding his horse and has let it roam as it will. Under a frosty full moon with the Rings of Gwydion blazing above, the horse stops in a quiet grove and the knight slips from the saddle and into a deep, still pool of water.

That knight was Ser Jeshan of Andissac.

As Jeshan was drowning, he beheld a vision of a splendid being of Light that bade him live and create a host of Knights to guard The Faithful. Freezing, but miraculously restored to life, Jeshan remounted his horse and set off to find the nearest temple. This he did in the small village of Elysia. He told of the miracle which he termed his Blessing and led the temple’s priest back to the spring. The priest filled a skin with the water and carried it back to the temple’s small hospital feeling that that would be a suitable test of the Knight’s story. After he had given the water to two patients with no change to their condition, Jeshan took the skin of water and poured some into a chalice. He then kneeled and said a prayer while holding his hands above the water which seemed to glow briefly. Jeshan then used the water to bathe the wounds of a badly injured man and helped him drink from the chalice. Within the hour, the man was fully recovered.

The priest initially decried Jeshan’s Blessing as foul magic and put him in a cell to wait for someone that could evaluate him. Eventually, after many interviews and tests, Jeshan’s Blessing was evaluated as a true Miracle of the Light. The Cardinal bade him carry on with the orders he was given to create an order of sacred knights.

The spring was found to be an artesian well that never froze and never ceased flowing. It was named the Spring of Jeshan. Later, after the Temple of Elysia was expanded, engineers carved the secondary well into the hard stone for bathing. The main well fills then flows into the second well and eventually out through a small drain carved into the stone.

Jeshan became the first High Lord Commander of the Knights Guardians of the Church of Ceros. The Church petitioned the King for a land grant and it was given, creating the Holy City-State of Elysia.

Order Name

• The Knights Guardians of the Temple of Ceros

Other Names

• Templars
• Templars of Elysia
• Knights of Ceros
• Knights of The Faith

Purpose and Tasks

The core task of the Templars is to protect the Faithful against all dangers, and to protect the land from dangers of an arcane nature, no matter whether they threaten people of the faith or others. With the founding of Elysia, the protection of the Faith’s religious center also became part of their purpose. 

Organization and Structure

• High Lord Commander: The commander-in-chief of the Order, their leader in war and peace. A High Lord Commander candidate is selected by the High Hall and then called to the Trial of the High Lord Commander, if he survives, he is inaugurated. 
• The High Hall: Senior knights that have been selected by the Cardinal to serve as a counseling body.

Outside of this, all Templars are of even rank and obey the one set above them in the military structure. A Templar might hold command over a thousand men, but outside of military duty, he is of an equal class and rank.

Becoming a Templar

The Calling

Usually, a person receives the Calling before making the decision to become a Templar. The Calling is often a moment of clarity or, more rarely, an actual vision. Either way, the Calling is always profound and life changing. In most cases, it is just a short moment, a ray of light on a summer's day and the absolute certainty within themselves that they know their life's path. 

Cases of visions are very rare and are sometimes viewed critically. Sometimes a child is sent for testing without a Calling, which is why the fourth trial was created.

Candidates are usually between 10 and 13 years of age when they enter the Trials. While both genders may experience the Calling and submit for testing, no girls have successfully completed Templar training.

Cleansing of Souls

Potential candidates must present themselves to the Hall of Seekers seven days prior to the Trials for the Cleansing of Souls which includes being tested for Purity. This test is done by the Seekers and is performed to make sure the candidate is not tainted by magic. These tests are not pleasant and the mere thought of enduring them dissuades many potential candidates. Once the Seekers deem the candidates free from any taint and have determined their Calling to be true, they are conducted to the Sacred Spring of Jeshan (a natural artesian well where the first High Lord Commander received his vision for the formation of the order). Water from the spring fills a natural round stone depression that is used for the Cleansing so that the spring itself is not sullied by bodily detritus. There the candidates do a ritual cleansing and Baptism by that year's Bishop of Trials.

After the cleansing, done the night before the Trials, the candidates spend the the early part of the evening in contemplation and prayer. At midnight, they are given a light supper and water from the Spring of Jeshan and sent to their beds to rest prior to the Trials.

The Trials

The Trials for entering the Order of Templars, the Order of Seekers, and the now-extinct Ardir-Jangir Brotherhood are all held on the same day, the 1st Day of the New Year (1st Day, 1st Moon - January for us mundanes). It is known as the Day of Trials.

• The Trial of Strength is a classical combat trial where candidates must fight each other and older Novices. This trial is not meant to determine their martial skill, but their reaction to pain, injury, and pressure. Their will to hold out and not give ground, to go back and fight some more. 
• The Trial of Endurance is usually a task of mindless, backbreaking and often demeaning work. To become a Templar, a candidate must be willing to not question but obey and to do thankless chores without complaint. 
• The Trial of the Soul is the trickiest of all. The exhausted candidates are separated and told to rest, as their next trial will happen upon the morrow; they are forbidden to leave the fortress. Each candidate will be approached by some peasant during the evening, asking for help - always the peasant will claim that the Templars have dismissed him, but he still needs help, often his child was kidnapped by robbers, or some other family member is in danger. To help the peasant, the candidates must leave the fortress.
• The Trial of Will was created to find candidates who are sent to the f because their families demand it or were forced. This is not just to weed them out, but also to provide help for them. Many are put on a more suitable path by the Templars.

In the Trial of the Soul, obedience is a failure - those who follow the Templar’s command to not leave the fortress will fail. To pass the trial, the candidate must go with the peasant and try his utmost to help. The danger is “real” (the kidnappers usually are older novices, or freshly named Templars), and helping said peasant requires courage and skill of the youngsters. What the Templars are looking for is whether the candidate is willing to help, even when it means breaking some rules (as the True God commands the strong help those weaker than themselves), how the candidate conducts his “rescue” and how he reacts when confronted by the Weapon’s Master in the end. 

Life of a Novice

The candidates who pass the Trials and are deemed strong enough in body and spirit to be trained as Templars enter the Novitiate. The clothes they wore when they arrived are burned before their eyes, and they must surrender any personal possessions they have with them so they can be sent back to their families. Traditionally the Templars keep a small token for each novice, something that reminds them of where they came from, and that will be worked into their Templar blade, should they succeed in their path. The Novices are then clad in the traditional unisex Novice grey. Girls and boys are all given the same haircut as well. After this, they take the Novice vow, ‘to obey, to learn, and to seek for their path in the Light’. After this, they are led into the Templar cathedral for prayer. 

The full Novitiate is seven years long and Novice training is hard, purposefully hard. No quarter is given regarding gender. Both girls and boys are expected to perform at the same level. Novices are housed by year of entry together in very simple, spartan dormitories, and while they are encouraged to form a community and support each other in their daily lives, they are never coddled. Novice training is comprised of weapon training, spiritual training, general education, and a long list of chores. In between, they are to keep the rhythm of mass and prayer. On the outside, Templar training seems incredibly difficult and to some even brutal, though most adult Templars have good memories of their Novice years. Though it should be noted that experience says that the simpler the background of a Novice, the better they usually do in training, while children of higher-ranked families or very protected children often have a hard time adjusting to their new life.

While Novices are all the same rank - much as the Templars are - the further they are in training, the more they are expected to measure up to full Templar standards. Especially in the last two of the seven years, Novices are expected to hold themselves as if they could be called to their Templar trial on any day, at any hour. Younger novices that misbehave are usually given additional chores or light punishment. Older Novices that misbehave will be given much harsher penalties. Older Novices are also called out of their training to assist in various tasks such as working in the Templar hospital, assisting in emergency situations, and so on.

The Trial of the Templar

After seven years, the Trial of the Templar looms ahead of the Novice. The Trial is regarded with equal amounts of anticipation and fear. Novices do not know the exact nature of the Trial, only that once it begins, it cannot be stopped. It must be endured to the end, and failure means death. The tests are not only physical but spiritual, testing character and soul, pushing the Novice to the very limits of what they can endure and well beyond. Out of the candidates who begin the trial, at least one is likely to perish. It is rare that an entire group of candidates makes it all the way through the Trial.

Each novice called to the Trial is given one chance to refuse, and to try again in one year. If they refuse again, he will be dismissed from training. Those that are dismissed usually go on to serve the land or the Faith in other capacities. For those who enter the trial and fail, death is certain. 

The Nature of the Trial is a closely kept secret and the following information would only be available to someone who passed the Trial. Therefore, unless your character is a fully-fledge Templar knight, this is OOC knowledge.

Once the Novice decides to go through with the trial, they are led into the Hall of Trials, where seven Seeker chalices await them. Each of the chalices will send the Novice into a dream - a vision of sorts - but the consequences of the dreams are very real, wounds will bleed. Some Templars carry physical scars from their Trials. The novice is told that once begun, the Trial must be completed. The novice may choose one of the attending Templars to act as their guide. The guide may extend a little help and encouragement to the Novice during the trial. It is seemingly little on the outside, but has made a world of difference for many a Templar who passed the trials.

The chalice, when approached, will send the Novice into a dream - the Novice will be unaware that it is a dream but will perceive the events as real. The Novice can feel pain and be hurt inside those dreams. These dream-injuries can translate, to some extent, to their physical body. Each chalice is designed to teach a certain aspect of their path to them.

1. The First Chalice stands for the strengths and how to understand them.
2. The Second Chalice stands for their weaknesses and how to understand them.
3. The Third Chalice stands for the Past that still ties the Novice.
4. The Fourth Chalice stands for the burden he is striving to accept.
5. The Fifth Chalice stands for all fears the Novice may carry.
6. The Sixth Chalice stands for the suffering they all face at the hands of their enemies.
7. The Seventh Chalice stands for everything that holds the Novice back.

Each subsequent Chalice is harder than the one before with the last two being especially cruel. During each successful step, the stages of the Blessing are ingrained on the Initiate’s body and soul, which is the true reason why the trial must be completed without interruption, because breaking off in the middle will surely kill the Novice, through the unfinished Blessing. 

If the Trial is passed, the candidate will spend the night in prayer and contemplation and be inducted into the Order the next day.

With the induction into the Order, the Templar receives their blade, the Templar sword. While Templar swords are similar, they have two distinctive details that set them apart. Each blade is made for its specific wielder, adjusted to height, strength, and fighting style. The second is a personal detail - often something from their home that is worked into the hilt, a reminder where they came from. 

The Trials and Magic

If questioned, the Lords of the Church and the Templars would deny that there is any magic involved in the Trials. In fact, it should be noted that all candidates are specifically tested to make sure that they are not magic-users. However, there are whispers that magic is employed in the design of the Seeker Chalices. Others say that the trials are simply very real hallucinations or even that they are enactments created by Templars and that the Novice undergoing the Trial is given a narcotic, such as merasha, to make it all seem real.

The Blessing

Blessings are a staple of religious powers in the Church of Ceros. They are attained through Seeker or Templar testing and imbue a talent on the person undergoing the trial. Submission to those powers is the key to surviving the process. In modern times, the Blessings are all that is left of the ancient wisdoms and secrets of Ceros.

The Blessing is attained through a harrowing trial that will test the body, mind, and spirit of the Novice to its limits. While the Novice lives through a series of visions, the raw talent inside them is honed through the Seeker Chalices and forcibly expanded. Only a candidate who can fully embrace the changes will survive the trials. It is said that a quarter of all Templar Novices and half of all Seeker candidates do not survive the testing. This number is likely exaggerated and meant to intimidate or even scare off those that are not truly committed to becoming a Seeker or Templar.

Once the Blessing is attained, all of their earlier training begins to come together. The routine of prayers, rituals, and attending Mass will allow the initiate to maintain focus over long periods of time. The exercises in focus through meditation and the hymns are the template for the prayers that are taught to newly minted Templars and Seekers.

Do the Templars and Seekers wield some form of magic? Many people outside The Faith believe that they do. However, those of the Faith staunchly deny that any of the arcane arts are involved. The Church maintains that any Templar or Seeker powers stem solely from within themselves and are granted by the One True God as a Blessing to be used in his service. They do not have any of the elemental powers which is considered arcane and evil by the Faithful.

Types of Blessings

Below are a few of the types of Blessings bestowed on Templars and Seekers. No person is given all of these abilities. This is also not a full list. If anyone has other ideas that they would like considered, please reach out to one of the staff. The Game Manager does not promise that new abilities will be added, but we’ll be happy to discuss them and see if they fit in.

And yet another reminder, the Blessings are not magic although to some people do not see the difference. Blessings are gifts granted by The Light, the One True God, to his most devout disciples (i.e., the people called to the Templars or Seekers) so that they may better perform their duties. The Drakeri would say, “Put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig.” In other words, call it what you will, it still smells of magic to them.

Prayer of Cleansing

• Type of Skill: Protective
• Effect: The Templar’s Blessing protects them – to a degree – from infection and disease. It is most often called upon after a battle injury or when going to work in a hospital, etc.
• Ritual: The Templar or Seeker recites the Prayer of Cleansing (similar to the Baptism used for Novice candidates).
• Gesture: The person kneels facing East, hands crossed over their chest, while reciting the prayer.
• Notes: The prayer takes about twenty minutes. To continue the protection for several hours takes focus. Major distractions, shock, or emotional upheaval will make the focus falter and ends the protection. 
• Aftereffects: Keeping the Protection intact for hours is a strain on the mind and body. Rest is required if the protection is to be repeated. Once the Templar or Seeker sleeps, the protection ends.

Blessing of Easement 

• Type of Skill: Supportive
• Effect: The Templar or the person blessed stops feeling pain. 
• Ritual: The Templar/Seeker focuses on the source of their pain and recites appropriate parts of the Prayer of Pain: “My pain belongs to the Light, like the storms it comes, and like the winds it leaves. I let it go and release this burden from my soul.”
• Gesture: Kneels or stands, if praying for another, places both hands on the other’s shoulders. 
• Notes: This prayer does not heal. It simply takes any sense of physical pain away the same as being given a narcotic such as poppy tea. Properly used to ease pains of the soul, it can put a troubled person to sleep, or into a state of calm, where the worries and pains the person felt are far removed. Well trained Templars are able to make use of Easement in combat, a skill which the healers deeply detest, as the Templar becomes unaware of his own wounds. Again, this is not magic. It is mind over matter or, in the case of using it for another, the other person’s faith in the Templar’s Blessing. It likely will not work for those not of The Faith.
• Aftereffects: Minimal to profound depending on usage. If a Templar used the Blessing of Easement during a fight and did not feel his own wounds, the effects will be severe. If the prayer was used to calm a very worried child so it could sleep, the aftereffects would be minimal. The Blessing itself takes very little strength from the Templar.

Seeing Evil

• Type of Skill: Meditation
• Effect: The Templar meditates on an event of the past to identify a source of darkness. The thing that they do not find inside the meditation, is what is sought.
• Ritual: The Templar focuses on a particular memory or moment (which needs to be remembered clearly) and opens his/her mind, so the Light might guide him/her through the memory, while he/she recites the Prayer of Goodness. “And though I walk through the Ashes that remain, I know no fear, for the Light is with me. And though I pass through the storm of the night, I will not falter, for the Light guides me. And though I shall die upon the hour to come, I fall without fear, for the Light awaits me.” 
• Gesture: The Templar kneels or stands, hands crossed over chest. 
• Notes: This prayer is a tricky one and needs a very keen memory, for inside the prayer the Templar will see no evil. All that can be seen inside the memory during the prayer is not evil. What is missing - that is what is being sought. In many cases this prayer is more commonly used to assess a person or an item during investigations, though the result of this prayer is often debated and do not count fully in Templar Court. The prayer, to take full effect, takes at least an hour, often more, to be performed properly. 
• Aftereffects: Medium. For an hour after the prayer the Templar remains light-headed and will find it hard to fight or focus on a task. 

Vision Seeking

• Type of Skill: Form of Prophecy, never undertaken lightly.
• Effect: The Templar meditates to see how an item, person, or event is tied into the plan of the Light. 
• Ritual: The Templar focuses on the event, the item, or the person and recites the Prayer of the Unending. “There is no end nor beginning where the Light walks, we all are but patterns of its weaving. May the Light illuminate the path of those who came and are to come. Let our eyes be open and our hearts be ready for the truth. From stars we came, to the stars we return, our lives are nothing but a journey into the unknown.”
• Gesture: The Templar kneels or stands, if scrying an item, he or she takes the item between their hands, if scrying a person, they take the person’s hands between theirs. 
• Notes: This prayer grants a vision, an insight into the role an item or person (sometimes an event or text too), plays in the plan of the Light/the threads of fate. The vision will be compact, often overwhelming and very dangerous to the mind, as the Light only grants the unshielded truth which can break the spirit. Usually, the Templar will retain only parts of the vision or a simplified/generalized gist of what was seen and will not be able to recall the details.
• Aftereffects: Profound. The Vision will leave the Templar mentally tired and deeply shaken. Such visions do not come easy, and having seen beyond what the mortal eye can see is a heavy burden. Templars do not try scrying lightly 

Counter-Magic Blessing

• Type of Skill: Offensive/non-combat skill
• Effect: The Templar disrupts the arcane flow inside an artifact or the arcane flow of an already existing spell or curse. 
• Ritual: The Templar focuses on the echo of the arcane that they sense and on the patterns that they can visualize as their inner spirit is guided to dissolve those patterns, as they recite the Plea to the Light. “May the Light have mercy on those shrouded in Shadow, may the Light protect those who were touched by the Darkness, may the Light free us from the chains of evil, may the Light enter this hall and cleanse it.” 
• Gesture: The Templar stands or kneels, hands tracing along the bespelled artifact or structure. In case of a person, holds the person’s hands between his or hers. 
• Notes: This is the most powerful blessing still in existence, the most straining and dangerous too. Trying to disrupt a spell or ward or curse is something that can easily kill the Templar along with the victim. This also is no correct reversal of a curse or spell; it is a disrupting of the patterns that make the arcane power work correctly and can have highly dangerous results. As with everything else, assuming that a Templar’s Blessing is not true magic, the power to disrupt spells or curses stems entirely from the belief that they can.
• Aftereffects: Extreme. If successful the Templar will be exhausted and in need of rest. 

Foretelling

• Type of Skill: intuitive/non controllable skill.
• Effect: The Templar suddenly stops, as if in shock, before speaking words he/she cannot control. The words usually detail events yet to come. How far in the future or where can sometimes be gleaned, but most often this information is not gleaned. 
• Ritual: None. The foretelling cannot be brought about or controlled. 
• Gesture: None. Except that the Templar goes into a shock-frozen state that prevents them from hurting themselves throughout the vision. 
• Notes: The Foretelling is a rare thing, and may happen to any Templar, without them ever knowing the reason why. A few Templars had multiple episodes of foretelling during their lifetime. They were considered to have the “talent” of Foretelling, though they still could not control it. Foretelling visions are often cryptic, not easy to read. They are gathered in a number of books, kept by the Seekers. Jeshan is one of the few that had many instances of foretelling throughout his lifetime.
• Aftereffects: Extreme. If successful, the Templar will be exhausted and in need of rest.

The Vows

Under the Light and before the Eyes of the Faithful, I swear to uphold the Faith, to defend the Faithful against all harm, no matter who brings it to them and to stand ready for the battle that is to come.

Under the Light and before the Eyes of the Faithful, I swear to never use magic, to condone its use freely, or to allow it to harm the people.

Under the Light and before the Eyes of the Faithful, I swear to never use the Blessing I was given against another human being to harm or hurt, except against those who serve the Shadow Lord or in the last extreme defense of the innocent against a stronger evil.

Life as a Templar

Templars are assigned either to a fortress in the borderlands, to a Hunter group, keeping the wilds beyond the border clean or to another task that he is suited for. Templars live a life of missions, orders, and more tasks. Be it finding out the source of something plaguing a village, driving barbarians off their borders, or escorting a dignitary to foreign lands - all these are equal duties to Templars. 

Templars of high skill and courage, with a record of outstanding deeds, will be chosen to lead, their given authority all difference in rank there is, outside of their command they are still equal with their soldiers. 

While adult Templars may contact their families again (Novices are barred from all contact with their former life) and even are permitted to marry, should they find their soul drawn to another under the Light, most Templars are firstly and foremostly at home inside the Order. The close ties that grew during the Novitiate usually expand rather than diminish. 

Templars who grow so old that they are not able to venture into the field anymore, often serve as trainers for the Novitiate, as mentors or retreat into seclusion. This again is a very individual decision, and it is no secret that there have been Templars who served well in the field up to a very high age. 

High Lord Commander

When the old High Lord Commander dies, and his body is burned, the High Hall meets to discuss a new candidate for the post. The law stipulates that no one in the Hall can be called to the task. It must be another Templar. Usually, a well-respected older Templar is chosen unless there is a clear sign that points to someone else. Sometimes there is an obvious candidate but often foretelling who the next High Lord Commander will be is hard, even for people knowing the Order well. 

The High Hall cannot name anyone High Lord Commander, they can only call him to trial. “You are summoned to submit yourself to the High Hall to be tried under the Code that no one may break. The Light keep you safe and guide your path.” This is the call to the trial, the same words are used for criminals called into court. 

The trial cannot be refused - refusing would mean being cast from the order, failure in the trial means death. If the trial is passed successfully, the next High Lord Commander is raised.

The High Lord Commander answers to the Chosen of the Light, the Cardinal of Elysia. However, he or she must weigh the orders of the King or Queen as well and balance their duty to the Faith with his duty to the Crown. Trying to balance between the two has been the downfall of more than one High Lord Commander. The High Lord Commander is on an even footing with the High Seeker (Head of the Order of Seekers, i.e., the Inquisition). 

Game Manager’s Notes

Playing one of Elysia’s Templar Knights will take some effort on your part. You will need to read all of the documentation although not necessarily in one sitting. These are playable characters but rather specialized. Story concepts will be challenging but incredibly fun to write.

Credits

Original Creator: Valandhir

Modified for The Chronicles of Aereth by Stormwolfe.

I wish I could take credit for the Templars of Elysia. However, the Templars were originally created by a brilliant writer and RPer by the name of Valandhir. With her permission, I have modified them to suit this incarnation of The Chronicles of Aereth.