The Templars, the enemy of the Assassin's Creed games and novels. Or are they, are the Templars really so bad and the Assassins so good as the games show? Are either right to do what they do in secret, not a single outsider knowing anything about the secret war the two organizations wage? So in this oneshot I'll try to address a few things about the games and mostly the Templars and if they're goal really is so bad.
First thing the Pieces of Eden, ancient artifacts of immense power, and their creators known as Those Who Came Before or simply the First Civilization, or the First in this story. The First were seen as gods to humans, something they created as a labor force, and made it easy to control us. Using the Pieces of Eden known as Apples of Eden to tap into a neurotransmitter placed into nearly every human and gain absolute control over them. Other Pieces of Eden include the Shroud of Eden, an artifact with the ability to heal nearly anything, a Shard of Eden, an artifact capable of repelling bullets or other metal projectiles, and Crystal Skulls, artifacts that could allow a pair of users to speak to each other from anywhere. More Pieces of Eden exist but these are the main ones and Apples are the primary focus of the first few games. Various Apples exist in the current modern world, numbering six or seven, and have been used by several individual throughout history to control the minds of human, both Templars and Assassins using them for this purpose or as a powerful weapon. One of the most sought after Apple is one owned by Ezio Auditore da Firenze as his previous contact with the First Civilization member Minerva in the Vatican Vault had altered it into both a powerful weapon he would use later on in his life and a key to the Grand Temple, an archive of knowledge from the First Civilization's numerous attempts to save themselves from certain death. Both Assassins and Templars want the Apple for varying goals through as the Assassins know about the impending disaster that wiped out the First Civilization and so are trying to stop it before it happens again while the Templars know nothing of the impending catastrophe and seek to use the Apple, will now be referred to as Ezio's Apple to avoid confusion, to once again control humanity as they send it up into space on a satellite and spread its power across the entire world.
Now with the Pieces of Eden and First Civilization at least somewhat explained I will be moving onto the second topic of this oneshot. The Templars, an order as ancient as the Assassins and the greatest enemy of the Assassins throughout the times the two have existed. The Templars goal is one very simple to put into words, a single one at that as it is control. Complete control over the entirety of humanity with themselves as the puppeteer of them all. Too many this sounds horrible but has anyone ever looked past this? Looked deep into humanity's history of hate and fear of people with only minor differences from themselves? Of the unequal treatment humanity shows to each other throughout its history? Of its cruelness to people just like them because they gain power? As I look into all of this I can almost see the Assassins as the villain, allowing humanity to continue its depraved and horrible acts when the Templar goal is really one of peace and order in the world. Admittedly they exclude themselves from being controlled and their methods are brutal and hold to the mindset of the end will always justify the means. The Templars can be beyond brutal but so can the Assassins and many times they can make things much worse than the Templars ever could. The Templar Order transcends any boundary and can make allies easily, allowing them to put themselves on both sides of a conflict and work it out to end in their favor while the Assassins mainly work within the Order itself and very rarely take sides in a conflict, acting as a third party and only targeting the Templars and their allies. The Assassins also seem to disregard the consequences of their assassinations when the Templars are in positions of power, ignoring that as they focus only on the assassination of their target and then escaping to safety.
Of course bringing up the AssassinsI have to talk about them as they are the protagonist of the first few games. The Assassins are an order as ancient as the Templars with their goal simple, freedom. Where the Templars seek control over everything, the Assassins seek freedom for all of humanity while accepting the darkness that comes with it. Assassins are even ready to lay down their lives, just like the Templars, in pursuit of their goals and the Assassins almost regularly have influences by the First Civilization as Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a Italian Assassin who would rise to Mentor would find his life revolving around his role as the Prophet, a puppet of Minerva to deliver a warning to Desmond, his descendent, of a future disaster or Connor Kenway, a Native American Assassin who would rise to fame and Mentor status during the Colonial period of the United States of America who realized his life was nothing but the machinations of Juno, a member of the First Civilization who wished to control humanity and was later freed from her prison by Desmond, a descendent of Connor Kenway. Now that I've mentioned Desmond more than once I will begin to expand on who he was and how important he was, Desmond is basically an item to the Templars due to his rich genetic history which they could view using a device called the Animus, a machine capable of viewing the memories of a person's ancestor. Desmond's memories would serve him later on as he was freed from the Templars by Assassins and would use the Bleeding Effect, a side effect of the Animus were skills are transplanted to the user from their ancestors, to turn him into a fully trained Assassin in a few short months, training he would use to finish his mission and save the world from both the Templars and the solar flare that was the disaster that wiped out the First Civilization. Without much choice Desmond would give his life up to prevent a second catastrophe while also freeing the trapped Juno, seeing no hope in letting the world burn and instead putting his faith in his Assassin brethren to stop Juno.
This was originally supposed to be oneshot but seeing as there is so much in the Assassin's Creed universe that can take up whole chapters I'll be changing this into a small series of stories to do in my spare time.
Peace.