There are many rumors and stories surrounding the Knights of the Temple: the famous band of valiant crusaders who’s white mantles decorated by their legendary red crosses flew high and mighty on their quest to retake Jerusalem in the name of Christianity.  No one knows for sure what is rumor and what is fact, as most of the information about this Order was lost when they were slaughtered in their temple and their leader and most important followers were burned at the stake.  This is a story of one specific templar; you may not know him, but he was one of the most legendary, a man who stared death in the face, gambled his life to him, and came out on top every time.  This story will describe his cunning, wits, and battle skills throughout the crusades, and tell of his fascinating final stand.

            Alexander the Temple Knight, though he was not a grandmaster templar like their founder Hugues de Paynes or any of the other grand masters, he was respected as if he where one.  He was fit, though not incredibly muscular, his eyes were a gentle dark blue and his black hair flowed down to his shoulders where it split into different peeks.  His face was tan from the Middle Eastern sun, the tan hid two scars on either cheek.  He wore the standard issue Templar plate male, and carried a longsword, shield, and shot sword should either need to be replaced with something.  Alexander fought in every battle of the crusades, and no matter the outcome – victory or defeat, the man it seemed could not die.   There were some who believed the Knights Templar had the backings of a zealous white magic, if this where the case then Alexander was nothing short of a god.

            One of the most legendary battles, for better or for worse, is the defeat and slaughter of the templar at the Siege of Ascalon.   The walls of the city of Ascalon had been broken through and the templar poured into the gap.  The temple master in charge of the assault stubbornly refused to let any of the non-templar crusaders into the city, as he wanted the Templar to gain all the glory.  A great battle was fought that day each templar taking down Egyptian after Egyptian, but they were ambushed and outnumbered drastically eventually they were slaughtered.  Alexander, being a man of great strategic skill, saw this coming sooner than the Master Templar.  After besting a couple of the Egyptians, he managed to slip away from the rest of the templar disguised by an Egyptian garb and head dress.  He then caught up with the rest of the Crusaders and informed them what had happened.  Alexander was the only one of the templar in that fight that didn’t end up with his body on a pike.