Putus Templar

Putus Templar

	water
	-700
	Beasts: Hate-100 Reputation Barathrumites: Hate-100 Reputation Mechanimists: Hate-100 Reputation Glow-Wights: Hate-100 Reputation Children of Mamon: Hate-100 Reputation Girsh: Hate-100 Reputation Others: Neutral0 Reputation Villagers of Joppa: Neutral0 Reputation Villagers of Kyakukya: Hate-100 Reputation
	anything except ruins, technology, historic sites, sultan history, cybernetic nook locations
	Cybernetic nook locations, historic sites
	no
	Templar

The Putus Templar, sometimes called the Sons and Daughters, are one of the two main antagonistic factions in Caves of Qud. They are an order of knights on a crusade to reclaim Qud from a supposed "mutant threat."

While the Putus Templar are initially neutral towards true kin player characters, their base reputation with mutated humans is -700, the second lowest in the game after the Girsh's -800.

The Templar are in frequent conflict with the Barathrumites, which the player character will participate in over the course of the main story. Otho explains that "while they despise all mutants, they harbor a special malice for Barathrum." Indeed, Barathrum the Old will always be hated by the Putus Templar "for serving as a counterexample to the tenets of their orthodoxy."

Knights and newfathers have a chance of wearing an ontological anchor, posing even more danger to espers.

One legendary Templar of a dynamically generated party will carry a hoversled, a portable wall, and an Eaters' nectar injector. These injectors are not used by NPCs in combat.

Cybernetics

Certain Templars may have cybernetics installed, adding the implanted prefix to their name. Creatures who know the Butchery skill have a chance to successfully butcher cybernetics from the corpse of an implanted Templar. For more info, see Butchering and Cybernetics.

Templar	Chance of implants	Implant Table	Minimum License Tier
Knight Templar	25%	Cybernetics4	6
Gunner-Knight Templar	25%	Cybernetics4	6
Banner-Knight Templar	25%	Cybernetics4	6
Knight Commander of the Holy Temple	60%	Cybernetics6	8

Lore

As with other True Kin, the homeland of the Putus Templar is somewhere outside of Qud. While they are described as having outposts, the Templar hold no permanent settlements or lairs in Qud, although the Barathrumites apparently want to know their locations. Frivolous Lives, Vol. I claims that the "Sons of Man" maintain a "stronghold at Oudin," and that they have troubled Qud for over 845 years prior to the book's unknown publication date.

The physical features of members of the Putus Templar are described with extreme consistency. In The Murmur's Prayer, Kaylenn Sand-Shell writes that they have "dedication to a family tree as tall and unbranching as Qud's Spindle." The descriptions of a majority of Templars begin with the following: "Oiled and brushed mail hang across their crooked spine and salient jaw. The color too was sucked out of their irises by their tangled lineage, and their wet rosy lips catch the light and toss it back across a sharp sneer."

Hierarchy

In the book From Entropy to Hierarchy, the Putus Templar are used as an example to observe how excessive hierarchy poses one of "two eminent threats to social equality." Unlike with the Gyre wights, the author's stance on the Templar remains unchanged in From Entropy to Hierarchy, 2nd Edition.

The Templar on the other hand are enactors of extremely ordered violence. Their brutality has been codified into orthodoxy. Their ideological structures are anti-entropic but destructive and abhorrent. They seek to construct a rigidly hierarchical society with a slave caste on the bottom rung. Through rituals like the baptism in the blood of the reclaimed, they indoctrinate the privileged among their subjects. The rest of us are met only with force. — Q Girl, From Entropy to Hierarchy

The slave caste mentioned are represented in Qud by the "domesticated" followers of a newfather or grand newfather. Domesticants always wear either a gentling mask or a gentling cone, neither of which can be removed without destroying the item, and constantly broadcast pleas for the approval of their newfather as well as "youngling noises." Gentling masks and cones are both described as having clamps (neuronal and arterial, respectively) whose names imply that they restrict their wearer's brain functions.

The Murmurs' Prayer recounts the author's observations of abandoned Templar outposts North of the Sunderlies. Kaylenn Sand-Shell writes that these outposts were "cut off from contact with their home in a similar manner to the Temple of the Rock," and while their core values remained, a shift in culture resulted in the creation of a new festival "to keep the flock pliant": the "least favored" of an outpost's squires were forced to perform while wearing a costume of a mutant caricature, and subjected to "public humiliation, beatings, and possibly torture." Warden Une refuses to discuss any reasons why their costume might resemble the one described in the book.

Orthodoxy

The Holy Rhombus of the Temple is a symbol featured on banners of the Holy Rhombus and fullerite aegis. A raised banner of the Holy Rhombus grants the war trance effect to all members of the Putus Templar who can see it. Additionally, the description of a Templar phylactery mentions "a verse chosen from the rhombic torah."

The description of a temple mecha mk II calls it a "godsuit of chrome," and states that "the pilot ... communes now with the Godhead." The spiritual significance of mecha piloting is not discussed elsewhere.

Caution: This article or section contains unverified speculation and should not be considered canonical.

As the Templar consider themselves the last outpost of the Eaters' culture, their beliefs are likely derived from those of the Eaters, but it's unknowable how far they have been distorted over thousands of years. Their attitudes towards cybernetics, "digital servitude," and mecha piloting may relate to "the Grand Unification" mentioned by becoming nooks.

Creatures in the Putus Templar Faction

Templar squire (Level 9)
infiltrator (Level 13)
Banner-Knight Templar (Level 24)
Gunner-Knight Templar (Level 24)
Knight Templar (Level 24)
newfather (Level 24)
Wraith-Knight Templar of the Binary Honorum (Level 24)
Knight Commander of the Holy Temple (Level 25)
phylactery squire (Level 26)
grand newfather (Level 39)

Additionally, while they are not naturally of the Putus Templar faction, these can be found in Putus Templar encounters, piloted by a member of the Putus Templar faction. The mechas themselves can be a legendary member of the encounter.

• temple mecha mk Ia
• temple mecha mk Ib
• temple mecha mk II

Items that affect Putus Templar Reputation

No results

Trivia

• The phrase "may you bathe in the blood of the reclaimed" is attributed to the Putus Templar and is alluded to in multiple books, by the Patreon-exclusive pet Lorent Epsome, Wraith-Knight Errant, and in the name of the quest Reclamation. However, it's never actually spoken in-game; all Templar knights and squires use the default humanoid conversation script.