The Templars are a renowned army within the community, mostly known for their ruthlessness and domination. However, the Templars have been struggling for form most recently and could be a new example of a fallen former giant.
Designed by Wynn
The Templars of Club Penguin, or TCP for short, was created on April 4th, 2018, by Xing. Despite being new a new army, the Templars began to get into conflicts rather quickly. The conflicts began with a war against the Elite Guardians of Club Penguin. They were a new army but they had to prove themselves against the Guardians in a heated and debated war. To this day, both sides say they won the war. However, the war was only the start of something much bigger for the Templars.
The Guardians chasing the Templars in battle in 2018
After their first war, the army was defaced by Security on May 5th, 2018. This event caused the army to go into a dormant state, but it did set the stage for its historic rise. On July 4th, 2018, the Templars revived and quickly built the army back up with both Xing and Elmikey returning to lead the army. The army quickly got involved in what would be known as the World War VII. They fought against the Rebel Penguin Federation, however, they were not alone in this conflict. The World War saw the Red Dawn Alliance, which was comprised of the Templars, EGCP, Pizza Federation, and CP Socialist Movement, fight against the Rebels. The Red Dawn Alliance went on to win the war. Despite this, the Templars, upon trying to find their feet once more, soon had another challenge.
Elmikey soon resigned as a leader of the army, leaving them with the challenge of finding new leaders. The new leaders were were KingWilliam, Clade and Liam. However, their challenges didn’t end here as the Templars were a part of Club Penguin Online and its league. The three leaders were banned from the army after speaking against CPO. This was the start of an uphill battle for the Templars and one reason why the Templars remain a hard army to beat. The challenges they faced strengthened the army, leading up to its rise and golden generations. One constant throughout all of the Templars’ successes was Xing.
Whilst Xing did retire many times, his departure from the army and the arrival of new leaders often ended badly. Similar to the situation with Clade, Liam, and KingWilliam, despite the effect they had on the army, they were soon outcast. A similar situation happened in 2019 when Xing, once again left and was appointed Dagyr3 Templars’ leader. A day after Xing left, their size dropped from 21 to 7, showing a big decline. Xing returned just a week later to see the Templars maxing low and got into an argument with Dagyr. The argument was about how to lead the Templar troops. However, Dagyr soon left the Templars with some of his friends to form his own army.
Dr Flen was the next in line, however, he too would not lead the Templars for very long, after being couped by Xing. While there were reasons behind each coup, ban, and departure, the Templars struggled to stabilise without Xing. However, their fate took a huge turn. Despite their pick of leaders ending badly, one leader that stayed with the army was Brownpen who joined the Templars in 2018 before becoming leader in January 2019. Whilst Brownpen may not have been revolutionary, to begin with, he soon became a mainstay within the army alongside Xing. They led the Templars to sizes of over 40+ and Brownpen once took the reigns as Emperor, helping the army to dominate.
Templars Vs Pirates in February 2020, where Templars emerged victorious
The Templars returned to Club Penguin Rewritten in May 2020 after experiencing problems with Club Penguin Online. Their return to CPR proved to be a successful one for the army and they soon began to invade land on the world map. However, despite their successful return, they were found guilty of botting events with Jay, Templars’ advisor, successfully creating eight alt accounts, six of which participated in one of their events. However, Xing denied involvement despite Jay and Earthing claiming he was involved.
Even though they had this big stumbling block, they marched on, proceeding to declare war on Crimson Guardians and Os Mascarados. They even invaded the Army of Club Penguin, all within 3 days, towards the end of May 2020. However, fortune only favoured the Templars against Os Mascarados as ACP successfully defended their land. Moreover, the Templars also faced multilogging allegations yet again. The Guardians also had a lucky escape, transferring their land to ACP before the Templars could invade. Although, despite them being unfortunate in these battles, the Mascarados – TCP war ended with a mutual treaty after one battle. The one battle that did take place, however, the Templars won, leaving the Mascardos with only their capital.
Things went south for the Templars but this didn’t stop them. One of their most notable wars was against Special Weapons and Tactics in 2021. Templars and SWAT both declared on each other on July 6 and this war would go on for approximately nine days of battle. The Templars went on to win approximately 10 out of 13 battles before being expelled from the Club Penguin Army Network league, therefore losing the war. Despite this, they continued to declare war on armies and fight their way through, gaining many wins along the way. To clarify, the Templars did get accepted back into the community after a while away from it all.
Their return to the community was followed by much more wars and bloodshed. This motivated them to grow and go on to forge their golden generation. They broke the Rebel Penguin Federation‘s Top Ten record, achieving the most number one’s consistently. They held the number 1 spot for approximately 49 consecutive weeks between January 9th, 2022, to December 18th, 2022, before having their number 1 streak broken by the Army of Club Penguin, the following week.
Templar invasion of the server Alabama against the Special Weapons and Tactics on December 27, 2022
Alongside their record-breaking run of form, they achieved high maxes consistently, maxing over 60 penguins consistently. In the Legends Cup Finals in October 2022, they were able to achieve 82 penguins online. This was a substantial number during a time when most armies were maxing 22 or less. However, even the top 4 (besides Templars) couldn’t max more than 55, showing the substantial size gap. This allowed them to capitalize and take the win in the Legends Cup Finals against the Water Vikings.
The announcement of Templars Winning the Legends Cup XII tournament on the Club Penguin Armies discord server
However, despite their moment of joy and months at the top of the Top Tens, disaster soon struck. Their creator, army legend, and long-time leader, Xing retired on January 6th, 2023. Soon after, the Templars started to show signs of decline in their performance. They went from maxing 57 during their invasions at the start of January to 32 the next week. They then proceeded to drop from first to eighth place in the Top Tens the following week. Allegations of multilogging soon started to be investigated by the Club Penguin Armies administration in January 2023. In February, it was revealed that 24 accounts were tied to multilogging across six different events between December 28th and January 18th of 2023. This led to action being taken by the league, penalising the Templars and allowing SWAT to force treaty the Templars due to the army multilogging during their war.
The actions taken by the Club Penguin Armies administration against Templars
Nowadays TCP is no longer able to maintain max sizes of 30+ weekly or maintain the number one spot on the “Top Ten” for multiple consecutive weeks. It can be said that the army lost a lot of its former glory. The golden generation has truly come to an end for the Templars. The departure of army legend Racecar on February 14th meant that the Templars leadership was smaller and less-experience. Therefore, the Templars face(d) an uphill battle, especially with the multilogging allegations and Top Ten deductions. Maddie and Moon later joined the Templars leadership to further help the troubled army. However, so far, they haven’t been successful in maintaining the high standards that the Templars are used to.
It’s clear that there’s a gap in Templars where Xing, among others, used to be. We may see current members step up to try to fill the power vacuum left by legends that retired from the army. However, this isn’t an easy task, each legend presented something different to Templars, breathing life into it. As a newer or less-experienced troop, gaining momentum and rising up the ranks quickly can seem like an uphill climb. Despite this, we have seen many do this in the past and the Templars could look within for the future of the army. Maddie and Moon both have a couple of months leading under their belt now, could they be the ones to take the army back to the top?
The Templars at a recent event
Losing influential leaders can generally cause a decline in the performance of an army, especially if the power vacuum is left alone. It’s undeniable that Xing was one of the most important leaders the army ever had. His absence has, however, caused the army to fall in size and in the Top Tens.
Most recently, in the Top Ten that was released on June 4th, the Templars’ highest max was 20. Alongside this, they achieved 9th place, once again. The fall of the army is already being seen and now the army has lost its major status. With the army failing to max more than 20 in recent weeks, they have dropped to Small-Medium army status. The army has gone from one low point to another. Assumedly, the army will be looking to expand its empire and its ranks to help boost the maxes and help the army get back to what it used to be. Will the Templars be able to rise from this?
Club Penguin Armies reached out to the current Templars leader, !Dawn for an interview.
TCP has shown signs of decline compared to its 2022 version, what do you think are the causes for that change?
I mean Xing retired and he was a huge aspect of each templars generation so with a new era welcomes a size drop before stability.
Do you think the Templars will ever regain back the strength they once had?
No doubt that we’ll get our strength back we’ve done it before.
What are your plans for the Templars from here?
From here we just continue staying focused on recruiting and building our size back and return to our original state
What are your current goals as a leader and where do you want to be in 5 months’ time?
As a leader i want to lead templars to stable high maxes and perform as well as we can during legends cup. within the next 5 months i’d assume templars is in a better state and we’ll be ready to pursue more wars and making ourselves the best we can be.
It looks like there is doubt over attaining the strength the army once had. However, will the end be near for the Templars? In the past, the Templars have been close to death and Xing has willed it back to life. He put new life into the army and motivated each and every individual within it. The condition of the Templars could get worse after their drop to small/medium and could lead to a potential return from Xing, despite him being adamant earlier in the year that he won’t. However, the opposite could also happen. We could see the army grow its wings and start to soar. With the summer coming up, many people will have more time on their hands, leading to possible returns and size boosts.
The army, also, recently joined the Sapphire Concordat to battle against the Blue Sunset alliance, aiding the Army of Club Penguin in World War IX. Could this be exactly what the Templars need to succeed? With new allies and a war to boot, the Templars sizes could soar, resurrecting their hopes and goals as an army. Could the Templars, unexpectedly, rise up without Xing? This would allow Xing to have a happy retirement and allow them to secure and maintain future generations. However, will this ever be the case? Will the army ever regain its former strength? Or will it continue to be known as a power once was in history similar to its real-life counterpart?
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Mchappy is interning at Club Penguin Armies as the Chief Executive Producer. Max held him at gunpoint to finish his biography.