How do I portray medieval military orders akin to the Teutonic knights properly...

How do I portray medieval military orders akin to the Teutonic knights properly? I'm working on a low magic fantasy setting borrowing heavily from the late medieval period for reference so the basic principles of the world are similar to our own late medieval period.

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you're overthinking it dude. Just put 'em in there.

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You need to answer some basic questions.

>Why were they established
Why are they even around? The Knights Templar, Knights Hospitaller and Knights of the Holy Sepulchre all existed to initially protect pilgrims on the perilous road to the Holy Land. The Papal Guard and Varangian Guard were created to guard the pope and East Roman emperor respectively. The Teutonic Order and Knights of Santiago specialized in fighting pagan Lithuanians and Islamic Moors respectively. They need to have a special duty or a certain enemy that justifies their existence.

>How are the recruited
How does one enter these orders? Are only foreign mercenaries allowed to enter, like the Varangians and Swiss (both bodyguard units, not coincidentally)? Do you need a religious background, like the various crusader orders? Do they come from a special class in society, like the Janissary and Mamluk slaves? Are they handpicked and trained from birth, or are they simply elite soldiers who distinguished themselves during ordinary service?

If you can answer these questions, you've already given your order a lot of flavor without even getting into their rituals or aesthetics. In fact, rituals and aesthetics should be the last thing you work on as they often flow forth from the earlier questions (Varangians are less likely to be covered in crucifixes than Templars due to Varangians being a relatively secular order. They probably do have some Scandinavian attributes due to the origins of their warriors).

Put those amazing ceremonial helmets they had in for some dashing good looks.

>youtube.com/channel/UCpiumHmUE5EZeLTftxv9qGw
A whole channel dedicated to crusader´s history. Watch and study.

>A whole channel dedicated to crusader's history
I bet it's Real Crusades History.... yeah, it's Real Crusades History.

My knigga.

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The Teutonic Order is Lawful Evil done right, an unscrupulous organization of militant knights waging expansionist wars of aggression against fellow Christians under the false pretense of "God Wills It." Theirs is a world of bristling fortifications, cold bureaucracy and silent towns. These were not nice people, and they should not be portrayed as such.

Hey user, did you know that not every tabletop game is D&D?

Teutons were a pretty bad bunch. But other orders were better. Hosplitars were pretty bro.

>The Poles hire them to fight Pagan Lithuanians
>Lithuanians convert to Catholicism
>The Teutons keep fighting them
>The Teutons decide to also fight the Poles because why the fuck not
Unsurprisingly the Teutons not only decided to become pr*tstant, but also form Pr*ssia which would be a cancer upon Europe until this very day (indirectly).

Castles. Big fucking castles.

they also fought other germans states

You'd think that's a good thing because it kills Germans, but it's also a double edged sword. Whenever a German subjugates another German, he grows stronger and his ability to fight non-Germans grows exponentially. No amount of lost German lives can make up for their ability to wage war against Poland, France or other civilized nations. There can only be a Final Solution to the German Problem.

this is a little harsh

Also hospitals, towers, monasteries, and various other buildings that they run to support their followers, allies, supply their crusading needs and fund their upkeep.

All of the above is part of the reason they look for wealthy recruits - large donations and experience with handling money will be valuable for the order

Do you know what's also harsh?
Two World Wars, one genocide, the delaying of the reception of liberalism by half a century and the bloodiest religious war Europe has ever seen.

Like Jihadis, cause that is what they are.

Polish I presume

Read the rules of the real orders, they still exist as historical documents. There's an amazing book on the Templars by Regine Pernoud, that would be a good guide for you.

For the Tectonic Order specifically, you can actually just take 40k Black Templars minus power armor and put them in your setting, because that's more or less how the Tectonic Knights really were. Add some studiousness too though, because they governed a state. And also, they had a strong devotion to the Virgin Mary, so put something in resembling that as well.

They're never going to stop, are they?

Weren't most of the crusaders French, though?

>ywn genocide pagans with your fellow ritterbrudder

You forgot the collapse of the Roman Empire and mongrelization of England, both also caused by Germs.

>mongrelization of England
England ended up doing pretty well for itself though. Their mongrelization was offset by them being FRENCH'D a few centuries later.

>Their mongrelization was offset by them being FRENCH'D a few centuries later.

Yeah, by Germs that developed a taste for baguettes.

Looks like Europe has a German problem.

Good thing they're killing themselves off with the migrations.

Have you also noticed that Alsatians are the most patriotic of all Frenchmen? It's in their servile Germanic nature. Germans aren't "hardworking" nor "brave" nor "tolerant", they are servile. Whenever a master arises, they blindly follow his commands. Whether it's the kaiser telling them to expand Germany, the führer telling them that they are the master race or the chancellor telling them "wir schaffen das". In the case of Alsace their command was simple: be French. They took that command to the extreme, becoming Frencher than the French. Which proves that Germans are a fine folk, as long as they're not ruled by other Germans.

Coincidentally, you also described Orcs as portrayed by Tolkien. A servile race of hideous industrialists that know only how to follow the barks of their master and the sting of a whip.

Minor correction: The Teutonic Order was initially established to provide medical aid to German crusaders who were often intentionally/unintentionally discriminated against by other Holy Orders in Levant.