[HoE] [HoE][Shane or whoever is working on the Templar Book] Templar Question

["Steven Nelson" <sdnelson@advancenet.net>]

I'm about to start a HoE campaign and I have a question.  Can I let a player
play a Templar who is not of "WASP" descent or carry themselves in the
traditions spread through the history of Europe?  What I mean is, could we
theoretically have a Templar who is of Japanese descent carrying a katana?
Or one of Scottish descent with a Claymore?  Or one of Russian descent who
carried a scimitar?  So long as they followed the same code?  Or in the
Templars book is it going to be much more structured like the Knights
Templar or knights of old?  I just don't want to let a player choose this
background if they are going to feel stupid once the Templar sourcebook is
out and contradicts their concept.  I didn't know how tightly the Templars
would be tied into the historical idea of a "knight" in medieval European
terms as opposed to warriors of other cultures.

Also, will Pinnacle be listing their up and coming product line again?  I
know they used to have a list on the web page that showed what products were
in the works, and now I cannot find that anymore.  I know some whiners on
the Deadlands list were uptight about the release dates, but I really liked
to see what was in the works so I could drool appropriately waiting for it's
release.

Also I noted in the CotA book how HoE did not usually allow a character to
have two backgrounds.  Is this now, or will this soon be the same for
Deadlands?  We have a Martial Artist who is also a Taoist Blessed in our
group and I was wondering if this was a legit configuration?  (the marshal
is fine with it, so it's legit in our game, but as a marshal myself I was
wondering for my own games...)

Thanks

Steve Nelson
sdnelson@advancenet.net