What an absolute terrible idea. From every level just a horrible idea.
>white robes
>hoods
>secret society
>known for murdering people
>Templars
Hmm.
Man, we've really fallen from "Every side in WW2, allies and axis, were Templars. All of them." all the way down to "literally every group of bad guys in history were Templars." huh?
I'm sorry but why the would big picture secret societies like the
Templars give the faintest of fucks about murdering random black people and burning crosses in their back yards? If anything the Templars would be
pro-reconstruction, completely overhauling the societal and industrial structure of the South is the perfect way to set up new avenues of control and power. Templars would be all over that shit.
The og KKK also have way too little power in the post Civil War era to be Templars. The original KKK were just random fucks and former confederates running around in forests and killing people, and that group only lasted from 1865 to 1872 before being disbanded and officially outlawed by the government.
The Grand Dragon at the time was the one who
gave the order to disband, specifically because they were too disorganized and unruly to control (totally sounds like Templars amirite). They didn't even have an official uniform and were essentially just a notorious gang at the time, who, at their absolute peak, had around 100k members total. Think... MS-13 but white guys.
The KKK people
actually think of when you mention the name is the
post re-establishment KKK from 1915-onwards, which were the guys in white pointy hoods that had a bunch of politicians and local officials as members and associates.
That KKK had well over 3 million members at it's peak in the 1920s and a bunch of political power just from it's high-level members.
The KKK in Mafia III are more likely to be Templars than the ones in this """"cancelled"""" game just from a logistical standpoint.
Though tbf I doubt this was ever anything real. Just a shameless attempt to peddle a racial power fantasy, and more likely than not was canned in the same meeting it was pitched.