Or is just an humorous reference to Age II TK’s being super slow?
Probably the latter.
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The Teutonic Order and the Hospitaller Order (I.E. the Knights of Malta) were two separate, sometimes competing militant holy orders which were generally fairly similar and served similar purposes, initially to defend traveling pilgrims and man hospitals.
There were German knights among the Maltese, but the Teutonic Order tended to be more specifically for aristocrats from the Holy Roman Empire, whereas membership in the Knights Hospitaller was open to Catholics across Europe.
The Teutonic Knights once possessed a territory of their own along the Baltic in Prussia, but by the 16th century, they had lost all their territories there to Poland and Lithuania. By the 19th century, both the Knights of Malta and the Teutonic Order had lost their military character entirely, reverting entirely to being charitable organizations based in Rome and Vienna respectively.