Organizational History

Forty years ago a company of fifteen mages came to Temir intent on hiring out their services to some of the border barons. It caused a bit of a stir with the Aecha Ostai when they refused to join the organization or conform to its rules, preferring to work independently than pay dues to a university they had no interest in being a part of. Magic wasn’t meant to be confined to musty towers, no matter how tall or cool. It was meant to be used, to toss fire or fog in the field of battle against any and all opponents. The conflict with the Aecha Ostai became heated when particularly militant members of that order began freelancing as well, and a particularly insightful diviner David Rafiq Nayson began organizing the mages into an actual union, purchasing Therengrad Manor with their capital. Thus was the Therengrad Spellbinders’ Ring born, and it began taking in expelled members of the Aecha Ostai the very next day. They took mages of all stripes, in order to accumulate enough numbers to make the Aecha Ostai worry about assaulting them, and it worked…Mostly. Nayson was assassinated five years ago, at the beginning of the latest war with Scything Crag. Some attribute it to Crag agents working to undermine the security of the east, but more than a few suspect the hand of the Spire in it. During the war, the TSR served on the front lines as support and offensive spellcasters, an endeavour which has proved far more lucrative than hiring out for border skirmishes. With their headquarters well away from the front, they’ve been able to establish a considerable infrastructure in the town, and seek to expand their influence.

Ideology

Members of the TSR are expected to be loyal to the company above most things. There was a debate among the commanders about whether or not to include priests in more than an auxiliary position, but it was decided that their loyalty to their faith could compromise their loyalty to the company. With that said, members are permitted a great deal of freedom, but are expected to kick 5% of their income back to the company, with a further kickback of 10% or more on company commissioned jobs. The company also provides its members with protection from the Aecha Ostai, and to a limited extent the Camonna Tong, as well as healing services in Therengrad.

Important People

The company is run by three commanders: a field commander, a quartermaster, and a librarian. Gar ibn Gax, comrade of Nayson, serves as the field commander of the TSR, a dwarven mage who’s a master of runes and traipses through battlefields in his ornate full plate armor. The head quartermaster is a kobold sorceror whose kobold name is mostly unpronounceable, but translates to Blackstone, and who spends much of her time with the kobolds of Tachros, rather than in Therengrad itself. The librarian of the TSR is still technically an ancient elf who goes by the name of Andarys, but his second, an up and coming human diviner named Piotr Krilovich seems destined for the position when Andarys’s retirement becomes official.

Symbols

Each member is issued TSR signet ring which bears their sign, the sword on the spellbook, which they can wear. Individual cabals tend to have their own names and heraldry, such as the Guns of Northwatch, which specializes in long range artillery support, their sign the fireball horizon.

Structure

There are upwards of three hundred combat mages in the TSR, and like any army, each person has a place. The field commander commands the three centuries, each one commanded by a colonel and each made up of two majors who each command a brigade of fifty mages, and brigades have two captains, each commanding a cabal of twenty-four mages. The cabals are further broken down into platoons of twelve people each, commanded by sergeants, and platoon organization tends to vary from cabal to cabal, a number of corporals commanding squads as needed. As well, the organization employs numerous support personnel and has been known to hire conventional mercenaries to back up its magical might with physical when necessary. But while it seems rigid, the reality is quite different. Most members of the TSR are scattered throughout Temir, freelancing as they like, and are only called to assemble into their respective roles in the forces as needed, barring a few training exercises in the summer.

Requirements

Everyone in the TSR must be a spellcaster, and only those capable of casting second order spells are included in a platoon. In the last year, the TSR has also begun taking on apprentices, chiefly due to the initiative of Krilovich, in order to replenish its ranks after the war, and to claim a share in the market of beginning mages. It does not matter what kind of spellcaster one is, the exception to that being priests and paladins who place ideals higher than the organization. Furthermore, for the past twenty years, it has been customary for those who wish to rise in the organization to have a sponsor, a member of captain rank or higher who acts as a patron.