The Blacksteel Rangers

The Blacksteel Rangers are a mercenary company of Galhadria. They were established by Kel bel-Casel in about 1449 AS, or about sixty years before the most common era stories are set within. The original core of the company were Aruthien swordsmen seeking their fortunes abroad among the Free Kingdoms. As the company moved from conflict to conflict, their reputation as an aggressive force which brought victory to their employer grew - as did their price. As their fame (or infamy) and fortune grew, a steady stream of recruits made their way to join Kel’s banner, leaving behind their hardscrabble lives and selling their fighting skills to whomever paid them the most coin. By the time of Kel’s murder at the hands of a treacherous employer in 1470, the Rangers had become the highest paid mercenary company in the Kingdoms and numbered well over a thousand.

The surviving Rangers turned on the the Rysian warlords who had betrayed their commander, killed half of them, and infamously sacked the city of Orynvar. The Sovran of Rysia immediately hired them and used the vengeful mercenaries to crush the remains of the revolt, and rewarded their new commander with five hundred excellent horses - some said as a recompense for the commander’s loss of a father, others to get the mercenaries to leave his borders. The new commander, Taren bel-Kel, carried on his father’s legacy and took the Rangers further abroad, fighting in the Pileusian Empire, Gazea-Gozon, Sarmatti, Tigraen, and among the minor powers. Commander Taren brought the company to its highest fighting strength of over two thousand, of which one fourth were cavalry, before his own death during Kreeg’s uprising at the battle of Sauchvor.