Technic League

The Technic League is a cabal of arcanists whose chief goal is acquiring personal and temporal power by exploiting magic and recovered alien technology. The Black Sovereign may be the ruler of Numeria, but the Technic League is the power behind the throne. The day that Kevoth-Kul proudly strode through the city of Starfall to claim the entire nation as his own, the League stood by, poised to ensnare him in their webs. Instead of defiance, the League offered the warlord submission and allegiance along with all the knowledge and power at their disposal and their aid in the guardianship of Starfall. Kevoth-Kul accepted their fealty and declared himself the new Black Sovereign of Numeria. Wasting no time, the Technic League introduced their monarch to all intoxicating and mind-altering fluids leaking from Silver Mount. Now Kevoth-Kul reigns in a stupefied haze and lounges in the debauched throes of his personal harem. So long as the Sovereign remains weak and entertained, the Technic League can do as it wishes.
However, the League’s dominion is not absolute, as Kevoth-Kul is a proud and superstitious man. Deep down, the Black Sovereign still fears technology. His attempt to conquer Numeria was partly fueled by the conviction that the Kellid tribes had lost their way, seduced by city folk and technological marvels. Maybe the warlord can no longer see himself clearly, but few dare whisper that he is being played for a fool, for Kevoth-Kul’s raging fury is the stuff of legends, and his warriors might still be able to drive the League from Numeria if he so chose.

Structure

The Technic League is based in Starfall, the closest city to Silver Mount and reasonably close to the northern Felldales (where a wealth of unrecovered technology awaits those who brave its dangers). Starfall is also home to the gearsmen, a small army of mysterious humanoid robots from Silver Mount that protect Starfall and enforce the Technic League’s orders—most of the time. However, the League’s authority doesn’t end at Starfall, as they maintain some presence in every city and large town in Numeria. In communities where their presence is less welcome—Iadenveigh, for example—they are known to install spies. They are also infamous for their tax collection, demanding a portion of all revenue—in the Black Sovereign’s name. 
While the Technic League does not fully understand every technological secret of Silver Mount, they are not completely oblivious to the nature of its super-science. They know Silver Mount and most of the space junk littering the countryside was part of a massive starship that traveled between worlds and star systems. The League is also quite cognizant that technology does not rely on magic. This is one of the reasons the League is so secretive and insular in nature. Many, albeit not all, powerful forms of magic are specific to those versed in its nature. Still, the technology requires only energy and operational instructions—a bitter pill for any mage to swallow. Thus, the League fears technology’s potential to displace the power granted by magic. Rather than despise and suppress it, they seek to possess and control it.

Membership

The League is private about its internal hierarchy—an outgrowth of its transition from a secret society to a public organization. Membership is generally restricted to those who wield arcane magic, but a divine caster of a compatible faith can be accepted. Those without magical powers can be employed— or enslaved—by the League, but rarely become true members. Basic membership has some immediate benefits, as the group tends not to guard traditional magic spells and lore quite as jealously as some magical organizations. Members are likewise not supposed to withhold technological secrets from one another, but that practice is all too common.
While the leaders of the Technic League are referred to as captains, any illusion of military precision stops at the surface. The small council of captains is a squabbling and chaotic group, its members working together one minute and assassinating each other the next. All captains are technically equal in rank, yet one captain usually manages to rise to a leadership position through brute force and intrigue, helping to organize and direct the other captains and acting as the primary liaison to the Black Sovereign. Below these captains, rank is a hodgepodge decided upon by individual captains. Many have valued lieutenants or commanders, but terminology varies, and some refer to all their subordinates as assistants or apprentices. These lesser League members are in turn vastly outnumbered by non-member slaves and hired agents who carry out their masters’ bidding, and who are occasionally even entrusted with the use of technological marvels. 
League leadership watches for infiltrators and spies closely. New initiates are not customarily told the full truth about the starship or allowed to possess technological artifacts and are often given tasks designed to “get their hands dirty.” Members are brought into the full mystery and permitted to keep what technology they find or create. The stronger members tend to be at least 8th level in their chosen spellcasting class. The captains often use them as lieutenants, assigned as envoys or overseers, with authority over less prominent members. Captains set the agenda for the entire League and have the greatest access to Silver Mount. Those who discover or unlock new technology can expect merit-based promotion.
Applicable Craft skills, crafting feats, and construct fabrication are encouraged and can fast-track advancement. Over the past century, efforts have been made to organize the membership into divisions like command, engineering, tactical, intelligence, and support—but as the League consists primarily of chaotic individualists, they’ve never been successfully herded to that degree. The current leader of the Technic League is Ozmyn Zaidow. 
The Technic League does not officially venerate any outsider—they look to empirical experimentation for their truths. Yet many League members become fascinated with the concept of expansion of the mind through altered states, as evidenced by their use of the strange substances they harvest from Silver Mount. More than a few League members have been seduced by kytons to explore expanded consciousness and sensual stimulation unfettered by conscience. Kytons, for their part, look upon the League’s technological playthings with undisguised delight.

History

The Technic League was founded on murder and betrayal. Still, even its leaders are ignorant of the true nature of the woman who established the group—Sidrah Imeruss, a soldier who served aboard the ship that now lies scattered across Numeria. She survived the crash in a life support pod that remained functional for the next several thousand years, keeping her body and mind in stasis until explorers awakened her in 4501 ar. After spending some time acclimating to the strange new world she found herself in (and realizing the wisdom of keeping quiet about her true nature), she concluded that the native culture was so biased against technology that she would need to carefully recruit allies if she were to realize her goal of returning to the ship’s core and devising a way back home. Sidrah turned to a group unafraid of new concepts and ideas—arcane spellcasters, predominantly wizards but including alchemists, magi, and sorcerers. She started the Technic League as a secret society, sharing her knowledge of science and technology. The soldier’s ability to operate and contextualize technological artifacts convinced her initial recruits of the truth of her fantastic tale. Sidrah loosely organized them after the naval organization to which she once belonged. When “Captain Imeruss” felt the League was sufficiently prepared, she and the group gathered their existing technological resources and started the journey to Silver Mount. Her goal was to repair either Silver Mount or a smaller craft inside of it so she could make her way home—or, barring that, activate a distress beacon to call for aid. Her plans were cut short when her second-in-command, a treacherous wizard named Mulrach-Zeer, assassinated Sidrah and took her place as Captain of the Technic League.
This single act of treachery would define the Technic League for years to come. Instead of a group of freethinkers dedicated to the expansion of knowledge and the support of the founder, who desperately sought to find her way home, the Technic League became a ruthless and insular organization dedicated to the pursuit of power. Sidrah’s loss was costly in terms of the Technic League’s progress. It would be 3 years before they learned how to enter Silver Mount and many more before they gained access to any truly useful technology. However, time and persistence paid off in the end, and the Technic League eventually produced workable energy weapons and other devices, as well as an army of robotic soldiers known as the gearsmen.