The templars continue in their administrative roles despite the loss of their spellcasting abilities. They no longer define the legal system as they once did as Kalak's enforcers, but some templars have found imaginative ways to subvert the laws passed down by the Council to further their own ends. They excel as bureaucrats and have refined collusion and graft into high art forms. Templars are as much a commodity as the iron and grain they regulate. They practice the mechanics of oversight, and those who wish to see the wheels of progress turn must regularly grease the palms of those who turn the wheels. For example, traders wanting city contracts pay kickbacks to the city's negotiating agents. Both merchants in a dispute may bribe a templar arbitrator for a favorable judgment. A politician or petitioner may hire a templar to arrest or detain an opponent on the day of an important vote, while a black marketeer or thief might offer a percentage of his cut to a templar to look the other way. An ambitious templar may even assassinate another of his ilk to gain the favor of a third. There is no end to the scheming that a templar is capable of. What makes these corrupt templars even more dangerous is that, except in cases of extreme importance to Tyr, the templars sit in judgment of crimes within the city. They investigate, accuse, pass judgment, imprison, or pardon Tyrian citizens and visitors just as they did under Kalak. A well-placed templar can be a valuable ally or a terrible foe. Anyone conducting business or pursuing politics in Tyr would be wise to cultivate good relations with this powerful faction. The organization of the templars follows hierarchical lines of authority. (The king oversees the bureaucracy and punishes or rewards its work.) The bureaucracy is currently headed by Timor, Senior Templar and Minister of Tyr. Beneath him are the ministers, each responsible for one aspect of Tyr's interests. Each department maintains its own security forces and operates independently of others, save that all department heads report directly to Timor who, himself, reports to the Council. The ministers supervise various minor officials and functionaries, creating an immense tangle of red tape where corruption, bribery, and backstabbing are commonplace. The departments of Tyr's government are listed below. The name of the Senior Templar in charge of each department is noted in parentheses.
Administration: Astini, supervises templar scribes who maintain records and communication between other departments.
The Arena: Banther, administers stadium functions.
Fields: Arbistor, responsible for agricultural and farming concerns.
Finance: Gennet, tax collecting and treasury.
Gardens: Linder, maintains and patrols the king's gardens.
Mines: Borger, supervises the operations of Tyr’s iron mines.
Public Works: Caldon, in charge of construction of public and private structures within the city.
Security: Dark, in charge of intelligence operations.
State: Hirik, in charge of ambassadorial relations with other city-states and external powers.
Trade: Finneal, regulates businesses within the city.
Water: Girias, oversees Tyr's wells and supplies.
Each templar's duties vary by bureau and standing. A
templar in the lowest echelon of the Bureau of Fields, for
example, may be in charge of handing out the daily bread
ration or driving a dung wagon around town to retrieve the
contents of chamber-pots from the previous night (to be
used as fertilizer in the fields). An intermediate templar
in the same bureau may be charged with the collection
of grain tithes or the approval of land leases, while a
high-ranking templar may oversee Tyr's grain stores and
arrange purchases of additional supplies of grain for the
city either locally or through import from outside Tyr as
needed. Differences in rank in the security bureau, by
comparison, might mean night patrols for a low-ranking
templar, or being an arbitrator of minor disputes for a
medium-level official, and justiciar of the courts for a
highly placed templar.