Sand's father was murdered while Sand was away at college. Sand wished to avenge his father but found that a group called the Rangers of Rul had already exacted justice upon the culprits for many other crimes that had been committed. Sand decided to join these rangers. Eventually he became the leader of the Rangers. Over time attrition dwindled away the numbers of active Rangers. Sand sent out notice that he was interested in recruiting. In this way he became associated with Cadman Drex, Gideon Rusk and a number of other powerful magicians and fighters. Sand calls himself a "merchant librarian" but this omits a great deal of truth about who and what he really is.