It takes a rare breed to make a Ranger. Few people look beyond the walls of the town and think “I want to see what’s out there.” The vast majority of people are born, live their entire lives, and die all within twenty miles of their home. But not the Rangers.
An ancient order established alongside the first fiefdoms and states, the Rangers have long toiled to keep the people of Imland as safe as possible. They spend months on end roaming through the wilderness, living off the land, offerings left at shrines, and the goodwill of the people they protect. Rangers hold no lands and rarely start families. It’s not that such things are forbidden, it’s just incredibly difficult to raise children while jumping into the fray with wights and ettins.
Rangers come from all walks of life. Most start out as simple townsfolk who join up after being rescued, feeling they owe a debt. Rarely, a person is stricken with wanderlust and arrives at the Warden’s Hall. Or maybe they were driven from town for a crime they did or did not commit and sought refuge with the Rangers. In some settlements it’s tradition to send orphans along with a passing Ranger band, or a family might offer up their the youngest child if there are too many mouths to feed. There are some who simply desire the power that Rangers have and seek out a band in order to learn such secrets.
Their origins and reasons for joining matter little to the Warden, the most veteran of Rangers and leader of the Order. What matters is that these men and women swear and fulfill their Oaths.
They follow the tenets of the Order, putting the people of the Imland before themselves and seeking and destroying those who would seek to harm the innocent.
After joining up with the Order of Rangers, an individual will undergo their training. This can take a little as a few months or as long as several years, it all depends on the individual’s skill and aptitude. All Rangers begin as squires, and their initial training involves woodcraft, reading and writing, combat training, herblore and first aid, navigation and survival, and, of course, the laws of the Order.
They are trained by veteran Rangers, the ones who have managed to live long enough to be too old to range, men or women who have been injured and need something to do while they recover, or individuals who for some reason or another are no longer capable of ranging through the wilderness.
The mentors’ job is to cull the unfit as much as it is to make a proper Ranger out of an initiate. They humiliate and hurt squires. Overwhelm them and push them to their absolute limits. It’s not out of a sense of malice or hate, but rather to ensure that those who can’t handle the stress aren’t sent out into the wilderness.The wilderness of Imland will do its best to kill the Rangers, and the mentors want to make that as difficult as possible.
Only six in every ten squires make it through training. Once they’ve proven themselves, the squires are often assigned to a more established Ranger and are taken on short ranges in lands that have long been considered “tamed.”
They may encounter the occasional Fomorian or living Dead, but most of the threats to these parts of the Imland are bandits and mountain bears - still dangerous, but generally more manageable. Once their initial range is complete, a task that only half of all squires accomplish, it’s time to swear their Oath.
Each squire’s Oath is deeply personal. All of them contain many of the same ideals - protect the people of Imland and drive away the evils and dangers of the wilderness - but the specifics are up to the squires themselves.
Some swear an Oath to a god, who may have protected them as a child. Others may mention their ancestors. Still others might simply state that they will do their utmost to fulfill their Oath until last breath is drawn. At last the squire is named a proper Ranger and is given their Cloak.
While its primary purpose is to function as a tool of survival - protecting from rain or cold, for example - the Cloak also serves as a sign that they are indeed a member of the Order of Rangers. A Cloak is typically crafted by members of the Rangers’ village or family. If no such person exists or can be reached, oftentimes a mentor or the Ranger’s fellow squires might craft the Cloak for them.
Rarely,
a Ranger might create
their own Cloak.
For those unable to complete their
training, there are two
options: return to your
settlement and resume
your previous life, or remain in the Warden’s
Hall as an attendant.
Those who choose to stay
become servants - cooking, cleaning, maintaining the hall, and
taking up a trade such
as fletching or blacksmithing. It may not be
the life they had hoped
for, but it’s an honest
and oftentimes fulfilling living.