The Rangers of the Gnarley Forest
The Rangers of the Gnarley are some 200 strong, most of them born woodsmen, with a few half-elves among them. Quite a few of them have fought in throughout the Flanaess as volunteers and tales of that war have left little doubt in their minds that the threat of evil is present. The Rangers strive to bring good folk together. They have very warm relations with gnomes, most woodsmen, and with the swanmays and werebears of the Gnarley. They are very cautious in dealings with elves; they are respectful to them, but do not trust them. Cool politeness is the order of the day. The Gnarley Rangers are concerned with the forest’s welfare, not with politics, and they do not care about the territorial squabbles of either Dyvers, Verbobonc, or Greyhawk. They would like to see Celene's influence diminish, but they don’t regard the Free City as exactly a bastion of righteousness and morality. However, they are glad to see the militia helping to protect woodsmen, and individual friendships between rangers and militia leaders and officers have begun to blossom.
Like all of nature’s guardians, Gnarley Rangers vary widely in attitude. However, the one ideal they all share is a reverence for nature and a fierce love for the great forest. This reverence and love take the form of a desire to protect the forest home, whatever the cost. As an organization, the Gnarley Rangers are somewhat secretive, however social intrigue and poltics are not their strong suit, preferring the canopy of trees to the panoply of a noble’s court or the bustle of a city. Though they wield considerable influence within the Gnarley Forest, the Gnarley Rangers are not a wealthy organization. So, they must make do with limited resources in both materials and personnel. This does not hinder them in combat as much as one might believe, as the Gnarley Rangers are masters of hit-and-run tactics and sabotage of enemy encampments. When engaging the despoilers of nature, the concept of noble or honorable combat is meaningless. The goal is to stop the enemy—whatever the cost. This is not to say that members of the Gnarley Rangers are without honor—quite the contrary. However, a Gnarley Ranger places the safety of the forest and those who inhabit nature’s environs above any concern for whether the tactics used to ensure that safety are respectable or proper.
The Gnarley Rangers have many enemies, first and foremost are the Blackthorn, an enclave of ogres, gnolls, and orcs hidden within the forest. Others include humanoids of the Pomarj, evil cultists and bandits. They call upon the following as allies: gnome clans, followers of Ehlonna, members of the House Guard for Baron Corbin Deleveu of Verbobonc, and some others within the region of Dyvers. While relations with the Elven Clans of the Gnarley Forest are fairly cool, the Gnarley rangers do have friendlier dealings with Clan Meldarin.
Titles and Duties
The Rangers of the Gnarley are separated into four distinct ranks:
Junior Ranger — Junior Rangers are the youngest defenders of the Great Forest. Learning from their assigned Senior Ranger, they watch the forest for outsiders and signs of danger. The symbol of a Junior Ranger is silver oak leaf.
Gnarley Ranger — The archetypical Gnarley Ranger, they watch over travelers through the forest, making sure that they treat the forest with respect, and their patrolling has given them insight and knowledge of the forest that carries them to greater responsibilities. The symbol of the Gnarley Ranger is a silver oak leaf pair above an acorn worn as an amulet.
Senior Ranger — The Senior Rangers are among the most experienced defenders of the Gnarley Forest. Between one to three Senior Rangers serve under each Ranger Knight. Guiding the Junior Rangers and the Gnarley Rangers, they protect the wood and its inhabitants—hunting down those who seek to do it harm, especially humanoids from the Pomarj, bandits and evil cults. The symbol for the Senior Rangers is a golden acorn with two silver leaves.
Ranger Knight of the Gnarley Forest — The Ranger Knights are the greatest defenders of the Gnarley Forest. Only seven Ranger Knights are known to exist and one can only become a Ranger Knight upon the death of an existing Knight. The symbol of the Ranger Knights is a golden acorn with two silver leaves surrounding a moonstone.
Rangers' Cant
The Gnarley Rangers have their own two-part system of communication. The first is effectively a language, comprised of parts vocal and non-verbal signals. This language concerns events and phenomena important in the woodlands and to the ethos of good. Thus, if one ranger looks at someone and then casts his gaze down and to his right, a second ranger viewing this will know that the first ranger considers that person evil or dangerous. An almost imperceptible (to non-rangers) clenching of a fist accompanying this shift in gaze indicates that the ranger feels the person is certainly evil or very dangerous. The Gnarley Ranger language is complex and subtle, and other non-Gnarley rangers struggle to recognize the signals. This verbal/nonverbal mixed language has a broad vocabulary but doesn’t handle much in the way of abstract concepts.
The second part of this communication system is a complex set of signals in the form of terrain markers: scratches left on trees, a wedge cut out of a capped fungus, interweaving of small branches or ferns, and the like. These signals generally indicate fairly simple things, often warnings relating to dangerous terrain or monsters (kech, orcs,etc.). Gnarley Rangers of Junior rank or above are proficient in this signaling system, but non-Gnarley rangers are not able to recognize it at all.