Ranger Archive

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dodtri wrote:
I dunno. To me, without master scout, the whole ranger character is gone. Ranger is, in the least, an master outdoorsman. This is lost if you don't include scout. With out it we're more like spys, thieves, or secret agents rather than 'rangers.'

Message Edited by dodtri on 09-22-2005 04:53 AM

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An organization with just over a thousand total members, the Antarian Rangers are as diverse as the Jedi they serve. Typically, those Jedi who choose to make use of the organization deal with a small group of Rangers with whom they are familiar, and rely on the same Rangers repeatedly. Some Jedi actually have semipermanent Antarian Ranger companions who travel the stars with them and assist them in a fashion similar to the Padawan-Master relationship. Whenever a Jedi wants a traveling companion or aide, typically one to three Rangers accompany him on his journeys. Otherwise, the various branches of the Antarian Rangers train, hone their skills, and prepare for a time when they will be needed to assist the Jedi in whatever way they can.

The Antarian Rangers were founded some 600 years before the Clone Wars and continued to flourish up until the rise of the Empire. On the planet Antar 4, home of the Gotal species, a Coruscant-born Human Jedi Knight named Marus Timpel was performing routine duties that brought him into contact with a being who was turned down for Jedi training. Kaskutal, a Gotal with limited Force sensitivity, had been turned away as a child by Timpel himself and had gone on to become a very successful and wealthy businessman specializing in trade negotiations and intercessions. The two become fast friends, and during their discussions, Timpel expressed his frustrations with the limitations his Jedi lifestyle put on his travels and available resources. Kaskutal, still harboring admiration for the Jedi despite being turned away, offered to help and raised funds and resources from donors and investors to create an organization to help alleviate those problems. This organization came to be known as the Antarian Rangers, and it soon spread beyond Antar 4 into the rest of the galaxy.

In the early years, the organization was small but ambitious. Kaskutal, the first true Antarian Ranger, used his minor Force sensitivity, Gotal senses, and business acumen to assist Timpel throughout the rest of his career. Upon Timpel's death, Kaskutal relegated himself to a more administrative role, seeing to it that the organization formed branches throughout the galaxy. Within 50 years, the Antarian Rangers had divisions in several well-populated systems, including Corellia, Brentaal, Ruan, and Coruscant.

Over time, the expansion throughout the Core Worlds caused the organization to become Human-dominant, but other species did join the cause and sometimes rose into positions of leadership. The Jedi, being more loosely organized at the time, did not discourage the growth of the organization, as the Rangers proved their usefulness without drawing upon Jedi resources. Thanks to good investment decisions and some savvy business deals, Kaskutal ensured that the Rangers were financially stable, if not overly wealthy.

As the Clone Wars approached and the Jedi Council took a more traditionalist stance in policy, the Rangers found fewer and fewer Jedi calling upon them for help. Some branches disbanded due to inactivity, while others used their combat training and entrepreneurial skills to become freelance mercenaries or sector defense forces.

The organization, reduced to less than half its former size, found a brief revitalization with the onset of the Clone Wars. The Rangers found themselves suddenly in demand; the Jedi, outnumbered and unable to sufficiently defend the galaxy against the threat of the Separatists, once again called upon the Rangers for aid. As Jedi-Ranger pairings become more commonplace once more, the group saw a brief surge in membership before the rise of the Empire.

As the Sith Lord Darth Vader and the Emperor eradicated the Jedi, the Antarian Rangers found themselves hunted in a similar fashion. With a bounty on the heads of the known Rangers and the threat of Inquisitors looming over them, the remaining branches of the Antarian Rangers went into hiding. One group of Antarian Rangers, led by a Feeorin named Solm, openly opposed the tyranny of the Empire, but for the most part the Rangers went into seclusion or disbanded entirely in order to avoid capture. The hidden enclave at Toprawa, home of Wraith Squadron member Tyria Sarkin, was eliminated by the Empire in a case that became typical of the eventual destruction of the Rangers.

With Luke Skywalker's Jedi Order rising after the defeat of the Empire, a small group of Antarian Rangers from the old days has tried to revitalize the organization with limited success. Primarily assisting with Luke Skywalker's "Great River" and helping combat the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, this new group of Rangers numbers at no more than 50 or 60 beings."

This is what we should always have been and I can't wait for this patch!