Ranger Archive

My defining moment was also in the volcano in Lok. When I became a Master Scout I decided to visit all the tallest mountains on each planet before training Master Ranger. My quest to "earn" MR status. That was a long, lonely run.

When I got onto the moutain and heard the Lok music I felt an exciting thrill. I felt like any moment I was going to run over the horizon and discover something amazing. I ran around the mountain for a while looking at the color of the ground and trying to figure out if it was lava (old graphic card). Then I was distracted by a crystal snake baby. I slowly followed it, trying to tame it. It lead me downhill and when my taming attempt failed I looked around. I realized I was in the middle of the volcano.

As I looked, the lava began to errupt around me. Looking closer I realized that birds with firery tails were errupting from the ground. The sky was full of them. They were lovely, even more lovely when I realized you couldn't target them - they were just there to be enjoyed. I felt special, like these wonderful things had been put in this far off place soley for the enjoyment of the long-distance runner. The explorer. Me.

When the fire birds dissapeared I looked around some more and realized that someone else was with me in the lava. Does anyone remember "counting coup"? Getting as close as you could to a large aggressive animal and doing /pet? This guy was counting coup on a large aggressive gurk and I knew he must be a Scout ora Ranger. Sure enough, whenI got closer I saw that he had a Ranger tag. We talked for a while and then he left. I sat on the lava and watched the firebirds and felt... settled. On the long run back to Nym's I realized I had become a Ranger.

- Paks