Ranger Archive

Given all the posts recently on what is our identity, and where do we go from here, I've decided to put up some of my research, to, if nothing else, give you all some background to work with.

The Star Wars Ranger

Within the Star Wars Universe, there are many types of Rangers to be found. Some of these you are already familiar with, such as the Antarian Rangers and the Sector Rangers. However, there are other organisations out there, that may be of interest to some of you, either for role-play purposes, or just some direction for constructing ideas for the Developers.

We are, on the whole, a profession without a concrete identity, and while many of us do not like that, we do not complain quite like other professions do. We have an excellent correspondant, and a soild Ranger community that spans various servers, mind-sets and experiences. My aim for this, is to give us something else to talk about, in order to finally start clearly defining what we would like out of being a Ranger. With the Space Expansion right around the corner, there is a need for change, as at present we are solely land based, however the fictional and RPG history of Star Wars suggests that we are just as much a Ranger in Space as we are on a planet.

Below you will find a brief set of information on some of the moste notable Ranger organisations that have grace the Star Wars Universe. Have a read, and please make your comments for good or ill.

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  Antarian Rangers: A para-military group based on several planets. The Antarian Rangers were formed by Marus Timpel and Kaskutal on Antar 4, some 600 years before the Battle of Yavin. The mission of the Antarian Rangers was simply to assist and aid the Jedi Knights in any way possible, although they were most often employed as front-line troops in battlezones. They were trained to be masters of any environment, in order to meet the various challenges assigned to them. The Jedi Council refused to comment on their position toward the Antarian Rangers, although they allowed it to continute to grow and expand over the years. Many individual Jedi valued their assistance and dedication, especially in situations where military force was needed. In the coming centuries, as the Jedi Order became more conservative and insular, they began to turn away from the use of separate organizations like the Antarian Rangers. This meant that the amount of work available to the Rangers began to diminish, and the organization was forced to drastically reduce its manpower. During the Clone Wars, the Antarian Rangers were able to briefly expand their efforts in support of the Jedi involvement in the war. Unfortunately, whole groups of Antarian Rangers were killed off, and many of the survivors scattered and went underground. Those that remained loyal to the Jedi found themselves hunted down as part of Emperor Palpatine's Jedi Purge, further reducing the organization's size and scope. Only a few groups managed to survive the Galactic Civil War, but they were openly sought out by Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. In the years following the Battle of Endor, the organization grew slowly, but proved to be invaluable during the formation and protection of the Great River during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the galaxy.

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  Kilian Rangers: This was the term used to describe the small band of elite warriors which was established to protect the noble houses of Kilia IV. All members of the Kilian Rangers were sensitive to the Force, and were chosen for their skills in using it. The development of an individual Ranger was much different than that of a Jedi student, but there was similar emphasis on the development of their attunement to the Force. The Kilian Rangers were also similar to the Jedi Knights in that some of their membership fell prey to the Dark Side of the Force. These fallen Rangers became members of the Renegades.

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  Dark Rangers: This was another name for the Renegades, those Kilian Rangers who succumbed to the Dark Side of the Force.

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  Nebulon Rangers: This group of space pirates, led by Ssurussk, ambushed many cargo convoys in the Expansion Region of the galaxy during the early years of the New Order.

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  Sector Rangers:A loose association of local system police forces which filled the gaps in the galactic law enforcement system, the Sector Rangers were created by the planetary governors of the Old Republic. The Senate authorized the formation of the Sector Rangers in an effort to bring law enforcement to newly colonied worlds quickly and efficiently. The Jedi Knights couldn't be everywhere, so the Sector Rangers held sway in their own systems. When the Empire overthrew the Old Republic, many of the larger forces were usurped into the Imperial machine as the Imperial Sector Rangers. Others simply fell through the cracks, and remained separate enforcement agencies. After the Battle of Endor, the Sector Rangers continued to bring Imperial law to the worlds of the Outer Rim. The motto of the Sector Rangers read, "What others abandon, we protect."

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  Imperial Sector Rangers: This law enforcement agency was used by the Empire on various worlds where it could not extend full military force. Formed from the ranks of the original Sector Rangers, the Imperial Sector Rangers were sent in to establish order by eliminating rebellious activity.

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  Solonar Rangers: This was a group of para-military mercenaries who were active during the Galactic Civil War. They were easily distinguished by the blue-and-yellow coloration of their armor and vehicles.

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  Tasariq Rangers: Originally formed by Imperial Governor Dem Keval, this was a mercenary police force used to maintain control of the Tasar System during the Galactic Civil War. Governor Keval was given little in the way of resources to keep the system in line, so he hired a group of Iotran mercenaries to patrol the system. He named the group the Tasariq Rangers to give them a measure of legitimacy.


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  Trianii Rangers: An elite army of Trianii which is a highly-skilled legion of law enforcement officials. They are excellent marksmen, and can move with incredible stealth.

Hopefully this will give you some idea of the shere scope that is available for developing Rangers. My personal favourite is the Sector Ranger, and I will be posting further on the subject in the next few days. Thank you for your time.

Regards,

Gov

An excellent read, thanks for taking the time to read and write it all up.

I'll be adding the phrase Kilian Rangermy bio tonight.

Again, thanks.

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theshagnasty wrote:

An excellent read, thanks for taking the time to read and write it all up.

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"SE hopefully will give all professions something to do"

Aye, it should be interesting to see how the Space Expansion will affect the existing professions.

Wonderful! ::Cheers::

I think we should also look at how we see ourselves as well.

I'm not a Ranger yet, still trying to finish up Scout, so feel free to take my comments with a grain of salt.

I see my Ranger as having several abilities. The problem is, aLOT of what I envision for my Ranger is already covered under other professions in SWG.

• CH is probably the biggest one. A Ranger can kill and harvest sure, but I think taming crittersis also aRanger skill. Of course, we didn't get that.


• Marksman/TKM is another. A Ranger should be able to use ANY weapon (cept the wookie xbow maybe) with a reasonable degree of proficiency, and a FEW weapons with a high degree of profeciency. As it stands currently, we really aren't *required* to have a weapon skill, as far as I can tell. TK works just as well for example.


• Bounty Hunter, believe it or not. Not for the aspect of being able to "apprehend" scoff laws, but more from the "drop me naked on any planet in the galaxy, and I'll build a fortress from my enemy's bones" sort of thing. I know some of you may not see BH's as having that ability, but from what I see, they have a better shot at it than we do.


• Commando, fot the same reason as BH.

After thinking this through, it appears that Rangers are pretty unneccesary. There's 4 groups that incorporate skills that Rangers should, but don't, have. Ranger SHOULD BE a solo profession, IMHO, but the skills we need to accomplish that are all in other professions.

Personally, I would like toTHINK of the SWG Rangers as a Antarian/Imp Sector/Kilian combo, including the force sensitivity. Maybe we could only learn 1 or 2 items from the Padewan tree or something. But, we're really not even close to the more "traditional" Ranger role.

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I see my Ranger as having several abilities. The problem is, aLOT of what I envision for my Ranger is already covered under other professions in SWG.

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Given that the SE is currently being worked on, perhaps this is the time to discuss how we would like it to affect the profession. In the Star Wars universe, Rangers were more like a cross between Commandos and Bounty Hunters with quite a bit of space related travel and policing involved. They were paramilitary, they were outdoorsman, but they were also a space exploration and combat oriented profession. So if we're going to have a well balanced profession when the SE is launched, we should really start tossing around the ideas now.

Just a thought,

Gov