The Ranger
The world of Cronos is a world under absolute rule. The Legion, the Arcanum, and the Church, collectively known as the Three, control all aspects of human society. Individualism is no longer existent, as even the most minute details of everyday life are controlled and regulated. Thought is monitored and people are constantly watched, and privacy does not exist even in one’s own home. Their aims are admirable–to keep mankind from destroying itself under the sheer power it holds in its hands.
Without the Legion, humankind would be able to create greater and greater weapons, crafting devastating tools of war and honing their bodies to perfection.
Without the Arcanum, the sheer possibilities of experimentation with magic could unweave the fabric of reality and bring about torment for all eternity.
Without the Church, people would be unable to know what is truly “right” and “wrong”, and would be willing to exploit and hurt each other simply for satisfaction.
Their aims are admirable. Unfortunately, the aims of the Three have become twisted–the iron grip that they have on man have clenched tighter and
tighter over time, as each leader only continues to stifle humanity. They have gone from a necessary evil for the greater good to cruel tyrants crushing with power nobody else can wield, and not a single day goes by without laws twisted to ensure even more control over the populace.
When Korax invaded and conquered Cronos, it hardly seemed any worse. An agonizing death at the hands of his unholy minions was little different than a life spent under the hands of the Three.
Yet, there is one locale that stays far out of the reach of the Three.
The Legion controls human might and technology.
The Arcanum controls human knowledge and magic.
The Church controls human spirituality and philosophy.
All of these, however, deal with concepts begat from society and order that are strictly human. For a realm where societies no power and orders are ever-changing, the Three have no hold.
Thus enters the very inhuman realm of nature. Horrifying beasts, unexplored woods, terrifying waters, deadly caverns, nature has held the world in its thrall long before humans were etched into history. For those that wish freedom from the Three, the arms of nature spread wide in a welcome to all humans–provided they survive. Those that flee the towns of the Three will find that nature can be just as cruel, but those who tackle any challenge become warriors legendary in their abilities.
Such people are known as Rangers. Rangers become not unlike beasts themselves in human guise, with light movements in the shadows of the night and striking faster than fangs unsheathed from a gaping mouth. It is said that to know a Ranger is to know aeons of the wild, to have one as an ally is to have a loyal warrior who considers you his pack, and to have one as an enemy is to forever disbar the forests as a safe place to traverse.
One Ranger in particular is Terence. While hardly the one-man-army that other Rangers can boast of being, for Terence he has had life in both the wild and in society. Having been born in the city, raised in the wild, loved and married in a humble town, and then fled back to the forests after tragedy, he has suffered and prospered on both sides. So, now, as the communities of Cronos decline, the Three bolster their grip with the curse of unlife, and Korax continues to spread his evil influence, he decides to strike back.
The next night, the Ranger climbs down from the mountains, lowering himself to the front of the legendary Winnowing Hall. Among the first of the many places set upon by Korax’s minions, the chapels bell sounds out as a death knell for doom. Two-headed beasts, Ettins, patrol the courtyard, while gargoyles blackened from constantly-pulsing hellfire patrol the skies.
At the sight of this, a smirk crosses his face. His only response is to crack his knuckles, punctuated with one statement:
“Show me what you’ve got.”
