A Ranger's Repentance, Vol. II - The Journal of Kodiak Nash

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The Kriv
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A Ranger's Repentance, Vol. II - The Journal of Kodiak Nash

Post by The Kriv » Sat Jul 18, 2020 12:39 am

The quill is dabbed into the ink a few times, then given a single shake before laying tip to parchment. The first touch always leaving the heaviest glob:
" 3rd Leafall, Ar163, All fixed up."
A moment of thought before progressing.
Repairs complete. The storms this past summer have devastated the wood. The fallen trees have blocked old trails and forced new ones by those seeking Writ-Work in the area.... and by the goblinoids... who've now brought in worg riders. The speed and frequency with which the Foesmasher goblins now move through the North Wood has blazed new paths into near permanent trails. Even the few adventurers from Cordor venturing into the ruined keep use them.

The outpost, though, is fully intact (thank the Forest Queen!). Some young'ish wilderness folk have been making use of it in their training within the Bramble, but for the most part, the number of our elder rangers dwindles. The one Ryvvik entrusted to run the Watch when he had to depart seemed it easier to move its headquarters to Darrowdeep, but in the six months I've been back, I've not seen a single sign of that person at any of the Watch camps or outpost.

I've left word when I first arrived with Darrowdeep, and a note posted at the Ranger Cabin in Arelith Forest's Shallow Wood, but still nothing. Even Archdruid Beryl and her mate, Edgar have moved on. So far, Piwiewiel has been the only light of our ranger troupe who seems to be about.

Since I've been back, I have stopped by my old office at the Skull Crag Ranger Station, but I haven't had a chance to climb up the path to Guldorand yet and check in with the Shields. That will have to wait.

I was very happy to read that a new ranger has taken up residence in my old quarter at the Crags Ranger Station. I was a little disappointed to see so few repair and workstations that Trynn and I built and stocked have survived, but that's the way of things I guess... The reports-archive we had been building there is also gone. I will never understand why folk seem to think that day-to-day report activities are unworthy of keeping. It is those old writings that help remind us of 'other' events around that time... and who was active, and periods of peace... oh well. Again.. such is the world.

Speaking of old reports... I found one surviving note from Ryvvik... it seems we missed each other by 2 years...

and inside that time, the Bramble Watch has lost all of it's knowledge archives spanning 25 years AR126 to AR161, and its member roster nearly lowered to zero. Good leadership is a difficult thing to find, and even harder to keep. Rangers are a solitary lot, and without that one or two key folk to bind them together... ?

Nearly fourty years of history and documentation... and a roster of a dozen rangers, now, lost and scattered to the wind. I'm really sad about this... but.. blame doesn't rest with just him... it rests with us all. A year? Six months... A season, even... if I had only left one sooner, I might have been able to salvage at least our history. This is a burden I shall bear for a long time.

For now...
She taps the quill to the inkwell... the ink depleted, Kodiak frowns, puts up the feather-quill, and caps the empty inkwell and closes the journal.

"Well, Kregor... " she says into the air, "Wherever you are... I'm going to have to try and continue your legacy another day.

Before carefully placing it in the bottom of her pack... she wraps it neatly in a linen cloth next to another, far older and worn journal... the words "A Ranger's Repentance by Kregor Boldheart" fading on the spine.
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Re: A Ranger's Repentance, Vol. II - The Journal of Kodiak Nash

Post by The Kriv » Wed Aug 26, 2020 3:46 pm

Kodiak sits on a stump before a roaring cook fire. The black lid of a large cast-iron pot is held open a sliver by the handle of a long wooden stirring ladle. The magnificent aroma of slow simmer rosemary infused rabbit stew catches a breeze and fills the air with scent of comfort food.

She sharpens the tip of an eagle quill, and dabs it in the ink pot. The quill hovers above the softwood fibers of homemade parchment as she considers her first letters.

Finally, ink touches parchment.
6th Day of Hammer(Deepwinter) Year 165 AR
Who are The Bramble Watch Rangers?
She pauses a moment, the soft of the feathered end tickles her chin a moment before she continues,
Many have asked who the Bramble Watch Rangers are. Some have assumed (wrongly) that because they do not see us milling about our camp whenever they visit, we must not exist. To which I always reply: "Just because you don't see us, does not mean we are not there."

So, who are the Bramble Watch Rangers? We are the ultimate locals. The Bramble Watch maintains a few small camps around the island. Traditionally our main outpost, and that which we take our name, is on a hilltop in the Southern Bramble Woods. But Bramble Watch Rangers are not rangers of the Bramble Woods. We are found throughoutt the island of Arelith and many other regions of this archipelago.

Each Bramble Watch Ranger decides for themselves to which region or territory they will take on and become an expert on. This region may change over time, as the needs of the individual ranger changes and brings them into new regions where they then become the expert on there as well.

Back at the Bramble Watch Headquarters, Bramble Watch Rangers drop off reports from their own observations and findings of their own region, to educate and update their fellow Bramble Watch Rangers who are out in their own respective regions or territories. And in dropping off their report, they, themselves, read the updates left by their Watcher-colleagues, updating themselves on the goings on in other territories and regions. This collective knowledge... knowledge that only an individual LOCAL possesses, is shared among the group of Bramble Watchers, and thus ALL of The Bramble Watch may become experts on the happenings across Greater Arelith and the whole of the Archipelago.

This mission, of being the ULTIMATE Local, is the very core essence of what it is to be a Ranger.

Each individual Bramble Watcher, as they live out their day-to-day lives in the regions and territories of their own choosing... because they LIVE there... often take part in whatever local groups to that region defend and protect that territory. For example: Guldorand as a town, has a group of defenders who call themselves The Shields. A Bramble Ranger who makes their home in Guldorand and the region of The Skull Crags, might also join the Guldorand Shields as a tracker. And in doing so is to a greater degree plugged into the goings on of the Skull Crags Region.

The Bramble Watch does not participate in Politics. It is as a group who, as part of our stated mission, "to be emissaries of the wylds to convene in peace with the settlements. Of course we wish our neighbors and our governments to not be 'evil' and so we work to promote the good. An individual Bramble Watcher may participate local elections, may fight alongside local armed forces against evil, but in general, The Bramble Watch, as an organization, DOES NOT involve itself in the politics of the settlements unless the subject matter directly involves the well-being of the wilderness. What is best for the wilderness is the underlying theme of the worldview.


The Bramble Watch and The Heartwood Grove.

The Heartwood is the default seat and central pivot for all things dealing with nature and the natural world. The Bramble Watch fully acknowledge the Heartwood in this leadership role. And, of course, the Bramble Watch fully supports and respects the Heartwood and its Archdruid. Same with the Archdruid of the jungle's Darkheart Grove... or Dragon Grove, or whatever it chooses to call itself. The Bramble Watch needs not always agree with the decisions of the Archdruids, nor any other of the great surface druid groves of Arelith, but... The Bramble Watch will always respect their decisions. And we do our best to work alongside them, whatever the path, since the greater goals and priorities are always in perfect alignment.

Kodiak sits back, and collects her thoughts. She reads over the text a bit, gives a satisfactory nod, and sprinkles a bit of powder of the still-drying ink before blowing on it a few times and finally folding it up and slipping behind the back cover of a worn, but strongly bound, leather travel journal.
-Unit of beauty required to launch one ship = 1 milihelen

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