From EncyclopAtys
The Way of the Ranger (2)
No one ever said being a Ranger was easy.
Being various statements of Wuaoi Yai-Zhio on the subject of being a Ranger, collected from Ranger Assemblies from JY 2580 through JY 2599 and cast in the form of a conversation.
Collected by Ba'Ruly Wiser, scribe to Wuaoi Yai-Zhio.
The Second day.
Aspirant: I have meditated, and it seems to me that one Precept is different from the others. All the others have to do with our actions, but Memory is different. Why are we instructed to remember Oflovak Rydon?
Wuaoi: It is not as different as you might think. Do you know who Oflovak Rydon was? Obviously he was a Fyros, but do you know anything else?
Aspirant: He was one of the Fyros who arrived early in the New Lands. I heard he met Elias Tryton in Oflovak’s Oasis, and then he went back to the Old Lands? I also heard he helped refugees flee in the Old Lands. It’s all confusing to me.
Wuaoi: There is a rite that is given in the Desert that will explain some of that, and give you a cube of knowledge about him. That will tell you how, during the Great Swarming, he was leading refugees away from the Kitin when Elias Tryton appeared to him on a hilltop and told him of the Rainbow Gates and told him further, that he was leading the refugees in the wrong direction. He turned around and led the refugees to the Rainbow Gate and safety in the refuge that was prepared. But that is only part of the story.
He worried about those left behind, those he had been unable to lead to the Gates. He managed to leave the refuge and navigate his way back to the Old Lands using his knowledge of the stars. He marked his path and then returned to the New Lands, blazing a trail behind him to let other refugees follow. That was the Path of Exodus, which still allows refugees to escape the Kitin in the Old Lands and come to the New Lands.
Even more important to us, Oflovak Rydon was the person who first recruited the Homins who pledged to help lead refugees to the New Lands. Some of those refugees were the founders of what eventually became the Rangers of Atys. He did not create the structure of the Rangers, nor determine our current missions, nor found our camps, that was for later Homins, but his actions in that alone would be enough to remember him.
Even more, we should always remember that he started life as a simple adventurer and explorer, not as a leader. He turned his back on that life to work to save Hominkind from the Kitin, and then he spent six years of his life to find and mark the Path. For that reason we honour his memory most when we fight the Kitin to preserve Hominity here in the New Lands, and we honour it as well when we turn our backs on simple adventures and simple loyalties, and pledge to work to aid all Homins.
Aspirant: So the Rangers were not involved with the Rainbow Gates? I thought they made the Rainbow Portals to reach the refuge during the Second Swarming.
Wuaoi: No, those were created by a Trytonist Guild and were not the same sort of thing at all. The original Rainbow Portals were either made by Elias Tryton or simply discovered by him; the records are unclear. Certainly the Rangers do not know the secret of making them.
Aspirant: Oflovak Rydon first discovered the Path of Exodus. Is this the Path that we are expected to preserve, according to the Precept of Preservation?
Wuaoi: Yes, in part. Keeping that Path open is a continuous task, since the growth of Atys continually threatens to close it. It is one that we Rangers undertake on a regular basis. Protection is a part of it, too, protecting refugees when we come upon them and helping them to come here. But if that were all, then it would be just a job description, not a Precept.
However, if you consider the Precept in a deeper sense, it is the duty of the Ranger to preserve all paths. We are Pathfinders. The Path back to the original homes of Homins is a long one, and keeping that open is a task that is continuous. It is a one way path, so that we do not upset the Kitin in the Old Lands. However, keeping other Paths open to Homins through our actions in the New Lands is just as important, both the physical paths that we use, and the philosophical ones as well, and both of them can be two way paths.
Aspirant: I see.
Wuaoi: Good, now go and build your skills and Fame. I need to rest.
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