Five items from A Link to the Past any Ranger Scout would be proud to own.
Boomerang: A basic boomerang that stuns enemies, grabs items, and flips switches from afar.
The wide open plains seem to open up infinitely in all directions. Many areas are devoid of anything that could provide meaningful cover or act as a landmark for reference. Ranger Scouts earning their plains patches can take advantage of the open air to master the boomerang. The returning nature of the boomerang also helps Ranger Scouts not lose their tools in the long grasses.
Stories of the hero in green have been passed from one generation to the next since the hero first appeared to save the world from the forces of darkness. When children hear that the hero often employed a boomerang in their adventures, many inevitably wish to learn to use the weapon. It is not uncommon for children to embellish their first boomerang with images of creatures and symbols from the stories that inspired them to learn the boomerang in the first place.
Bow and Arrows: Link employs the bow and arrow with lethal efficiency. Link’s shots fly truer and straighter than the laws of physics would allow.
Many Ranger Scouts have achieved lasting fame by mastering the bow and arrow. Some choose to pursue the art of sharpshooting with hefty longbows, reaching a trance like state to perfectly control themselves to make a singular perfect shot. Others choose to master the chaotic art of launching volleys of arrows from a speeding mount. These mounted archers are able to move with such speed as to sometimes threaten themselves with crossfire.
It is said that in the time before the calamity, people only hunted animals for food and sport. These days few people could conceive of such a peaceful time. Hunters track monstrous abominations that threaten to destroy or corrupt all that breathes or drinks. Only the oldest tales speak of a time before the calamity. They describe a time when the people actually created the metallic monstrosities to serve. No one believed these tales until an unfamiliar creature with pristine metallic skin arrived from the lands where the sun sets.
Basket: Link is given this basket during a scavenger hunt. Link is given a cryptic clue for each object. If Link is able to solve all ten riddles by returning all ten objects, he is given the ability to make a magic spin attack.
A Ranger Scout troop marches on its stomach. Ranger Scouts are trained from an early age to always gather what they need to survive from the land when times are plentiful. A Scout’s prized possession is often the basket or bag that holds the rations that will sustain them when they are traveling on missions.
In a time that was old when our grandparents were young, there lived a wealthy warlord who was terrified of dying. The wealthy warlord offered to grant any boon to the person that could make the wealthy warlord live forever. An aged hedge-witch appeared and offered to make them immortality in exchange for three things of their choosing. The wealthy warlord quickly agreed and so the hedge-witch went about removing the wealthy warlord’s death. The wealthy warlord’s death was placed in an acorn, which was placed in a snake, and then the snake in a falcon, and then the falcon in a basket. The basket was then placed beneath the roots of a tree, on an unmapped island, in an impenetrable fog, off the coast of a faraway land. As long the wealthy warlord did not touch their death, they were immortal. The witch asked first for the wealthy warlord’s wealth which they happily gave knowing they had all eternity to earn a new fortune. The witch then asked for the warlord’s title, which they gave willingly thinking they could win all manner of victories being immortal. The witch looked at the penniless immortal of no renown and asked them for their memory. The pauper could not remember why they were in audience with the wealthy witchlord and felt as if any business they had was done. The penniless peasant stumbled out of the witchlord’s fortress and wandered far from these lands, never to be seen again.
Green Jerkin: The shared uniform of heroes throughout the ages. While the outfit offers no special protections, it does identify the wearer as an individual marked by destiny.
Most travelers do not die at the end of a bandit’s blade or by the claw of a savage beast. Simple exposure takes more lives than anything in the wildlands. Ranger Scouts are endlessly drilled on the benefits of wearing protective garments at all times. Uninformed travelers often gawk when they see Ranger Scouts covering every inch of skin even in the hottest weather. Scouts know it is better to be gawked at and alive than it is to die because of an avoidable sunburn that leads to exhaustion.
If a regent calls their banners together to muster an army, most of the fighting force will not be wealthy knights in shining plate riding atop purebred mounts. Most soldiers will don a chainmail shirt over a quilted jacket. The veteran soldiers will know to wear a tunic in their banner’s colors with the sigil stitched into the front and the back to ensure that they don’t end up stabbed to death by a friendly soldier who happened to mistake them for the enemy.
Compass: The compass in the Legend of Zelda games are interesting because they allow Link to identify the notable contents of dungeon rooms rather than ensuring Link does not become lost in the wilderness.
While most Ranger Scouts often have the luxury of the open sky to orient themselves. Ranger Scouts traversing the Endless Forest can rarely see the sun and stars through the dense canopy. To ensure scouts do not get lost, every scout is given a compass upon their initial assignment to the Endless Forest.
This compass never points in the same direction for long. To the uninformed, it appears to be totally useless, if not dangerous. Those that know the secret of the compass are able to conjure symbols around the perimeter of the compass face indicating the presence and direction of important landmarks within one league of the compass.
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None of these are really my favorite images. The boomerang feels too childish and the perspective on the compass is just incorrect. This is all about practice though. I wouldn’t publish anything if I only published things I really thought looked great.
Please don’t profit off my efforts without my consent. Feel free to use my work in your personal life as you see fit.
As always, be excellent to everyone.
-Ceph
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