Order of the Oak
This is the order of the Three Kingdoms, each kingdom volunteering men to serve in the Order. Each of the members must be an expert woodsman: able to survive in the Great Dark Oak Forest that borders all three Kingdoms.
This is the order of the Three Kingdoms, each kingdom volunteering men to serve in the Order. Each of the members must be an expert woodsman: able to survive in the Great Dark Oak Forest that borders all three Kingdoms.
The charter of the Order states that it shall protect the Great Dark Oak Forests from encroachment, stop all marching armies (any direction), and protect the people of the Three Kingdoms from Hellspawned creatures that come from the occasional Hellpit found there. To that end, the Order of the Oak patrols the Dark Oak Forest, the few Forest roads and paths, and the Forest borders. They train their members in the frightening and magical ways of Great Oak Forest, riding, combat with man and beast, and their mythical skill in running. They have created a network of way stations, cached camp sites, and warding stones, to aide them in this task.
There are currently a hundred and twenty dark green clad rangers protecting Humanity from the Forest and the Forest from Humanity.
The Symbol of the Order is three oak leaves in trifoli (every 120 degrees). Some members of the order will put a few silver/ gold/ red threads in one of the leaves, to show which country they are from.
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? Responses (10)
I like the group. This organization could have factions, some of the political, maybe a religious one as well. That would make it more interesting.
What about bonded animals? That is an idea that might work for this. It is a magical place that they are containing, why not use magic to do it?
I had not thought of that specifically for this organization. You could run this easily without it.
You could add it easily enough. Those who survive the training would have one last test, they would have to find their familiar in the forest. Find a game with bonding rules and you are all set.
As for the Magic, that could also be done. It would change the entire complexion of a campaign using this Order. Maybe a little touch of druid/ nature magic. I would think there might be some magic users in the Order already. Not everyone is a 'Ranger'
How small can we go with this?
Standard Green Ranger of the Oak, the only difference being that they are volunteers, and three kingdoms provide 40 men each. That's not much manpower, unless they are kinda like green berets or special forces.
Depending on exactly how large the forest is, 120 might be all that is needed. Remember, they have a near-mythic capability for running, which I'm assuming means they can patrol the forest much easier than a "normal" group.
A nice useful submission.
I guess the question is Why? Why would anyone sign up, and why would the kingdom's intentionally create such a barrier between their kingdoms? A self-administered peacekeeping force?
Without bringing into effect modern ethics 'Save the Trees' why would the kingdoms spend resources providing recruits - who could be useful soldiers, armies, etc? Why would they want an uncontrolled military force on their borders?
The Forest is a two fold problem.
1) Monsters and Dark Things exist in the forest. Every kingdom is interested in preventing these things from entering their kingdom from the forest, or escaping into another country's land and then crossing over into their kingdom. If you send your forces into the forest and in pursuit of the monsters crosses into another kingdom's territory, you have committed an act of war (exploitable by diplomats).
2) Monsters and Dark Things could be pulled from the forest and used as weapons, unleashing them against other kingdoms. (Sometimes they critters could be herded into another country).
It is in everyone's interest if the monsters are stopped and no one's military is involved (and no kingdom uses the monsters for their own advantage). Thus throwing a few recruits into the Order every few years is a small price to pay to have these problems solved and a DMZ of sorts created.
Also having a mixed number from every kingdom prevents one side from weaponizing The Order and keeps everyone honest.
