The Ranger

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STORY:
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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
all who try to enter. 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."

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WEAPONS:
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CLAWS:
+: Fast and silent
+: Projectile can bounce around corners and ignore armor
+: Infinite ammo
-: Weak compared to guns
-: Next to no range for primary fire
Ammo: N/A
Rangers are wild men and women--having been away from society for so long, they
have learned to utilize their natural body as the animals do in order to stay
alive in the wild. Some take to clawing and biting, while others craft ranged
weapons and aim them with a good eye. Terence utilizes both, but until he finds
a ranged weapon his hands and vicious claws suffice for melee.
Primary fire swings the claws back and forth in a rhythm, combined with mighty
knee thrusts. Far from being the typical "hold down primary fire" like the
Cleric and Fighter have, the Claws utilize a Zen-Dynamics-based combo system
that allows for different combos depending upon when primary fire is pressed.
Terence can go from a rapid-striking clawing and kneeing to a powerful lunge
and rip with just a couple clicks.
Secondary fire swings one claw across in a chop, cutting the air and sending
forth a blast of razor-sharp winds. Being wind, it is hardly as powerful as an
actual attack, but it can bounce around corners and penetrate through armor and
shields. It's useful as a cautious way to check out an area, or to break
windows/pots, or simply just to penetrate a wall of shields.


IRONSHEATH:
+: Long Range
+: Beautiful accuracy
+: Large Magazine
-: Lengthy Reload
-: Fanning has very little power
Ammo: Musketshot (Blue Mana)
The Ironsheath Pistol is a unique design for flintlocks, boasting a second
barrel built into the body of the gun underneath the first barrel. This second
barrel acts as a "sheath" for additional rounds, and a simple cock of a hammer
after each shot promptly pulls the next round into the barrel. This design
allows the gun to fire multiple times in rapid succession without needing to
reload right away, providing maximum lethality and rate of fire.
Primary fire unleashes a shot from the barrel, up to 13 shots total before
needing to reload. Surprisingly accurate for a flintlock, the Ironsheath is the
sidearm of choice for a hunter. Boasting an amazingly tight spread even across
a long distance, the Ironsheath allows a combatant to snipe at enemies across a
gap or even across a field. What use is any sort of attack if one can never get
close to you? Even if they do get close, holding primary fire to fan the hammer
allows the wielder to fire rapidly--while the lack of accurate shots means a
lot of grazing blows for less damage, for a sudden influx of rapid-fire burst
damage it can't be beat and is best used against singular and more powerful
targets.
Secondary fire reloads. The biggest problem with the Ironsheath is the lengthy
reload--while bullets and gunpowder thankfully do not need to be inserted one
by one into the sheath, the process for decocking the gun, pulling off the
sheath, putting a new one in, sliding an extra round in the barrel, and then
recocking the gun takes up quite an expanse of time no matter how quick the
wielder's arm is. When one is in the middle of being attacked, the large number
of rounds the Ironsheath can hold feels less like a boon and more like a
tragedy.


SCRAPBOX:
+: Incredible power
+: Excellent spread
-: Small Magazine
-: Slow Rate of Fire
Ammo: Scatterspikes (Green Mana)
During a mid-point of his life, an elven blacksmith found himself with a severe
head injury that hampered his work. Afterwards, all of the chainmail and blades
he crafted would tend to break easily under even the slightest duress. Not one
to be set back by a little thing like brain damage, he decided to put the
formerly-intact pieces of metal that formed his weapons and armor to use and
developed a self-defense weapon both vicious and utilitarian. While he passed
away shortly after, his invention still lives on and has been replicated,
enhanced, and reconstructed for years after.
Primary fire unleashes the power of the Scrapbox--acting as a haldheld cannon
and taking a modified form of scattershot as ammo, the Scrapbox sprays forth a
wide spread of scrap metal that deters any idea of assault up close. The cruel
spikes tear through flesh and imbed themselves in anything solid, be it soft
bone or hard metal. With the spikes lingering for days, perhaps weeks after,
it's obvious to passerbies what battles the Scrapbox helped usher to victory.
The magazine contains seven bundles of scatterspikes, and while this certainly
is not the largest amount, seven shots are often all that is needed in order to
put down even some of the nastiest threats.
Secondary fire reloads. While significantly easier to reload than the painful
Ironsheath, the small magazine size ensures that reloading will become an
inconvenient and commonly-occuring chore. While many people have claimed that
the sheer amount of power negates the problem with such a tiny magazine, others
claim that the only thing better than seven blasts of power is even more blasts
of power.


GODCANNON:
+: Devastating power
+: Regenerating ammo
+: Rapid fire
+: Explosive shots
-: Takes a while to set up
-: Frozen in place when in ready-to-fire mode
-: Runs through ammo quickly
-: Can harm the wielder very easily
Ammo: Phoenix's Soul
When crafting the Godcannon, an arrogant engineer made her goal very clear--a
siege weapon that could tear down even the gates of the afterlife and make even
the gods cry for mercy. The Church attempted to inform her of the price of such
blasphemy, but she ignored them and persisted in her craft. Days later, she was
found dead next to the pieces. The pieces were long since scattered, and even
now the Church denies all involvement, but historians continue to go back and
forth as to whether the assassin was doing the world a favor. When the pieces
are all put together, however, the Godcannon becomes a fearsome siege engine
that more than lives up to its creator's intent.
Secondary fire is where the real meat of the weapon lies, and thus is presented
first. This allows it to swap between Turret mode and Run mode. Run mode allows
it to be portable and carried easily snug under the arms, but unfortunately
leaves it unable to fire. Turret mode sets it up, a dying phoenix soul powering
the cannon and rendering it ready for firing, but unfortunately locks the user
in place so as to handle the recoil.
Primary fire caries depending upon whether the Godcannon is in Turret mode or
Run mode. When in Turret mode, the Godcannon blasts out powerful shots taken
from the phoenix's soul, dealing devastating shots in rapid-fire that explode
in showers of fire upon impact. Unfortunately, the soul only has 100 charges
before it needs to be recharged, and that is where Run mode comes in. When in
Run mode, primary fire takes a crank and starts turning it, stimulating the
soul and helping the phoenix to rebirth. The more the Godcannon is cranked, the
more ammo regenerates, and the more the Godcannon can fire when put in Turret
mode again.



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ITEMS:
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FLECHETTE:
+: Allows for trapping of corridors or doors
+: Incredible defensive potential
-: Needs to be set up beforehand
-: Useless in wide-open spaces
Every Ranger worth their salt knows of the art of hunting: Stalking down some
prey, circling around them, harrassing them, and then lunging in for the kill.
However, one of the most important parts of this art is trapping. Whether it's
to harry the quarry, injure them, wound them, or demoralize them, once the trap
goes off...it's all over.
While nobody really knows what the strange liquid inside the flechette is, for
the Ranger its corrosive properties make things so much easier. Just break the
bottle and scatter the acid-coated pieces all around an area, and you've
instantly got a pile of caltrops. They might seem more of an irritance than
anything deadly at first, but they are truly a potent weapon. The wide spread,
combined with how long they last until an enemy steps on them, all join into a
lethal combination that can render an area almost entirely impassable. Any foe
unfortunate enough to step on them quickly finds their feet sliced and the
liquids injected inside, burning them from within. The Ranger, on the other
hand, can walk back and forth with impunity.
The Flechette is best used for defensive purposes, covering an escape down a
narrow corridor or trapping a doorway that you know an enemy is going to ambush
you from. While they can easily just be thrown into an enemy's face or at their
feet in broad daylight, it's also just as easy to sidestep them, jump over them,
or walk around. While the Flechette is powerful when used for pure offense,
those that prefer strategy and a defensive style of play will get the most use
out of it.


ICON OF THE DEFENDER:
+: Lasts a longer time than the other classes' Icons
+: Triple the damage means triple the carnage
-: Not invulnerable, simply very resistant
-: Still a short duration and still very rare
For the feral Rangers, the law of the wild is ingrained into their very bones:
Strike fast, strike hard, and tear down prey as quickly as possible. Just as
predators of the forest hunt, so the Rangers fight, and so every Ranger is far
more interested in tearing things apart than defending himself. For them, the
best defense is a good offense, and if your offense does not surmount the
challenge then fight harder.
The Icon of the Defender is a small statuette depicting the most stalwart
defense of all--an impenetrable fortress. After hundreds of sieges, a properly-
built castle can still remain standing even through the aeons of time, and so
it has become synonymous with the term 'defense'. Those that hold it recieve a
surge of defensive energy, rendering themselves invulnerable to all attack. So
many warriors' lives have been saved simply by clutching on to this at an
opportune time.
Yet what if someone who simply doesn't believe in the idea of defense gets a
hold on such a powerful defensive artifact? For the Ranger, he will find that
his offense is suddenly the best defense indeed. He finds himself possessed in
a feral rage, the instinct of a predator surging through his veins and giving
him the ability to rip through opposition like nothing else. His Claws can tear
through even the staunchest shield, and his guns pound through even a dragon's
flesh like clumps of dry grass.
This comes at a price, however--with the magic of the statuette twisted so, the
inherent defensive ability is weakened. Rather than rendering him invulnerable,
the Ranger will simply find himself only incredibly resistant. While this could
hardly be considered a downside at all, as very little damage is still going
through, remember that even little ticks of damage can still add up...