The King's Rangers are an elite group of the Cambrian Army who have played a crucial role in preserving
the independence of the country from its more populous neighbour Reetland to the East. It is commonly
thought that they owe their existence to
St Erin but in fact they were founded by
St James and turned into a key strike force by
St Olwyn.
They do, however, follow the faith of St. Erin almost to a man and his clerics are an integral part of
their units.
In the beginning they were deployed almost exclusively as woodland troops and they tended to strike from
ambush but even by the time of the
First Northern War they were trained to also appear
on the open battlefield as elite archery units. Most of their training occurs in the wild at secret camps
so it has been very difficult for enemy spies to assess their numbers but most historians think they
actually formed about half the army at the time of St. Olwyn and maybe a sixth of its numbers in the
present time.
Cambria's enemies have frequently thought of the rangers as 'scouts' and been surprised by how deadly
their encounters with the them have been. Even as recently as the
Battle of Maddon Reetland accounts have
referred to them as 'irregular troops' implying a lack of experience, discipline and skill and then
been surprised by the outcome when meeting them on the battlefield.
Today they are almost exclusively deployed in the Northern Marches protecting the realm from whatever
comes out of the
Rift.
Although historically they have taken pride in the title 'King's Rangers' there is some irony in that
title now as they have by tradition always been raised in the northern provinces and therefore they
are loyal to
Lord Fairchild in his current disputes with
King Burgred. It is undoubtedly because of this that the King
formed the
Red Asps as a new spy organisation; previously this function had
been undertaken by units of the Rangers.