June  24, 98 Y.L. Rei's Journal

After 80 years, the Kiannon Scouts have acquired a bit of a mystique.  Children pretend to be scouts, exploring Kiannon with nothing but a weapon and a map.  We laugh at our little ones, but we are a bit in awe of them as well.  Especially after the Kraik Massacre.  No one but a Scout would dare try to leave a settlement on their own and map the territory. 

Scouts are a strange bunch of misfits.  Some are outcasts from the Founders Sect, some are AGP members who want to do something other than be a merchant and the rest...well they are just a bit different from the rest of us.  They can't stand living in the settlements or in the outposts.  They feel more comfortable outdoors.  When they come back with scars and stories of what lies beyond the walls of our outposts, they have a confidence and an air that makes some look up to them as heroes.  Some of them never come back at all.  If a year passes and they haven't checked in with us, we hope they're safe.  Some of our scouts decide to leave the colony behind.  Others disappear into the Kiannon wilderness.  Our technology can only monitor them.  It can't keep them completely safe from wild creatures.   

The Founders Sect keeps track of the Scouts.  We send them out to explore our new world.  Their training comes from us and we give them the technology and the provisions to leave Vieta, Eldritch or Cathay and head to the Northwest.  We give them animals native to Kiannon to ride instead of sending out transports that are unreliable in Kiannon's weather and terrain.  If they come back, they come to Cathay to heal and rest.  After soaking in the sunlight and the peace, most wake up one day, pack their bags, saddle their pack animal and pick up another assignment, leaving before the sun hits Cathay's outer walls.  Like I said, they are different from most.

Given the push to expand the colony beyond this continent and seed outposts to the West of Coracle, we need the Scouts more than ever.  With the AGP's new leader: Constantin Monterreil, I need the Scouts more than ever: to keep an eye on what they are up to in Vieta and our outposts in the North.  I don't want them to be first contact if we find any sentient species.   

If you don't know much about the Scouts, let me explain a bit more.  

The Scouts are a mixture of forest ranger, spy and explorer.  They have a loose allegiance to the Founders Sect.  Many of them considered becoming a formal member for the Sect, but didn't like the constraints or the politics.  Some were children brought up by the Sect in the Founders home - an orphanage for children who lost family members in the early years of the Colony.  And some were just people without an aim after they woke up from the Sleep.  They wanted to get as far away from the Mothership and technology as they could.  The Founders Sect took on the responsibility of training them back then and we've kept it going.  The military wasn't interested in doing it.  They were concerned with keeping the settlements and the outposts safe. 

Like I said, we equip the scouts.  Here is a short list of what we give them.

* Flitters - Paper-thin like robots that can be folded up into a pocket or a pouch. When activated, they can fly and scan the nearby area for obstacles, physical threats (animals) and send messages to the Mothership via the satellites that now surround the planet.  They remind me of the origami that my grandmother used to entertain me with, but with small computers chips embedded in them. They can be unobtrusive for those Scouts that are spying.

* Cells - these are small devices that can be used to communicate and capture records, journal entries and videos of their journey throughout Kiannon. The cells can also contact the Mothership or others via the Satellites that surround the planet.  Sometimes the Scout goes missing and the cell stays active.  They help us figure out what happened.  

* Force Barriers - Four or more poles about as long as croquet sticks that can be set up around a campsite.  When activated, they generate a force field between the poles and then extend that force field a good 10 feet above the ground. They are not heavy, but they can be clunky if you are not used to setting them up.  These are probably the most valuable piece of equipment we give them, beyond the basic tents and survival gear.  If they can get the force barrier up, they can generally survive most creatures out there that want to eat them.  

* Parda - are pack animals native to Kiannon.  I would describe them as a meld of a goat and a small horse.  They are cute except when you get in the way of them eating.  They are perfect companion animals for Scouts.  They are fast movers over rough ground and high places and they can carry the weight of a large man.  I've heard that they are good at alerting Scouts about nearby threats.  They outrun nearly everything on Kiannon - even Red Kraiks on the hunt.