Ranger Dinosaur Specialist: Backstory

This is a Ranger Dinosaur Specialist Backstory that you are free to use or adapt for your own character.

Did you know that there are Dinosaurs?! They only exist in some parts of the world but are not easy to find. 

When I was a young one I found a book with pictures of different creatures written by the explorer Jardim Cassons. He found some dinosaurs on an island and carefully took notes and drew them for his book. Ever since I read that book I have been fascinated by the amazing beasts. Every school project I did was about one of these creatures and I even wrote to Mr Cassons once to see if he could tell me more about where to find them. Unfortunately I don’t think he ever got my letter. Perhaps he was off exploring and writing about more exotic creatures. 

Cecilia, the local librarian, is a sweetheart who has tried to find me more books on Dinosaurs but I have not really been able to read anything that gives me new information. 

And so, after a tearful farewell with my parents and a rowdy village sendoff I am off to find my own way through the world in search of Dinosaurs. I want to catalogue them all so that I can become the world’s leading expert on Dinosaurs. 

I can see that you are sceptical of my plan and my skills but there is no need to be. You see, I may not have trained to track dinosaurs, exactly but I did spend an awful lot of time with Boondor, the local ranger and guide. They taught me to track, hunt and survive in the wild. So I have no doubt that I will be fine. In fact, I will be better than fine. I love being in nature much more than I love being indoors. Sleeping inside for too long makes me feel claustrophobic.  

The first time Boondor took me out and we slept outside was difficult for me. We were tracking a pack of rogue wolves who were killing the local sheep just for the sport of killing. 

Anyway, we were tracking this pack through the woods and that first night was difficult with the bugs, the hard ground and the sounds of the forrest which were unfamiliar to me. Today though I find it more difficult to sleep when I don’t have the right sounds of the night, the damp mossy earth smell and the hard earth beneath me. 

Oh yes, the wolves were vicious. It would have been much different if they were just hungry and eating one or two, I mean, the farmers account for that kind of loss, but this was gruesome. They had killed every one of the sheep, torn them open and eaten barely anything. As it turns out we were actually chasing a pack of wolves that were trained by Orcs. The Orcs were using the wolves as a distraction while they readied to attack the village. 

Boondor and I barely made it home ahead of the Orcs. We barely managed to evacuate the village before the orcs came and when we returned home we found the village in ruins. We had lost everything. 

Mayor Tamboor decided that we would move further towards town and rebuild there in hopes of deterring the orcs. So we packed up the little that we could salvage and moved closer to town. I lost my book in the raid. It was such a senseless act of violence. Orcs are pure violence and I will never trust them. 

Two years later the village was rebuilt closer to town which also made trade easier and saw some of the young folks moving to the bigger town to seek opportunities for more. I never quite got over my loss of that book and eventually Boondor and Cecilia took me aside and told me that I needed to go and find real life dinosaurs and write my own book on the subject. 

I wasn’t sure at first but then I realised that they were absolutely right. I could become the world’s expert on these amazing creatures and I could help other people know more about them. 

And so here you find me, friend, travelling the world in search of Dinosaurs so that I can write about them.