The Ariock Rangers had once been the most revered druidic warriors in all the Wildlands, wielding the ancient power of Windborne magic to bend the air and command the howling gales. Though Windborne practitioners had long been scattered throughout the Wildlands, it was the Rangers who first unlocked its secrets, tracing their origins to the House of Azure, a grand stronghold carved into the Peaks of Windstross, deep within the rugged heart of Zor.

Unlike the elemental beings that roamed the land, the Ariock Rangers were mortal, yet their magic was not entirely their own. It had been borrowed—some whispered stolen—from the Ariock Giants, an enigmatic race that once ruled the high places of Windstross. These towering beings, shrouded in storm and legend, had been the first to weave the winds into a force of will, shaping the very tempests that howled through the mountains. Some Windborne Rangers had revered the giants as deities, believing them to be manifestations of the Ides Pantheon’s tempestuous spirits. Others had sworn their lives to the Ariock as guardians, standing watch over the peaks where the giants once tread.

To the Rangers, Windborne magic was more than mere power—it was a way of being. They lived in harmony with the wind, settling in craggy highlands and mist-laden forests where the gales never ceased. The most devout among them sought the highest, most treacherous summits, believing that the wind spoke most clearly in the places where few could survive.

The Beasts of the Windborne

Ariock Rangers did not walk the wilds alone. Throughout their history, they had forged unbreakable bonds with the creatures of the high places—beasts as untamed and elusive as the wind itself. Among them were the Stormhawks, massive birds of prey with wingspans that rivaled a warhorse in length, their feathers shimmering with the hues of a gathering storm. Legends told of rangers who could see through their hawks’ eyes, soaring with them through the skies in spirit, scouting vast stretches of land in the blink of an eye.

Some Windborne took as companions the Storm Owl, sleek, ghostly owls whose screech could carry upon the wind. These beasts, said to be touched by the essence of the storm, could even be trained for battle with their claws like daggers of ice and the ability to summon lightning. It was whispered that the Ariock Giants had once bred these creatures to be their messengers, sending them across the mountains with whispers on the wind, carrying the voices of the gods themselves.

And then there were the Windstriders, large, winged, white elk with golden antlers that crackled with static energy and wings allowing ti to fly with great agility. Few could tame these beasts, but the greatest of the Ariock Rangers rode them into battle, charging through the sky itself as if the air had become solid beneath their hooves.

Epic Conflicts and the Fall of the Ariock Rangers

For centuries, the Ariock Rangers had been the first line of defense for the Wildlands, fighting alongside the Ariock Giants in some of the most legendary conflicts ever recorded. One such war was the Battle of the Thundered Peaks, a devastating clash against the Kunnus Giants, who had descended from the north, seeking to claim Windstross as their own. It was in this war that the Windborne and the Ariock fought as brothers, using their mastery of wind and storm to shatter the invading legions. Though the Windborne stood victorious, they paid a terrible price—the battlefields were left littered with the bodies of both Rangers and Ariock alike, and the Kunnus, though beaten, never forgot their defeat.

Another conflict, the Stormborn Rebellion, erupted when a faction of Windborne sought to break their ancient bond with the Ariock, believing that the giants had grown weak and that their power should be wielded freely, unbound by old pacts. These rebels, known as the Skyshattered, turned against their kin, wielding corrupted wind magic that twisted the very air into deadly gales of razor-thin force. The war that followed sundered entire mountaintops, and in the end, the Skyshattered were cast down from the peaks, their names erased from the House of Azure’s records. Some say their spirits still roam the storms, whispering temptations to those who would betray the old ways.

The final blow to the Ariock Rangers came with the Vanishing of the Ariock. No one knew why, but over the course of a single generation, the giants disappeared from Windstross, leaving their great halls empty and their voices silent upon the wind. Without their ancient allies, the Windborne found themselves dwindling, their numbers too few to hold the mountain passes they had once protected. Some believe that the Ariock slumber in hidden caverns deep within the mountains, waiting for a time when the wind will call them forth once more. Others whisper darker tales—that the gods themselves had turned their backs on the Ariock, cursing them for an unknown betrayal.

Now, the House of Azure stands as little more than a crumbling relic of a bygone age, its halls empty save for the wind that still sings through its shattered corridors. Few true Windborne remain, and those who do are scattered across the Wildlands, wanderers of a fading tradition. Yet, the wind does not forget. It carries with it the echoes of the past, and in the right storm, some say a true Windborne can still hear the voices of their ancestors calling them home.