Home

The sigil of the Blacksteel Rangers.

Next in the musical blog queue is the song “Home” which is a song of the Blacksteel Rangers. This group of mercenaries features primarily in Dustin’s works. This was also the inspiration for the name of our business! I’ve taken a small stab (heehee) at trying to design a good representation of their sigil or banner.

Dustin wrote some more about the Blacksteel Rangers here.

Of the song “Home” Dustin says:

The Blacksteel Rangers are a hard bunch of mercenaries who will work for anybody - they don't make moral judgements, they just do their job and get paid. A lot of military formations in a feudal world don't get regular combat experience. That's what makes cultures like the Vikings or Ghengis' Mongols so dangerous - they fight all the time; and people who fight all the time tend to get really good at it. People tend to adapt to and get better at things they do often, so a culture or group who is constantly engaged in some level of conflict tend to build up a body of experience and institutional knowledge which makes them deadly in action. That's where the Rangers are - they've got more time in battle than most knights or professional soldiers, so they tend to fight very effectively and aggressively, which means they're more likely to be on the winning side, which reduces casualties, which reinforces both their relative level of skill and their reputation - but it also means people absolutely dread seeing their banner on the other side. I wanted their song, too.

The story behind the song is that the core of the unit are mostly Aruthiens, formed at a time when a lot of Aruthien people were turning to mercenary work because their homeland was so poor. They didn't want to go abroad to fight in the cruel wars, but they felt they had no choice. Aruthiens have a superstition that if they die outside of their homeland, that they'll get to glimpse some part of home one last time before they 'go on' to the afterlife. This is a song about that.

I think the song is from Cas' grandad's time. It's a bit melancholy, because the other effect of constant combat is that experienced veterans start to realize that eventually, their number will come up, and they'll catch and arrow or step left when they should've stepped right, and it'll be the last glimpse for them. Thus the song.

I suspect the Rangers probably sing the song when drinking or at night. It probably wouldn't be well known outside of the Rangers, at least during the time period we're in right now (foreshadowing!)

My favorite element of the song is this tone we hear that the singer expects his time is nearly up, and he hasn't necessarily been a good fellow, and that the last glimpse of home before he goes on might be the last pleasant thing that happens to him.

Personally, I think this is probably Rowan’s best work for us to date. Support Rowan on Patreon or find his works on YouTube. And of course, listen to “Home” right here and let us know what you think.

Till next time dear readers, enjoy some music and stay tuned for more insights. <3 Tiff