The Legend of Ranger Murie

Recorded by Holis Nuem, Historian.
As told by Elena Grennet.

A statue has now long stood at the center of the Grove, next to the old Ranger Station that stands proudly after all this time. The peoples of the Grove know it well, and the little placard that adorns the base. “Ranger Murie, the First of the Grove, who brought together the hearts and minds of the Planes to help us become what we are today.”

But that does not tell the story of the legendary Ranger Murie, and how such a hero came to be. Elena Grennet of Agil grew up in the Grove during its formation, and was friends with Ranger Murie. Through the many mysteries of the Banda’s quantum realm, I, Holis Nuem, am able to recount to you the true story of how the Grove formed and Ranger Murie’s part in it from the account of Elena.

Before the Grove was simply the Quantum Realm. It stood time unbounded, outside the universe itself. It held the fundamental properties of all universes that came before and all that will come after and among it, its caretaker, who we simply know now as Banda. The primordial quantum being tended to and played among its quantum realm, balancing different fundamental forces in interesting ways to itself, seeking yet more unique ways that universal laws could be tweaked. It had been doing this for untold billions of years. As the current universe runs its course, one must stand outside, as an observer, to collapse all the possibility and probabilities from uncertainty, to certainty: Banda.

Standing outside of time, all time existed at once. The beginning and end of the universe, and all that happens in between was both an eternity and femtosecond. Banda always took moments of time to peer deep into the myriad of galaxies and stars that speckled universes to see the life and creatures and peoples that inhabited them, and was fascinated by what had formed during the iterations of playing with fundamental properties.

That is, until our universe. Somehow, after uncounted universes had come and gone, something about ours was strange and uncertain. A fragment of the Agilian plane — one of trillions of trillions of potential planes from all the stars in all the galaxies, bliped into existence within the Quantum Realm, then another, and another. Something had been tweaked and pushed the doors of the realm open, usually impossibly distant and wholly distinct from the universe itself.

But the Quantum Realm is no place for finite universal creatures and is quite inhospitable. The fragments screamed through the starry expanse, the matter interacting with the realm, causing strange and wondrous things to coalesce as they were observed by new observers. At first, Banda watched in fascination as these fragments soared through their nebulous abyss. But Banda was pulled from their deep fascination when they realized that these large pieces were inhabited and a flurry of actions began.

Murie recounts that during this time of falling across a sudden expanse of quantum ether, her concern was getting the people of the campground to safety. She called out orders and helped as many as she could to the cabins and yurts that were firmly rooted to the ground so people would not fly or tumble off the fragment. It was during these actions of duty, that she disappeared and was brought face to face with a small, white furry creature with a black stripe down its back and a short snout. For a long while Murie tried to speak to this creature, trying to gather some kind of information as to what was going on with no answer. Until, after an uncertain amount of time, it spoke:

“I am known as The Little One Who Sings to the Soils,” it said. “at least, that is what some peoples of many universes ago who discovered that this place existed said I was called. Yours are the first to ever see this realm, let alone enter it. Who are you?”

It was strange, The Little One Who Sings to the Soils was not speaking Murie’s language, but its own quark-based language, but somehow, Murie could understand. “We are,” Murie hesitated. “I am Murie, I help those at our campground, and I’m trying to save those campers now. Can you help us?”

The little creature nodded, and upon its head a little ranger hat appeared that matched Murie’s. “Over many countless universes, things are always different, but one thing that is constant is the connection of sentient species back to their surrounding natures,” The Little One Who Sings to the Soils grinned. “It has always fascinated me — the need for campgrounds and a return to nature. I can help. I do not know what galaxy or stars you call home in the vastness of the universe, and I don’t know how you came to be here, but within this realm, I have the power to help. Many different planes are appearing here. Four so far. I’m sure more will come. I know not of the ways of the peoples and creatures, of the natures of each, and I need assistance as well. Will you help me?”

“Of course! I will gladly help!” Murie exclaimed. “What do you need?”

“All the planes and biomes, all the creatures and peoples, need to be taken care of, to be kept healthy and prosperous. Become Ranger Murie, the First of the Grove, to learn all you can of peoples and interactions, and build a fresh community here so that all may thrive.”

Murie nodded in agreement. A new fragment appeared beneath her feet, the creature before her, once floating among galaxies, rested on a small mound in a grassy grove surrounded by an old pine forest, an A-Framed log cabin built itself a hundred meters away against the treeline, and a large campfire with log seating and string lights pushed from the pine needle covered ground. “This isn’t what I really look like,” The Little One Who sings to the Soils sheepishly said. “In the last universe, there were creatures that looked like this on an unassuming plane that the inhabitants called prairie dogs. I was quite fond of them and their behavior. I’m really a collection of energy that suffuses this realm. I guess as you are a collection of energy too, really. But I think this view of me will be easier for everyone.”

Ranger Murie agreed. “That’s probably for the best. This is a beautiful grove you’ve fashioned. Is that where you’d like me to set up?” Murie pointed at the cabin. “It’s similar to the one at my campground.”

“Yes, that is the new Ranger’s Station, for all and everyone to come to! Inside is a large atrium and fireplace where the peoples can gather in the grove.” The One Who Sings to the Soils thought, its little paw resting on its chin. “I need a new name. While we can understand each other, you can hardly pronounce any words I use. A short name, something easily to pronounce by many.”

Murie thought for a moment. There was a particular type of music she enjoyed and, thinking of it now, she hoped those tapes were still intact with all the jostling about! “Banda,” Murie said matter of factly. “Short, easy, and I can work with others to translate it to their own languages.”

“Perfect,” was Banda’s reply and in the same femtosecond, massive booms were heard as the four fragments that had been hurtling through the ether snapped into place and wove their way around Banda’s grove, each intermingling and coming to a rest. Each biome, atmosphere, and sunlight was perfectly suited for each plane. “We have much work to do, Ranger Murie, First of the Grove, and we had better get started. I bet many are scared and we have a community of peoples to consider and bring together in a fair way. We have a campground to open!”

Ranger Murie glanced around the different Fragments, awed by their beauty and differences. “Are they all campgrounds?” she asked.

Banda nodded. “Somehow, yes. Yet another mystery to ponder.”

As peoples as varied and unique as each could imagine found themselves walking from their own plane into Banda’s grove, another noise was heard: a loud sloshing and crashing as a large lake formed, nestling itself in between several planes. “Another plane already appeared? We’re going to need help!” Murie said.

“Hm, no. No new planes entered the realm. This sprang up from the interactions with the realm itself — I guess all campgrounds need lakes!”

The first few days were a hectic and terrifying time for many as the situation was explained. Ranger Murie worked with representatives from each of the planes to establish a committee to help bring everyone together and start taking stock and inventory as many of the campers began exploring their new surroundings and other sentient peoples. It was from her nearly non-stop toil that the original four planes came together to form Banda’s Grove. Just as Banda did with Ranger Murie and themself, each could understand the words being spoken, while not speaking the same languages at all. Ranger Murie is certain that much of the smooth transition was due in great part to there being no language barrier between all the peoples.

The culture of camping pervaded, as Banda had said — it existed within every culture of every species of every universe that had ever existed and thus, the peoples found common ground of bonding — easily forming a new, larger, diverse, and welcoming community. People moved their camps to new planes, exploring and hiking trails of new, alien biomes. Many fears were tempered once it was discovered that the colorful Tabernacle Provisional Goods that arrived on Alohi and Dendrite’s Diner Den of Cluthar were somehow consistently restocked with a wide variety of food and goods from all the planes.

One night, several ‘weeks’ after the first convergence, Banda visited Ranger Murie at the Ranger’s Station. She sat on one of the plush couches in front of the fire, a large woven fabric checkers board with oversized pieces on a table next to her as she read a book from Pese Malosi on the psychology of their unique symbiotic multi-organism make up. “I have news!” Banda said excitedly. But Banda’s face betrayed their excitement. “I have discovered how to open the realm to travelers who understand quantum ways. Those…” Banda trailed off.

“That’s great! I know there are likely quite a few Agilian quantum scientists who would love to visit this place. It’s marvelous,” Ranger Murie said, closing the book.

“Yes, but,” Banda continued. “I have also been able to identify ways for the campers here to travel back as well. I’m sure the Grove will be quickly abandoned.”

Ranger Murie now picked up on the sadness Banda had. “In a trillion trillion universes none have appeared here, and even in this short time I have grown quite attached to having you all here,” Banda whimpered out. “Caring for something more than fundamental properties of the universe — but for what those properties become — cultures and community and peoples. I’ll miss you all deeply.”

Ranger Murie laughed. “I certainly won’t be leaving!” she exclaimed. And Banda’s fur-tufted ears perked up. “This is the most marvelous place in all the universes. And all of us here are building a community that those trillions of universes could have only dreamed of. No, some may choose to go home, but I feel many will stay, and hundreds more will visit. The Grove will grow, my dear friend, not disappear.”

“You think so? Even with all the oddities and dangers that the quantum realm presents? Even as more fragments appear and converge at the Grove? The Quantum Woods that appeared cause the planes all kinds of aches and mischief. I have very little control of them myself. They’re a strange physical manifestation of the realm, like a part of me, but wholly unique. Or when blips appear! Those have scared quite a few people — “

“But we’ve fixed all those blips with no real harm to anyone,” Ranger Murie interrupted. “And the Woods are as wondrous as they are dangerous and mysterious. They seem to have a personality of their own, not unlike how many poets and authors have written of their own woods in the past. Let’s call a meeting.”

Ranger Murie was right. While some choose to go home forever, many more wanted to share how to get to and from Banda’s Grove and camp at its varied planes. Most, however, decided to stay with their new formed community and take up positions and jobs to help the Grove thrive and prosper.

It was this moment that properly formed Banda’s Grove and opened it to the universe as the most unique convergence of campgrounds from across the universe, with Ranger Murie, First of the Grove, spearheading its community.

Related posts:

Half of the US adult population are on a diet at any given time — the majority of whom are women. 91% of women are unhappy with their bodies and have attempted to control their weight through…

Men love having their partners orgasm and feel fulfilled when they see that they can provide sexual satisfaction. Oddly enough, women sometimes assume that they are selfish and only care about their…

The purpose of this article is to shed some light on all the bootstrap grid has to offer and how to easily implement it in your next project. This article assumes you already have bootstrap added to…