Rangers of Greyhawk: Iuz's Huntsmen

Artist unknown. If you know the artist please let me know so I can credit them.

​As the Greyhawk Wars began and Iuz's armies of humanoids, fiends, and evil humans marched into neighboring kingdoms, the lack of proper reconnaissance became apparent immediately.  With their superior numbers supported by fiends and demons, they still won but took needless losses. After the first year of the war drew to a close, Iuz was convinced of the need for adequately trained scouts to accompany his armies by members of his Boneshadow spies. Sunifarel Brightrobe volunteered one of his most effective agents, an elven ranger named Noirian Zieros, to organize it.
 
Iuz ordered Noirian to find individuals amongst his subjects that could be turned into scouts for his armies. Sunifarel provided Noirian a list of potential candidates, and he quickly brought them aboard as the first recruits and then began scouring the ranks of Iuz's armies for more. Within a month, Noirian had units of scouts attached to many of Iuz's armies, providing them with valuable scouting and reconnaissance.

As the war dragged on, these units of scouts also became valuable hit squads for the generals. In addition to providing valuable battlefield intel, the scouts undertook infiltration missions to assassinate enemy officers and disrupt supply chains behind enemy lines. Because of their need to infiltrate into mostly human lands, a disproportionate number of the scouts recruited were human or demi-human. These scouts also took the name of Iuz's Huntsmen.

As the Greyhawk Wars ended, the Huntsmen became invaluable as the hot war turned into a cold one. The need for covert troops to infiltrate enemy lands and assassinate or gather valuable information was necessary. The Huntsmen were assigned these tasks as their longevity within the Iuz's empire became permanent. 

Noirian Zieros, relishes his position as the head of the Huntsmen and has remained an ally of Sunifarel Brightrobe. Noirian realizes he owes his new position to Sunifarel, and having an ally, especially an elven one, in the Boneshadow benefits him tremendously. 

Artist unknown. If you know the artist please let me know so I can credit them.