Scout

Becoming a scout requires commitment and courage most of all, but all scouts are also required to pass mental, physical, and psychological tests before they will be allowed to join. On top of that, they must be able to prove their aim with a gun before they will even be considered for any of the other tests.

The mental test is a test of education and is conducted via written exam. This tests reading comprehension, critical thinking skills, and memory retention.

The physical test is rigorous and includes three parts: a notoriously difficult obstacle course, a test of stamina involving a stationary bicycle, and demonstrable skill riding a horse.

For the psychological test, the potential scout meets with the Lead Scout for a private discussion. They will grade each applicant as a pass or fail with explanation.

In Willowmoor's early days, the Lead Scout was responsible for overseeing the written and physical tests as well, but that has since been outsourced to his second-in-commands, the Section Officers.

The bottom rung of the scouts are the apprentices, who are usually aged 16 or 17, though occasionally someone older becomes one. Apprenticeships last 1-2 years, depending on the age and level of skill from the apprentice. After that, you become a certified scout - the most common position. Many of them remain in that position until finding a new career or retiring, but those that do wish to advance must pass an additional leadership test with the Lead Scout. If they pass this test, the Lead Scout will put them in charge of one faction when the group splits off. These leaders are called Section Officers.

In Willowmoor's early days, the scouts did their work without pay, instead receiving free goods and services from the villagers as payment. This was common for most public good professions before the common currency was developed. They are paid in that these days and paid well.

Those who serve as scouts have long reaped the benefit (or curse) of fame. Between the job being hard to attain and the bravery required to do it, anyone who becomes a scout instantly also becomes a public figure. From there, it's up to them what to do with that fame.

Another benefit scouts enjoy are those free goods and services that they continue to receive even after proper currency and payment methods are established.

Since Willowmoor exists in a world that was otherwise destroyed by bombs (at least, from the villagers' perspectives), the purpose of the scouts is to go beyond the safety of the town's borders to see what else is going on out there. When the village is new, they are mostly looking to see what the landscape is like nearby. As time passes, though, they travel further away and soon begin to report on the stirrings of other communities that survived. At this point, their role in Willowmoor's society becomes even more crucial as they begin to bridge the gap between civilizations or offer forewarning to their people should another settlement present a threat.

A scout's social status is somewhat dependent on them, though all scouts can expect to find popularity - it just depends on which crowd they find it among. The original scouts all retired as heroes, of course, and there have been plenty of other scouts who were exalted among their peers and others during their lifetimes. Other scouts have cracked up or otherwise lost their social status, sending them into the reverse position where they are either looked down on or pitied by huge swaths of their society.

Then, there are those wannabes - the people in town known for having tried and failed to become a scout more than once. There might be sympathy for anyone who tries and fails one time since many aspire to the profession, but those who repeatedly try and fail are often scorned and will find they lose social favor.

Less than one percent of the population are employed as scouts.

It's a well known story to the scouts, those who aspire to be scouts, and most everyone else in Willowmoor:

The scouts were founded by the first scout who ever ventured beyond known "safety" into the terrible unknown after the bombs disfigured earth that was. This was Genji, the founder of the scouts. He first did this when his community of survivors - the future Willowmoor - were taking shelter in an arena the blasts had spared. The world was cloaked in fog, so they only knew a small perimeter beyond the arena until Genji took the initiative to leave and take a look further. He also rallied others, taking them on expeditions to retrieve food and supplies for the survivors.

When the community was forced to move on or starve, forming a caravan and traveling north across the continent, scouting evolved. Genji once again took the lead with about a dozen others, who with an additional dozen that joined later, would become the core original scouts of lore. They would leave the caravans on bicycles, traveling ahead or fanning out beyond the "road" the wagons were carving. They would be the first to spot danger if it was nigh, but they were also the first to be put in danger since they rode ahead. Even so, they provided vital information to the caravan's leaders when they doubled back to join the group.

When the caravan stopped in the place they built Willowmoor, the scouts were responsible for scoping out the area that became the perimeter. After that was established, they scouted beyond the perimeter, backtracking the way they had come to look at it more closely, but also moving in other directions as well. Eventually, long after the village finally stood proudly built, they scouted so far they discovered other communities like Willowmoor. At this point, the role of the scouts took on another evolution.

If scouts were coming across bands of other people out there, that meant they also carried the additional responsibilities of representing Willowmoor's first impression...as well as returning to announce impending danger if that was the crowd they met.

When the world around Willowmoor grows into borders with established alliances, the role of the scouts will change again, reverting back to its more original role - the explorers who seek to find what's out there in this damaged, yet healing world.

Every scout is issued a gun, a long range walkie talkie, and a mode of transportation.

In the early days, the scouts rode out on bicycles, but they would eventually switch to the standard horses when Willowmoor acquired a collection of the animals.

Outside of the issued tools and transport, it's generally up to the scouts what else they bring, though a few items are musts:

• Water bottle
• Flashlight or other light source
• Any kind of knife
• Rope
• Sunglasses
• Gloves
• Headwear (any hat protects against the sun)
• Sunscreen

Then there are a few items that are not musts, yet are often brought, such as snacks, good luck charms, and mementos from loved ones.

For a long time, the scouts were a diaspora spread around Willowmoor, arranging meetings via hand-delivered notes and holding them in the town hall where crowds inevitably gathered out of curiosity. When all the homes and - according to the scouts - more necessary buildings were finally standing, attention could be turned to the scouts.

The scout headquarters sits atop a sloping hill behind the business district, looking like a shrine out of the Edo period since it was designed by Genji. Inside, the largest space allows them to gather together in one spot for their meetings. There's a washroom and kitchen, plus a few cots upstairs in case someone is on their way back from a scouting mission and needs to crash before they even get home. There's also a small garden in the back where the scouts grow various herbs and vegetables for their trips, chosen specifically for their medicinal effects.

The headquarters is not really a workplace, though, since the scouts do most of their work well beyond Willowmoor's borders. It's still a central place for them to gather and they like that.

The scouts offer the residents of Willowmoor two wonderful things for free: knowledge about the outside world (attained without being put in harm's way), and an early warning should danger approach from afar.

Everything about scouting is dangerous and has been from the first time Genji wandered off alone into the dark fog enveloping a ruined city. When Willowmoor is young, the scouts face the most danger from the elements: vicious animals, blizzards, flash floods, severe illness... Any number of things could kill them if they don't get the appropriate care in time - even if that means taking a trip back to town for it.

As Willowmoor grows and advances its technology, the scouts find better and better ways to deal with the elements, though they remain aware of the danger nature poses. Instead, their larger danger becomes other people as they start to run into scattered communities like their own. Some might be harmless, but there are plenty who would wage a war for resources, and that's the last thing Willowmoor wants. The scouts put themselves in danger anytime they meet a people like this, but they do their duty as scouts anyway.