AnomanderRake wrote:The tactical need for having scouts with camo-cloaks and sniper rifles exists outside of the social construct of the Paths. You might have people armed and trained like Rangers who in practice are just specialist Guardian militiamen without the whole "Path of the Outcast" thing going on.
I like this take a lot. "Shadow Guardians" or what have you. To my knowledge, it isn't clear whether or not Altansar utilized the path system prior to being yoinked out of the warp by Maugan Ra, but we do know that Maugan Ra was from Altansar and thus knew of its existence. It doesn't seem like a stretch to say Maugan may have prioritized visiting Altansar when he and the other Phoenix Lords were spreading the path system to various craftworlds. So basically, that particular detail could go either way depending on the story you want to tell.
If you really wanted to, you could maybe even fluff your rangers as a type of aspect warrior whose shrine is a spin-off of the dark reaper tradition. Rather than relying on bulky armor and heavy weapons, the shrine emphasizes the importance of personal skill in identifying weak points and placing shots shots to exploit them. So they wear thinner armor that lets them move into position (deepstrike) and include camo cloaks in their wargear to escape detection while they line up the perfect shot. Could be cool, although I personally probably prefer Rake's specialist guardian take on things.