Literature / Forgotten Ruin

It's time to Ranger Up.

Forgotten Ruin is the first book in a series of the same name by the co-authors Jason Anspach and Nick Cole. It features a US Army Ranger company finding themselves in a world of magic and fantastical creatures akin to Dungeons and Dragons and being forced to survive and adapt to the challenges of their new environment, first of which being an all out assault by a horde of orcs, goblins, trolls, giants, and other sundry fantasy creatures.

The initial premise is that, thanks to some strange plague caused by an unseen swarm of nanobots both infecting people and causing the breakdown of modern technology, the world is screwed. Despite it's best efforts, the US government has come to the conclusion that there is no way to directly defeat the nanoplague, and instead opts to utilize a quantum singularity tachyon gate (QST for short) to send teams of special forces along with scientific and government personnel forward through time to restart the society after the nanoplague has theoretically run its course, one of which being the aforementioned Ranger company. In addition, each team is bringing along a mysterious machine called a Forge that is capable of 3d-printing virtually anything that might be needed since the teams will have no industry to support them (as a bonus, the Forges are supposedly resistant to the nanoplague, so as long as a team has access to their Forge, they can keep themselves armed with modern equipment). The events of the book specifically are written as the journal of Private First Class Talker, an ex-career academic turned army linguist assigned to the Ranger company. Talker is a genius when it comes to languages; he knows eight fluently and is able to passably communicate in a dozen others, and he can pick up new languages extremely quickly. More than that though, despite passing an abbreviated version of the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program in the leadup to the operation, he sees it as his personal goal to earn his position with the Rangers, instead of being "just" their linguist.

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This book provides examples of:

• Achey Scars: Chief McCluskey remarks that cuts from his magic sword, Coldfire, feel like they're, "freezing and burning up all at the same time," for a considerable time after the cut is first made. It is implied he's speaking from experience.
• Action Girl: Last of Autumn
• After-Action Patch-Up: The Rangers earn some very much earned (and needed) rest once they finally reach the Philosopher's Palace. There, they take advantage of the Well of Illathor, who's water has rather potent healing and restorative properties.
• After the End: Aside from the introduction, the entire story takes place after the nanoplague has run its course and modern society is simply a legend whispered only by the most learned of scholars. The world itself is even named the Ruin.
• Aliens Speaking English: Played around with. Through trial and error, and thanks to Talker's linguistic expertise, we find out that almost all of the languages currently in use in the Ruin employ elements of modern day languages, thus Talker is able to speak with the local, fantasy inhabitants despite only knowing modern languages
• Annoying Arrows: Both played straight and subverted. The ESAPI plates used by the Rangers are shown to be sufficient to stop arrows, but there are plenty of unarmored areas for an arrow to land and Chieff Rapp has his hands full treating puncture wounds in addition to those hit by melee weapons. Also played straight early on one occasion when Sergeant Kurtz takes an arrow to the forearm and just breaks it off. But Kurtz is just like that.
• Answer to Prayers: Chieff Rapp, after having experienced the magic of the Ruin, proclaims that there always was magic, just that he just believes it now more than ever, implying very deep Christian faith, and then resurrects Specialist Brumm.
  • Vandahar implies that the Rangers themselves are the answer to the prayers of what little good remains in the Ruin.
• Back from the Dead: Specialist Brumm
• Badass Bookworm: Talker spent most of his early adult life in various ivory towers of education, earning multiple masters degrees in various languages. This doesn't stop him from contributing to the fight side-by-side with his Ranger comrades, despite constantly being self-deprecating with regards to his own skills.
• Badass Creed: The Ranger Creed
• Betrayal by Inaction: Long ago, the Shadow Elves failed to answer the call of the last king of the Dragon Elves, and legends say the king cursed the Shadow Elves for their betrayal.
• BFG:
  • Sergeant Thor's anti-materiel rifle called Mjölnir
  • The Carl Gustaf 8.4 cm recoilless rifle is the Ranger's solution to large, normally hard to kill problems.
• Big Bad: The Nether Sorcerer is set up as the overall big bad of the series.
• Binding Ancient Treaty: Vandahar invokes one to force the giant Cloodmoor to stop pursuit of the Rangers.
• Black Cloak: McCluskey wears one that helps him resist the effect of sunlight.
• Blow That Horn: The orcs use their "Aroo aroo," horns as a means of communication.
• Breather Episode: After three nights of resisting assaults followed by a twenty four hour march involving several running firefights, when the Rangers finally make it to the Philosopher's Tower the action takes a break and makes way for some lore exposition.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Sergeant Kurtz whispers to Specialist Brumm, "Switch to on, little brother. Switch to on," as he held him after the latter was resurrected by Chief Rapp.
• Bulletproof Vest: Part of the standard equipment of a Ranger is their plate carrier.
• Character Catchphrase: Specialist Brumm says, "Switching to on," whenever he joins the fight with his M249.
• Combat Medic: Chief Rapp
• Come with Me If You Want to Live: Last of Autumn provides an alternative to the last stand the Rangers had been planning on Ranger Alamo.
• Common Tongue: Grau Sprache, or Gray Speech, seems to be the Ruin's equivalent of "Common".
• Constantly Curious: Talker, having basically been assigned as the intelligence gatherer of the company, makes sure to always be on the lookout for intel that could be useful to the mission. He is also personally fascinated with languages and history.
• Consummate Professional: While this could be said of all the Rangers, Sergeant Kurtz takes it to another level.
• Cool Horse: Last of Autumn's Mist
• Cool Old Guy:
  • The Sergeant Major
  • Vandahar
• Cool Sword: Coldfire and Last of Autmn's "badass ninja sword"
• Cunning Linguist: Talker
• Death Glare: Pretty much every Ranger ranked sergeant and above demonstrates proficiency with hateful glares.
• Death Seeker: Before the year is out, Last of Autumn must seek out the dragon Ssruth the Cruel on a quest to slay him. It is almost assured she will not survive the attempt.
• Demolitions Expert: While none are named, the Ranger master breachers serve this role for the company.
• Dirty Business: Due to the risk that Volman presents to the mission, Talker is ordered to "clean him," by the Sergeant Major, which Talker, after some delay, ends up doing.
• Dragons Are Demonic: Ssruth the Cruel personally caused the collapse of the kingdom of the Dragon Elves, and is in league with the rest of the big baddies of the Ruin.
• Due to the Dead: Before the withdrawal from Ranger Alamo, the Ranger leadership makes the last task before the withdrawal for properly disposing of the bodies of the fallen Rangers in a funeral pyre.
  "I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy."
• Dying Race: A combination of a perceived cursed placed on them by the last king of the Dragon Elves and their failure to kill Sruth the Cruel has left the Shadow Elves with a single, adult warrior, one old wise-woman, and about a dozen adolescents.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Sergeant Major
• Fish out of Water: Captain Knife Hand makes sure to drive the point home that a static defense isn't the specialty of the Rangers, and that they are instead meant to be hit-and-run offensive troops. They are still among the most elite troops in the US military, so they are highly effective at holding the line, it's just that playing defense isn't their normal job. As a whole, the Rangers have to adapt to a world where magic is on the table and needs to be accounted for in mission planning.
• Friendly Sniper: Sergeant Thor is one of the first Rangers to treat Talker with respect, even vouching for him with Sergeant Hardt.
• Functional Addict: Talker is a self-professed coffee addict, and with how much he talks about the stuff it's hard to disagree with him.
• Genre Savvy: While he often warns his D&D knowledge might not be accurate for the Ruin, PFC Kennedy's knowledge of the game allows him to provide advance intel and warning about the kind of threats the Rangers could face.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: While the Rangers are already excellent shots, under the influence of Last of Autumn's Hunter's Fellowship spell, they get a further boost to their skills.
• Inexplicable Language Fluency: When Talker and Vandahar speak during the final stretch to the Hidden Cave, Vandahar speaks in what we would recognize as modern German, which of course makes communicating with him very easy for Talker but raises a few questions.
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople): Sorta inverted. Yes, it's a fantasy Earth, but it's also technically the same Earth, just in the future after a nanoplague has converted it into one.
• Majorly Awesome: Captain "Knife Hand" Harwood is the ground force commander of the Ranger company, and while he mostly does his job as a commander allowing his men to accomplish the objectives he sets for them, he personally takes part in the fighting on several occasions throughout the book, and, at the end, the stress of the desperate situation of the assault on Barad Nulla causes him to morph into a weretiger and then climb the walls and shred through the orc defenders, allowing his men to continue their assault.
  Talker: But the captain was more than something. He was an officer, had a combat scroll, and was in command of a company-sized element, in a slot usually reserved for majors. And if that’s not enough, let me just add this. Company commanders can only be officers who have already had successful tours as platoon leaders in the regiment—a very small pool. If fifty guys are successful platoon leaders in the Ranger regiment (and that in itself is like .0001 percent of the infantry platoon leaders in the Army) then less than ten of those will be asked to come back and be a company commander. There are less Ranger company commanders than there are NFL quarterbacks. In short, to be a company commander means someone is literally as good as the Army can produce.
• Matter Replicator: The Forge, or as Tanner calls it, the unlimited taco machine.
• Military Mage: PFC Kennedy becomes the Ranger's resident hedge wizard.
• More Dakka: Due to being assigned to a weapons team, Talker gets plenty of first hand exposure to the might of the M240 medium machine gun and its effect on many a fantasy creature. He even gets to use one personally during the last stand on Sniper Hill.
• Nerd Glasses: PFC Kennedy wears the army equivalent of these, the infamous "RPGs" (rape protections glasses) or "BCGs" (birth control glasses).
• Nerds Speak Klingon: Subverted. Talker made a conscious decision not to learn Sindarin, or elven from The Lord of the Rings (what he refers to as Tolkien elven), as many of his linguist colleagues had. He kicks himself for it later as he concludes that High Speech, the language of the Dragon Elves, is based on Tolkien elven.
• Nerves of Steel: Every Ranger basically.
• Nice Day, Deadly Night: The orc horde only launches their attack on Ranger Alamo at night, leaving the day for the Rangers to rest and prepare for the next assault. Additionally, thanks to modern night vision, it is standard doctrine for the Rangers to conduct operations during the night, so it suits them just fine.
• No One Gets Left Behind: Part of the Ranger Creed. During the third night of the battle for Ranger Alamo, Talker at one point has to carry Specialist Mercy after the latter took a ballista shot to the leg. Later, before the final run to Phase Line Charlie, Sergeant Kang orders Talker to put Mercer down, to which Talker responds, "We ain't leaving him!" but later realizes was a stupid thing to say to a Ranger, and that his misunderstood that Kang wanted to take over carrying Mercer from Talker.
  Sergeant Kang: Rangers don't leave anyone behind.
• Number Two: Command Sergeant Major Stone
• Old Soldier: The Sergeant Major
• Omniglot: Talker
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Everyone refers to Talker by his nickname, though it is revealed early on his real name is Walker. Talker, for his part, refers to a few characters solely by their nickname (some of which he only calls such in his head).
• Onrushing Army: During their defense of their island, the Rangers are forced to combat something not seen since the Korean War: human (or in this case, orc) wave attacks.
• Proverbial Wisdom: Vandahar
• Punishment Detail: The ever suffering PFC Kennedy is essentially on permanent latrine duty at the beginning of the book.
• Sacred Language: Shadow Cant is the sacred language of the Shadow Elves, and it is forbidden for foreigners to speak it. However, it is also a close descendent of modern Korean, which is one of the languages Talker is fluent in, which allows him to communicate with Last of Autumn. While Last of Autumn is fine using it with Talker, they switch to Grau Sprache when in the presence of other Shadow Elves to not break the taboo in their presence, even though Talker is more capable with Shadow Cant than Grau Sprache.
• Sawed-Off Shotgun: Sergeant Kurtz brought along a Mossberg Shockwave for use in close encounters.
• Sergeant Rock: Sergeant Kurtz
• Shout-Out: The story is filled with characters directly comparing things they see to The Lord of the Rings or Dungeons and Dragons. There are also a few things the reader might recognize but characters didn't.
• Standard Fantasy Races: Orcs and goblins are some of the first denizens of the Ruin the Rangers encounter, and later we meet elves, and are told of the existence of dwarfs.
• Stereotypical Nerd: PFC Kennedy is the closest thing a fully qualified Ranger is to this trope. He demonstrates a great knowledge of Dungeons and Dragons, and at one point mentions having the books on his phone. At first, this is solely to his detriment, as he is soundly at the bottom of the Ranger totem pole. However, as the similarities between the creatures of the Ruin and those found in D&D start to mount, he ends up being a source of knowledge and intel, to the point where Captain Knife Hand asks for him specifically before confronting a threat.
• Tactical Withdrawal: Captain Knife Hand decides to place the fate of the Rangers in the hands of Last of Autumn and her people, and in doing so the Rangers cede the island they had been defending for three days and, "Di di mau," "Beat feat," "Get outa dodge," or any of the other myriad synonyms for withdrawal used throughout the book.
• Technology Erasure Event: Part of the effects of the nanoplague is that it breaks down technology more advanced than anything medieval.
• The Apprentice: PFC Kennedy when Vandahar takes him aside to teach him some of the tricks of the wizarding trade.
• The Big Guy: Specialist Brumm
• The Chain of Command: The Rangers are organized as any top the line modern infantry formation should be. Captain Knife Hand is at the top with sergeants making up the various team leaders, though the command team often sometimes have to get stuck into combat as well and issue orders directly.
• The End of the World as We Know It: The nanoplague does indeed cause the end of modern civilization, though it's replaced with something unexpected.
• The Gloves Come Off: On day three of defending Ranger Alamo, Captain Knife Hand orders the creation of body bags filled with chlorine gas to be used against their attackers once the Rangers fall back to Sniper Hill. To those familiar with the Geneva Convention, this is quite the drastic measure.
• The Spartan Way: Talker, backed up by anecdotes from other characters, makes sure to get the point across that being a Ranger is a way of life, and you have to earn your spot every day.
• This Is My Boomstick: Sorta subverted. Yes, the Rangers have access to modern weapons, and it is specifically mentioned how they use the advantage of modern weapons over their medieval fantasy foes to its fullest, but there's never any scene where a local is specifically awed by guns.
• Trapped in Another World: After going through the QST, the Rangers end up not twenty years in the future as was their plan, but more than ten thousand, and the world they end up in is a world of orcs, elves, and dragons.
• Weapon Specialization: The Rangers, in accordance with modern military infantry doctrine, has a number of troops with designated weapon roles.
• Witch Classic: Ol' Sarita
• Wizard Classic: Vandahar to a T. Talker even jokingly refers to him as Gandalf at one point.
  Talker: If I had to guess someone was a wizard straight out a cheesy movie, or something like in the games PFC Kennedy plays, then I would have said this guy was it. He had Central Casting Wizard down pat.