Throughout the universe there are many organisations that protect the peace and uphold the laws. The best known organisation is of course the Power Rangers overseen by their Morphin Masters. But while they are the most widely acknowledged, they as not unique. Another group known as Riders emerged after the Morphin Masters had established their organisation. Less regimented and with a questionable chain of command, the Riders are revered by many, feared by their enemies and despised by those that deem them loose cannons.
Unlike the Power Rangers who normally draw their powers from the Morphin Grid (with a few known exceptions), the Riders draw their power from many sources both mystical and technological. Some do not even draw powers from an outside source, using their own abilities instead; some riders possess no powers other than their physical strength and fighting skills.
Unlike Rangers, Riders are not bound to keep certain rules to maintain their powers although they do police themselves. It does mean that the possibility of a willingly evil Rider is much higher than that of a willingly evil Ranger.
Legacy Riders
The original Rider powers were developed on the world of Kamen where the small population was being harassed by a local warlord but the Galactic Council and Morphin Masters refused to get involved. Through the development of Accelerator hardware it was possible for a young warrior to conjure an armour suit and enhance his abilities to defeat the invaders. That technology was then copied and the beginnings of the Rider legacy emerged.
At first the number of Riders available was restricted by the requirements to power their armour. Not only did they require the technologically advance Accelerator to control the transformation, they required a vast source of power to maintain it. Only worlds with a powerful magical heritage such as the Heart of Edenoi were capable of creating their own Riders. Less than five hundred worlds had access to Riders and as the deployment of Ranger teams increased, so many of those planetary Riders disappeared.
Edenoi was one of the few planets to retain a Rider of their own. Called the Masked Rider, the people of Edenoi adapted the Rider powers by allowing each successive Rider to alter the design of their armour according to their needs. To prevent abuse of the powers, they were locked to the bloodline of the royal family. Due to the strange effects of the Heart of Edenoi, the Masked Riders of the past could also be summoned during times of great need.
The Rider Corps
Eventually the limitations of Rangers became evident. There were many situations where only one operative was needed, but Rangers were better suited to work as a team. And since the Rangers had become more an more militaristic in their methods, they were not suited to tackling the small time villains that pestered whole systems. It was then that the idea of using Riders was suggested.
The problem with Riders was their lack of uniformity. There were Riders scattered throughout the universe, but for the most parts their appearances, powers and skills were inconsistent. The Rider Corps was an attempt to recruit and train individuals to act as Riders while maintaining the discipline of the Rangers. New transformation tools were mass produced creating squads of Riders that all looked the same. With formalised training and the emphasis on discipline, ten different squadrons were developed to tackle specialist threats and able to be deployed to wherever they were needed. Faceless, nameless and of equal standing, they were considered by those outside the Rider Corps as little more than Cogs or Putties.
As time past the flaw of using the Rider Troopers as they became known was clear. With each Trooper trained to be an obedient soldier, they lacked the attributes that made the Riders such a desirable force. And with the Corps boasting more Troopers than there were Rangers, something had to be done. At first they tried handing command to Ranger teams, but that undermined the goal of having Troopers serve where Rangers could not.
Instead a new group of Riders were developed and trained. With a greater degree of freedom to act as needed, each was assigned their own territory where they could patrol and call in squads of Corps Troopers as needed. Corps Riders were granted better armour to protect them while operating alone and to distinguish them from the Troopers they commanded. Normally they wore either black or blue armour.
Since each Rider wore a near identical armour, they received similar equipment and training. They were capable of acting alone, in pairs or even as a small unit. Each Rider was assigned an area of space to cover and limited authority to police that area as they saw fit (within the rules of the Rider Corps). Over times their numbers grew, but never to more than six thousand spread over a large area. However with an army of Rider Troopers on standby, they formed an incredible force.
Over time it became clear that even with the relaxed rules applied to Corps Riders, there was still something lacking. In order to fill the gaps in experience and the specialist knowledge needed, Riders operating outside of the Corps were allowed to join. While they were not given the authority to deploy Corps Troopers, they were regarded as some of the Corps' best operatives. Most maintained their traditional roles as protectors of a single world or star system while assisting the Corps when required.
Corps Troopers
Corps Riders
Rider Knights
The Rider Knights or Knight Riders as some refer to them are an ancient order of knight who were granted the secret of creating Riders. Dedicated to the eradication of demonic entities, the Rider Knights rarely involve themselves in planetary affairs. Unlike other groups the Rider Knights are driven by religious beliefs in what they consider a holy war.
Over time some members of the Rider Knights have sided with The Church of the One Way. Those who have done so have become far more fanatical, even turning on their own kind. The Rider Knights consider Night Fighters and by extension Night Rangers an abomination. Those allied with the Church of the One Way might even consider Rangers and unaligned Riders as abominations too.
A Rider Knight
Other Riders
While most Riders belong to either the Rider Corps or a specific planet, there are a few that do not belong in either group. A number of worlds lacking a suitable power source for the Accelerator technology, tried to create their own using extra dimensional energy. For the most part developing such Riders unleashed the threat they ended up fighting.
In addition some groups and individuals claim to be Riders, believing that doing so offers them protection of law enforcement. While few of these 'Riders' are evil, their actions are borderline criminal, often immoral and give Riders in general a bad name. As a result one of the tasks of the Rider Corps is to seek out and assess any that call themselves Riders.
Dark Riders
The potential for Rider to turn evil is much higher than that of Rangers, mostly due to them operating alone and therefore lacking the support to act as a moral compass. Usually those that turn work alone and are eventually hunted down by the Riders Corps where they are stripped of their powers and either punished or given a new position within the Corps. However there have been instances where a group of Dark Riders worked together, forming their own corps. In such cases the rules of the Riders Corps allows for the complete extermination of the Dark Riders.
