Malx was recruited into the New Nevada Rangers in a rather strange and unorthodox manner: by doing absolutely nothing. Although none now survive to remember it aside from Malx himself, who refuses to address the matter, according to his personnel file he was encountered along the rim of one of the great salt pans near the sea west of Highpool. According to the ancient, dusty transcripts, a Ranger patrol in an armored ATV came across a sacked caravan at one of the great crystalline flats crossings. Through intent or happenstance the only survivors were a batch of children, unable to cross the adjacent badlands and reduced to near starvation after a thorough ransacking of the caravan's meager supplies. It is said that upon arrival the Ranger gunner mistook the grimy, sunburnt victims as some sort of radioactive shamblers and fired several warning bursts into the air with his flamethrower. Startled, the group of jabbering, hysterical children scattered across the sands, many never to be seen again. Only one refused to depart and merely stood observing the men, a quiet child with dark hair and eyes. Upon realizing their mistake, the Rangers then sought to provide food and first aid to the children they could coax back, who were clearly suffering from shock and exposure. The sight of the water and meal rations set off a small stampede as the remaining urchins bucked and clawed at one another in an attempt to gain the most precious sustenance they could. Again, only one child held back from the fray: Malx. Whether those slain in the caravan raid were his relatives or merely those transporting him from afar will likely never be known. But what is clear is that Malx's time in the desert taught him the invaluable lessons of patience and self-control.

Back at the Ranger Center headquarters, Malx recovered from his exposure with a speed and stoicism that amazed his doctors. Intelligent and observant, and devilishly charming when the situation so merited, Malx soon found himself drawn into the loud, bright, dangerous world of the Desert Rangers.

By the time he turned 15, Malx had already killed a man, an event he recounted to his superiors with a placid calm that chilled his commanding officer to the bone. By seventeen, it became apparent that he would never be more than middling height or weight, and likely unable to serve a heavy infantry support role absent the fortuitious acquisition of power armor or working mechanized vehicles. The decision was made that he should be groomed towards the role of Scout and retrieval expert, a position to which he proved aptly suited. Subtle, skilled with knife and gun, unflinching in the face of danger and surprisingly difficult to knock out of a fight, Malx soon developed a reputation as a good scavenger and a worthy hand in a battle. Although his long scounting trips kept him absent from Ranger command for extended periods and perhaps delayed his advancement, for a man with nothing Malx was content. Yet each time he returned to the Ranger Center, he returned more items but lingered less. From the deserts he learned to be swift, and from those few other humans he met beyond the Ranger Center he learned to hate.

It is unclear how long Malx would have remained content with his proscribed role. While he owed his life to the Rangers, the sublime indifference with which he was treated soon led to new developments. Unbeknownest to his superiors, busy with their paperwork and supply management, Malx soon fell in with a growing class of new Ranger recruits. Despite his apparent outsider status he was welcomed for his perceptive observations and quiet leadership skills. Serving as a calm anchor to the heady emotions of those around him, both he and his fellows benefited with a blossoming of their skills and collective resources. Where once an observant sentry may have spotted Malx drifting across the desert from shadow to shadow carrying only a heavy backpack, dusty clothes, and a worn-out rifle, now a full company of outfitted Rangers and independents could be seen.

By his 20th year, Malx was a man entire. Still young enough to choose the path before him, but strong enough to see it done, he finally begins to understand the world and his place in it. It remains to be seen whether he was build a new home for himself and his friends, or smash it all to pieces.