Adventurer

Adventurers are just not made for quiet life. Due to their unique psychological nature, the society has always had to reckon with their existence—whether asking for their help, merely tolerating them or defending itself from them.

Risk taking decisions. Faced with uncertainty and the need to take a risky decision, Adventurers rely on their ability to quickly find an immediate solution.

The Society needs daredevils with a pronounced thirst for danger and risk. They are enthusiastically employed by the police and the army where they serve as commandos or paratroopers. Many of them also become test pilots, firefighters, and even stuntmen in the film industry.

People of this type are usually physically strong, courageous, and have excellent control of their bodies. When they are young, they eagerly take up football, baseball, basketball and different types of hand-to-hand combat. They easily master mechanical skills and are good at driving. They usually drive at a high speed and like to overtake other cars, sometimes creating dangerous situations. They are miles away from ruminating about abstract topics. They are here and now.

Adventurers are often engaged in a number of other risky activities too. Quite a few of them are mountain climbers, downhill skiers, race drivers, MMA fighters, or sailors that like crossing oceans alone. There is also an occasional tightrope walker here and there, testing his or her luck on a thin wire cable stretched over some famous waterfall or canyon. Others are simply small-time gamblers with a taste for lotteries and slot machines.

In ancient Rome, those with a taste for risk voluntary became gladiators. Some of them were free citizens and even patricians. Held back from the arena for too long, they grumbled like there was no tomorrow. Literally. There were also plenty of Adventurers among the medieval knights that wandered around Europe in search of tournaments, swashbucklers and gamblers ready to stake all their property and their very life on a throw of dice.

Throughout history, people of this type had committed their fair share of crimes. They were thieves, burglars, gangsters, condottieri and pirates. In more modern times, this type can be easily found among revolutionaries, political conspirators, terrorists, and drug smugglers.

Adventurers are not particularly bothered by ethical problems, but those among them who see themselves as part of the society tend to comply with the formal demands of public morals. Overall, Adventurers could be viewed as falling into two distinct categories: those who put their freedom above all and prefer taking risks alone and those with a taste for power who like acting in groups. The latter seek leadership positions but will acknowledge, albeit grudgingly, the leadership of any stronger and more authoritative person.

Their communication style may be brisk to the point of rudeness and they can even be mean to those who are weaker. However, there is a kind of intrinsic sentimentality about them and they are not above shedding a tear over a soulful story or romantic movie. When not directly engaged in their dangerous pursuits, they like to relax—hence the affinity with alcohol and drugs. Those sufficiently tamed by the society make do with more “peaceful” activities, such as fishing, gardening, caring for their pets, etc.

As they grow older and start families, Adventurers begin seeing their need for risk decline. Instead, they reminisce extensively about their past follies and the good old times. Little by little, they begin seeing a future for themselves in the future of their children. Their love affairs (before they settle, that is) are mostly fleeting and superficial, although long and stable relationships are not too uncommon either.

There is no better example of a risk junky than Alexander the Great who found justification for the dangerous life he led in the purported goal of spreading Hellenic civilization for the benefit of the rest of the known world. In modern times, Alexander became Che Guevara, obsessed, as they say, with the idea of social justice. In literature, there was Don Quixote. The international spy Mata Hari who gained notoriety during the First World War can be deemed a fair example of a lady Adventurer.