I would submit, sir, that the ease with which you pick of a squire/scribe as opposed to the difficulty with a Maran may be more related to that person's overall skill (which may be exactly WHY they are still a squire) rather than the neat Maran powers.

I mean, unless you're packing only flaming weaponry, are an invoker who refuses to use anything but quicksand and fire spells, or are a warrior who trips the everliving #### out of everything that walks by....what exact power does a Maran have that makes an evil outlander go "Whoa, better avoid trying to lay the smack down on that guy."

To me, it'd be more likely that you have to be careful about laying the smack down on a squire/scribe if there is a skilled enough Maran on, who might cry in to help, no?

I mean let's look at the Maran powers:
eyes of flame - no help against evil outlander, period.
mantle - fly is nice for trippers/quicksand, but it can still be dispelled, so...the fire thing is good too, but like I said, I don't think it's a dealbreaker against evil outlander.
lightforge - they have nice weapons. I had nicer pre-Maran with my most recent Fortie. *shrug*
zeal - c'mon. Zeal? Really? THAT is what's causing your evil outlander to be scared of a Maran?

Nah. It's the skill factor of the player involved. And that directly reflects the judgement of Maran-worthy. Most of the Maran you would avoid would probably be just as scary if they were "only a squire". At least in your example, evil outlander.