Galactic Mercenary Guild

The Galactic Mercenary Guild is the largest single professional organization managing private security and military companies in the galaxy. It is responsible for registering, documenting, and ensuring the legality of mercenary groups under its umbrella. It is also responsible for obtaining, and positing major contracts and bounties on a sector wide basis, though smaller tickets are rarely handled this way. This means that while the GMG may not necessarily have a lot of assets at its own personal beck and call, it wields a lot of influence particularly over those who seek to bear arms on a for profit basis. In particular, Guild mercenaries are generally granted many more privileges than non-guild mercenaries including the ability to freely purchase the most advanced and all but the most destructive military equipment, freedom to conduct operations free from some legal oversight, and other such privileges.

Structure

The Galactic Mercenary Guild is primarily a legal and professional organization, with the core of its operation being local registry offices scattered throughout the galaxy, and regional headquarters which manage the various legalities on a sector level. The central guild office itself actually has very little power in comparison to any other part of the organization. The Guild is a highly decentralized organization as a result, though this is to its benefit, as it allows for the free flow of information, and the ease of processing paperwork across more than a dozen interstellar states and nine sectors of civilized space, as well as more developed frontier worlds.

Sector Offices

The highest order of the Guild's organization, the Sector Offices are the primary centers of Guild authority and operations. Here armies of lawyers are arranged to ensure legal sanction for the activities of mercenaries under the guild's protections, and armies of administrators keep track of the numerous mercenary groups operating within the sector, and those who may not be operating in the sector at the time, but have clearance to do so. They also post major tickets, which tend to be the bread and butter of the larger mercs in any given region of space. Given the nature of the companies under the GMG's umbrella, there is no galaxy wide accreditation, and mercenary groups must secure accreditation on a sector by sector basis, though registration, which is galactic, makes the process much smoother.

Branch Offices

The localized offices that can be found on many a frontier world, and only slightly less frequently on the civilized ones, Branch offices are typically fairly small organizations, often run only be a few people. Their primary concern is being, for lack of a better term, the frontline of Guild Operations. Branch offices handle the registry of most mercenary companies, passing the results back up to the Sector offices, as well as collecting, categorizing, and handling most tickets and bounties, posting smaller tickets locally, and sending the bounties, and the larger tickets to the Sector offices to handle.

Code of Conduct

As part of the GMG's certification process, and it is believed, a major part of the reason why Guild mercenaries have a lot more freedom to operate than non-guild mercenaries, is the GMG Code of Conduct which governs how Guild mercenaries are allowed to act when discharging their duties. The particulars of the Code are extensive with thousands of different provisos and and regulations the violations of which come with numerous sanctions ranging from a downgrade in rating, or fines to loss of registration on a temporary or permanent basis. However, there are four central tenets of the code that are held above the others, and the violation of which is considered a grave offense in the best case:
Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Nuclear, biological, chemical, and nanorobotic weaponry (with the only exception being fusion guns of a less than battleship grade, and anti-material meson weapons) are not allowed to be purchased, maintained, or used under any circumstances.
Targeting of Civilians: Civilians are protected noncombatants, and should not be targeted. Intentional targeting of civilians is a major offense. Mercenaries acting as law enforcement may target civilians, but only to the extent that local law enforcement would.
Surrenders: A Guild certified mercenary organization must accept a surrender in good faith from any party that has not demonstrated a previous history of perfidy.
Honest Dealings: A guild certified mercenary organization cannot engage in perfidy, and must engage in good faith with clients. Failure to do so reflects poorly on the board, and will not be tolerated.
Violations of these four tenets are most severe, and a company that does violate them must prevent themselves before a review board at the sector headquarters as soon as possible. Failure to do so will result in a bounty being posted on the offending organization's leaders and permanent loss of board certification.

Retainers

The Galactic Mercenary Guild maintains a few bounty hunters on retainer. These bounty hunters are tasked with a single purpose, meeting out punishments for guildmembers that violate the Code, especially those that violate the four tenets. Retainers are capable of contracting compliant mercenary groups, and networking with interstellar and system governments to bring in rogue mercenaries. Those that resist often find themselves targeted by several powerful armed forces aligned against them, and often surrender rather than be killed.

Mercenary Review Board

A seemingly minor, but extremely influential part of the GMG, the Mercenary Review Board is a part of the Guild that is responsible for rating various mercenary groups. in the galaxy. These ratings are generally used as a way to keep up the quality of groups under the GMG banner. The Review Board reviews a company's performance, number of contracts taken, number completed satisfactorily, and if possible obtain performance reviews to create a star rating. Ratings are taken on request, and offered to prospective employers when multiple mercenary companies vie for the same contract. Reviews are conducted every ten years, though a new rating can be requested if a company has made a significant, demonstrable, change to its operations. The rating system is as follows:

• ★★★★★ - A company that reliably achieves mission objectives, meets and exceeds performance standards. Considered very reliable.
• ★★★★☆ - A company that consistently achieves mission objectives. They meet and sometimes exceed performance standards. Considered reliable.
• ★★★☆☆ - A company that usually achieves mission objectives. They meet minimal requirements, but rarely perform above standard. Considered borderline reliable.
• ★★☆☆☆ - A company that sometimes achieves mission objectives. They will rarely withdraw from a contract in bad faith, but lack the capability to perform. Considered unreliable.
• ★☆☆☆☆ - A company that rarely achieves mission objectives. They will frequently withdraw from contracts in bad faith, and fail others. Considered very unreliable.

In addition to the star rating, there are additional ratings concerning what a mercenary or private security group is capable of taking on. One concerns the size of the organization, and the other, its overall level of armament. The size rating is generally deemed more important, as it is often easier for large, lightly equipped companies to become better equipped, especially with GMG registration, than it is for small, heavily equipped organizations to expand, especially if they wish to keep up standards of equipment and training. However, both can be relevant details. The ratings are as follows:
Size Rating

• Size 1 - A small mercenary organization, equivalent to a section or a squad. Capable of taking on security details, or in the case that organizations are well armed and trained; may be equivalent to a special forces team.
• Size 2- A modest mercenary organization, equivalent to a platoon or a company. Capable of serving as a proper garrison, or engaging in a minor action independently.
• Size 3- A medium mercenary company, equivalent to a battalion. Can serve as a large garrison, or carry out a major, if usually short term, operation independently.
• Size 4 - A large mercenary company, usually equivalent to a regiment or a brigade, often with a modest support echelon. Can carry out independent operations for an extended period, including a campaign against a reasonably sizable frontier world. Size 4 organizations are the smallest that can reliably carry out simultaneous operations in multiple theaters.
• Size 5 - A major mercenary company, usually equivalent to division though rarely larger. Can carry out extensive independent operations, including conquest of a fairly large frontier world if concentrated in one place. Size 5 organizations are usually deployed on multiple contracts, but can be deployed as a unit. The largest of these companies are effectively independent interstellar armies, with Myrmidon (the largest mercenary group Civilized space) capable of carrying out an entire war against a minor interstellar state.

Equipment Rating

• Type P Equipment - A type P company is equipped to police or paramilitary standards, the minimum to be considered equipped properly for mercenary work. This means light body armor, melee weapons, pistols, shotguns, semi-automatic rifles, light automatics, and less than lethal grenades. May have vehicles, robots, and drones, but none are armed, or military grade. Useful for security duty, but generally not capable of fighting in offensive military operations.
• Type M Equipment - A type M company is equipped with light military grade weapons. This means armor up to combat armor (including powered combat armor other than battledress), automatics, light energy weapons, light support weapons and explosives. May be equipped with light and/or unarmed military vehicles, robots, and drones. A type M company is generally the most flexible barring the (admittedly common) companies that equip themselves to multiple standards, with equipment that can be useful in military operations, but is light enough to not be deemed overkill for security.
• Type H Equipment - A type H company equips itself with heavy military hardware. Type H companies make use of Battledress, combat armor, energy weapons, heavy support weapons, including man-portable plasma weapons and fusion weapons. Type H companies have access to armored combat vehicles, heavy combat robots and drones, and field artillery. A Type H company will be seen as a military organization first and foremost, and will not necessarily be equipped for light security work.
• Type P/M Equipment - A P/M company, generally the most common type among smaller, poorer organizations, has paramilitary and light military equipment in reasonable amounts, and can equip its mercs to meet either standard effectively. This makes a Type P/M company quite flexible with only high intensity combat operations beyond their means.
• Type P/H Equipment - Generally the rarest type, P/H companies can equip their soldiers either as a light security detail, or as assault troops with heavy weapons, with almost no capacity in between. Type P/H companies are generally those that get the best gear as a company, but rely on individual operators to provide light equipment for themselves.
• Type M/H Equipment - Effectively the standard of a equipment for all but the wealthiest of interstellar states, M/H equipped companies have access to both light and heavy military equipment, but generally lack effective policing equipment. M/H companies are capable of carrying out various military operations, but may be seen as to heavily armed for light security work.
• Type P/M/H Equipment - The standard for larger, wealthy organizations, a P/M/H company has equipment of every standard, and can equip its operators to meet any mission objective. Type P/M/H companies tend to adapt the equipment to the law levels of the local government, and the threat level, and can do so comfortably, and are highly sought after for their ability to be deadly or discreet as the situation becomes.

Public Agenda

The Galactic Mercenary Guild operates with the idea that a centralized system will make mercenary work a better deal for everyone. This means that the Guild is in favor of regularizing contracts, rules of engagement, mercenary companies, and ratings. It has worked ceaselessly to establish a universal standard of accreditation, a galactic mercenary code of conduct, as well as bringing as many operating mercenary groups under its banner as is possible. It also is trying to ensure that as many possible contracts flow its way as possible, by providing for prospective employers, a reliable source of mercenaries that can be expected to provide at least a minimum quality of service that unregistered companies may not.

Assets

The Galactic Mercenary Guild is largely an accrediting board and maintains relatively few permanent assets. Their chief assets are their offices, which are scattered throughout Civilized Space, and well into Frontier Space as well, and are generally well appointed, well staffed, and, especially for what are essentially glorified bureaucratic centers, surprisingly secure. This network of offices allows the guild to ensure smooth and effective operations pretty much anywhere short of the far frontier. The GMG also, allegedly maintains a small fleet of light military grade spacecraft, and allegedly commissioned the engineers who designed the hugely popular Caracalla class, though these rumors remain unsubstantiated, with the Guild instead retaining the services of bounty hunters to meet out violence on its behalf.

History

Founded in the fallout of the Great Cataclysm in the Arcturus Sector, during this time, so soon after the collapse of the Stellar League, Arcturian Space was a wild place, with several system governments collapsing completely into a series of civil wars. Several mercenary companies found themselves with not shortage of work, though often prospective employers would exploit the limitations of technology and travel at the time to reneg on contracts or otherwise act in bad faith. The Guild therefore, was the solution to this issue, as many companies joined together and refused to work for, and it is believed, to destroy, employers that refused to deal fairly with those that they hired. 
As the Long Night began to abate a new issue began to arise however, as more and more governments became organized and more peaceful, more rules were placed on military engagements, and more laws were enacted to control the flow of weapons into the hands of those outside of state militaries. The Guild, seeking to maintain the influence of the companies under their banner faced a new challenge, limiting the impact of these laws on mercenary work. The Guild took on a fairly sizable staff of lawyers, and began to lobby interstellar governments and independent systems to carve out exceptions and protections for certified mercenaries, these were largely successful in allowing Guild Mercenaries to maintain their operations. In exchange for these privileges, the Guild would instill a relatively stringent code of conduct for companies under the Guild umbrella, and would implement a more extensive registry to enforce this code of conduct and regularize relations between Guild Mercenaries and the employers with which they interact.
In the modern era, the Guild has steadily expanded its operations, having operations in all of Civilized Space by the dawn of the 4th Century Post-Cataclysm. However, it is not Civilized Space where the Guild has seen the majority of its growth however. It is in the Frontier where the GMG has seen its greatest success, as Frontier Space has become a very lucrative market given the distinctive lack of interstellar traffic, and organized militaries created a clear demand for the services of ready-made professional military forces on a short term contract. The Galactic Mercenary Guild has considered moving its main office into Frontier Space to assist with this change as more and more guild mercs move into the areas.

UOP - 18554

Type

Guild, Fighter / Mercenary

Related Professions

• Agent
• Citizen
• Corporate Specialist