Mercenaries (Battletech)

Not so much a unified nation in Battletech and more of a conglomerate of various mercenary bands, Mercenaries are an unaffiliated faction that exists in all parts of the Battletech universe.

Overview

In human history, there have been two jobs that have survived from caveman times up until the time of the BattleMech; prostitution, and mercenaries. Mercenaries have always been a need for militaries. And changing the playing field from county to county, country to country, continent to continent, and finally planet to planet hasn't caused any meaningful change to that arrangement for any reason. Their specific use had been declining for centuries however, and it wasn't until things got going in the 23rd century and the Great Houses began their ascent to power that they became a ubiquitous part of the Inner Sphere's way of doing things. By then they were merely fill-ins from people lucky enough to own 'Mechs or ad-hoc groups put together. Very little prestige was involved but it paid their share for doing the wetwork for whoever had no experienced troops but enough cash to spare.

All that changed after the Star League's collapse and the Amaris Civil War, however.

With 80% of the largest and most well-equipped army in human history fucking off to god knows where in bumfuck space, it fell to the remaining 20% to find a way to make some money now that the Star League wasn't fitting the bill. And wouldn't you know it, the Great Houses were perfectly willing to shill out a little cash to whomever could help fill space in their armies as they began the Succession Wars. While the bulk of the SLDF remnants in Spheroid space would join ComStar as the Com Guard, a decent remainder decided to strike out in the name of the highest bidder. As a way to better facilitate this, ComStar created the Mercenary Review Board (later succeeded by the independent Mercenary Review Board & Bonding Commission) to better allow Mercs and interested parties to do business with each other transparently without the risk of parties backstabbing each other blatantly. To keep things civil, the MRB/MRBC encouraged mercenaries and clients to negotiate in public hiring halls on mercenary worlds like Outreach, Galatea, and Solaris VII (though the latter had a reputation for solo prima donna’s with an independent streak instead of large battalions able to take orders). To make things even more complicated, Clan Sea Fox has begun managing mercenary contracts after the HPG Blackout and the IlClan’s rise.

At the beginning of the Succession Wars, they actually had to reign their employers in because they had begun to ask them to commit war crimes. This might seem counter-intuitive for mercenaries to insist on fair war conduct until you realize that: (1) scorched earth warfare would leave no salvage for mercenaries to loot for money, (2) blatantly killing everyone instead of holding officers/VIP's for ransom and treating civilians fairly would lead to a "kill-on-sight" target painted on their backs for generations (as seen with the Free Rasalhague Republic’s grudges), (3) any employer seeking to antagonize all mercenaries, like with Takeshi Kurita's "Death to Mercenaries" edict, would find every mercenary running for the hills instead of risking their skins under such clients. Nevertheless, they still have a reputation as being the guys you call in when you don't want to sully your hands with particularly grim work or risk civilian outcry from massive casualties in your military roster.

Mercenaries have had a major impact on the life of the Inner Sphere; able to enforce what became known as the Honors of War creating the standard limited warfare of the Inner Sphere, and for reviving the LosTech that'd been all but forgotten in the ravages of the Succession Wars.

Life as a Merc

Understandably, it's not an easy life being a soldier of fortune. For one thing, you will more often than not be in the thick of some of the worst fighting the Inner Sphere can put you through. And many times over you might find yourself working for one side and then the other; ensuring absolutely nobody you interact with is going to respect or trust you. Finally you have to provide pretty much everything that for yourself; no supply depots or dedicated mechanics. Many contracts will provide for some measure at least a few of these, especially transport as most minor outfits can only dream of being able to afford owning and operating even the smallest DropShips (which gives your employer another way of keeping you under their thumb). All the rest is on you. But hey, at least the C-Bills are good.

Merc Companies vary wildly in size and in influence, some being only a single MechWarrior, or big enough to say they rival the power of Periphery States or even simply prop some up entirely. Moral Codes are also understandably pretty varied, as it can run the gamut from being quasi-pirates and bandits set to live fast and die young, to honor-bound paramilitary units that’ve lasted centuries. It’s a common stereotype that many mercenaries are military units from Great House militaries that went independent or defected. Conversely, many Successor State militaries seek to pay mercenaries for their dirty work or outright coopt them into being drawn into permanent service as a standard military unit, though this is an arrangement that can often backfire on a particularly poorly run military with revolts or defections being a risk. Understandably, relationships between clients and merc's vary with some relationships being closer to a sponsor leaving the heavy lifting to a long-trusted confidant on a prickly war front. On the other end of the spectrum, you have arrogant patrons using merc's as plausibly deniable assets or cannon fodder to avoid wasting their own people in the meatgrinder. Meanwhile other merc's can betray their patrons' trust by looting and cutting loose while leaving their former employers to clean up the mess. Hence why the MRB/MRBC tries to keep track of each mercenary company and client's reliability records to ensure honesty.

And while the allure of fighting for fortune on your own terms is appealing, especially in a setting where independence as a concept is at a specific premium; the majority of mercenaries have to run a gauntlet of obstacles to keep their heads above water. Such as getting certified (and then closely monitored) by the universal Mercenary Review Board (else they'd be rogue with no way to find work outside of risky black market deals with organized crime), have enough cash to avoid bankruptcy which often means taking very dangerous contracts, securing a base on an inhabited planet to rebuild or recruit after leaving a meat-grinder, and ensuring your supplies as well as transportation or contracts aren’t held on a tight leash by your employers. Oh, and when the MRB/MRBC collapsed during the Blakist Jihad or Grey Monday, the ones put up after them sucked ass for the Mercs, so you might have to take more missions for more employers just to pay the bills. It got to the point of being so dysfunctional that Clan Sea Fox decided to make a killing by offering more lucrative and flexible brokerage for mercenaries down on their luck.

Well known Units

• Wolf's Dragoons - The Protagonist/Mary Sue Merc faction of the BattleTech universe founded by a pair of freeborn Clan brothers named Jaime and Joshua Wolf. Formerly a compromise by the Clans to try and figure out Inner Sphere tactics, the Dragoons would break from Clanner ways entirely and eventually make themselves distinguished as the single biggest and best armed Merc company in Sphere space, serving each Successor State once, getting their dicks punched in by the Combine in the Battle of Misery, and then got the planet of Outreach from the FedSuns. They spent a lot of time trying to find Star League caches; including only taking Outreach once it was confirmed that it did indeed have one. Eventually joined back up with Clan Wolf when they made their bid for IlKhan. Once the Wolf Khan used them as meatshields while denying them their custom of being the tip of the spear in the attack and were ground down to 1/3rd of their size, they swore a grudge against the IlClan...which was apparently Just as Planned for the Clans since they understandably want to punish the Dragoons for betraying them by going AWOL.
• Eridani Light Horse - One of the biggest and oldest living Merc companies in the Inner Sphere. Distinguished for being one of the last remaining non-Comstar aligned SLDF regiments left in the Inner Sphere and made themselves as a major force in the Amaris Civil War, but eventually ended up pressganged by the Draconis Combine for most of the first two succession wars until Jinjiro Kurita got involved, wherein they fucked off for greener pastures in the Periphery. They joined up with the Second Star League as a taunt and sign of disapproval at how the Clans had devolved from the SLDF in service of the people to ritualistic warlords. They would remain affiliated with the Second Star League before it disbanded. Finally got gunned down in the Dark Age by Clan Jade Falcon but survivors remain; notably among the Clan Goliath Scorpion who had absorbed a portion during the Wars of Reaving.
• Northwind Highlanders - A band of Scottish mercenaries hailing from the planet Northwind. Once upon a time they were a formal Royal Guard unit for House Cameron in the SLDF but they went free agent when the Star League fell apart, after which they mostly worked for House Liao. They got a surprise happy blakesday party that destroyed their HPG and wiped out their aerofighters but otherwise they survived and joined the Republic in 3081. With the Fall of the Republic, they were forced to surrender with their leader loaned as a liaison from the IlClan to the Jade Falcons; which is notable due to both factions historically and currently originating from, the Black Watch, elite SLDF units working as bodyguards for the First Lord of the Star League and nearly prevented the Amaris Civil War.
• Snord's Irregulars - take Wolf's dragoons above, cut them down to a small unit, and give them the secret task of preserving historical artefacts. Originally recruited by a member of the Wolf’s Dragoons names Cranston Snord who “officially” fell out, they were actually a deep cover unit who were sent out to investigate rumors of hidden SLDF fortresses, automated factories, and weapon depots for the Dragoons to quietly acquire. Their kleptomaniac persona remained even after the Clan Invasion, all while listening to the author's favourite rock music. Once trolled Clan Jade Falcon into coming after them by identifying themselves as "Clan Snord" and stole a cluster's equipment in an underbid trial of possession over an SLDF space station.
• Kell Hounds - Stackpole's darlings. A usually two regiment outfit under House Kell with close ties to the Lyran ruling family, the Kell hounds hit a low spot when their commander Morgan Kell faced THE samurai's samurai - Yorinaga Kurita. Unable to kill each other (due to Kell's... special abilities) both leaders quit warfare and joined monasteries. The mercenaries took this as a hard betrayal by their commander, slumping into their worst period. Years later, Yorinaga is recalled to service and winds up killing Patrick Kell, Morgan's brother, while trying to intercept the Lyran princess travelling to Federated suns to prepare for marriage to Hanse Davion. Yorinaga also trains up an elite Kurita equivalent to the Kell hounds - the Genyosha. This is enough to get Morgan to leave the monastery and gather the Hounds together. During the little drunken brawl following a certain wedding, the two units eventually faced each other again, with another drawn duel - Morgan tricks Yorinaga into shutdown from overheating. Yorinaga commits seppuku to preserve his honour, while the Kell hounds become one of the most renowned elite mercenary units of the IS. Years later, Morgan's son Phelan gets caught by mysterious enemies while hunting periphery pirates, and is our first close look at the alien Clans as he progresses from a captive to a warrior of the clans. Managing to climb right to the top when the Falcons and the Wolves go to war against each other over the whole Tukayyid affair, Phelan lead the Warden faction of Clan Wolf into the Inner sphere where they join up with the Kell Hounds and formed a major part of the defences against the Clan aggression as the Arc Royal Defence Cordon. Both later got decimated by an omnicidal Jade Falcon Khan during the Dark Age. Once the Jade Falcons scrambled the bulk of their military forces to Terra, the Kell Hounds were able to retake their homeworld when the Jade Falcon occupation zone and Lyran northernmost territories balkanized from the power vacuum. On the other hand, their commander has a big grudge against the Steiners for leaving them out to dry. While somehow, the Warden-Crusader division between the Wolf Exiles and the Wolf Empire got swept under the carpet despite separating the two for over a century.
• Gray Death Legion - the original mercenaries from the very first novels, they a unit tied to House Carlyle of Lyran nationality. Notably got embroiled in a ComStar plot to secretly dig up an old Star League facility, which the GDL managed to foil AND walked away from with a whole Star League memory core full of technical data. Uncharacteristically, for mercenaries, they didn't sell the core to the highest bidder but instead made sure the knowledge was spread around the Inner Sphere, starting a whole technological renaissance. Instead, they resumed mercenary activities and made a nice side business of manufacturing the first IS powered armor suits. While they are supposed to have been destroyed down the line by the Word of Blake, no one really buys the theory and recent lore suggests they've been reformed during the Lyran Commonwealth's civil strife during the Dark Age.