Editing Mercenaries (Battletech) (section)

== 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 [[The Periphery|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.