"For honor, for brotherhood, for credits."
The Mercenary Guild stands as one of the oldest and most respected organizations in the galaxy, a coalition of hardened soldiers, pilots, and guns-for-hire bound by contract and creed rather than flag or faction. Where governments fail, where armies crumble, the Guild endures — a neutral brotherhood of warriors loyal only to the mission and the bond between comrades.
They are the hired shields of the frontier, the sword-arm of corporations, the private armies of planetary rulers, and the saviors of stranded colonies.
Despite their mercenary nature, they are far from lawless. The Guild’s Code of Honor binds every member under oath, enforcing discipline, loyalty, and professionalism. Their creed is as much about camaraderie as it is about credits — a code that separates them from mere raiders or thugs.
Membership in the Mercenary Guild begins with a Trial Contract, a live combat assignment that tests courage, skill, and reliability. Surviving the mission — and ensuring the contract’s success — earns the initiate a place within the Guild and their first rank: Private.
Each successful mercenary carries a badge, both as a sign of rank and as an encrypted Guild ID tied to their combat record. Advancement is earned by completing contracts of one level higher than one’s rank; otherwise, members may only take on missions at or below their tier.
Private (Blue Badge): Fresh recruits who’ve completed their Trial Contract. Assigned low-risk defense or escort missions.
Specialist (Orange Badge): Skilled operatives trusted with tactical raids, scouting, and advanced combat assignments.
Sergeant (Green Badge): Squad leaders responsible for small-unit operations and tactical command.
Master Sergeant (Red Badge): Veteran mercenaries and field instructors overseeing multiple teams or training new recruits.
Lieutenant (Silver Badge): Officers commanding Guild detachments or coordinating planetary-scale missions. Allowed to become Battlemech Pilots.
Captain (Platinum Badge): Elite commanders with decades of experience. Often lead fleets, battalions, or entire Guild branches.
Mercenary Guild Branches are found across the galaxy, often located in major trade hubs, orbital stations, or frontier capitals. Each Branch functions as both a military contractor office and a social center for mercs seeking work, repair, or rest.
Every Branch is led by a Grand Marshal, elected by the local Captains through an honor vote. Grand Marshals serve until death, retirement, or banishment for dishonor. They act as local governors of their Branch, overseeing contract distribution, arbitration of disputes, and the enforcement of the Guild’s Code.
Above all Branches stands the Lord Commander, supreme leader of the Guild. This title has remained within the noble House Corrino since the Guild’s founding in the early days of galactic unification. The current Lord Commander, Lord Rusa Corrino, is a respected Evereni noble known for his tactical genius, stoic composure, and unflinching loyalty to the Guild’s code.
It is said that when Lord Corrino speaks, even Captains fall silent.
The Mercenary Guild’s Code is its lifeblood, ensuring order amid chaos:
Respect all ranks and contracts. The chain of command is sacred.
Never betray a comrade or client. Dishonor is worse than death.
Payment must precede performance. The Guild is no charity.
Inter-Guild conflict is forbidden. Disputes are settled in arbitration, never in blood.
Protect the innocent when able. Civilians are never valid targets without written consent.
Violation of the Code results in banishment — a fate considered worse than execution, for exiled mercs are branded as Oathbreakers, hunted by their former brothers.
The Mercenary Guild is as much a home as an army. Within the walls of its Branches, mercs share stories, repair armor, and toast fallen comrades. Squads form and dissolve as easily as friendships, united by contract and cause.
Guild Halls are equipped with:
Contract Boards: Listing available missions, from escort duties to planetary security operations.
Barracks and Cantinas: Shared living and recreation spaces, fostering the Guild’s tight-knit culture.
Armories and Workshops: For weapon repair, ship maintenance, and custom gear crafting.
Briefing Chambers: Secure rooms for tactical planning and debriefs.
Honor Walls: Engraved with the names of fallen mercenaries, maintained by every Branch’s Quartermaster.
The Guild’s members come from all species and walks of life — Humans, Evereni, Batari, Rokim, and others. On the battlefield, no race or origin matters. Only the badge does.
While the Mercenary Guild prides itself on neutrality and brotherhood, its political structure is a complex web of duty, heritage, and respect.
At the top stands Lord Rusa Corrino, heir to the ancient House Corrino, the Evereni family that founded the Guild centuries ago during the chaotic birth of the Galactic Community. The Lord Commander is both a political and military figure — a tactician, diplomat, and keeper of the Guild’s sacred traditions.
The Lord Commander:
Sanctions Grand Marshal elections and arbitrates disputes between branches.
Oversees Guild-wide contracts of galactic scale.
Manages diplomatic relations with governments and corporate entities.
Enforces the Code of Honor, personally ordering Oathbreaker hunts when necessary.
Though of noble birth, Lord Corrino commands through earned respect, not lineage alone. He is said to personally visit warzones and speak at the funerals of fallen Captains, reinforcing the Guild’s spirit of unity.
Each Grand Marshal governs their Branch like a planetary commander. They are responsible for maintaining discipline, fairness in contracts, and the morale of their mercs. While they swear allegiance to the Lord Commander, Marshals often wield immense local power — some commanding thousands of soldiers and fleets.
Their positions are held by election:
Only Captains may vote.
A simple majority elects the new Marshal.
A Marshal’s term ends only by death, retirement, or disgrace.
Disgrace — such as corruption, betrayal, or cowardice — leads to immediate stripping of rank and Guild-wide blacklisting.
Once every few galactic cycles, all Captains convene under the Lord Commander in the Council of Arms — a great assembly held aboard a massive orbital fortress known as The Iron Citadel. Here, they discuss galactic contracts, Guild neutrality, and disciplinary rulings.
The Council’s vote can challenge even the Lord Commander’s decree — but such defiance is rare, and only ever done in unity.
While many factions across the galaxy field battlemechs, towering war machines of armor, plasma, and precision, none wield them with the deadly grace of the Mercenary Guild.
To the Guild, the battlemech is not merely a weapon — it is an extension of the warrior’s soul. From agile scout frames to colossal siege titans, Guild mechpilots are trained from their earliest days to operate, maintain, and fight alongside these mechanical giants with unmatched expertise.
Entire Mercenary divisions specialize in mech warfare, their pilots often bonded to their machines through neural-link systems or experimental Psi-sync rigs. These elite units are so effective that major factions — including planetary militaries, corporations, and even the I.M.G. — frequently hire Guild mech squadrons rather than bear the cost of training and equipping their own.
Some of the galaxy’s most feared mechs bear Guild insignia: dented, scorched, and marked with the sigil of the Twin Sabres, the ancient crest of the Mercenary Guild.
It is said that when a Guild battlemech deploys onto a battlefield, the war is already decided — the only question is who will pay the most for the cleanup.
In the Mercenary Guild, war is business, and business is sacred. It is not uncommon for Guild members to find themselves on opposing sides of a conflict, hired by rival factions or corporations. When this happens, there is no anger, no betrayal — only the understanding that each soldier fights for their contract, and that when the battle ends, so too does the bloodshed.
Guild tradition demands that members never take such encounters personally. A fellow mercenary slain in honorable combat is honored, not hated, and survivors often share a drink after the war — sometimes in the same cantina that posted the contract that divided them.
This unspoken bond, known among veterans as “The Iron Brotherhood,” ensures that the Guild’s unity endures beyond politics, pay, and faction lines.
For mercenaries, loyalty is to the Guild and the code — not the cause.