The Mercenary Guild
The Mercenary Guild is a loosely structured organization which takes care of magic “hazmat” too minor to attract the attention of the Order of Merciful Aid or the Paranormal Activity Division of local police force. The Guild has two divisions: administrative, which is located in the main Guildhouse in Atlanta, and merc, which consists of all of the mercenaries who actually do the work in the field. The individual mercenaries, called mercs, are employee-owners of the Guild: as long as they are within the Guild, they own a tiny share in it. The admins may or may not be employee-owners, as some of them are employed on temporary basis.
Each merc is assigned a “zone”, a small geographical area that is their territory. Mercs are grouped into “chains”, according to their ability and location. A typical chain has 8-10 links.
The day-to-day Guild business takes place as follows:
- The admin division receives a trouble call, which may come by phone, in person, or by some other means.
- The admins evaluate the call, making sure that the Guild is authorized to take the job and that no other agency or individual has been simultaneously employed to handle the same problem. Mercs are a violent lot, and the primary function of the admin division is to keep detached-body-part count to a minimum. If the Guild is clear to proceed, the trouble call is logged in as a “gig”.
- The admins determine into which zone the gig falls and alert the mercenary assigned to that zone. If the merc declines the gig, the job is passed on to the next person in their chain. Occasionally, the job is too difficult for a single merc, and the “owner” of the gig may choose to team up with another merc. It is up to the individual mercs to determine how they want to split the bounty.
- The merc performs the job and delivers proof to the admins. In cases where the job was done remotely, the person who has made the trouble call or the local police agency usually has to confirm that the problem has been resolved. The merc then collects the bounty, 30% of which goes to the Guild to pay for medical and dental insurance for the mercs, admin maintenance and salaries, lawyer fees, and other various expenses. Most mercs also contribute up to 10% of their bounty to their pension fund. Nobody has yet gotten rich enough to live in style on their pension, but it has kept a few retirees off the streets.
Merc Staff: Solomon Red, Mark, Clerk
Known mercs: Jim Black, Kate Daniels
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