Harkwood's List of Free Companies
Purpose
Harkwood's List is a comprehensive listing of most mercenary companies in the Lands of Legend, but particularly those that operate in Rosalind. The List provides significant information about each company, including size of the company, age, leaders, and opinions about skill and integrity.
Document Structure
Clauses
Every mercenary company that pays the annual fee of 200 kopins has a full page in Harkwood's List of Free Companies. Every entry will have an accurate count of soldiers, broken down by type (archers, pikemen, cavalry, etc.), will give a brief description of the founding of the company (including the number of years active), identify the leader, usually a captain, and any agent the company uses for hiring. The entry will also give an an opinion regarding the company's experience, integrity (how well it holds to its contract), and will quote relevant information from prior employers and even opponents.
Caveats
While Alton Harkwood was known to be scrupulously fair in his descriptions, subsequent editors of the List have been more susceptible to bribery to give more favorable reviews to some companies. Also, the editors of Harkwood's are sensitive to their client base; a negative review insisted upon by a Duke have been published in the past.
Publication Status
Harkwood's List of Free Companies is published annually and available to any who are willing to pay the publication fee of 500 kopins. Mercenary companies who pay their fee of 200 kopins to be registered on the List, and cooperate with Harkwood's review, receive a free copy of the List.
Historical Details
History
After the signing of the Treaty of Aven, the Guild of Valor relocated its main Hall to Avencourt in Carador. King Breeswald of Rosalind, feeling betrayed by this action, declared a reward to any mercenary company that chose to leave the guild rather than remain. The reward enticed many of the smaller companies, and through additional political pressure, most of the larger companies followed suit. However, this lead to a problem - the Dukes and Duchesses of the realm hired mercenaries to fight their adversaries and protect their lands, and had always gone through the Guild of Valor to do so. The Guild, in turn, had always policed their members to ensure that nobles hiring mercenary companies would receive value for their coin, not dressed-up bandits who would fleece them. Without the Guild, many nobles wondered aloud who would protect their interests.
A retired mercenary captain, Alton Harkwood, who had led one of the more successful free companies before he lost an eye and his sword hand in the Great Crusade, saw the problem. He used his knowledge and familiarity with other mercenary leaders to compile lists of reputable companies, which he then sold to the nobility of Rosalind at a reasonable price. The List proved popular with those who hired mercenaries, and the next year, every company was clamoring to be in it. To his credit, Harkwood did his best to give a honest opinion of each company he listed and resisted bribes to "improve his opinion" of some companies he had found lacking.
From that year to the present, Harkwood, and then his family after his death, have published the List, or Harkwood's as it is known in the the trade. The Harkwood family takes its responsibility seriously and requests references from prior employers, interviews company members, and will even speak with opponents who have faced a company on the field in order to give a complete and thorough opinion of each mercenary troop.
Legacy
While King Breewald hoped the List would ultimately replace the Guild of Valor in Rosalind, it did not. While most free companies stayed away from the Guild during the king's lifetime, after his death in Year 333 of the Third Age, most captains applied to become members of the Guild again.
An image of Harkwood's List of Free Companies, 415th Edition (revised).
Type
Report, Military
Medium
Paper
Authoring Date
Year 281 of the Third Age
Location
Authors
Comments