Bountypedia (Bounty-pedia)
This document is sealed tighter than a Hutt’s credit account. Successfully slicing into it? It’ll make someone a legendary coder and get them killed at the same time.
The infamous Bountypedia. This ‘living’ digital document is perhaps the most secured public record in all the known galaxy. It’s only used by members of the Bounty Hunter Guild, or Bondsman’s Guild, and their clients.
This living document is a record of past and present bounties, credits offered for work, payments rendered and more. The Bounty Guild agents, or Bounty Brokers, monitor content updates and relay those to the bounty hunters they work with. It’s here that a client places a bounty on a target and hunters come for work. But this wasn’t always the case.
A Red Ledger
In the ‘Early Republic’ era, there was no Bountypedia or Bounty Hunter Guild. But there were Bounty Hunter Clans, or Hunter Houses. Close-knit groups, bound by specific skills and goals, they competed for contracts. The results were often bloody.
It was inevitable for these Houses to come into conflict against the Jedi Order. Specifically, it was the rogue bounty hunters that were the spark of inspiration. The conflict between the Houses had started to spiral out of control. Rogue bounty hunters were becoming more frequent and bold in their work, many flaunting the law across known space. This included open combat against the Jedi.
The Jedi’s response was to petition the Republic Senate for a solution. Laws were drafted but in the end, the Senate decided the Houses needed to monitor themselves. They could form a governing body, so long as that organization maintained public records of their activities. This was to include a code of behavior, by-laws on dealing with violations of that code, laws for creation or dissolution of Hunter Houses, and last, a public document or record of activity.
This caused the creation of the original Bounty Hunter Guild and the accompanying Bountypedia. The result was not quite what the Senate or Jedi had hoped for, but it was the result they needed.
Public, bloody, fighting between various Bounty Hunter Houses or between Houses and independent hunters ceased. Fierce competition for contracts continued, but the conflict was driven to the Underworld and specific cantinas. The latter earning the name of ‘Bondsman Hubs’ as they were outfitted with special security to prevent eavesdropping or assassinations.
The ‘living’ document of the Bountypedia became an enduring record, digital marketplace, and a manifesto of the Bounty Hunter profession. A document that could change and grow over time with the rise and fall of galactic governments.
It prevented outright bounty hunter clan wars and outlasted governments of the galaxy. The Bountypedia has even outlasted the Bounty Hunter Guild, which has collapsed and reformed many times over the long years.
It’s both a central hub of information, code of conduct, and the closest thing anyone gets to a ‘bounty hunter manual’ for the job. And if you think you can do the job without it? Well, I hope you’ve got a bacta tank in your closet somewhere. You’re going to need it.
Built to Last
The march of time has seen the rise, fall, and reformation of the Bounty Hunter Guild. This has been in no small part to the deadly machinations of the Bounty Hunter Clan Houses, clawing at each other for power. But the Bountypedia has always remained intact, active, secure, and maintained. By who?
No one knows.
This has become the greatest mystery of the bounty hunting profession. Rumors and myth abound in the Bounty Hunter Guild about a mysterious person or group that preserved the document. References are littered in the Bountypedia to the ‘Administratum’ that supposedly maintains the document and its content.
No clan, criminal organization, or independent hunter knows who or what this ‘Administratum’ is. Some claim to have met it, or them, but it’s empty claims. Any clan or criminal enterprise would pay any price to find out who is actually in control of the Bountypedia. So far, it remains a mystery.
I’ve always wondered about who the Administratum is. But really, for them to stay secret this long? If anyone did find out who the Administratum was, I doubt that hunter would stay alive for very long. Dead men tell no tales as the saying goes.
Structure
The Bountypedia is broken into three parts. First are the public records of the bounty hunters themselves. This lists who they are, their skills, contract records, and how to contact them.
Next would be the code itself. The ‘Bounty Hunter Creed’. This short list is kept up to date with updated Bounty Hunter Clan House rulings, agreements and more. This is the thread that binds the hunters together so that they won’t openly tear each other apart.
Last would be the section that details bounty contracts. This is a list of available, in progress, or completed contract work for bounty hunters.
Star Wars: Shards
Discussion Boards
Bountypedia Contract Records
Thu, Jun 2nd 2022 04:18
These are the records of account concerning Hunts, those offering the Hunt, and those Hunters that take up the Hunt for the desired Acquisition.
Type
Record, Public
Medium
Digital, Holographic
Authoring Date
~ 2000 years before the Tapani Impierum
Signatories (Organizations)
The Bounty Hunter’s Creed
It’s more or less followed. Kind of a guideline, really.
What an amazing idea blending articles and discussion boards. This is absolutely role-playing gold. May the contracts flow.
May the Contracts Flow! The Contract is All! :D Thanks. I had the most fun writing this one. I cannot wait to see how the Discussion Board at the bottom evolves.