The Tithe of Flesh, The Life of a Mercenary

The scent of blood, the scent of coin, it's all the same scent at the end of the day...

Let the bounty hunter fight smal time marks, and the adventuerer prowl old tombs to get centuries old copper coins, but when war brews, a professional is needed. Adventuerers regurarly get mixed up with mercenaries, and in truth there is little distinquishing them, but diffrences still remain nonetheless. While the words sellsword and mercenary can be used to describe an adventuerer, when not talking about an adventuerer they mean a proper solider. That is what the mercenary is, a soldier, willing to fight and die for whatever cause needs blood and bodies so long as his coin is coming in nice and steady. There is a diffrence between a conscript and a sellsword, in that fedual levies do not have alot of training. That is not to say they have no training, but by an large for levied troops it is rushed, short, and more focused on how to stab with a spear. The Sellsword however, he wants to be a professional, and so will train, hard and long for as much time as they can. Even if a Sellsword doesnt join a company (as idiotic as that may be) training is paramount, because the more you train the higher quality your craft is, and the higher you can charge.
For as long as time has existed, there have been those wanting someone or something dead, but only a few men and women are willing to risk their necks in exchange for goods. Sellswording is an ancient profession, and it shows in how many sellswording companies exist out in the world. These companies are comprised of organized sellswords being trained like a professional army, only one that can in theory be hired by anyone so long as they have the coin for it. Such companies are tightly structred with commanders, captains, paymasters, lawyers, retainers, and so on, and diffrent ranks in companies earn a mercenary a higher portion of pay. The most famous sellswords of course hail from Neundorf, with the famous brightly colored landsknecht typically going for quite the hefty price. However despite how popular and in demand sellswords are, they are often looked down upon by others, mainly nobles. Nobles are too busy caring about honor and courtly politics to realize that being financially compensated for your work is just a basic mortal desire. There is also the streotype that mercenaries will switch sides if offered more pay, which is both true and false. Some companies are more "free-thinking" with their contracts, but most companies pride themselves on their reputation (reputation is the only real way they get hired afterall) and so typically won't violate or break a contract early without good reason. Not being payed what they were promised is a very good way to watch a company turn on their employer and take contracts from his enemies, or just pillage and loot their employers cities.
All in all, though they are loathed and at times viewed as greedy savages, end of the day there is not a single nation in the world that doesn't need a few mercenaries. In wartime, mercenaries offer a quick way to bolster a nations armies rapidly and the veterancy of such formations means they typically can survive longer than massess of conscripted levies. Course, the mercenary doesn't care what the nobles say about them in the noble courts, all they know is at the end of the day: they are given coin to do a job, and god help anyone or anything that gets in the way of a sellswords paycheck.

Career

Qualifications

Enough coin to at least be able to buy a club, and a certain special state of mind. Some Free Companies maintain their own list of qualifications to actually join their ranks, but typically they are fairly light when they need more manpower, as the training is intense and will hopefully weed out the weak links in the bunch.

Perception

Purpose

Offer their services to the highest bidder to fight and die amongst the armies of better mens troops, and to not ask questions and do what they are told when given coin to kill.

Alternative Names

Sellsword, Freeblades, Free-Riders, Coin-Loyalists, Free-Companies

Demand

Very high