Forum Venatorum

The “Forum” is considered more of an international public resource rather than an organization. With all of the uncontrolled territory, conflict zones, and chaos of the Eddas, fugitives can escape justice with relative ease. Simply leaving civilized territory can put them out of reach of law enforcement, making banditry a pervasive problem. In times of peace, bandits and raiders are a major issue. In times of war, they are a plague.
It was in times of war that the Forum was established. Deserters and criminals fled the Western conflict zone as Gezakt was beset by the Xenyan Empuire and the Berokian Kingdoms. Bandit gangs entered the chaos, raiding all parties from the wasteland, and some being so bold as to raid uninvolved parties such as the Solarian Republic, threatening to get another nation involved in the conflict. Instead of intervening militarily, the Solarians negotiated a neutral organization that would hunt fugitives via writs and bounties. To keep it neutral, a fugitive could only be added to the list by their nation of origin. If a Gezakt citizen turned to banditry, only the Gezakt government can place them on the Forum Venatorum, at which point any Venator can take the bounty and pursue the fugitive wherever they go. Every nation the Forum is established in agrees not to interfere with a lawful bounty.
The stipulation that a Writ on a wanted fugitive can only be placed by their Nation of Origin has led to several conflicts between the Forum and the member states. It’s not uncommon for a member state to declare defectors and former citizens wanted fugitives as a way to use the Venatorum against their enemies. In the same vein, citizens of one nation have migrated to another and become a problem there, then moved to a third nation and thus escaped justice when their original nation refuses to issue a Writ on them. The former was considered to be an existential threat to the neutrality and thus the purpose of the Forum, and thus the Forum Venatorum itself made an edict that crimes related to changes of allegiance would not be accepted. Crimes committed prior to a change of allegiance remain in a hotly contested gray area.   The second major issue of citizens changing their national citizenship, becoming a criminal in their new nation, and then fleeing prosecution was addressed in a formal amendment that all member states agreed to. Any state that has formally accepted an individual as a citizen is considered a “Nation of Origin” and thus can issue a Writ. This still leads to conflicts of interest but to a level considered acceptable to all parties as they believe it solves more problems than it creates.

Structure

The Forum Venatorum is best described as a licensing service and information resource for Bounty Hunters, rather than an organization of bounty hunters themselves. The Forum itself is an independent international organization that lists active warrants for fugitives throughout the Eddas Continent, employees of the Forum Venatorum are researchers, lawyers, and support staff. Additionally, the Forum Venatorum has numerous safehouses, most of which are ran by retired bounty hunters. The bounty hunters themselves cannot be employed by the Forum to minimize conflicts of interest, nepotism and other forms of corruption. Hunters are instead independent contractors that must be first vetted by the Forum before receiving a license to use Forum Venatorum resources and accept contracts. A licensed hunter may employ their own crew to aide in collecting a bounty, but these associates are not considered to be part of the Forum Venatorum despite being allowed limited access of Forum resources. It is rare for licensed hunters to split single bounties. Instead the tendency is for one hunter to lead a crew of associates, paying them a percentage of the bounty while taking a larger portion for themselves. Venatorum Hunters do often form partnerships of two or more licensed hunters, but these groups tend to have each partner select a different bounty.

Culture

Forum Venatorum hunters tend to be very insular. They don't generally interact with outsiders beyond the need for information relevant to their current bounty. Most hunters start off as an underling of a licensed hunter and by the time they themselves become a Venator they have developed distrust of the general public, fearing retaliation for one of their prior contract. The hunters spend a lot of time in the wastes and so grow used to deprivation and struggling to survive. They consider city folk to be soft, either regarding them with contempt or envy. A Venator tends to be terse and distrustful when conversating with outsiders. When not pursuing bounties, Venators usually seek isolation of one form or another. Some prefer solitude and if they own property it will be largely inaccessible to the average person. Most tend to live in Forum housing and only socialize with other Venators. The minority of Venators that aren't aloof tend to be boastful to the point of arrogance, traveling bar to bar telling legends about their own deeds. This fame seeking minority is more often what outsiders think of when they think of the Venators, but in actuality the relatively few who act this way rarely last long in the organization, either because they get themselves killed or realize the risks are higher than the reward. 
Additionally, the Venators have a tendency to deify their dead. In life they only nominally prefer their own to outsiders, but still regard each other as competition. Some say a Venator's favorite past time is trash talking other Venators as they focus on each others' mistakes and shortcomings. When another Venator dies their merits are exaggerated and their vices largely ignored. There is a strong culture of revenge related to this, where if a bounty is able to kill a Venator they can expect mobs of Venators to soon be pursuing them.

Public Agenda

The Forum Venatorum's mandate is to pursue wanted fugitives that have eluded capture.

Type

Guild, Fighter / Mercenary

Alternative Names

The Hunter's Market