Bounty Hunters' Guild

In the time of the Old Republic, when rogue bounty hunters coming into conflict with Jedi Knights more and more often resulted in an increasing number of civilian casualties, the Jedi Order requested that the Galactic Senate address the matter. The Senate in response decided that the best way to regulate the bounty hunters was for the hunters to police themselves. The hunters were allowed to form governing bodies, providing that they adhere to by-laws and create personnel records, leading to the creation of many guilds. Soon, these guilds formed together, creating one overarching group, the **Bounty Hunter's Guild**, an institution that would regulate the bounty-hunting trade. The Guild would be led by a Guildmaster who held members to the Bounty Hunters' Creed, the unwritten rules of the bounty hunters. The founders had a vision of uniting bounty hunters, training students, and encouraging collaboration with the Jedi Order and with each other. That vision came at risk during the wars between the Sith and the Jedi, with many hunters no longer following the Creed, and giving in to the dark, desperate mood of the times.

Years after the formation of the Galactic Republic, a faction made up of Humans was created, forming a schism in the Guild. They invaded Mandalorian territory, and the Mandalorians retaliated by destroying the location of their first meeting, killing many in the process. This pushed the Guild to recruit members of many different species to prove that the Guild was not speciesist, even droids were permitted to join. Centuries later, after winning a war against an opposing species the Mandalorians proceeded to exterminate the entire enemy population. The Jedi Council failed to take any action against the Mandalorians, so a number of rogue Jedi teamed up with the Bounty Hunters' Guild to take down the ruling Mand'alor. The Guild was active during the time of the Clone Wars, with one of their most notable members being the vicious Trandoshan known for hunting Wookiees, Bossk, who also happened to be the son of one of their highest members. After the Republic was transformed into the Galactic Empire, the Guild itself would survive under the leadership of Guildmaster Cradossk, the father of Bossk, where it acted as a formal allied holding to the Empire.

Some say that the reason for the Guilds partnership the Empire was because of the belief among bounty hunters that the highest bid makes the rules. During the reign of the Galactic Empire, the guild was given authority by the Imperial Office of Criminal Investigation to issue Imperial Peace-Keeping Certificates, which allowed its holder access to the Imperial Enforcement DataCore. This continued until around a year after the Battle of Yavin, when through manipulation, members of their ranks began to split into different factions. One faction among them was composed of the elders who had run the Guild and reaped the profits, igniting the resentment of the younger, bounty-earning members. This manipulation resulted in a conflict resulting in weak hunters being crushed, leaving only the strong to be hired by the Empire. In the aftermath of the inner conflicts, sometime during the Galactic Civil War the Guild was brought back to power and with it the same belief about the highest bid making the rules was ultimately what resulted in the Guild siding with the New Republic.

## Members of the Guild

The Guild would be led by a Guildmaster who held members to the Bounty Hunters' Creed, the unwritten rules of the bounty hunters. Its rules were the laws that kept bounty hunters together, but the guild was full of loose cannons, who would often break the rules for their own benefit. The guild was more a coalition of the professionals than a proper organization, and rivalries between its houses were a common occurrence. The bounty hunters who joined the guild had the benefit of notifications of bounty postings before they were broadcast through official channels, which gave guild members a head start. When the guild assigned one of its members to pursue the subject of a government bounty, only that particular hunter was authorized to go after that particular acquisition. Many agents of the Empire preferred to deal exclusively with bounty hunters from the Guild. By a point thirty years after the conclusion of the Galactic Civil War, the Guild remained active, but it had been infiltrated by members of the First Order who sought to acquire the services of the skilled hunters to be used against opposing governments.