Mercenary

> *"You fill my pockets with your gold and silver and I sell my sword to you. What bothers you about it?"*
> *"That there may be someone who can pay more to point that "sold" sword at me."*
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A **mercenary** is an independent soldier who has no official allegiance to any lord or country, but who instead hires out his services for payment. They are most commonly known by the term "**sellsword**", as they sell their services with a sword.

The quality and reputation of sellswords ranges across a very wide spectrum. They are often professional soldiers, moving from one temporary contract to the next, though particularly poor-quality sellswords might just be a gang of untrained thugs. However, even sellswords who receive no "formal" training make a living by engaging in combat on a regular basis. Thus even a mercenary that is initially low-born and without expensive training will gain a great amount of combat experience ("hands on" training) throughout his career. Provided that he survives that long, a veteran sellsword may become a highly skilled fighter. A sellsword that has significantly distinguished himself in combat may even be rewarded by being dubbed a knight, though this is uncommon. Knights tend to look down on sellswords, due to their usually low-birth and their reputation as rogues.

Songs of chivalry and romance often portray war as a glamorous series of duels between knights in shining armor: fighting for love, honor and homeland. While this may be sometimes the case, in truth a large extent of the day to day combat in real wars in Soothereos is fought by hired sellswords, often companies of sellswords, fighting only for money. These sellsword armies often switch sides or abandon their employer when they realize that their patron is losing a battle or when the enemy offers them better coin.

While mercenaries are often referred to as "sellswords" as a catch-all term, this is strictly speaking only one of three different subdivisions of mercenaries: sellswords, freeriders, and sellsails.

## Sellswords

> A lone sword for hire, driven by coin and the rhythm of battles.
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> Markings on Sellsword Taverns

Sellswords are professional mercenary soldiers. They usually fight on foot, though they can actually also own horses and fight as mounted warriors.

**Notable Sellswords:**

* Wolfran Houndlan - arguably the most famous sellsword, Wolfran fought alongside Prince Matyter, the Sword of Broken Shards, during the Third Brokenlands Rebellion. Wolfran was the founder of the Harbingers, a select and powerful Sellsword company in Khoroth. When the blades of rebellion struck, Prince Matyter hired Wolfran and the Harbingers to quell the rebellion.
* Thorne Blackthorn - A brooding and mysterious figure, Thorne Blackthorn was a master of stealth and subterfuge. Clad in midnight-black armor and wielding twin blades, he moved like a shadow, striking down his targets before they even know he's there. He was the bastard son of Arlin Blackthorn, the Lord Rhaek of Belhelm.
* Lyra Swiftwind - A swift and agile sellsword, Lyra was as elusive as the wind itself. With her graceful movements and deadly accuracy, she dispatched foes with unparalleled finesse. Her silver-white hair and piercing blue eyes made her an unforgettable presence on the battlefield. Lyra's exceptional skills with the bow and her expertise in archery had earned her the nickname "The Whispering Gale," as her arrows strike true and leave enemies in awe of her unmatched marksmanship. Her most notable cause was during the War of the Roses, where she had struck and killed the Knight of the Kingsguard Ser Leyn at the battle of Graystreams.

## Freeriders

Although mounted sellswords are sometimes called "freeriders," strictly speaking they are not the same thing. The difference is that true freeriders do not fight for regular payment, receiving only a share of the food supplies to sustain them and the promise of a share of the plunder (gold, weapons, armor, etc.). Essentially, they are "riders" that fight for "free".

Freeriders are usually a motley mix of two drastically different sources. Some freeriders are hedge knights; low-ranking freelance knights unattached to any noble House, and they are fighting for free because they hope that if they distinguish themselves in combat, they will be formally taken into a lord's service as a sworn sword (who gets regular payment). The other kind of freeriders are truly poor hangers-on, usually farm-boys whose homes were burnt out during the military campaign and who joined up with the army because they have nowhere else to go and are only a step above camp followers. This second type are actually by far the most common freeriders. Either way, freeriders are rarely used in direct combat between armies, instead more often serving as scouts and foragers. They can see combat, but this usually takes the form of raids, burning down enemy villages, often as their own homes were once burned down.

## Sellsails

Sellsails are mercenary sailors who engage in naval battles. Sellsails are the captain and crew of a boat, whose service is the actual operation of their vessel. Of course, the crews of many sellsail ships are also proficient in combat during boarding operations and coastal raids. Sellsails are quite frequently pirates who have decided to make quick money by hiring out the services of their ships during a current conflict, and in return charging far more than they'd normally make in their usual raiding activities. During peacetime, they usually go right back to being regular pirates.

**Notable Sellsails:**

* Maradeer Vorahn - a enigmatic and bold pirate-lord who commandeered a fleet of twelve ships and added eighteen more on to it to supplement Harold Herrenhalls sacking of Stormfront Keep.

## Sellsword companies

While many sellswords function independently of any larger organization, there are also many **sellsword companies** which hire out their services as a unit. Again, the quality of these sellsword companies varies across a wide spectrum. Some can be little more than poorly trained gangs of a few dozen men who have combined their strength - though major lords who want to supplement their armies with sellswords will still prefer to hire a pre-assembled collection of such sellswords rather than go through the trouble of hiring them one by one. The best sellsword companies are essentially small private armies, highly trained and serving under their own officers.

While sellsword companies are encountered in Soothereos, they are much more common in city-state nations and smaller nations around the world. The Five Kingdoms are predominantly a feudal society, in which each lord raises soldiers from his own lands.

**Notable Mercenary companies:**

* Ashen Wolves
* Stormbreakers
* Harbingers
* Nightfalls