The Armour Archive

D. Sebastian wrote:Bob,
Allow me to clarify.

- Unaligned, fights for another, asks for tangibles: Merc

Thats us. You will find no one we have ever served who was not satisfied.

I believe that the person who goes to Baronial practices and says to the new-comer to the SCA,
"Don't fight for the Barony, fight with me. My unit is getting 6 new helmets as payment and I'm getting one. Of you join my unit and I'll give you my old helm."
is not compatible with "the dream". This is not largess, this is stealing people from the path of chivalry.
I call that person a "Merc".

Generally I try to turn guys that ask me away. But I gotta say that douchbags in the classic power structure (usually knights)are my best recruiting tool.



I believe that the person who's unit is already in contract by somone to fight for a Kingdom, and then starts contacting different Baronies of that Kingdom and saying
"It could go either way for me to fight for your Kingdom or against it, a few more things could get us on your side..."
is not compatible with "the dream".
I call that person a "Merc" (and other things).

I call these guys assholes who give honest businessmen a bad name. If you been bought, stay bought.




I could go on.
All of these I know from personal experience.
YMMV

PS, beer anytime!

Once again I reiterate. Ask for references. Check them. Pay after service if it makes you more comfortable. Use a sliding scale based on performance.

I am an honest businessman and if you point out to me the bands that are giving my business a bad name I will have them killed if I get the opportunity.

Fuckin mercs.

D -

Understood. It's all in the intangibles.

Seek me out at War - see my sig, below - and I'll have a Yuengling Lord Chesterfield chilling for you.

Bob/Fairfax

P.S. Feel free to leave the codpiece somewhere else. It frightens me.

I can give Clovenshield a good reference.
And you cannot beat their off season rates.

-Graedwyn

A "Free Companion" that you have to bribe with chocolate and beer sounds like something for the party afterwards!

D. Sebastian wrote:YMMV

Indeed. I've encountered this attitude at Pennsic amongst the primary kingdoms, but never anywhere else.

I once saw someone reject a replica coin after a battle because they "weren't a merc."

-Derian.

Hmm lets' see Some of the popular items of note..

Pride of position-- Not stuck in the back away from the fighting

Command of unit "You say go here" we say "Fine, now stay out of our way and let us do it"

Champion Battles slots.. Ohh Yeah this was a big one it gave not only the household the opportunity to be represented as more than plain ole spear levy and it gave members of our house the chance to showcase themselves in a meaningful manner.

A sip of chocolate milk

Chocolate chip cookies

A signed writ giving us permission to loot and plunder the enemies of our employer (Yes it was all schtick and we did return the items in the condition in which they were pilfered) And in one case, it granted us the right to plunder all the un-drunk alchohol after the East Kingdom's knowne world party...

And in one case we got a box with some serious swag that was donated by members of the Barony that hired us. Costume jewelry, couple bottles of mead stuff like that...Ohh and silly string Silly String became very very important

Just a few items we have been paid in the past

I just think it would be nice to see volley fire once on the SCA battlefield. Just once. I'd stand to the side and videotape it before I got out there.

And I might just pay for one set of volleys.

1. Fire as a group, ten deep, ten front line.
2. Three coordinated volleys is what I'm paying for. You do more than that, it's on you (but I'm thankful)
3. Aim center-mass of the oncoming "enemy".
4. After the three volleys, you are on your own to do what you wish (on the side I'm on...no claiming "to be behind enemy lines". )

I bet it would be cheaper for just three volleys. I probably could bribe them for the videotape of the volley fire of the array, plus trinkets.

But "arrows that blot out the sun" would be fun to see, just once on the SCA field... I'd eat oatmeal two meals a day for a month to videotape that.

-Aaron

MJBlazek wrote:dude... i would so CA for a day for Chocolate Chip Cookies and Bacon

Chocolate chip and bacon cookies??

Why pay for what you could probably get for free? Organize an event or some-such and make that a scenario. Or try to get as many like-minded CA folks together and explain your goal. I'm certain you could make it happen with a little moxie and chutzpa rather than filthy lucre.

I would love to do it for free, if possible. Maybe at Estralla in 2011. My calendar is pretty full until then.

-Aaron

Organize an Agincourt or Crecy scenario with all the archers on the english side and all the crossbowmen fighting for the french. Make the English outnumbered by 2-1 and fight a mountain pass type battle and see what happens. Keep the archers in one or two units in ranks. At the onset they can only fire in volley. They would all be armed with a sword, axe or mace as well. The archers have to outnumber the men-at-arms by 2 or 3 -1.

I bet if you started floating this idea around the CA boards you'd get enough interest. I mean what CA'er has not thought the very same thing you have Aaron? I bet to a man all of them have the same dream of watching a volley en-mass landing into a unit of footmen advancing uphill to thier position.

You could even allow the French to resurrect to simulate the 3 'battles' of their forces.

Here it is then: Create a scenario and have it scheduled for Estrella 2011.

You have 2 years to figure it out. I bet you get at least 300 or more fighters interested.

I'll even fight for the French if you pull it off.

Kenwrec Wulfe wrote:

MJBlazek wrote:dude... i would so CA for a day for Chocolate Chip Cookies and Bacon

Chocolate chip and bacon cookies??

I saw this at Whole Foods this weekend. Not exactly chocoloate chip and bacon cookies, but a bacon-chocolate bar:

i refuse to pay a man for his loyalty and send them to the other side. if the other side wants to pay them thats fine by me and i harbor no ill will towards either.

regards
logan

As a soldier of fortune, I hate it when someone decides that the sides aren't even and 'let's send the mercs over there, they don't care who they fight with'. actually we care very much who we fight for. If I bothered to seek employment for a campaign, I want to fight on the side I picked. I picked that side for a reason. So no, I don't want to cross sides. that is unless the Noble Lord who's food I'm eating crosses himself.


FWIW, Duke Logan, you can't buy my loyalty, only my service for the contracted time. My loyalty goes to those who I choose. there are more than a few, too. Most Notably His Grace Amalric from Antir, Probably the only guy who could convince me to 'settle down' and fight for king and country again. But that's a long long story.

understood. perhaps loyalty isnt the word im looking for and service is. personally i only want to field with those that feel a duty or calling to do so, for whatever reason. but that comes from the heart and not from a bribe. that is why we send the mercs over if we want to even the sides (which, for the record, i never worry about. if its uneven then so be it).

a man that fields with his kingdom isnt someone that you can simply "send over" as he has displayed that calling im talking about. im sure there is a better term for it but im a little brain fried from pennsic right now. since a merc will fight for whomever "pays" him they have displayed that they really dont care which side theyre on. and i know im generalizing here but i am sharing how many of us feel about the subject. i harbor no ill feelings about those that choose to play out some persona thing and do the whole merc game. i simply choose to ignore it. there are plenty of merc guys that i hold a lot of respect for and no, not like that white dude you know that makes the racist comment and then says "hey, they aint all like that..... i have some black/gay/asian friends". you know the guy im talking about.....

regards
logan

Jonathon More wrote:As a soldier of fortune, I hate it when someone decides that the sides aren't even and 'let's send the mercs over there, they don't care who they fight with'. actually we care very much who we fight for. If I bothered to seek employment for a campaign, I want to fight on the side I picked. I picked that side for a reason. So no, I don't want to cross sides. that is unless the Noble Lord who's food I'm eating crosses himself.


FWIW, Duke Logan, you can't buy my loyalty, only my service for the contracted time. My loyalty goes to those who I choose. there are more than a few, too. Most Notably His Grace Amalric from Antir, Probably the only guy who could convince me to 'settle down' and fight for king and country again. But that's a long long story.

dukelogan wrote:since a merc will fight for whomever "pays" him they have displayed that they really dont care which side theyre on. and i know im generalizing here but i am sharing how many of us feel about the subject.

Actually, as a mercenary, the "I don't care who I fight for" ends once I am contracted. Once I (or my group, to be accurate) make a deal, it becomes of the utmost importance to me that I follow through on my end of that deal. To say that its somehow more appropriate for me to be forced to switch sides if I want to play, rather than the guy who lines up with a group on the basis of his zipcode*, is genuinely insulting. People who think along those lines are basically telling me that following through on my word isn't important.

* I'm exaggerating for effect here. I don't mean to insult people who fight for their kingdoms, as I'm sure that they take their oaths as seriously as I take mine.

I once hired twelve relatively well drilled mercs for the princess of Gleanne Abhaine for a single bottle of brandy and a little "ataboy" from her highness. They performed well. They were fighting under the name "Teaglach" (I probably misspelled the name) and her Highness' words about it were "I just pointed, and it died". I wrote a song about them afterwards. They seemed pleased.

I once hired forty two mercs for the king of Drachenwald for the right to place drachenwald's device on their "campaign banner", along with the six other kingdoms they already had there. This group included the Band of the Red Hand, The Teaghlachs again, and some stringers. I wont review their performance here, as Stacey Elliot was the King at the time, and he can post those reviews himself. I do not recall Stacey ever expressing displeasure. It should be noted that these gentles helped with EVERYTHING. They marched in opening ceremonies, they supplied water bearers and support staff, helped around camp (well, a little) and even helped with court, which seems to be kind of the opposite of the whole merc schtick. I should note that they lived in different camps.

Please understand that these were not "Cut rate" mercs. They took respect as part of their pay, and they earned it.

Mercs are usually just looking for that, and to be valued.

As for the original question, I don't think it is currently possible to field a hundred CA archers. There just aren't enough archers.

A hundred is a huge number. Eighty mercs of any kind is a HUGE unit even at pennsic.

It IS possible, however, to field twenty archers, and back them with ten spearmen and ten sheildmen, with a small group of great weapons. Even twenty might be too high a number.

If you do this, please let me play too. I would like to be in on it. I will help with financing. I have not personally commanded any unit larger than a small squad, but my first command was a scratch built command at Gulf Wars five. I have commanded small mixed CA and sheild units in the past.

I have been out in Drachenwald for ten years, but it seems to me that CA is struggling to find it's place. Too often we have single guys out there acting like a spoiled child at a family dinner, gaining attention with bad behavior. Rarely indeed do we have a group that works effectively with anything like a military value. In short, we rarely see any use from them, but we see an irritant factor anyway.

I would like to take such a unit as a sort of combined arms unit. I would like to resupply arrows with wagons, concentrate on getting a very high rate of fire, get the unit in very close, and kill everything in range.

I would need at least a day to work with them so that they could understand what I wanted of them, and I could understand what they could do. Two or three days would be better.

I can do this stuff.

f

Freiman, my friend, I truly enjoy your stories. Good stuff.

Kai wrote:Freiman, my friend, I truly enjoy your stories. Good stuff.

Thanks Kai,

I guess the point I was trying to make in that rambling post was that the actual physical pay is as much a symbol as it is anything else.

It's a symbol of respect and value. If the pay offered is too low, the mercs will feel that you do not respect them. If the respect is too low, no amount of pay will get you good performance. The importance of respect increases as the amount of disdain they receive in the rest of their SCA lives.

And since most CA folk don't receive a lot of respect, that element of the pay schedule becomes much extremely important.

The two elements of pay that carry the highest value, however, are fun, and victory.

If you are a relatively new guy, being a big winner can be a lot of fun.

f

Hi Freiman,

IF I ever got the chance to run something like that, I would find the perfect location and set it up just like Agincourt.

http://www.aginc.net/battle/battle-map.htm



It could be “Englishâ€

dukelogan wrote:understood. perhaps loyalty isnt the word im looking for and service is. personally i only want to field with those that feel a duty or calling to do so, for whatever reason. but that comes from the heart and not from a bribe. that is why we send the mercs over if we want to even the sides (which, for the record, i never worry about. if its uneven then so be it).

Actually our company very much care who we fight for. It's why we agreed to take the field under their banner in the first place; if we took up arms for you, it's because we very much wanted to fight for you either because A. You're a good commander and it's going to be fun fighting with you, B. You're really cool and it's going to be fun fighting with you C. We are already good friends and it's always fun to fight with you. You can see the theme working here. Having fun is really the most important thing at a good melee event, we only get s much vacation each year.

As far as the 'pay' thing goes, that's not the issue really. We like letters of Marque, banners with your arms and ours to hang in the rafters of our gigundous dining fly so we can talk shit about the campaign next year, and food because we like to eat. Beer not so much, one of our guys brings 20 to 30 kegs of homebrew every year, so we are always up to our gills in booze. We usually promise fifth from the take of our adventures payable at the end of the campaign. once the prince of Eldemere even showed up to collect. He got an unopened bottle of glen fiddich and had the decency to crack it on the spot.

hang on, let me see if i understand why you have decided to be insulted.

if i understand you correctly you feel that a merc should be viewed as equal to a loyal subject and both should be considered equally before deciding who to send to the other side?? is that correct? let me try to explain how the two are viewed by most and based on their individual behavior:

merc:
someone who will fight for any side so long as they are paid for their "service". this demand is selfish as it indicates that their time is more valuable than someone elses and are willing to give that time so long as they are compensated for it.

loyal subject:
someone that fights for the side of his leige because of a feeling of duty to something greater than himself. he asks nothing in return for this service and doesnt question that this selfless giving of his heart, skills, and efforts belongs to his king and kingdom.

to suggest that these two opposing positions should be viewed as equals when determining who to release to other side is a bit silly.

logan

Urdok wrote:

dukelogan wrote:since a merc will fight for whomever "pays" him they have displayed that they really dont care which side theyre on. and i know im generalizing here but i am sharing how many of us feel about the subject.

Actually, as a mercenary, the "I don't care who I fight for" ends once I am contracted. Once I (or my group, to be accurate) make a deal, it becomes of the utmost importance to me that I follow through on my end of that deal. To say that its somehow more appropriate for me to be forced to switch sides if I want to play, rather than the guy who lines up with a group on the basis of his zipcode*, is genuinely insulting. People who think along those lines are basically telling me that following through on my word isn't important.

* I'm exaggerating for effect here. I don't mean to insult people who fight for their kingdoms, as I'm sure that they take their oaths as seriously as I take mine.

Surprise surprise, I have an opinion on this.

mercs and royalists are exactly the same. If I a am a royalist and my lord gives my service to another, that is largesse. If I ma a filthy merc and my employer gives my service to another? Also largesse.

Happens all the time. Hell, I have been re-gifted like grandma's inedible fruitcake. And you know what? my gang kicked our employers ass.

This year at war my employer had a lot of mercs and refused to send any of them over to the other side to even stuff up. Good for him. They were his army and he could decide what to do with them. He got some grief for that I guess, but it was HIS army.

If you take yourself too seriously it will be almost impossible to have fun, no matter what role you choose to play.

I don't want to get into the merc vs subject debate, but I have one small comment:

dukelogan wrote:loyal subject:
someone that fights for the side of his leige because of a feeling of duty to something greater than himself. he asks nothing in return for this service and doesnt question that this selfless giving of his heart, skills, and efforts belongs to his king and kingdom.

I feel that this is a very non-medieval attitude. Maintenance was a very important part of feudalism; fealty cannot be one-way.

-Derian.

loyal subject:
someone that fights for the side of his leige because of a feeling of duty to something greater than himself. he asks nothing in return for this service and doesnt question that this selfless giving of his heart, skills, and efforts belongs to his king and kingdom.

Uhh.. not quite. "loyal subjects" are rewarded by largesse from their Kingdom, awards, "protection", etc, etc.

Both mercs and "subjects" get paid.. just differently.

Nissan Maxima wrote:If you take yourself too seriously it will be almost impossible to have fun, no matter what role you choose to play.

This is in many ways the best thing said on this subject.

No worry, I'm not insulted at all, sorry it came across as that in any way. Your post didn't come across as insulting at all, I was just trying to respond and get some opinions into the mix.

just to be clear, I don't think my time and service is more valuable than anyone else's in this regard. I play the way I do because I don't want to fight in the same line all the time. I have friends that I have fought against and fought with in nearly every kingdom and that's way cool to me. I have brothers' in arms all across the country and up in the great white north too. I get excited about fighting for the mid because I lived there a long long time and there's a special place for the guys that put on armour for the first time when I did. The guys I was an uber-noob with that are now kings, dukes, and knights. The mid is my homeland and always will be special. I love fighting with the east because they have a certain earnest striving in the ranks. It's damn hard to spend an extra couple minutes in res point before running off into the woods yet again when you fight in the eastern armies. Now Eldemere is just damned fun. what a bunch of goofballs that really love to swing sticks. I'm just glad I've never been drunk enough to shake my ass around a fire pit like Roak. Calontir makes it tough not to move out there and serve the crown as a loyal kings' man. Those guys stand tall in any line. Antir? I've always had a ton of fun with antir, and I'll fight with his grace Amalric as soon as he looks in my direction. There is a certain duke from the West whose banner gets a center spot in the rafters every year. His big plan was 'let's go kick 'em in the ding-ding, try to keep up'. Damn was that man fast. glad I was wearing gamboised quises that year. There are others but this is getting long and I suspect a bit boring to everyone. I hope you can see why some of us play the free company game. I'm not going to tell you that everyone that falls into the merc category feels the same, I can only speak for myself. The reasons I fell in with the free companies is long and a bit ugly. ok, maybe not so long or ugly, but still not part of the subject at hand. Maybe I'm a bit bitter about it to this day.

Again, I'm not more valuable than the next guy, But I don't want to give the impression that I don't care who I fight for. It very much matters who I fight for but it's not pay I'm looking for, it's the experience. And maybe a new scroll to stick in the book and a cool banner to carry onto the field. That's about it. Although these days I find I'm getting tired of wandering from campaign to campaign.

Hope this helps clear up what I tried to post earlier.


Ok, now that I've re-read the whole thread I get the 'insult' part. duh. If I have to admit it, I agree with Nissan in that it can be considered 'largese' to send troops here and there. I'll also agree that if you're outnumbered, fight harder. Being outnumbered is how things are sometimes. Granted that it can make it no fun for either side if the imbalance is too great, but no one should assume that being seriously outnumbered isn't any fun.

the display of largesse by your lord/employer isnt what i was referring to nissan.

regards
logan

Nissan Maxima wrote:Surprise surprise, I have an opinion on this.

mercs and royalists are exactly the same. If I a am a royalist and my lord gives my service to another, that is largesse. If I ma a filthy merc and my employer gives my service to another? Also largesse.

Happens all the time. Hell, I have been re-gifted like grandma's inedible fruitcake. And you know what? my gang kicked our employers ass.

This year at war my employer had a lot of mercs and refused to send any of them over to the other side to even stuff up. Good for him. They were his army and he could decide what to do with them. He got some grief for that I guess, but it was HIS army.

If you take yourself too seriously it will be almost impossible to have fun, no matter what role you choose to play.

picking and choosing which parts of medieval reality we wish to employ in any given situation will never acomplish anything. so little we do in the sca is anything akin to actual life in midieval europe that it we should accept that we are not actually trying to relive it. in our society we are subjects of the crown of our kingdom which is defined by zip codes. until, and unless, we petition the crown to change our "citizenship" we are (like it or not) under the rule of the king and queen of our zip code when we attend an sca event.

the point i was trying to make is that most of us (99%) feel it is our duty to serve our crown both on and off the field. for most of us this goes without a second thought, or any thought of "what can i get out of this". that, in my opinion, is what seperates a loyal subject from someone who is not.

regards
logan

Derian le Breton wrote:I don't want to get into the merc vs subject debate, but I have one small comment:

dukelogan wrote:loyal subject:
someone that fights for the side of his leige because of a feeling of duty to something greater than himself. he asks nothing in return for this service and doesnt question that this selfless giving of his heart, skills, and efforts belongs to his king and kingdom.

I feel that this is a very non-medieval attitude. Maintenance was a very important part of feudalism; fealty cannot be one-way.

-Derian.

that may be true for you maeryk. however, most folks i know agree that fighting is its own reward and we expect nothing more. im not sure what kind of protection a kingdom can give someone, at least ive never seen it, and i personaly think its shameful for someone to do things only in expectation of an award. i know that some folks are like that, but i dont think most are.

ive gotten a few awards in my nearly two decades but they have no bearing on my feeling of duty to my kingdom, none at all. most people i know feel the same way.

regards
logan

Maeryk wrote:

loyal subject:
someone that fights for the side of his leige because of a feeling of duty to something greater than himself. he asks nothing in return for this service and doesnt question that this selfless giving of his heart, skills, and efforts belongs to his king and kingdom.

Uhh.. not quite. "loyal subjects" are rewarded by largesse from their Kingdom, awards, "protection", etc, etc.

Both mercs and "subjects" get paid.. just differently.

It's obvious, Logan, that you are not from the People's Republic of the East.

actually i was responding to urdok who said he chose to be insulted.

i understand what you are saying and i think its pretty cool. when i was planning on moving to chicago i was trying to think of a way to still field with my cav unit in atlantia while remaining a loyal knight of the midrealm. i came up with a few ideas that i thought might work but, of course, knew that those ideas would be at the will of my king. i was prepared to field against my own squires and the knights of my clan as well as their squires. they accepted that as well and understood that it was my duty as a knight. my squires, of course, would most likely have fielded with me as their fealty is to me. but all of this would have been discussed with my king and the king of atlantia.

none of this, however, required i get paid by anyone. that is my point. but hey, so long as there are folks out there with beer, bacon, cookies, what have you and are willing to hand them over i think thats cool (i mean we are talking about beer and bacon! cookies i could do without). again, i have no issue with mercs but its just not my cup of tea. as such i simply dont bother with them. if other people do then so be it. for example when i was told that angelssey was fighting with atlantia at pennsic this year i looked at my warlord/commanders and asked "and how did this come about?". the immediate response was "atlantia, of course, offered them nothing your majesty. they were aquired by others". that was fine by me, and still is. they fought well alongside us and i was happy to have them with us.

regards
logan

Jonathon More wrote:No worry, I'm not insulted at all, sorry it came across as that in any way. Your post didn't come across as insulting at all, I was just trying to respond and get some opinions into the mix.

just to be clear, I don't think my time and service is more valuable than anyone else's in this regard. I play the way I do because I don't want to fight in the same line all the time. I have friends that I have fought against and fought with in nearly every kingdom and that's way cool to me. I have brothers' in arms all across the country and up in the great white north too. I get excited about fighting for the mid because I lived there a long long time and there's a special place for the guys that put on armour for the first time when I did. The guys I was an uber-noob with that are now kings, dukes, and knights. The mid is my homeland and always will be special. I love fighting with the east because they have a certain earnest striving in the ranks. It's damn hard to spend an extra couple minutes in res point before running off into the woods yet again when you fight in the eastern armies. Now Eldemere is just damned fun. what a bunch of goofballs that really love to swing sticks. I'm just glad I've never been drunk enough to shake my ass around a fire pit like Roak. Calontir makes it tough not to move out there and serve the crown as a loyal kings' man. Those guys stand tall in any line. Antir? I've always had a ton of fun with antir, and I'll fight with his grace Amalric as soon as he looks in my direction. There is a certain duke from the West whose banner gets a center spot in the rafters every year. His big plan was 'let's go kick 'em in the ding-ding, try to keep up'. Damn was that man fast. glad I was wearing gamboised quises that year. There are others but this is getting long and I suspect a bit boring to everyone. I hope you can see why some of us play the free company game. I'm not going to tell you that everyone that falls into the merc category feels the same, I can only speak for myself. The reasons I fell in with the free companies is long and a bit ugly. ok, maybe not so long or ugly, but still not part of the subject at hand. Maybe I'm a bit bitter about it to this day.

Again, I'm not more valuable than the next guy, But I don't want to give the impression that I don't care who I fight for. It very much matters who I fight for but it's not pay I'm looking for, it's the experience. And maybe a new scroll to stick in the book and a cool banner to carry onto the field. That's about it. Although these days I find I'm getting tired of wandering from campaign to campaign.

Hope this helps clear up what I tried to post earlier.


Ok, now that I've re-read the whole thread I get the 'insult' part. duh. If I have to admit it, I agree with Nissan in that it can be considered 'largese' to send troops here and there. I'll also agree that if you're outnumbered, fight harder. Being outnumbered is how things are sometimes. Granted that it can make it no fun for either side if the imbalance is too great, but no one should assume that being seriously outnumbered isn't any fun.

And I have little use for awards from my Kingdom, but I'd rather get beer bacon, and cookies.

It's "payment" either way, for services rendered. It's just different forms of payment.

"Good job" works for me.

I'm running out of wall space for awards and bacon isn't kosher. My health seems better when I try and be kosher.

-Aaron

I think people just have to accept that people have different dreams we are serving. I am here because I like being a soldier, part of a team, studying tactics, and the living history aspects of it.

I am here to fight battles, I see little difference between tournaments and fighter practices. IF the SCA was strictly about tournaments, I would be reenacting a different era. I have fought in more Passage of Arms than I have competitive tourneys in my 17 years (and that ain't many). It is about the history side, and the authentic feel to the Pas'. I also want to fight with my brothers in arms when we make it to the same battlefield, especially if we have moved to different states and see each other less.

I aim to represent my medieval persona not a line on a modern map. My King is Edward III of England. I represent a man at arms from his army, until dismissed following the Treaty of Bretigny. My King is at peace, I must making a living as I know how. The medieval Chivalry greatly respected the mercenary knight, who rather than sitting at home getting soft running a manor, lived in the field gaining experience and prowess and risking all to be on the field with weapon in hand.

As someone who has spent a lot of time on the mercenary side, people are here for a variety of reasons. I've never met one who did it for material gain, that is just icing in the rare case.

Some don't want to put in the effort to climb the social ladder, some feel they don't have the time and financial resources to achieve the 'dream', so they go someplace that makes them feel welcome for showing up when they can, some just like to be contrarian to whatever the rules are, many have been put off by arrogance displayed by others, and the list could go on.

Lets not disrespect people because their vision is a different dream than yours.