Hiring Hall

Description[edit]

A hiring hall is a designated area on a world where mercenary units can go for training and to meet potential employers. They are essentially common meeting grounds, though some are more advanced than others.

Mercenary contracts throughout the Inner Sphere used to be brokered by ComStar, who provided a hiring agency through the Mercenary Review Board (MRB). It was originally associated with the Lyran Commonwealth world of Galatea.[1] Galatea in particular was known as the Mercenary's Star, a popular term referring to the premier center of mercenary hiring in the Inner Sphere essentially encompassing an entire planet, and the moniker is most frequently used in advertising for the planet and for the flowery books and holovids with romanticized views of mercenaries. Through the MRB, ComStar held a monopoly on hiring, arbitration, general administration and other clerical services surrounding the mercenary business. Other mercenary guilds existed at times, but they were invariably short-lived.

However, Galatea was gradually eclipsed as the premier "Mercenary's Star" by Outreach, after Wolf's Dragoons opened of a provisional hiring hall there in March of 3032 and subsequently made an active effort to draw the mercenary trade to their new homeworld.[2] The hiring hall on Outreach was run by the MRBC independently of Wolf's Dragoons despite Outreach being the Dragoons' homeworld. Even after the world was retaken by the Capellan Confederation, Sun-Tzu Liao declared it an independent barony and didn't interfere with the system's operations.[3] After hiring hall operations on Outreach were moved to the renovated Olympiad Stadium in the center of Harlech City in 3037, which during the Star League era had served as the location for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Martial Olympiad, the mercenary business virtually exploded on Outreach.[2][4]

The trust universally placed in ComStar was lost following ComStar's collaboration with the Clans, and when this collaboration was revealed the MRB essentially collapsed in 3052. In its stead, the Mercenary Review and Bonding Commission (MRBC) was set up on Outreach, only returning to set up a satellite office on Galatea in 3067 after the 'Mech Riots damaged the trade there. This move proved to be fortuitous as the Word of Blake's first target during their Jihad was Outreach, which was conquered and devastated through the use of nuclear weapons. This made Galatea the old and new center of the mercenary trade.

Hiring halls in the classic sense only cater to the accepted and legitimate mercenary business and are expected to at least cooperate with the MRBC (or previously, the MRB), if not featuring a satellite office.

Known Hiring Halls[edit]

In a broader sense, the term "Hiring Hall" can be used to refer to any mercenary hiring center, in a similar fashion to the term "Mercenary's Star." The following worlds were notable hubs of the mercenary business for a time at least:

See also: Category:Hiring Hall Worlds

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Combat Manual: Mercenaries, p. 16
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mercenary's Handbook 3055, p. 34
  3. ↑ Chaos March, p. 45
  4. ↑ Chaos March, p. 78
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Field Manual: Mercenaries, Revised, p. 10
  6. ↑ Field Manual: Mercenaries, Revised, p. 17
  7. ↑ Field Manual: Mercenaries, Revised, p. 18
  8. ↑ Shrapnel Issue 15: "Planet Digest: Le Blanc"
  9. ↑ Field Manual: Mercenaries, Revised, p. 12
  10. ↑ Solaris VII: The Game World – Player's Book, p. 27: "Guild Hall"

Bibliography[edit]

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