Difference between revisions of "Mercenary"

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A '''mercenary''' is a soldier who takes temporary assignments fighting for wages rather than as an official member of an army. There are a number of different types of mercenaries.
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A '''mercenary''' is a soldier who takes temporary assignments fighting for wages rather than as an official member of an army. There are a number of different types of mercenaries. Sellsword and Freerider carry a certain stigma in [[Westeros]]. Sellswords are said to have no loyalty, and freeriders no discipline.
  
 
==Sellsword==
 
==Sellsword==
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==Freerider==
 
==Freerider==
Though mounted sellswords are sometimes called freeriders, a freerider is usually a mounted soldier who joins an army for subsistence or in hope of achieving a permanent position. Unlike sellswords, freeriders do not receive a regular wage. They take their pay by sharing the army's food and plundering after battles. Freeriders generally serve as scouts, outriders, foragers, and light cavalry. Some freeriders are little more than farm boys who were burned out of their homes and have nowhere else to go. Others are experienced fighters who hope to be taken into a lord or knight's service.<ref name=SSMMercenaries/>
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While Freerider can be regarded as a [[Horse|mounted]] sellsword, it is usually refereed to mounted fighters who are not part of a lord's retinue or [[Feudalism|feudal]] levy. Mostly used as scouts, outriders, foragers, and light cavalry. Some are [[knight|hedge knights]] and experienced fighters, but also many green and untrained recruits and farm boys who have nowhere else to go. As a rule the don't collect wages, so some fight for plunder, others hope to be taken into a lord or knight's service but for many it is simply a means to survive.<ref name=SSMMercenaries/>
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If the war sweeps over your village, your house is burned, and your crops stolen or destroyed, you can hide in the ruins and starve, flee to the nearest city for refuge, take to the woods as an outlaw (the ones who do that are oft called "broken men")... or you can saddle your horse, if you're lucky enough to have one, and join one army or the other. If you do, you're a freerider. Being part of an army at least gives you a better chance of being fed.<ref name=SSMMercenaries/>
  
 
==Sellsail==
 
==Sellsail==

Revision as of 05:15, 30 April 2012

A mercenary is a soldier who takes temporary assignments fighting for wages rather than as an official member of an army. There are a number of different types of mercenaries. Sellsword and Freerider carry a certain stigma in Westeros. Sellswords are said to have no loyalty, and freeriders no discipline.

Sellsword

A Sellsword is a mercenary who hires out his services to the highest bidder. Inevitably, this sort of lifestyle involves a great deal of violence and physical exertion. Many sellswords are organized into companies. Some of the sellsword companies are very disciplined, and some are nothing but rabble joined together in search of loot. At one end there would be the Golden Company, at the other the Brave Companions. The Second Sons and the Stormcrows are in the middle.[1] Most tend to be experienced professional soldiers. You don't have a lot of green young sellswords some, sure, but not many. It's a profession a man tends to chose after he's tasted a few battles and learned that he's good at fighting.[2]

You get more sellswords on the eastern side of the narrow sea than you do in Westeros. The Free Cities have made heavy use of mercenaries for centuries, to fight their endless wars in the Stepstones and the Disputed Lands. Over there many of the mercenary soldiers are organized into long-established sellsword companies, or free companies.[2]

Known Sellsword companies


Freerider

While Freerider can be regarded as a mounted sellsword, it is usually refereed to mounted fighters who are not part of a lord's retinue or feudal levy. Mostly used as scouts, outriders, foragers, and light cavalry. Some are hedge knights and experienced fighters, but also many green and untrained recruits and farm boys who have nowhere else to go. As a rule the don't collect wages, so some fight for plunder, others hope to be taken into a lord or knight's service but for many it is simply a means to survive.[2]

If the war sweeps over your village, your house is burned, and your crops stolen or destroyed, you can hide in the ruins and starve, flee to the nearest city for refuge, take to the woods as an outlaw (the ones who do that are oft called "broken men")... or you can saddle your horse, if you're lucky enough to have one, and join one army or the other. If you do, you're a freerider. Being part of an army at least gives you a better chance of being fed.[2]

Sellsail

A sellsail is a mercenary sailor who engages in naval battles for pay. Sellsails may work as pirates or smugglers when not employed.

References and Notes

  1. So Speak Martin: Military Questions, June 21, 2001
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 So Speak Martin: Mercenaries, May 13, 2000