Melbin Mercenary Guild Rules

Preliminary version, more to follow.

Overview
The Melbin Mercenary Guild is both the largest and most successful mercenary guild in world. The guild is an extension of the city government of Melbin and the Newt River Alliance and allows the city to keep taxes to a minimum while providing a secure environment for trade. The ties between the Mercenary and Trade Guilds of Melbin are both strong and numerous.

A few dozen companies are members of the Melbin Mercenary Guild, including many famous units, including xxxxxx.

Joining
Basic membership the Melbin Mercenary Guild requires that the person be a mercenary in good standing, be capable (skill 5 or higher, 50%+), and pay the guild 60 silver or 3 gold.

Full membership is required of at least one person per unit and requires that the person be a Melbin citizen, not be in the Melbin Army, and reimburse the city for the cost of their city-supplied armor and weapons. Every unit needs at least one full member to be the liaison with the city and keep the ideals and goals of Melbin strong in the unit.

Restrictions
The Melbin Mercenary Guild is not about restricting the activities of its members. Members and any person in the city of Melbin is expected to follow the laws of the city. Members of the guild pay the guild for mission referrals, including all missions handled through the guild and these become part of the public guild record. Secret missions and any missions not handled through the guild are handled by paying the guild a leaving-the-city fine.

The main restriction for members is that they must honor the flag of surrender for other mercenary companies associated with other formal mercenary guilds. Members are expected to honor any flag of surrender, but that is an individual choice. Not honoring the flag of a Melbin mercenary company will get the dishonorable unit banished from the city and guild.

This money goes to support the infrastrure of the guild, including the guild hall, the hiring houses, the foreign liaisons, specialists, magicians, traders, trainers, politicians, etc. The guild has a sterling reputation for efficiently spending the guild funds.

Silver or gold payment in advance for mission referrals, depending on individual/unit size.

Schedule of Referral Payments and Fines
1. Individual (< 3 people) 1 gold for referral, no fine
2. Teams (< 25 members) 25 gold for referral, 25 gold fine
3. Company (< 250 total) 50 gold for referral, 100 gold fine*
4. Legion (< 1000 total) 100 gold for referral, 500 gold fine*
* Non-resident Companies and Legions do not pay this fine, but have political restrictions, restrictions on recruiting, and various other restrictions.

Benefits
Many benefits provide a strong incentive for mercenaries around Melbin. Most mercenaries in and around Melbin are members of the guild. The benefits are listed and then explained below.

1. Hiring Halls
2. Payment Escrow and Adjudication
3. Equipment: Purchase and Disposal
4. Magic: Training and Purchase
5. Training: General, Special, Martial Schools
6. Melbin Citizenship

1. Hiring Halls: all around Melbin and even overseas are hiring halls for the Melbin Mercenary Guild. Capable individuals can find employment with various companies after paying a gold piece referral fee. Teams and Companies can hire capable individuals for the standard rates (see below.)

2. Payment Escrow and Adjudication: The guild holds the full payment for mercenary service in advance of beginning in Melbin in escrow. The guild will also hire a newt Adjudicator in cases of payment disputes.

3. Equipment: Purchase and Disposal: All standard weapons and armor cost guild members only 80% (but are compensated for in permanent hiring at full value). Members can sell extra armor and weapons in any condition for very good rates. Little bargaining is possible in the sale/purchase of armor and weapons from the guild since the standards are so set. Times of war do cause the changing of the standards.

4. Magic: Training and Purchase:
Spirit: The guild has shaman who can teach any spirit magic spell for 5 gold per point, except for ones on the special list. Spells on the special list cost much more and may require a closer relationship with the teaching shaman. Special spells (not complete yet) (gold cost): Befuddle (25), Control [POW, INT] (25), Control [Other] (75), Detect [substance] (10), Summon [any] (50), Spirit Screen (10)
Sorcery: The guild also has a few sorcerers who teach a few spells and all the basic sorcery skills. Costs for to learn each sorcery spell is usually 20-50 gold.
Purchase of Magic: The guild will purchase almost any magic item recovered and will allow members to purchase from a huge supply of mundane magic, including potions, powders, etc. all at reduced rates (75% of standard.)

5. Training: General, Special, Martial Schools:
General: The guild will hire people to help train people in martial skills in the city. Rates for members are quite low. Members giving training are usually compensated well. See standard rates below.
Special: The guild can arrange for trainers for many esoteric skills. This saves the students both the time it takes to find someone and allows sharing the cost of the class.
Martial Schools: The four main martial schools in the city have arranged to teach a small part of their specialities to guild members. They mainly do this for recruiting and to be competitive against the other schools.

6. Melbin Citizenship: over time members of units can become citizens of Melbin. The usual time is five years, but leaders of units often get titles/position/etc. much earlier if they conduct operations consistent with the ideals of the city and do great benefit to the city.

Standard Rates
The guild has very complicated rules for determining fair values for mercenary service so that every individual and organization gets fair payment. The guild holds payment for service in escrow in Melbin and handles adjudication of disputes about payment.

1. Insurance/Ransoms
Individuals: All guild members are expected to keep a ransom on deposit with the guild. This is used to pay for capture situations. The amount is usually equal to a year's upkeep.

2. Permenent and Semi-Permenant Employment
Individuals: Units are expected to pay the new member guild rates for weapons and armor a new member arrives with and usually a bonus based on skill. Typical bonuses average skill x 2 or 3 in gold (example: skill 5 guy gets a bonus of 10-15 gold to start.)
Units: The guild usually gets paid a severance bonus for use of the company for an extended period of time. This amount is usually equal to half a single standard mission payment.

3. Relationship Missions: Missions in which the unit is specifically asked for by a patron and in which the unit usually gets paid more, but provides a greater level of confidence (and secrecy.) Payment is usually for the mission plus costs (standard minimum support costs.)

4. One-shot Missions
The most common kind of mission, most of which are fairly low risk and mundane. Payment is usually for the mission plus costs (standard minimum support costs.)

5. General Training
The guild constantly has training available to members and is constantly looking for competant trainers. Most units train their own troops for the benefits of familiarity and confidence building, but sometimes a new set of skills is required the unit does not currently have.