Re: Merc Guild

> All governments lie deniability is a must that will never change.

But there are also "legitimate" military operations, and in the high
days of
the mercenaries (from the Condottieri, Swiss and Landsknechts to the
Hessians employed by the British against the American Rebels) most of
the
use of mercenaries was official and acknowledged. The main reason for
their
use was that governments could not afford to maintain such expensive
forces
in peacetime. So they were employed only when a war was up. If peace
broke
out somewhere, they would move to some other war.
The loyalties of such mercenary groups lay with their (temporay)
employer,
not with their nation. While they properly paid, they fought well (at
least
the beter units did). But if their paymaster went bankrupt - "No Money,
No
Swiss".

Could well be a model for the Tuffleyverse, especially for the smaller
powers.

Greetings
Karl Heinz