Illegal loadouts

[Dusty Lens]

The guild is the members, no guild can exist if it ostracizes it's members.

Look at a modern guild, the SAG for instance, it sets minimum working conditions including salary minimums, disallows it's members from working for companies who don't go through the guild, and it's leadership is voted in and the president is more a figurehead than a power, and has no authority over individuals other that kicking them out if they work non union jobs within the US.

This is typical of guilds, they are not governments or military that have have a great deal of control, they simply exist to protect the livelihood of those that join.
Why would I care about respect from people who show they deserve none?

*rouses himself from vacation mode for the good times*

While I would be hesitant to compare the screen actors guild to an interstellar bounty hunter agency manning ships of war, I can see where you're going with it. Naturally any organization would be anything but without a member base, to bring the point to the table is a might redundant at the best, though to submit it as an argument that denounces the notion of a governing body is worth a chuckle at the least.

The Bounty Hunters Guild within Free Lancer has a well established central leadership which defines the operational standards of its membership in addition to orchestrating the actions of the Guild Core. As an agency that relies upon the good graces of the lawful houses to supply the bulk of its liquid assets certain adherences to regulation must be enforced. I understand that this last statement was redundant in itself, but allow me to set the stage.

Let us focus on the use of weapons, to fit in with the context of this discussion. As the BHG relies upon the co-operation of the four houses (Kusari being a local to which they are doubtless working double hard to impress upon to open up that frontier for greater business opportunities) the utilization of any specific house weapons would suggest a proclivity towards one over the other. This isn't the M-16 versus AK-47 argument so much as one of tank cannons manufactured solely in, say, nation "X". If nations W Y Z note that the BHG is prone to using the good times equipment of nation X, or any other combination of the same, it leads to speculation concerning possibly biased behavior.

Imagine if Rheinland suspected for even a moment that the Guild had stronger ties to Liberty due to weapons contracts, that would be an entire swath of space suddenly removed from the payroll.

Likewise for the weapons utilized by the baddens. Bounty Hunters manning rogue lasers might look good on the stat sheet, but the broader implications would have grave consequences for the group as a whole.

Ergo, it stands to logic that the best means through which to maintain universal employability would be to safeguard the air of universal impartiality to anything save the almighty paycheck. Ergo locally manufactured ships and weaponry.

Bounty Hunters who fall outside of the doctrines of the guild are mercenaries. They kit themselves with whatever seems best to fulfill the task at hand. Their allegiances are shaped only by contract history and the alignments of the factions who's kit they seek to adopt. Though by that same token they fall outside of the privileges and resources that the Bounty Hunters Guild provides.

The rank and file of the guild operate as they see fit, so long as they adhere to the general guidelines provided to ensure the future survival of the guild. The Core maintain a much more militant approach to enable campaigns and theater operations. This policy is easily observable in both game lore and the day to day operations of that faction.

*returns to slumber mode*

Edit: Ignore the part about hating on the locals sov. That's just the 'ol attention grabby bit. Focus on the argument and review its merits and flaws. This'll be a better joint when folks leave that manner of intentionally provocative nastiness out.