The blacklists and bounties served to discourage any unit that was wavering in its commitment to the Word from out and abandoning their employ or breaking contract. Such a unit would not only be still wanted by the MRBC, but also now have nowhere else to go. It also served to further ‘lock in’ those units that had been coerced or blackmailed into serving the Word, such as Blanc’s Coyotes, knowing that they’d receive no help from any outside agency. Finally, it seemed to only serve to encourage other banned units to actively join the Word’s cause; after all, if they were already wanted criminals, then being wanted criminals with a steady source of income could only be an improvement.
In the end, however, very few such bounties were ever paid. The MRBC’s power to enforce them was severely curtailed by its decapitation following the fall of Galatea, which also served to further muddy the issue of which units were actually on the Word’s payroll. Added to this, most of the mercenaries in the employ of the Word and their allies were simply destroyed wholesale by the Coalition forces (or the rampaging Capellans) in the fall of the Protectorate, many of which fought to the end simply knowing that they had no better option. Save for a few that fled or managed to switch sides (such as Granadin’s Crusaders or Deliah’s Gauntlet), those units simply ceased to exist. In the rare cases where they surrendered, such as the aforementioned Coyotes, the members of those units were tried by the newly formed Republic of the Sphere, and not the MRBC.
However, this mistake by the MRBC would have further long-lasting consequences. While most mercenary units that fled the fall of the Protectorate would survive as bandits, a few managed to maintain their coherence and continue to openly operate. Taking refuge in remote corners of the Inner Sphere and beyond (the Taurian Concordat, seen as a ‘rouge state’ and the last of the Word’s allies was a particular favourite for this) some of these units would continue to function for years and decades after the Jihad. Both Bronson’s Horde and the Black Cobras (formerly Burr’s Black Cobras) were still openly active following the HPG blackout, well after both units managed to survive the Jihad.
How they have been legally able to do such has proven to be an interesting study in the legalities of the mercenary trade in action. The restrictions placed on the MRBC by the Republic of the Sphere, combined with the long winnowing of the mercenary trade in the late 31st and early 32nd centuries eroded much of the MRBC’s influence and, with it, their ability to enforce such actions. In many cases, so-called rogue units were able to operate openly and as long as they didn’t sign on with the MRBC, faced no risk of punishment for their past actions. The rise of Herotitus as a Periphery hiring hall, one outside of the MRBC’s influence, only served to further erode that power and influence.
In other cases, Mercenary units were able to have their outlawed status and any extant bounties on their heads removed simply due to the passage of time. King’s Tigers serve as a good example of this process in action. Once in the employ of the Word, the Tigers fled in the face of the CCAF in 3078, albeit at the cost of much of their strength and their commander, Jackson King. Resurfacing a few years later in the periphery, the Tigers entered a contract with the Taurian Concordat, who were willing to accept any force they could take regardless of its background.
The Tigers continued to serve the TDF with their contract being repeatedly renewed over a period of years and eventually decades. However, after Lanie King (Jackson’s granddaughter) inherited command of the unit in 3129, she decided to revitalise the unit by breaking it away from the stagnation it had been locked into for nearly fourty years. King chose not to renew their contract, and instead bought the Tigers to Galatea to register with the MRBC.
Upon arrival, King and her officers were arrested due to an outstanding warrant on the unit, dating back to the Jihad. Lanie King challenged the validity of the warrant, pointing out that it had been posted on officers who were no longer a part of the unit and, in almost all of their cases, no longer alive. The resultant court case, MRBC versus King’s Tigers, was a victory for King and her command. The MRBC repealed the ‘outlawed’ status on the unit and registered them as a legitimate command. In addition, the MRBC was forced to pay compensation to King and her staff for their arrest and legal costs.
The result of the case was to provide a ‘way back’ for many who had been left as fugitives by the MRBC’s punitive measures during the Jihad. While most of these would be individuals who were descended from wanted criminals or had once been a part of outlawed units, in some cases entire commands would appear using the names and colours of those that had been previously outlawed for one reason or another, even if many of those had no actual connection beyond that. This outcome also had the net result of opening up the MRBC to a host of claims from other mercenaries who alleged that they had been similarly mistreated by the Commission over other past deeds. Many of those proved to be frivolous, but it also served to further erode the MRBC’s authority.
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