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Hey all,

I was just thinking about mercs in 40k, specifically human mercenaries. They are there, as we've read in various books, but my real question is how.

Guard deserter, which would make them a felon...... improbable.

They could have been discharged from the guard or pdf, or maybe their regiment got rights to a planet, and than said trooper decided to use their skills to make a profit..... plausible.

Could just be a completely private entity, a company that specializes in the application and use of force (similar to modern day's Private Military Companies)...... probable.

Considering the above, how do they get their kit? Now throw enough money at something and anything is possible, but I would imagine that military grade kit is hard to come by.

Not to mention Arbites and the Inquisition would not be too fond of mercenary outfits, I would imagine.

So what do you guys think? Who are they? Where do they get their kit? How do they operate? How are they tolerated?

Thanks for the read and the help.

Cheers!

I'd imagine there are sufficient manufacturing capabilities on non-imperial human worlds, not to mention xenos world that could produce gear for mercenaries. Especially if they werent constrained by the fear of machine heresy or zenos contamination that holds back the imperial production capabilities. Not to mention the tried and tested method of looting from the dead and pillaging supplies on missions.

You could also look at the option of being paid in gear and not money for certain missions, be it from rogue traders, planetery govenors, corrupt officials etc.

Humans who lost their worlds could easily be turned into mercenaries, abandoned guardsmen assumed dead when MIA would also likely fall into this catagory. Then you have planetary thugs, bodyguard for officials, assassins (death cult), etc.

Rogue Traders will amass their own private armies to protect their assets. There will be some turnover and they probably keep their weaponry. These soldiers of fortune will then hire their services out to anyone with the coin.

Plus individual worlds will manufacture their own firearms and sell them to the highest bidder. A lasgun isn't a holy relic of technology. The only reason IG owned weapons aren't sold is because they are the property of the Emperor, but lasguns and other weapons will be sold to private individuals by the Mechanicus. Likely in exchange for services or material of some kind.

The Imperium doesn't outlaw any thing like this. naturally hiring alien mercs isn't allowed(except for Rogue Traders) but humans are perfectly fine.

There are a million worlds in the Imperium. Standards vary a *lot*. There are endless ways to justify the existence of mercenaries: Some worlds may have PDFs consisting entirely of professional soldiers, like many modern day armies do, and some of their soldiers may have quit to pursue a life as mercenaries. Some may be criminals that stole the weapons and made their escape. Some might have been deserters during particularly tumultuous periods and their disappearance written up as MIA/KIA, or their homeworld may have lacked the resource to pursue them, or even care. On death/feral worlds I imagine it's relatively easy for your average citizen to get their hands on a weapon, because they may need them just to stay alive.
Some worlds go centuries without contact to the Imperium. The Emperor himself may be all but a myth on such a world, and the planetary governors rule as they see fit because they've gotten away with it for generations.

Judging by the Vessorine Janissaries from Eisenhorn, the reason mercenaries can exist is simple - they're actually their planet's equivalent of PDF and Guardsmen as far as the Imperial authorities are concerned. The Imperium has plenty of money to hire them if need be. If not, they're free to fight for whoever they want provided it's not for an enemy faction - private enterprise is not banned in the Imperium. The Vessorine Janissaries are mentioned as being hired for a border conflict, meaning they probably fight for internal affairs that the wider Imperial authorities don't care about. As for their tech and equipment, well even the most primitive planets in the Imperium can make their own muskets. But in Eisenhorn, the appeal of the Vessorine Janissaries was that the people themselves were so tough - the weapons and equipment they had were supplied by their client.

The Imperium, on a local basis, is largely a capitalist society, and it produces more guns than it does people (which will break the mind, should one contemplate that too deeply). Acquiring military-grade lasguns and body armor is simply a matter of waving enough money at the right shop keeper on the right planet.