Bounty Hunter Alliance

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Bounty Hunter Alliance
Bounty Hunter Alliance Reconstructed Emblem White Small Year 3.png
General Information
Motto "By Any Means Necessary"
Status Disbanded
Leader Davpa Bolom[1] (Year -1)
Kasnar (Year -1)
ChronoKill (Year 0)
Others (List of leaders)
Historical Information
Founder Davpa Bolom[1]
Founded Year -1 Day 28[2]
Dissolved Year 10 Day 203
Political Information
Affiliation Neutral
Industry Bounty Hunting
Holosite Bounty Hunter Alliance (Year 2)

The Bounty Hunter Alliance (BHA), often pluralized as the Bounty Hunters Alliance, was formed circa Year -1 Day 28[2] as a congregation of loosely-affiliated individuals who strove to cultivate their unique vocation. This alliance welcomed all societal outcasts who wished to join their blood-spattered ranks, but kept themselves distanced from the political quarrels between galactic superpowers.

The concept that all sentient beings deserved an equal opportunity to be hunted left many more jobs open. The ritual initiation into the BHA came with a starship, weaponry, and guidance. Because BHA provided its members with everything needed to succeed in their field, members lost a small percentage of their bounty to help fund the BHA as a whole. However, huntsmen also had the benefit of their brethren's protection.

Some members could be viewed as much a criminal as those they went after, and many huntsmen were in the business to make a difference in a way planetary authorities could not. All these individuals were brought together under the Bounty Hunters Creed. A loose set of unwritten rules that kept members of the Alliance civil with each other. Typically these were the only rules that hunters liked to follow, preferring to work outside of planetary and system laws.

History

The history of the Bounty Hunter Alliance stretches decades into the past. The collective was one of the most powerful regimes in the galaxy, rivaling the Black Sun crime syndicate, the Rebel Alliance, and even the Galactic Empire in its standing. Although the original founder of the collective is not definitively known, several historians believe the Wookiee battlemaster Davpa Bolom was its first true leader.[1] He was assisted and later succeeded by an eminent champion Kasnar. At that time, the Alliance was a dual collective of bounty hunters and mercenaries. This trend continued throughout the stewardship of Chronokill, the second in succession and a capable leader. During ChronoKill's command, the Alliance absorbed several paramilitary units into the bounty hunters and thus bolstered their often-dwindling ranks.[3]

As the solar years passed, ChronoKill stepped down and was replaced with his second-in-command Icarus. Icarus was a firm but fair ruler. He led the Alliance into its golden age. As such a statue was erected in the city of Sin in his honor where it stands to this day. In time, Icarus felt the weight of stewardship and, declaring a spiritual pilgrimage to the Unknown Regions, he placed in command the first triumvirate: Licky Len, Shaolin Longfist, and Raan Jodus. This trio became the new stewardship and shared command decisions. Thus the Council of Blood was born.

The Council of Blood was so successful it has become the standard par excellence for internal governance. An odd number that heard voices equally from all areas of the group, all opinions were heard before a decision was reached by a majority vote. When Icarus returned to lead, the Council of Blood stayed, and a fifth member was added in the form of Khrak`Haede, a Noghri assassin,[4] who served as head of Diplomacy. Over the next several years, revamps and restructuring would happen several times. The Council would see new faces as old ones faded out. Rocky Malmon would take over as head of Logistics, and the mantle of stewardship would be passed to Kataradanna as the older veterans felt it time to pass on stewardship to someone new. During this period, the Council held fast to the old ways while still introducing new blood into it. Still holding strong ties to its former councilors. Those that weren't tragically lost, still have a say in current matters.

Slowly, the tide shifted again as the Alliance merged with The Damned. Auron Drayer was appointed the new leader for the organization. Under Auron's command, the Council of Blood was disbanded and the Alliance underwent a major restructuring. However, many older huntsmen did not agree with this new path and left to seek jobs elsewhere. After much turbulence under the new stewardship, Kataradanna eventually returned and reinstated the council, but as a council of three with herself, Vadik Edik and Cirxis Cronossk making up the newest incarnation.

After years of leading, Kataradanna succumbed to stress. She became paranoid to the point of trying to kill Vadik and Cirxis. After the duo escaped, Kataradanna was alone in running BHA until she completely ran it into the ground, dissolving the original BHA. However, BHA never truly died, and through the work of Auron Drayer BHA was reborn. Over the years BHA had stayed strong even in the face of hardship and incompetent stewardship, and continued to do so because of the dedication of its huntsmen. As such, it proved itself as the foremost collection of bounty hunters in the galaxy.

Creed

Contrary to popular misconception, even the roughest, the seediest, and the most dispassionate of hunters were far from being the unprincipled villains many would make them out to be. Most huntsmen adhered, to some degree, to an unwritten code of ethics which, when spoken of at all, was referred to as the "bounty hunter's creed." While the exact wording of these tenets varied from planet to planet, the gist of this creed is summarized below.

While the average citizen of the Old Republic may have found the codes objectionable and even morally offensive, they served as a loosely defined set of enforceable principles by which hunters conducted their grisly trade and lived their solitary lives.

  • No Bounty Is Worth Dying For
This rule emphasized that, no matter how great a reward, a hunter should never take any undue risks to his or her life in order to make a capture. They should also consider how much of a risk whichever bounty was going to be and to plan accordingly. (Of course, how much effort a hunter had put into pursuing a quarry, how great the reward, and if was worth the risk were all open to interpretation in the middle of a hunt.) A reward, even if enormous, could not be spent if a hunter was dead.
  • People Don't Have Bounties, Only Acquisitions Have Bounties
This single, cardinal rule, more than any other, defined the way in which bounty hunters approached their chosen profession. It reflected the idea that sapient beings, to some degree, must be accorded respect. If, however, an individual had a bounty placed on them, he or she ceased to be an individual with rights. No longer a member of the galactic community, the "acquisition" became fair game. Tears should never be shed over the fate of someone that was, after all, only an "acquisition."
  • Capture By Design, Kill By Necessity
In keeping with the loosely defined hunter code of ethics, killing was sometimes necessary. That was business, pure and simple. However, unnecessary killing was still murder. The hunter, unless otherwise directed by those leveling the bounty, must attempt to deliver the acquisition alive. Often, those leveling the bounty had a vested interest in a live target — and the target might have been better off getting killed by the hunter.
  • No Hunter Shall Slay Another Hunter
Whatever their origin, bounty hunters saw themselves as a special breed. They took their lives (and those of others) into their hands each time they hunted. One may agree with another hunter's motives or insult them for the manner in which they carried out their hunts, but no bounty hunter would ever take up arms against a fellow hunter. This law applied only to hunters who followed the creed, not to those who had a bounty posted on their head becoming merely acquisitions. In such cases, the ex-hunter was no longer seen as a member of the common fellowship and old scores could now be settled with impunity.
  • No Hunter Shall Interfere With Another's Hunt
While it was not unheard of for huntsmen to work as a team, the hunt for a given acquisition was most often seen as a form of personal duel between two sapient creatures. In such a deal, the hunter matched skill and courage against all the resources one's opponent could bring to bear. If the hunter won, it was a personal triumph denoting superior skill and intellect, and not simply a question of luck. To interfere with another's hunt, unless first invited, was to leave the question of "who is better" open and, perhaps forever, unresolved. Of course, competition between hunters was often fierce and there was often a very thin line between "competition" and "interference". This being true, while a hunter was constrained against taking direct action against another hunter, there was nothing to constrain a hunter from hiring others to do the dirty work. Of course, if such an action, successful or not, could be traced back to the original perpetrator, serious consequences inevitably followed.
  • In the Hunt One Captures or Kills, Never Both
In cases where the acquisition had been taken alive, that "choice" could not be altered. To kill an acquisition in the course of the hunt was one thing, but to purposely kill an unarmed, helpless being already subdued and unable to resist was seen as simple slaughter and wanton butchery. An acquisition "killed while attempting to escape" however, would be an entirely different matter altogether.
  • No Hunter Shall Refuse Aid to Another Hunter
While no hunter had the right to interfere with another's hunt, there came times when even the best of master hunters required assistance. In extreme cases, any hunter could have asked for and expected aid and assistance from another hunter, even if it meant that the latter must temporarily suspend his or her own hunt in the meantime to render such aid. Whatever personal grievances or animosities that would be involved between the two parties, it is known and understood that hunters took care of their own. Of course, such assistance was not without its price tag, and the arbitration of payment after the fact could often put a substantial dent in any expected profit.

Stewardship

Holographics

Recruitment Imagery
  • Bounty Hunter Alliance Banner Year 3.gif (Year 3)
  • Bounty Hunter Alliance Banner Year 7.jpg (Year 7)
  • Bounty Hunter Alliance Banner Year 9.jpg (Year 9)

Known Emblems
  • Bounty Hunter Alliance Logo Year 7.gif (Year 7)
  • Bounty Hunter Alliance Logo Year 9.jpg (Year 9)
  • Bha-logo.jpg (Year 9)

Holonet links

References