Sellsword

"A man who fights for coin is loyal only to his purse."

- King Eadmark II of Sturim.

A mercenary is a soldier who takes temporary assignments fighting for wages rather than as an official member of an army. There are a number of different types of mercenaries. The terms "sellsword" and "freerider" carry a certain stigma in the Old World. Sellswords are said to have no loyalty, and freeriders no discipline.

Sellsword.
A Sellsword is a mercenary who hires out his services to the highest bidder. Inevitably, this sort of lifestyle involves a great deal of violence and physical exertion. Many sellswords are organized into companies. Some of the sellsword companies are either very disciplined or are nothing but rabble joined together in search of loot. Most tend to be experienced professional soldiers, as it is a profession a man tends to chose after he's tasted a few battles and learned that he's good at fighting.

Freerider.
"Freerider" is a broad term, sometimes used to denote a mounted sellsword, but more often referring to other mounted fighters who are not part of a lord's retinue or feudal levy. Some are hedge knights and are experienced fighters, but also many are green and untrained recruits and farm boys who have nowhere else to go. Most do not collect wages, instead fighting for plunder or a hope to be taken into a Lord or Knight's service. Some freeriders fight simply as a means to survive: when war sweeps over villages, those refugees who do not flee to the nearest city or take to outlawry as "broken men" may saddle their horse (if they're lucky enough to have one) and become a freerider for a better chance of being fed. Whatever their origin, freeriders are mostly used as scouts, outriders, foragers, and light cavalry.

Sellsail.
A sellsail is a mercenary sailor who engages in naval battles for pay. Sellsails may work as pirates or smugglers when not employed.