I recently purchased a set of bounty hunter gunboat turrets from an official dealer on Rostock Station, Omega-15. He had no issues or reservaions about selligng them to me, especially considering my good standing with the faction. I purchased the weaponry only after scanning the Sirius boards for rules and regulations, to determine the weapons' legality in different parts of Sirius. I found nothing to worry me, and purchased them.
Upon my return to New York, the bounty hunter's guild approached me, demanding I stop using "illegal weaponry". Last time I checked, the bounty hunters guild had no jurisdiction in New York, and death threats from the guild are nothing more than plain piracy. Also, whatever "rules" the guild is following, they clearly have not been made clearly and publically available, at least not in the proper place.
After having searched for a long time, I am still unable to locate any such declaration from the BHG. Upon inquiring BHG members, and even one Core member, the guild has to this date still been unable to produce a reference to these regulations that are being enforced with such zeal!
If the guild wishes their rules to be followed by the general populace, we deserve to at least be informed of those rules beforehand, not threatened into compliance after the fact. I do assume here that the guild isn't randomly enforcing arbitrarily created rules here, and that there IS in fact at least a secret document regarding policies on equipment use and such.
Even though I in the end got reimbursed the purchase value of the weapons, you can not even begin to imagine how much time and money it has cost me to get my ship back up to speed. I'm officially requesting the guild present their regulations via the proper channels, or stop enforcement of said rules. The current situation is unacceptable.
from: Cheshire, Kusari Guildmaster of the BHG|
to:Jim Argyle
" in order to consider your situation - or even consider an apology, - you d have to share a little more information about yourself than just a piece of your recent story of your life.
it is well known that weapons and shipdealers sometimes finish deals with people that we, the guild, would not approve. - but you know these dealers, - as long as they get a deal, they sometimes don t care. - and there is the problem. - the guild leadership does care.
the bounty hunter weapons are - as the label says - military grade weapons that are NOT meant to be distributed on the open marked to any ragtag civilian or wanne be hired gun. - if you wish to purchase such weapons, you should rather look around on one of the freeports, as the zoners usually sell weapons to basicly everyone that pays them.
in short, - nither our weapons, nor our ships or equipment is meant to be used by anyone but members of the bounty hunters guild. - for that - you might not need to be a part of the BHG| - a rather exclusive group - leading the guild, - but it suffices to carry one of our members licenses [ meaning, a BHG ID or a BHG core ID ] - fail to carry one of those - and you get in trouble.
so, if you are not carrying a BHG or BHG core ID - steps must and will be taken - and we will of course also "remind" our quartermasters at rostock not to sell to anyone that hacked their ID to "appear" friendly enough - or however else you managed it.
so - if you are not a member of the guild and you are still carrying our weapons, - we will hunt you down until you give them back - and hunting is our business. - you can of course ask nicely - even nicer now that you failed to ask BEFORE you purchased the weapons.
maybe - if the responsible people feel particularly kindly - you may be allowed to keep using them under special circumstances.
of course - if you carry a BHG ID or BHG core ID, those members that attacked you verbally or maybe even physicly were in the wrong. - in that case, we will investigate a matter of overstepping authorities. - but if you are not a member of the guild... we might even be so nice and give them a neat little bonus.
Should I take that reply as "I'm sorry, I can't find a copy of the guild regulations either"?
If you want your weapons private, that's fine with me and none of my business. However - when bounty hunters start delivering death threats to enforce rules you don't see fit to inform the general populace of - then there's a serious problem.
You can't expect us to know your regulations, if you don't bother to publicise them. It's completely unacceptable, especially from an organisation that claims to be fighting for law and order. Even the corsairs have their regulations up on the news nets!
It's a resonable complaint, that I be allowed to read your rules instead of learning them one by one - staring into the barrels of your armed gun turrets. If you see no fault in the actions of your guild, then may God have mercy on us all: law and order is a distant memory.
' Wrote:---Incoming Transmission---
--CommID: George Graves--
-Location: Capetown Station-
Look harder. There's Radford's announcement in black and white, right up at the top.
Consider yourself notified.
The Guild doesn't make mistakes. Ever. Apart from being a little too modest.
Signed,
George
-End of Transmission-
--Data Connection Lost--
Ah now I see it: on page 5 of the faction announcements, hidden down there in the quote, in the first of six similar sections that list contracts and local guild commanders, looking much like a signature file, without a heading, and unreferenced from the laws of sirius post. How could I possibly have missed it? Do you actually want people to find this announcement, or is it more fun to inform them at gunpoint? Seriously, you consider this "keeping the public informed"?
Again, I suggest you make your rules clearly visible and reference them from the proper place, or this kind of situations will happen again and again and again. It hardly does you any good, and it certainly hasn't helped me or anyone else.
Hiding away your rules in this manner is a mistake, or gross negligence at the very least - not modesty.
Thank you so much though, for finally being able to produce some kind of document on the matter.
Argyle
ref. Rubber Duck 112-8
END TRANS
Connection Terminated
---Incoming Transmission---
--CommID: George Graves--
-Location: Capetown Station-
Well, you're informed now, eh?
And you're starting to sound more like the kind of person who writes rambling letters complaining about cats fouling the pavement than an aggrieved mercenary.
Enclosed please find a copy of Cat Turds Monthly. Enjoy.
Spoken like a true leader, and an inspiration for all; I see where the guild has learned it's refined diplomatic skills. There will be no further communications from me to the guild on any matter, rest assured.
![[Image: JIVA_Sig_zps4e7f97f1.png]](http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc79/JinxTT/Signatures/JIVA_Sig_zps4e7f97f1.png)
