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Another question
Yeah, it may be all Deadfall all the time here for a bit, at least until it's out of my brain. And it turns out that rambling helps me figure things out, but it requires that I have someone to ramble to because rambling to myself doesn't work. So.
Another word choice question: right now I've got an association of mercenaries known as a 'guild' (yeah, yeah, extruded fantasy product Adventurers' Guild-type stuff, but I do have bits of history and origin for this setup worked out, although just in my brain at the moment). I don't necessarily like the term "guild," it was just the easiest term to drop in. They tend to refer to themselves as a 'brotherhood', but for Reasons* I'm not using that as the primary term.
Possible other terms pulled from the OED's Historical Thesaurus:
confraternity - pro: not very well-known outside of people who read history books, con: generally associated with religious organizations
collegium - pro: almost exactly fits the group, con: easily mixed up with "college"
fellowship - pro: almost exactly what it is, con: I don't love it.
company - pro: almost exactly what it is; con: the organization in question is (sort of) made up of mercenary companies, and that term is so entrenched in military groups that I can't redefine it.
confrairy (version of confraternity) - pro: well, it's not well-known. con: it's goofy
fraternity / frary / fratry - too many modern associations for #1, the other too are a bit goofy
order - a bit religious
brothership - no
sodality - er, no
There's also the question of readers going "Why isn't it just a guild?"
* which boil down to "I don't want to"
Another word choice question: right now I've got an association of mercenaries known as a 'guild' (yeah, yeah, extruded fantasy product Adventurers' Guild-type stuff, but I do have bits of history and origin for this setup worked out, although just in my brain at the moment). I don't necessarily like the term "guild," it was just the easiest term to drop in. They tend to refer to themselves as a 'brotherhood', but for Reasons* I'm not using that as the primary term.
Possible other terms pulled from the OED's Historical Thesaurus:
confraternity - pro: not very well-known outside of people who read history books, con: generally associated with religious organizations
collegium - pro: almost exactly fits the group, con: easily mixed up with "college"
fellowship - pro: almost exactly what it is, con: I don't love it.
company - pro: almost exactly what it is; con: the organization in question is (sort of) made up of mercenary companies, and that term is so entrenched in military groups that I can't redefine it.
confrairy (version of confraternity) - pro: well, it's not well-known. con: it's goofy
fraternity / frary / fratry - too many modern associations for #1, the other too are a bit goofy
order - a bit religious
brothership - no
sodality - er, no
There's also the question of readers going "Why isn't it just a guild?"
* which boil down to "I don't want to"