How Bounty Hunting Actually Works — Public Excerpt (Full Manual: Member Login Required)

BHL Training & Compliance · unclassified excerpt for Net distribution. Complete manual behind authenticated subscription.

Bounty Hunters League · Training & Compliance · public excerpt

“A dead hunter is bad for business. Sort of. The license fee still clears — which is why we publish this excerpt to your feed.”

Bounty Hunters League — Training & Compliance

This is the public excerpt distributed to attract qualified applicants and reduce preventable fatalities. The complete Field Manual lives behind member authentication. Scraped copies are not updated when contract law changes. Subscribe.

Every freelancer thinks the job is the mark. The job is infrastructure — licenses, ranks, boards, agents, and a contract type that tells you what "collected" even means.

I. Rank exists so you don't die stupid

The Concord sector tracks hunter and crew rank on a 0–4 ladder (street shorthand: R0–R4). Boards gate postings by minimum rank. You cannot accept what your file won't unlock — and fixers who bypass the gate aren't doing you a favor; they're doing liability laundering.

R0 — Unrated: Public docket filler — repo, escort, nuisance. No certificate, no sympathy.
R1 — Licensed: Most of your career. Certificate current, BHL standard board open.
R2 — Rated: Elevated marks, hot postings, transit-security work.
R3 — Veteran: Major contracts, corp retainers, severe threat ratings.
R4 — Apex: Legendary postings — syndicate sovereigns, endgame ghosts. Decorative for most crews.

Why the arm cares:

A dead hunter is bad for business — repeat customers, actuarial tables, League reputation. Sort of bad. Corps still renew licenses. Escrow still eats your payout. Training accidents still get filed. But a live hunter who collects arrest marks pays board fees for years. A corpse pays once.

Teams share one crew rank. Advance together when your record supports it — not when you're feeling brave after noodles and hubris.

II. Boards are different houses — read the row

There is no single "bounty board." There are networks — government dockets, fixer relays, guild sealed jobs, corporate retainers, street terminals — each run by a house that sources contracts and takes a cut.

Your feed aggregates what you subscribe to. Every listing must show:

Board — which network sourced the job (e.g. Bounty Hunters League, Sump-Nine Fixer Net, Corporate Retainer Board)
Agent — the board owner or relay desk that vouches for the client and collects the agent fee
Agent fee % — printed on the row. Not negotiable at collection. Varies by house.
Contract type — what "done" looks like (see below)
Min rank — whether your file can even accept

Example fee spread (typical):

Public government docket 0% (you pay in time and paperwork). BHL 5–8% with reputation tracked. Sump-Nine fixer relays 15–20% (agent varies by relay). Corporate retainer 12–18% plus data rights. Gray syndicate dockets 20%+ and a smile that doesn't reach the eyes.

The agent is not your friend. The agent is the line item between gross and net.

III. Contract types — most jobs are not kill

Reputable houses make money on marks who can talk at handoff. Lethal postings exist — especially on gray boards — but most contracts are collection, proof, or recovery.

Arrest — Bring them in alive and identifiable. Restraints, med clearance, chain of custody.
Recovery — Return a person, object, or vessel. Force is a tool, not the job.
Proof of life (POL) — Confirm alive at a stated time — scan, live comms, witness. Capture optional unless specified.
Proof of death (POD) — Certified death packet. Body recovery may be optional — read the terms.
Repo / skip trace — Find debtor or lessee; recover property or signed surrender. Door-knocking work.
Salvage — Hold contested property until title clears — berth, pod, crate lot.
Data recovery — Files or hardware intact. Quiet entry beats a firefight.
Witness escort — Deliver a living witness to court or corp desk. Alive on arrival.
Kill — Lethal authorized. Still needs proof. Rare on BHL standard postings.

If the briefing says "preferred alive" and you're planning a one-shot solution, you're planning no payout.

IV. What a new hunter should expect

1. License first — Concord Hunter Certificate (₡220/year). Expired? Payout sits in escrow while everyone pretends you'll learn. 2. Pick two boards — subscription fees apply. Switching costs ₡100 re-key because nothing is free. 3. Read the row — board, agent, fee %, contract code, min rank, gross vs net. 4. Budget the job — gates, berth, garden, food, repairs. Gross is not yours. 5. Start R1 — nuisance and standard work. If a posting says R3 and you're R1, that's not a challenge. That's a coroner prepayment.

V. Permanent apex postings

Every sector has a ceiling job — the syndicate sovereign, the billion-credit joke, the DO NOT ENGAGE line item that exists so rookies learn scale. Min rank R4. Contract type often kill. Collection is a campaign, not a Tuesday.

You are not expected to collect. You are expected to know where the ceiling is.

*— BHL Compliance, public excerpt. Full manual behind member login. Do not forge the login. Applicants who quote this excerpt accurately in their intake interview receive priority scheduling.*