I guess the big question need to settle is whether we are talking about mercenaries as individuals or mercenary organizations.
I think that mercenaries in TW2000 are essentially any hired guns, any deserters, any separated soldiers that hire on to fight for pay, rather than because they are part of a political force or are employees of a economic force.
If you are hired to guard a farm from looters, scavengers and theives, you are the landlord's employee, a soldier for hire, and thus a mercenary. Do you have any loyalty beyond the next paycheck? Maybe not. Could you ultimately give up any thought of moving on to another organization and settle into the community that has grown up around the farm? Maybe. And if you did, you wouldn't really be a mercenary any more because you'd have a stake in the community.
Sure, some mercenaries are politically motivated, perhaps working for less because they are supporting a cause they believe in. But until they develop a real stake in the outcome above and beyond their paycheck, they are still mercenaries.
I think Jester's description drawing a bright line between marauder and mercenary is incorrect, particularly with marauders that started off as military units. At first desertion and living by stealing and looting looks attractive. Ultimately though the picking may be thinner than they imagined when Cpl. Ivanov suggested that we shoot the Captain and the Commissar and strike off on our own. Perhaps they don't have the strength to take on the communities in the area. Okay, looks like it's time to join a bigger group. The marauders could end up joining the armies of places like the Margraff of Silesia or the Free City of Krakow. At least they'd have a warm bed, food, and ammo and spare parts when they need it, even if they have to submit themselves again to military discipline. Until they settle in and decide they are really part of this larger force, they remain mercenaries.
And if they get tired, or over-confident, or see a chance to steal a bunch of gear and go out on their own again, they stop being mercenaries and return to being marauders.
Obviously any military unit looking to re-absorb "stragglers" or other "separated soldiers" would do well to break the group up so that they cannot retain the old group's cohesion and chain of command. Otherwise the former deserters/stragglers might work together to cause trouble.
A lot of the time the only thing that separates mercenaries and marauders will be whether they have someone to work for or not. Their behaviors will only be regulated by the priorities assigned by their paymaster. If the boss says "Take control of the village without killing off the labor force or raping all the women," then (if discipline can be maintained) that is what they will do. If the paymaster says "Take any women you see as a bonus," then it would be up to the character of the mercenaries and their leader as to whether or not that would happen. The only reason they might lay off such barbarous activity in the first instance is that they want to keep their employer happy and keep the pay coming.
Which raises a second question: What currency do you use to pay mercenaries in Twilight 2000?
If you are the free city of Krakow you can pay in that Krakow script. Maybe you use a currency that belongs to an un-collapsed government, like France, Switzerland or Sweden. Of course it's no good unless you can get to those places to spend it. Do you barter? Weapons? Ammo? Fuel? Medicine? Food?
If you barter away too much weapons and ammo do the mercenaries turn on you, and rob you of the stash you were paying them out of?
Do you barter luxury goods? A hot shower? Access to the town dentist? If you think men will kill for credit at the town's bordello, you should see what they'll do to get an abscessed tooth removed.
But finally there is the question of pre-war private military contractors (PMC). In my TW2000 campaign I imagined that South Africa's Executive Outcomes (EO) is not disbanded in 1998 and continues to operate throughout Africa, taking jobs from the South African government, the French, and whatever group can pay their rates. These guys had a reputation for good discipline and above board behavior, unlike some of the white mercenaries who fought in Rhodesia and the other African anti-colonial wars of the 1950s and 1960s. I don't imagine EO turning into another marauder band when things fall apart, but if they got marooned somewhere, like Equitorial Guinea or some such flyspeck, I can see them turning warlord: setting up a military dictatorship to manage the area if there is no other effective government. Perhaps taking control of the area so they can gather enough resources to return to South Africa.
As for other PMCs operating in the TW2000 world... there are a few others.
Sandine International predate the Twilight War, as does Military Professional Resources Inc,, but others like Blackwater weren't founded at such a time that they could participate in the TW2000 timeline. But both Sandine and PMR are set up to train foreign officers and create the infrastructure whereby a new nation (like Bosnia or Croatia) can create their own Department of Defense and military training program to create their own national army. They do not execute commando raids or field mechanized military units. Still, MPR did a great deal of work in the Balkans in the 1990s... maybe they are fighting side by side with NATO forces by the time the Twilight War is in full swing?
Something as big as Blackwater Security (or Xe Services) could exist in the TW2000 timeline if the company was set up to cover troop assignments that the DoD doesn't want to cover. Like maybe guarding the Panama Canal zone while US forces there are transferred out to the fronts in Europe, the Persian Gulf or Korea. But with the draft on, i have a hard time imagining that the Pentagon isn't going to be able to find the warm bodies to fill the uniforms
Bottom line... as authority disintegrates, whole military units could turn mercenary, selling their services to whomever can ensure a flow of arms, food and medicine to keep the unit from falling apart. In fact, command and control may be so shaky in some units that local commanders will refuse to obey orders unless higher command can provide them with extra supplies before the battle. Issuing orders might be more like negotiating with an independent than typical military discipline would demand. Does that make them mercenaries?
But again, I just don't think there will be very many pre-war PMCs acting as coherent military units. EO was the only one I'm aware of that fielded anything like a company strength force. But mercenary units could be created out of the isolated scraps of the national armies scattered around the globe. In fact, declaring yourself a mercenary company might look better than just being a gang of deserters. You might not be shot on sight, not unless the army that you deserted from catch up to you. Even then, if you've got enough men and guns, the authorities might have to tread pretty carefully around you. Especially if you've settled into a productive area and kept it free of marauders. What are they going to do? Have a huge battle that burns up both sides' resources, leaves piles of trained soldiers dead and wounded and opens the area up to raids form marauders?
A. Scott Glancy, President TCCorp, dba Pagan Publishing
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