Mercenary

A Mercenary is a type of visitor. They will try to petition for residence in your fort, for the purpose of soldiering.

Behaviour

If you accept their residency request, they will be enlisted into your military, and you can add them to a squad. They will then adhere to any orders the squad receives. They will be added to your fort's civilian list as if they were migrants (they will still have their race listed, i.e. "Human Axeman"), but you can't assign labors to them or make them work.

Considerations

You cannot have a mercenary be the leader of a squad. They will need equipment from your fort, and they will not bring their own armor (although they will of course bring regular clothing). Providing high-quality armour can be difficult for larger creatures (i.e. humans) as typical Dwarven armour is too small for them to wear, so you will likely have to buy armour from human caravans, and it is generally impossible to provide them with steel armour. On the other hand, mercenaries of a larger race than dwarves, like the typical human, can more effectively use larger weapons such as pikes or mauls. Also note that since only dwarves suffer form cave adaptation, non-dwarven mercenaries are better suited to fighting outside.