I was thinking about it, and it seems like most of the people you would classify as cowboys, loose cannons, Gypseys, and rogues WOULD be considered Lumpenproletariat. Wanderers who go from employment to employment by their own want and negotiation. Cossacks, Mongols, Men for hire, bounty hunters, scoundrels and cutpurses. Not tied to a set location or industry, but usually work on short term contracts by those with static wealth, or have occupations that are exceedingly fluid or mostly self sufficient.
Any books that cover this broad sort of lifestyle? It seems to have a broad pull at least romantically. The person(s) who go out and make a living by their own decree, not fettered by particular set societal obligations (though social protocol often exists informally outside a set judicial and may form transitory alliances), but personal circumstantial drives and sentimentalities all their own. This person wronged me, so we feud. This person did something respectful, I might give him a turn in kind. There is an opportunity here, I might take it. Not by committee, but by personal discretion, with the tumultuous evils and goods and vague in betweens that come of it. Of course, these types almost always have a relation to a more static sect they interact with in a loose patronage/trade system in regards to goods and services that require more static systems to produce.
Any books that cover this sort of lifestyle? It seems to have a broad pull at least romantically. The person(s) who go out and make a living by their own decree, not fettered by particular set societal obligations (though social protocol often exists informally outside a set judicial), but personal circumstantial drives and sentimentalities all their own. This person wronged me, so we feud. This person did something respectful, I might give him a turn in kind. There is an opportunity here, I might take it. Not by committee, but by personal discretion, with the tumultuous evils and goods and vague in between that come of it. Of course, these types almost always have a relation to a more static sect they interact with in a loose patronage/trade system in regards to goods and services that require more static systems to produce.