I disagree that it's a Glossary-induced game mechanic. I think the question, "Does Recruit Mercenaries score points at the location where it is played?" is a close one, with good arguments on both sides. Faced with genuine ambiguity, Decipher had to make a ruling one way or the other. This is the way they decided to go.
FWIW, it's also the way I would go; I don't think "pay them" should be read as simply flavor text, but as the card saying, "you are giving these mercs your points..." and you are by definition doing that at the location where the mercs are.
But it's a close enough call that I can understand your perspective as well. Since it's genuinely ambiguous, and matters for games, if we didn't have a Glossary entry saying that Recruit Mercs
is scoring points at a location, then we would instead have to write a Glossary entry saying that Recruit Mercs
isn't scoring points at a location.
(A Glossary-induced game mechanic, IMO, is one where the Glossary clearly and unambiguously overrides the application of the general rules for a specific case, like it did for pre-errata
Diplomatic Conference. These can be deleted to simplify the game.)
(By contrast, cases where the Glossary appears to be actually trying to apply the general rules correctly to ambiguous situations are just clarifications. They may be
bad clarifications, for any number of reasons, and we maybe should change them, but clarifications of ambiguous interactions are what the Glossary exists for. These
can't be deleted to simplify the game, because the ambiguity will continue to exist whether it's clarified or not.)
I tend to agree that the problem here is Altonian Brain Teaser, a card that introduced
several problematic rules concepts -- both scoring points at a location and points that "do not count toward winning," all while being one of the more confusing cases of a condition ("if their CUNNING < 15") that isn't legally one of the "conditions" that can stop you. I dislike ABT for this messiness, but am not certain what can be done about it even with an erratum.
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"We pledge our loyalty to the Glossary from now until death."
"Then receive this reward from the Glossary. May it keep you strong."
~Iron Prime