The Free

The truth is that the Free is the same as a hundred similar raiding tribes operating in the Athasian wilderness. Yes, they sometimes help slaves escape to freedom, but only as an afterthought. The city-state spoken of in legends, where every slave lives free, is nothing more than a fortified village hidden within a deep crater. The Free believe that all slaves deserve to live in freedom. They follow this credo as long as doing so does not threaten their own freedom. They are a wild bunch, but they refrain from acts of true evil. From the tales I have heard, the Free attack only those who keep slaves – merchant caravans, slaver wagons, client villages, and even the cultivated fields around the city-states. There has not been a single story of the Free plundering from another slave tribe or a village that does not keep slaves. The tribe contains over 500 members, who live together in a fortified village far from other settlements. They believe that the good of the group is paramount over all other concerns. All members share equally in supplies, and any slaves freed by their raiding parties are invited to join, if they so desire.

Bartras, an ex-soldier slave, leads the Free. He considers the post a temporary evil, for no slave should be placed above another. He promises to abolish his position once all slaves are free. As leader, Bartras has reluctantly organized the tribe along military lines, recognizing that the struggle to remain free is a war between masters and slaves. Eight generals serve as his council of war. These men and women have been selected from all classes and races of slaves to offer advice and to keep Bartras informed of events within their spheres of influence.

Below the generals, a major presides over the Hidden Village. In addition to administering to the village's daily needs of decision making and dispute settling, the major oversees the village's defenses and assigns work details to maintain and expand the settlement as needed. Raiding parties are led by captains and consist of as few as six members or as many as several hundred, depending on the target of the raid. 

Everything the Free does revolves around maintaining freedom. They engage in raids to procure supplies, free slaves to swell their ranks, and attack client villages to strike back in some way at the masters who once held them in shackles. These raids are usually aimed at slavekeeping facilities: merchant house outposts or caravans, city-state work detail, or client villages. In addition to gaining needed supplies, the raiders also seek to free any slaves they encounter while on such missions, as long as doing so does not put their own members at risk. The Hidden Village maintains small herds of carru and tends an oasis. What it cannot make for itself or acquire through raids, the village obtains by trading with other communities. It sends out caravans belonging to fictitious merchant houses to engage in trade with legitimate villages and outposts. While planning a raid, the tribe watches for opportunities to free slaves. This may be as simple as sneaking into a work detail and persuading the slaves to revolt, thus providing a diversion under which to launch a raid. However, it may be as difficult as actually setting an ambush and overpowering guards. If a raid goes as planned, then any slaves attached to the plundered area are released. Many circumstances can arise to cut short the slaves' new-found freedom. The slaves may refuse to cooperate with the raiders; they may be afraid to leave their familiar surroundings for the unknown desert. Even if they do follow the Free, weariness, fear, or lack of supplies may later turn the slaves against their saviors. The raiders will at the very least provide what food and water they can spare and give the freed slaves directions to a safe location, such as an oasis. If the slaves are cooperative, they may be offered a chance to join the Free. Origin Bartras grew up as a play slave in the house of a Balic patrician. The slave child learned much at the side of his master/playmate, participating in almost all of the lessons assigned to the patrician's son. When Bartras was nine years old, it was decided that he would serve as a soldier slave in the patrician's personal army. He was given over to the patrician's sergeant-at-arms to begin his military training. Bartras excelled at armed and unarmed combat, easily besting larger, stronger foes. He gained an appreciation for strategy and planning, paying extra attention to lessons concerning military tactics. As Bartras came of age, he took his place among the best and highest ranking soldier slaves in his patrician's militia. But Bartras was not content. Why should slaves have to settle at best for near equality and at worst for status as property to be used and abused as an owner pleased? There had to be more for Bartras, and for slaves throughout Athas. Something was missing, and the hole it left within the young soldier slave burned like his throat did when he was thirsty. Years went by, and Bartras served the patrician's family well. His undefined desires never interfered with his duties or his loyalty. They just left him feeling hollow and incomplete.

Disaster struck while Bartras was accompanying his one-time playmate into the patrician's fields outside of Balic's protective walls. The noble's son was making a routine check of his family's holdings, and Bartras and his soldier slaves were along to protect him. The raiders struck without warning, ambushing the small party as it traveled the path toward the olive orchards. When the painfully quick skirmish ended, the soldiers and the noble's son were dead. Bartras alone survived, though unconsciousness and bloody wounds made the raiders believe that he also was dead. Bartras had a choice to make when he regained consciousness. He could return to Balic and explain to his patrician why he had failed to protect the noble 's son, or he could walk away into the desert and disappear. Either choice seemed to end in death, as far as the young man could see, but at least in the desert he could die free. Bartras struck out into the wastes. In the desert, death did not find the ex-slave. Instead, he wandered alone and soon discovered that the hollow feeling within him had been filled. It was freedom that he had craved, and now that he could go where he chose to go, do what he wanted to do, he felt almost complete. In the desert, it was more than just his body that Bartras let wander. He also freed his mind, letting it explore inner thoughts that he once shied away from. He realized that freedom was a constant battle, waged against the masters of Athas who took pleasure in enslaving the masses. It took several years, but he eventually gathered enough followers (every one of them is an escaped slave) to start his own tribe. The Free was born in the heat of the desert, and it quickly blossomed in a shower of raids against slaveholders everywhere. 

The Free trade with almost anyone. The community routinely sends caravans to villages and outposts. These caravans pretend to be from some far-away or non-existent merchant house. Other than this bit of deception, they trade fairly, making shrewd deals and cutting tough bargains with the best merchants and traders in Athas. The only folk the Free refuse to deal with fairly are those who regularly engage in slave trade or who work directly for the sorcerer-kings. The Free might visit such an outpost or merchant camp in the dead of night to spirit away slaves, but they will never even pretend to conduct business with such groups. Of course, they avoid the city-states as much as possible, with the rare exception of conducting a raid on the surrounding fields. 

As with most slave tribes, only ex-slaves may apply for membership with the Free. All races and most classes are welcome, as long as the applicant can prove he was a slave. Proving servitude can be difficult, especially for those slaves from households that do not use branding. When physical proof cannot be offered, the Free look to attitude, skills, origin to determine the applicant's worthiness. If the slave in question was freed as part of a raid by the tribe, he has the best chance of being accepted. Defilers are the main exception to the Free's welcoming attitude. No wizard who practices the defiling arts is welcome among the Free. Still, desire to join and status as a slave does not guarantee full tribal rights. A period of initiation must be undertaken, lasting no less than three months and no more than a year. During this period, the applicant is assigned to a raiding team. He must demonstrate his thirst for and love of freedom by helping the tribe wage its war against owners and by freeing other slaves when the opportunity presents itself. If he can perform some special service or heroic feat while undergoing his initiation, he assures his selection as a member of the tribe. Any member who acts against the tribe or who fails to prove himself during initiation is put to death, for the location of the Hidden Village is too important to entrust to those cast out from the tribe.