Freemen of the Dales

“No crown, no nobles, no Inquisition! ^[1]”

The Freemen of the Dales are an anti-State splinter group of deserters of the Orlesian Imperial Army.

Background[]

“I may no longer fight for the empress, but I still fight for Orlais. There is a rebel group gathering in the Emerald Graves forest. People like me: tired, wanting a change. I met some of them; it feels... right. There is something big planned. To take the Dales, to wipe out the old politics.”

When the Orlesian Civil War broke out, a number of the Imperial Army soldiers deserted to the Exalted Plains and the Emerald Graves. Some did not want to fight their own countrymen, whilst others initially took part in the war, but left when they got tired of brother taking arms against one another, or when they suffered loses at the hands of their once comrades.

This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: Inquisition.

The Elder One uses the chaos surrounding the Mage-Templar War in the Hinterlands, as well as the civil war in the Dales, to push the deserters into being pawns in his master plan. His agents successfully infiltrated the group and provided resources and funding for them, whilst encouraging them to take up arms against those that support Celene and Gaspard. Either by their own initiative, or by the Elder One's agent, the deserters aggressively take the Dales from Orlais and claim it as their own. This new independent land free from Orlesian rule gives rise to the Freemen of the Dales.

The Freemen occupy multiple areas in the Graves including the Veridium Mine, Argon's Lodge and Villa Maurel. Books are uncovered at the villa referencing ancient elven glyphs located at the elven ruins in the Exalted Plains. Certain it would lead to locating an ancient elven weapon, some of the Freemen dedicated themselves to finding and decoding the meaning of these glyphs, whilst the rest remained in the forest surrounding the villa, coming into conflict with the refugees.

Structure[]

True to its name, the Freemen have no rulers. Instead, the group is governed by independent branches, each lead by a different person. Each branch is operated differently and is guided by a different set of values.

The group operates throughout the Graves and the Exalted Plains. Commander Duhaime openly attacks war refugees, whilst Sister Costeau, operating out of the Veridium Mine, attacks only in self defense. Ser Auguste focuses on recruiting new members and operates from a lodge in the middle of the Emerald Graves; whilst General Maliphant commissions out of Villa Maurel. He joins in an alliance with "rogue" Templars assuming they had simply separated from the Templar Order unbeknownst that have have become so much more sinister then claim to be. And finally Gordian, whom openly leads attacks on the Imperial Army in the Exalted Plains by using blood magic and demon-binding in order to weaken the warring cousins' manpower. The Freemen also find themselves selling slaves to the Red Templars of Sahrnia.^[2]

Involvement[]

Fairbanks contacts the Inquisition and requests protection from the Freemen of the Dales. When the Inquisitor seeks him out at his refugee camp, Fairbanks states that the rebels are in cahoots with the Red Templars. The Inquisitor also discovers that some of the refugees have been recently killed as well as taken hostage by the Freemen.

This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: Inquisition.

The Inquisitor can investigate their disappearance as well as the Freemen's activities in the Graves and the Exalted Plains. Eventually the Inquisitor will cross paths with Gordian, Sister Costeau, Ser Auguste, Commander Duhaime, a Venatori double agent, and General Maliphant resulting in each of their untimely deaths.

Clues about the recently missing refugees will lead the Inquisitor and party to the Veridium Mine. Their Gertrude, one of the refugees hiding out from the current ongoing War of the Lions, sneaks into the mine in order to steal supplies for her people holed up at Watcher's Reach. However, Gertrude gets caught and Costeau imprisons her for the attempted theft. When the Inquisitor arrives at the scene, Costeau and the Freemen mistake the trespassers for a rescue party, and become hostile. Costeau proves no match for the Inquisitor and is slain. The party then proceeds to rescue all of the prisoners being held captive.

After taking down Costeau, clues are uncovered leading to cell leader's whereabouts from a map looted in the mine after the assault. The map paves a path to Ser Auguste at Argon's lodge, and Maliphant in Villa Maurel. When the Inquisitor finally catches up to Auguste he proves no match aswell for the Inquisitor and the accompanying party.

On the way to Villa Maurel, Duhaime can be stubled upon just outside Fair Banks Cottage, the small pavilion in Villa Maurel's courtyard. The Inquisitor coincidentally arrives on scene en route from recently taking down Costeau and Auguste. Duhaime, accompanied by both Freemen and Red Templars, were converging on General Maliphant, to "discuss" his recent lack of cooperation. The confrontation between the Inquisitor and Duhaime's men end up in Maliphant's favor as they are all bested prior to ever entering the compound. The Inquisitor slays everyone on site conspiring with the Venatori and Red Templars and loots the key to Villa Maurel from Duhaime's corpse.

Once the Inquisitor enters the compound all of the Freemen and Red Templars converge on the intruders attacking on site. After most have been dispatched, Maliphant joins the fray, and is subsequently killed in the process.

In order for Fairbanks to become an Inquisition agent all four leaders in the Graves must eliminated. After doing so Fairbanks will promise his use of contacts for the Inquisition.

Over in the Exalted Plains, the Inquisitor discovers that Freemen are responsible for the resurrection of the dead. The party sets out to track down the Freemen mage responsible for the chaos. The path leads the Inquisitor to Gordian, who is a member of the Venatori sent to infiltrate the Orlesian forces. His mission was to sow dissent and weaken Orlais to further advance of the Elder One's invasion plans.

Gordian began stockpiling corpses from the war to prevent them from being burned thus allowing them to be easily possessed by Demons. Gordian's plan is a resounding success and the hordes of undead soon besiege both Celene and Gaspard's armies in the Plains. When the Inquisition begins to expand onto their operations onto Plains as well, Gordian directs the Freemen to keep the Inquisitor away from the ramparts to prevent them from burning his supply of dead bodies. Eventually just like the rest of the Freemen leaders the Inquisitor is directed to the eastern ramparts by Marshal Proulx where Gordian is finally confronted and slain thus restoring a sense of normalcy back to the region.

Ranks[]

Mages[]

Enchanter (Mage - Spellbinder)

Rogues[]

Infiltrator (Double Daggers)

Sniper (Archer)

Archer

Warriors[]

Veteran (One-Handed Sword)

Captain (Mace and Tower Shield)

Guardsman (Mace and Tower Shield)

Soldier (One-Handed Sword)

Known Freemen[]

Ser Auguste – a deserter from the Imperial Army of Orlais; a former Chevalier; one of the leaders in the Graves
Benji^[3]
Sister Costeau – a former Chantry sister; one of the leaders in the Graves
Commander Duhaime – the Elder One's agent; a Venatori agent; one of the leaders in the Graves
Emery^[4]
Franc^[5]
Gael^[6]^[7]
Gordian – the Elder One's agent; a Venatori agent; the highest ranking leader on the Plains
Gus^[8]
Hugh^[9]
Jocelyne^[8]
General Maliphant – a deserter from the Imperial Army of Orlais; highest ranking leader in the Graves
Pascal^[7]
Phyllydia^[10]

Combat dialogue[]

The Freemen will sometimes shout battle-cries unique to them in addition to standard generic combat dialogue shared by all humanoid enemies.

"No crown! No nobles! No Inquisition!"

"The Dales belong to the Freemen!"

"The Dales are ours now!"

"The Inquisition will take your freedoms! Kill them!"

Codex entries[]

Codex entry: Maliphant's Journals

Note texts[]

Duhaime's Notes

Duhaime's Notes (Watcher's Reach Rats)

The Elven Glyphs

Freemen Messages (collect the dead)

Freemen Messages (Herald of Andraste)

Freemen Messages (Jocelyne)

From Sister Costeau (Vir Adahlen)

From Sister Costeau (Watcher's Reach Refugees)

A Letter

A Letter to Maliphant

A Note

Red Templar Correspondence (Anneke)

Red Templar Correspondence (C)

Red Templar Orders

Scribbled Notes (Sister Costeau)

Scribbled Notes (Ser Auguste)

Scribbled Notes (Knight-Captain Carroll)

Scribbled Notes (Maliphant)

Scribbled Notes (Inquisition bastards)

Ser Auguste's Messages (Phyllida)

Ser Auguste's Messages (Heathen Etchings)

Soggy Journal

Trivia[]

Outside of the the scattered groups of leaderless Freemen, who are hostile to the Inquisition, only Duhaime's and Gordian's, both agents of the Elder One, are actually enemies of the Inquisition by default. The rest of the Freemen groups led by Maliphant, Costeau, and Auguste attack the Inquisition in self defense out of confusion. However, there is no option to resolve the conflict peacefully.