Free Camp

Flosha, 07.09.2025

[Symbol of the Scrapers Union in Phoenix]

• Anarchist camp, called “Freies Lager” (FL), “Free Camp” (FC), also “Free Mine Camp” (FMC), founded before the New Camp.
• Originally conceptualised to be in the Northwest of the Colony, north of the New Camp, it was soon placed in the Southwest, switching places with the New Camp, in all known versions of the game world.
• The Free Camp contains the entrance to the Free Mine (the model of the Free Mine is what has later, a few months before release, been changed to be the “Old Mine”, while the original Old Mine model was later used for the Free Mine; originally the Free Mine was the bigger, and deeper of the two containing the Crawler’s Nest and so forth.
• They describe it themselves as the only truly FREE place in the colony
• They are in cooperation with both the New Camp and the Sect
• One part of the ore is given to the New Camp; another part of the ore is either given to the Psi Camp or exchanged for drugs [called “PSI”] that are given to the Psi Camp (which they may process further) in return for their protection, see “our Free Mine is the heart of the prison” and “our hard work keeps two camps alive”. The idea of buying drugs from the outside world was soon replaced by the idea, that the psionics produce these drugs themselves; but that doesn’t make the idea obsolete, because it can be about specific drug ingrediences just as well, that can only be provided from the Outside World.
• The Free Camp uses the exchange place too, deals with the Outside World, may also get supplies in exchange for their ore, which puts them into a clear, independent position from the New Camp, which has the absolute refusal of any cooperation with the Outside World as their primary characteristic; it is literally the “Anti-Outside-World-Faction”; the Free Camp is so only in parts and not as dogmatic in that regard.
• Originally there was meant to be a group of half-orcs in the game, at first they were thought to have their hideout in the forest near the Psi Camp, later they were thought to live in the Free Mine; in the Free Camp there are the least rascist opinions about the orcs and they’re in good relationship with many half-orcs, that very many others hate, see “What has everyone against them?”
• According to Guilds V1 they host the headquarter of the Secret Thieves Guild (Mst), that the four friends and a few others belong to.
• It was an early idea that they have an escape plan on their own: “They try to dig themselves through under the barrier, but stumble upon the hindrance of the Temple and elsewhere upon mine crawlers, a hindrance too.” This idea was already discarded in Guilds V2 in about 1996. We assume that it was discarded because it didn’t seem very reasonable and it’s too easy to find out that the barrier is a sphere that doesn’t stop at the surface. Thus it made sense to let them support the escape plan of the watermages and link the two independent camps more closely together.
• Interestingly, from all the camps it is the Free Camp that the protagonist in the Gothic Novel Sleeper’s Ban joins first as a guard and keeps returning to and cooperating with and having friends in, such as Tito Tunnelspürer, inspite of soon joining the Organisation of the New Camp. And in the Game the player was meant to be able to join them too, even if only as a Scraper and later a Ranger (an additional thieves guild besides the Organisation and the Shadows), the additional bodyguard guild was soon given up, see below.
• No other camp suffered as much from the cuts than the Free Camp and had so many NPCs that were removed, since there was no time left to include them and the Mine itself more into the story as it was meant to. 19 (!) NPCs with individual names have been removed in the time between v0.94k and v1.06. Even v1.01 still contained at least 12 of them.

Guilds of the Free Camp

• Scrapers
• Rangers
• Bodyguards are just independent guards working for the Free Camp, they protect the diggers primarily against the Mafia and their thugs when the Scrapers make deals at the exchange place. They also explore new cave systems in order to make sure that they’re safe; they have been discarded very early on, most likely because it seemed unnecessary and confusing to have additional bodyguards, since the idea was that they are protected by templars and a few New Camp guards instead due to their alliance.

What others say about the Free Camp

Gothic v0.56c:

• Folk/Diggers (OC): “The renegades in the Free Camp are only still alive because they are protected by the Guard [NC] and the templars.”
• Peasants: “Imagine, the Free Camp is build into a big crater and almost invisible from afar.”
• Organisation: “Have you ever rummaged around the Free Camp? Do it, it can be worthwile.”
• Guards (NC): “The scrapers from the Free Camp need our protection and we need their ore.”
• Watermages: “Honest and upright, the guys from the Free Camp. One can rely on them.”
• Gurus: “The Free Camp is a symbol of independence. And together with the New Camp we make sure, that it stays that way.”
• Templars: “Have you been in the Free Camp already? It’s the fenced crater in the Northwest.” [the position was changed soon to the Southwest of the Colony]
• Novices: “The Scrapers Union digs in the Free Mine for ore and exchanges it for precious PSI with the outside world. Lucky for us.”
• Firemages: “It is remarkable that the Free Camp is asserting itself against the barons.”
• Barons: “A whole pack of rebellious scrapers have nested themselves in the Free Camp.”
• Guards (OC): “Free Camp, ha. Unfree weaklings all over. Servants of the Sect and the idiots from the New Camp.”
• Shadows: “The Free Camp is quite helpless in case of an attack, isn’t it?”
• Secret Thieves Guild: “The Free Camp is in great danger. The independence is hanging there by a thread.”

What others say about the Free Mine

Gothic v0.56c:

• Folk/Diggers (OC): “When the Free Mine was discovered, several of our ore diggers left the Old Camp and since then try it on their own.”
• Peasants: “I would like to know how it looks like in the Free Mine.”
• Organisation: “An interesting place, this free mine. But beware of the lower level, there are all kinds of animals roaming around there.”
• Guards (NC): “To protect the Free Mine is real back-breaking work. From below the monsters and from above the danger from the Old Camp.”
• Watermages: “Whatever may come, the Free Mine will receive protection from us.”
• Gurus: “Our templars are everyday in the Free Mine and protect it from the assaults from the Old Camp.”
• Templars: “Just recently some templars came back with deep minecrawler bites from the guard service in the Free Mine.”
• Novices: “It is said that the Free Mine contains a passage way into deeper lying, unexplored caves.”
• Firemages: “Below the Free Camp there is a relatively new tunnel system [Stollensystem], that is commonly called the ‘Free Mine’”.
• Barons: “In fact we are entitled to the Free Mine. In foreseeable time this drawback will be fixed.”
• Guards (OC): “Renegade cowards are hiding in the Free Mine.”
• Shadows: “Let’s see how long the Free Mine will be protected from the Guard [NC] and the Templars.”
• Secret Thieves Guild: “Deep below the Free Mine, live big, dangerous creatures, called Orcs.”

What the Scrapers say about different locations

Gothic 0.56c:

• Old Mine: “Much more could be extracted from the Old Mine, but who treats their ore diggers as slaves doesn’t deserve any better.”
• Free Camp: “There is only one place in the entire prison, which is truly FREE. Our Free Camp.”
• Free Mine: “Our Free mine is the heart of the prison. Our hard work keeps two camps alive.”
• Exchange Place: “Our ore is escorted by friends [Templars] to the Exchange Place and exchanged for goods there with the outside world.”
• Magic Barrier: “The other day we stumbled upon the Magic Barrier in a new tunnel.”
• New Camp: “We deliver ore to the New Camp and get protection against the orebarons and their mercenary henchmen.”
• Psi Camp: “The sect camp in the middle of the eastern swamp, provides us with good escort and guard services. But they always want to get PSI from the outside world.”
• Abandoned Mine: “Once there were the best ore sources in the Abandoned Mine. But that’s over for a long time.”

Camp Design

Free Camp (FC) V1 by Mike Hoge

FC V2 by Ralf Marczinczik (Outside View)

FC V2 by Ralf Marczinczik (Inside View)

FC V2 by Ralf Marczinczik (Cave Example)

Path to the Free Camp by Ralf Marczinczik

Path between Free Camp and New Camp (“Rock Cemetery”) by Ralf Marczinczik