Dune/docs/FREMEN_REVIVAL_AUDIT.md

Fremen ordinary revival audit

Audit date: 2026-09-06. Scope: Fremen purchases, Tleilaxu permission, La La La and Emperor-funded extras. This source audit makes no runtime edits and does not resolve the separate Recruits timing questions.

Correction, later on 2026-09-06: the original conclusion prohibiting Fremen purchases even with Tleilaxu is retracted. This audit initially missed the explicit Fremen answer on printed p. 5 of the official November 2020 FAQ. The author, coordinating agent and an independent reviewer have now retrieved that answer. The earlier reproduction remains below as historical evidence, with its interpretation corrected.

Primary evidence

Publisher source and printed page	Verified rule
GF9 base rulebook, pp. 6, 9, 16	Faction rules override general rules. Ordinary force revival combines free and purchased returns within a turn allowance. Fremen have 3 free and explicitly “cannot buy additional revivals.”
GF9 Ixians & Tleilaxu rulebook, pp. 6–7, 12	Tleilaxu can raise another faction's ordinary force ceiling from 3 to 5. Their alliance provides half-price revival; neither paragraph expressly grants Fremen a new purchase entitlement. The Karama table removes the relevant advantages, without specifying a Fremen purchase exception.
GF9 CHOAM & Richese rulebook, p. 7	La La La prevents its target taking free revival during Revival. It does not grant a replacement paid revival.
GF9 base rulebook, p. 19	Emperor may pay for up to 3 extra allied forces. This is a separate payer and extra allowance.
GF9 November 2020 FAQ, p. 5	The Fremen question specifically asks about buying revived forces with Tleilaxu in the game. Its affirmative answer explains that the restriction was intended for the base game, and permits paid revival within the expanded allowance. This specific ruling overrides the earlier base-only inference.
GF9 November 2020 FAQ, pp. 6–7	Emperor's extra 3 can supplement Tleilaxu's ceiling 5, yielding 8; Emperor's payments go to Tleilaxu when present. Tleilaxu cannot pay an ally's revival bill. Karama may prevent alliance abilities.

These anchors were checked in publisher-indexed text; locally available base and publisher-authored Ixian PDF text corroborated the relevant paragraphs. The 2020 FAQ predates CHOAM, so it is not a direct La La La example. The original search missed the p. 5 permission; that omission cannot support a statement that no contrary permission exists. The successful targeted query included the exact FAQ question about Fremen buying more revived forces with Tleilaxu.

Corrected conclusions

With Tleilaxu present, Fremen may buy normal force revivals. Their normal cap remains 3 unless valid Tleilaxu permission raises it to 5. Faction presence establishes the purchase exception; a separate permission establishes the higher cap. Enabling the Ix expansion without a Tleilaxu player does not establish the FAQ's stated condition. Pricing, available Tanks, prior usage and applicable cancellation still constrain the transaction. This combines the specific FAQ with the expansion's existing permission rule; the FAQ does not automatically grant every Fremen player cap 5.

La La La removes free eligibility, not this paid method. With Tleilaxu present, Fremen may submit a paid normal request within the current cap after free revival is prevented. Without Tleilaxu, the base purchase restriction still applies, leaving no ordinary return while free revival is prevented. This is composition of the corrected eligibility rule with La La La, not an explicit combined FAQ example.

Keep Emperor-funded extras separate. The recipient's ordinary purchase restriction should not block this independently authorized allied transaction. Its stated allowance and the official FAQ distinguish it from ordinary returns. No retrieved Fremen-specific worked example confirms the combination; this conclusion applies the general alliance text. Cancellation of that alliance ability must still prevent it.

These findings concern ordinary forces, not leader prices or independent card/special effects. A future modifier that increases valid free entitlement must not be defeated by hardcoding Fremen's lifetime normal allowance to 3; Recruits integration remains separately unsettled.

Historical reproduction and retracted interpretation

Before the initial free-only change, forceRevivalLimit returned 5 for expanded Fremen and forceRevivalQuote priced its excess generically. The normal revive action checked only that ceiling and tank supply. A temporary internal fixture reproduced:

State	Observed pre-fix result
Fremen with Tleilaxu ceiling 5, no prior revival	Normal request 5 returned all 5 and charged Fremen 4 spice.
Fremen with settled freeBlocked, no prior revival	Normal request 3 returned 3 and charged Fremen 6 spice.
Emperor allied to Fremen with settled freeBlocked	Separate extra request returned 3, charged Emperor 6, and left Fremen's ordinary usage unchanged.

The original audit incorrectly labeled the first row a rules bug: it is valid under FAQ p. 5, assuming the stated Tleilaxu permission remains effective. The second fixture contained CHOAM but no Tleilaxu, so its paid ordinary returns still violate the base restriction. The third row establishes route separation. Fixtures used applyAction and passed response windows; no room/API actions were made. The successful baseline command was node --import tsx /tmp/dune-fremen-revival-audit.mts. This temporary script records behavior, but its console interpretation of the first row is obsolete and must not become a regression expectation.

The initial unconditional Fremen free-only bound in forceRevivalRemaining was based on this audit's incorrect conclusion and must not be retained for tables containing Tleilaxu. The corrected contract applies that free-only bound only when Tleilaxu is absent. Otherwise tank supply and the remaining applicable ordinary cap constrain the amount, with pricing handled separately. The independent runtime reviewer owns the correction and tests; this document does not certify the concurrent implementation.

Keep Emperor extras, Ghola and other special returns outside that ordinary helper. Regression coverage should allow the first historical purchase, reject the second, distinguish Tleilaxu presence from mere expansion selection, and check cap 3 versus permitted cap 5. Following a successful La La La interruption, the pending free request stops without charging or moving forces; Fremen with Tleilaxu may then make a new paid request. This correction does not decide earlier-paid Recruits accounting, refunds or pending-card timing.

Validation: node_modules/.bin/oxfmt --check docs/FREMEN_REVIVAL_AUDIT.md game/reference.ts; node --import tsx tests/reference.test.ts. These checks cover formatting and reference integrity, not runtime revival correctness. Historical evidence is retained so the source omission and resulting correction remain reviewable.