Freed slaves join the squad you take them to

[Ocram]

A freed slave might follow you to escape, in that time you could have a chance to take them to a town and they might chose a squad to join (other than your own, but there's already a chance they won't join you), with proper conditions like race acceptance and their stats fit the squad's aim. Maybe squads could have a soft cap (overridable by the engine) to not let the player overpopulate.
I'm still fighting with myself about how much control over the world this gives to the player, but it could be a way to repopulate towns and gives some nice touch to the antislaver concept, you might see the life you saved having a meaning, good or bad, I won't mind them turning at me in a future, life is mean.

[swillo]

Yeah, currently I think they just run around the map until they despawn or get killed. It would be nice if they would retreat to a near by Non UC town and resettle. Maybe join a HN patrol or Move to the Hub area. I think they should stay on there as an ally. Giving you the chance to sneak into a town to do some business. Perhaps they could head to towns where shop keepers are missing for whatever reason.

It would be nice to see them again later. But they would also need a name change and then they would be almost impossible to spot unless they were and Ally and had some conversation option.

[Laurient]

mmm i don't think they despawn or i freed a very unlucky slave.
some times in the deesert i freed some vagrand from slavery. alfter following me a bit of times, they run away. Some day laters, i found them crippled near my base.

How do I know it's them ? Just because it's the only vagrands who has a green cursor when i move over them.

[Ocram]

Some do, some don't (here could also be that they exist until the chunk is unloaded, next load they go). It seems they already join a town (or go back to their town) but they remain aimless. They forget who they were and just zombie around. I don't actually know if at the end of the slavery cycle they go back at their "jobs", could make sense. But the request was primarly for slaveborns and wandering squads, they always despawn, no matter what.