Frideric Rhodes

Frideric Rhodes (born 041.M42) is a Lieutenant in the 43rd Regiment of the Ashimar Nova Guard. A distinguished veteran with over a half century of military service, Frideric has spent his entire adult life with the Imperial Guard, and is the most decorated soldier in his regiment. His service record is one that should have seen him become a General long ago, but Frideric has refused promotion past the rank of Lieutenant, seeing himself as ill-suited for command positions higher than the platoon level. While he may be a simple Lieutenant, he holds a great amount of respect within the Ashimar 43rd. Any commander who can earn Frideric's trust can be assured that the Ashimar 43rd will follow them into any battle.

History
Like many Guardsmen, Frideric was born into the Guard. His parents were both non-commissioned officers in the Ashimar 43rd Nova Guard - his father, Alfon Rhodes, was a company Sergeant-Major, while his mother, Monika Rhodes, was a supply sergeant and quartermaster. The values of the Guard were pressed into Frideric by his parents from a young age, and he learned to field-strip, maintain, and fire a lasgun more or less as soon as he could walk. On his 18th birthday, Frideric enlisted in the Ashimar 43rd, finally officially becoming part of the regiment he had grown up within.

By 069.M42, a decade into his service with the Ashimar 43rd, Frideric had reached the rank of Sergeant and was a squad commander. At the time, the Ashimar 43rd was participating in the Mura Campaign, fighting Orks on the agri-world of Mura Secundus. While Frideric and Alfon were with their company on the front lines, the battalion headquarters was ambushed by a thousands-strong Ork mob. Monika took part in the last desperate defense of the base, and as it was about to be overrun she detonated the base's munitions stockpiles, killing thousands of Orks in the resulting explosion that claimed her life. A despondent Alfon was killed in action a few months later. Despite losing both of his parents in the same campaign, Frideric did not despair; instead he did what he felt any true Guardsman would do and soldiered on.

Frideric's moment of glory would come during one of the key battles in the Ashimar 43rd's history, the Battle of Kaluga, in 079.M42. While garrisoned on the hive world of Kaluga, the Ork Waaagh! of Warboss Steelclaw invaded the planet. When the Warboss took to the field himself, it was Frideric's squad of veterans who faced him down, and all of them fell in battle except for him. Frideric's left arm was pinned in rubble after an explosion, and he was forced to amputate his own arm with a power sword to avoid being killed by the Warboss. Frideric then slayed Steelclaw with a well-placed grenade toss into the Ork's mouth before passing out from shock, and he was found and carried to safety by a Sister of Battle. For his heroism, Frideric was awarded the Star of Terra and commissioned as a Lieutenant, and received an augmetic left arm of the highest quality a Guardsman could hope for. Frideric had the arm modified so that the forearm could be detached at the elbow and swapped out with a lasgun. This lasgun arm would become his signature weapon.

Frideric continued to serve with great distinction throughout the remaining years of the 42nd millenium's first century. He participated in the Ashimar 43rd's mission to rescue the nearly-destroyed Soul Scythes chapter from the Necron menace that had slumbered beneath their fortress-monastery, and battled the Tau on Arappo and Bleron after the Ashimar 43rd was shipped across the galaxy to combat the Fifth Sphere Expansion. He fought alongside Inquisitor Tuplov during the Kastoth Incident, and declined an invitation to become an acolyte of Inquisitor Katryna Vreiken on the penal world of Garrus-Elba following an Alpha Legion-backed revolt. During this campaign, Frideric was forced to kill his longtime friend and comrade Lt. Kal Merek after Merek fell to the corrupting influence of Chaos.

Following the Plague Wars of Ultramar in 111.M42, where Frideric fought alongside Uriel Ventris and the Ultramarines 4th Company on the world of Dromon, he and several other Ashimar 43rd veterans were deployed to the hive world of Weytera to act as military advisors for the Weyteran regiments. When a warband of Night Lords launched their attack on the Weyteran Underhive, Frideric was the sole survivor of a Night Lord attack on the complex he was stationed in, and hid inside a Chimera for 3 days until he was found by Inquisitor Azhera and her retinue, who were investigating disappearances in the underhive. Frideric joined forces with them to escape and they defeated the Night Lords with the aide of the Exorcists 3rd Company under Captain Silas Alberec. Frideric returned to the Ashimar 43rd following the incident, and declined a request from Inquisitor Azhera to permanently join her retinue as an acolyte.

When the Skaven launched their galactic invasion in 120.M42, Frideric and the Ashimar 43rd were on the agri-world of Feran, fighting the Knights of Laeran and a force of Tau the warband had managed to turn to Slaanesh. During the fighting, Frideric and a small squad of Guardsmen under his command defended the bodies of fallen Drakken Harbingers after he noticed the Knights of Laeran attemptign to steal their geneseed. Frideric battled the Skaven when they made their presence known on the world, and also was present when a Hunter Cadre of the Farsight Enclaves arrived on Feran to investigate what had happened. When the Ashimar 43rd's battlegroup redeployed to defend the Veridian System from the Skaven, Frideric took part in the fighting on Ravishol.

Personality
Having been raised within the regiment's culture his entire life, Frideric exemplifies the values of the Ashimar Nova Guard. He is noble, honorable, selfless, and always committed to doing what he believes is the right thing. On the battlefield he is perfectly at home, his fearlessness and resolve inspiring the Guardsmen around him to follow his example. Outside of combat, Frideric is a remarkably laid-back and casual individual who is cheerful, talkative, good-humored, and capable of fitting in with both officers and enlisted Guardsmen alike, though he prefers the company of the latter. Within the Ashimar 43rd he is a friend to all and an enemy of none.

Equipment
Frideric's signature armament is his lasgun arm, a modification made to his augmetic left arm allowing it to be swapped out at the elbow with a lasgun. Frideric also often carries a laspistol, grenades, and a combat knife.

By Frideric Rhodes
"'I only need one arm to send you back to the hole you crawled out of, Greenskin.' - Frideric as he faced down Warboss Skrullgar on Kaluga after losing his arm, 079.M42"