Fredrick
Fredrick was the leader and Re-founder of the modern Crusaders, a wise leader and skilled warrior. Back to index
Biography[]
Born on the medieval era planet of Eriadu, Fredrick spent his youngest years growing up in a small village, alongside his adopted brother Jack and there mutual friend Andrew, and pretending to go on great adventures through the cosmos, inspired by a hermit dressed in a dusty brown coat and hat who lived on the edge of town. However, Fredrick's village eventually came under attack from a local monarchs forces, Fredrick and Jacks parents being killed in the process, with the young boys saved by the hermit. Fredrick next spent years as a ranger, fighting alongside Jack, Andrew and Elanor, as well as others, against the tyrannical monarch, eventually overthrowing him. Some time later, while tracing some poachers, Fredrick found a life changing discovery: a ancient enclave of futuristic knowledge, hidden deep in a cave. Investigation further Fredrick and his allies discovered it belonged to the Crusaders, an ancient intergalactic warrior guild that protected the universe from the fearsome Hunger Lord, as well as many others. Deciding to continue there legacy, Fredrick and his friends repaired an ancient Crusader freighter over the next decade, eventually completing it and taking off from there home world for greater adventures: Fredrick himself donning the distinctive hat and coat worn by the Crusaders.
Soon however, there ideals of peacefully touring far off sectors were shattered by two different events: the War droid Empire and the Terrorists. The former an interstellar and fiercely expanding Empire and the later a powerful and shadowy criminal organization Fredrick and his allies soon repeatedly found themselves on the front lines of battle, fighting everything from entire army's to skilled lords of combat. Eventually there group was expanded from three (Fredrick, Jack and Andrew, with Elanor deciding to remain on eriadu) was swelled to five by the arrival of two new friends: former monster hunter and engineering genius Mike Sanders, and the shadowy sorceress P.S. With these new allies, the group (now dubbed The Explorers, after the name of there ship) managed to severely hamper the efforts of both enemy groups, as well as the dangerous Shadowmen and Box alien races.
Believing they had permanently stopped these threats, Fredrick, Jack and Andrew returned to there home planet for a few years, with Fredrick marrying Elanor. However, this peaceful life was quickly shattered: Xerxes, the most powerful member of the Terrorists captured P.S and began experimenting on her. After a desperate month long search to find her, which ended in success and with Xerxes's death, the Explorers came to realize it would not be that easy to retire from there work, as there close allies the P.T.D were all but destroyed and the War droids tripled there efforts, leading to the Explorers (now occasionally including Elanor, and eventually her and Fredrick's son, Jason) spending the next few years in almost constant conflict.
However, there hard efforts would finally pay off, with the P.T.D being reestablished and the War droids advances being halted. Fredrick however, was not as quick to retire as his friends, continuing his adventures solo, or occasionally with the genetically engineered solder S.k.i.d. This almost lead to disaster, however, when Fredrickson, a twisted, alternate universe Fredrick, arrived and almost killed Fredrick's allies before he could put a stop to it. Realizing he was getting tired of the hard Crusader lifestyle, Fredrick re-doubled his efforts to stop the War droids and began training Kanos as his replacement. Eventually, the War droids decided to look elsewhere for an easier target of conquest, and with Kanos departing for parts unknown, Fredrick's own son Jason following in his fathers footsteps as the next Crusader and after many years of adventuring, Fredrick attended his friends Mike and P.s'es wedding and then hang up his hat, retiring.
However, Fredrick would be called into service again years later when immensely powerful forces challenged the survival of trillions of innocents. To this end, the ageing Ex-Crusader formed the Trimitive Council, a collection of all the living Crusaders (Which included Fredrick, his son, an alternate Kanos, a resurrected Ixil and a young Samantha) who would work together against the greatest threats facing them. Not long after the defeat of the Heretic Queen, Fredrick passed away peaceful in middle of the night, hand in hand with Elanor.
Odds & Ends[]
Fredrick was a Loman (also known as Eternals), a humanoid species with very little biological difference. However, they had a much longer lifespan (about 950 years, although this is normally chalked up to the environment of the Horizon Multiverse itself). They also had a much greater affinity for and chance of being born with magical powers. Most historians and biologists agree that Lomen and Humans are actually the same species, the former simply being heavily altered by their environment. Physically, Fredrick appeared to be a pretty standard person, reasonably tall, and reasonably fast and strong. However, he DID have a much greater amount of toughness and endurance than most, owing to a great deal of training and combat experience.
Despite the existence of Crusader martial arts, Fredrick used his own personal style of combat, self created. Terrified of what he would become if he did not impose serious limitations on himself, Fredrick purposely limited his skills, making sure to gain just enough skill to stay alive and save innocents, but still remain a relatively low level warrior. This manifested itself in his martial skills, in Fredrick's on words: "NEVER go full out. Use enough skill to keep yourself alive and gain the measure of your enemy. Then, use JUST enough to defeat them, no more, no less". This mentality manifested itself in a fighting style that was very measured and restrained, leading to a form that kept him alive, if not necessarily keeping him a victor. Fredrick would also commonly use his blade as a distraction to stall his enemy, to give him time to find a different way to beat them.
In my personal rating system, I give Fredrick a 7 out of 10: not really a top tier, but at the very least able to stalemate most opponents. Throughout his career, Fredrick faced many faceless Sun Cult members and Shadowmen assassins in duels, although he would also battle much more powerful foes. His two most constant enemy's were The Hand (the top Terrorist enforcer) and Lord Leam (one of the War droids Sun Cults best warriors), both of whom did a good job of originally beating Fredrick in there duels. However, by the end of his career, Fredrick had reached the point where he could consistently defeat Leam and stalemate The Hand at almost every turn. Thang (a crazed former M/W agent) would also get the better of Fredrick in there first battle. However, this was largely due to Fredricks UN-familiarity with Thang's powers: Once prepared, Fredrick was able to defeat him. Similarly, lord Viiper battled Fredrick three times, only winning the first duel however. The one (recorded anyways) time Fredrick willfully ignored his self limitations was against Fredrickson, due to being more than a little ticked off at him almost killing his family. Despite Fredricks best efforts during the duel, Fredrickson still managed to escape, due to ignoring his own limits a long time age. In a similar manner, Lord Ahab completely outclassed Fredrick, curb-stomping all five Crusaders in there first duel and there second duel playing out more as Ahab chasing Fredrick across the landscape. Fredrick was also surpassed as a duelist by his son, Jason, although to be fair, Jason surpassed almost everyone in the series as a duelist.
Fredrick, as an intergalactic mercenary, was armed to the teeth, with many various blades, firearms, a suit of power armor, and explosives, as well as other equipment. Hie weapon of choice however, was his sapphire bladed phsaeblade. Unfortunately, Fredrick's fighting style lead to the constant loss of his weapon: over the course of his career, he lost over a dozen weapons, leading to him preferring a standard and utilitarian design. Unlike most people with such powers, Fredrick preferred to use his supernatural powers to supplement his other skills. His telepathy could not be used to communicate or attack, only to create his own mental defenses, and his skill with energy manipulation remained underdeveloped. However, his telekinesis was an exception, with Fredrick displaying a high degree of power and accuracy with it.
Authors Notes[]
The first Crusader, Fredrick/Skid has defined a good majority of Horizons. Originally, Fredrick was nothing more than a author avatar for the Watchmaker, "Fredrick" being one of his aliases. However, over time, with the ever increasing expansion of Horizons, Fredrick developed into his own character, distinct from the Watchmaker's own personality.
As the First Crusader, there nominal leader and the Watchmakers personal “favorite” character, Fredrick has appeared in almost all known alternate Universes. In the "Alpha" Universe, Fredrick is the only known Crusader (Although it is implied that is not his true name in this dimension and he later takes on the name of "The Watchmaker") and always seen traveling solo (After his first appearance that is). In the "Beta" Universe, Fredrick serves as the loyalist Crusaders chief explorer, searching out new Horizons far beyond explored space. In the "Gamma" Universe, Fredrick serves a very similar role to his Main/Prime/"Delta" counterpart, being the one driving the rebuilding of the Crusaders and acting as there "Shepard", despite slowly dying of old age, unlike his ageless peers. And, of course, in the "Epsilon" Universe Fredrick(Son) serves as an Intergalactic conqueror. The only exception is the "Eta" Universe, where he does not appear.
Although not the most powerful or skilled Crusader, Fredrick was quite possibly the most dangerous. His dueling style was based on stalemating enemies, not actually defeating them, allowing him to fight on even terms with everyone from faceless mooks to the most refined masters. Although he is described as having the potential to become "The greatest warrior in history", Fredrick lived in constant fear of what could happen if he realized this potential and then went rouge, leading to Fredrick carefully regulating his supernatural power. Instead, Fredrick's greatest strength was his leadership and charisma, skills which won him and the Crusaders many allies, even centuries later.
In person, Fredrick was about six feet tall, with dark brown hair and light green eyes. He was almost always seen in traditional Crusader garb, a brown trench coat and fedora. As he was prone to losing them/having them destroyed, Fredrick favored Phaseblades with basic uniform design that emitted blue blades. Fredrick was also known to carry several at once, in order to replace lost weapons.
In person, Fredrick flipped between an energetic, fast paced, almost manic personality and controlled, thoughtful leadership. Although the former was more dominant in his youth anyways, Fredrick would often amp this up, in order to off-balance (Or annoy) enemies. Later in life, Fredrick largely shifted into a more serious type, with his rational leadership often being mentioned as the only thing keeping the Trimitive Council from killing each other.
Fredrick's "keepsake", left behind on Serd as a memorial to his service, was his Father's medallion.