Alaric Tayber
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This article is about the Sergeant of PDF. For other uses of Alaric, see Alaric (disambiguation). |
Sergeant Alaric Tayber was a member of the Perlian Planetary Defence Force who rose to fame as a commanding soldier of Commissar Ciaphas Cain's ragtag army during the First Siege of Perlia. He was one of the few members of any PDF to earn Cain's praise as a good soldier and squad leader.
History
Tayber's entire family, save for his sister, Felicia, was killed by Orks during the siege[1e].
After Orks conquered most of the planet's eastern continent, Tayber and his squad were able to retreat to a hydro station near the town of Prosperity Wells, as one of his troopers worked there as a civilian and was able to guide them through the tunnels. They then used these tunnels to engage the Orks in guerilla warfare[1a].
Nearly a month later, they received a transmission from Cain and his aide, Ferik Jurgen, and he helped them escape to safety[1b][1c]. Later, they attacked an Ork camp to secure transportation to an ammunition dump. However, during the battle Tayber liberated some captives held by the Orks (nearly going against Cain's orders, which were simply to not endanger the prisoners)[1d]. It was discovered that he saved the prisoners mostly because Felicia was among them[1e].
Alaric became the second-in-command of the ragtag band as they moved through the desert towards the ammunition depot. There they met and saved another group of PDF stragglers, led by Lieutenant Piers[1f]. As their group reached company size, Piers was given a battlefield promotion to Captain and commanded the entire company, while Alaric was promoted to Company Sergeant Major, the senior non-commissioned officer[1g], until their group was victorious and the Ork siege was broken[1h].
In the years following the siege, Tayber wrote his memoirs regarding his military experiences[1a], which also served as a desert survival guide[1j]. Published in 337.M41[Conflicting sources] under the title The March of the Liberator: the Cain I Knew, his book became immensely popular on Perlia[1a].
Trivia
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Conflicting sources
While the Editorial Note after chapter ten gives the publication date for Tayber's memoir as 337.M41, this is nearly 600 years before the date given for the First Siege of Perlia in the first chapter and the rest of Caiaphas Cain's exploits throughout the series. A more probable publication date would be 937.M41, with 337 being a typographical error.
