Sons of Antaeus
| Sons of Antaeus | ||
|---|---|---|
| Founding | 21st Founding | |
| Successors of | Probably Ultramarines, suspected to be Death Guard | |
| Chapter Master | Unknown | |
| Primarch | Definitely not Mortarion | |
| Homeworld | Unknown | |
| Specialty | Being tuff nutters | |
| Allegiance | Imperium of Man | |
| Colours | Grey and black | |
The Sons of Antaeus are a Loyalist chapter of Space Marines who lead a very mysterious existence.
They are known to be particularly hardy and tough, being more impervious to damage than even other Space Marines, as well as being large even by Marine standards. They can shrug off blows that would instantly kill any other Astartes. This is due to the Adeptus Mechanicus going crazy in adding all sorts of extra stuff to harden them up; some whisper that their toughness is on par with the Death Guard Legion.
Perhaps due to this, they are notably not open to most Imperial authorities and avoid contact with them whenever they can. This is probably a smart choice, considering what happened to the other Cursed Founding Chapters.
Over a decade ago, these guys had their own rules in 3rd edition, found here (handily /tg/ updated for 6th edition)
The Sons are confirmed as being active as late as M41.9, so they're not doing as badly as some of the other cursed chapters. Also, while their toughness is often likened to Plague Marines, the process by which they were created bears more resemblance to Primaris Marines (made without Cawl's expertise) and could also explain their toughness. Primaris Marines are made using some of the process of creating Custodes. So, the Sons might have a similar connection to the Thunder Warriors. Or they could just have been an initial run chadmarine test.
Note: In real-world Greek mythology, Antaeus was a total badass renowned for being completely invincible while touching his mother. Sounds like a shit superpower, until you find out that Antaeus was actually the son of Gaia... AKA the fucking Earth itself. He, of course, abused this by challenging random passersby to Pankration matches (think MMA deathmatches) and taking their shit and their skulls when they inevitably lost. This continued up until Hercules defeated him by picking him up off the ground and hugging him to death.
Also antaeus means literally "opponent" in ancient Greek... read of that what you will.
A Son of Antaeus shows up in the novel Shadowbreaker, as a member of the Deathwatch no less. Called Androcles, he is described as being fucking massive; without armour he was about the size of a Marine wearing theirs. We also get confirmation that they are thought to be Ultramarines successors. Androcles also claims that despite being a part of the Cursed Founding, the Sons don't see themselves as cursed at all. He also claims the Sons of Antaeus have never been defeated "on solid ground". Sadly he is killed when he's ganged up on by two other Marines, one hoisting him into the air while the other stabbed him to death. It should also be noted that the other two Marines were wearing full power armour and one had a storm shield while Androcles only had recon armour and his combat knife, and he still put up a very hard fight. Notice that until they got him off the ground, they couldn’t win. How much of this is skill and how much might be...something else is questionable if you think about how oddly akin to the myth of Antaeus they seem to be.