Sons of Antaeus The Sons of Antaeus are considered a ghost among the forces of the Imperium. Men have claimed to have seen the Sons appear out of nowhere in great force to stop the enemy’s advance. Others have claimed to have seen them repel damage that should have killed a Space Marine instantly. These fully armoured Holy Warriors strike from nowhere and fade away without communicating a single word or message to anyone; not even a fellow Space Marine.

Origin

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Created in M38 as part of the 21 Founding, otherwise called the “Cursed Founding,” the Sons of Antaeus claim no Primarch or Founding Chapter as their progenitor. Instead their pledges go to Antaeus, the first Chapter Master for whom the Chapter has taken their name. On the Day of Founding, he proclaimed to the Chapter mass that from this day forth, the Chapter shall serve the Emperor from the darkest of shadows. The Sons would traverse the outer-most fringes of the Imperium, where Xenos multiply unhindered and Chaos plots unfettered. It is here where the Emperor’s work was needed most, and so they went. st

Out of all of the Chapters of the 21 Founding, the Sons of Antaeus showed the least amount of genetic deviancy in their gene seed tithes. However in the early centuries of M39, that changed. The geneseed that was received by the Administorium had become suddenly mutated, with no apparent cause or explanation given. Adeptes Biologis and Inquisitors were sent to find the Sons and get answers; by force if needed. These expeditions never returned from the fringes. The official story was that they were being lost in the unpredictable nature of the Warp out near the fringes, and that the Astronomicon signals were so faint that the Navigators got lost. There are other theories though that paint the Chapter in a less-than-altruistic light, but the Chapter denies those claims.

Mutation

The Sons of Antaeus do not speak as to what caused their mutation. Some say that it was exposure to an ancient artifact; others claim that it is that the Chapter has ancient genes. The truth is probably far stranger than anything the mind of a human can consider though. The results of the mutation, as reported by those very few that have seen them, is that the skin has taken on a dull-grey metallic tone and that the Sons can endure damage that would th kill any other Space Marine. Sergeant Tydius of the Blood Angels 6 Company claims that Tyranids could not pierce through the armour of a Son of Antaeus. Scout Zilis of the Salamanders reported that an Ork cleaver sliced through flesh but snapped apart when it struck the bone. The Sons go to great lengths to ensure that the full extent of their mutation is never known. They retrieve the bodies of their fallen when possible, and destroy them when they cannot, often claiming collateral lives when doing so. They wear full battle armour whenever outsiders are present to hide their faces. The most perplexing quirk of the Sons is that they never speak to one another. In battle, where others are shouting kill chants or war cries, the Sons of Antaeus speak with their bolter and chainswords, and utter not a word. In the rare instance they must speak to one outside their Chapter, a serf is used to speak for the Marine, causing much frustration on the part of everyone but the Sons. Previous Sons of Antaeus that have served in the Deathwatch had voxes implanted into them before their arrival. If the Ordo Xenos knows anything about their nature, it is well sealed in their endless librariums.

Life on the Fringe

The Sons of Antaeus usually spend centuries at a time travelling among the outer reaches of the Astronomicon, where few have tread since the days of the Great Crusade. It is out here where they put to rest Ork Waaaghs before they even begin, or root out and destroy Dark Eldar torture worlds without a single report being sent back to the Administratum. Indeed, any communications sent back and forth between the fleet and the core worlds of the Imperium take well over 50 years. The flagship is a gigantic space hulk, a space ship formed of dozens of ships lost in the void, that over time have congregated together in a design only the chaos could have conjured. This ship was one of the Chapter’s first tasks after founding, and they have cleansed all xenos and heretic taint from its warped hulls. Since then it has been christened The Anthem of Antaeus. The corridors of each ship of the fleet are engraved with the tales of the ship in the Service of the Chapter. Commandeered vessels are wiped clean of all previous markings and décor to symbolize their new beginnings. The very few that have observed the practices of the Sons of Antaeus believe that they anthropomorphize their vessels and vehicles far more than any other Chapter. Being so far away from the Imperial worlds, the Sons don’t have the luxury of constant resupply from nearby forge worlds. Instead they have splinter fleets of fast frigates that constantly travel between the fleet and the nearest forge world for resupply. These ships are the only clue to the Chapter’s continued existence and are often challenged to produce identification upon arrival to the Imperial worlds. Even with these fleets though, resupply is slow and staggered. The Sons of Antaeus need to fight the xenos constantly and cannot rely on these resupply fleets. Unlike the Black Templars and other Chapters on Crusade, the Sons have no forge ships in their fleet, it was lost 500 years ago and they have not sought to have it replaced. When supplies run low, the Sons turn to the weapons of their enemies to wage their wars. While a practice that can brand the Chapter as renegades, it is a necessary one for them to remain useful as Space Marines. There are scattered reports of Space Marines of the Sons of Antaeus using dark lance weapons and shuriken cannons on the th battlefield. A report from Colonel Sanders of the 312 Frenzied Berserkers claims to have been assisted by Space Marine flying Eldar craft, however that report is not confirmed and written off as battlefield hysteria. The Sons do not lower themselves to the use of weapons and armor that has been touched by the heretical forces of the Chaos Marines, for that is an absolute Heresy.

Teachings of the Void

Being so distant and without a world of their own, the Sons of Antaeus are taught that while faith in the Emperor will see them though life, it is faith in your Brothers that will see them through the battle. Every day sees rituals of devotion between members of the Chapter, and in combat they support each other with the only goal of making sure their Battle Brothers survive the campaign. Other Marines fight for personal glory or honour, but the Sons fight for comradely; for the stronger the bond of Brotherhood, the stronger the Chapter. As the bond between Brothers is strong; so too is the bond that the Space Marine feels for his wargear. Every weapon has been given a name by its wielder, and its personal victories are as praised as the Marine that wields it. Many of the Techmarines are revered as Chaplains are and are often called upon to provide guidance to a troubled vehicle or weapon. What gives them this insight is unknown as no Techmarine has set foot on Mars in over two millennia. The recruiting process takes place on worlds that have not seen the might of the Imperium in millennia. Legends exist on these worlds of the Great Emperor, and his travellers of the Void. These stories have many permutations across the expanses, but it all can be linked back to the Great Emperor. To the Sons, this only strengthens their faith in Him and is validation of their crusade. These worlds have never seen a Space Marine but in very old scriptures and artwork. Masses flock to them when their presence has been announced. From these masses, new chapter serfs are appointed and taken aboard to be mindwiped and reconditioned. Feasts are held in the honour of the Sons arrival and games are set up to show off the best young warriors the planet has to offer. It is from the winners that the Sons of Antaeus cull their neophytes before leaving wordlessly and without thanks or appreciation back to their ships. The neophytes are mindwiped and the indoctrination process begins.

New Recruits

After the mindwipe, all a neophyte remembers is his name. He has no past that he can remember and no family that he loves and cares for. He is introduced to other neophytes and they form a squad that will stay together throughout their training to solidify their faith and trust in one another. Those that prove resistant to the group are often removed from the squad by force, usually by his own squad mates. This behavior is encouraged as it can

galvanize the squad. Once the geneseed has been implanted and the neophyte has shown he’s compatible with it, the hypnoconditioning begins. Each neophyte squad gets a mentor, a Battle Brother who has no official command over them, but instead is there to share his wisdom and battle experience. He is their first link to the Chapter as a whole, and the experience the squad has with him will guide their future integration with the Chapter once training is completed. Once hypnoconditioning is completed, the squad is assigned to a sergeant who sees them through the rest of the training. It is here that they begin to form a bond with their weapon and wargear. The squad undergoes screening by Librarian, Chaplain and Techmarine alike in the early stages, and those of the squad who are gifted in those areas receive special training on the side; but the squad is never broken up as a result of this training. After years of training, the squad of neophytes has typically dwindled from ten down to four to six members. This squad is then merged with another squad and dispatched to a xenos planet where they must survive for 3 months. Unbeknownst to the squad, the planet was first scanned by full-fledged scouts and determined that there were no sentient xeno races; just a hostile environment. Skull probes and hidden Chapter Scouts monitor the squad’s progress, but never interfere with their test. Should a squad die on the planet, then it is seen only as a failure of the squad, not of their observers.

Combat Doctrine

The Sons of Antaeus mix heavy armour with lightning fast assaults from orbit. The Chapter seems not to own a single drop pod, as no wreckage of any can be found on their battlefields. Instead the squads and supporting vehicles appear out of thin air, for the Sons have acquired, or built, a massive teleportarium; one that is capable of transporting man and machine with utmost precision. The Chapter’s fleet travels as one, barring the resupply convoys. According to Imperial manifests, the Sons maintain a fleet of 3 Battle Barges, 8 Strike Cruisers, 34 fast frigates and several compliments of fighter craft. These records do not mention the Anthem of Antaeus or the numerous Xenos ships that have been raided and pressed into service for the Chapter with Techpriests and Techmarines warping their misbegotten machine spirits into place. Stories abound with the Sons of Antaeus’s wide arsenal at their disposal. Tactical marines are encouraged to train on every weapon in the armoury, both Imperial and xenos, and then go into battle with that which suits their combat tastes. Devastators and Assault Marines have a more tightly-controlled selection, but there are many choices that are not available to a codex Chapter’s warriors. Veteran Captain Fotucis’s weapon of choice was a modified rail cannon salvaged from a Tau XV-88 Battlesuit.

Pasts

1 –Harbinger of Change: You lead a landing force to a newly rediscovered human colony. The natives were friendly, until you took their best and brightest. The poor fools did not understand the glories of serving the Emperor, and had to be educated through force. 2 – Ship Conquer: You took part in a vicious boarding of a listless xenos ship that had become infested with Tyranids. You were at the fore, slaughtering as if possessed by the Emperor Himself. Once they were cleansed, the ship was re-christened in your honour, and still carries your name throughout the stars. 3 – Escort and Envoy: You had the task of escorting a fast frigate fleet from the Forgeworld of Nicar. You ran afoul with a small Ork fleet and co-ordinated the defence of the fleet from the savage raiders. The Imperial Navy tried to intervene in the latter part of battle, but you had nothing to say to them and moved on. 4 – Eldar Exterminatus: The deceitful tricks that the Eldar love to play did not work for you and your squad as they tried to manipulate you into fighting a newly-released daemon. You killed the daemon in single combat while your squad captured and interrogated the Farseer; oh how she screamed. 5 – Scout’s Honour: Early in your career as a Space Marine, you and your scouts watched a group of neophytes fend for survival on a Death World. The world was inhabited however, by sentient lizard folk, whom you fought tooth and nail to defeat without the neophytes even realising there was a problem.

Demeanour - Against the Void

Against the Void is a demeanour (pg 32 DW) unique to the Sons of Antaeus Chapter. Where simple humans look at the Emperor’s stars and see beauty, a Brother of the Sons of Antaeus sees only evil and malice threatening all he holds sacred. He sees himself as the only defence against this foe and as such, forms a very close bond with his Battle Brothers. The void is unforgiving, and the horrors and miracles seen are confined only to the Sons themselves. They do not share stories with anyone that is not their own. All tactics are pre-planned and manoeuvres are honed over centuries in the lightless void, where the Astronomicon is but a simple whisper among the background screams of the Warp. Those scant few that know of them speak well of their battles, but all tales carry a hint of fear. The Space Marines, some say, are as far beyond Space Marines as they are beyond mankind. This is of course mostly false, but the Sons’ behaviour seems to encourage these tales, for they do not care what is told of them in hushed tones. It is their crusades that speak the truth.

Attribute Bonuses

+5 Toughness, +5 Intelligence

Mutation

Instead of the starting Wounds of 1d5 + 18, a Son of Antaeus begins play with 1d5 + 19 Wounds before modifiers. All Critical Damage is reduced by 1 to a minimum of 1. Their mutation slows their healing process however, Light wounds heal at half pace on their own, and all other healing effects (narcethium, Medicae Tests etc.) only recover half of the intended total on a Lightly Wounded character, rounded up. Heavily wounded and Critically wounded characters regain Wounds normally.

Additional Skill:

Space Marines of the Sons of Antaeus Chapter become trained in Speak Language (Xenos: Choose One)

Skills and Talents Advance

Cost

Type

Lore: Forbidden (Xenos) Lore: Forbidden (Xenos) +10 Lore: Forbidden (Xenos) +20 Ciphers ( Xenos Markings) Ciphers ( Xenos Markings) Ciphers ( Xenos Markings) Scrutiny Scrutiny + 10 Hardy Hatred (Xenos: Choose One) Hunter of Aliens Peer (Ordo Xenos) Exotic Weapon Training (Xenos: Choose One)

Trappings

Prerequisites

300 300 300 300 300 300 400 400 800 400 900 400 700

Skill Skill Skill Skill Skill Skill Skill Skill Talent Talent Talent Talent Talent

Lore: Forbidden (Xenos) Lore: Forbidden (Xenos)

+10

Ciphers ( Xenos Markings) Ciphers ( Xenos Markings) +10 Scrutiny T 40

Victory Scroll This scroll can extend over 50 metres in length, and carries the sum Space Marine’s, and his weapon’s victories. It is protected in a sheath of flexi-steel and is with the Marine at all times. While carrying this, you gain +1 to Initiative in combat, +2 if the foe is Xenos Xenos Trophy It is not uncommon for a Space Marine of the Sons of Antaeus chapter to take an insignia from either his first or toughest xenos kill. Some wear it as a token, while other incorporate it into their armour. Xenos Optic Lens: +3 to all awareness tests Bone Digit Bracelet: Choose a xenos race on character creation: Increase Squad Cohesion by +1 during combat with this species. Xenos Rank Insignia: When Pinned, all attack rolls suffer no penalties from being Pinned, all other penalties still apply.

Relic

Xenos Odium At first glance, this would appear to be an Astartes Bolter of an ancient pattern. Closer inspection reveals that its insides have been heavily modified with Xenos technology. While many Chapters, and even more Techmarines, th would call such a weapon an abomination, Captain Steinner of the Sons of Antaeus 4 Company used it exclusively during his tenure with the Deathwatch. Instead of bolt shells, it fires odd pulses of green energy appear to seek the target and then explode on impact. This weapon counts as an Astartes Bolter with the following modifications: No clip size, no reload action, Accurate and Storm. – Req 70, Hero

Solo Mode

Know Thy Foe Rank 1: The Sons of Antaeus have acquired more knowledge of Xenos species than many Chapters, and may ever rival that of the Ordo Xenos, with whom they openly share their information in exchange for Intelligence. A character may re-roll any failed Forbidden Lore (Xenos) and Speak Language (chosen Xenos Language) Rank 4: The character gains a +10 bonus to all Skill Tests involving these two skills. Rank 8: The character gains an additional degree of success to all successes with these skills. The degree of success does not count if the initial roll + modifiers failed the check.

Squad Mode Attack

Brothers Shall Not Be Slighted Action: Free Action Cost: 2 Sustained: No Effects: Viewing Brotherhood above all things, the Sons of Antaeus take offence and encourage immediate and brutal retaliation to those that have caused their Battle-Brothers harm. If the Battle-Brother or another character within support range suffers Damage, that character gains a +4 damage rolls against the attacker on his next turn. Improvement: If the Battle Brother is rank 5 or higher, this ability becomes sustained.

Squad Mode Defence

Advance With Hatred Action: Reaction Cost: 2 Sustained: Yes Effects: The Sons of Antaeus hate Xenos with such a passion that they are willing to move through even the most hellish of fire fights in order to see them eliminated. While this ability is active, the Battle-Brother and any in support range who successfully Dodge a Ranged attack may immediately make a Half Move Improvement: If the Battle Brother is rank 4 or greater, in addition to the move, the character may reload a weapon, provided it would take no longer than 1 full round to do so under normal circumstances.

Primarch's Curse – The Xenos are Everywhere

Rank 1 – The Xenos are Scheming You are convinced that every alien is plotting the downfall of Mankind, and indeed most are doing just that. Normally alien women and children would be beneath your notice, but now you see that they are just as guilty. You begin to see plots where none exist, drawing conclusions from random facts and items found. Rank 2 – They’re Around Here Somewhere No place is safe from the Xenos, not even the hallowed halls of the Ordo Xenos. To leave any structure that you have not spent some time searching for xenos influence, another Battle Brother must pass a Challenging (+0) Charm or Deceive Test against your Willpower. This becomes a Difficult (-10) Test if aliens were fought here within the last day. Rank 3 – Xenos Fear My Might! No alien is safe from you. You will attack any alien, despite the circumstances unless you pass a Hard (-20) Willpower test.

Psyker Powers

Aura of Fear Cost: 500 XP Prerequisites: None Action: Full Opposed: No Range: Self Sustained: Yes Description: The Librarian channels all of the horrors that he has seen over the many years and manifests them into reality around his person, giving him a Fear (1) rating for as long as the power is sustained. Skin of the Ancients Cost: 1000 XP Prerequisites: None Action: Full Opposed: No Range: Self Sustained: Yes Description: The Librarian chants in an unknown tongue, covering himself in the resilient substance that coats the bones on his body. While this ability is active, all worn armour’s AP is increased by the Librarian’s PR. All nonarmored body parts are now treated as wearing armor equal to the Librarian’s PR and is a self-contained environment, even if breached. Subvert Machine Spirit Cost: 1000 XP Prerequisites: WP 40+, Rank 3 Action: Reaction Opposed: Yes Range: 10 meters x PR Sustained: No Description: The centuries of encountering strange beings with stranger weapons have taught the Librarians a great deal of how to control them. The Librarian’s armour glows with a violent red aura which coalesces around his foe’s weapon as it is about to fire. If the Librarian wins the Opposed WP Test, the selected weapon instead attacks a target of the Librarian’s choice. If the test is failed, the attack proceeds as normal. This can only be used against hand-wielded ranged weapons.