Sons of Antaeus

[Doghouse]

This is something I have wanted to do for ages, for a number of reasons but mostly because it means I can have my cake and eat it.

 

The first thing that sprung to my mind when the Primaris were released was just how snugly the Sons of Antaeus fit into this narrative. Originally there were theories about using traitor gene-seed for the Cursed Founding Chapters and while I could see this to a degree it always felt more like they were trying to recreate the Primarchs personally speaking.

 

Now as a few may know I have a bit of a thing for truescale and without any of these theories alone the Sons of Antaeus have always been something I have had my eye on, bigger marines are perfect for my hobby tastes. But there lies difficulty in picking up the ball and running with an idea like this because you can bet your bottom dollar you can search out the most obscure and vaguely mentioned Chapter thinking you have free reign and suddenly someone brings out a book on them or we get a random out of the blue IA article no one expected and your hardwork becomes referred to as fan fiction which really sucks.

 

So...with this in mind I am taking what little info we do have (they are grey and black and big) and seeing how I can get around the problems listed above with some mental acrobatics that should settle the doubts of the most ardent fluff fanatic.

 

Sons of Antaeus

 

Time passes. The elaborate plans and schemes of those that have come before us put together with such conviction and urgency, ideas and innovation whose importance can only be stressed enough in the terms of fates of entire systems or species are forgotten by all common men except for those exceptional few. They disappear into secrecy, becoming mixed with myth and legend in equal measure to become half whispered rumours and eventually fade into obscurity lost as they are filed away in the monolithic vaults of the Administratum perhaps for all time.

 

The 21st Founding would later become known as the Cursed Founding, each of the great Chapters formed during this time would be cursed with ill fated endeavours or marked by genetic mutation. Some would remain strong and continue to fight on such as the Black Dragons or the Lamenters while others would be condemned to much worse fates such as the Flame Falcons or others whose names have been removed from Imperial records.

 

It was a time of innovation that many would condemn for their attempts to perfect the Emperor's work as blasphemy, dismissing the abominations as little more than the works of misguided rogue adepts who would in some cases become reviled by their peers.

 

It was also a time of deceit, a time when such works progress under a shroud of secrecy and other clandestine operations could go unnoticed.

 

The Sons of Antaeus was one such project. The founding of a chapter at such a time would seem nothing out of the norm except that many of the normal rituals that have been laid out for such an occasion were suspiciously missing. There were those adepts that pointed out the failure to honour the rituals only for them to be reassigned, fall ill or die in tragic accidents. It was if the forces driving the founding of the chapter were of another time, those that remained who had such suspicions quickly learned to keep their thoughts to themselves for fear of ruining their career prospects or worse.

 

It is believed that the Sons of Antaeus were created in more than one location simultaneously, this could have been to ensure the success of the Chapter or to mislead any prying eyes. Initial records would show that no fewer than four instances of the Chapter could be found in different locations through out the Imperium.

 

The Astartes themselves were shipped in stasis with no need to grow their Gene-seed with vat slaves, fully formed and mind wiped the warriors were awoken one by one. The mind of each Astarte would be rebuilt using hypnotherapy and other more invasive measures, unlike the majority of other foundings all sense of identity and memory were scoured from their brains until only an able and willing weapon remained. Many of the adepts that had brief dealings with some of the many Chapters of the Imperium noted the unorthodox naming processes, more akin to Adeptus Mechanicus machine designations than anything named by human parents. It was very clear that the Adeptus Mechanicus were in control of the project with new and untested weapons and armour becoming the norm for what would be later seen as a new breed of Astartes.

 

Alpha-Ceti One Six

 

As I mentioned above the only things that are known about the chapter in terms of uniform is that their armour is grey and black. There are no official pictures or chapter icon so I have a little bit of room to play around here to some degree. The look of these guys that I am going for is firstly they are Primaris awoken early and are being used to perfect the armour and weapons that would come into use some five millennia later. For all intents and purposes this army is set around M35 and so the Primaris are some way off into the future.

I've decided to give them modified existing armour of the time, the idea being that while the Primaris are probably going to be augmented and fine biologically the technology isn't quite there just yet so they have been bought out of stasis, mind wiped then put to use testing prototype technology.

The first model is Alpha-Ceti One Six, an individual that demonstrated exceptional command ability and has been promoted to Captain hence the plasma pistol and powerfist. The idea behind the mind scrubbing is firstly it is an old lore practice that dates back to the days of Rogue Trader where if guard were exposed to chaos they were executed after fighting them but Astartes being far too valuable were mind scrubbed and retaught everything they knew from scratch. While in the modern lore it would be overkill and utterly impractical it does serve a purpose for me to create a situation that is more interesting to me.

 

Black Library has humanised Astartes to a great deal over the years because in reality the idea of an indoctrinated killing machine doesn't necessarily make for an interesting story.  I prefer the idea of them being more dehumanised weapons myself and taking into consideration that these guys were from a time when knowledge and truth was to prevail over superstition and religion to me for them to wake up in the 35th Millennium would be akin to waking up in hell. It makes more sense to me that the Ad Mech would see this as a potential hindrance, lacking the compassion to see these weapons as men so the common sense thing would be to just avoid all that and wipe their memories.

 

The Captain is wearing an upgraded Corvus armour that has been modified for his considerable bulk. The way I see it the Mk X armour does not exist in full at this time and existing armours and equipment are being modified. Obviously Cawl perfects all this much later but this is an interesting interim step in that process that may have succeeded or been deemed a failure.

 

This is still a WIP but is getting there.

 

http://i63.tinypic.com/w8m077.jpg

 

http://i68.tinypic.com/24cir7s.jpg

 

 

The goal is a full battalion of these guys as the core of what I want to be a modular army. These are the first squad I am working on, taking advantage of the new IA update the Sergeant has a power fist in addition to his rifle which is a step in the right direction when it comes to Primaris as far as I am concerned. For the most part they are wearing modified Mk 4, 6, 7 and 8 armours but with bolt rifles so they are game legal to use as Primaris.

 

http://i66.tinypic.com/8w9pgl.jpg

 

http://i68.tinypic.com/jr8hw9.jpg

 

While the core of the army is Primaris I am also working on other Imperial detachments, including Guard, Knights and maybe ad mech. I also have some characters I am making to represent characters that are agents of the High Lords of Terra, the first of which will be the Noble.

Here for now though is one part of what will be a Ratling regiment, I've used the ratling snipers from the Black Stone Fortress game and am converting them all to look a little different to each other but there will be three squads of five supported probably by sentinels for a vanguard detachment.

 

http://i63.tinypic.com/5mk01x.jpg

      

[Aeternus]

Looking like a sweet start, Alpha-Ceti one six comes across very characterful, like the grim look he's got going as well as the transfers you've chosen. Also really dig the pose of the powerfist sgt, looking forward to seeing how he comes out! 

[Reyner]

Awesome :D the 21st Founding has always fascinated me especially these guys - bigger marines who walked into an Eldar strike force who had ambushed another Chapter and lived! As hard as the Death Guard.

[Soldier of Dorn]

And that's how you truescale using Primaris. I'd expect nothing less from the master, of course, but man, your work always amazes me.

[Naryn]

Now that’s what I call a strong start! Can’t wait for the next post.

[deathspectersgt7]

looking forward to this project Mate.