Antraxes Partinax

### Profession

Primarch of PalavenCouncil Spectre (formerly)Blackwatch Agent (formerly)Armiger Ghost (formerly)

### Class

Infiltrator

***"You do not know what it is to be a true turian. Your ascension was a fluke." - Antraxes to Desolas Arterius II***

Antraxes Mehrkuri Partinianus Haxamaninus (2139 CE - 2241 CE) was the bonded husband of Primarch Astraea Mehrkuri of Digeris and the younger brother of the famous General Valerio Partinax. Formerly of the Blackwatch, he served as a decorated Council Spectre for many years before later taking the position of Primarch of Palaven by force, an action previously unheard of within the history of the Aurelian Empire. Upon his ascension to Primarch, he entered into a political marriage with Fidellion Victus, whom he used as a hostage to control the powerful House Victus. He died by Fidellion's hand in an honourable duel to the death in 2241 CE, aged 102. He had two living children with Astraea; Erinia and Astraeus Mehrkuri. Valerio and Lidia Mehkuri, their two deceased children, were both stillborn.

After his death, he became known as the Usurper, reviled among his people for his actions. On Fidellion's orders, all likenesses of Antraxes were promptly destroyed and all mention of him banned by law, effectively erasing his memory from turian history. He was known for his national conservatism, turian supremacist beliefs, and extreme hatred of the krogan race. He was also personally responsible for the murders of Valexien Victus and all of his direct descendants, with the exception of Valexien's two great-grandchildren, Valexa Victus and Septimus Victus.

## Biography

### **Childhood**

Antraxes was born in Cipritine on the Turian homeworld of Palaven, in the year 2139 CE. He was the second son of Araxes Partinax and his wife, Roxana Haxamanis. He was the younger brother of Valerio Partinax. His father was emotionally distant from both his children, terse in speech and cantankerous in attitude, and beat his sons whenever they disappointed or inconvenienced him. His mother was obsessed with the family's Uchaldan ethnic heritage, choosing to express her narcissistic form of love by shaping her sons into vessels for the collective trauma of their people. This loveless upbringing would render Valerio and Antraxes emotionally volatile in adulthood, which would lead them to commit murderous atrocities in the future.

With a distant father and an emotionally manipulative mother, Antraxes was closest to his brother. The pair were inseparable and shared a deep devotion for one another.

### **Marriage**

Antraxes and Astraea had met each other prior to their wedding, albeit the majority of the time as children. Due to the close blood ties that House Mehrkuri and House Partinax shared, Antraxes would sometimes go with his family to Digeris to stay with his Mehrkuri relatives. Astraea was a lot younger than him and Antraxes would mostly spend time with her older brother, Maxim, while Astraea would stay with her younger sister, Caeistia.

Antraxes did not choose to marry Astraea. As is turian tradition, the marriage was arranged by their parriarchs, namely Antraxes' older brother and Astraea’s mother, Castella Mehrkuri, both families wanting to renew their ancient blood ties with a marriage. Despite being younger than him, Astraea outranked Antraxes by quite a bit. She was a high-ranking member of the Digerian Navy while Antraxes was a lowly commander in the Armiger Legion’s Ghost Division. As such, Antraxes was to surrender his house name and become a member of House Mehrkuri, leaving his family behind.

The pair were married in Apparitus, the capital of Digeris, during a lavish ceremony. As a wedding present, Valerio gave Antraxes a dagger engraved with the sigil of House Partinax, a reminder that they would always be brothers, even though Antraxes was now a member of House Mehrkuri. Antraxes would wield this dagger throughout his career as a Blackwatch agent and Spectre, keeping it close to him at all times. Valerio also paid for Antraxes’ wedding robes as a gesture of goodwill to the Mehrkuris, who had paid for the majority of the ceremony.

Antraxes’ gift to his new wife was a stellar compass engraved with the sigil of House Mehrkuri, a symbolic gesture referring to their common ancestor, Valeria Mehrkuri, who had been Aurelion’s chief scout and cartographer. Astraea would keep it on her person for the rest of her life. Astraea’s gift to Antraxes was a Mehrkuri brooch with matching cufflinks, formally recognising him as a member of House Mehrkuri. Antraxes would wear these for the rest of his life, even after Astraea’s death.

Antraxes and Astraea's marriage was ultimately very successful, not only in terms of consolidating House Mehrkuri's power and continuing its lineage but also as a relationship. While they did not marry for love, both Antraxes and Astraea fell in love with one another. Their relationship was one of deep mutual devotion between two soulmates, bonded for eternity. They had six children together, although sadly only two of them lived. As a family unit, they were extremely close. Antraxes shared a particularly close relationship with their firstborn, Erinia, who for eighteen years was the couple's only living child, until the birth of her younger brother, Astraeus, in 2223 CE. When Astraea was executed in 2224 CE and her body subsequently burned, Antraxes was inconsolable, his heart broken. It was his love for his wife and the desire to avenge her that drove him to usurp the Aurelian throne, bringing near-total ruin to his beloved empire, which he and Astraea had once fought so desperately to renew.

### **Military Career**

As tradition dictated, Antraxes entered the turian military at the age of sixteen after graduating from Bootcamp. His aptitude scores were largely average but in the categories of long-range weaponry, stealth combat and sabotage he was considered to show great promise. While his overall scores were not high enough to make him eligible for officer training, his high marks in these specialised categories persuaded his commander to recommend him for service in the Armiger Legion's Ghost division, a highly respected unit which specialised in infiltration and covert operations.

#### **Armiger Legion**

Antraxes excelled in his role as an armiger ghost, earning him commendations from his commanding officers. He quickly developed a reputation for being a natural-born sniper whom his squad trusted implicitly to watch their backs.

#### **Blackwatch**

Antraxes soon befriended his spotter, a woman named Erinia, whom he had been paired with. The two would often spend hours watching enemy perimeters together, talking about their lives and aspirations to pass the time. Erinia gave him the nickname "Traxus" - the name of a lethally venomous snake native to Palaven - due to how similar it sounded to his name (Antraxes would later take it as his Spectre codename and paint a traxus on his armour in memoriam). In time he would grow to trust her enough to discuss more personal matters, including his abusive childhood, inferiority complex, and alcohol addiction. Erinia always ensured Antraxes remained sober while on the job, even if that meant having to put him in his place with a fist to the face. She was never afraid to stand up, something which he greatly respected. Erinia's loss only caused Antraxes' drinking to worsen as he could not erase the memory of her mutilated body from his mind and blamed himself for her death.

#### **Spectres**

Antraxes' survival inevitably caught the attention of the Spectres. They offered him a place amongst their ranks, promising him the chance to avenge his fallen comrades by empowering him with all the Citadel Council's resources. Antraxes initially resisted, unsure of whether or not to accept the position on the grounds that he was a recovering alcoholic. Astraea convinced him by telling him that it was a chance to turn his life around and become the man she knew he could be.

## Loadout

* **Health:** 750
* **Shields:** 1125
* **Primary weapon:** Punitor (semi-automatic sniper rifle, Armax Arsenal)
* **Secondary weapon:** Carbrix (Turian automatic sub-machine gun, Armax Arsenal)
* **Armour:** Blackwatch Armour (heavy, custom-made for Blackwatch Agents by Armax Arsenal)
* **Omni-tool:** Armax Arsenal's *Vulcan* model (military grade)

### **Punitor**

* **Combat Scanner:** Prototype modification of a traditional smart-targeting module commonly incorporated into high-end weaponry, adapted to slightly deflect rounds to strike a more vital part of an enemy.
* **Scram Pulsar:** Overclocked electromagnetic pulsar technology that strengthens the weapon's mass effect field generator, increasing the mass and acceleration of each bullet fired.
* **Tungsten Sabot Jacket:** The weapon's internal ammunition block is composed of high purity tungsten, resulting in improved penetration of heavily armoured targets.
* **Enhanced Scope:** Stability-enhancing scope that increases accuracy while moving and taking damage.
* **Spare Thermal Clip:** Modified sockets increase the capacity of the weapon's heatsink, increasing the number of shots that can be fired before the thermal clip needs to be ejected.
* **Drill Rounds:** Bullets are fired from the barrel suspended within modified discarding sabots, allowing each bullet to pass great distances through cover and enemy armour.

### **Rixor**

* **Heat Sink Capacitor:** Higher grade materials improve the absorption and dissipation of heat, increasing the number of shots that can be fired before the heatsink needs to be vented.
* **Microfield Pulsar:** Overclocked electromagnetic pulsar technology that strengthens the weapon's mass effect field generator, increasing the mass and acceleration of each bullet fired.
* **Phasic Jacketing:** The weapon's onboard computer manufactures an artificial phasic envelope around each slug before it is fired at a target. This disrupts any mass effect field protecting the target, resulting in better penetration of shields and biotic barriers.
* **High Caliber Barrel:** Custom extended barrel, ballistically optimized to retain each bullet's penetrative power, causing more trauma on impact.
* **Recoil System:** An expert timing-VI increases the weapon's mass for a split second per shot, counteracting weapon kickback to make it easier for the marksman to aim while sustaining fire.
* **Shredder Rounds:** Once fired, these rounds are designed to shred into shrapnel within the softer medium of flesh, causing grievous tissue damage. While powerful against shielded and unprotected targets, they lack the penetrative power required to breach enemy armour. This modified form of ammunition is widely considered to be unethical and is therefore banned in Citadel Space.

### **Blackwatch Armour**

* **Ablative VI:**
* **Burst Regeneration:** Prototype redundant field generator.
* **Energised Weave:** Threaded throughout the wearer's under-armour is a complex filament network of element zero microcores, combined with advanced firewall technology which provides improved protection against both biotic and tech attacks.
* **Kinetic Exoskeleton:** Prototype module that combines multiple technologies to improve shield regeneration and maximize the wearer's physical abilities and athletic prowess, installed within the hardsuit's primary shield battery.
* **Medical VI:**
* **Microscanner:**
* **Shield Harmonics:**

### **Vulcan Omni-Tool**

* **Hydra Module:** Disabling most safety protocols and installing an experimental power core improves efficiency but reduces the expected operating lifespan by a factor of 20.
* **Multicore Amplifier:** By tuning the inputs of the omni-tool to match the specific neural patterns of the user, its responsiveness and power are significantly increased. Once tuned in this manner, the omni-tool is almost unusable by anyone but the wearer, and it must be continuously re-calibrated to account for subtle neural shifts.
* **Custom Heuristics:** Prototype multiple-operating system that allows the omni-tool to run dozens of configurations at once, with instantaneous swapping as the user switches tasks. This allows the user to switch between the delicate tuning required for precision tasks and the quick release of raw energy needed during combat, without having to swap between omni-tool models that are specifically calibrated to perform one type of task. This also results in better performance for each individual task.
* **Disruptor Blade:** Forked omni-blade charged with an electrical current, capable of disrupting shields and barriers on hit. Incapacitates unprotected enemies for a short duration.

## Powers

* **Tactical Cloak:** Recharge Speed: 6.45 sec // Duration: 10.40 sec // Damage Bonus: 120% (while cloaked) // Sniper Rifle Damage Bonus: 40% (while cloaked)
* **Defence Drone:** Recharge Speed: 2.15 sec // Drone Damage: 57.50 // Range: 10 m // Chain Lightning: Damage up to 2 additional nearby targets.
* **Overload:** Recharge Speed: 6.40 sec // Damage: 330 // Shield & Barrier Damage Bonus: 100% // Neural Shock: Incapacitate weaker organic enemies for a short duration.
* **Sabotage:** Recharge Speed: 5.33 sec // Hack Duration: 12 sec // Radius: 3.25 m // Backfire: 400 // Tech Vulnerability: Increase all tech power damage done to target by 100% for 10 seconds.
* **Damping:** Recharge Speed: 15 sec // Hack Duration: 10 sec // Radius: 2 m // Neural scarring: 600
* **Sticky Grenade:** Damage: 1320 // Armour Damage Bonus: 50% // Radius: 3.60 m // Proximity Trap: Grenades stay active for 15 seconds when attached to a wall or surface, exploding when an enemy approaches.
* **Cloak Evasion:** When evading incoming damage, a brief cloak activates to break enemy line of sight.
* **Battlefield Awareness:** An augmented reality display highlights nearby enemies through walls and cover. Cloaked targets are also visible.