Myrmidones
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The Myrmidones or Myrmidons (lit. "ant-people") of Greek mythology were initially the inhabitants of the island of Aegina. When a plague killed all of the human inhabitants of the island, King Aeacus prayed to his father Zeus for a remedy. Zeus responded by transforming the ants of Aegina into a race of people, the Myrmidons.
They later founded a kingdom in Phthia and took part in the Trojan War, fighting on the side of Achilles, the grandson of Aeacus.
The mythic Myrmidons were famous for their blind and remorseless loyalty to their leaders, so that in pre-industrial Europe the word "Myrmidon" carried many of the same connotations that "robot" does today.
Myrmidones in popular culture
In Grant Morrison's comic book The Invisibles, the humans who serve the Archons and have given themselves up for bodily modification are known as Myrmidons.
In Blizzard Entertainment's WarCraft real-time strategy computer game series, the Myrmidon is a powerful amphibious unit of the Naga race, which appears for the first time in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.
Myrmidons are also a unit of strong undead warriors in the Myth: the Fallen Lords RTS game.
The Myrmidon is a Terran space fighter craft in the space simulation Freespace by Volition.
In the strategy video game Fire Emblem, there is a controllable unit called the myrmidon, a swordfighter from the East.
In the simulation game Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries, the Myrmidon is a small, fast attack tank that mounts powerful Particle Projection Cannons.
In the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons_&_Dragons, a Myrmidon represents a relative skill level of the fighter character class (sixth level fighter).
In Magic: The Gathering, the Myr are a race of robotic creatures with a variety of useful abilities.
The Myrmidons is a drinking club for Old Etonians at Merton College, Oxford.de:Myrmidonen fi:Myrmidonit fr:Myrmidons it:Mirmidoni