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The Adeptus Custodes form the Emperor's personal guard and are charged with serving and protecting the master of mankind. Numbering a thousand warriors, there are always several hundred of them available in the Imperial Palace as well as a certain number of guards who never leave the Emperor's side.

There is no set date for the inception of the Adeptus Custodes, but it is known that they have been active since well prior to the Great Crusade. It was from the Emperor's first group of bodyguards that the first ever genetically-modified super warriors were created during the unification wars on Holy Terra after the Age of Strife. However, during that time, they were not yet known as the Adeptus Custodes.

They are the 'Dread Guardians', and the only living beings permitted to walk beside the Emperor. The Custodes were the greatest group of physiologically and psychologically enhanced troops the Emperor created, ten thousand strong and the best trained, most disciplined and vigilant watchmen in the Imperium. Now ensconced deep within the Primus Palace on Holy Terra, they watch over the corporeal body of the Emperor. Before the Horus Heresy, a unit of Custodes used to accompany the Emperor at all times, even when he retired to his private chambers.

During the Great Crusade, these great warriors always kept a contingent with the Emperor for his protection, but also travelled individually as envoys. Even in the days before the Heresy, it was a rare and blessed thing to see a member of the Adeptes Custodes, and due to the confinment of the Emperor to the Golden Throne, it has become an almost unthinkable event. Since the banishment of Horus and the wounds inflicted upon the Emperor, the Adeptus Custodes have taken a new, more limited role of protectors of the physical manifestation of the Emperor on Holy Terra.

The Adeptus Custodes were instrumental in the ending of the rule of Vandire and the Age of Apostasy. It was the actions of a few members of the Adeptus Custodes, utilising secret passages known only to themselves, which caused the Sisters of Battle, then known as the Brides of the Emperor, to realise the act of base treason perpetrated by Vandire.

The similarities in form between the Adeptus Astartes and the Adeptus Custodes indicate that the two groups may be related, although it has never been confirmed that members of the Adeptus Custodes undergo the rigourous genetic change in the same way as every member of the Adeptus Astartes. Like the Grey Knights they are utterly incorruptible, and are the only beings allowed into the presence of the Emperor. They have the final word on security in the Imperial Palace, and even the High Lords of Terra are subservient to them within its walls.

The martial capabilities of the Adeptus Custodes remain in a large part unknown. What is known is that they possess skill beyond even a 'normal' member of the Adeptus Astartes. In this regard they are similar to the Grey Knights, the militant arm of the Ordo Malleus branch of the Inquisition. Both are elite, secret (and secretive) organisations with close ties to the Emperor in both moral and physical terms. Both the Grey Knights and the Custodes have long been rumored to have their gene-seed, the genetic template every Space Marine carries within himself, taken directly from the Emperor himself.

It is not however clear whether millenia of apparent lack of action has rendered them useless as a fighting force or whether they are indeed still the elite of the elite that they were originally. But, we can assume that if they were used away from Earth in the past, that it might still be the case today in extreme situations. However, such an action would be extremely secret, even more than the use of Grey Knights.

Before the Horus Heresy, the Guard was dressed in ceremonial red, but after the schism they have abandoned their armour and have adopted black to mark the "enthronement" of the Emperor. However, recent conversion modeling done by Games Workshop staff on the official website show the Adeptus Custodes as wearing gold colored armour. These superior warriors can be seen adorned with all manner of lightning bolt (the symbol of the Emperor prior to the Imperial Eagle), aquiline and knightly crosses. Very little is known of the equipment and capabilities of such a secretive organisation, but the visual sources (such as a diorama of the Golden Throne within the 3rd Edition Rulebook) give the impression of immensely ornate armour.

Custodians are typically seen with a Guardian Spear which, in the days before the Horus Heresy, was a combination power halberd with boltgun. A las-weapon occasionally took the place of the boltgun. A gladius is normally seen at their side and it must be noted that they have access to all the equipment of any Chapter of the Space Marines. In more recent portrayals, the Custodes have been depicted with a force halberd and a storm bolter.

THE LEGIO CUSTODES

The Space Marines are not the only superhuman warriors created by the Emperor. The first group of genetically and psychologically modified troops he created were his own personal bodyguards- The Custodian Guard…

Stronger than a Space Marine, the Custodian is a fearsome warrior and has an unbreakable devotion to the Emperor. They are his most loyal and trusted servants.

During the time of the Great Heresy, the Custodian Guards were tasked with the duties that now extend beyond guarding the Emperor. They were sent into the heat of battle. Fighting along side the Space Marines making sure the Emperor’s will was followed.

After the defeat of the Warmaster and his traitor legions, the Legio Custodian returned to their holy duty of guarding Terra. But during the Age of Apostasy, when the insane Goge Vandire was finally exposed of his treachery, Chief Custodian Constantin Valdor and a great company of Custodian Guard, sieged the palace on Sororitas and slew Vandire and his followers in turn.

Now in the grim darkness of the 41st Millennia, the Emperor of Mankind, although still bound to the Golden Throne has ordered that the Adeptus Custodes make a Holy War against Chaos. This will mean that they must face hordes of daemons, legions of cultists, fearsome aliens and many more unnatural and deadly creatures spawned in the Warp but it is their duty, to fulfil the Emperor’s Will, not matter the cost…

The most holy planet in the Universe, Terra is still their homeland to this day and the Adeptus Custodes have created the Fortress Monastery known to only the Custodians themselves as “Valdor” named after their first commander and father. The golden halls echo with prays and cries of the Custodians, asking the Emperor for strength and wisdom. The underground tunnels lead to the ‘Guardian’s Chamber’, the tombs and finally resting place of their fallen battle brothers. And only known and accessed by the highest ranking officials is the High Council, meeting in the Emperor’s own throne room and His presence, the Chief Custodians connect their mind to Him so they may plan the next attack against Chaos…

LEGIO CUSTODIAN MILITARY ORGANISATION

Because the secretive nature of the Adeptus Custodes, they do not fellow Military Organisation of that to the Adeptus Astartes. Their training practices and zealous ways are very different to that of a ‘normal’ Space Marine.
Only the strongest, fiercest and bravest recruits from feral world are picked and the extreme bioengineering and rituals of faith are used in making a Custodian Guard.

Each warrior is progresses through a series of ranks and will operate within a Squad rather then a Battle Company. These squads can be called to act independently from a Custodian Task Force for they have the skill, knowledge and authority to match that of an Inquisitorial Hunting Force. As such, the leader of each Custodian Squad is obeyed with question but the squad trust one and other with their very lives.

Damnit... that means I'm going to have to go out and by the Horus Heresy novels...

Not that I'd particularily (it's late, mind the spelling) mind reading more of Dan Abnett.

I foolishly left those books at home. But im sure i can get them as soon as my wife returns to our house in texas. What im wating for is when the Space Wolvees and Custodys sack Prospero

A few squads of custodes attack prospero with the wolves as well as the sister of osprey (chicks that have the paraih gene, early culexus assassins i guess)

Source of this would be?