ADEPTUS CUSTODES
THE GOLDEN LEGION
CONTENTS
Introduction ..................................................3 The Splendour of Holy Terra .......................44
Brotherhood of Demigods ............................6 The Eagle Vigilans .........................................................................53
Fury of Terra Shield Host .............................................................54
Bodyguards of the Emperor ...........................................................8
The Horus Heresy..........................................................................10 The Army of Terra .......................................56
Guardians of the Golden Throne.................................................12
Shadows and Alchemy ..................................................................14 Captain-General Trajann Valoris ................................................58
The Defences of Terra ...................................................................16 Shield-Captain ...............................................................................59
Rise of the Primarch......................................................................18 Shield-Captain in Allarus Terminator Armour.........................60
A Host of Heroes ...........................................................................20 Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike ........................................60
Uniforms and Heraldry ................................................................22 Custodian Guard ...........................................................................61
The Shadowkeepers.......................................................................23 Custodian Wardens .......................................................................62
The Aquilan Shield ........................................................................24 Vexilus Praetor in Allarus Terminator Armour ........................63
The Dread Host..............................................................................25 Vexilus Praetor...............................................................................64
The Solar Watch .............................................................................26 Allarus Custodians ........................................................................65
Emissaries Imperatus ....................................................................27 Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought .........................................66
The Solar Fastness .........................................................................28 Vertus Praetors...............................................................................67
The Tale of the Ten Thousand......................................................30 Venerable Land Raider .................................................................68
Captain-General Trajann Valoris ................................................36 Armoury of the Adeptus Custodes .............................................69
Shield-Captains ..............................................................................37
Custodians ......................................................................................38 Auric Mortalis .............................................72
Vexilus Praetors .............................................................................40
Vertus Praetors...............................................................................41 Stratagems ......................................................................................73
Venerable Contemptor Dreadnoughts .......................................42 Relics of Terra ................................................................................76
Venerable Land Raiders................................................................43 Warlord Traits ................................................................................78
Points Values ..................................................................................79
Tactical Objectives.........................................................................80
PRODUCED BY GAMES WORKSHOP IN NOTTINGHAM
For Alan Bligh
With thanks to the Mournival for their additional playtesting services
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2
INTRODUCTION
This grand volume of Imperial lore concerns itself with the proud and storied organisation known as the Adeptus Custodes.
The content within will help you to assemble your collection of Adeptus Custodes Citadel Miniatures into a redoubtable
tabletop army, ready to take the fight to the heretic, traitor and alien alike in the glorious name of the Emperor of Mankind.
The Adeptus Custodes are Humanity’s greatest warriors. They are Within this book you will find all the information you need to
demigods clad in armour of gleaming auramite, who wield the collect an Adeptus Custodes army and field it upon the tabletop.
Imperium’s deadliest and most finely crafted weapons. Theirs is
a singular duty, perhaps the most important in all the galaxy, for BROTHERHOOD OF DEMIGODS: This section gives an insight
it is to the Adeptus Custodes that the safety and sanctity of the into who the Adeptus Custodes are, how they are created, and
Emperor himself is entrusted. For many thousands of years this the noble yet tragic battles that they have fought for ten thousand
has seen them guard the Sol System with ironclad determination, years, along with examples of how they are assembled for battle.
and fight secret wars of which the wider Imperium can never
know. But now, with the immaterium spilling through the THE SPLENDOUR OF HOLY TERRA: Here you will find a
bounds of reality and war consuming every Imperial world, the showcase of beautifully painted Citadel Miniatures that display
Custodians must strike out into the stars to eliminate terrible the varying panoply and resplendent iconography of the Adeptus
dangers before they can come anywhere near their throne-bound Custodes, as well as example armies to inspire your own collection.
master. In collecting an Adeptus Custodes army you will find
yourself leading the most elite military branch of the Imperium. THE ARMY OF TERRA: This section includes datasheets, wargear
Every warrior you command is a figure worthy of legend. Every lists and weapon rules for every Adeptus Custodes unit, allowing
blow you strike will be crushing. Marshal your forces well, for you to field them in your games of Warhammer 40,000.
they are few, but know that even a handful of the Emperor’s
praetorians can seize victory over an entire army of foes. AURIC MORTALIS: This section provides additional rules –
including Warlord Traits, Stratagems, Relics, and matched play
As well as being incredibly powerful on the tabletop, the Adeptus points – that allow you to transform your collection of Citadel
Custodes are a wonderful modelling and painting project for Miniatures into a magnificent Adeptus Custodes shield host.
those who really enjoy lavishing time and attention on every
model. With a small number of exquisitely detailed individual To play games with your army, you will need a copy of the
warriors and ornate war machines at your disposal, you can Warhammer 40,000 rules. To find out more about Warhammer
afford to spend as long as you wish making sure that every single 40,000 or download the free core rules, visit warhammer40000.com.
model in your collection looks exceptional, both by itself and as
part of a wider tabletop force.
3
They charged into battle like demigods, magnificent warriors seemingly stepped straight from a fresco on a cathedrum wall. The
light of the Emperor shone from them like the radiance of Sol herself, and their battle cry was the booming voice of the Master of
Mankind. Before their glorious charge, the worshippers of the Dark Gods were driven back like whipped curs.
BROTHERHOOD
OF DEMIGODS
The Adeptus Custodes are the Emperor’s personal guard. For ten millennia they have
stood sentinel over the Master of Mankind and defended the gates of his palace. Yet now
the Emperor’s blades are unsheathed. The Ten Thousand walk the stars in numbers not
seen since the Great Crusade, and woe betide those who oppose them.
‘Ours is the duty absolute. No finer or more fearsome warriors are Though even a small force of Custodians can
Ours is the vigil that must there in the Imperium than the Custodians. rip through an enemy army in a whirlwind
never end. Ours is the timeless Biochemically fashioned from infancy to of bloodied blades, their true purpose is not
honour, the willing sacrifice, function as supreme combatants, tacticians one of conquest, but of guardianship. The
the penitence enduring. We and bodyguards, they are death incarnate to Custodians are the Emperor’s personal guard,
stand a watch that will never those who defy the Emperor’s will. his Ten Thousand, and since time immemorial
be relieved, and we stand their role has been to protect their master
it gladly out of adoration Each Custodian is sublimely skilled, their from harm.
for he who gave us life, and strategic and tactical nous, bladesmanship and
whose life we must, in turn, instinct little short of supernatural. They are It was at the nadir of the period known as Old
preserve. We will never earn to the Emperor’s Space Marines what those Night that the Emperor arose on Terra. The
absolution, for we do not transhuman warriors are to unaugmented cradle world was, at that time, a nightmarish
deserve it, but those who Imperial soldiery, an elevated elite whose place of abhuman armies and grotesque
believe that would give us raw strength and willpower are wholly warlords who fought in thrall to entities both
pause are fools.’ insurmountable. However, where the warriors malefic and debased. What records survive of
of the Adeptus Astartes employ squad-level that terrible age are rightly locked away within
- Shield-Captain tactics, their battle-brothers functioning as the deepest vaults of the Emperor’s palace.
Tybalus Maxin a cohesive whole, the Custodians fight as Were some brave scholar to somehow delve
individuals. Each of their fiercely independent into those ancient histories, they would find
number wields weapons hand crafted for that even the earliest sources concerning the
him alone, and wears intricately designed Emperor’s deeds had him flanked by warriors
armour tailored to his precise dimensions. So tall and mighty, who wore plumed helms and
equipped, a single Custodian can go toe to toe carried spears of gold. Through all the horrors
with a dozen experienced combatants. When of the Unification Wars, through the doomed
deployed en masse, such warriors can sweep rebellion of the Thunder Warriors and the
away armies many times their number. establishment of the nascent Imperium, and
on into the sweeping conquests of the Great
Where the gilded shield companies of the Crusade, the Adeptus Custodes were ever the
Adeptus Custodes storm into battle, the Emperor’s blades. It is said that to have seen the
enemies of the Emperor come apart like smoke Master of Mankind stride to war at the head of
in a gale. The Custodians fight like legends the Golden Legion was to have witnessed the
come to life, and with the range of tools at their most magnificent spectacle in human history.
disposal are able to achieve the impossible.
Enemy engines of war are annihilated by For years uncounted the Legio Custodes, as
swift-striking spearheads of airborne Vertus they were known then, covered themselves
Praetors, while heretical demagogues and in glory. Led by the peerless Captain-General
roaring monstrosities alike fall beneath the Constantin Valdor, they were an unstoppable
blades of the Allarus Terminators. force, and even during the civil strife of the
Horus Heresy they remained utterly resolute
By the time the foe realise their cause is and unquestionably loyal, feted throughout
hopeless, it is far too late. The Emperor’s the Imperium as the Emperor’s finest warriors.
praetorians have butchered their leaders, Yet it was at the culmination of that epochal
reduced their machines to scrap and cut a conflict that the Custodians knew defeat at
path to the very heart of their ranks. The only last. When Warmaster Horus struck down the
option left to the enemy to flee in dismay, and Emperor, the Adeptus Custodes failed in their
even then death is all but guaranteed. Such is sworn duty. They have carried the crushing
the fate of those who dare to oppose the will of shame and dishonour of doing so with them
the Emperor. through all the millennia since.
6
In the wake of the Heresy, the Legio warriors under hidden aliases to test every Thus, while a standing garrison of
Custodes became the Adeptus Custodes. route of attack and attempt to breach the Custodians remain upon the throneworld
No longer would they fight at their walls and gates that protect the Golden to defend their master, dozens of shield
master’s side, for the Emperor was little Throne. At the same time, the Custodians companies have set out into the stars to
more than a shattered cadaver, his potent have utilised fractal thought exercises, take the fight directly to those who would
will kept alive by the machineries of centuries-long strategic cogitations and once again prove them derelict in their
the Golden Throne. Now, instead, the elaborate hallucinarium mock conflicts duty. With them they bring the fury of
Custodians were charged with protecting to perfect their tactics should such a time the Emperor himself, sharpened by ten
what remained of their beloved Emperor come that they were released to fight across thousand years of preparation.
at any cost. They donned shrouds of the Emperor’s realm again. Now, with the
mourning black as a symbol of their awakening of the Ultramarines Primarch Of course, this is not the only war that
disgrace, a sombre raiment that they Roboute Guilliman and his reinstating as the Adeptus Custodes have mobilised for
would not shed for many millennia. Lord Commander of the Imperium, and since the Heresy. Were the common herd
the opening of the apocalyptic Great Rift, of Humanity to learn of the clandestine
For thousands of years, the Adeptus that time has finally come. campaigns that the Emperor’s guardians
Custodes have stood vigil. Thanks to the have fought upon Terra and beyond, they
remarkable gene-craft involved in their Chaos-worshipping Renegades and would doubtless be driven mad with
creation, these warriors do not age as other howling tides of Daemons spill from terror. The Custodians have held back the
men, and so barring catastrophic physical warp storms all across the galaxy. Even deadly denizens of rune-locked vaults deep
trauma, they are functionally immortal. the Sol System is assailed, the greatest beneath the Himalayic Shelf, launched
With many Custodians being well over one enemies of Mankind coming within missions into sub-realities seething
thousand years old, they have had endless striking distance of Holy Terra itself. It has with horror, purged cults amongst the
opportunity to perfect their skills, further become increasingly clear that the Adeptus endless tunnels of Manufactora Mericum,
their education across every lore and Custodes can no longer afford to stand and slain the followers of ultra-radical
discipline, and hone their tactics so as to silent vigil over the Emperor’s palace while Inquisitors convinced that the Emperor’s
be ready for every eventuality. the wider Imperium burns around it, the final ascension can come only in death.
fires of war drawing closer to them by the Such battles grind on even as the Ten
Through the rituals known as Blood day. The threats to the Golden Throne are Thousand sweep out to rend the traitor
Games the Adeptus Custodes have now so widespread and dire that they must and the heretic all across known space.
be stamped out pre-emptively, before they Like the Imperium as a whole, the Adeptus
endlessly tested Terra’s defences, have a chance to fully manifest. Custodes face opposition on every front.
despatching their own
Upon the killing fields of Hydraphur, the Black Legion advanced in great and fearsome number. Yet though the heretics put all other
Imperial servants to flight, they could not overcome the Adeptus Custodes, and against that living bastion of auramite their charge broke.
7
‘For one hundred years I stood my watch amidst the BODYGUARDS OF
sombre shadows of the Sanctum Imperialis. I was still THE EMPEROR
as a statue, but always ready, always attuned to dangers
unseen. Days, months, years passed by in a frenzied The origins of the Adeptus Custodes lie buried in
blur beyond those walls, yet within, little moved and Humanity’s obscured past, their secrets bound inseparably
nothing changed. For one hundred years I did naught to those of the Emperor himself.
but wait, yet had any threat appeared, I would have
struck it down in a heartbeat. For one hundred years During the Dark Age of Technology, the human race was almost
I stood my watch, and as it ends I can tell you this – annihilated by its own hubris. Though Mankind’s first steps away
patience is a weapon.’ from its home world were faltering, natural adaptability and
belligerence of spirit soon saw it flourish in the void. Science and
- Custodian Warden Tybaris Constor technology advanced at a breathtaking pace, enabling the conquest
of increasingly far-flung planets. The vast reaches of the galaxy
shrank as Mankind’s capabilities grew, and alien races were driven
back into the shadows by the fierce light of human progress.
Thinking machines and the development of ever more esoteric
weapons and transportation technologies played their part, but the
single greatest factor to drive this expansion was the ability – and
the reckless will – to manipulate human genetics. Utterly certain
of their own primacy, scientist-kings and techno-demagogues
followed every strand of curiosity and exercised powers of creation
that made them seem like gods. Ultimately, their hubris led them
to catastrophe, and onwards to the very brink of extinction. Worlds
were overrun by bloody uprisings within their own populations,
much of which were mutated beyond sanity and recognition.
Gene-wars consumed entire star systems, while a psychic
apocalypse drowned the stars in fire. The vast empire of Humanity
was shattered amidst horror and anarchy, and the oppressive
shroud of Old Night settled over all.
At the heart of this galactic disaster lay Terra, transformed from a
glittering jewel to an apocalyptic hellscape by forbidden weapons
and biological atrocities. Yet though its people fell into darkness
and ignorance, many of the technologies that had led them to
ruin survived, sealed away in hidden bunkers and biomantic
crypts. Sure enough, as Humanity clawed its way back from
the brink beneath the lashes of cruel warlords, so those self-
appointed rulers discovered the weapons of old and tried once
again to turn them upon one another. Terra faced the threat of
a second apocalypse as gene-bred barbarians and ghastly flesh-
stitched ghouls made war at the behest of madmen, fanatics and
techno-cannibalistic murderers.
Much of this lore is lost forever, destroyed or buried in the endless
archives of Terra. Yet a few still know that this was the environment
in which the Emperor rose to prominence, and that he – whether
living deity or apex superhuman – was a worthy inheritor to the
trove of genetomantic lore left behind by Mankind’s former rulers.
It was this ancient and dangerous bounty, coupled with his own
incredible and unfathomable powers, that allowed the Emperor to
fashion warriors with which to unite a world.
That task was not a simple one, and though the Emperor sought
peace for Humanity, he could not achieve his aims without war.
It is known, by the most learned of Imperial Historitors, that the
living weapons the Emperor used for his early conquests were the
Thunder Warriors. Techno-barbarians transformed into powerful,
but ultimately flawed and short-lived, super-soldiers, the Thunder
8
Legions were fit for a single purpose, after which the Emperor’s The years that followed saw the Great Crusade surge forth from
use for them was done. By the time the Thunder Warriors learned the cradle of Humanity to reclaim the galaxy. First the Sol System
of their own disposable nature, the Emperor had set his sights on was secured, and Mars brought back into the fold through the
grander ambitions, and created the first of the beings that would Emperor’s diplomacy and wisdom. Gathering pace with the
become his Space Marines. technological aid of the Martian Mechanicum, the crusade forces
spilled out into the void, billions upon billions of Imperial Army
Not even the most knowledgeable of the Imperium’s scholars soldiers, proud warships, Space Marine Legions and countless
can say when the Emperor fashioned the Custodians. The truth other forces setting sail to reunite the stellar empire of Mankind.
is hidden in fragments of the past, accounts of figures appearing
in crude hieroglyphs and cave etchings, stasis-locked scads of In those early days the Emperor was at the forefront of the
parchment and gene-sealed tomes that no man now can open. expansion, even as his Primarch sons were rediscovered one by one
They speak of the towering demigods that strode at the Emperor’s and the crusade fleets became ever more scattered and autonomous
side, trusted bodyguards and respected counsellors that he took in their operation. Wherever the Emperor went, there too strode
into his confidence. Custodians fought alongside their master the Legio Custodes, an unstoppable golden army now ten thousand
before the walls of the Vilifactor’s fortress. They held back the strong. To them went the finest weapons and armour, and all the
baying flesh-packs of the transnordic reaver tribes while the accumulated wealth of archeotechnological secrets unearthed
Emperor slew their bloated meat-god. Custodian blades took the by the crusading armies upon ancient human worlds. Alongside
head of Gharsha the Decryer, pierced the heart of the Ur-queen such esoterica as anti-gravitic battle tanks and terrifyingly potent
of Atlan, and drove back the iron fiends on the red fields of disintegration rays, the Custodians also had access to the very
Primasalia. Or at least, so the dying echoes of history suggest. best tried-and-tested Imperial tools of war. Their Land Raiders
possessed the most exceptional and bellicose machine spirits.
In the last years of the Unification Wars, the Thunder Warriors at Their bolt weaponry, power blades and heavy weapons were all
last realised that their creator had cursed them with short lifespans, individually handcrafted by the greatest artisans the Imperium had
and turned upon him for what they saw as his betrayal. It was a to offer, as befitted such august and sublimely skilled warriors.
cadre of several hundred Custodians, even then believed to have
been led by the legendary Constantin Valdor, that stood in the From the hellish fastness of the Styxian Overmancers to the false
Emperor’s defence, carrying out a merciless culling of the obsolete empire of the Pureblood Kings, the bitter battles of the Coldharvest
and rebellious gene-soldiers. With those last relic forces purged in Campaign to the triumphant conquest of Ullanor, the Legio
a ruthless act of barbarity worthy of culminating the Age of Strife, Custodes fought undefeated at the Emperor’s side. Led to war by
Terra could at last be pronounced unified, and the Emperor could the Master of Mankind himself, they were the bane of every foe.
turn his gaze to the stars for the benefit of all Mankind. Yet they would soon face their sternest and most tragic test.
It is said that the golden-armoured giants of the Legio Custodes were the right hand of the Emperor, while the eerie witch-hunting nulls of
the Silent Sisterhood were his left. Together they represent the Talons of the Emperor.
9
THE HORUS HERESY
Humanity’s preeminent destiny seemed assured beneath the Emperor’s rule, but it was not to be. In an act of grossest betrayal,
fully half of the Space Marine Primarchs turned against their father and began a civil war more ferocious than anything
Mankind had ever endured. This was the Horus Heresy, and it would see tragedy wrought on a galactic scale.
The Primarchs were the pinnacle of Despite his potential it was Horus, too, Still, the Ten Thousand did take part in two
the Emperor’s gene-craft, alchemically who fell to the lure of the Dark Gods, pivotal conflicts during the tumultuous
fashioned demigods intended to lead his who was utterly corrupted by their touch, years of the Heresy. These were the Razing
wars of reconquest across the stars. By the and who led fully half of his brothers into of Prospero, arguably the first battle of that
machinations of the Dark Gods of Chaos, damnation along with him. The tragic dreadful era, and the Siege of Terra.
they were scattered across the cosmos events of the Horus Heresy – a full account
before they had fully formed, and so were of which would take more than a lifetime The attack on Prospero came even before
reunited with their father – and the Space to relate – were cataclysmic in the extreme, Horus tipped his hand in open rebellion.
Marine Legions made in their image – sundering the nascent Imperium and It was intended to be an act of censure, a
piecemeal as the Great Crusade came to leaving it to burn in the fires of treachery. punishment for the sorcerous Primarch
the worlds upon which they had fallen. It is notable that while the Space Marine Magnus the Red and his wayward
Legions battled furiously against one Thousand Sons Legion. Upon their distant
Arguably the greatest of their number another – and the Imperial Army and home world of Prospero the Thousand Sons
was Horus Lupercal. It was he whom the Mechanicum tore themselves to shreds had recklessly continued the use of psychic
Emperor and his Custodians found first, with internecine conflict – the Legio powers and empyric meddling in direct
and who fought at his father’s side at the Custodes were strangely absent for much defiance of the Edict of Nikaea. None know
head of his Legion, the Luna Wolves. It of the fighting. The few records that survive for sure what finally forced the Emperor to
was Horus whom the Emperor named from that dark time provide only hints as intervene, but fragmentary sources tell of
Warmaster in the wake of the Triumph to why that might have been, alluding to some psychic catastrophe on Terra, and an
at Ullanor, charging his gene-son with the existence of another, terrible war that inescapable link to the powers of Magnus
commanding the Great Crusade in his took place beyond the sight of the wider himself. Whatever the truth, Constantin
stead while he and his Custodians returned Imperium, one that only the Adeptus Valdor and his Legio Custodes were
to Terra to complete new and secret works. Custodes had any chance of winning. charged with leading a force to Prospero
Heracal swept his guardian faceplate before he could dive aside. Another moment and he was at
spear in a tight arc. Its ‘Clear here,’ voxed Heracal, shaking the northern arch, firelight and smoke
powered blade sliced through spilling through it along with the din
ceramite, flesh and bone, sending the Space Marine’s corpse disdainfully of battle. Heracal drew up shoulder
the traitor’s helm bouncing down from his blade. to shoulder with Artoris, whose gold
the steps with the head still inside. armour was drenched in the blood of
Blood fountained, its colour rich red. ‘West stair also clear,’ came Lytanus’ the foe.
Heracal raised one foot and kicked voice in response.
the swaying corpse in its midriff, ‘Well met,’ said Artoris, as he
sending it tumbling after its cranium. ‘Engaging at the northern arch,’ poured bolt shells into the traitor Space
The Custodian scowled as two more voxed Artoris, and Heracal heard the Marines charging through the burning
traitors appeared at the bottom of sound of blades clashing and bolters gardens of the square.
the stairwell, clad in the panoply of roaring in the background. ‘They’re
the Sons of Horus. He levelled his trying another push through the ‘World Eaters,’ spat Heracal, adding
guardian spear and let fly, directing a Peacemaker’s Square.’ his fire to the salvo. ‘Deranged savages.’
hail of bolt shells into the turncoats.
One of them was blasted backwards, ‘That’s three times now,’ said ‘Just so,’ said Lytanus as he joined
his chest-plate reduced to wreckage. Heracal, setting off at a jog towards the their impromptu firing line. ‘Let us
The other weathered Heracal’s fire and northern arch. ‘Wiser men would have exterminate them.’
reciprocated, discharging his bolter realised they cannot break us.’
even as he stormed up the steps. Together, the Custodians strode
‘Wiser men would not have turned out to meet the World Eaters’ charge.
Impacts rocked Heracal on his their backs upon the Emperor,’ Every shot they fired was perfectly
heels, but they couldn’t pierce his replied Lytanus. placed. Every step and blade swing
auramite plate. A lesser warrior was expertly timed, using the berserk
might have gloated, glorying in his ‘True,’ said Heracal, hearing the traitors’ momentum against them. As
supremacy. Instead, Heracal lunged sounds of gunfire swelling ahead. blood sprayed and Legiones Astartes
forwards with lightning speed and ‘Then it falls to us to punish their corpses crashed to the ground,
drove his spear tip through the traitor’s foolishness.’ Heracal felt a stern determination and
unflinching conviction within him.
Rounding a corner, he cycled his While a single Custodian yet lived, the
guardian spear’s autoloaders and ran Imperial Palace would never fall…
through a mnemic assessment of the
Peacemaker’s Square, its approaches,
fire arcs, blind spots and trap zones.
10
CONSTANTIN VALDOR
Few warriors in the entire history of the Imperium have even
come close to the martial magnificence, selfless dedication
and strategic excellence of Constantin Valdor, first Captain-
General of the Ten Thousand. So exceptional a warrior was
Valdor that it is said he could even have matched a Primarch
in a contest of blades. Yet Valdor’s value to the Emperor was so
much more than as a mere combatant. From the earliest days of
the Unification Wars – perhaps even before then – Constantin
Valdor was the Emperor’s staunch companion, and his loyalty
to the Master of Mankind was absolute. The Captain-General
would rather have taken his own life than risk that of the
Emperor; Valdor’s devotion to his master was such that there
was no act he would not perform, no deed he would not
consider, to ensure the Emperor’s continued survival.
It is said that Constantin Valdor epitomised all that it means
to be one of the Adeptus Custodes. Stoic, watchful, fiercely
intelligent and – when required – a truly inspirational leader,
Valdor was a true hero of the Imperium who never once
faltered in his duty. It is not recorded what became of Valdor
after the Emperor’s withdrawal to the Golden Throne, but there
are those who believe he serves the Emperor still…
‘There are no bystanders in the war of life and death, no
place the battle cannot reach; so fight it without remorse or
relenting, for death will surely do the same.’
- Attributed to Captain-General Constantin Valdor
and bringing Magnus back to Terra to face The aftermath of the events on Prospero can say. Perhaps some sliver of his old self
his father’s judgement. Since their earliest was one of bewilderment and uncertainty. remained, and sought to derail the Dark
days the Custodians had always borne In comparison, by the time Horus’ Gods’ plans. Perhaps he simply wished to
the Magisterium Lex Ultima, a mark of Traitor Legions brought their war to the face the Emperor before the end, and to
office that made them answerable only throneworld, there was no doubt where the strike his father down by his own hand.
to the Emperor himself. Yet never before battle lines were drawn. During that titanic
had they been charged with exercising siege, the Legio Custodes fought alongside Whatever the case, the Emperor
its authority for such a daunting task. the loyalist Legions to defend the Emperor immediately gathered an elite force of
Still, Valdor did not shirk from his duty. and his palace. They showed no mercy to Primarchs, Space Marines and Custodians,
What should have been a diplomatic coup the turncoat Space Marines. They did not and led them in a teleport attack against
became a murderous conflict when Leman waver, even as megatonnes of explosive Horus’ unshielded ship. The battle that
Russ, the Primarch of the Space Wolves, death rained from the burning skies, followed was horrific, the Emperor’s force
joined his forces to Valdor’s. Goaded by even as daemonic abominations spilled scattered throughout the tainted ship and
Horus’ cunning words and driven by an through the veil of reality and renegade forced to fight for their lives. Sanguinius,
instinctive dislike for his sorcerous brother, Titans hammered the palace walls with Primarch of the Blood Angels, fell to Horus’
Russ took the role not of Magnus’ captor, city-levelling weaponry. Valdor and his talon, but worse was to follow. Despite the
but his executioner. Though Valdor initially Ten Thousand fought valiantly during best efforts of the Custodians, they could
resisted Russ’ urgings, his hand was forced that nightmarish battle, driving back one not overcome the unnatural might of
when the corruption of the sorcerers of offensive after another. Horus. Only the Emperor was able to defeat
Prospero was revealed, and so he led his his rebellious gene-son, but the victory
gold-armoured brethren to the surface Despite their heroics, and to the eternal came at a terrible cost. Horus’ powers
of the damned world. Fighting alongside shame of the Legio Custodes, they failed in shattered the Emperor’s body, leaving him a
the Sisters of Silence, whose null powers their ultimate duty. All through the Siege ruined husk. The Master of Mankind would
warded off the Thousand Sons’ psychic of Terra, Horus watched from his orbiting be consigned to the Golden Throne forever
attacks, the Custodians slew many of flagship, the Vengeful Spirit, coordinating more, its sustaining technologies keeping
Magnus’ followers during that tragic battle. the final battle from afar. Yet at the last, him on the threshold of life. So enthroned,
Only with the aid of Valdor’s warriors with Terra in flames and traitor forces his immense psychic power continues
were the Space Wolves able to extricate rampaging through the palace’s outer to guide and protect the loyal people of
themselves from the slaughter before a districts, Horus lowered the shields on the Imperium – should he ever perish,
howling warp rift consumed Prospero itself. his battle barge. Why he did this, none Mankind would surely follow soon after.
11
GUARDIANS OF THE GOLDEN THRONE
In the wake of the Horus Heresy, the Legio Custodes became the Adeptus Custodes. They donned mourning black, for theirs
was a shame and a failing that they sought neither to forget nor be absolved of. Yet though they had met with defeat and
tragedy, the Custodians’ vigil did not falter for even a moment.
For ten thousand years the Adeptus the soul-binding ritual that sees thousands For millennia the Custodians have gone
Custodes have stood guard over the of psykers each day drained of their life about their duties, bound to traditions
Golden Throne. In that time, not a force in order to sustain the Emperor and that have become ritual and rote. Yet even
single enemy has gained access to the his Astronomican. as the wider Imperium has stagnated
Sanctum Imperialis. around them, and the Emperor’s servants
The Adeptus Custodes guard the deepest have come to view them with a mixture
The Custodians have many tasks upon vaults of the Imperial Palace, wherein of superstition and awe, the Adeptus
Terra. It is they who watch over not just lurk sanity-blasting secrets from the Dark Custodes have done what they can to
the great gates that lead to the Emperor’s Age of Technology. They despatch shield fend off doubt and ennui, and have never
throne room, but all of the domains of companies to inspect the defences of the permitted despair to take them. They
the Imperial Palace. Considering the Sol System, and to eliminate anything that barely notice the fleeting mortal men that
complex is a continent-sized sprawl of presents even the slightest hint of a threat scurry around their feet, and insist upon
interconnected fortresses, cathedrums, to the sanctity of Holy Terra. They play keeping even the most ardently loyal Space
armouries, dungeons, macro-habs, their endless Blood Games, one of their Marines at a spear’s length, for what has
judiciariums, archives, sanctums, space own number taking the role of invader or proven fallible once may do so again. Yet
ports and countless other structures, this is assassin to test their defences and, in doing this is a mantra the Custodians apply also
no mean feat. so, to strengthen them still further. to themselves, and thus they have never
permitted themselves a moment of laxity
It is the Adeptus Custodes alone who or introspection. At times their Captain-
decide who will be permitted audience General has stood amongst the High
with the Emperor, and it is an honour Lords of Terra. At others he has served
that is granted only in the rarest of as one of that council’s most powerful
circ*mstances. They patrol the endless advisors. Either way, the Adeptus Custodes
lines of petitioners that wend through continue to exercise the full authority of
the Imperial Palace, ever watchful for the Magisterium Lex Ultima, marshalling
those of xenos taint or heretical bent who the defences of Terra as they see fit and
might have contrived to penetrate the answering to no one but their silent master
structure’s outer defences. They oversee in matters of security, sanctity and strength.
THE COMPANIONS rotated out with immediate effect, replaced by a fresh inductee
to their ranks. Again, this is no mark of dishonour, merely a
The Companions are a three-hundred-strong force that forms pragmatic admission that even a Custodian cannot perform
the direct bodyguard of the Emperor while he sits upon the such a taxing duty indefinitely. The longest any individual has
Golden Throne. They are hand-picked for their duties by the stood the Companion’s Watch was Astoran Kalos, who endured
Captain-General, who chooses his candidates based upon for a full century before at last surrendering his place amongst
painstaking assessments of each warrior’s performance in the silent ranks.
training and battle, as well as their mental acuity, spiritual
fortitude and countless other indicative factors. There can be Those who have served amongst the Companions are more
no more important duty in all of the Imperium than to shield likely to lend their talents to the grim bodyguards known as
the Emperor himself. As such, no consideration for rank or the Aquilan Shields. Such Custodians have protected the lives
veteran status is given when appointing Custodians to the of the greatest and most august personages in the Imperium,
Companions, and those passed over in favour of younger or most notably the High Lords of Terra themselves. From the
less experienced candidates take no offence. Master of the Navigators’ Guild to the High Logisticar of the
Adeptus Administratum, the Lord Militant of the Imperium
The vigil of the Companions is unending, and though they to the shadowed Master of the Officio Assassinorum, former
are of course rotated out for brief periods of rest, it is still a Companions have acted as guardians for them all. To the Ten
purgatorial duty. Arrayed in ranks around the Golden Throne, Thousand such duties are simply an extension of their vows to
these wardens stand for incredible lengths of time, unmoving, protect the Emperor, in this case by safeguarding those assets
unspeaking, poised constantly upon the cusp of battle most important to the successful running of his Imperium.
readiness in case the slightest threat were to present itself. It Still, it is a role that has earned the Adeptus Custodes much
is mentally and spiritually exhausting, even for the demigods favour in the eyes of Terra’s noble elite.
of the Adeptus Custodes, and so when the Captain-General
judges that a Companion has served long enough they will be
12
SHADOWS AND ALCHEMY
It was the Emperor himself that invented the process by which the warriors of the
Adeptus Custodes are created. More than ten thousand years later, the same processes
are still utilised, remaining every bit as shrouded in secrecy and tradition as they were
during the Great Crusade.
‘With but a handful of If it can truly be said that the Space Marines is created by the introduction of gene-seed
Custodians at his side, are the sons of the Primarchs, then the to the body, as well as the implantation of
the Emperor crushed the Adeptus Custodes are the progeny of the supporting organs. Between them, these
anarchist warlords of Old Emperor himself. His might permeates them, modifications reshape those who receive them
Night and took Terra for his his blessings so powerful that they can shield into living weapons. By comparison, whatever
own. With but a few hundred the Custodians from hurts both physical mysterious bio-alchemy is used to trigger the
he cemented that conquest and empyric. The greatness of the Master of transformation into a Custodian occurs on an
and laid low the Thunder Mankind runs in their veins, burns in their entirely deeper level, taking root in the cells,
Warriors’ revolt. Now there eyes, and charges the air around them so that perhaps even the soul, of an aspirant.
are ten thousand of us, ready all faithful warriors instinctively respect and
to strike out into the galaxy fear these demigods of war. The process of ascension goes beyond the
with all of our might. Ten. purely physical and spiritual. Those who
Thousand. Exactly what The method by which such remarkable would join the brotherhood of the Adeptus
chance do you think your individuals are created has always been known Custodes are mentally indoctrinated; their
traitorous brothers stand only to those of the Imperial household, psyches are rebuilt from the ground up, their
against us, cur?’ and is carried out by the most accomplished mental architecture fortified as the Imperial
chirurgeons and bio-alchemists of Terra Palace itself was fortified in the face of Horus’
- Shield-Captain within gilded laboratories locked away treachery, until it becomes an impregnable
Yorta’karin Desmodages, from the sight of Humanity’s masses. With fastness or else collapses under its own weight.
during the interrogation of the Adeptus Custodes fighting only for
Varsidious the Whisperer the Emperor himself, and beholden to the Each aspirant endures thousands of hours
commands and scrutiny of no other, the of such psycho-indoctrination and mnemic
secrets of their recruitment have never been conditioning. Their education is mercilessly
revealed, for not even the High Lords of Terra absolute, information beaten into the metal
have the right to demand them. of their minds at a punishing rate that
drives many mad. They must grasp not
It is known that all Custodians begin their lives only the tenets of warfare in all its forms,
as the infant sons of the noble houses of Terra. and learn every method of assassination,
It is a mark of incredible prestige to surrender counter-espionage, threat recognition and
one’s child to this most glorious of callings death dealing known to Mankind, but also
within the Imperium, and many notable clans expand their minds in far more esoteric
amongst the Terran aristocracy have willingly directions. Diplomacy and statecraft,
given up almost entire generations of newborn astrogation and interstellar geography, history,
sons to earn it. philosophy, theosophy, artistry and countless
other subjects must all be mastered to a
Such children are taken in when they are breathtakingly high degree.
still in infancy, for the earlier the genetic
metamorphosis into a warrior of the Adeptus Much of this education is a throwback to the
Custodes begins, the better a chance it has days when the Custodians were expected not
of success. Huge crowds line the Avenue of only to provide the Emperor with protection,
Sacrifice outside the Ascensor’s Gate when but also counsel and conversation. It has
such an intake occurs. They fill the air with become a tradition applied by rote, but still
frenzied cheering and prayer as the great and its benefits are apparent. Not only does such
good of Terra’s high society parade before an avalanche of information screen out those
them, soaking in the adoration of the masses whose psyches are not sufficiently robust,
even as they surrender their progeny forever but it further ensures that – almost alone in a
into the Emperor’s care. dark and dreadful age – the Adeptus Custodes
retain the enlightenment and perspective
There is a reason that – despite their commonplace during the Great Crusade. Of
remarkable lifespan – the Adeptus course, with such blessings comes a tragic
Custodes have never numbered more than comprehension of the depths to which the
approximately ten thousand warriors. Simply Imperium has sunk; it is a credit to the
put, for every worthy aspirant who succeeds, Adeptus Custodes that such a realisation does
thousands are found wanting. A Space Marine not drive them to despair.
14
No truth is withheld from the Adeptus bodyguards, for while battlefield psykers weapons for each new Custodian. Certain
Custodes, for in order to do their duty are undoubtedly powerful living weapons, names such as the Clan Halbrinmir or
without impediment they must possess they are also unstable ones. Their minds the Clan Gestaxtis are renowned for
all of the facts about the dark terrors that are prone to invasion by warp entities, a their martial masterworks, and their
seek to conquer the galaxy. Such sanity- danger that no member of the Adeptus augmetically enhanced artisan-barons are
eroding revelations quickly eliminate Custodes need ever face. famed for the wonders they have wrought.
those inductees who do not have sufficient
spiritual fortitude to do their duty. Those For those superlative individuals that do The Adeptus Custodes also have access to
that remain can be counted upon not only survive to join the golden ranks, their an incomparable armoury of technology,
to understand the deeper ramifications comrades afford them immediate respect. much of it dating back thousands of years.
of the war for the Emperor’s realm, but to There are no juniors amongst the Adeptus From the sleek Dawneagle jetbikes of
recognise why such truths must never be Custodes – only worthy warriors who the Vertus Praetors and the magnificent
allowed to spread beyond their own ranks. understand the full burden of responsibility Allarus-pattern Terminator armour, to Land
that their power and authority brings. Raiders and Contemptor Dreadnoughts that
How long the process of creating a saw battle during the Great Crusade, such
Custodian takes is unknown beyond the A Custodian’s roll of honour is equipment epitomises the proven excellence
walls of the Imperial Palace. All those who encompassed by his name. Though all of all Adeptus Custodes materiel. The tools
survive emerge as magnificent praetorians, begin with a single epithet, as these of war wielded by the Emperor’s guardians
their sculpted physiques and altered minds warriors achieve great deeds they are never fail or falter, for they are handmade
so utterly other that they adopt entirely awarded additional names to reflect by the Imperium’s most skilled smiths
new personalities. They draw their names them. In days past, the Emperor himself and maintained to the most painstaking
from ancient texts, deriving them from would bestow these titles. Now it falls to standards imaginable. Just as the warriors
heroes, monsters and gods of old Terran the Captain-General, or occasionally a who protect the Golden Throne must
mythology. Not only is this practice Shield-Captain in the field, to bestow the be utterly without fault or weakness, so
regarded as being entirely appropriate for honour on his comrades. Custodians who must be the equipment they rely upon to
such transcendent beings, it also allows the have served for many centuries typically discharge their duties.
noble families of Terra to save face. All can have dozens of names inscribed within the
– and will – claim that it was their offspring plates of their armour or – in some cases These incredible armaments, the endless
that showed the fortitude to become a – even etched microscopically into their training regimes that the Custodians
Custodian, and none will gainsay them. bones. Along with their name, ascension undergo, the years-long holo-conflicts
to the ranks of the Adeptus Custodes earns through which they battle, and the shadow-
Though the minds of the Custodians each individual their own armour and shrouded wars they fight in the Emperor’s
are armoured against the machinations weapons. Entire bloodlines of exceptionally name throughout the Sol System and far
of witches and psykers, they themselves skilled artisans dwell within gilded towers beyond – all these factors ensure that the
never exhibit such abilities. The Emperor on Terra, their purpose to fashion the Ten Thousand are the finest fighting force
allowed for no chink in the defences of his auramite armour and perfectly balanced in the entire Imperium.
THE EYES OF THE EMPEROR
Though functionally immortal, even the warriors of the Adeptus Custodes eventually
tire. Some suffer physical hurts that impact upon their ability to perform their
duties, with lost limbs, artificial eyes or augmetic organs lessening their physical
perfection. Others find their mental faculties beginning to erode, however slightly,
acknowledging that their reaction times or mnemic awareness are not quite what
they once were. For the vast majority of warriors, a tenth-of-a-second reduction in
the speed at which blows are stuck or parried might be considered negligible. For a
Custodian, it is error enough to necessitate that their watch come to an end.
When a Custodian judges himself no longer fit for duty he surrenders all of his
equipment to the Hall of Armaments and vanishes into the void of the galaxy clad in
hooded black robes. Such noble exiles still serve the Emperor, however, for wherever
they travel they observe. Some work alone, dark and ominous figures slipping through
the shadows of the Emperor’s realm. Others cultivate networks of informants and
agents, using fear and intimidation to secure compliance where loyalty and honour
will not suffice.
Should they bear witness to a situation developing that they believe might threaten
Terra or the Emperor, these watchers use secret channels to communicate a warning
to the Captain-General. So do response forces of the Adeptus Custodes launch
punitive and often pre-emptive strikes throughout the Imperium, forewarned of
danger by the Eyes of the Emperor.
15
THE DEFENCES OF TERRA
The Emperor’s palace on Terra is the largest and most impregnable defensive structure in the Imperium. It sprawls across
an entire mountain range, stretching for thousands of miles over the surface of the throneworld. The Adeptus Custodes are
responsible for the defence of this immense fortress, a duty they discharge with tireless diligence.
In the days of the Great Crusade, the of its macro-habs and space ports break And yet, the Adeptus Custodes find the
Imperial Palace was a surpassing wonder through the atmosphere and rise into the manpower and dedication to do so much
of engineering. Yet the necessity to fortify void like the spines of some bioluminescent more. For thousands of years, their shield
that beautiful structure against the baleful beast. Its sub-levels dig deep into Terra’s hosts have mustered in secret and set out
intentions of Warmaster Horus – and holy bedrock, in some places reaching aboard requisitioned warships to strike
the subsequent widespread devastation a depth of hundreds of miles below the down threats identified by the roaming
suffered at the hands of his traitor hordes surface. Its corridors, chambers, vaults, Eyes of the Emperor. Bands of Custodians
– wrought irrevocable changes. In the fastnesses and plazas are so multitudinous have regularly patrolled the Sol System,
wake of the heresy, the Imperial Palace was that no single record remains to list them serving as rotating garrisons for military
rebuilt as the mightiest fortress in human all, and the societal sub-nations, clan facilities based around Luna, Venus, Pluto
history. The ten millennia since have seen holdings and techno-urbanic serf tribes and numerous deep-space star fortresses
it become ever more bloated, polluted and that dwell within its walls could populate that watch the approaches to Terra.
immense. The palace’s former asceticism entire star systems.
lies buried beneath strata of gothic The Adeptus Custodes have also long
ornamentation and the brutal grandeur of Despite this, the Adeptus Custodes liaised with the Imperial Fists Space
the Cult Imperialis. What once was bright have always proven equal to the duty of Marine Chapter, who still maintain their
and magnificent is now vast and lowering, overseeing the palace’s defence. It is they role as joint guardians of the Sol System,
a hunched architectural monstrosity that who patrol the colossal and seemingly and whose immense star fort – known as
wears its martial might like a challenge to endless walls, who stand guard over the Phalanx – has often held a protective orbit
the terrors of the darkling void. There can sanctums and armouries, who patrol over the throneworld.
be no clearer metaphor for the fate of the the petitioners’ highways, the famed
wider Imperium, but though the palace is space ports and the vast fortifications. The Adeptus Custodes have remained
a grotesque mockery of its former self, still They inspect the endless miles of orbital unwavering in these duties for thousands
the Custodes guard it well. guns and defensive silos, and maintain a of years. Now, even as the galaxy darkens
wary guard over the hidden vaults deep around them and new wars arise for them
This is no small task. The circumference of within the palace which contain secrets so to fight, they are more determined than
the palace’s outermost walls is measured dreadful that they could bring about the ever to ensure the Imperial Palace, and the
in thousands of miles. The towering spires fall of Humanity were they ever released. whole of Terra, stand inviolable.
16
THE TOWER THE IMPERIAL PALACE
AQUILANE
Being a cartographic representation of
THE DARK CELLS the most holy demesnes of the Imperial
Palace on Terra
THE SANCTUM OF A THE SANCTUM THE LION’S
THOUSAND EYES IMPERIALIS GATE
ASCENSOR’S AVENUE OF
GATE SACRIFICE
FORTRESS OF THE VIGILATUM
TRIBUNATE ORBITAL BATTERY
The immensity of the Imperial Palace is breathtaking in its magnificence. Towering even taller than the mountain range upon which it was
built, it is a monument to the grandiose martial might of Humanity.
17
‘A wise man draws his swords when the time
is right to wield them. A fool dies with blades
still sheathed, fearing that there might yet come
a time of greater need. For the sake of Emperor
and Imperium both, we must take the fight to
our enemies.’
- Trajann Valoris to Roboute Guilliman in the
wake of the Lion’s Gate Incursion
RISE OF THE PRIMARCH
In the last days before the gathering storm broke and the Great Rift tore the void in two, a bright light of hope was kindled
within the galactic empire of Ultramar. Through great sacrifice and unnatural artifice, Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the
Ultramarines, was restored from the brink of death. His coming would herald great changes for the Imperium.
When the Traitor Legions fell upon the Daemons tore through the skin of reality all evidence of the conflict, the masters of
Imperial Palace at the culmination of the and assaulted the Lion’s Gate. Legions of the Adeptus Custodes formally recognised
Horus Heresy, Roboute Guilliman and his howling Daemons surged towards the that Terra’s defence could no longer be
Ultramarines were too far away to fight in Emperor’s palace in a crimson tidal wave, guaranteed without greater proactive
their father’s defence. Perhaps, had it been and a frenzied battle ensued. measures. If the servants of the Dark Gods
otherwise, the fate of the galaxy would have had bypassed the defences of the cradle
been very different. The battleship-sized gun emplacements of Humanity.
flanking the Lion’s Gate blasted glowing
Whatever the case, following his revival craters in the diabolical horde, but alone Behind locked doors, complex wards and
Guilliman was determined that he they had no hope of prevailing. Led by layers of psy-protections, Valoris and
would not make the same mistake twice. Roboute Guilliman and Captain-General Guilliman ratified a formal amendment
Seeing the darkness rising to swamp the Valoris, a combined host of the Adeptus to the role of the Adeptus Custodes. The
Imperium, he launched a desperate crusade Custodes, Ultramarines and Sisters of palace must still be guarded, of course,
across the stars that brought him by strange Silence marched out to meet the Daemons and the Companions’ watch must continue
and bloody roads to the throneworld itself. before the walls of the Emperor’s palace. within the Emperor’s throne room.
However, as a logical extension of the
Guilliman was welcomed with all honour vows of duty they had sworn, the Adeptus
on Terra, permitted audience with Custodes committed to greatly extending
the Emperor by Aquila Commander their extra-solar activities.
Kalim Varanor and reinstated as Lord
Commander of the Imperium by an Aided by oracular doomscryers and alpha-
assemblage of the High Lords of Terra. level astropathic intercepts, and guided in
Though the returned Primarch remained part by the continued efforts of the Eyes
outwardly stern and regal, he had been of the Emperor, more shield hosts than
shaken to the core by what had become ever before struck out from Terra. The aim
of his father’s empire. He quickly began of these forces was to exterminate utterly
instating changes that would permit the most deadly threats to the Emperor
the Imperium to fight back against the himself. This mission might take them all
onrushing hordes of Chaos, bulldozing the across the galaxy, even into the shadows of
bureaucratic stubbornness and hidebound the Imperium Nihilus beyond the sprawl
pedantry of the Adeptus Terra as he went. of the Great Rift, but always their focus
would be the sanctity of Terra. In this
Guilliman’s return came not a moment In scenes that echoed the horror of the capacity a number of shield companies
too soon, for he had not been long at his Siege of Terra ten millennia before, the attached themselves to Guilliman’s
labours when the cascading fury of the golden warriors of the Adeptus Custodes Indomitus Crusade, reprising the role
Great Rift washed over the Sol System. faced the Blood God’s savage butchers of the Emperor’s emissaries in bearing
Though not directly struck by warp storms, blade to blade. This time, led by some of Primaris reinforcements and technology
Terra bore the brunt of empyric shock the Imperium’s greatest champions and to the beleaguered Space Marine Chapters,
waves that temporarily extinguished the driven by a furious determination never and ensuring they understood that this was
light of the Astronomican, and wrought to fail again, they prevailed. One by one, a gift from the Master of Mankind himself.
havoc and misery from the planet’s highest the eight Bloodthirsters that led the attack It was not to be squandered or refused.
spires to its deepest crypts. The Adeptus were blown apart or cut down. The cost
Custodes found themselves putting in lives was great, with noble defenders Other shield companies relocated to
down riots, doomsday cult uprisings and who had stood guard over the Emperor permanently garrison the Sol System’s
rampaging packs of luckless petitioners for thousands of years brought low by outer defences, or travelled further afield
driven to madness and cannibalism. the brazen weapons of Khorne’s hateful in order to watch over the primary warp
Bands of Custodian Wardens stood their Daemons. Yet even as the skies boiled routes that remained stable paths to the
ground in the shadowed undervaults far blood-red and carmine rains slicked the throneworld. Others still took even more
beneath the palace as runic sigils burned ground, the legions of Khorne faded from esoteric mantles, becoming hunters after
out and timeless horrors burst from their reality with howls of frustration and rage. arch-heretics, questors for artefacts crucial
containment cells. to the ongoing survival of the Imperium,
The Lion’s Gate Incursion proved a stark or redoubling their efforts in their wars
Worse was to follow. Seeking to strike the truth. While great swathes of witnesses against Humanity’s hidden foes. Not since
decapitating blow that would bring the were corralled and exterminated by the the Great Crusade had so many Custodians
Imperium to ruin, a vast horde of Khornate Inquisition, and efforts made to obliterate bestrode the stars…
19
A HOST OF HEROES
From outside, the organisation of the Ten Thousand seems byzantine. When they deign to account themselves at all to
other Imperial bodies their ranks appear complex and highly stratified. Yet much of this is tradition, or else purposeful
misdirection; in practice, the Adeptus Custodes use a robust and easily adaptable system to organise their forces.
The Adeptus Custodes operate as a military victoriously in battle on at least three the heavy assault specialists of the Allarus
force, a gathering of champions each of occasions. Once he joins the Tribunate, Custodians, or the unwavering Wardens,
whom possesses unassailable authority a Custodian must serve for at least ten they still operate within a meritocracy that
over virtually any other organisation in the years. During this time he will not see the sees them afforded whatever honour their
Imperium. Conversely, no Imperial agent front lines, for he is too busy bending all comrades believe them worthy of.
can give a Custodian orders. Even such of his considerable intellect to supporting
worthies as the High Lords of Terra and – strategically and diplomatically – A singular force of the Adeptus Custodes
Lord Commander Guilliman are able only the Captain-General. is referred to as a shield company. The
to request – not demand – their aid. numbers within such a formation can
Below this ruling council are the Shield- vary considerably, hand-picked by their
As befits such a body of elite warriors, the Captains, who fulfil the roles of inspiring Shield-Captain for the task at hand
internal hierarchy of the Adeptus Custodes leaders, gifted generals and selfless and ranging from a small band to a
is remarkably flat. The Captain-General champions. Their titles vary enormously, sizeable army complete with jetbikes,
commands the Ten Thousand, inheriting a from Supreme Castellans and Aquila tanks and Dreadnoughts. Under normal
post that has been passed down from one Commanders to Master Guardians, often circ*mstances, a shield company includes
gallant leader to the next ever since the borne in accordance with the specific no more than one Shield-Captain and
mysterious disappearance of Constantin duties to which they have been assigned. It perhaps thirty to forty Custodians.
Valdor. The Captain-General has absolute is Shield-Captains that take charge of the
authority over the Custodes, acting as Adeptus Custodes’ military engagements; When a larger force is required, multiple
the ritual proxy for the Emperor himself one is typically afforded overall command shield companies gather into forces known
and speaking with the voice of the Master of an operation, while several others of as shield hosts. Led by conclaves of Shield-
of Mankind. his rank may lend him their strength and Captains and boasting tens, sometimes
wisdom in a supporting capacity. hundreds of Custodians, shield hosts have
Beneath the Captain-General is the the martial strength to crush enemy armies
Custodian Tribunate, a group of ten The remainder of the Custodians possess and bring entire star systems to heel. The
veteran Custodians who act as advisors roughly equivalent status to one another, gathering of such might is a momentous
to the Captain-General. Membership of forming loose warrior bands traditionally undertaking – a shield host is only
this body changes periodically to ensure known as sodalities. There are varying assembled to accomplish those tasks that
a blend of established wisdom and fresh strategic roles within the organisation to no other Imperial force could be trusted
ideas. A Custodian must have earned at which some Custodians find themselves with, and its warriors march to war with a
least ten names before he can serve on better suited. However, whether this be the singular and implacable determination to
the Tribunate, and have led his comrades rapid jetbike troops of the Vertus Praetors, enact the Emperor’s will.
THE MISERICORDIA The misericordia still shows its wielder to be the Emperor’s
sanctioned executioner, yet since his fall these blades bear a
When an aspirant ascends to the ranks of the Adeptus second, grimmer meaning. They have become weapons of
Custodes, he is presented with a beautifully fashioned knife vengeance, to be turned upon those who betrayed the Emperor
known as a misericordia. These weapons are filigreed with gold and left him a broken shell. Every time a misericordia is
and theldrite, their hilts moulded to the owner’s unique grip plunged into a traitor’s heart, so it is said, a minuscule measure
and their blades imbued with micromolecular dissonator spirits of revenge is exacted on behalf of the Emperor himself. Though
that allow them to slice through the thickest armour as though the Custodians are typically immune to such superstition,
it wasn’t there at all. there are those amongst their ranks who harbour the hope
that if enough traitor blood is spilt with these blades, it may in
More than a lethal sidearm, the misericordia signifies something some way restore their master. Another school of thought, the
greater. Its traditional meaning is said to date all the way back adherents of which are known as the Miserians, believe that
to the darkest days of Terran history, when cruel warlords ruled through the wounds inflicted with misericordia they will slowly
by the blade alone. These weapons of oppression were known as bleed the great descendants of Horus, inflicting a death by a
misericordia. Yet as the Emperor led his wars of unification, his thousand cuts upon the Black Legion and their masters. Thus,
Custodians are believed to have co-opted the term for their own though Custodians have the right to carry their misericordia or
use. No longer would the misericordia be a symbol of tyrannical not as they see fit, it is rare indeed that they go to battle against
rule. Instead, it came to represent the right of the bearer to act the Heretic Astartes without these blades at their hips.
as the arbiter of the Emperor’s judgement, and to put to death
those tyrants, lunatics and demagogues who stood against him.
20
CUSTODES DEPLOYMENTS
The Adeptus Custodes differ from the vast majority of Imperial military organisations in that their armies obey only the
loosest regimentation. Those Custodians that lead each force are permitted vast autonomy in selecting whatever forces they
believe they will require to complete their mission, with only the broadest organisational guidelines by which to abide.
THE GILDED TALONS SHIELD COMPANY
SHIELD-CAPTAIN Typically, a shield company is led by a single
Shield-Captain, though sometimes it will include
additional champions who act as his companions.
CUSTODIAN CUSTODIAN VEXILUS ALLARUS VERTUS
GUARD GUARD PRAETOR TERMINATORS PRAETORS
The Gilded Talons shield company fights under the Imperatus Auxila Supporting assets attached to
leadership of Shield-Captain Archturus Paliades. As is shield companies are designated
typical with such organisations, their members often Land Raider Glorious Wrath as Imperatus Auxila. These
fight amongst the ranks of other shield companies also, Land Raider Justice Delivered range from war engines and
but when Paliades calls, all of his comrades who can will Contemptor, Talorian Dreadnoughts to seconded
answer. The composition of this shield company was Contemptor, Euramedes warships, and even non-
determined by the Shield-Captain to suit his strategic Seconded Cruiser Voidhawk combatant field agents.
needs; others might contain wildly different arrays of Phemus, Eye of the Emperor
troop types and vehicles.
THE SOLAR FURIES SHIELD HOST
COMMANDERS A shield host is typically commanded by multiple
Shield-Captains, supported by the wise counsel of
several Vexilus Praetors.
SHIELD SHIELD SHIELD SHIELD SHIELD
COMPANY COMPANY COMPANY COMPANY COMPANY
The Solar Furies first assembled in late M36, to battle Maximus Auxila Shield hosts gather all the auxiliary
against a Necron awakening on a world perilously close assets of their shield companies
to Terra. They have fought together many times since, 10 Venerable Land Raiders under the single umbrella heading
typically gathering to eliminate suddenly arising threats 7 Contemptor Dreadnoughts of Maximus Auxila. From a
close to or within the Sol System. It is important to note Adeptus Custodes Falchion- practical point of view, however,
that the Solar Furies is a very large shield host – any class battleship, the Starfire these assets still fight with their
formation that brings two or more shield companies 5 co-opted Imperial warships parent shield companies.
together beneath the leadership of multiple Shield- Various field agents
Captains is considered to be a shield host.
21
UNIFORMS AND HERALDRY
Each Custodian’s armour and weapons are crafted specifically for them by hand. Thus, each suit of armour is an individual
work of exceptional craftsmanship with its own unique flourishes and decorations. Yet all Custodians maintain certain
standardised elements to their wargear that help them to quickly identify one another’s place both on and off the battlefield.
1 2 The right shoulder guard of
5 3 a Custodian’s armour depicts
the Imperial Aquila, a sigil of
4 eternal vigilance and a sign of the
Custodian’s mandate to enact – by
force if necessary – the will of the
Emperor himself.
The gems set into each Custodian’s
armour are individually mined
from deep beneath the surface
of Terra and hand cut by skilled
artisans. Their colouration is
flawlessly precise, an art form in
its own right, not only across the
Custodian’s armour, but across that
of his entire shield company. When
a Custodian switches from one such
organisation to another, the stones
will be carefully extracted from his
armour and replaced with those of
an appropriate colour if needs be.
The colour panels on the Custodian’s
left shoulder guard show clearly to
which shield company or shield host
they belong. The latter organisational
tier takes precedence for these
purposes. This colouration will often
match the Custodian’s tabard, along
with any robes he may wear.
All Adeptus Custodes armour is
made from the incredibly rare
substance known as auramite. Its
natural colouration is a lustrous
gold, a hue entirely appropriate for
the Emperor’s personal guardians.
However, through closely guarded
alchemical processes, auramite can
be tinted, or its colour changed
altogether on a molecular level. It
is a painstaking and costly process,
but considered far more suited to
the Custodians’ importance than
simple repainting.
The haft or hilt of a Custodian’s
weapon is sometimes worked – or,
in many cases, reworked – to match
the colouration of their armour. This
is not standard amongst all shield
companies, however.
22
THE SHADOWKEEPERS THE LOCKWARDEN
WARDERS OF THE DARK CELLS There have been many Shield-
Captains charged with mastery
There are terrible things locked away beneath the Emperor’s palace, eldritch terrors from of the Shadowkeepers. This
the depths of Old Night that could annihilate the Imperium. To the Shadowkeepers falls appointment confers the
the duty of standing guard over them unto the end of time. title of Lockwarden, a name
that is borne in perpetuity
The Shadowkeepers hold the keys to the The ranks of this shield host include many and garners solemn respect
rune-locked portals hidden deep beneath the Custodian Wardens, whose oaths of protection from every other member
Imperial Palace. They alone know the ways help them to focus upon the task at hand to of the Ten Thousand. The
by which the runic locks may be disengaged, the exclusion of all else. The leaders of these Lockwarden must be the
the wards unbound and the sanctic circles forbidding sentries carry ancient weapons of sternest of all guardians, the
breached. They alone know that these things mysterious provenance, their use intended as most unrelenting and alert
must never happen, for the Dark Cells hold a last resort should anything ever break free gaoler on the face of Terra.
such horrors at bay that Mankind’s sanity from the Dark Cells. Moreover, should any creature
would not survive their release. A full shield or relic escape the Dark Cells,
host is devoted to this grim responsibility, over For ten thousand years the Shadowkeepers or newly emerged threat need
a hundred Custodians patrolling the dark and have performed their duty, yet the coming of to be imprisoned therein, it is
silent corridors, vigilantly watching over the the Great Rift changed everything. With the the duty of the Lockwarden
last terrors of Old Night. It is a task that would power of Chaos spilling raw and seething into to personally oversee
soon drive most men mad, for though neither the spaces between the stars, new abominations the operation.
sight nor sound can escape the forbidden have come to light. Worse still are the cells
cells, the air of those corridors is charged that stand suddenly empty, the entities and The current incumbent of this
with dread. A perpetual menace thickens the artefacts once contained within spirited away position is Shield-Captain
shadows and makes them crawl. Even the by some unholy force to curse the galaxy once Borsa Thursk, who has been
superhumans of the Adeptus Custodes are more. Fearing the consequences of such dread Lockwarden for a century
forever on edge in those dark oubliettes, for remnants of the Age of Strife falling into the and a half. He is a grim and
the sense of unspeakable threat never wanes. wrong hands, the Shadowkeepers at last sent frighteningly intense warrior
It is a testament to the discipline and spiritual warriors out into the galaxy. These jailers must whose utter fearlessness and
fortitude of the Shadowkeepers that they trammel that which should not be, slaughtering steely vigilance make him ideal
stand their guard unflinching, sometimes for all who seek to impede them, before returning for his role. It speaks volumes
decades at a time. their foul prizes to the cells where they belong. about the dire condition of the
galaxy that Thursk left Terra
Custodian Warden Jaeharl but twice before the breaking
Feldorus Ghau, who stands of the storm, yet he has barely
amongst the steely eyed ranks set foot there since the Great
of the Shadowkeepers. The Rift yawned wide.
sable of Ghau’s armour is one
with the gloom of the Dark
Cells, while the rich crimson
of his left shoulder guard and
robes complete the attire of his
shield host. Custodian Ghau
has guarded the Dark Cells
for seventeen years, during
which time he has been called
upon to leave Terra thrice on
heavily veiled reclamation
missions. It was Ghau’s
blade that slew the Slithering
Dreamer on Tarnus IV, a grim
achievement that is reflected
in the new names inscribed
within his black armour.
23
THE AQUILAN SHIELD
THE GILDED GUARDIANS
Certain servants of the Emperor bear great responsibilities deemed directly relevant
to the safety of Terra. Such esteemed figures are afforded the protection of the Aquilan
Shield, at least until their usefulness is thought to be at its end.
‘The duty of the Emperor’s As the doomscryers of the Imperial Palace The Aquilan Shield have acted as bodyguards
defence does not end at sift the tides of the empyrean for warnings to High Lords, Sororitas Canonesses, Lord
the walls of the Imperial of disaster, they also take note of those who Inquisitors, Astra Militarum generals and
Palace. Our war is like an – through example, thought or deed – are Space Marine Captains. They have even
endless game of regicide, likely to avert such catastrophes before they protected two crusade leaders bearing the title
played over countless boards threaten the Golden Throne. These fated of Warmaster, staunchly ignoring the historic
against infinite foes at once. individuals are honoured with the protection associations with he who first held that rank.
In such a contest one must of the Aquilan Shield, for in this way a small Yet they have also appeared amidst flares of
be constantly pre-emptive, band of Custodians can ensure a significant golden light to watch over firebrand front-
always cunning and ever martial or spiritual asset survives to act in the line preachers, bewildered militia leaders and
ready to seize any advantage Emperor’s defence. others of apparently little import. The only
that presents itself. Our gaze unifying factor amongst them all is that, while
must rove far afield, and our The Aquilan Shield are an informal attending their duties beneath the gimlet gaze
every move must be perfectly brotherhood laced through the ranks of the of the Emperor’s own guards, these individuals
executed. To do any less is to Adeptus Custodes. They typically operate are expected to achieve incredible things in
court final defeat.’ in small warrior bands, journeying across the defence of the throneworld. The Aquilan
the stars to stand watch over their charges Shield fight to ensure such a future comes to
- Captain-General wherever they may be. No warning is given pass, shielding their charges from harm until
Trajann Valoris nor permission asked – the warriors of the the exact moment the usefulness of the person
Aquilan Shield appear as if from nowhere, under their protection is deemed spent. At that
avatars of the Emperor’s will who announce point they depart without a word, leaving those
their quarry to be under the protection of the they guarded to look to their own defence.
Master of Mankind. Such an honour is beyond Tragedy often follows, but this is of no concern
compare, and is never refused no matter the to the Aquilan Shield – providing it does not
circ*mstances or the individual chosen. jeopardise the safety of the Golden Throne.
Tauramacchis Ossian is a
Custodian Warden who has
stood amongst the ranks of the
Aquilan Shield for over four
centuries. His allegiance is
indicated by the royal purple
colouration of his left shoulder
guard and his robes. In his time
amongst the Aquilan Shield,
Ossian has defended the life of
Arch-Cardinal Mumbres from
daemonic assassins, watched
over High Lord Veynd during
the Red Razor Uprisings, and
protected a bewildered young
preacher named Lorrin from
the horrors of the war on
Phinalium until the priest’s
selfless martyrdom earned him
sainthood and turned the tide
of a war across an entire sector.
24
THE DREAD HOST THE SANCTUM OF A
THOUSAND EYES
INSTRUMENT OF THE EMPEROR’S WRATH
The stronghold of the Dread
Fear is a familiar weapon to the Imperium, used to deter enemies and keep seething Host rises to dominate an
populations in line. Yet there is no terror as pure and absolute as that invoked when the entire district of the Imperial
Emperor’s own fury is unleashed to punish his foes. Palace. This armoured bastion
is lit with electro-braziers
The Dread Host represents a breathtaking force. They slaughter the enemy’s warriors and arc-lumen of immense
concentration of military might. It numbers and reduce their war engines to wreckage. size, all angled to under-light
hundreds of Custodians, organised into They cast down their false idols and set them the five hundred enormous
multiple shield hosts and transported aboard aflame. They topple their cities, sunder their eagle statues that line the
a trio of pre-heresy warships known as the strongholds, and butcher their allies and Sanctum’s upper battlements.
Moiraides. The nature of this army is simple: followers. They make grisly examples of those Each as large as a super-
they are the deliverers of the Emperor’s who would dare lead such a challenge to the heavy tank, these ominous
judgement, his anger and his punishment Emperor’s dominion, ignoring all attempts at sculptures are posed in vigilant
made manifest. surrender and foiling all bids at flight. By the stances, many staring up
time the Dread Host are done with their war, into the stellar gulf while the
Not for them the pinpoint rapid strike, the nothing remains of their chosen victims but remainder peer down upon the
hidden war or the measured defensive action. the gruesome tales of their brutal demise at thronging processionals below.
Instead, the assembled Shield-Captains of the Emperor’s hand. Superstition runs rife that the
the Dread Host identify the most visible and eagles of the Sanctum of a
dramatic threats to the Segmentum Solar The Dread Host have smashed Ork Waaaghs!, Thousand Eyes can perceive
and unleash upon them such overwhelming obliterated rebellious star systems and crushed disloyalty no matter where it
annihilation that it sends shock waves rolling traitor crusades. They have fought against lies, and that the Emperor looks
through the warp itself. Sometimes one enemies thousands of times their number through their avian eyes to see
warship is sent, sometimes two; only a handful and humbled them through strategy, speed the darkness in men’s hearts.
of times in the entire history of the Imperium and strength. With every campaign they To some extent this is true;
have all three of the Moiraides loosed their spread the terror of the Emperor’s wrath. each eagle contains a complex
passengers against a single foe. Yet always the The breathtaking bloodshed and absolute array of long-range augurs,
effect is the same. Spearheaded by dozens servitor cogitation banks and
of Allarus Custodians, the Dread Host destruction they leave in their wake has multi-spectral listening devices
fall upon their victims with unstoppable dissuaded hundreds of uprisings and that feed floods of information
invasions before they could even begin. down into the Sanctum’s
data-shrines. This information
Custodian Guard Kallisarian is used by the Dread Host to
Tristraen Desh has been a isolate and annihilate threats to
member of the Dread Host for the Golden Throne.
only six months. In that time, he
has already taken part in two
separate military campaigns
within a galactic stone’s throw
of Terra. During the purge on
Chormium, he ruthlessly slew
well over two hundred renegade
guardsmen. At the battle for
the corvinium mines of Triton,
Desh impaled a Genestealer
Patriarch, ending its perilous
cult uprising in a sizzling spray
of ichor. He proudly displays
the sable shoulder guard and
white pteruges of his shield host,
which is itself one of several that
currently wear the colours of the
Dread Host.
25
TALON SORTIES THE SOLAR WATCH
The more aggressive of the CASTELLANS OF THE BLESSED WORLDS
Captain-Generals have
traditionally charged the The Sol System is amongst the most heavily fortified of Mankind’s stellar holdings. The
Solar Watch with performing Adeptus Custodes consider its worlds, star forts and space lanes to be extensions of their
sporadic Talon Sorties. These master’s palace, and ensure they are guarded accordingly.
involve the watch gathering
shield-company-strength From the vast orbital fortresses of Luna to the they constantly patrol routes between the
forces and launching strikes cloud-keeps of Jupiter and the deep-space star worlds and void structures of the Sol System,
against prevailing threats in the forts of the Halo Belt, Humanity maintains ever vigilant for danger.
systems closest to Terra. hundreds of strongholds throughout the Sol
System. Billions of weapons point menacingly Though they typically travel via naval craft
The Solar Watch do not waste into the dark gulfs of space, ready to unleash and intrastellar trade ships, the Solar Watch
their resources in war zones spectacular devastation upon any foolish maintain a formidable concentration of
already heavily invested in by enough to threaten Mankind’s seat of power. Venerable Land Raiders, and are typically
Imperial forces. Rather, they Armoured towers and gargoyle-festooned able to deploy forces that are predominately,
sally out to destroy developing bastions loom over every approach, sanctified if not entirely, mechanised. This allows them
threats or eliminate enemies against the foul machinations of the Emperor’s to respond swiftly, and with overwhelming
that have broken existing many foes. Entire fleets of Imperial Navy ships force, to any potentially threatening situation
Imperial lines. Deploying prowl the space lanes, vigilant for the slightest that may develop. While such dangers are
aboard their Venerable Land threat. Yet perhaps the most formidable of not common within the Sol System, they are
Raiders, they slam into their all Terra’s outer defensive measures are the certainly not unheard of; the Solar Watch
enemies in fast-moving Custodians of the Solar Watch. have been instrumental in bringing an end
armoured spearheads. to Daemon-worshipping cults, Inquisitorial
Prioritising the slaughter Consisting of several shield companies of coups and subtle xenos incursions on every
of command elements and varying strength, the Solar Watch swear world bar Mars. While their authority
heavy combat assets, the binding oaths to keep guard over the outer technically extends to the red planet, the
Solar Watch cripple their bastions of the throneworld. They see Adeptus Custodes are wise enough to
enemies’ capacity to function themselves as the first true line of defence for
as an army of conquest before the Imperial Palace, and believe that it is maintain cordial relations with the servants
abruptly withdrawing, leaving their duty to ensure that no external threat of the Omnissiah, and so travel to that
lesser Imperial forces to mop ever makes it as far as Terra. To this end, world only occasionally, trusting the Cult
up what remains. After all, Mechanicus to police its own deviants.
the duty of guarding the Sol
System is a vital one, and the Pydanoris Calligus fights as part
Solar Watch cannot leave their of the Solar Watch. He is the
posts for long. eldest and most respected warrior
within his squad, always lending
his steady and uncompromising
counsel to his comrades and
ensuring that no detail is missed,
no advantage conceded and no
foe given even a moment’s respite.
Clad in the marble-white and
red of the Solar Watch, Calligus
and his squad have boarded
mass-conveyor barges that turned
out to be packed with cultists,
decimated the garrisons of
defence platforms found negligent
in their duties, and sallied out
under Shield-Captain Thetus
to cut the head from a cabal of
xenos flesh-witches on Yorlos
before they could work their evils
against the Golden Throne.
26
EMISSARIES IMPERATUS
HERALDS OF THE GOLDEN THRONE
In the days of the Great Crusade, the Emperor often entrusted crucial messages or
artefacts to be borne by his Custodians. It is a duty they still fulfil now, speaking with the
authority of the Master of Mankind himself.
Though the Emperor has long been confined archeotech riches won that might otherwise ‘Through the artifice of
to the Golden Throne, there are those amongst have passed the Emperor’s servants by. the Martian priesthood were
the Ten Thousand who claim to hear their these warriors created. By
master’s voice during their meditations, and to For thousands of years the Emissaries the grace of the almighty
feel his hand guiding them. To their comrades Imperatus have been seen abroad, but rarely Emperor are they given
there is no implication of divine intervention and in small numbers. Yet with the return now to you. Silence your
in this, for the Custodes have never viewed the of Guilliman and the commencement of the questions and instead
Emperor as a god. They merely see their liege’s Indomitus Crusade, their activity has increased rejoice at the honour done
indomitable will at work, reaching out from considerably. When the Primarch announced to you this day. You are
his shattered frame to direct his praetorians as his intention to bear the secrets of the Primaris handed the gift of hope by
he did when he could still walk amongst them. Space Marines to the loyalist Chapters, the immortal Master of
there was some resistance from the Adeptus Mankind himself, and you
Those who feel the Emperor’s guidance the Custodes, who feared strengthening those will accept it with sincere
keenest become Emissaries Imperatus. They who might one day rebel against the Emperor and solemn gratitude lest
band together in like-minded groups and, once again. Yet dozens of Emissaries Imperatus you be taken for the traitors
through discussion and meditation, interpret stepped forwards to intercede, stating this was that you profess to hate.’
what it is that the Master of Mankind wishes the will of the Emperor. They accompanied
them to do. With the tacit approval of the Guilliman’s Crusade, many of them taking to - Sanash Gallimedan,
Captain-General, they bear the Emperor’s the air as Vertus Praetors, the quicker to deliver Emissary Imperatus to the
words across the Imperium to commanders messages of reinforcement to the embattled Hammers of Dorn Chapter
who must hear them, or occasionally unlock Space Marines. The presence of the Adeptus
some ancient device from the palace vaults and Custodes also ensured that even the most
bequeath it to whichever champion can wield traditional Chapters accepted the Primaris
it best. Their words have redirected entire warriors into their ranks. One does not decline
crusades, and seen threats intercepted and a gift from the Emperor’s own hand, after all.
Archimallus Tychor has been
an Emissary Imperatus for
over one thousand years. He
fights as part of the Custodian
Warden squad known as the
Veritas Proclamation, proudly
wearing the red shoulder guard
and grey-white robes of his
shield company. It was Tychor’s
Emperor-given insights that
guided Adeptus Mechanicus
Explorator Crusade Gamma-
Hades to the archeotech treasures
of Heng’s World. It was his
blade, too, that slew dozens
of the massive Orks who had
already claimed that world’s
techno-riches for their own. The
Veritas Proclamation had only
just returned to Terra when the
Great Rift opened, and they were
among the first to speak out in
favour of the Indomitus Crusade.
27
THE SOLAR FASTNESS
There was a time when the wholesale invasion of Terra was utterly unthinkable. With the opening of the Great Rift, that time
has passed. The Sol System today boasts some of the most formidable fortifications in the galaxy, manned by determined
warriors and shielded by technology and faith. Yet still the greatest lynchpin of its defence is the Adeptus Custodes.
Were some courageous or foolhardy When coupled with the efforts of the Solar their entire lives doing just that. However,
invader to approach the Sol System, they Watch, and the presence of the Imperial even these pious Imperial servants are
would find themselves assailed before Fists’ mighty battle station Phalanx not immune to corruption, whether
they had even cleared the Mandeville hanging in geostationary orbit above by nihilistic ideologues, Chaos taint or
point – that region of a system’s outer Terra, it is clear that the defences of the Sol xenofanatical mesmerism.
boundaries beyond which it is safe to System are all but impenetrable to invading
translate from warp space to the real. The armies. Yet there are subtler threats to Thus the Adeptus Custodes maintain their
system’s halo-belt plays host to massive star the Golden Throne, and it is against own presence, and perform their own
forts, garrisoned by dedicated regiments of these that the Adeptus Custodes must be patrols and monitoring sweeps throughout
Astra Militarum and empyrically tethered especially vigilant. the Sol System. It is they who supervise the
in place. The rest of the outer system is vetting of the countless Imperial citizens
densely laced with thousand-mile-wide From all across the Imperium come who pass through Terra’s monolithic
fields of void mines, prowling system endless streams of pilgrims, merchants, space ports every day. It is they who enact
monitors and huge, vacuum-hardened bureaucrats, adepts, zealots, emissaries, surprise sweeps and inspections of the Sol
hunter servitors of terrifying aspect. refugees and countless others. Thousands System’s defences, following no set pattern
of ships translate from the warp every day, or schedule beyond their own intuition to
Were the invader to overcome these entering strictly coordinated approach prevent any from predicting and avoiding
hazards, they would find resistance corridors that lead them to Venus, Mars, their vigilance.
stiffening the deeper they pushed into Jupiter, Luna and Terra itself. Every world
the system. Heavy naval patrols from and moon in the Sol System – barring a The Custodians seed listening devices, spy-
the Battlefleet Solar thunder through the few mysterious exceptions – is ringed with servitors and dictalarcenous subroutines
darkness, their craggy silhouettes presaging habitats and docking platforms, while all through the hives of the throneworld
death to any who fall beneath their sights. those whose surfaces are sufficiently solid and beyond. They gather and analyse
Monitor-shrines, dock-fortresses, fighter play host to sprawling hab complexes, every scrap of information they can
bases and countless weapons platforms manufactora and city-sized fortifications. from even the darkest reaches of the Sol
dot the darkness, their lumen winking An unending river of Humanity pours System, feeding ship names, population
like artificial constellations. The Grey along the system’s space lanes and fills movements, labourers’ shift schedules,
Knights, the Inquisition and the Adeptus its structures to capacity and beyond. It demagogues’ sermons, vox intercepts
Mechanicus all have holdings within the is amongst these masses that rebellion, and more into macro-cogitators the size
Sol System, boasting suitably ferocious sedition and heresy can and do foment. of battleships. The data prophecies that
defences. Moreover, since Guilliman’s emerge from these vast engines aid the
Throneworld Decree, Terra and her sister It is, of course, the duty of the Inquisition Captain-General in his command decisions
worlds can raise greater forces in their own to root out such threats, and indeed some on a daily basis, and help the Ten Thousand
defence than ever before. of the Ordos’ most zealous agents spend to be ever vigilant.
PHALANX Since then, repairs have been under way to restore Phalanx
to its full functionality, and to purify those zones of the craft
Ancient records suggest that, during the era of the Great deemed tainted by the touch of Chaos. Amidst the endless
Crusade, the Emperor travelled often aboard the immense, bustle, the toing and froing of gene-bulked work gangs, and the
warp-capable battle station known as Phalanx. This was the interminable rites of the Ministorum, the Adeptus Custodes
flagship of the Imperial Fists, and remains their primary base of have had little difficulty seeding agents onto the craft.
operations to this day. During the Horus Heresy that remarkable
craft is believed to have hung above Terra, forming part of the Hidden in plain sight, these intruders keep careful watch over
world’s defences. If this is so, then somehow it survived that what they view as a dangerously potent Adeptus Astartes war
cataclysmic conflict, and has endured the long millennia since. engine, and stand ready to take whatever action they must. To
the Custodians, even the most loyal Space Marine Chapters
Phalanx was almost destroyed during the fall of Cadia, first by a will always be potential traitors. It is their duty never to forgive,
daemonic infestation that overran its decks during warp transit, nor forget, what trust in the Primarchs led to. Thus, were
and then by the prodigious firepower of traitor warships. The Phalanx ever to direct its guns towards the Imperial Palace,
battle station persevered through all of these hazards, however, the Custodians would enact veiled protocols that would see it
successfully bearing many faithful Imperial warriors back to the scuttled before it could fire a shot.
Sol System and resuming its time-honoured position in orbit
above the throneworld.
28
SATURN
[GAS GIANT]
MARS
[FORGE WORLD]
PHALANX HOLY TERRA
[IMPERIAL FISTS [THRONEWORLD]
BATTLE FORTRESS]
VENUS MERCURY
HOLY TERRA
[INDUSTRIAL [MINING WORLD]
[THRONEWORLD]
WORLD]
LUNA
JUPITER
[CIVILISED/DEATH WORLD]
[GAS MINING
WORLD]
SOL
DEIMOS
[FORGE WORLD]
TITAN MIMAS IAPETUS
[NAVAL FORTRESS]
[GREY KNIGHTS
FORTRESS WORLD] SATURN FERRUM RAPTORIS
[GAS GIANT] TETHYS [ADEPTUS CUSTODES
ENCELADUS STAR KEEP]
[DEATH WORLD] MARS
PHOBOS [FORGE WORLD]
[ORBITAL FORTRESS}
THE TALE OF THE TEN THOUSAND
From out of the mists of time stride the Adeptus Custodes. Their long path leads from the darkness of Old Night, through
the fires of the Horus Heresy, and out of the shadows of ten thousand years of ignorant obfuscation into the cold light of the
present. In all of those hundreds of centuries the Custodians have never faltered, and they never shall.
M30-M32 THE ERA OF rebellion against the throne. War A Legend’s End
GLORY AND SHAME consumes the Imperium, a swift-spreading
conflagration that threatens to turn to ash The Emperor’s surviving loyal sons lead
The Great Crusade all the Emperor has built. Yet as his sons a furious war of vengeance, hounding
and their Legions battle across the stars, the Traitor Legions across the galaxy.
The Emperor unites all of Terra beneath the Master of Mankind is nowhere to be This period will come to be known as
his rule and strikes out into the galaxy at seen. In truth, he and his Legio Custodes the Scouring, and it is a time of violent
the head of his armies of unification. The are engaged in their own desperate catharsis and retribution. Yet the newly
Great Crusade sweeps through the void conflict, fighting upon a trans-dimensional reorganised Adeptus Custodes take no part
like a tidal wave, uniting the scattered battlefield the Emperor once sought to in it, standing their sombre watch upon
worlds of Humanity and driving the xenos tame for Mankind’s use. Tragically, this the throneworld and contemplating their
races into the shadows. The Emperor leads existential war keeps the Custodians from ultimate failure. Though records conflict as
the greatest battles of this era in person, exacting the Emperor’s vengeance upon to how and when, it is during this period
and always at his side stride the peerless his wayward sons – the Ten Thousand do that Captain-General Constantin Valdor
warriors of the Legio Custodes. Clad not take a major role in the battle for the disappears from Imperial histories, along
in gleaming auramite, wielding blades Imperium until the foe is beating at the with his weapons and armour, which never
that crackle with fell energies, the Ten very gates of the Emperor’s palace. make their way to the Hall of Armaments.
Thousand cut down all that stand before The Custodians elect Valdor’s successor
them, and stamp Mankind’s glorious from amongst their ranks and continue
authority upon the stars. their watch.
The Burning of Prospero An Unthinkable Cost The War of the Beast
After the Triumph at Ullanor, the Emperor At the culmination of the Siege of Terra, Still recovering from the events of the
returns to Terra to apply himself to a task the Emperor leads a last-ditch boarding Horus Heresy, the Imperium is again beset.
of utmost secrecy and importance. The action against Horus’ battle barge, the This time it is the Ork menace that almost
Great Crusade continues under Warmaster Vengeful Spirit. He meets Horus in single overruns Mankind, bringing their war all
Horus of the Luna Wolves, but dark powers combat and defeats him at last, but the the way to gates of Terra itself. Bound by
are at work, attempting to pervert the cost is appalling. Though they cut down oath and duty, the Custodians take little
favoured Primarch’s rule and sow discord traitors and Daemons beyond count, the part in the sprawling conflict, save to strike
throughout the nascent Imperium. The first Legio Custodes are unable to prevent down a force of Aeldari who attempt to
outward sign of the coming catastrophe is Horus from crippling the Emperor, and cut a path to the Emperor’s throne room
the Burning of Prospero. Magnus the Red, leaving his father’s mind and soul trapped during the chaos and confusion.
Primarch of the Thousand Sons, unleashes in a shattered husk of a body. Grief-
forbidden sorceries that wreak havoc stricken, the Custodians bear their master’s M33-M39 THE ERA OF
upon Terra, though most will never know body back to Terra, there to be interred VIGILANCE UNSTINTING
whether this act was one of aggression or forevermore within the machineries of the
an attempt to deliver a desperate warning Golden Throne. They swear a penitent’s Siege of the Eternity Gate
of Horus’ fall. In the end, the truth is oath and don the mourning black,
immaterial; the Emperor unleashes a consigning themselves to watching over Capitalising upon contacts within the
censure force under Constantin Valdor and their fallen lord for the rest of time. Fartraders’ Guild of the Yndonesic Hives,
Primarch Leman Russ of the Space Wolves, the Cult of the Hedonic Lord seize control
charged with apprehending Magnus on of much of the Eternity Gate space port.
his home world of Prospero and returning Repeated attempts are made by the
him to Terra to answer for his acts. Matters Adeptus Arbites to break the heretic
escalate rapidly and the mission of capture barricades, but every attack is hurled back
becomes one of wholesale annihilation, by tides of fanatics. Meanwhile, word
Valdor and his Custodians fighting escapes the space port that the cultists are
alongside the Space Wolves to overcome repurposing hundreds of heavy landers and
the sorcery of Magnus’ sons. atmospheric barges for an all-out attack
upon the Imperial Palace. Identifying the
The Horus Heresy cult activity as now posing a direct threat
to the Emperor’s safety, a shield host of the
Warmaster Horus openly declares his Adeptus Custodes launches a blistering
allegiance to the Dark Gods of Chaos, attack. Land Raiders and Venerable
leading fully half of his brother Primarchs Contemptors smash through the cult’s
and their Space Marine Legions in
barricades, even as sleek squadrons of upon the Sol System. In the wake of Thorians nor Sennaca, nor any of his
Vertus Praetors strike at the heretics from Nathasian’s triumph over the greenskins, inner circle, survive the vengeful purge
above. Bands of Custodians tear through his bodyguards depart as suddenly as they that follows.
the cultists with merciless efficiency, had arrived and – never ones to rescind a
driving their victims before them and sentence – the commissariat see Warmaster The Years of Madness
trapping them in macro-hangar level one- Nathasian dead before the day is out.
four-two. There the Cult of the Hedonic A time of strange omens and ominous
Lord are slaughtered to the last, and their M40-M41 THE ERA OF whispers engulfs Terra, beginning with
deviant dreams of an attack upon the BALEFUL PREMONITIONS the disappearance of the notoriously
Golden Throne ground to dust. conservative Captain-General Galahoth.
Envoys to the Omnissiah Battling the stagnation of Galahoth’s rule,
Blood Will Tell the Adeptus Custodes find themselves
During Abaddon the Despoiler’s eighth facing a shocking increase in cult activity –
Leotydus Dat-Hastael runs a successful Black Crusade, a combined force of Night both heretical and xenophile – throughout
Blood Game, spending over a decade in Lords and Iron Warriors captures the the Sol System. Doomsday sects trigger
hiding, evading every ward and sentry to Andromax System and a direct threat to queue-wars between the pilgrim tribes
finally reach the Sanctum Imperialis with Terra is identified. Initially, the notoriously within the Emperor’s palace itself, and
blade in hand. Precautions are put in place insular Fabricator-General Uixot of Mars the Custodians are forced to exercise
to seal off his route of ingress, just in time refuses to pledge his aid in eliminating their authority in the bloodiest fights
to catch the elite Drukhari killer known as the Heretic Astartes. However, when a they have seen in centuries. Reports from
the Blade of Ptesh as he attempts the very diplomatic mission from the Adeptus the Dark Cells cite a growing sense of
same route as Dat-Hastael in his efforts to Custodes attends his forge-temple in agitation amongst the hidden inmates, and
slay the Emperor on behalf of a mysterious person, the Fabricator-General’s ego is numerous support servitors have to be
and exceptionally persuasive patron. The stroked and his mind swayed. Mere months destroyed by the Shadowkeepers after they
Blade’s ambitions, and indeed his life, meet later, a combined force of Minotaurs exhibit sudden, violent madness. Worse is
a merciless end, though he refuses to the Space Marines, Adeptus Mechanicus war to follow as possession is revealed amongst
end to give up the identity of the one who maniples and Custodians from the Dread a sub-sect of the doomscryers themselves,
sent him. Host annihilates the traitors in their though not until the false predictions of
captured strongholds. the fallen psykers send Captain-General
The Ominous Gift Launceddre to his death at the Battle of
The Mind Thieves the Gilded Pyre. It is amidst this climate
Halo-belt augurs reveal the space hulk of spiralling paranoia and danger that
Ominous Gift advancing inexorably out For twenty years, Shield-Captain Tybanus Captain-General Trajann Valoris is
of the dark void towards Terra. Using his Lencilius pieces together scattered clues elevated to command the Ten Thousand,
status as a High Lord to overrule objections until at last he unearths an insidious and he wastes no time in taking steps to
by the Imperial Navy, Captain-General scheme by a conclave of radical Thorians regain ironclad control of Terra’s defences.
Aesoth Koumadra orders a strike by to steal psykers destined for the Emperor’s
several shield companies to gut the craft table and slowly starve the Master of To Stand Against the Storm
from the inside and ensure its corruption Mankind. Sensing a deeper level still
is wholly purged. Those outside the to this perfidy, Lencilius continues his In the wake of Valoris’ rise to power,
Adeptus Custodes do not understand the investigations with cold, deliberate the Adeptus Custodes enjoy their most
significance, but the attack is led by the patience until at last he has concrete proof: proactive century of martial and covert
Lockwarden of the Shadowkeepers and the Inquisitors have struck a deal with action since the fall of Goge Vandire.
a band of his black-armoured comrades. High Lord Sennaca, who is contriving They annihilate dozens of hidden cults,
The Ominous Gift is destroyed – the wider to hide their activities in exchange for purge the polar underhives, eliminate a
Imperium need never know any more being allowed to sell the stolen psykers on vermillion-classified xenos threat amidst
than that. to wealthy nobles for exorbitant fees. At the Plutonian void-fortresses, and launch
last the Shield-Captain is able to release thirty-two separate extrasolar interdiction
Guardians of Greatness his pent-up fury, assembling a combined strikes. Several, it is rumoured, even utilise
force of Custodians, Sisters of Silence shattered spars of the webway to reach
A controversial act of insubordination sees and Imperial assassins to pull the corrupt their targets. As word reaches Terra of ever
Lieutenant Nathasian of the Cadian 86th operation up by its roots. Neither the increasing warp storm activity, and cries
slated for execution. Yet he is spared when for help sweep in from every corner of the
a band of grim-faced Custodians from the galaxy, Valoris assembles the High Lords
Aquilan Shield appear at his side in a blaze of Terra to discuss their response to this
of golden light, and wordlessly cut down gathering storm. Yet it is at that moment
his would-be commissariat executioners. that word reaches their closed session of
With his remarkable bodyguards at his an incredible disturbance on the surface
side, Nathasian is free to exercise his flair of Luna, of demigods battling through the
for unconventional tactics, which soon airless void at the head of great armies, and
sees his promotion to Commander Army of a Primarch restored by the strangest of
Group, then to Warmaster of an entire roads. Roboute Guilliman has returned,
Imperial crusade. The Shuddering Stars are and Valoris knows that nothing will be the
swept clear of Ork tribes, stopping Waaagh! same ever again…
Dakskrag in its tracks before it can descend
M41 THE ERA OF in to stage their last stand in the grim Echovault. Before they can lay claim to this
RELENTLESS AGGRESSION ruins of Gathalamor Prime’s macro- mysterious structure, two of the warships
cathedrum, their prayers for salvation known as the Moiraides appear in orbit.
The Battle of Lion’s Gate ringing out to the screaming skies above. The Custodians of the Dread Host deploy
Sure enough, even as hordes of traitors in force, securing the mountain pass that
Barely has Roboute Guilliman returned and abominations mobilise to attack, the leads to the Echovault with squads of
to Terra when the empyric bow waves of Emperor answers the cries of his followers. Wardens who hold firm against wave after
the Great Rift sweep over the Sol System. Teleport flares erupt through the heretic wave of attacks. Meanwhile, multiple shield
Riding their boiling crests comes a horde lines, gold and silver lightning leaping as companies strike at the flanks of the traitor
of Khornate Daemons, who burst through a combined force of Custodians and Grey force, pulling their formation apart and
the skin of reality to assail Terra itself. Knights storm into battle. Bolters roar and dividing their strength. Finally, a decisive
Though this is the Adeptus Custodes’ crackling blades tear through heretic flesh, force of forty Allarus Terminators teleports
nightmare scenario, they enact their Trajann Valoris and Grand Master Voldus into the very heart of the Black Legion
Catastrophe Protocols with unshakeable leading an assault that sees the traitor army lines, tearing their command structure
calm and self-assurance. Storming out to shattered into battling warbands. apart and slaying Lord Hadrexus and
meet the invaders alongside Guilliman’s his Chosen to the last. Though dozens of
Ultramarines and a sizeable complement Inspired by the sudden arrival of veritable Custodians fall during the fighting, they
of Sisters of Silence, the Custodians demigods, the Mordians and Sisters of smash the Black Legion invaders utterly
successfully deflect the Blood God’s Battle advance, hymnals rising from their and send their remnants fleeing back into
attempt to behead the Imperium with ranks over the roar of flamers and the the warp. As for the Echovault, it is left
a single strike. Victory is bought at a scream of massed lasgun fire. Blood slicks undisturbed, and a permanent garrison of
steep price in irreplaceable lives, but it is the streets around the macro-cathedrum, Custodian Wardens left to watch over it.
victory nonetheless. corpses piling in gory heaps as the Word
Bearers and their daemonic allies fight The Dangers of Excellence
In the battle’s aftermath, Valoris and back furiously. Yet after three days and
Guilliman quickly reach an agreement: the nights of unremitting savagery, the Chaos Amidst the horrors of the ongoing war
role of the Adeptus Custodes must change, host is broken in the Battle for the Statue against Chaos, it is deemed heresy for
for they can no longer effectively defend Steps. With fresh Imperial reinforcements Administratum clerks to suggest the
the Golden Throne from behind the palace flooding in to the wider Gathalamor war Adeptus Custodes could ever lose a
ramparts alone. zone, the Custodians set course for Terra, battle, regardless of the odds. Fearing for
leaving the Grey Knights to deal as they see their safety and their souls, many adepts
Bringers of Greatness fit with the unfortunates that they rescued record campaigns as Imperial victories
from the macro-cathedrum. even before the first shots are fired,
Roboute Guilliman announces the should so much as a single Custodian
Indomitus Crusade, a desperate and Giants and Gods be reported active in that war zone.
determined undertaking by a combined Needless to say, more than one system
Imperial force to drive back the rampaging Fighting alongside the Knights of House is lost to subsequent disaster despite the
armies of Chaos. As part of this crusade, Krast, a shield company of the Adeptus Custodians’ endeavours.
the Ultramarines Primarch intends to bear Custodes storms the battle lines of the
Primaris Space Marine reinforcements Necron tomb world of Trynnect. They Vadrian’s Quest
and the secrets behind their creation to the smash through the android xenos and
far-flung and hard-pressed Space Marine obliterate the cabal of Crypteks at its heart, For millennia, the Adeptus Mechanicus
Chapters. On the eve of his decision, a thus preventing the awakening of the has striven to maintain the esoteric
large number of Emissaries Imperatus step ancient star god Zul’channec within the technologies within the Golden Throne.
forwards, compelled by the spirit of the northern bounds of the Segmentum Solar. Despite their best efforts, systems continue
Emperor to accompany the crusade. These to fail, and no one still living knows how
will be the envoys who bring Guilliman’s The Echovault to repair them. Perceiving such dangerous
gift to the Adeptus Astartes; their presence ignorance as a manifest threat to the
will ensure that even those Chapters Led by the ambitious Chaos Lord Emperor’s safety – and thus falling beneath
the Primarch does not visit in person Hadrexus, a sizeable contingent of Black the purview of the Adeptus Custodes
understand the gravitas of what they are Legionnaires fall upon the world of – Shield-Captain Heraclast Vadrian
offered, and set aside whatever mistrust or Dakhorth. They sweep aside the planet’s consults with Trajann Valoris and receives
conservatism they might have in order to defending regiments and advance to permission to seek a solution. He gathers
embrace the Emperor’s beneficence in their secure the ancient xenos ruin known as the a band of his finest warriors aboard the
hour of need. cruiser Scion of Argo, and sets off following
a lead that points to the lost forge world
Carnage on Gathalamor Prime of Morvane.
The Gathalamor System comes under On the Plains of Pallus
sustained attack from the Heretic Astartes
of the Word Bearers Legion. As their Dark Following the disastrous collapse of Lord
Apostles summon creatures from beyond Commander Ustrin’s Victorium Crusade,
the veil, the fight turns viciously against heretic forces break through the Imperial
the Imperial defenders. The Mordian 84th lines on a system-wide scale. Their advance
and the Sisters of the Argent Shroud dig is spearheaded by the renegade armoured
companies of the Vostokh 7th, led by the skiffs strike at the planet’s gas-mining Zagstomp’s Doom
traitorous Marshal Griegor, whose battle platforms – which directly serve Adeptus
tanks repel every Imperial force sent to Custodes star keep Prescience – it is clear The Orks of Waaagh! Zagstomp overrun
stop them. At last, upon the rocky plains of the threat cannot be ignored. Several shield the Iron Warriors Citadel of Miseries
Pallus, Griegor meets his match. Screaming companies launch strikes against the xenos, after a gruelling three-year siege. Grown
into battle upon their ornate steeds come with the Allarus Custodians of the Gilded massive and powerful on a diet of constant
Shield-Captain Aadilus and his company Fist leading the attack. Teleporting into the warfare, and equipped with the looted
of Vertus Praetors, melta missiles streaking nightmarish Osseous Tower, they overcome tanks and war engines of the butchered
from their salvo launchers to annihilate every fiend and abomination that assails Iron Warriors, Zagstomp’s hordes board
the lead vehicles of the Vostokh spearhead. them, before destroying the tower’s gravitic their ramshackle ships. Before they can
The traitor tanks open fire with everything membranes and sending it tumbling down attempt to punch their way into the warp,
they have, seeking to swat the seemingly to be crushed in Neptune’s high-pressure Custodians of the Solar Watch materialise
outmatched jetbikes from the air. Yet the depths. The surviving Drukhari flee within the engine decks and mek bays
Praetors weave effortlessly between the aboard sleek warships that swiftly vanish, of the greenskins’ capital ships. Guns
shots, weathering those blasts that do hit while the Custodians evacuate in good blazing, the Custodians hold off the Orks
home and suffering only scant casualties order. Disquiet spreads, however, when long enough to plant vortex implosion
before they split into hunting packs and several Custodians are found to be missing detonators on every ship. The survivors
begin criss-cross strafing runs over and without trace at battle’s end. then teleport back to their own ships and
between the enemy armour. More renegade jump away into the warp. In attempting
vehicles explode by the moment, the The Wyrmslayers to give chase, the Orks trigger the vortex
Vostokh gunners panicking as they find bombs, and their vast fleet – which
themselves unable to track their hurtling A Genestealer Cult calling themselves the Imperial doomscryers warned would
tormentors. Like a shoal of razorfish, Wyrms of the Ur-tendril are discovered by appear on the fringes of the Sol System
the Custodians pick apart their enemies, Ordo Xenos agents, entrenched amongst if left unchecked – is consumed by the
losing less than a third of their number as the Nordafrik under-archives on Terra. ferocious energy storm that follows.
they annihilate the enemy’s numerically Captain-General Valoris refuses a request
superior army. Marshal Griegor’s by the Deathwatch to send Kill Teams Duty unto Death
Shadowsword is the last vehicle slain, its against this threat, instead leading the
immense main gun proving worse than purge in person at the head of a huge Amidst the shadows of the Imperium
useless against the agile and resilient Vertus Adeptus Custodes shield host. The Cult Nihilus, a small Imperial fleet finds itself
Praetors who reduce it to molten wreckage put up a brutal fight, their sheer numbers beset by a pair of wayward Tyranid hive
in a matter of minutes. and fanaticism allowing them to drag ships. The Imperial flagship, the Terra
down one Custodian after another and Nostra, is transporting Primaris gene-
Silent Crossing tear them limb from limb. Yet for every tech under the protection of Custodian
one of the Custodians that falls, hundreds Wardens. Seeing that the fleet will soon
Since the inexplicable escape of Cypher, upon hundreds of malformed cultists and be overrun, the guardians’ Shield-Captain
the mysterious Fallen Angel, from a high- Aberrants are slaughtered. At last, Valoris orders an emergency teleport to the nearby
security cell in the Imperial Palace, the himself beheads the monstrous Broodlord death world of Loqe II. Pursued by Tyranid
Custodians charged with apprehending that ruled over the cult. He orders the swarms, the Wardens retreat into the fume-
him have tirelessly attempted to reacquire creature’s disturbing inner sanctum burned choked volcanic highlands and prepare
their captive. Unable to find him on Terra, despite the protests from the Ordo Xenos to defend their precious cargo to the last.
and following a trail of fading clues, Shield- investigators – Valoris refuses to let anyone Wave after wave of Tyranids surge up the
Captain Daryth and his men have pressed other than his comrades witness the foul perilous lava-channels, but the Custodians
out into the stars to continue their mission. mural that decorates the sanctum’s back – cleaving to their oaths of indomitable
Now they enlist the aid of the Sisters of wall, of a nest of fanged tendrils emerging defence – repulse every attack.
Silence, bringing a band of the elite witch from the heart of Sol itself to devour
hunters aboard their frigate, Sol’s Arrow, Terra whole… A month later, a relief force of Marines
before making the perilous crossing of Malevolent arrives in orbit and drives the
the Great Rift. The presence of the Silent hive ships away with thunderous firepower.
Sisters seems to calm the madness of On the planet below they find a single
the empyrean, at least enough to aid the living Warden, grievously wounded yet still
Custodians in making their dangerous standing guard over the untouched boon
journey into the Imperium Nihilus. Amidst of technology amidst a fortress of heaped
the madness, their augurs do not detect the Tyranid corpses.
heavily shielded Space Marine cruiser that
follows in their wake, its hull night-black Into Shadow
and its insignia veiled.
Upon the direct orders of Trajann Valoris,
The Osseous Tower Falls a small, fast-moving force of Custodians
makes haste for the ruined remains
The Haemonculi of the Twisted Spiral of Cadia. Details of their mission are
raise a vast bone fortress to float amidst suppressed, even amongst their comrades,
the gaseous atmosphere of Othana V in but they are accompanied by a number
the Vordrast System. As their raiding of warriors drawn from the ranks of
the Shadowkeepers.
With gilded blade and thundering bolter did the Ten Thousand march out to meet Waaagh! Deffbringa. Before the gates of the
Petitioner’s Fortress upon sainted Argentum, no less than eight shield hosts marched as one. Like the Emperor’s own blade they
thrust deep into the Ork horde, and with a single unstoppable blow they pierced its heart.
CAPTAIN-GENERAL TRAJANN VALORIS
CHIEF CUSTODIAN, FIRST OF THE TEN THOUSAND
The office of Captain-General is one of the most powerful military Allarus Custodians. There, Valoris won many names from deeds
appointments in the Imperium. It confers full responsibility for such as the destruction of the space hulk Mournful Siren, the defeat
the overall defence of the Sol System, Terra, the Imperial Palace of the Genestealer Cult of the Emperor’s Writhing Shadow, and his
and – ultimately – the Golden Throne and the Emperor himself. spearheading of the preemptive strike against Waaagh! Krushfist.
The Captain-General is the master of the Adeptus Custodes, and,
on many occasions during Imperial history, has stood amongst If Valoris showed a weakness, it was his reluctance to stand back
the ranks of the High Lords of Terra. He is further charged and wait for his enemies to come to him. He lasted only twenty-two
with leading the greatest military campaigns fought by the Ten years amongst the Companions before his desire to participate in a
Thousand, and must display a degree of warrior prowess that more proactive strategy of defence saw him reassigned. He gained
approaches that of the Primarchs of old. the rank of Shield-Captain soon afterwards, and spent several
centuries leading sorties against emergent threats throughout
In the millennia since the Great Crusade, there have been just the Sol System and beyond. Valoris became well known for his
seventeen incumbents of this weighty mantle. Most have died in tendency to observe his enemies carefully, predict their movements,
battle, either on the holy soil of Terra or whilst leading crucial then deliver a sudden and decisive blow. He cultivated networks of
campaigns amidst the stars. Several have become Eyes of the agents and informers across the Segmentum Solar, and even further
Emperor, while three – including Constantin Valdor himself – out into the wider Imperium. Valoris recognised his own proclivity
simply vanished, their disappearances wreathed in mystery even for aggressive action, and took constant steps to temper it with
amongst their own comrades. comprehensive foreknowledge. Thus his strikes always fell where
they should, and no comrade was ever lost to reckless commands.
The current Captain-General is Trajann Valoris. Many claim
that he is the greatest warrior to hold the title since the Emperor When Captain-General Andros Launceddre fell at the Battle of
bestrode the stars. Within his first decade of service, Valoris the Black Pyre, Valoris was named his successor. As tradition
ran not just one, but two successful Blood Games, a record that dictated, he took up the armour and weapons of his former lord.
remains unbroken. With his remarkable grasp of battlefield These masterfully crafted artefacts were fashioned in the wake
strategy and his naturally aggressive streak of Constantin Valdor’s disappearance and passed on to each new
he earned a place for himself amongst the Captain-General ever since. The first is the Watcher’s Axe, a huge
polearm blade that crackles with golden lightning and can bisect
the sarcophagus of a Chaos Helbrute with a single swing. The
axe’s haft incorporates a master-crafted bolt weapon known
as the Eagle’s Scream, which fires adamantium-tipped
penetrator bolts at a ferocious rate.
The second of these great relics is an elaborate suit of powered
armour known as the Castellan Plate, which incorporates a
heraldic tilting shield, an auramite halo, and a magnificent cloak
woven with adamantine thread so that it flows like cloth but yields
to neither blade nor blast. At his belt the Captain-General also
carries a strange device known as the Moment Shackle. A relic of
Dark Age technology released from the vaults beneath the Imperial
Palace, this artefact allows Valoris to trap fragments of temporal
energy and turn them to his use, excising split-second events from
history or slowing the localised temporal flow enough to tip a
desperate fight in his favour.
Trajann Valoris has proven a dynamic and effective Captain-
General. Under his rule the number of Blood Games have
increased tenfold, the defences of the stable warp routes into the
Sol System have been strengthened, and long-hidden cults have
been purged from the Terran underhives. Little escapes the eyes
of his ever expanding spy network and, armed with the certainty
of the truly righteous, his covert strikes have annihilated dozens
of threats to the Golden Throne. It was as if Valoris had foreseen
Guilliman’s return and the Great Rift long before they came, and
laid all the groundwork required for the Adeptus Custodes to
adapt to the new Imperium. Perhaps, some whispered, the half-
understood power of the Moment Shackle allowed him to do just
that. Whatever the case, the Captain-General’s many qualities make
him ideally suited to lead in this age of unprecedented aggression.
36
SHIELD-CAPTAINS
The warriors of the Adeptus Custodes disregard the idea of blind in perpetuity. Titles such as Aquila Commander, Justus Supreme or
obedience, and look with disdain upon those who follow the Emperor’s Headsman are amongst the former, and correspond to
orders of their superiors without question. After all, it was this guardianship of sections of the Imperial Palace or duties upon the
very practice within the Legiones Astartes that allowed the Horus field of battle. Conversely, a Custodian who has stood amongst the
Heresy to occur. Every Custodian has a voice, and is expected Companions will forever be known as Honoured Watchman, while
to use it. As such, the Ten Thousand respect only those leaders one who has triumphed in a Blood Game will forever after bear the
who have proved themselves worthy, whose judgement, strategic title of Shieldsmith.
skill and strength of mind and character have been shown time
and again. Such Custodians are called Shield-Captains, and their
fellows follow them with loyalty and dedication.
Shield-Captains are amongst the greatest assets of the Imperium. When the Custodians march to war, it is not unusual to see
They are superlative warriors who are able to take on an entire multiple Shield-Captains leading them in battle. Sometimes
squad of Heretic Astartes in close combat, strike the heads from these warriors fight alongside each other – groupings such as
xenos beasts the size of tanks, and fell rank after rank of lesser the Golden Brothers or the Heralds Three have won remarkable
enemies with pinpoint fire. Whether they hack their enemies renown through their impressive accomplishments. At other times,
apart with powerful swings of a castellan axe, slice and stab with a one amongst the Shield-Captains’ number will assume overall
sentinel blade, or impale their victims upon a crackling guardian command of an especially important mission, his peers lending
spear, Shield-Captains display absolute mastery of their chosen him their martial prowess and strategic counsel. The decision of
weapons. Some – the swiftest in thought and action – soar into who leads at such times is rarely difficult, for the Shield-Captains
battle in the saddle of a Dawneagle jetbike. Others – those of are frank in discussing their respective merits and quick to
an especially bellicose and aggressive temperament – favour recognise whether they, or one of their fellows, is the appropriate
teleporting to war clad in Allarus Terminator armour, there to choice. So do Shield-Captains epitomise their organisation’s
cut down the enemy’s leaders and send their underlings fleeing in pragmatic approach to achieving victory in the Emperor’s name.
terror. Whatever their preference, Shield-Captains are the masters
of those disciplines required to become heroes of legend.
More than just exceptional fighters, Shield-Captains are highly
intelligent and tactically gifted battlefield commanders, able
to read the ebb and flow of the wider war at a glance and
direct their forces accordingly. A great weight of responsibility
is placed upon the shoulders of these warrior lords, for to
squander the Emperor’s personal guards is an unforgivable
sin. They know neither fear nor self-doubt, and can appear
arrogant and aloof to other warriors of the Imperium. This is a
misconception, however, for Shield-Captains are untroubled by
such self-serving notions as egotism. They are absolute realists,
fully aware of the stakes involved in the wars they wage. They act
accordingly, every statement declarative, every action decisive,
suffering no impediment to their mission – be it the machinations
of the foe or the pomposity, ignorance or superstition of their allies.
This is not to say that Shield-Captains lack for charisma. Rather,
they exude it. To the common soldiery of the Imperium these
gilded figures seem to have stepped from the pages of religious
scripture. Their presence fills faithful men and women with
rapturous euphoria, banishing fears and doubts, replacing them
with the absolute certainty that the Emperor watches over his
servants and will preserve their souls should they fall in battle that
day. Shield-Captains are also master diplomats, well versed in the
intricacies of Imperial high society, privy to secrets and traditions
that allow them to charm, inspire, threaten and manipulate as
required to see their will done.
The rank of Shield-Captain is a purely martial one. It signifies that
the Custodian in question has the responsibility of leading a force
of his comrades into battle. Beneath that umbrella honorific are
hundreds of more symbolic or traditional titles. Some are retained
only as long as a duty or position is fulfilled, while others are kept
37
CUSTODIANS
The Adeptus Custodes are the Emperor’s vengeance made manifest. They defend the Master of Mankind with singular
determination and breathtaking skill, and whether their vigil requires them to stand immovable before the gates of the
Imperial Palace or storm into battle on a distant alien world, they do their duty without a moment’s hesitation.
CUSTODIAN GUARD another before each new campaign, or even shield. The sentinel blade is a broadsword
each new battle. With their individualistic of daunting size, so large its hilt is flanked
When shield companies of the Adeptus fighting styles, the Custodian Guard do not with the double barrels of a bolt caster
Custodes strike out to do battle with the fight as one in the way that a conventional that can lay down a hail of short-range
enemies of Mankind, it is the Custodian squad of soldiers would – it is enough for fire. It is a testament to the strength of
Guard that form their backbone. These them to know that they fight shoulder to the Custodians that they can wield these
warriors are rank-and-file infantry only shoulder with respected comrades, and powered blades one-handed. When
insomuch as their numbers are greater that their fellows will watch their backs coupled with the armoured bulwark of the
than those of the other, more specialised when the enemy press close. storm shield – whose protective powers
Adeptus Custodes warriors. Even a single are augmented with an inbuilt energy-
one of their number is a terrifying force of As with all of the Adeptus Custodes, shield generator – this potent combination
destruction, his every shot perfectly placed, Custodian Guard have the might of the allows the Custodian Guard to cut their
his every cut, thrust and stab a masterclass Emperor flowing through their veins, and foes apart while weathering even the most
in bladesmanship, footwork and combat his aegis of protection hanging around devastating of attacks.
awareness that sees enemy corpses fall like them like a shield. Their traditional
dead leaves at his feet. Ferociously strong, armament is the guardian spear, a golden As befits their elevated status, Custodian
phenomenally resilient, utterly without halberd so heavy it would take several men Guard squads can call upon ancient Land
fear or doubt, the Custodian Guard are the to lift it. This composite weapon is both a Raider battle tanks to carry them to war.
equal of many foes’ most elite warriors. powered blade capable of hewing a Chaos The combination of demigod-like warriors
Space Marine in two, and a boltgun to and enormous war engine is a terrifyingly
Custodian Guard are steadfast in defence engage threats from afar. Conversely, some potent one, and when several such squads
and unstoppable on the attack. Such squads Custodian Guard prefer to enter battle advance at once, even super-heavy armour
do not have formal memberships, and armed with a sentinel blade and storm and towering daemonic abominations
Custodians may swap from one squad to cannot endure their wrath.
CUSTODIAN WARDENS
Custodian Wardens can be recognised by
the ceremonial robes that they wear over
their armour. These are a mark of their
veteran status, for every Custodian Warden
has seen at least five centuries in the
Emperor’s service.
Those Wardens that do not carry the iconic
guardian spears of their order wield heavy-
bladed castellan axes. These weapons
lend themselves to an elegant and brutal
combat style that sees the wielder use
their exceptional strength in conjunction
with their axe’s momentum, launching
thunderous sweeps that switch direction
with breathtaking suddenness to cleave
through their victims’ guard and hack off
heads and limbs. The Wardens can also
fire concentrated volleys of bolt fire from
the hafts of their weapons, scything down
those who attempt to stay out of their
blades’ devastating reach.
The Wardens are known amongst their
comrades as level-headed and endlessly
patient watchmen. Upon accepting the
robes that mark their station they swear
binding oaths to fight as immovable
38
sentinels, a living fortress of auramite and movement and near-unencumbered to suppress and then swiftly slaughter their
sinew that no foe will ever breach. Each speed, augmented strength and resilience, target’s bodyguards, leaving their true
Warden’s oaths are personal, written by and the survivability to stride unharmed quarry exposed in the face of their wrath.
the Custodian himself after a full year’s from the blast of a macro-cannon shell.
contemplation sat in meditation upon the Coupled with the protective blessings of Hand-picked by the Captain-General
precipitous ledges of the Gallowtower. the Emperor, Allarus Terminator plate is from amongst the most bellicose of the
To break their vows would be worse arguably the most effective man-portable Ten Thousand, Allarus Custodians relish
than death to these warriors, and their combat armour in the entire Imperium. the chance to plunge into the most lethal
determination to uphold them bolsters Just as well, for the battles fought by battles. Their killer instincts are razor-
their already formidable wills to something Allarus Custodians demand nothing less. sharp, their wrath honed to a fine point. Yet
of truly frightening intensity. these are no maniacal berserkers. Where
Their weapons, too, are formidable. They many of the galaxy’s most dangerous
ALLARUS CUSTODIANS heft guardian spears twice the height of a close-combat specialists allow their rage to
man, or swing massive castellan axes that drive them, Allarus Custodians leash their
The Allarus Custodians deploy with can bisect a Chaos Lord or lop the head aggression wholly to their will. They land
sudden fury to tear the throat from the from an Ork psyker with a single blow. every blow with murderous strength, but
enemy army. Where a strongpoint must To supplement these weapons, Allarus also with surgical precision.
be cracked wide open, a traitor warship Custodians also wield balistus grenade
boarded or a foul demagogue slain even as launchers upon their left forearms. These So aggressive and heroic are these warriors
he stands amidst his dedicated bodyguards, drum-fed weapons can be triggered with that, when the situation demands, they
there are the Allarus Custodians deployed. a thought, spitting salvoes of sanctified have been known to splinter their units
projectiles in saturation patterns through entirely after the initial strike and scatter
These warriors wear suits of Allarus the enemy ranks. They are also capable through the enemy’s rear lines. Fighting
Terminator plate, expertly crafted armour of launching concussion grenades that as lone figures, the Allarus Custodians
whose worth can be measured in worlds. explode amidst bursts of electroexorcist eliminate key targets, sow anarchy and
Driven by magnatomic generator-shrines, chaff and overwhelming light and sound. confusion through unsuspecting forces,
articulated with leonus-class actuators, Enemies subjected to these barrages are and completely destabilise the foe’s
and fashioned from layered auramite sent reeling, their senses rebelling against formation before fresh Adeptus Custodes
and adamantium, Allarus armour is a the onslaught even as their weapons and forces arrive to end the conflict. It is an
marvel of craftsmanship. It provides equipment falter and they spasm in pain. effective tactic that has seen more than one
its wearer with an exceptional range of Such armaments allow Allarus Custodians heretic fortress fall from within.
THE GILDED FIST
In recent years, one band of Allarus
Custodians has become renowned
for their skill as terror troops
and executioners. Known as the
Gilded Fist, led by the indomitable
Custodian Vanius Arcturon-Tybus,
this squad has achieved remarkable
feats of violence in the Emperor’s
name. It was the Gilded Fist who
struck the head from the Ulgwyrm
Cult of the Pan-Siberic Cluster,
ended the insane machinations of
Inquisitor D’anloxtos and led the
purge of the traitor-held space hulk
Leviathan of Agonies before it could
reach the edge of the Sol System.
Unusually for Custodians, these
warriors have fought side by side for
decades now, asserting that they can
best serve the Emperor operating
as a single, tightly fraternal force.
With such renowned members as
Manastus Chaem, Parradon Helastes
and Dalat Hap-Uramedes fighting
shoulder to shoulder to bring low
the Emperor’s foes, few can doubt
the veracity of this claim.
39
VEXILUS PRAETORS
The Adeptus Custodes are a Not only do vexillas appear physically fills nearby Custodians with
glorious and much celebrated distinct, they also beam a constantly inviolable determination and
force. In the earliest days cycling set of data-ident codes that lends fresh strength to their
of the Imperium they convey strategic information with limbs. Whether this effect is
marched to war alongside the friendly Imperial forces, and aid in purely psychological, or if there
Emperor himself, presenting tactical coordination. is some crypto-technological
a magnificent spectacle which aspect to the phenomenon, is
echoed the majesty of the Master of unknown beyond the Tower Aquilane.
Mankind. Just as their weapons and It is enough that it works, and works well.
armour have always been fashioned
to reflect his martial glory, so too are The Vexilla Defensor is borne into battle
the proud standards known as vexillas, where the foe brings overwhelming
which are borne to war by some of the firepower to bear. Built into this proud
most veteran Custodians. standard is a refractor-field generator
of prodigious power, whose protective
Each vexilla is a towering banner topped umbrella crackles out to ward all nearby
with the Imperial Aquila, the ultimate allied forces from harm. The deployment
symbol of the Emperor’s authority. The of these vexillas has spawned more
Custodes alone are permitted to display than one legend and parable; to the
it as their foremost heraldic icon, and its unenlightened, the effects of the Vexilla
inspirational effect upon those around them Defensor look as though the Emperor is
is nothing short of electric. Hefted high extending direct protection to those who
above the anarchy of the battlefield, the fight at the side of his favoured warriors.
vexilla forms a golden beacon of truth and
light that fills true servants of the Emperor The Vexilla Magnifica incorporates
with awe. Beneath the winged shadow of photophantasmic fluctuators and psycho-
the Aquila, even the humblest defender of amplifactor clarions. Those who dare
Humanity feels the touch of the Emperor to assail its bearer or his comrades find
upon their soul. Meanwhile, the enemies themselves blinded by the searing radiance
of the Imperium cower in dismay; dread of the Emperor’s glory, their gunsights
clouds their minds and saps their strength rebelling and their optic nerves burned out
at the thought that the Emperor’s greatest even as their thought patterns are smashed
warriors are poised to tear them apart. to fractal shards. Such standards are borne
at the forefront of an attack, placed where
Each vexilla is created on Terra, they can best blunt any attempt by the foe
painstakingly fashioned over a period to launch a counter-offensive of their own.
of one hundred years by the oath-sworn
artisans of the Tower Aquilane. Upon their In addition to these technological marvels,
completion, these beautiful standards all vexillas incorporate empyrically
are borne amidst processions of craft- hardened teleport homers. These are most
thralls, Ministorum Priests and heraldic commonly used by the Adeptus Custodes
servitors to the Auric Eyrie, where to call in sudden strikes by fresh waves of
they are held upon stasis-podia until Custodians, or, on rare occasions, even
required. Some vexillas are purely ritual summon a Contemptor Dreadnought or
in purpose, and are carried in procession Land Raider from the especially large,
and parade through the endless leagues ancient and powerful Godstrike-pattern
of the Emperor’s palace. Most, however, teleportariums aboard their warships.
incorporate potent technologies suited Whether blunting the enemy’s sudden
specifically for deployment upon the field assault, exploiting a breakthrough in the
of battle. foe’s lines, or wrong-footing their victims
with a sudden shift in the flow of the
Those vexillas carried by the veterans of the battle, such technology has many uses for
shield companies typically belong to one of the Ten Thousand, and fits perfectly with
several patterns. More than just standards their style of warfare. Combined with the
to inspire adulation or terror, their inbuilt inspirational effect they have upon allied
technologies provide invaluable battlefield Imperial forces, and the Vexilus Praetor’s
support to the Custodians fighting in own veteran combat skill, it is easy to see
their shadow. Most common is the Vexilla why few shield companies march to war
Imperius, the mere presence of which without vexillas rising proud above them.
40
VERTUS PRAETORS
Squads of Vertus Praetors swoop into Guard. They are expert marksmen, able The greatest assets at the Vertus Praetors’
battle astride powerful Dawneagle jetbikes. to place perfect kill shots even while disposal, however, are their mounts. The
Veteran warriors who have seen battle on a screaming at breakneck pace through Dawneagle jetbike is an incredible vehicle,
hundred worlds, these Custodians know the tangled ruins or dense forests. Their close- a crusade-era relic wrought in auramite
true value of speed: not simply to bring the quarters prowess is no less exceptional; and adamantium. These bikes are almost as
enemy to battle, but to direct their might a Vertus Praetor can open the throat of large as light fighter craft and – while they
precisely where and when it is needed most. a heavily armoured foe in a single pass. are still grav-skimmers – can deliver a near
Wherever they see their comrades hardest They can analyse even the most chaotic supersonic turn of speed. Their hulls are
pressed, there the Vertus Praetors strike like conflict in a heartbeat, reacting with phenomenally durable, allowing their riders
golden lightning to bolster them. incredible speed to evade obstacles and to slam through walls and enemy warriors
run down their foes, processing battlefield without being unseated, and they react
These airborne warriors act as the eyes developments with breathtaking rapidity. pugnaciously to the slightest touch of the
and ears of their shield companies, soaring controls, able to jink effortlessly through
over the battlefield and voxing word of the The exceptional skill of the Vertus Praetors incoming fire. When armed with hurricane
enemy’s movements. Their auto-senses are is augmented by their superlative wargear. bolters, the Dawneagle can plough bloody
optimised for this task, boasting suites of As well as being protected by auramite furrows through enemy hordes. However, it
data-augurs, optical auspicators and multi- armour, these warriors wield enormous is when equipped with salvo launchers that
spectral motion-oracles that allow them interceptor lances. Taller end-to-end than Vertus Praetors truly come into their own
to detect and track even hidden foes. With an Ogryn, and perfectly weighted, these as lightning-fast tank hunters. They scream
a squadron of sharp-eyed Vertus Praetors fearsome weapons boast adamantium across the battlefield, rapidly outflanking
circling overhead, a Shield-Captain can rest blades wreathed in disruptor fields. Vertus and encircling the heaviest enemy vehicles
assured the enemy stands little chance of Praetors are masters of hit-and-run strikes, before annihilating them with strafing runs
catching him unawares. driving their lances clean through their of melta missiles. Even enemy aircraft are
precisely chosen targets before ripping not safe, for by combining their fire the
Each Vertus Praetor is a master combatant them clear again as they speed past. The Vertus Praetors are able to weave airborne
who has already honed his superhuman result is as devastatingly effective as it is webs of flakk blasts into which hurtling
skills amongst the ranks of the Custodian explosively gory. enemy aircraft slam with terminal results.
41
VENERABLE CONTEMPTOR DREADNOUGHTS
Bellowing a vox-amplified war cry, the Venerable Contemptor Though the physiology of the Custodians is remarkably durable,
Dreadnought storms into the enemy with merciless fury. Heavy fire still there are wounds so severe that even they cannot survive
spits from its gun arm – either blasts of melta energy that reduce them. When faced with certain death, a Custodian may choose
tanks to molten ruin or screaming hails of shells from the spinning to be preserved within a Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought
barrels of the Kheres-pattern assault cannon. The Dreadnought’s so that he can continue to fight for the Emperor. There should
other arm ends in a fist like a wrecking ball, a gilded gauntlet that be no mistaking that this is the act of a martyr, for life within a
can tear the turret from a battle tank or splinter every bone in a Dreadnought sarcophagus – even one as advanced as the Venerable
body with a single punch. Wielding these weapons with a matchless Contemptor – is a twilight existence at best. The pilot is shorn of
skill characteristic of the Adeptus Custodes, the Contemptor all unnecessary flesh, rendered down to little more than a sack of
blazes a trail of death and destruction through its enemies, tearing organs and brain matter sustained within an armaglass amniotic
the heart from those who would stand against the Emperor and tank. They are then permanently fused with the life-support systems
sending the terrified survivors fleeing in terror. of the Dreadnought. Its powerful limbs become theirs to operate.
Its complex sensoria become their eyes and ears, its vox emitter
Each Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought is an ancient war their mouth. The Custodian becomes a god of war, able to stride
engine, a relic that incorporates wonders of technology that the unharmed through hails of fire and crush the Master of Mankind’s
Imperium can no longer replicate. Its auramite armour plates foes with their hydraulic might. In return, they face an eternity
are expertly crafted and maintained. Its limbs are articulated by cut off from the outside world, bound to mechanical systems that
fibre-bundles and servo-motors that afford it immense strength. can never truly replicate the feel of sunlight upon their skin, or the
Its weapons are perfectly calibrated, while its hull is sheathed in satisfying crunch of their blade through an enemy’s flesh.
the crackling energies of an atomantic shield that can dispel laser
blasts and artillery shells amidst bright flares of energy. Auto-repair Despite this, there are tales of unharmed Custodians volunteering
protocols allow the Dreadnought to shrug off crippling battle to pilot Contemptors whose previous occupants were slain in
damage, while motive shrines and auto-sanctified backup systems battle. Those soon to depart as Eyes of the Emperor, those who
stand ready to take the strain should the Contemptor undergo feel they have dishonoured themselves, even warriors who simply
serious combat trauma. Yet for all this arcane technology, the most will not turn aside from what they perceive as their duty; all, it
important component of the Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought is said, have given their flesh willingly so that the Contemptor
is the living warrior interred in the sarcophagus at its heart. Dreadnoughts of the Custodes continue to stride to war.
Shield-Captain Hasturias Calaxor he felled the Daemon Thogralathrax When the Shield-Captain finally fell in
first took up the mantle of and prevented the Suppurant Scourge battle on the dead world of Palathrix,
command during the Siege of from being loosed on Terra. During the his sheer force of will kept him alive
Terra, the last, great battle of the Horus battle for the star keep Magnificence, long enough to be interred within a
Heresy. It was Calaxor who held the Shield-Captain Calaxor went blade- Dreadnought sarcophagus. Becoming
Enlightener’s Stair single-handedly to-blade with the heretical Singer of Venerable Ancient Calaxor, he assumed
against the turncoat soldiers of the 9th Miseries, before mounting his jetbike a new role within the Ten Thousand.
Terran Wardens. It was he that rallied and leading a band of Vertus Praetors Now Calaxor is a living war engine and
the Gospodor Heavy Infantry with to end the traitor threat. It was Calaxor, strategic advisor both amidst the ranks
his inspiring example of bravery, and also, whose blade ended the threat of of the Adeptus Custodes.
led them to retake the Dome of the the rogue assassin Shae before she could
Architects from Dortha Kol’s Sons of come within a hundred miles of the
Horus Legionaries. Joining forces with a Golden Throne.
sodality of his fellow Custodian Guard,
it was Calaxor who finally drove Kol’s
warriors to destruction and felled the
traitor Warhound Titan Warp Jackal into
the bargain.
These heroics were enough to see
Calaxor promoted amidst the fires of
battle to the rank of Shield-Captain,
after which he led three further highly
successful counter-offensives before the
siege’s end. Renowned for the controlled
aggression of his tactics, Calaxor
earned himself many more names in
the centuries that followed. On Thade,
42
VENERABLE LAND RAIDERS
The Land Raider is arguably the most powerful and versatile battle oppressors beneath their treads as they fought to liberate Humanity
tank available to Imperial forces in the 41st Millennium. Possessed from the horrors of Old Night, and turned their guns mercilessly
of a fearsome array of weapons, hyper-durable adamantium upon the Traitor Legions once their betrayal was revealed. For
armour, and the transport capacity to bear a full squad of heavily ten thousand years these noble war engines have fought for the
equipped warriors into battle, the Land Raider can function as Imperium, and each has built a legend every bit as magnificent as
both war engine and assault transport with equal ease. A single those possessed by the greatest Imperial champions.
Land Raider can turn a desperate battle in the Imperium’s favour –
a massed spearhead of them can win a war. Venerable Land Raiders possess Magos-class machine spirits,
noble and aggressive entities that can independently aim and
For all this, Land Raiders are in comparatively short supply. Few fire the tank’s guns and coordinate its auto-repair rituals when
forge worlds still possess the secrets of their creation, and even circ*mstances require it. Stories exist of these dauntless war
those that do must sink enormous resource and time into the engines fighting on even after their Custodian crews were slain,
making of each one. Land Raiders have bellicose and complex wreaking bloody revenge for their deaths.
machine spirits that take time to tame, and for the material cost
of but one of these tanks it is possible to churn out a hundred These vehicles are the primary ground transport of the Adeptus
lesser vehicles. Every Land Raider is thus venerated as a priceless Custodes, a statement of how unstoppable and elite the Ten
relic, entrusted only to the most elite forces of the Imperium and Thousand truly are. Tracks churning, guns thundering, Venerable
deployed when victory is absolutely vital. It is considered a near- Land Raiders ferry their passengers into the heart of battle, then
irredeemable sin to allow such a vehicle to be destroyed, and entire support them with unparalleled armoured might once they
campaigns have been fought to recover Land Raiders lost upon the disembark. In extreme circ*mstances these amazing war engines
field of battle. have even been teleported directly onto the battlefield, their hulls
warded against the empyric corruption that is a common side effect
The most ancient and honoured of these tanks are the Venerable of travelling through the warp, their passage assured through use
Land Raiders used by the Adeptus Custodes. Many can trace of an ancient Godstrike-pattern teleportarium. This tactic has won
their history all the way back to the earliest days of the Imperium. many victories for the Adeptus Custodes; it is a rare enemy indeed
These tanks rolled forwards amidst the earth-shaking armoured that can survive the sudden appearance of a Land Raider full of
spearheads deployed during the Great Crusade. They ground alien demigods in the middle of their battle lines.
Pictured above is the Venerable Land Raider Glory to the Throne. This potent war engine saw its very first battle in the defence of the
Emperor’s palace at the culmination of the Horus Heresy. Though severely damaged during that apocalyptic conflict, Glory to the
Throne has remained with the Adeptus Custodes ever since, repaired time and again, and blooded on battlefields beyond count.
43
THE SPLENDOUR OF
HOLY TERRA
The Custodians take to the battlefield in compact, elite forces
of highly trained warriors. They make for a spectacular sight
with their gilded armour and gloriously worked wargear,
proud vexillas rising over their lines. Yet to the Emperor’s
enemies, they are the terror of death incarnate.
Captain-General Trajann Valoris
The assembled might of the Adeptus Custodes surges into battle. Led by their heroic Captain-General and a band of redoubtable
Allarus Custodians, they crash into the Death Guard lines like the Emperor’s vengeance made manifest.
Led by formidable Allarus Custodians, a glorious host of the Adeptus Custodes surge into battle against the heretical warrior golems
of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion.
Shield-Captain with sentinel blade Vexilus Praetor with storm shield Custodian Guard with sentinel blade,
and misericordia and misericordia storm shield and misericordia
Custodian Warden with guardian spear Shield-Captain with guardian spear Custodian Warden with guardian spear
and misericordia and misericordia and misericordia
A stalwart band of Adeptus Custodes stands implacably before the attack of the traitorous Death Guard. Resisting the foul
corruptions of their foe, Custodian Wardens and Guard determinedly defend their Vexilus Praetor.
Custodian Guard with guardian spears and misericordia
Custodian Guard of the Solar Watch Shield-Captain of the Emissaries Imperatus
Amidst the frozen northern reaches of Gathalamor Prime, a proud force of the Adeptus Custodes bear the brunt of the Black Legion
charge, steadying the line while the Astra Militarum bring up heavy armour to bombard the Chaos forces.
Custodian Guard of the Shadowkeepers
Allarus Custodian of the Dread Host
