Adeptus Custodes | Warhammer 40,000

[Music] within the many institutions of the imperium of man endurance is as rare as it is desirable over its ten thousand years of existence there are few things that can be said to have truly survived the fires of war the schemes of political rivals or the furnaces of the sensor and yet upon holy terror there persists one organization that has been present from the very beginning its members bore witness to the tragedy of the horus heresy the madness of the age of apostasy and the long years of stagnation and decline in the grim darkness of the 42nd millennium they wore across the battlefields of a galaxy torn in two the heralds of a fabled primark from legend they are the emperor's original enforcers his closest advisors his bodyguards and his first jean kin they were the messengers of his will the keepers of his darkest secrets the sworn guardians of his seat of power they alone understand the imperial truth in its original form they alone remember terror before the days of unification and they alone know the true purpose of the golden throne even now they stand even above the holy warrior brotherhood of the adept as astartes just as the astartes stand above the masses of common humanity each one is a champion and a hero unto himself in a cruel twist this valor is perhaps their greatest flaw for despite all their heroism and all their sacrifice they have failed in their ultimate duty they are the brotherhood of demigods the golden legion the emperor's ten thousand they are known by a thousand names but to the galaxy as a whole they are the adeptus custodies the custodies originated in the half-remembered days of the terran unification wars drawn from the children of terror's nobility even as the wars to consolidate the emperor's rule across the planet still raged the custodies were bodyguards and hostages both taken in late infancy each was re-sculpted through a long-forgotten process of biogenetic alchemy more grueling than even the creation of modern primaris astartes the result was a warrior greater in stature reflex mind and might than anything seen before every custodies was a genetic work of art closer to the emperor's own primarks than to the thunder warriors who served as his first genetically enhanced army indeed when the thunder warriors had served their purpose in uniting earth and the time came for them as outdated and unreliable prototypes to be quietly retired it was the custodies that carried out the bloody deed a top mount ararat through the long years of the great crusade the custodies filled a multitude of roles primarily they were the emperor's personal bodyguard and war host accompanying him on campaigns and aiding in the search for his lost sons one of their most significant deployments was to the world of gyros thravian with the emperor at their head they saved the primarks horus lupercal rogueldorn and mortarion from destruction at the hands of the immense orc warboss garco blackfang it is said that of the thousand custodians to be deployed only three fell at the cost of a hundred thousand orcs the names of these three fallen custodies were carved into the emperor's armor an accolade awarded not even to his own sons it is also likely that the custodies were present during the persecution of the two lost primarks and their legions though as with anything relating to the forgotten and the purged nearly all has been lost to myth and legend in addition to their role as warriors and guardians of the emperor the custodians acted as emissaries between the emperor and his primarks they were entrusted with carrying his orders relaying information on the progress of the great crusade and ensuring that his vision of a united galaxy came to pass in a move that speaks of some limited vision of things to come some were also assigned to keep watch over those primarks who had failed to meet the emperor's standards of a rapid secular conquest of humanity chief amongst them was the soon-to-be minister of chaos absolute lorga aurelian such steps were not sufficient to prevent the great cataclysm of the horus heresy and when the time came for the traitors to show their true colors the custodies assigned to the traitor legions were isolated from their support none would survive long enough to report back to the emperor those assigned to logar found themselves massacred on isthan 5 along with the loyalist iron hands ravenguard and salamander's legions the nearly 1000 custodies sent with lehman russ to apprehend the traitorous magnus the red met a similar fate as they found themselves cut down in droves by the psychic powers of the thousand suns [Music] but the bloodiest struggle the custodies would endure during the heresy would come not from the thousand suns homeworld of prospero nor even from the siege of terror itself but from the veiled events of the war within the webway this clandestine war was propagated where magnus the red broke the psychic seals surrounding the imperial webway project which would have freed humanity from its reliance on the warp for interstellar travel this campaign saw nearly the entirety of the custodies along with the sisters of silence and to the webway portal beneath the golden throne and for five long years they battled the hordes of demons and traitor astartes that sought to breach it had they failed all of terror would have been overrun by demonic forces but victory cost the custodies more than 9 000 dead as well as the lives of its three commanding tribunes such losses meant that by the time horus himself came to terror the custodies were a shadow of their former strength though they gave all they could to defend their liege in the end it was not enough the emperor was laid low by the dying blow of the arch traitor and forever interred within the golden throne the custodies turned from the wider imperium and threw themselves into the duty they had ultimately failed the defense of the emperor's mortal form they now lived beneath the shadow of the emperor's internment many issued their armor and shame whilst others simply abandoned the deep red cloaks of office for a black shroud of mourning [Music] at the behest of raboute gileman one of the few remaining loyalist primarks the custodies agreed to the edict of restraint and were confined to terror and the soul system [Music] though over the long millennia that followed the custodies were able to rebuild their strength they were bound to never leave the solar system aside from a brief extraordinary intervention to stop the rule of the mad ecclesiarch gog van dyke during the age of apostasy the custody's actions would be limited to the security of the imperial palace and the sole system for the next ten thousand years the organization of the custodies reflects their greatest strength the individual skill and prowess of their members each custodian is part of a sodality a formation similar to a squad but with far more tactical flexibility afforded to the individual several sodalites make up a shield company commanded by a shield captain which in turn form shield hosts each host is specialized around a particular duty from the solar watch which operate the custodies fleet of warships to the emissaries imperiatus who serve as expert diplomats and negotiators to the shadow keepers who guard the ancient horrors locked within the dungeons beneath the imperial palace these hosts are guided by a council of their shield captains and vexillius praters their most veteran members and the bearers of a company's aquila standard though several higher ranks exist many are monikers signifying respect rather than formal positions every custodian is ultimately answerable to the captain general an individual elected from their own ranks to be their leader and representative within the sanatorium imperialis there exists a further separation between the wider ranks of the custodies and the companions the elite 300 who form the emperor's personal attendance this inner circle are directly responsible for the emperor's safety maintaining a constant vigil within the sanctum imperialis and over the emperor himself each is selected from the wider ranks of the custodies for some exemplary feat of skill and bravery that elevates them above their already superhuman brethren within their ranks can be found the finest minds and surest blades of the custodies and there has not been a single captain general that did not first serve as a companion in the days before his internment it is said that the companions were the emperor's closest confidants entrusted with whatever doubts and fears that may have played the master of mankind in addition to their usual training regime the custodies conduct blood games amongst themselves these years-long competitions see one custodies cast out from the palace and tasked with returning undetected infiltrating the defenses of the palace and carrying out a mock assassination of the emperor or another high-ranking individual these exercises ensure not only that the custodies are masters of counter-espionage understanding every conceivable route an enemy agent could possibly take through the palace but are more than capable of conducting such work themselves whether for the gathering of information or to strike at a target before it becomes a threat these skills are invaluable in their sacred task of protecting the emperor [Music] being part of the emperor's personal household the custodies continue to be trained in far more than just the art of war their educational repertoire which has persisted since the heresy includes topics as varied as the political landscape of holy terror to the cultural history of humanity this is reflected both by their captain general's inclusion amongst the high lords a position in which a mastery over political machinations is a matter of life and death and in the very naming conventions the custodies practice this latter honorific is a key tenet of the custodies upon their successful induction a newly inaugurated member abandons any name previously given to them and instead picks one from humanity's collected myths and legends the archives from which they can pick their name are unparalleled in the wider imperium with documentation dating back before even the dark age of technology upon selection each custodian inscribes their name on the inside of their armor with more names awarded as great deeds are performed it is said that constantin valdo the custody's first captain general had earned over 1932 names before his disappearance from the earliest days of their inception the custodies were awarded use of the finest weapons and armor to which the imperium had access this tradition has continued and at present the custody's armory represents one of the mightiest collections of war gear in the known galaxy they wield the finest suits of powered armor the imperium can maintain and bear weapons of rare and irreplaceable design even their vehicles are equipped with advanced anti-gravity technology that has only recently been matched by the innovations of belisarius call the legendary martian tech priest even so their capacity to conduct war is nigh unmatched such standards extend to their starships as well and they operate a range of cruisers and battleships that form the core of the soul system's defensive fleet amongst their number is the emperor's own flagship the immense bucephalus beyond this the custodies garrison a series of five star keeps that protect the navigable roots into the soul system in the early 42nd millennium the custody saw a limited deployment across terror attempting to stem the flow of madness that followed in the wake of the great rift it was not enough and when at last the cults of ruin had completed their bloody rituals and a tide of demons poured into the streets of the throne world itself it was a force of four thousand custodies alongside the grey knights and imperial fists that would stand against them at the battle of lion's gate but the servants of the chaos god corn were vicious in form and endless in number in a repeat of the war within the webway the custodies and their allies were forced to pay with their lives to hold every street against the demonic horde it was only with the intervention of the newly resurrected robute giliman and his primaris marines that the costly struggle was at last put to an end in the face of their failure to protect terror itself from the touch of the arch enemy it became apparent that the custodies would have to adapt in order to keep the emperor safe between them captain general trajan valorus and the newly titled imperial regent giliman revised the edict of restraint ensuring that while the elite companions would remain by the emperor's side and secure terror the rest of the custodies would be free to crusade across the galaxy once more donning their red cloaks the custodies would go forth and be the golden spear tip of giliman's indomitus crusade bringing the fire of the emperor to those who had cast him down ten thousand years before the custodies have seen the imperium from its earliest beginning to the present day with the most venerable of its dreadnaught inferred brothers still remembering the early days of the unification wars they recalled the emperor as he stood not as a god but as a man driven by vision and the promise of a bright future to an imperium long since lost in the dogma of its institutions they alone remember its original purpose to a galaxy ripped in two by the terrors of the warp they remember when the freedom to leave its influence forever was within their grasp to a galaxy beset by war and carnage they remember when the dream of a united humanity and a peaceful future had been so close when the emperor first united terror they stood by his side through the long years of vigil they have remained when at last the days of ending come if the imperium is shattered and the last defenses of terror lay in ruin they will be there still blade drawn and heart steeled against the coming storm the templin institute investigates the nations factions and organizations of alternate worlds you've enjoyed this video and would like to join the templin institute consider pledging to our patreon page along with increased security access you'll be able to vote in polls to determine future topics get custom wallpaper every week and receive some other exclusive awards [Music] [Music] you

Channel: The Templin Institute

Views: 516,692

Keywords: Templin, Institute, Adeptus Custodes, adeptus custodes lore, adeptus custodes history, adeptus custodes army, warhammer, warhammer 40k, warhammer 40k lore, 40k lore, imperium of man, emperor of man

Id: QjxSHngiXJk

Length: 16min 57sec (1017 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 14 2020