The Legio Custodes: Tactics & Structure (Warhammer & Horus Heresy Lore)

how can one even begin to comprehend the military virtues of those so utterly removed from our own levels of simple existence a colleague once snapped this at me when I divulged to him the subject of this particular record he considered it a futile endeavor for even should i gain access to the prescribed archives my simple baseline homo sapien mind would simply be unable to process the intentions of those that are now on to gods themselves does that however mean a humble chronicler Imperialis should not even attempt to do so well let this effort stand as one's answer know then that this is a record of the organizational structure tactical doctrine and wartime disposition of the Emperor's own his 10,000 religio custodies to the outside observer the custodies are effectively impenetrable to even the most diligent scrutiny most of what is known outside the Imperial Household itself even amongst the highest ranks of the official militaries and the Senate orem Imperialis is based off conjecture inference in hearsay only by special dispensation of the household access to sequestered archives and through a Sidious interviews can information held within this record be known to those of us peering in with curious eyes the rituals structure details and even titles of the 10,000 appear impossibly Byzantine which is the direct result of them being answerable to none but the master of mankind even in his current state they have no need to accommodate us mortals as their calling is always so much higher than any feeble petition make of them the first and perhaps most market sign of this is their very names outwardly each custodian presents a given name that is usually drawn from a compound of an ancient Terran ruler or mythological figure consider if you will the legendary names of Constantine Val d'Or Ryan Damien and Diocletian Kouros between them they bear the likeness of ancient Rome Annie I tyrants and a forgotten God of the gypped as' why this convention is both accepted and seemingly encouraged is beyond us perhaps being a facet of the Emperor's humor or irony on the part of the custodies themselves given their role and status their true names are long forgotten obliterated during their rebirth into the demigods they are to become one fact of custodies legend is their accumulation of names throughout their lives granted in recognition of great deeds or victories never revealed to those beyond their order these names are said to be inscribed upon the insides of their armor when a custodies never ceases earning them until the moment of his death by the outbreak of the heresy captain general Val d'Or is known to have possessed 962 names Val d'Or is perhaps the most famous example of the head of the Lea Geo the captain general at the top of the custody's is chain of command he is essentially the Emperor's ultimate bodyguard and most trusted military advisor the golden right hand of the Lord of lightning by virtue of this the captain general is technically able to command the pry marks the Emperor's own sons and Val d'Or is known to have done so on occasion notably being in nominal command of the battle of Prospero below him is the Trib unit fluctuating amount of Tribune's usually around 10 in number that are roughly analogous to the chapter masters within Anna starties Legion while below them are the remaining two of ranks prefect sand shield captain's the differences between these two are slight with the former being more a reward for veteran seein service while the latter a distinction of implied active field command with particular responsibilities within a detachment or formation this all being said the Lee geo custody's do not abide to the chain of command and the matter of any other military formation within the Imperial they are more akin to a warrior caste than a regiment as one of the ten thousand is more formidable equipped to fulfill any number of battlefield roles than any other combatant in human history depending on what exigencies are placed upon them and how they feel best inclined to prosecute their objectives the custody's may fall into one of the leaders broadly defined formations each unique each with its own clear purpose the majority of the Lee Geo's marshal strength at any given time is the Hyken a toy which outsiders most commonly see as the baseline custodies while the term rank and file seems ludicrous to apply to her formation such as the ten thousand it is perhaps the best equivalents at ones disposal the high can a toy take to the field of battle arrayed as one might picture of custody's in the works of art that adorned so much of imperial tara clad in golden or amide armor and wielding their signature guardian spears power weapons with terran Boulter's built into the haft others employ the brutal sentinel war blades should they prefer force over finesse the basic unit of these formations are referred to as sodality z' although as with all to do with the structure of the lee geo these are not the squads of the Legionnaires a star teased by any means whereas a star teased operate as tightly knit compacts of understanding and shared brotherhood each custodies is a legion unto himself an immortal being so utterly beyond the human baseline that even a starties pale in comparison he fights alone for that is what is expected of him each and every member of the leisure knows that one day he may be the sole body between an enemy and the Emperor of mankind and should that hour come he will be able to rely on none save himself this ethos permeates how all of the 10,000 conduct themselves in battle so Dalit is do not engage the enemy with the tight discipline of austerities but rather as individuals albeit individuals with peerless battlefield comprehension and almost pre cognitive skills of coordination with their fellow custody's they should never be thought of as pursuing individual agendas at the cost of one another rather each simply chooses the manner in which he fights according to his own individual talents and skills rather than say a group of tactical starties fulfilling the exact same battlefield role within a squad in this way no two custody's ever fight on the battlefield in a similar manner and yes their cohesion as a sodality in their persecution of the enemy is utterly peerless there are a few enemies that the high can a toy cannot defeat but despite their supreme battlefield adaptability and confidence the Li Gio is not so self assured as to believe themselves suited for every single battlefield task siege warfare high-intensity zone mortalis operations or attritional warfare all provide the Li Gio with a worrisome possibility of casualties and for beings as precious as the custody's all possible steps must be taken to avoid this this will generally mean they avoid the types of operations mentioned above as they would be admittedly a terrible waste of their skills and resources leaving the destruction of enemy fortresses or foot slogging infantry advances to a start ease that being said the 10,000 retains the ability to deploy heavy shock troops should it require them and these counter assault forces are known as the ther ana toy the custody's of these sodality x' take to the field as either heavily armoured equilon terminators clad in the finest most heavily modified tactical dreadnought plate in the Imperium or in Sagittaron guard fire teams the former are optimised for close quarter engagements as their Terminator clay renders them nearly invulnerable and will often be equipped for assault operations to annihilate the enemy the latter are arrayed for longer range engagements barring Dark Age of Technology a drastic weapons prescribed by the Emperor himself these disintegration weapons are born only by the Lea geo for only the finest warriors of the Imperium can handle the sheer destructive potential of such ancient firearms the cataphract oi embody the Li Geo's essentially paramilitary RIT they are the pilots of the ten thousands gunships interceptors and graft anks as well as forming the body of the Li ji OHS jet bike outriders the custody's have never been frontline soldiers the Astarte czar instead they are a highly specialized formation intended to be deployed only by the order of the Emperor himself and because of this only under the most dire of circumstances in order to fulfill their stated battlefield role as a rapid strike force the leaders granted the use of the most sophisticated armor and aircraft in the Imperium vehicles seen quite literally nowhere else for none are deemed worthy from their use outside of the 10000 speed and mobility are paramount as the sodality z' must be ferried to the part of the battle their unique skills are needed the most the vehicles of the cataphract oi embody this sleek gravattack ground armor and sleeker still aircraft that are capable of speeds and maneuvers far outclassing any other vehicles of their tonnage in the Imperium yet in some cases are more armoured and always in possession of a far greater destructive potential the material cost of maintaining and manufacturing these craft is phenomenal but for the ten thousand no price is too high if it allows them to fulfill their duty all the better of the least certainty even perhaps amongst the archives granted to one for the remit of this record is the operational purview of the ephah Roy custody's tasked with the intelligence operations of the liji oh just quite what their responsibilities were and are likely are intentionally vague as with any covert organization but what is clearance at the FI Roy conducted high-level intelligence gathering and processing utilizing the full scope of the resources at their disposal which is to say the resources of the entire Imperium itself the bellagio ostensibly a paramilitary formation had a dedicated intelligence division may surprise some but it should be borne ever in one's mind that whatever their marshal capabilities the ten thousand exists purely to protect the body of the Emperor himself as such they must be aware of any and all threats to him and be able to predict anticipate deduce and plan for any and all possible eventualities they are known to share close operational details with the clades of the officio assassin Oram and utilized human agents when required infiltration of Imperial nobility was common often again through their mortal agents but the f-4 oi themselves were well versed in the politics traditions and histories of all Imperial houses of note custody's mines possess eidetic memories and those of the ephah roy turned these to the service of knowing all and seeing all it was they who are the organizers of the blood games to test Imperial Household defences corroborating their own intelligence gatherings with findings from the games to defeat threats before they even arose the final subdivision within the Li geo was also its smallest the more a toy were singular in being formed entirely of the Li Gio's honored fallen custody's whose immortal bodies had been damaged to the point of near death requiring them to be interred within the life-sustaining dreadnought chassis the first custodian to fall in the history of the Li Gio was Sagittarius one of the Emperor's first 30 companions interred within the or golem class chassis designed to allow thunder warriors of the unification Wars to fight after death Sagittarius was the first of the moratorium until a advanced with the progress of Imperial technology by the outbreak of the Horus heresy the moratoria composed of contempt air dreadnought jassi's either the a contempt her Achilles or heavier contempt erga lattice marks both capable of wielding weaponry far more arcane and destructive than there are starties contemporaries though small in number the more toy the staggeringly powerful force at arms combining centuries of martial skill and experience with the most phenomenally powerful weaponry and equipment in the catacomb and indeed the Emperor himself could devise for them when death and treachery came to the istván system the Li geo custodies counted within its number approximately 10,000 members for which it was so colloquially named the Battle of Prospero that had immediately preceded the true outbreak of the heresy had depleted this number somewhat although not nearly to the extent that the coming conflict would the vast majority of the Li geo strength was concentrated upon Terra to protect the Imperial Palace though various sodality --zz were spread out throughout the galaxy on various missions of high import five of the Hyken a toy for instance led by custodian equilon had been seconded to the 17th legion word bearers in the aftermath of that legions humbling on monarch but were ultimately betrayed and killed by the legions monstrous gal4 back it has been remarked upon albeit quietly by numerous historians that the Leggio custodes despite representing an incredibly powerful military force did not in any way stray from the home world during the entire span of the war while doubtless coordinating with Rogel Dorne vii Primark and Praetorian of Terra in the defense of the solar volume that they did not take up arms until the Battle of terror itself seems inconceivable to some your humble servant has in the sequestered archives found scant mentions of a darker war a hidden war of terrible battles occluded from the sight of the species through their dread import alone the full record of this conflict may not be possible but it would be remiss of me not to attempt it let its tidings however wait upon the advent of another day you

Channel: Oculus Imperia

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Keywords: Warhammer, Warhammer 40k, Warhammer 30k, Horus Heresy, Warhammer Lore, Warhammer 40k Lore, Horus Heresy Lore, Legio Custodes, Legio Custodes Lore, Custodes, Custodes Lore, Talons of the Emperor, Talons of the Emperor Lore, Adeptus Custodes, Adeptus Custodes Lore, Great Crusade

Id: _nLr6_X1bIQ

Length: 16min 50sec (1010 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 14 2017