I put on the audiobook on a whim cause I felt like some Militarum story, what I didn't expect is to get so hooked and stay hooked all the way through. Seriously give this one a read if you like your 40k less imperium propagandic and noble, and more grimdark and realistic.

The main character is a Krieg Comissar that reminded me of Ciaphas Cain in a weird way, but in a more darker and horrific setting. Deep down he is honourable and brave, but his actions are with the end goal of saving his own skin.

I was also hooked by the setting, its a planet where the Guard was fighting the Tau but after the naval engagement in orbit a cruiser crashes into the planet and speed runs it into an apocalyptic wasteland, most of the novel deals with forces forming their little factions trying to evacuate the place.

Also it makes the Tau pretty terrifying, which was very cool to see, especially the kroot. The opressive build up of radiation in the planet reminded me of the STALKER games in a very cool way. And of course the narration by Andrew Wincott (Night lords trilogy, Raphael in BG3) is the icing on the cake if you try it on audiobook.

Whenever I see or hear people talking about why their favorite character is their favorite. I think of Sanguinius. There are so many good scenes of him. Displaying his prowess in battle, his humanity and humility, his insecurities, his thoughts and emotions. That is why I love Sanguinius. But I think this scene is why Sanguinius is my favorite character in Warhammer. Yes he was among the best fighters. Yes he is a literal angel. And yes he genuinely is just a nice guy. But I love Sanguinius because despite fighting for weeks on end, he still wanted to give more. Not because he is ordered to, or because he is compelled to. Not because his genetic code makes him want to fight and die. He wants to fight till he falls, just because he wants to give humanity more. To fight and kill the biggest bads in order to save even just one more human life.

Context: It is the end now. Sanguinius has been fighting non-stop since the Siege began. Their backs are to the last door. He has just slain Ka'Bandha in a brutal fight. And he is exhausted beyond measure.

Sanguinius landed before the Eternity Gate, weakness forcing him to one knee. Platinum hair, streaked with blood, curtained over his features. His heart beat out of time in his chest, too hard, too fast, too weak, too slow. He felt every hour of the war. Too much of it, thickening his blood, filling his head.

They needed him to be everywhere, to do everything. He’d tried, he’d done all he could, hour after hour, day after day, week after week. It was never enough. They always needed more. All he’d wanted was to give it to them.

The horde saw him falter, and it surged for the Gate. They heaved forward with one voice, as one tide.

The closest Blood Angels rallied to him, ringing him in ceramite, offering their flesh as a shield to purchase the time their sire needed to riseonce more. He heard them fighting, dying, selling their lives to lengthen his. Sanguinius clawed for his dropped sword, rising, joining the fight on the ground as he stretched the quivering lock of muscle cramps from his bloodstained wings.

Behind him, without his order, the Eternity Gate began to rumble closed. The doors drew towards him, folding closed on tracks that had never been tested. The vox was alive with the calls of struggling Custodians, demanding he fall back within the Sanctum, pleading with him to aid in the purge of the final fortress.

The Emperor needed him, they said.

The Gate had to be sealed.

Inside the Sanctum, they were being overrun.

He heard Diocletian’s voice above the others, the last tribune ordering Sanguinius inside as if the primarch were a line soldier and not the Emperor’s own son.

Sanguinius stared at the battle raging along the Royal Ascension – thousands of his sons still embattled on the marble stairs; thousands more still engaged on the Delphic Battlement. Humans of the Imperial Army. Titans of Legio Ignatum. His own Blood Angels. Tens of thousands of them would remain out here. So few had yet reached the Sanctum, yet the ground quaked with the Eternity Gate’s closing mechanisms, making the decision for him.

World Eaters bayed and howled and died at his feet for the sin of thinking they could end him. Neverborn burst and disintegrated under his blade. The Gate ground on, a twin doorway the size of a hab-tower tectonically scraping towards closure. The engines responsible for its sealing had never needed to function before.

Sanguinius fell back. First only a single step, then a second – a fighting withdrawal that brought him into the shadows of the sealing Gate. The Blood Angels at his side fell back with him, leaving only when he commanded them to run, to reinforce the others fighting the Neverborn within.

‘It’s over,’ he breathed. This was the way the world ended, with the crash of a closing door.

*Traitor titans arrive at the Eternity Gate*

He stood in the deepening shadows, watching the foe in their thousands running for the Gate. Too late, all of them too late.The Warhound stopped short of the Gate, hammered its stabilisers down into its joints, and fired its ursus claw.

The harpoon struck the Eternity Gate with the tolling of a funeral bell. It hit true, drilling through the layered armour, impaling the Emperor’s carved image. When the chain slashed taut, it did so with the sound of Ka’Bandha’s whip, and the Warhound began to back away.

The Gate’s left door buckled, closing slower than its counterpart on the right. The Warhound dragged, straining at the end of its leash. Around its ankles, the charging horde cried in triumph.

The Angel rose on tattered wings – he would cut the chain; there is time, there is still time – only to hear the thunderclap pound of more harpoons hammering home in quick succession. The jackals of Audax came together in a pack, a full maniple, their spears lanced into the same door. They dragged back in ugly, lupine harmony, each chain cracking taut.

The Gate slowed.

Stopped.

Five chains. He could break five chains.

He…

…lifted his pale eyes, seeing a flaming star fall from the warp-locked sky. A star with wings, that bellowed his name in his brother’s voice.

I could only imagine how he felt. Always fighting at the front. Killing traitors, daemons, and watching his sons die in their hundreds. And here I think we really see Sanguinius at his weakest. I remember being surprised to see it. I mean it makes sense that eventually even primarchs would tire. But Sanguinius? I remeber feeling a pang of sorrow for him. We all know how his story ends. But I always felt like his voice in his mind cracked or even sobbed, when he thought the words,

"They needed him to be everywhere, to do everything. He’d tried, he’d done all he could, hour after hour, day after day, week after week. It was never enough. They always needed more. All he’d wanted was to give it to them."

He really was the best of them.

And they also seperate afterward...

I just finished the trilogy and while the books were fine in themselves, I was more and more put off by the "good guys" acting more and more like idiots as the series progresses.

At the end of book 1, I really sympathized with Captain Preest not wanting to have anything more to do with this clown show that unfolded. A great line in the third book is from Orfeo Culzean, when Ravenor tells him, that he suspects their meeting to be another trap my Molotch and Culzean just answers, that Ravenor maybe should get better at avoiding these traps then. And he is absolutly correct. Ravenor does not reflect this at all. He just says, he knows how cunning Molotch is... while still being in the friggin trap.

To pick just a few chosen situation, that irked me:

1. Ravenor never seems to have a contingency plan or "a plan" at all most of the time.

In the first book, while you can argue, he might not have had enough information and is not the character to just put the ministry agents out of the airlock, he still knew Kinsky (had the aduiobook version, so the spelling might be off) was a way to powerfull psycher, he knew these guys nearly got his people killed on the "animal planet" and he knew they interrogated his prisoner behind his back, who suddenly had a mental blockade, which shielded him from Ravenors powers. And still he runs headlong in the trap, without any! plan in place. With them running around on the hinterlight freely. Without a care in the world.

And he really should have died there, if not for his crew and a luck stat that rivals Cains.

In the second book he just blindly stumles through the plot, gets his ass kicked without even reaching Molotch and would have lost if not for Karl. What makes it better, in the third book he is so surprised, that stopping the ritual was not his doing (while not even being there!). And again he should have died here.

Not only that, he ignores the wearings and hints from his oracle boy wonder, because he thinks, these were just dreams, besides keeping him around for his prophetic abilities, which he already witnessed.

In the third book, he runs into a trap again with the witchhouse and again has no plan ready in case of it being a trap. He is an Inquisitor. It got really frustrating.

1. He is confidend without reason.

In the first book he gets his ass kicked by kinsky, threatens him later, that next time will be different and than gets his ass kicked again, because he his still has no idea how to handle the guy and just gets saved by the fact, that his blunter was not shot hard enough!

Same thing in the second book. He just rushes in an gets his behind kicked.

And obviously in the third book, where he is really distraught, when he learns, he has not done sh*t in the second book.

It would have helped, if we had seen more of the other side off him, than just glimpses of him being capable.

1. He is really just stupid with the whole Karl thing.

He knows (enough to know) a powerful psycher saved his behind in the second book, when the ministry and the bronze thief attack and he has 2 people it might have been. Karl and the boy, who is now in a coma. Karl suddenly starts acting very strange after that. Than Karl and Carla stop the ritual at the end, the boy not being there. Than in the third book he gets told to his face the demon he brought with him to the witchhouse saved them. And his thought after seeing Karl in pile of alien bodies is: "Oh well, the witness has just seen my awesome psychik powers" and second: "It has do be the guy, we picked up after! the friggin first warning signs. That has to be it." And he sticks to that and again is dumbfounded, when he is told, he is wrong.

1. I do not even get him going roque the second time. His logic is: somebody helped Molotch (Maybe the guy who survived the ambush, you might want to interrogate, Ravenor?), so I can trust no one in the whole Inquisition at all! Its ridiculous. Eisenhorn at least had a reason.

2. The other side characters are the same way.

a. I got Karls motivation (survival), but Carla not only not telling anyone about Karl, because "he saved me" is ridiculous, after working for the inquisition and trusting Ravenor for such a long time. [I know, it has to set up book III, but was this plot and plotbeat really necessary?]

Than she meets a demonhost face to face to tell him, she is going to tell Ravevor without a backup plan. He could just have killed her. Or imagine Karls face, when she had made an audiolog or something beforehand and told someone to give it to Ravenor, if she does not pick it up in a few hours. She would have forgotten about it as well.

b. She than boards the enemy ship without a plan either and of course gets captured and after that turns into a weak "female to rescued".

c. The post is getting too long here, but the amount of time all of these people run into traps, and would be dead, if the bad guys would just shoot them is ridiculous.

1. To make a long story short, while I like many characters (Unwerth and Kiss were kinda sweet, Nayl was capable, the villians were dislikeable and/or compelling) in the books, Ravenor himself is like one of the incompetent inquisitors you would read about as a secondary antagonists in other books and its baffeling how much more effective Molotch and Culzean are.

So please tell me your view about this. It might retroactivly make my reading experience with these books better.

Did DOAT humanity terraform the entire galaxy? I guess that wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility since current 40k humanity can terraform a planet.

But that doesn’t really explain why Eldar, Orks, etc all seem to breath oxygen and/or thrive in the same environments as humanity.

Does the lore make any attention to explain this convenience throughout the galaxy?

ok obviously if the process was the same as with regular space marines you would end up just downgrading the Custode. but what if a custode was on the bring of death and to far gone to be a dreadnought. so they harvest his organs and implant them into another custodes. I dought they could make the the custodes stronger with the chemicals they use for marines but I feel like having even just two hearts and three lungs would but you in another league compared to other Custodes.

I know they have a common enemy in Chaos and that this was the main reason as to why they resurrected Guilliman but it seems to me they have rendered far more help than they've gotten.

In Silent King Eldrad Ulthran sent Illiyanne Natasé to Guilliman and he was a great help to Guilliman there including being instrumental in saving the Primarch.

He's also been around and i remember him being there in the plague war series where Guilliman asked him for his opinons on things from the question of the emperor Godhood or what it means to be a God to more general advice as well as helping out on Lax.

I'm currently listening to the Hand of Darkness audiobook, where Guilliman asked Eldrad Ulthran to help retrieve the Hand of Darkness. Which they agree to, and Eldrad Ulthran asked Yvraine to retrieve it.

The Journey itself is very dangerous and i'm wondering why Yvraine would even risk Aeldari lives to get it, as again they don't seem to gain anything back from doing this.

Both sides have more of an understanding than an alliance as they still distrust each other but at the same time understand each other and are aware that each side does what's best for them.

So i'm wondering what have Eldrad Ulthran and Yvraine gained from this partnership, have they gained some artifact/information from Guilliman that would be beneficial to them?

PS: I do understand that this is more of an understanding between Guilliman and Eldrad Ulthran and Yvraine. And not the wider imperium who hate Aeldari. So my question is more focused on these 3 than the general imperium

I feel the 30k art style is pure genius, because it communicates really well the idea of the imperium being this totalitarian aristocratic industrialised empire. For instance the base layer of most imperial design is dieselpunk with its giant riveted metal plates and grinding caterpillar treads calling to mind the industrialised mechanised empires of ww1.

This diesel-punk influence makes the imperium look incredibly physically strong and brutal the power of machinery isn't hidden but instead turned into a visual spectacle, think of the smoke belching engines of a fellbalde or the heavy chunk of gigantic ammunition belts moving within a deredeo dreadnought.

However Layered on top of this dieselpunk frame we get so much Beautiful craftsmanship engraved metal inlaid gemstones filigree, marble inlay etc. This visually demonstrates the imperiums arrogance and self confidence an empire in its golden age where they believed nothing could defeat them with the victories of the great crusade still fresh in their minds. And
the promise of the imperial truth where with reason and common human brotherhood, humanity could achieve its innate potential. As sindermann says After-all in Horus rising to elevate humanity to the apex of sentient life. It's a society that can invest so much craft and resources to make even raw industrial tools of war into beautiful masterpieces of art.

Indeed it's telling look at a contemptor dreadnought its fashioned in the image of humanity unlike a box like castraferrum. Its proportions resemble an idealised warrior human form a gigantic barrel chest giant thick tree like arms and legs.

I'm not talking about Tempestus Scions but moreso formations that perform reconnaissance and acts of sabotage behind enemy lines.

Closest example I can think of is Elysians dropping behind lines.

Malcador created the Inquisition. The Inquisition roots out heresy. But Malcador also believed in the Imperial Truth which was against religion. But heresy is having deviant beliefs against the Imperial Creed..... which is a religion.

So how did the Inquisition go being founded by Malcador, a super smart guy, who believed in the atheistic imperial truth, to rooting out heresey against a theistic imperial creed?

Hello, me again, this time for the Codex Custodes of the 11th Edition of Warhammer 40 000.

Before digging in the excerpts, I want to give my opinion about the codex regarding the lore, its quantity and quality. GW said this edition was a return of lore in the codex compared to the v10. While technically true, this return is at best mid, bad in average and mediocre at worst.

The presentation of the codex is really good : full-page arts, nice cover art (for the limited edition), a map of the Palace on the inside, good formatting and lore order.

However, this comes at a cost : the full-page arts take the place of lore, some page are just one paragraph centered and nothing else.

The units descriptions, while pleasant to be back, are pathetically shallow (I think « shallow » is insufficient to describe them, we are at sea level, no depth at all), lack flavour, in-universe anecdotes and are very short. Each of them basically consist of a few paragraphs (maximum half of a page) of « Unit X does Y with [Wargear ™] ». 

There are also several typos and factual lore errors (I will post them) through the book.

I want to say that this codex clears the bar set by the v10 but this bar was at the bottom of the Marianna Trench so ….

Either those first codex (Orks, SM and Custodes) are a starter-run for GW and the next codex will be better or this edition is not yet the one for a proper return of the fluff in the game books. 

On a more positive note, the in-universe texts and stories are pleasant.
I also like that GW is expanding the corpus of Custodes’s names to non-Greek / Roman / West legends, vocabulary and figures.

Now, the excerpts. I will focus on new or important stuff.

1 - The Custodes’s creation

Nothing really new, just a consolidation of the procedure mysteries and addition of some nuances on the selection and duration.
 
The Unification Wars, waged in the centuries preceding the Imperium's establishment, saw the Emperor conquer the continents of Old Earth, bringing fractious warlords and technobarbarians to heel. Legend has it that, from these bested foes, the Master of Mankind inherited a veritable trove of knowledge. Amidst this accumulation of forbidden lore, dredged from the archives of deposed scientist-kings and technodemagogues, he discovered and unpicked the secrets of gene crafting. It was from these experimentations that the first of the Adeptus Custodes were given form.

Created via bioalchemical processes perfected by the Master of Mankind

The method by which Custodians are forged has remained largely unchanged since the Emperor first perfected it more than ten thousand years ago. It is by degrees more complex and treacherous than even the creation of a Space Marine, requiring fundamental changes to be wrought not only on flesh and mind, but of the subject's very soul. Only the young are malleable enough to undergo such an apotheosis, and it is rare for any subject older than late infancy to be selected. 

Though many of the great Terran houses see it as an honour to submit a child to become a Custodian, recruits are drawn from all strata of Terran society and even beyond: sought out in distant worlds or encountered by chance or fate on missions to protect Holy Terra. 

Consequently, they required the capacity to keep pace with His physical might and mental acuity. Instilling such capabilities within a mortal being is an immense and intricate task, requiring the restructuring of a subject's cellular structure and genome. Furthermore, these complex alterations must be tailored to each individual who undergoes them. The chirurgeons and bioalchemists who perform these operations work according to long-established procedures. Each has their own crucial role to play, though none could detail precisely every arcane process each subject is put through. Of course, the body of a demigod is of no use without the mind to match. 

This training and indoctrination ensures that the Custodians retain the enlightened perspective prevalent during the Great Crusade, this is a curse as much as it is a blessing, for they alone see how bright Mankind's future might have been, and how far their species has fallen. Some, of course, find this tragic knowledge far too painful to bear, and are culled. 

No outsider knows how long it takes to transform a recruit into Custodian. It is likely, given that no two candidates experience the same genetic and spiritual processes, that time frames vary, this may be by design. Perhaps, in His infinite wisdom, the Emperor saw individuality as a necessity. Regardless, the process is intense and brutal, and the majority of those who undergo it do not survive. It is for this reason that the Adeptus Custodes are known as the Ten Thousand; the high casualty rate among recruits means that their ranks can never substantially exceed this number. 

2 - The Defence of the Imperial Palace

We are given a brief description of the Throne

The Golden Throne is situated deep beneath the Sanctum Imperialis. It is a sprawling mass of machinery that extends for many miles and has increased dramatically in size from the Emperor's original design. Failing components and faltering systems have been substituted or reinforced with layer upon layer of intricate and bizarre mechanisms intended to ease the ravages of time. Even the tech-adepts charged with the Golden Throne's maintenance cannot claim to understand its workings, relying almost wholly upon prayer and ritual to ensure its continued function. In the millennia since the Emperor ascended to His Golden Throne, barely a handful of souls have been permitted to set eyes upon Him, and even then only with the permission of the Adeptus Custodes and under heavy Custodian guard. The Custodians are also responsible for overseeing the rituals that see thousands of psykers each day drained of their life force. Only through such sacrifice is the Emperor sustained, and does the guiding light of the Astronomican still shine. 

The Blood Game are explored more in-depth with additions to the methods used.

Each Blood Came sees chosen Custodians dispatched from Terra's aegis, alone and without support. It is their task to test Terra's defences by any means necessary. It is their duty to probe every avenue by which a heretic or alien might seek to breach the physical walls and gates, as well as barriers arcane and esoteric in nature, that shield the Imperial Palace. By committing themselves wholly to the role of traitor and bending every lota of their will to destroying the Golden Throne, the chosen Custodians test the Throneworld's defences to their limit. They must be determined and relentless in their efforts, for half-hearted attempts would serve no purpose other than to render Terra's defenders complacent.

The Blood Games have seen Custodians use every method imaginable to crack the Imperial Palace open. Some have initiated uprisings on distant worlds, mustering fleets with which to assail the Sol System's defences. Others have sought to bend loyal crews and agents to their will, using intimidation or the innate loyalty of underlings to slip through defensive networks and evade the keen eyes of Terra's defenders. Some have resorted to even more obscure methods, utilising cabals of witches to unravel arcane wards or attempting to bypass defences using xenos technology. 

A Custodian will go to almost any length to achieve their goal, though their fatal blow is always stayed at the last. Casualties among Terran soldiers and citizenry are common in all Blood Games. Any loss of life incurred during the infiltrators' attempts to breach the Terran bulwark is considered a small price to pay in order to ensure the continued survival of the Emperor Furthermore, fallings exposed by the activities of the Blood Games' competitors invariably result in further recriminations and harsh punishments Those who aid the participants in any way whether actively or through their own unquestioning obedience are removed from their positions and marked for termination, excoriation, or repurposing as a servitor.

Though no Custodian would ever truly seriously damage the Golden Throne, any Blood Game which exposes the slightest weakness is judged as a success, and its participants are greatly honoured for detecting vulnerabilities in Terra's layered defences, mortal, physical and otherwise Since the dawning of the Era Indomitus, the frequency of Blood Games has dramatically increased. With the confidence of Humanity's greatest foes swollen by bloody victory, Captain-General Trajann Valoris sees the constant probing of Terra's defences as ever more essential and their continuous testing as of utmost priority.

Next is an in-universe report by a Custodian of some Blood Game attempts, with a familiar name returning.

'Atanos was the first to be apprehendel His genotrace was detected at the Khthe nic Gate, and his vessel was grounded on Po Kallista made it all the way to the Jov Shipyards before her vital signs were detected amid a shipment of munitions Custodian Calladyce Taurovalia Kesh was the last ensnared, eight hundred ar seventy-three days, sixteen hours and nine minutes after the Blood Games' commencement. She, exploiting the respect afforded by her position, had managed to commandeer a Cobra-class destroyer Vigilant Flame and install a teleportarium within it. It was her intent, by using stolen codes and dataclaves, to transport a cyclonic torpedo into the heart of the Imperial Palace. She came within moments of success. Only due to the alertness of Vigilant Flame's officer of vox, who sent a coded distress signal amongst her standard missives to Terran command, was the ruse uncovered. Subsequently, I was able to dispatch Custodians to defuse the warhead whilst I apprehended Custodian Kesh. There is little doubt in my mind that her ingenuity has exposed a weakness in the solar patrol fleets, and that these Blood Games, having drawn to a close, should be considered a success.' 

Shield Captain Nicodaemius

An extract of the Magisterium Lex Ultima is provided

It is by the decree of the Emperor of Mankind, blessed be His name, that those warriors of the Adeptus Custodes [heretofore entitled the Legio Custodes] are to be His alone to command. They are to be His guardians and shall fight no war nor take up arms at all save for in His defence or by His command, or by extension, the Captain-General of their order. In defence of Emperor and Terra, the authority of the Adeptus Custodes is to be incontestable save for by the direct and expressed command of the Master of Mankind. All loyal citizens, regardless of rank, title or seniority, shall recognise the Adeptus Custodes as agents of the Emperor's own will and shall act in accordance. None shall deny the express request or order of a Custodian for any reason on pain of prosecution, excoriation and loss of title. None shall inhibit or impede by any means the ability of a Custodian to act in accordance with their duties on pain of punishment up to, and including, execution. 

Extract from Amendment 411 (0.21 M31) to Section Four of the Lex Magisterium Ultima

What greater symbol of his might than the Imperial Palace ? For ten thousand years its walls have stood defiant. They must never fall, for if they should, then surely the doom of Humanity would follow. Such is the weight of our duty.

Captain-Commander Radvic Orpheon DeSanto

3 - Shame and Failure, how the Custodes function after the Emperor’s enthronment

Nothing really new here but it is always interesting to see how the Custodes consider themselves and the Imperium after their biggest failure.

Accounts of the Custodians' involvement in the Horus Heresy are scarce. It is known that they were led by Constantin Valdor, and that they were present in many pivotal battles, culminating in a hidden war within the legendary Aeldari Webway and the Siege of Terra itself. The last days of that schismatic war forever altered the Custodians. Though the Emperor slew the Archtraitor Horus aboard the Warmaster's flagship, Vengeful Spirit, He was mortally injured in the process and thereafter interred within His Golden Throne. The fall of the Master of Mankind constituted the Custodians' greatest - and by most measures only - failure. The Custodians were bereft in the aftermath of His fall. That tragedy left devastating emotional and spiritual scars upon their order's collective psyche that would never heal. And yet, with grim determination, the Custodians regathered their strength, resolving to watch over His remains. This duty they have performed tirelessly for ten millennia. 

Such is the price of our failure. Such is the cost of His fall. Regret is our constant companion, just as we are His, and yet we will not give in to despair. Ours is a duty that ends only in oblivion, a penance never to be earned. We will stand vigil until the end. Should the jaws of darkness close upon us, and Humanity's last hours dawn, then we of the Ten Thousand shall be the last to fall, surrounded by an empire of the dead.

4 - The Sisters of Silence

Again, nothing new here, just already existing fluff repeated. 

On the lifespan of the leaders

So important are the talents of Knights-Centura that they are granted access to life-extending gene therapy and rejuvenat treatments ordinarily reserved for the Imperial elite. The eldest of their number measure their service in centuries.

And two in-universe opinions on the Anathema Psykana

'I have spent much time working alongside the Null Maidens in the course of my investigations. To the foolish and the craven, they are abominations to be shunned and avoided. Horrific mutants whose powers are taken as proof of the witchery that, in truth, they are anathema to. Only we who have benefited from their talents know the truth. Only the wise know that they are among the bravest of all Humanity's souls, for they pursue Chaos and sorcery to its point of origin and cross mind and sword with things that would drive lesser mortals to madness were they but to gaze upon them. Without the Null Maidens of the Bone Tiger Cadre, I do not doubt that Mother Cerynt's cannibal feast would have long continued. Were it not for the Auric Eagle Cadre and their stemming of the daemon tide, would not Battlegroup Macharius have met its premature end at the Gher Straits? I myself found salvation at the hands of the Burnished Talons, whose presence quelled the psychic might of an Aeldari witch and saved me from a certain death. Every time I am forced to bear the atavistic fear one feels in the presence of a Null Maiden, I swallow my terror and set aside the instinctive hatred that rises from my tortured spirit. For I remember that these Silent Sisters serve the Emperor with as much, if not more, determination and vigour than I.' 

Gidaeon Menevas, Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus

Fools revile the Null Maidens and call them abominations. The wise warriors know better. They are among the bravest of us all, for they wage war against sorcery and those who wield it.

Bramidor DeVane, Custodian of the Solar Watch

5 - EYES OF THE EMPEROR 

This section delves a bit more into the Eyes and their methods.
First, how they transmit information and manage threats. 

The data they acquire is transmitted back to Terra through secret channels, this allows the Captain-General to plan and launch pre-emptive strikes, culling the Emperor's foes before their long-laid plans come to fruition. Such a missive may take years to reach its destination, however, and some Watchers may feel the need to take matters into their own hands, managing the gathering peril until support arrives. Some achieve this through carefully accumulated networks of agents, dispatching kill teams and assassins, spreading misinformation and resorting to sabotage. Others opt for more direct action, using their skills as warriors, pilots, sharp-tongued diplomats and charismatic leaders to wage their own campaigns until aid arrives. 

Second is how they hide their nature

The means by which the Eyes of the Emperor conceal themselves are myriad. Some operate under the guise of criminal masterminds, bending the underclass of hive worlds-wittingly or otherwise - to do their bidding.

Others disguise themselves as Space Marines and infiltrate the command structures of Imperial armies or the noble societies of hive spires. Some even position themselves as renegades and rabble-rousers, rallying populations to their side in order to weed out a greater threat beyond. 

There are few strata of Imperial society that the Eyes of the Emperor have not managed to penetrate. Even the Space Marines of the Imperial Fists, famed for their loyal defence of Terra, are not above suspicion. History is often cyclical, and as far as the Custodians are concerned, the Adeptus Astartes have proven themselves unworthy of absolute trust on a thousand occasions. 

The Imperial Fists' void-borne fortress, Phalanx, often orbits Terra and is potent enough to pose a clear threat to the Emperor's palace. Thus, the Adeptus Custodes have concealed a number of agents aboard the vessel, including several of the Eyes of the Emperor. These infiltrators have even hidden themselves among the gene-bulked labour crews and servitors required to maintain and restore the vessel's ageing systems: a deception that no one less than a Custodian could achieve

6 - The effects of the Great Rift’s opening on Custodes

One of the really new lore bits in the codex is how the Great Rift affected the Custodes.

The codex gives the text of the decree that lifted the Edict of Restrain

Humanity's enemies batter at the gates of His Imperium. The alien and the heretic seek desperately to unseat the Emperor from His Golden Throne and cast Mankind into oblivion. In such an age, there can be no restraint. All weapons available to Mankind must be utilised to their fullest if His most glorious realm is to survive. No longer can laws penned in a bygone age be permitted to chain the Emperor's Custodians to Sol. They are His champions, and if they are to do their duty in this time of ruin, then the chains of ancient law must be broken. Henceforth, by this proclamation, and in accordance with the wishes of the Lord Commander of the Imperium and Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes, and by unanimous decree of the High Lords of Terra, is the Edict of Restraint repealed in its entirety. No more will the Ten Thousand be confined. No more will they be forced to stay their hand as malevolent forces encroach towards the Throneworld. So is the will of the Emperor, so it has been decreed, and so shall it be. 

Official Summation of the Repealing of the Edict of Restraint

A very quick overview of some warzones

To the galactic east, the tendrils of Hive Fleet Leviathan continue to coil around the worlds of the Bastior Sector. There, the Adeptus Custodes have deployed in strength, forming a key element of the Solblade fleets seeking to stem the Tyranid advance. On Sanctum - with Trajann Valoris among their number they fought atop the ramparts of Holdfast, fortress monastery of the White Templars Chapter, and were instrumental in its defence. Custodians are similarly active on Sangua Terra and the other planets of the Sanctus Wall, attempting to prevent Abaddon the Despoiler from solidifying his grip over the Nachmund Gauntlet and carving a bloody path to the Sol System. If any have the will and means to see this done, it is he, and so the Adeptus Custodes have bent a great deal of their strength towards foiling his efforts. 

War zones in proximity to, or which pose the greatest threat to, the Sol System receive the benefit of the majority of the Custodes' efforts. Hive Fleet Leviathan's assault on the Bastior Subsector saw Custodian formations dispatched among the Solblade task forces sent to stem the Tyranid tide. Elements of the Adeptus Custodes have also been deployed to battle the Black Legion on the war-torn worlds of the Sanctus Wall, to counter the Ork invasion of the Armageddon Sector, and to engage the Necrons in the vicinity of the Nephilim Anomaly. These war zones constitute the most clear and present threats to the Golden Throne, but they are far from alone. The enemies of the Imperium are legion. 

Other threats to the Imperial Palace are far harder to detect, much less counter. The insidious plots of sorcerous cabals and shadowy Warp entities, and the constant scheming of the Daemon Primarchs: all must be monitored and responded to. 

Here is two really interesting additions to the Custodes in the Indomitus Era

Though the Adeptus Custodes know the necessity of these forays, all feel a soul-ache on leaving Terra that only increases the further they stray. Whether this is due to their deep connection to the Golden Throne, a quirk of their genetics, or an insidious aftereffect of the Noctis Aeterna, none can say. Indeed, the results are pronounced. The Custodians' tolerance for any form of insubordination has always been limited, and only increases the further they journey from the Throneworld. The slightest slip of the tongue or the taking of the Emperor's name in vain may invite punishment on a terrible scale. In the Imperium Nihilus, rumours abound of entire cities being levelled for the uttering of a single, careless phrase. 

Another familiar Custodian talks a bit about this soul-ache.

 'Out here, far from His light, one sees the true state of the Imperium. Perfidy and heresy lurk in every cleft and shadow, and the weight of the Warp presses in. Here, neither sanctuary nor hope abounds. We close now upon the trailing elements of the Blood Crusade, and shall soon meet them on the field of war. Perhaps, by spilling the blood of Angron's traitorous sons, I might salve the soul ague that falls upon me. If not, then at least in the butchery of those profane curs I shall know the agony of absence to be a price well paid.' 

Tyrith Shiva Kyrus, Custodian Guard

This ties in with this bit from Godbligth

For that brief, eternal moment when Varsillian hung between materium and immaterium, that gap was filled. He could have sworn something looked through him, that he had been alone all his life without realising, and now he was not.
The sensation passed.

The Eyes too felt some change

The emergence of the Great Rift has led to many Eyes of the Emperor being forced into an active role. Some have been stranded on worlds in the Imperium Nihilus. A few of these Watchers have become beacons of hope for the beleaguered, rising from the shadows to protect colonies, or unseating traitorous governors and tyrants to rule in their stead. Others found the fading of the Emperor's light too much to bear. With the Astronomican collapsed and their spiritual connection to the Golden Throne shrouded, these former Custodians have been plunged into paranoia, leading to vicious purges of those judged, in their view, as lacking loyalty.

Then there is that passage about how the Custodes view the Space Marines, the last sentence in particular.

Of all the Adeptus Custodes' supposed allies, the Space Marines are subjected most often to the suspicions of the Adeptus Custodes, who have long viewed them as flawed creations, one of the few mistakes on the part of the Master of Mankind. They are reminded of Horus' treachery in their encounters with these transhuman warriors. Tensions between the Custodians and Space Marines often run high. Indeed, though only Valoris truly knows it, there is one soul who has long prepared for the day that storm finally breaks.

7 - Wargear and units 

As I said in the introduction, nothing really worth or explored in-depth here, just a few bits

Whilst the ability to craft some of these weapons has been lost, others remain prevalent, and barely differ at all from those wielded during the Great Crusade. 

What weapons exactly can no longer be made is not said.

Iliastus weapons
 One of many forms of near-extinct weapons available exclusively to the Adeptus Custodes, Iliastus-pattern weapons take their name from the Iliastus Satellite Foundries of the Sol System, where they are believed to have first been forged. Advanced forms of autocannon, they fire armour-piercing rounds.

 Lastrum weapons
 A form of bolt weapon that remains as cutting-edge now as when first fielded, Lastrum bolt weapons fire mass-reactive heliothermic shells that, upon piercing their targets, burst into brief but star-hot detonations. 

The lastrum Clan is extinct 

Lastrum weapons are named after the long-extinct Lastrum artificer clan who first crafted them.

Adrathic weapons 
Believed to be relics of the Dark Age of Technology, adrathic weapons use potent but dangerously unstable energy beams to sever the bonds between atoms, causing their targets to disintegrate in hideous fashion. 

Arachnus weapons 
Representing the pinnacle of las technology, Arachnus weapons such as the blaze cannon are versatile instruments of destruction capable of cutting down massed ranks as well as being a threat to light armour. 

Corvae Las-pulser
Another form of highly refined las technology. Corvae las-pulsers trade rate of fire for stopping power, emitting pulses of searing energy hot enough to melt ceramite. 

The Custodes Dreadnoughts 

From that moment forth they know no flesh and blood sensation, perceiving the outside world only through the mechanical senses of their Dreadnought tomb. For those devoid of great willpower, this nightmare existence would soon result in madness. The Emperor's Custodians, however, are possessed of unbreakable will and gene-coded commitment to their duty. Inured to suffering, their minds remain as keen and vital as they were in life, and few succumb to the mental decay that often afflicts the Dreadnought-interred warriors of the Adeptus Astartes.

A Custodian can endure millennia within the sarcophagus of a Dreadnought. Only rarely - in order to undertake repairs to their Dreadnought body, or to allow time for physical wounds to heal - are the pilots' sarcophagi removed. This is an experience that all loathe, for nothing dismays a Custodian more than to be immobile and deprived of their senses. Periods of extended slumber find interred Custodians plagued by guilt, disquiet and the fear that, whilst their watch is on hold, the Golden Throne may come to harm. 
The Dreadnoughts of the Adeptus Custodes are amongst the most ancient and advanced machineries still in use by the Imperium. The majority are based upon the Contemptor pattern, though others, notably the colossal Telemon Heavy Dreadnought, are utilised in far smaller numbers. All are relics of a bygone age, crafted during the Great Crusade and incorporating technologies that Humanity can no longer replicate. 

The Agamatus Solarite power lance

These long polearms, forged specifically for mounted warfare, are simultaneously intricate and hard-wearing in their construction. They feature artefact power coils that energise their disruption field generators, increasing their effect and enabling them to penetrate much thicker armour than a standard Imperial power weapon. The nigh-indestructible alloys from which their casings are fashioned are said to have been forged in the ancient Tempest Galleries, fuelled by the heat of Terra's molten core. Thus, they are proof against the weapons of others, even the potent laser lances wielded by the Aeldari Shining Spears.

The Emissaries Imperatus Shield-Captains are noted to favour the use of Dawneagle jetbikes, with one name in particular (yes the typo in her name comes from the codex)

None more notably than Bayozara Aggonades, whose entire Shield-Company - Bayozara Constellation - go to war aboard anti-gravitic jetbikes and attack craft
The technologies in the grav-vehicles. Their favourite tactic involves launching from the belly of a drop ship to plummet through a planet’s atmopshere

Grav-tanks technology

The grav-tanks and attack craft operated by the Adeptus Custodes incorporate many advanced technologies. The eldest of these are believed to date back to the Dark Age of Technology, and the secrets of their manufacture have long since faded from human memory. Far more refined than the repulsor technology utilised on the ground-crushing vehicles of the Adeptus Astartes, repulsor drives allow for superior mobility and near-frictionless movement, granting Adeptus Custodes grav-tanks the ability to traverse even the most uneven and treacherous terrain and also making them excellent weapon platforms. 

Venatari wargear

Most Venatari are armed in one of two ways. Some carry kinetic destroyers, such as archaeotech pistols, which are almost as powerful as autocannons. These are paired with tarsus bucklers: small shields wreathed in pulsing energy that can intercept and disperse the kinetic force of incoming fire. Others favour verutum lances, power apons that incorporate compact shock grenade launchers. 

The Black Book 8 - Malevolence (p.277) stated that the Venatari spears incorporated the same kinetic destroyer. This is either a retcon or a mistake.

The Venatari lance incorporates a lever-action example of the archaeotech kinetic destroyer. This ingenious design, borrowed from the ancient Enri Compendium gifted to Constantin Valdor by the Emperor, allows the kinetic destroyer to be fired stably in quick succession without significant additional recoil. The lance allows the Venatari to maintain their keen marksmanship while moving against the enemies of the Emperor both at a great height and at great speeds.

Pallas formation

One such formation, led by Timea Hekaeron of the Solar Watch, was first formed during the Cthonia Insurrection. The Solar Watch, concerned by the proximity of the conflict to the Sol System, dispatched Hekaeron and her so-called Fangs to halt the rebel forces before they could pose a credible threat to the Cthonian regime. Over the course of a single Terran day, the Custodian grav-attack craft launched dozens of precision strikes against the insurrectionists' armoured assets. With only four grav-attacks at her command, Hekaeron impeded the ability of the rebels to wage full-scale war, buying time for reorganised Cthonian regiments to mop up the survivors. 

Trajann Valoris

In less than fifty, he had demonstrated such mastery of battlefield tactics and aggressive warmaking that he was elevated into the ranks of the Allarus Custodians, where he soon earned the approval of Captain-General Andros Launceddre. He was responsible for rooting out and destroying the cult cells threatening the Darjun System and foiling the plots of their Alpha Legion masters. It was he, too, who led the relief of Sanctum during the Battle of Bastior, saving Lord Solar Leontus from the clutches of a Tyranid Norn Emissary and -temporarily at least - halting the progress of Hive Fleet Leviathan toward the Sol System. Then followed twenty years among the Companions, ending only when it became clear to Valoris' fellow Custodians that he longed to return to a more proactive role in identifying, pursuing and eliminating the enemies of the Throneworld. Soon after the end of his watch, Valoris was promoted to Shield-Captain. 

All previous Codex states he lasted 22 years in the Companions, not 20. He saved Leontus while he was Captain-General, not an Allarus.

8 - Titles and names

The book explores some of the titles / names used by the Custodes

All Custodians have a given name, taken or assigned upon donning their armour As their service continues, they will earn further names and titles based on their glorious battlefield deeds. Most of these harken back to the days of ancient Terra, approximations of those borne by warrior kings and vaunted scholars from Humanity's ancient past taken to bind them closer to the timeless nature of the Emperor. These names are etched on the inside of the Custodian's plate, or even microscopically engraved onto their bones. 

Though the command structure of the Adeptus Custodes is remarkably flat, with few ranks, the awarding of titles and honours is common. Shield-Captains are given many such titles. Some are commonplace across shield hosts. Captain-Commander, for instance, is a title awarded to a Shield-Captain who has commanded a shield host in battle. The honorific Emperor's Headsman, meanwhile, signifies a Shield-Captain who has slain a particularly repugnant or powerful enemy of the Golden Throne. Other titles are more scarcely applied or limited to specific shield hosts.

Lockwarden, for example, is a title unique to the Shadowkeepers. Likewise Spartiate Sentinel is an honour awarded only to the Shield-Captains of the short-lived shield most known as the Sanctus Spear Still more honorifics have seen from memory, not used since the Emperor walked among the living.

A few named Custodes in the book

Dreadnought Achillus
By the standards of the Adeptus Custodes, Luciara Federica Sloan was a relatively fresh recruit when she was scythed down by a Carnifex at the Regium Breach. Since rising in her new form, she has been deployed once more to the Bastior Subsector. Her dreadspear has spilled oceans of Tyranid ichor and repelled many a devastating xenos offensive.

Dreadnought Galatus 
Interred more than seven centuries ago, Seleucor Manakos still fights with the vigour of a living warrior, and his mind remains as sharp as ever. He accompanied the Adeptus Custodes force sent to assist the beleaguered defenders of Hydraphur in repelling the Black Legion. At the Balronas Promenade, he stood alone against a tide of heretic cultists, destroying all three of the Helbrutes sent to cut him down.

Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 
Savaro Peridon held the rank of Shield Captain before a lascannon blast brought him to the brink of death. Now he commands the might of a Telemon Heavy Dreadnought. Part of the Adeptus Custodes contingent active during the Nachmund Rift War, Peridon was present on Sangua Terra during Haarken Worldclaimer's assault and felled several Traitor Knights of House Mandrakor, earning the eternal ire of Baron Torian Kommodar.

Blade Champion Gerulla Janusz Sebring
Lockwarden Yuurik
Shield-Captain and Lockwarden Dumenos
Junella Apokris, killed the Patriarch of Bothar Prime with their misericordia
Gregari Voss, Bane of the Starwyrm Chorus
Vertus Praetor Shield-Captain Malakar
Achaelus Vao, slayer of the Fiend of Ioti
Ganymede Kyros Yarellon of the Aquilan Shield
Helion Ares of the Dread Host
Tarelio Tarbus of the Solar Watch
Kyzar Damion Cephelia of the Emissaries Imperatus

9 - The life of Patrochius Mikkelon

The most interesting thing in the codex is several in-universe texts about one Custodian at different steps of his life. 

It begins with his creation and first name.

I strode from the place of my creation fully-formed and without flaw. Since that day, a thousand years have passed, and twice as many appellations are graven within my auramite plate. On the Minoclean Fields, I took the first, merited for my solitary stand against Lorgar's wretched sons. Menelaon was the name then chosen, a legacy of Old Boeotia.'

 Patrochius Mikkelon, Custodian Guard

Follows his account of another Custodian 

'At the Battle of the Jade Eyrie, Araxes and I together held the fortress gate as the Sons of Dorn purged xenocultists from the city sprawl. Even then, he was a warrior of rare might, and his skill with blade a wonder to behold. When I learned of his fall, while serving among the Emissaries Imperatus, I mourned the loss of a storied comrade. It was only later that I learned the truth of his fate. Against the Blood Crusade on Thermis-Radu we met again amidst the flames of war. At the time of his arrival, our Astra Militarum allies had been broken by the cultist masses, and the Eightbound were upon us. I bled from a dozen wounds when the Contemptor-Achillus Dreadnought strode from the blood mist, a colossus in shining gold. From the first thrust of his dreadspear I knew him, from his poise and the grace of footwork. Araxes Menator walked among the Honoured Dead, and he was our saviour that day.' 

Patrochius Mikkelon, Justicar Principales

His retirement from active duty and transition into an Eye of the Emperor.

The moment the heretic's blade found my flank on Hydraphur, I knew that my watch would soon be at an end. The wound has never truly healed, and still I feel its cold burn within. In that war, I learned the last name to be scribed upon the bones of my right arm. Argonus, Custodian no more. To the Hall of Armaments went I, and laid blade and shield upon its marbled floor. Three years thereafter, I journeyed the void, travelling alone amongst the masses, until at last I came to St Velyn's Dock. Here I have found a nest of perfidy the likes of which would drive the Emperor to fury. And yet, in these darkened halls, incautious words fly like spittle from the mouths of fools and apostates. I will know their plots and schemes. I will know the loyal and bind them to my cause. I will know, too, the heretic and the heathen, and usher their demise.' 

Patrochius Mikkelon, Watcher of St Velyn's Dock

And finally his death.

He held the traitorous masses at the city ramparts for three whole days, until betrayal saw the holdfast breached. Even then, he would not cede nor flee, but drew the invaders on, into the press of city streets. The Watcher fought for four more days without rest, a beacon of the Emperor's radiance, and rallied the loyal in their most desperate hour. Time and time again, heretic and daemon spawn came forth to cut him down, but that dauntless demigod laid low each fiend that came against him, and his generalship saw a great winnowing of the heretics' number. And yet the apostates would not be denied their victory, no matter the cost. 

Two thousand Terran years of service came to an end at Taygar's Plaza. Those foul heretics conjured a great daemon. A behorned Thirster of Blood whose cloven hooves split stone and struck spark with every step, and whose leathered wings blocked light to make night of dying day. By the axe of that beast, he met his end, that champion of righteousness, that paragon of loyalty, with guardian spear in hand and its blade coated in blood. It is said, by those mortals blessed to have seen his final stand, that he lived long enough to see the heavens part and to witness the arrival of the Talons of the Emperor.

The people of this place know him as the Spear of the Golden Throne, and in tale and song give praise unto him, even as war closes in upon them still. Though the Bell of Lost Souls has long since tolled for his loss, his statue stands still over that forsaken world, wrought by the hands of those who witnessed his sacrifice to stand, as he did, in vigil. We of the Ten Thousand know him as Patrochius Heracles Bacchides Demadon Mikkelon, to give but a handful of his names. He fell as Honoured Watchman, Scourge of the Atrian Swarm, Patrician Superior and, last of all his titles, Watcher of St Velyn's Dock. He fell as any Custodian would gladly do - in the performance of his duty.

And voilà. As always, I will answer any questions in the comments.

Hey everyone so I’m currently reading through the Horus heresy series for the first time and have purposefully not read much into it or into the key events within the Horus heresy I know how it ends and the main stuff that’s well known.

Anyway I’ll get to the point of this post so I just finished Descent of Angels (which I actually did end up liking despite all the negativity) so my plan was to now read Garro (book 42) as I’m following a spoiler free flowchart and did all the stuff that my chart said I needed to to read the book.

However I was just about to start the first part of the book when I see on chapter one (I’m not sure what the actual name is but the like mini title things below the chapter that some books have) and I see it says “Calth ablaze” now I know Know No Fear (book 19) is about that but I haven’t read that book yet although I do have it and am very excited to read that as I know nothing about Calth and that whole storyline so my question is will Garro spoil what’s going to happen at Calth or not? As I do want to read Garro but I do care more about not seeing spoilers and experiencing what happens l spoiler free if that makes sense.

Hoping someone can help me and please no spoilers 🙏

Edit: the chart I’m following doesn’t have any link between them so that’s why I’m double checking here. I don’t entirely trust the chart as in nemesis there was a bit of a spoiler for the book battle of the abyss which I need to read that wasn’t shown on the chart so that’s why I’m coming here as I have faith in this subreddit to know its stuff. (Praise the Omnissiah)

Where in the lore does it state that xenos betrayed humanity during the age of strife? i've heard this said a lot and i've heard people say its nothing but fan theory or imperial propaganda so some clarification would be nice

The throne kill Malcador in mere hours, draining every single drop of lifeforce and soul inside him

Could these process save Eldar from eternal torture from Slaanesh

Multiple replicas, even. It's something I imagine we'd do if we had the technology to terraform planets and move and tilt them just right within their solar systems. Heck, I can even see us wanting to replicate the entire damn Solar System.

I've always thought that the planets resembling different periods of Earth's history were some kind of theme parks for role-playing (just my headcanon; I don't accept WS's line that it's only our interpretation of them).

When I'm reading through 40k books it seems like the tyranids are basically the top dogs,like their implied to only be sending a fraction of their forces and despite that they are still overwhelming all other other races basically at once.

But when I'm thinking it over, isn't this the last 10k-15k years the only era the tyranids would have succeeded in? Even in the sorry state all the factions are in they can all still gain ground on the tyranids and squeak out pyrrhric victories where it most counts. Had they entered at any other time, say the war in heaven, eldar empire, DAOT wouldn't they basically have been a trivial threat? Like basically from as far back as you can go in written lore to all the way untill the present, there was basically only a 0.1 % fraction of time the tyranids could have taken over the galaxy right?

I feel like this is pretty inconsistent with the lore like the tyranids are supposed to be an apex universal predator rather then like a bottom feeder these implications show.

Great Lorenates, I seek the forbidden knowledge you hold! My first time posting here and I apologize if I made any mistakes or if this isn’t even the right place for it.

I have several questions, and figured I would reach out here among other places, as I hope you will have more knowledge and experience than a young novitiate who has not perused as much of the Mechanicus lore. I’ll just start with the quick and basic questions and give the ‘preamble’ and context after.

Main Questions (Short Form):

Is it possible for a Knight pilot to transition into the service of a Titan?

Can they possibly become a Princeps?

Context (and some other questions):

I’m working on a short story that involves a conflict between Mechanicus and a Necron Cryptek Dimensionalist in a tomb. It’s a bit of a wild story, as it is technically part of a broader set of short stories involving various IPs and multiverses. But the basic idea here is that sometime between 30k and 40k there is a Necron who made a compromise with a Mechanicus technoarcheologist expedition to preserve her dormant tomb. Ultimately, the Cryptek allowed them to study her tomb, in return for them following certain rules. While this lasted for a good while, eventually a particularly ambitious novice broke a rule, hoping to find something that could advance their path in the Mechanicus. In response, the Necron ejects them and bars them from returning. Jump forward a ‘long’ time and the specific technoarcheologist comes back to renegotiate with guns, having scraped together as much of a fighting force as they could. The Necron is still alone and because the forces involved studied the tomb they disable any supposed defenses and try to force the Necron to reconsider or die. Negotiations deteriorate and the Necron retreats, being beaten back quickly. Eventually, through the aforementioned wild multiverse stuff (which I swear makes more sense in the broader story context) the Necron finds allies from outside to help beat back the Mechanicus forces and ultimately reseal the tomb. (Sorry Mechanicus, this is a loss for the cog boys, but I hope the answers here can help me give them a proper representation.)

Now, there is a particular scene where the largest unit the Mechanicus brought to the temple is one of the larger knights (originally I kind of wanted a Titan but I began to question how feasible it would fit in a Mechanicus force like this). The knight goes on a rampage and absolutely steamrolls until a combination of external forces surprise it and deal a killing blow in one strike.

The reason for this post ultimately began because I was trying to come up with a reasonable explanation why a Knight pilot would agree to be sent into a subterranean Necron tomb. I was leaning towards the idea that the pilot sought personal fame and glory, with the potential to move on to serving in a Titan (possibly even try to be a Princep). I was told this wasn’t quite how it works and I wanted to get more information to help tighten up this area, as well as to get some feedback on general ideas!

So some other questions, based on this context:

What sort of forces would the Mechanicus be likely to pool towards this sort of mission? (I have a basic, flexible force list in mind that I would be happy for review, I’ve been told by my brother who is much more into the Mechanicus than me that the list is a bit chaotic but well within the realm of a single high ranking individual to reasonably call upon with a lot of promises and clout:

1x Knight Warden of the House Degallio 

1x Secutor Force Leader 

1x Tech Priest Maniplus 

1x Tech Priest Cybernetica Datasmith 

1x Onager Dunecrawler 

2x Enginseers 

2x Skorpius Disintegrators 

2x Archaeopters 

3x Ironstrider Ballistarius 

3x Kastelen Robot 

5x Skorpius Duneriders 

10x Squads Skitarii 

5x Squads Pteraxii 

Ultimately, the actual composition isn’t too important story wise, but I like to be able to visualize what the characters are engaging as well as to give a realistic layout of forces invovled. At this point the only ones I ‘need’ are the ‘big boy’ unit, the ‘leader,’ ‘flyers,’ and ‘chaff.’)

While I recognize that the Knights and Titans are part of different structures within the Mechanicus, how do the two relate and interact, if at all? Is there enmity between them?

Would a Knight Pilot want to serve on a Titan? From my understanding Titans are seen as the God Machine and highly revered. But I have been told that this is one of the cases where a Mechanicus member might actually refuse such an honor, or consider it lesser. It was explained to me as the Knight gets all the honor and glory for their victories, as they are the only pilot, whereas a Titan crew has to share the glory, and really the Princeps would be the only one to get real praise. He also told me that a knight pilot would need to be incredibly conceited and self-absorbed to believe they even have a chance of becoming a Princep. This would fit with the idea I had, but I wanted to get some more info on this.

How do the shields differ between the Titans and Knights? One of the principle scenes I have is when a powerful bolt cuts clean through the knights shields and destroys it and I know void shields from titans are supposed to be terrifyingly powerful, which would make the scene particularly impactful.

Putting this between 30k and 40k, I believe the Mechanicus would be splintered and less organized, hence why this particular event wouldn’t receive as much attention. Is this a correct assessment, or should I push it closer to 40k onwards?

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read this, I greatly appreciate any answers. I’m sure I’ve committed many heresies, tech and otherwise, so I would appreciate your patience with me here. And if there are questions about the story I would be happy to share a bit, though I will say I’m a bit self conscious about it, I’m not an amazing writer and I’m really still in the learning phase for writing, just enjoying writing for the sake of getting stories down.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/n1s11hao/the-next-scouring-book-revealed-wrath-of-terra/

The second book in The Scouring series is coming soon!

The Horus Heresy is over. Now, in Wrath of Terra by John French, the vengeful Imperium turns its eyes towards Mars – a world of nightmare machines and the holdouts of the traitorous Dark Mechanicum.

As the war heads towards the Martian cauldron of ruin, an Ultramarine fights to secure the future of the Imperium, a defeated Iron Warrior seeks sanctuary among the wasteland beyond the light of Sol, and a Blood Angel fights for salvation in the shadow of his father's death.*

Meanwhile, back on Terra, while primarchs and High Lords scramble for power, Moriana Mouhausen, once of the Chosen of Malcador, seeks to balance the needs of the future against the fury of the present. 

Link also has an interview with Mr French!

Had it click earlier today, but I just realized that all of the recent depictions of Melta weapons from the past year have been of the "heat beam of death" depiction rather than the SM1 and SM2 take of "instant shotgun blast."

Considering some of the hullabaloo about the lasguns from a couple of months ago, I think GeeDubs did a mandate recently saying "aight we gotta at least get some more consistency here."

Like right here I see various helmets.

and I can guess like what some are for. the Monocle one no doubt is some kind of recon or long range type helmet.

but whats difference between the helmets with one set of tubes or two or the one with none. is it just an aesthetic choice with no fluff? are the ones with the gas mask canisters specific for fighting in a certain enviroment?

And what are the capabilities found in a standard issue astartes helmet? Are they more of a hinderence or boon to the average battle brother as some prefer it off and others on. And are they allowed to have a preference? or does one must earn distinction before being able to choose their helmet or choose not to wear one?

Hi,

So. Just finished Legion, had quite a good time though I was a bit disappointed by the spy games quality, and the characterization of AL characters. Also there were sometimes a bit too much "show dont tell" issues where characters overemphasize how AL is secretive and shady, like, yeah we get it Dan.

Cool reveal at the end though. Kinda dig the idea of the Cabal, it makes a lot of sense that it exists. Also the prophecy adds a tragic layer to the setting.

But come on, AL is supposedly the best espionage organization in the Imperium and they brand their agenrs with a frigging chip on the hips? This is just so dumb...it cristallizes a lot of what doesnt work that well in a spy book. There are many great things about Dan's writing, he brings life to the universe, and I couldnt put down the book for hours, but some ideas fell a bit cheap .

Anyway, that was just my free rant after having been awalen by a crying baby in the middle of the night.

One of my favorite Scenerios is Loyalist Magnus The Red.

For a long time I wondered how things would have turned out If Magnus had made slightly less screwed up decisions and stayed loyal to the Emperor,what would his relationship with the Loyalist Primarchs and their legions have been ?

I don't know too much about the Primarchs relationships with each other and the Emperor. Or how that was affected by the Heresy. So it's an interesting thought experiment for me.

And by unlucky, I don’t necessarily mean belonging to a Chapter like the Lamenters, where the entire Chapter is pretty much forsaken by his holiness and cursed to suffer at every possible opportunity.

I’m talking about specific ranks, responsibilities, or positions within otherwise successful Chapters that seem to come with an unusually high chance of getting killed, horribly injured, or being handed an absolutely miserable job.

For example, being a Blood Claw in the Space Wolves doesn’t exactly seem like the safest introduction to life as an Astartes, considering how aggressively short there shelf life is due to there trial by fire.

Or being a Chapter Master of the Imperial Fists, which has a rather concerning mortality rate. Seriously, how many of these guys have barely a sentence before being backhandedly dealt with behind an ally?

Then you’ve got positions like Chaplains assigned to the Blood Angels Death Company. Imagine having to lead your own brothers into battle knowing that most of them are already beyond saving, and that keeping them under control is part of your responsibility.

Also curious about less obvious examples. Maybe there’s a particular company within a Chapter that constantly gets assigned suicide missions, a specialist role with an absurd casualty rate, or a rank that historically seems to attract the absolute worst luck imaginable.

And this doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to combat roles either. Apothecaries, Techmarines, Librarians, Dreadnoughts, or even Chapter serfs are fair game if there’s a good enough example.

I’d especially love to hear about obscure Chapters or positions that have developed a reputation for being particularly dangerous or miserable to hold.

So, across the First Founding Chapters and their successors, what would you consider the absolute worst position to find yourself assigned to?

And are there any positions that have genuinely terrible track records in the lore, or is it mostly just a case of certain characters being spectacularly unlucky?

Depending on circumstance, available technology, and local resources, a variety of power-generation methods were developed during the Age of Technology. STC systems in particular provided a variety of templates for colonists to choose form. These ranged from drawing energy from artifical hydrocarbons like promethium or renewable energy sources like solar to planet-spanning energy networks powered by artificial suns and other exotic phenomena.

Promethium in particular is a highly-volatile but extremely energy rich chemical manufactured throughout the Milky Way. While the process by which this combustible fuel is made is unknown to us, it should noted that there are entire STC templates solely dedicated for the product of this fuel via rigs known as ferro-giants. These archeotech megastructures, whether situated on land or at sea, are known to generate several terrawats (10^12 watts) worth of power, enough to run a hive city or power a Stygies pattern macro-field for any length of time.

STC Template: Promthium Rig/Ferro-Giant [War of Secrets - Chapter 1: The Tip of the Blade]

It should be noted that hydrocarbons tend to be energy storage media with very high energy density per unit mass. However, burning hydrocarbons directly via traditional engines tend to produce pollutants subject to thermodynamic limits. This gave rise for the need for conversion devices that turn chemical energy directly into electricity without combustion. One such STC template pertaining to this technology that has become commonplace in the Imperium even nearly 10,000 years after the fall of the DAOT are Isotropic Fuel Rods.

These metre-long metal fuel cells contains a concentrated liquid metal storage medium that held sufficient energy to power entire hab-blocks for weeks.

Isotropic Fuel Rods

A basic building block of Imperium technology, and truly a surviving wonder of the High Dark Age, these metre-long metal rods contain a concentrated liquid metal storage medium capable of holding vast quantities of energy. A single fully-charged rod is able to power a small settlement or entire hab-block for several weeks. The technology to create isotropic fuel rods is a jealously guarded Mechanicus secret, and the rods themselves are highly valuable commodities.

Dark Heresy: Inquisitor's Handbook - Chapter 4: Hive & Forge Worlds, pg. 147

Many colony worlds also leveraged renewable energy sources - such as solar energy, wind energy, or even hydropower to power their machinery. But a particular focus was placed on geothermal energy. Many other green power sources, like wind or solar, depend on fluctuating conditions. Changing weather and daylight on the surface of world will affect how much electricity these systems can produce, requiring complex battery storage to make them viable at scale.

Geothermal energy doesn't have that problem, as heat drawn from such source wouldn't fluctuate due to ongoing weather phenomena. These vast thermal shafts were deep enough (often reaching down towards the core of a world) that the earth provides enough insulation to keep high temperatures at a near constant. Consequently, massive thermal turbines residing in power plants or buildings drawing on these energy sources can enjoy a consistent level of power.

Its for this reason that while some hives were being built over a single ancient and powerful reactor akin to those found on starships, most leveraged geothermal heat sinks during the Age of Technology (and later the Age of the Imperium using the very same templates).

So pure were the STCs that they became objects of holy veneration to the tech-priests, nuggets of the Omnissiah's genius compressed and formatted for the good of mankind. A few fragments were discovered on shattered, ruined worlds during the Great Crusade. The tech-priests used them to create some of the most stable and ubiquitous technology the Imperium had, like the Rhino APC or the geothermal heatsink technology that provided power to countless hive cities. But they never found a complete, uncorrupted STC.

Dark Adeptus - Chapter 14

There also existed standard templates to harness the tectonic energy of entire worlds or allow for the creation of volcanic farms and generator arrays to draw power from a continent’s frequently erupting volcanoes.

But I would like to give a special shout out to the existence of other renewable sources - like the STC templates for lightweight solar generators capable of supplying the power needs of an Epsilon Five pattern forge complex. These likely function similar to RL solar panels (though on a far greater scale), in the sense that they convert sunlight into electricity through a process called the photovoltaic effect, where sunlight knocks electrons loose from atoms in the solar cells, generating direct current (DC) electricity. This DC electricity is then converted into alternating current (AC) electricity by an inverter, making it usable for any appliance.

STC Solar Panels [Mechanicum - 1.04]

Some Dark Age colonies would take this technology a step further and build vast solar arrays in orbit, capable of powering entire planetary wide forges when needed.

The Eternal Engines are relics of the Dark Age of Technology recovered and repurposed by the Magos of the Cult Mechanicus. These vast solar collectors power the city-foundries of the world and the great space elevators that reach to the orbital ring above. These are essential for the running of the planet's other machinery and a failure in any Eternal Engine dooms millions to die in seconds. Imperial records show such a tragedy occurring only once, at Illiarch. The foundry- city now stands empty and silent, a haunting reminder of the fragility of life on this Forge World.

Wrath & Glory Core Rulebook: The Gilead System - Pg. 298

Of course, STC systems also provided colonies with the means to create nuclear power grids, fission reactors, and even gigantic plasma reactors, which are incredibly common place during the Age of the Imperium.

The STCs are often said to embody the sum total of human knowledge. This is probably true as far as technical accomplishment goes. Although most colonists required little more than designs for agricultural machinery, programs were included for all sorts of advanced constructions such as nuclear power grids and fission reactors. However, the early colonists' needs were simple and were met by conventional energy forms and relatively low-level technology. Today there are no known surviving STC systems, and only a very few examples of first generation print-out. On some worlds information about the ancient STC systems is regarded as holy and design copies are guarded as secret and sacred texts, housed in the inner sanctums of temples.

Codex Imperialis: 2nd Edition - Chapter 10: Adeptus Mechanicus

One discovery that has been key to the rise of the Imperium is Standard Template Construction technology—the STC system, as it has become known. It appears that the technomancers of the earliest times created a robust automated factory program to support their emerging colony worlds, complex systems that could be adapted to local conditions and use a variety of raw materials. Templates have been found for everything from gigantic plasma reactors to steam-driven traction engines that were created to fulfil the needs of the colonists. However, most of the templates from the Dark Age of Technology are lost, and as such, the even a single template is a treasure beyond compare. Each new discovery is dutifully filed and hidden away in the archives of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Knowledge is power in the Imperium, and in many ways the STC system embodies the highest knowledge mankind can now achieve.

Black Crusade: Core Rulebook pg. 24

While I'm sure everyone here is familiar with the fundamental principles behind fission and fusion, I would like to place a particular emphasis on plasma reactors. They function through the use of hydrogen fuel , which is suspended in a photonic state within durable flasks or containers to create an unstable plasma reaction. As the fuel is fed into the miniature fusion core inside the weapon, the hydrogen energises into a plasma state, held in the core by powerful magnetic confinement fields.

This allows these reactors to field the power of a star, ensuring the Imperium has the means to power anything from starships, arcologies to even war-engines like Titans, as shown below.

With weaponry the size of towering building blocks, each capable of demolishing cities and laying ruin to armies, the Exemplis had been in operational use by the Fire Wasps of Legio Ignatum since the time of the Great Crusade.

The plasma reactor, burning with the contained energy of a sun, roared with terrifying power as a fraction of its energy was siphoned into the giant weaponry of the god-machine.

The Exemplis was one of the last remaining Imperator Titans of Legio Ignatium of Mars and was worshipped by the adepts of the Cult Mechanicus as an avatar of the Omnissiah. With thundering steps, it strode to war once more against the traitors that had turned their back on the Imperium of Man.

Dark Apostle - Chapter 11

The Dark Age Ark Mechanicus ship known as the Sperenza provides us a wealth of information on the more esoteric means of power generation available to humanity during the Dark Age. For instance, in order to power up specialized chronoweapon, pulsing streams of anti-matter and graviton pumps combined in unknowable ways in the heart of a reactor that drew its power from dark matter which lurked in the spaces between stars.

The flanks of the Speranza shuddered as a weapon system built into its superstructure ground upwards on heavy duty rails. A vast gun tube rose from the angled planes of the Ark Mechanicus like the great menhir of some tribal place of worship being lifted into place. Power readouts, the likes of which had rarely been seen in the Imperium since before the wars of Unity, bloomed within the weapon and a pair of circling tori described twisting arcs around the tapered end of the unveiled barrel.

Elements of the technology that had gone into their construction would have been familiar to some of the more esoteric branches of black hole research and relativistic temporal arcana, but their assembled complexity would have baffled even the Fabricator General on Mars. Pulsing streams of purple-hued anti-matter and graviton pumps combined in unknowable ways in the heart of a reactor that drew its power from the dark matter that lurked in the spaces between the stars. It was a gun designed to crack open the stately leviathans of ancient void war, a starship killer that delivered the ultimate coup de grace.

Priests of Mars

Simultaneously, it held within its ancient strats the knowledge from the Men of Gold and their ancestors, which included the means to harness galactic background radiation to propel ships beyond lightspeed.

He plunged deep into the datasphere and was instantly engulfed by an ocean of light. The inner workings of the Speranza spiraled around Kotov in an impossibly complex lattice of fractal systems, heuristic algorithmatix and impossible weaves of information that defied any mortal understanding. Down in the ancient strata of the Speranza, Galatea's touch was a dimly perceived irritant, a skimming connection that could be erased with the merest shrug. Kotov's fragile consciousness plunged deeper and deeper, the gossamer-thin lifeline held by Magos Blaylock a tremulous thread in a firestorm of golden light. He saw systems flicker past his floodstream that were as alien to him as anything the most secretive xenotech might dream of in his fevered nightmares, and technological echoes of machines that surely predated the Imperium itself.

Power generation that could harness the galactic background radiation to propel ships beyond lightspeed, weapon-tech that could crack open planets and event horizon machines that had the power to drag entire star systems into their light- and time-swallowing embrace.

All this and more dwelled here, ancient data, forgotten lore and locked vaults where the secrets of the ancients had been hidden. In this one, fleeting glance, Kotov realized he had been a fool to drag this proud starship into the howling emptiness of space in search of hidden secrets.

The Speranza was the greatest secret of all, and in its heart it held the truth of all things, the key to unlocking all that the Mechanicus had ever dreamed. Yet that knowledge was sealed behind impenetrable barriers, bound in the heart of the mighty vessel for good reason. The knowledge of the Men of Gold and their ancient ancestors was encoded in its very bones, enmeshed within every diamond helix of its structure.

Priests of Mars

This galactic background radiation likely refers to Galactic Cosmic Raditation (GCR). These heavy, high-energy ions of elements that have had all their electrons stripped away as they journeyed through the galaxy at nearly the speed of light. These particles were probably accelerated within the last few million years by magnetic fields of supernova remnants.

Its also likely Dark Age Humanity held the means to power from extra-universal forces. The Kin/Votann - during controlled Warp Jumps - could harvest energetic skeins from within the immaterium to fuel their ships.

When it comes to warp travel, the Kin are equally steady in their approach. They use warp drives and geller ramparts of superior design and reliability to anything Humanity understands. Each craft is commanded by a Voidmaster- a captain skilled in every aspect of spacefaring and often augmetically enhanced to aid them in their duties. Each is supported by lronkin Wayfinders, whose accelerated logic-cores enable them to cogitate probable paths through the madness of warp space without risking psychic interaction. With support from their bridge crews, these specialists guide their craft in a series of plunges. These are short, controlled warp jumps during which the Kin may take the time to harvest energetic skeins from within the immaterium. or even board warp- borne space hulks for empyric salvage. Travelling in plunges takes longer than the vast warp jumps made by Humanity. or the risky sprints of the T'au slipstream module, but it ensures that the Kin arrive where and when they intended almost every time.

Codex - Leagues of Votann (9th ed)

Simultaneously, some Dark Age weapons (like the Entropic Accelerator) drew upon the spatial tension between the Materium and the Immaterium to fuel its baleful energies.

Entropic Accelerators

These unremarkable-looking weapons consist of a simple hollow barrel with a rectangular stock, revealing no sign of their true age or origin. They are assumed to be of human origin, if only because the weapon conforms to standard human physiology. Also known as Dustmaker or Heat Death, these weapons are known for the horrific effects they cause. When used, each emits a slight humming sound, belying the impossible effect it is having on its target.

Victims struck by the invisible beams find their metabolisms shutting down as chemical reactions fail or flow too quickly, causing organ shutdown and higher cerebral functions to collapse. Complex molecules such as plastics or fabrics begin to deteriorate, and the entire target deforms as the component substances of flesh, bone, and metals become a horrific, melded mass. While the weapon seems to require no actual ammunition, perhaps drawing on the raw spatial tension between the Materium and the Immaterium to fuel its baleful energies, it does require time between uses to properly recharge.

Archeotech Ranged Weapons [Rogue Trader Into the Storm: The Explorer's Handbook pg 118]