Adeptus Custodes

The Custodian Guard, otherwise known as the Adeptes Custodes, are the Emperor of Mankind's personal guardians in the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000.

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

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

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

The Adeptus Custodes were instrumental in the ending of the rule of Lord Vandire and the Age of Apostasy. It was the actions of a few members of the Adeptus Custodes, utilising secret passages known only to themselves, which caused the Sisters of Battle, then known as the Brides of the Emperor, to realise the acts of base treason perpetrated by Vandire. After their leader, Alicia Dominica, was brought before the Emperor by the Custodes she returned and assasinated Vandire for his Heresy.

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

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

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

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