Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-25149066-20140730083800/@comment-6078851-20140808042823

no techpriest would ever lay a hand on the golden throne with the intention of attempting to repair it because, besides it being probably the highest form of heresy, no-one bar the emperor ever had any idea how it actually worked, and it's questionable if even emps actually understood how it functioned seeing as it came from the dark age of technology. and any attempt to try and repair it would require retro-engineering at the very least, and then a fair amount of inovation, which is effectively forbidden in the imperium - although i like the image of a bunch of techpriests rummaging around in the throne, emps' carcass heaped unceremoniously to one side, and having reassembled it are left with a bunch of 'spare' parts :P     oh, and the throne has no capacity to resurrect emps.

as for the custodes, they are indeed emps' bodyguards and warriors without peer, but they're not soldiers. soldiers work en-mass and as part of a team but the custodes are in very limited numbers, and as is shown in some novels they don't work particularly well as a team (at least in comparison to astartes). a custodes could take an astartes in single combat, but as part of a numbers-based engagement, say 100 vs 100, the astartes would most likely mop the floor with custodes. custodes are first and foremost, and only, the bodyguards of the emperor - they were never designed for galaxy spanning warfare.