Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-6078851-20130130174042/@comment-7186329-20130316170645

There are is a multitude of questions, aplicable about the Custodes, and a lack of information about them therefore they could probably be the prototype or biproduct of initial genetic experimentation done by The Emperor.

The Alpha Legion are not exclusively stationed within the Eye of terror, it has been stated that they have numerous bases around realspace in the Milky Way. My argument about the alteration of the primarch gene sample is valid.

Thank you for the lesson of basic genetics, here is an advanced level.

The Emperor himself was in sense engineered, his very DNA altered in the womb. Because of that even the genetic code passed that is passed on to children has been changed and controlled. When an human undergoes the proces of becoming an astartes his very dna is changed, anatomically speaking an astartes is technically not human, and becomes a separete enhanced version of the original species, a `super-species` if you will. However the genetic code of the emperor cannot be changed, as he was born with his abilities, an astartes is `made`, by what can be called an assembly process. The separete organs and modifications are made one after the other, in most cases. The organs manufactured and implanted in the human to turn them in an astartes can be modified. The gene sample purity of space marines chapters is kept in check and regularly monitored. The fact that the gene sample can mutate also means it can be altered delibaretly. With that in consideration it is possible to add or modify the gene seed of an entire chapter by altering the organs before they are transplanted in a human, turning them into a modified astartes. The Grey Knights are an example of this, one in a million becomes a GK, suggesting that a normal human can indeed survive the gene organs implanted in them if they prove resiliant enought.

It is also possible to alter the gene seed and organs of a `regular` astartes. You simply take out the transplanted and added organs and put in the new ,modified ones. Whilst the mortality rate of this will be high, there is the possibility of survival should the right precautions be taken and taking in account that the modified organs are transplanted into a human who is already enhanced with an astartes resiliance the chance of survival increases even further.