A Custodian Guardian Spear
The Guardian Spear has been the signature weapon of the Adeptus Custodes since the time of the Unification Wars in the 30th Millennium, and in many ways their symbol of office. Elegant and deadly, it is a potent and unique design incorporating a Power Blade and a highly advanced integrated bolter weapon, and in the hands of a Custodian Guard it can strike and parry at blinding speed despite its size. More rarely, these weapons mount not bolters but advanced, specialised sub-weapons such as compact Meltas or even Adrathic Disintegration Beamers, issued against the deadliest of expected foes.
A Guardian Spear known as a "Vigil Spear" is also wielded by Deathwatch Watch Masters, the senior-ranking Astartes officers within the Ordo Xenos' Chamber Militant, the Deathwatch, who serve as the commander of a Deathwatch watch fortress or other Deathwatch headquarters installation. The fabled weapons carried by these elite warriors are symbolic of their roles as sentinels. This is a sign of great trust, for it is the same weapon borne by the Emperor's personal warrior elite, the Custodian Guard, yet modified to fire the signature bolts of the Deathwatch which contain substances anathema to their targets. When a watch master joins the fight on the front line, he cuts down his foes with a cold precision that leaves monsters and tyrants slain in his wake.
Notable Variants[]
Guardian Spear[]
The Guardian Spear is the most common type of weapon utilised exclusively by the Custodian Guard. The power field surrounding the blade of this weapon is capable of hewing a Chaos Space Marine in two. This deadly weapon also incorporates a Bolt Caster, a double-barreled Bolter weapon able to strike at targets from afar. It can lay down a hail of fire, cutting down Traitors, Heretics and xenos threats with ease.
Adrasite Spear[]
An Adrasite Spear is a Guardian Spear that incorporates an Adrathic Destructor, a potent weapon of the Dark Age of Technology, that fires a directed energy disintegration beam of phenomenal destructive potential, long gathered to the Emperor's household and entrusted to no other. Utilised primarily by the heavy shock troops of the Tharanatoi caste, these dark relics are only issued against the deadliest of expected foes.
Pyrithite Spear[]
Rarely, a Guardian Spear does not mount the usual bolter, but advanced, specialised sub-weapons. The Pyrithite Spear is one such variant which incorporates the deadly Melta Beam, a type of compact Melta Weapon.
Paragon Spear[]
A Paragon Spear is the most beautifully wrought and deadly weapons of the Custodians' arsenal, which incorporates a built-in Paragon Bolter. These storied weapons are wielded by the most noted Shield-Captains and Tribunes amongst the Ten Thousand of the Adeptus Custodes.
Dreadspear[]
In addition to their standard armament, such is the dexterity and power of a Contemptor-Achillus Dreadnought, that they are able to wield scaled-up versions of the iconic weapon of the Custodes, known as a Dreadspear, with devastating power.
Vigil Spear[]
A Vigil Spear is a Guardian Spear that is used as the traditional armament of the Deathwatch Chapter's watch masters.
Sources[]
- Codex: Adeptus Custodes (8th Edition), pp. 37-39, 47, 52, 76
- Codex: Deathwatch (7th Edition), pp. 33, 52, 64, 74, 105-106
- Codex Supplement: Deathwatch (9th Edition), pg. 54
- The Horus Heresy - Book Seven: Inferno (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 117, 243-244, 262, 269
- The First Heretic (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
- Burning of Prospero Imperial Datasheets
- Forge World Webstore - Legio Custodes Adrasite Spears
- Forge World Webstore - Legio Custodes Pyrithite Spears
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