Conn Eremon Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 The Custodes of pre-Heresy and post-Heresy are two very different things, and we know very little about them post-Heresy. It's difficult to judge what they should be doing when you don't even know for sure if they are even there. I don't recall any mention of their leader being a High Lord, whether fully endowed or as stripped of authority as Vangorich, and I believe that is an established, if rotating, role for them in 40k. For all we know they found having the Custodes and the Imperial Fists both defend Terra redundant, but decide to reinstate the Custodes right after this major galactic war that saw the Imperial Fists all but destroyed and Terra itself under grave threat. And that goes for other Terran defenses as well. The Imperium was at (relative) peace. And peace can be hell on military establishments. Bases get abandoned, weaponized fortifications get mothballed and troops go home. Luna was quite possibly one of the most powerful weapons Terra had during the ancient Siege, but two thousand years later it very well could have been stripped down and made toothless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
God-Potato of Mankind Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 I think of the Custodes as the right hand of the Emperor. A role that is essentially usurped in the wider galaxy by the Inquisition. I think them being relegated to guarding the Throne Room and it's immediate environs is quite likely. It is an age of political machinations, where they have nobody to instigate their authority. You see it alot in history, a body of troops or similar has huge power, only to lose it when their patron is assasinated or dies. Without the Emperor to marshal and expand them, they are sort of left stranded with their role of protect the Emperor. Emperor's on Terra. Base-camp it up guys. There are lots of stories of Custodes being at the vanguard of the Great Crusade, I imagine that's unlikely to continue. They're probably even rarer resources than Astartes too. Perhaps the method of their creation died (or the method of efficient creation) with the Emperor? So they physically can't expand beyond garrisoning the Throne Room, let alone send out teams to the wider Galaxy. Moving on fromt he Custodes though - I forgot to add this - how barmy is the Mechanicus in this era? Oh noes, the Orks are invading? What should be do? Deploy the Titan Legios? Deploy the armies of battle automat and skitarii and other assorted Dark Age murderdeathmachines/weapons? "Nah fam, teleport us somewhere we can continue chillin" On a more serious note, this could again reflect a weakening from the loss of Patronage from the Emperor. The pact between Mars and Terra was sealed by the Emperor, without him that faith has seemingly decayed where they see their duties to the Imperium of less import than their own. Dangerous stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karden00 Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 I feel like an attack moon appearing above Terran orbit would pose a very significant threat to the Emperors personal safety.... But still no deployment of Custodes? ... ... Really? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caladancid Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 More spoilers for books to follow are up on Amazon, but they are no greater than the Black Library short details already up there. Still a little salty that Vulkan appears again only to die. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veterannoob Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 Oh, well now I know that I guess:( The custodes is a good question. I can't wait for the next installment . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caladancid Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 It isn't like Black Library is making it a secret, that same info with all the rest of the books was up on the app last week or so. Apparently they want people to know the general topics of the books before they are released. I am still excited for the Sisters of Silence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veterannoob Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 I hear you. Been holding off on all forums TBA threads until I finish each new book. I'm glad they give teasers and such but I don't know 40k fluff as well as most here so I'm learning a lot but can still be surprised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caladancid Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 If this thread is any indication, the series is even surprising people who do know a lot, so you aren't alone there at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaeron Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 I hear you. Been holding off on all forums TBA threads until I finish each new book. Haha, I'm doing the same - just ordered The Last Wall today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conn Eremon Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 Much of the 32nd Millennium was an unknown. Really all we knew about it was "there was an ork called the Beast that severely messed up the Imperium," and "there was a grand master of assassins who took out the High Lords and forced the Astartes, most notably the Ultramarines, to take him out and temporarily take over." By simply showing that the 32nd Millennium Imperium is not the same as the 31st or the 41st, everything becomes a revelation. Just finished The Emperor Expects. Lord knows I've expressed my distaste for Thorpe's writing in the past, but this book was rather enjoyable. Really, I've been enjoying the entire series so far, with the notable exception of those utterly idiotic sounding Wall Names. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karden00 Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 And do the Solar Auxilia exist anymore? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klisof Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Solar auxilia were part of the imperial army, so if they are still around they will be part of the imperial guard. It's likely they do still exist somewhere in the galaxy, the guard have a lot more variety of equipment and tactics than shown in the present codex. I would guess their numbers are much lower and they would be on deployment to the frontier systems where fighting was happening prior to TBA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conn Eremon Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 The Solar Auxilia were a pattern of organization within Imperial Army, which I doubt survives the transition to the Imperial Guard. That said, regiments of the Solar Auxilia might have survived, in some form, as regiments of the Imperial Guard. After all, the Lucifer Blacks did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veterannoob Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 I hear you. Been holding off on all forums TBA threads until I finish each new book. Haha, I'm doing the same - just ordered The Last Wall today! It's sooooooo good! Some of that is just the storyline. Gav Thorpe is coming on today's ep of Combat Phase again which will be up tonight. We continue our coverage of TBA and Gav talks book 3 Emperor Expects ... and our interview is now beginning but do enjoy The Last Wall! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix Antipodes Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 The Custodes have never been portrayed as being anything but ground troops so even if they wanted to be proactive they don't have their own fleet to do so. After all, they are the Emperor's bodyguard and would place that role above all else. We also don't know just how many remain in this time. Their numbers would have been severely diminished between the Webway wars and the Defence of the Imperial Palace and the Emperor is no longer there to replenish their numbers. I don't recall any fluff on them having a replenishing agent such as the Astartes gene seed (fluff gods please advise). Do they even have the numbers to mount an attack on the Orks and still defend the big E? While they are mentioned in passing in the latter part of book 3, I agree that they should be more visible in a series with large parts set within the Imperial Palace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeritorA Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Custodes always were a bodyguard unit. They could be uber proffesional regarding the protection of their charge, but in the end on a battlefield against the SM formation they would be chopped to pieces Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger9gamer Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 I liked the book, but still Predator, Prey is number 1 of the series for me. The action this time around was good, but like other people I just couldn't get over the fact that terra had so little. I imagine they at least would keep some missiles around or something to shoot at it! Then again it was probably a different time than modern 40k, and the high lords are all idiots (even Vangorich I think) I would have liked to see some evesors or something unleashed on the warmoon, and thought that was what was going to happen, but I was pretty dissapointed when it didn't. Also I like the slow build up of the Admec's Experiments, along with that one tech priest that started to "help" out the assassins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkangilos Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Yeah, I'm sure the Custodes are there. They rarely pop up. I mean even when Terra was in a huge war with Vandire they only showed up at the end. They probably think it's best to keep all of the Custodes they can at the throne room. After all, if they lead an assault on a moon, the Orks can counter attack the throne room, and who would be left to protect it? But as of now, we also know they do replinish their number is some ways. There is a book about it, i think. Blood Games? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apothecary Vaddon Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Blood Games is a HH short that revolves around the eponymous Blood Games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix Antipodes Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 I look on Terra's lack of preparedness in much the same light as How Rome was sacked by the barbarians. Most of their Legions were on the frontier. Once they were bypassed there was nothing of significance to stop the enemy from closing in on the capital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix Antipodes Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 There was one thing in the latest novel that struck me as odd: While I understand that they were in deep shock after the Ork moon's arrival, I found it strange that in this period of fervent Emperor worship that no one seemed phased at his possible capture and/or destruction of the Golden Throne. Not even the Astartes seem concerned for His welfare. (Shrugs) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger9gamer Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 There was one thing in the latest novel that struck me as odd: While I understand that they were in deep shock after the Ork moon's arrival, I found it strange that in this period of fervent Emperor worship that no one seemed phased at his possible capture and/or destruction of the Golden Throne. Not even the Astartes seem concerned for His welfare. (Shrugs) Yea, that is kinda a big plothole... but it would make sense if they all were just concerned for themselves rather than the Big E, because all the High Lords are the worst of humanity in every way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b1soul Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 I look on Terra's lack of preparedness in much the same light as How Rome was sacked by the barbarians. Most of their Legions were on the frontier. Once they were bypassed there was nothing of significance to stop the enemy from closing in on the capital. Terra is not Rome A weakly fortified Terra is very unfluffy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix Antipodes Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 There was one thing in the latest novel that struck me as odd: While I understand that they were in deep shock after the Ork moon's arrival, I found it strange that in this period of fervent Emperor worship that no one seemed phased at his possible capture and/or destruction of the Golden Throne. Not even the Astartes seem concerned for His welfare. (Shrugs) Yea, that is kinda a big plothole... but it would make sense if they all were just concerned for themselves rather than the Big E, because all the High Lords are the worst of humanity in every way. The High Lords I can sort of understand. It's the lack of concern from the Astartes that I find strange Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix Antipodes Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 I look on Terra's lack of preparedness in much the same light as How Rome was sacked by the barbarians. Most of their Legions were on the frontier. Once they were bypassed there was nothing of significance to stop the enemy from closing in on the capital. Terra is not Rome A weakly fortified Terra is very unfluffy A 30K and/or 40K weakly fortified Terra is indeed unfluffy. The former was fortified by Dorn himself and the latter learnt from 10000 years of experience (possibly starting with the lessons they are learning here) to fortify every inch of the road to Terra. The Imperium of 32K is 500 years into a period of relative stability and being run by a bunch of self centred [censured]. Most of those defences are probably still there. The willpower to use or man them seems to be what's lacking. (Shrugs) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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