Home Brew custodes

[the emperor is scottish]

Morning Gang.

From what i've heard I believe GW are planning on having the custodies split up into 'shield companies'? or something along that vain. Basically the custodies equivalent of SM chapters.

Still not sure the leeway we will have in creating our own custodies force but I like the idea and have been wracking my brain trying to create some fluff round about a possible force I might be starting.

So the idea behind this thread is for you to post what your custodies 'chapter' is about and what paint scheme they might be rocking.   

The few ideas I've had floating around are that my custodies force do not see themselves as the humanities greatest warriors or heros but rather their greatest failures.
They live in torment that they failed to protect the emperor during the assault on the vengeful spirit. 
Gone is the lustrous gold of their armour replaced by bare gunmetal and battle worn armour.
The holy red now a mourners black.

The triumphant imagery of eagles and lions replaced by morbid imageries of death and bone.
 

Bleak and unforgiving warriors they have set forth from terra to wreck a terrible vengeance on the traitors and to try and amend for their 10.000 year shame.


That's all I really have so far. I want to replace some of the custodies helms with the death masks of from the stormcast range. I don't know if this will be force wide or just on the hero's and or the elites.
Some minor greenstuff work maybe to replace lightning bolts with something a tad more morbid and a little more fur and rougher textures instead of all the flowing cloth and silks.

I would like to work in there somewhere a hatred or displeasure of the ecclesirchy. I don't see the custodies being a fan of this group in the slightest.

Anyway that's my two cents. Let me know what you think and what you have.

[Charlo]

Not a bad idea at all, though I think there are issues.

 

After the War in the Webway & the Siege of Terra, the numbers of the Custodes were decimated. They had barely 1000 warriors left before the siege even started (with half injured). I'd imagine that those who remained afterwards would have stayed by the throne at all costs and not rushed off on some vengeance campaign (as that is much more of an Astartes reaction).

 

But, now in the 41st millenium we are back to full strength of 10,000 so it opens up some possibilities.

 

Your shield company could be a place for Custodes who fail in duty to go, or a group set aside as a reminder that even 10,000 years later, even after the mourning black has been stripped away, they still remember their failure and hunt down the most dangerous traitors as vengeance.

[Kelborn]

Nice idea and theme to talk about.

 

I got an idea about a shield company hunting and making sure that Terra's secrets remain secret. For example, chasing after rumors of one of surviving members of the lost legions or anything which might shake the Imperium in its foundations.

 

Colors would be black & silver or dark green & gold or dark blue & bronze / bone white.

 

Don't know if that fits The black / golden company. Could be though.

[the emperor is scottish]

Thanks for the reply's and the advice guys.

Charlo thank you for your kind words.

 

Yeah I didn't plan on having them go head over heels after the siege. My plan was they set out now in the 41st millennium with the new lore opening up that the custodies are leaving earth. Silently stewing a brooding for millennia.
I love your idea that they are a company dedicated to 'fallen' custodies. Though's who's grief has over come them or who's hatred burns to deep.
Maybe their obsession with death/death of the emperor is seen as a almost borderline cultish (word?)

Your idea is also very cool Kelborn.
What about a white for them? Like a ceramic white or pearl white with a dark red almost maroon for the cloth?

[Charlo]

I'd avoid any mentions to cults or beliefs. The Custodes are probably the only true proprietors of the original imperial truth; enlightenment through science and knowledge. They will be wracked with guilt, but it will be out of a sense of duty and failing their leige-lord, not obsessing into cult behavior.

 

They could easily represent the best and worst of the Custodes at the same time, while I'm pretty sure they are genetically incapable of not following orders, they can still fail and that is where the shame will come from. They represent the worst as a reminder of previous failings, but they represent the best as they have chosen to remember this failure, learn from it and be a constant reminder to their companions that they are not infallible. 

[Kelborn]

Maroon clothes, golden details and white armor? Or golden / black armor with white details?

 

I really like that combination, thanks!

 

Regarding your idea, so they are a fatalistic / depressive bunch of guys, who blame themselves for the loss of the Emperor and view themselves as the lowest possible scum?

 

How about self-chastisement?

 

What would their purpose / goal be? Redemption? Going out with a big bang / with the highest possible death-toll?

[TURBULENCE]

I haven't thought of any fluff yet, kinda want to read The codex before doing anything like that. But colour wise I'm planning to go black armour, red details/cloth and silver trim. I'm just not a huge fan of gold as a colour

[SlangWhanger]

Just thrown a few ideas together about a shield-company, let me know what you think!

 

The Leones Celebrant, the Emperor's Executioners.

Where we walk, none remain.

 

The Leones Celebrant are specialized in hunting down and exterminating key targets in the war against Chaos and have been taking part in small scale operations for millennia before the return of Guilliman and the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum. They can spend decades hunting certain individuals and will often use other Imperial forces to lure their targets out. When they strike they do so with utter brutality and bloodshed, not only killing their target but also damaging the morale of entire armies. The shield-company is secretive even for Custodes and they have learnt to traverse the galaxy undetected, yet when they do appear in battle they do so in the full panoply of the Emperor's protectors: shining golden armour with flowing purple robes and fluttering banners. The Leones Celebrant make good use of Castellan Axes, further emphasising their name and role as the Emperor's Executioners.

 

A strike force of the Leones Celebrant under the command of Shield-Captain Obedarion is currently working alongside the Flesh Tearers, drawing out elements of Mortarion's vast armies and executing his Lieutenants whilst they are over-extended. However, Obedarion's true mission is known only to himself and Captain-General Valoris: kill the traitor Primarch Mortarion.

[Kinstryfe]

I like the idea of them being, in effect, the modern members of the shield-company that accompanied The Emperor aboard the Vengeful Spirit. Obviously none of the originals would still be around, but say 6 Custodes survived, and as they rebuilt they developed a culture of shame at their failure as well as a wicked case of survivor's guilt. After all, none of the heresy era Dark Angels are still around, but they still feel shame over what their legion did. They could even be somewhat fatalistic, seeking out challenges most Custodes would think of as foolhardy or borderline suicidal, and knowing that their absolution will only come when they join The Emperor in their eternal reward. Almost a Valhalla-type belief. Avoiding Gold as a color makes total sense, though something like one gold shoulder pad or another piece of armor could be symbolically neat, representing both their shame and their hope of absolution.

 

Would it be too tongue in cheek or wrong for them to go by the name "The Vengeful Spirits"?

[the emperor is scottish]

@ slang: Really like it mate. You could tie the force in with the INQ or even an assassin temple?
My only gripe would be the golden armour. I doesn't really scream secrecy how ever neither do custodies being over two meters tall and clad head to toe in armour with a small power plant on their back so choose whatever paint scheme you want and ignore me lol.

@charlo and kel: Thanks again for the feedback guys really appreciate it. When I said the word cult I wasn't aiming at them being the founders of a cult rather than maybe the ecclesirchy view their 'obsession' with the emperor's death as suspect or unseemly.  Possibly even some of  terran high command.
Possibly just better to avoid this though right? and just stick to the shame and wrath aspect.

 

@Charlo: I really like the idea that they seem to be the hubris buffer to other custodies that they are not exempt from failure and that , in their opinion, they are the imperium's greatest failures (outside of the traitors).   

 

Maybe their goal should be to die on the anvil of war. Go out swinging. Cleanse themselves of failure in the fires of war.
When the indomitus crusade was launched they see it as their opportunity for atonement. Throwing themselves at the traitors with a wrath and fury untamed. Seeking out champions and princes of the gods. To smash the hold the gods have on the material realm. Slaughtering the traitor legions and demons alike until Abbadon, fulgrim, motarion, and the rest of the ill got en ilk  are dead at their feet. Only then reaching their mailed fist into the realm of the gods themselves.
 

[Paradogmatic]

Still need to read my codex but I'm thinking a small shield company who's sole purpose is to track down any and all Archaeotech which might allow the Custodes to correct their greatest failure; the loss of the Emperor during the battle of Terra. The moment shackle held by Trajann Valoris demonstrates that movement through time is theoretically possible and rumours abound of other more permanent options.

 

If there is any possibility of the ten thousand of 40k stepping back to the Battle Barge to beat back Horus in the last moments, then the Custodes would likely pay any price to right that shame. For now this small shield company seeks out any and all rumours which might lead to anything which might lead to ultimate victory and cleansing the shame of the Custodes; they operate with full autonomy, doing what they deem necessary at all times.

 

They're going to tie in to the meta-story behind my other Imperial forces -- the Admech Explorator fleet of misfits with a strangely independent detachment of Primaris and Marine bodyguards as well as a mysterious inquisitor from a lost Ordo. They all will fit together in my mind-meta.

[the emperor is scottish]

I really like that idea paradog.
Sounds like you've got a very polished concept that will tie your forces together in what is my opinion a really cool bit of fluff. 
Any idea of colour scheme?

What would you guys think of a dirty bronze colour?
Slightly different from the gold but not diverging from the original pallet to much.

[Paradogmatic]

I really like that idea paradog.

Sounds like you've got a very polished concept that will tie your forces together in what is my opinion a really cool bit of fluff. 

Any idea of colour scheme?

 

What would you guys think of a dirty bronze colour?

Slightly different from the gold but not diverging from the original pallet to much.

Originally was going to go plain vanilla-ish ( sample model ) :

 

 

But its a bit samey and I'm thinking of doing this -- ( Photoshop manipulation ) :

 

 

++edit - removed some green on his power-pipes -- also please ignore the green on the weapon -- that'll be more neutral

Edited February 9, 2018 by Paradogmatic

[Kinstryfe]

Ooh I like the red black and gold. I actually kinda like the idea that they've semi-inverted the classic Custodes colours.