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Lore / Black Library question for AC


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So AC seem to be a little different than what we normally see in the 40k lore as far as personalities go. Depending on the book they can come off as distant, deep, elitist or jerks.
 
Dark Imperium they are getting under Girlymans skin.
 
In HH they were a little snippy with Dorn in a mini story.  
 
First Heretic - I don't remember.
 
The Carrion Throne they seemed distant and set apart.
 
The Emperor's Legion they seemed more human then even space marines.

 

 
So in your opinion how is GW and black library trying to define AC in the lore? Elitist jerks of the imperium? Or is GW still trying to define their roll and every author is just doing their own thing?
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They are both elitist and distant, yet more human (neither of the former prevents the later.)

 

Space marines are conditioned from the word go to be post human in mind and in spirit, not just body. They are raised above humanity into figures of mythology and transformed into angels of death. Hypnoindoctrination forever means that they no longer even think like human beings would and their basic distance from such a primal and foundational emotion as fear causes them to be unable to relate to people.

 

We know a bit less about custodians. Are they raised up? Yes. To be bodyguards. They KNOW they're not at the top because their very existence is about protecting the one who is. This creates a sense of elitism (because who else can be trusted to protect Him on Terra?) but also a sense of humility (because NOBODY should be worthy of such a role.) You also have the sense of failure that post-30k custodes have to handle since they failed to stop the Emperor's 'death' at Horus' hands. This tempers them a bit. We don't know for sure, but I don't think that they're hypnoindoctrinated like marines. I think they're raised up and then tempered the old fashioned way. This creates a, albeit, small connection to the rest of the species that many marines lack.

 

Look at the more 'human' marines chapters (salamanders, ultramarines, etc.) and you'll see a group who've taken pains to keep some connection to their humanity intact. Ultramarines have to govern Ultramar, which means working with mortals. Salamanders live amongst the people they were raised from. Custodians walk the streets of Terra and one of them sits amongst the High Lords. They have a connection and it keeps them more relatable.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Keep in mind that they were meant as Big Es bodyguards and advisors. Thex were his most trusted companions, those, who were there from the very beginning.

 

I'd say it is part of their nature to be closer to mankind than the expendable muscle the Astartes were meant to be.

 

Regarding the seat in the counsil, they just aquired it shortly before the opening of the Great Rift.

 

Overall I'd call them reclusive, elitist with a human side and a conviction/ purpose, which Astartes could only dream of: the closest thing to a battle scholar we can get on the imperial side. Imho, one if not the most interesting imperial factions.

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I think the best view you’ll get of them is from Master of Mankind. They’re far more individual than Space Marines but I don’t think there’s any great inconsistency in how they’re portrayed by BL.

 

All their actions can be viewed as them doing their job. They’re snippy with Dorn because he oversteps the mark and the Custodian reminds him that all Custodes speak with the voice of the Emperor and that even a Primarch cannot give them orders. Same for RG.

 

They’ll always be distant and set apart because they primarily view everything through the lense of protecting the emperor and consider absolutely everything a possible threat. Yet their creation and their training gives them more individuality than marines and more personality so the difference between individual custodians is more similar to the differences between different space marine chapters rather than the different marines within those chapters.

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I highly recommend reading Emperor’s Legion as it takes place in the most current time line... really good too.

 

That one and carrion throne are really good.  Once I finish the Larry Correia book I'm on I'm going to do a AC run.

 

So we have; 

Dark Imperium (40k)

Carrion Throne (40k)

Emperor's Legion (40k)

First Heretic (HH)

master of mankind (HH)

Am I missing any?

 

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Blood Games is a HH short story about the Custodes, it’s a pretty good read.

 

They also appear briefly in The Beast Arises series but that part is a travesty of poor writing where the Emperors own bodyguard and two warhound Titans are barely a match for 2 Eldar. Honestly it’s a joke of a scene so I wouldn’t recommend it.

 

Another good source of stuff, although it’s not BL, are the Forgeworld Black books. They’ve got some great background on them in it. They’re expensive though so might be easier to find a detailed summary of it online :)

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I highly recommend reading Emperor’s Legion as it takes place in the most current time line... really good too.

That one and carrion throne are really good. Once I finish the Larry Correia book I'm on I'm going to do a AC run.

 

So we have;

Dark Imperium (40k)

Carrion Throne (40k)

Emperor's Legion (40k)

First Heretic (HH)

master of mankind (HH)

Am I missing any?

As already mentioned, FWs Inferno and the current codex are great additions and give quite a lot of background, etc.

 

I'd like to add Auric Gods, written by Nick Kyme and released as part of BLs novella series. Though Kyme is for some quite the opposite of Wraight or A D-B, I enjoyed this one, nonetheless.

 

It felt like it should have been released along with the codex as it draws many details from it as well as of the already mentioned stories.

 

Besides several Custodians, it also features mortals and their respective interactions and the likes. It is set after the events of Cadia and Emperor's Legion so I'd recommend to get familiar with those prior to Auric Gods. :)

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