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Much of the Grey Knights history remains in mystery and secrecy or has been purposefully removed from archives. However according to legend, the Grey Knights began as a project during the final days of the [[Horus Heresy]]. The Emperor foresaw that the Heresy would likely end at such a great personal cost to himself that he would be prevented from actively defending mankind from the great threat of Chaos and its Daemons, so he set in motion a plan to form a defence against such evil. [[Malcador (Character)|Malcador]] the Sigilite, closest of the Emperor's servants, was sent to search across the [[Imperium]] for men suitable to rise to such a burden.{{Fn|1a}}
Malcador found twelve worthy champions; four were lords and administrators, and eight were Space Marines from both loyalist and traitor [[Space Marine Legion|legion]]s. These included survivors of the Eisenstein incident, [[Nathaniel Garro]], [[Amendera Kendel]], [[Lemuel Gaumon]], and [[Kyril Sindermann]]. During the founding of the organisation others would join them including [[Tylos Rubio]], [[Macer Varren]], [[Revuel Arvida|Janus]], the [[Nemean]], [[Fel Zharost]], and [[Garviel Loken]].{{Fn|18}} {{Fn|19}} {{Fn|20}} Many of the Space Marines that joined the cause hailed from [[Space Marine Legion|Legions]] that had turned traitor, though they themselves had remained loyal to the Emperor. However, not all of these Knights-Errant would go on to form the Grey Knights. Ultimately , shortly before the [[Siege of Terra]], Malcador gathered the original Grey Knights to his side. Their original identities were made secret, but were known to history as [[Janus]], [[Epimetheus]], [[Khyron]], [[Koios]], [[Ogen]], [[Iapto]], [[Yotun]], and [[Satre]]. Once they had been gathered, the Emperor surveyed the chosen recruits and granted both his approval and consent to proceed with the project. So the recruits split ways to go off towards separate tasks; the four lords ventured off to lay the framework of the [[Inquisition]], whilst the Space Marines and Malcador traveled to [[Saturn]]'s moon of [[Titan (Moon)|Titan]].{{Fn|1a}}
Titan, through Malcador's mystical means, had been hidden away from the ravages of the Horus Heresy. When they arrived they found a [[Fortress-monastery]] already fully prepared and stocked with everything necessary to create a new army of Space Marines including supplies of gene-seed, which is suspected to have been taken from the Emperor directly, and all the necessary armaments. The fortress was also already populated with hundreds upon hundreds of suitable recruits from across the [[Galaxy]]. Some were raw and untrained, whilst others were selected in secret from among the ranks of loyalist Legions. This new army would be a [[Chapter]] — a smaller, tighter brotherhood of Space Marines than a Legion. Malcador could no longer remain and thus he appointed [[Janus]], one of the eight original Space Marines, to be the Grey Knights leader and take the title of [[Grey Knights Supreme Grand Master|Supreme Grand Master]]. Before leaving, Malcador cast his greatest enchantment yet; he hid Titan away from Horus in the most unlikely of places, inside the [[Warp]] itself. Titan was protected by Macro-[[Geller field]]s and sigilic rites whilst the final battles of the Heresy took place in [[Real Space]].{{Fn|1a}}