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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
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[[File:Custodesimage.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Custodian Guard c.[[M31]] (during the [[Great Crusade]] and [[Horus Heresy]]).]] The '''Adeptus Custodes''', renowned as the '''Golden Legion''', the '''Brotherhood of Demigods'''{{Fn|19}}{{Fn|Notes}}, the '''Golden Brotherhood'''{{Fn|19}}{{Fn|Notes}}, and a host of other titles ('''The Custodian Guard''', '''The Guardians''', the ''' Emperor’s Saints''',{{Fn|36a}} the '''Watchers of The Throne''', '''The Thousand Companions'''{{Fn|9}}, '''The Ten Thousand'''{{Fn|15a}}), but most commonly known as '''Custodians''', are the guardians of the [[Imperial Palace]] and the [[Golden Throne]], as well as the personal bodyguard to the [[Emperor]]. Due to the vast size of the [[Imperial Palace]], the Custodes always act as a defensive army.{{Fn|1}}.
Spaced out images a bit.
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[[File:CustodesArt.jpg|thumb|right|A Custodian of the Adeptus Custodes]]
Together with the [[Sisters of Silence]] they represented the [[Talons of the Emperor]] as the right hand of the Emperor with the Sisters as the left.{{Fn|25f}} For much of their history the Custodes rarely left the Imperial Palace and even more rarely left [[Terra]]. It is the Adeptus Custodes that decide who may enter the throne room of the Emperor, and when. Such is their authority in this matter that [[Space Marine]]s and [[Inquisitor]]s must kneel before them. Custodians are the mightiest of mankind's warriors. They are to the Space Marines what those transhuman warriors are to common [[guardsmen]], an elevated elite whose raw strength and willpower are wholly insurmountable.{{Fn|19}}{{Fn|25}}
==History==
[[File:Custodesimage.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Custodian Guard c.[[M31]] (during the [[Great Crusade]] and [[Horus Heresy]]).]]
The Adeptus Custodes were known originally as the '''Legio Custodes''' or '''Custodian Guard'''. The original Custodians were the first genetically and psychologically altered warriors to appear in the Emperor's armies during the [[Terran]] [[Unification Wars]], where they served as the Emperor's personal bodyguard.{{Fn|4a}} The original recruits of the Custodes were from the offspring of Terran nobility.{{Fn|19}} Some of these were later grouped into [[Squad Dynastes]], dubbed the ''Lords of Terra''.{{Fn|56}} The first known appearance of the Custodes was early in the Unification Wars during the fall of the [[Techno-Barbarian]] fortress at [[Wikipedia: Nassau (region)|Nas'sau]].{{Fn|17a}} However, the origins of the Custodian Guard are shrouded in myth and legend. During the Great Crusade, the Custodes always kept a contingent with the Emperor for his protection, but also traveled individually as envoys. The Emperor valued the Custodians above all his other warriors, and while he was willing to expend countless servants he was always hesitant to bleed his Praetorians.{{Fn|15}} After the Emperor's internment in the Golden Throne, the Adeptus Custodes took a limited role as protectors of the Imperial Palace, as ordered by Roboute Guilliman in the [[Edict of Restraint]].{{Fn|19}}{{Fn|22c}}
