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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
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→Biology & Recruitment: more careful wording
The process of creating a Custodes is far more grueling and time-consuming than that of a Space Marine. Unlike Astartes, whose recruits begin implantation during adolescence, the creation of a Custodes must begin during the subject's late infancy. The genetic tailoring of each Custodes is unique and far more complicated than the comparatively crude Astartes. Originally, it was said that the Emperor himself oversaw the creation of each and every Custodes.{{Fn|17a}} However, now, although the gene-enhancements that create new Custodes are shrouded in secrecy, the most accomplished bio-alchemists and [[chirurgeons]] of Terra are trusted with their creation, allowing new Custodes to be made even after the Emperor's death. The exact method of their creation remains unclear; they do not receive simple implants like [[Space Marine]]s. Rather, bio-alchemy is used to trigger the subject's own transformation, an effect that takes root in their cells and very soul.{{Fn|25d}}
It is said that the first Custodes recruits were drawn from children of Terran nobility,{{Fn|25d}} from the firstborn sons of those patriarchal noble houses of pre-unification Terra, whom otherwise would have inherited who were destined to inherit their fatherhouses's kingdoms. Noble daughters can could also be recruited{{fn|79}}{{Fn|Notes}} The practice continues to this day, and new initiates are drawn from infants among noble Terran children{{Fn|25d}} though if the number of noble Terran recruits run out, other overt or secretive recruitment methods are also used. Though an exact age of recruits is not given in sources, it is stated that literate individuals are already too old{{fn|79}}{{Fn|Notes}}. New recruits are presented before the '''Avenue of Sacrifice''' outside the Ascensor's Gate of the [[Imperial Palace]]. A handful of these aspirants survive the grueling genetic enhancements and training necessary to become a member of the Emperor's personal guard.{{Fn|19}} How long the process takes is not known, though it is substantial and ends with the subject taking their name from the mythology and history of Terra. Such is the potency of this enhancement that there are no finer or more fearsome warriors in the Imperium than the Custodians. Biochemically fashioned from infancy to function as supreme combatants, tacticians, and bodyguards, they are death incarnate to those who defy the Emperor’s will.{{Fn|25}}{{Fn|25d}}
The cellular alchemy that creates the warriors of the Adeptus Custodes leaves them forever touched by a spark of the Emperor’s own divinity. Beyond their martial might and incorruptible nobility, this energy manifests itself as an almost supernatural warding, as though the Custodians were protected by the hand of the Emperor. Bullets and bolts are turned aside at the last moment, blades fail to strike home, and even the psychic powers of the foe can suddenly and inexplicably flicker away to nothing in the face of the Ten Thousand. Some Custodians find that the holy light of the Emperor glows around them in a sublime halo, blinding enemies in their glory, forcing them to recoil in pain and terror.{{Fn|25}}
