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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
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The source of the [[gene-seed]] of the Custodes is a mysterious issue, if indeed they even ''have'' something similar enough to [[space marine]]s for the term "gene-seed" to have meaning. Some say that the Custodian Guard are to the Emperor what the Space Marines are to the Primarchs - that the Emperor's own genetic matrix was used in their creation and through this, their loyalty to him is assured.{{Fn|14a}} Others argue that the Custodians are not like the Emperor in the way that a Space Marine is like his Primarch, and that some other source was used as a template for their physical and psychological form, a source that was lost during the anarchy of the Age of Strife.{{Fn|12}} Recent sources, however, seem to firmly establish that the Custodes were created from the flesh and blood of the Emperor himself. {{Fn|19}} The genetic enhancement that forms the Custodes is different from and predates that developed to create the [[Space Marines]].{{Fn|3}} Each Custodian is a unique work of art, the product of genetic lore collected over many lifetimes.{{Fn|15b}}
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 deathinternment upon the Golden Throne having been wounded by Horus. 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, who were destined to inherit their houses' kingdoms. Noble daughters 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}}
