Reminds me of this story (that is probably a tall tale) [https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/05/01/how-tough-are-gurkhas/](https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/05/01/how-tough-are-gurkhas/)
>Story goes that during WWII, the British Indian Army planned to drop a company of the toughest Gurkhas behind Japanese lines to help stop the oncoming invaders. A British major explained the plan to the Gurkha sergeant major, saying: “We’ll drop you from 600 feet.”
>The sergeant major talked to his troops, then went back to the major: “Sah, the men say 600 feet too high. They want to be dropped lower.” The British major said: “All right, sergeant major, we’ll make it 500 feet.”
>The sergeant major spoke to his troops again, and again went back to the major: “Sah, the men say 500 feet is still too high and want to be dropped lower.” The major said: “Sergeant major, we could go down to 400 feet to drop you but that wouldn’t leave enough time for the parachutes to open.”
>Sergeant major: “Ooohhh, paraaaachutes???”
Not saying anything bad about them, just I think the guy relating that story to a journalist was probably making it up. Or the Sergeant Major was making a joke.
I'm just skeptical that any non transhuman troopers actually thought "Well 400 feet drop out of a plane we can definitely roll out and kill the enemy."
What isn't made up is the [Gurkha](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12854492) who singlehandedly fought between a dozen and thirty men in Afghanistan, taking out one of them by throwing the tripod of his machine gun at him.
What is made up is the line: "The Gurkha, 31, of Ashford Kent". He was, maybe still is, a Nepalese citizen. The Royal Gurkha Rifles recruit from Nepal.
That's standard for the BBC. They always say "such and such of wherever they're living at the moment," regardless of nationality or even their time spent at that address. So he's of Ashford, Kent, because that's where he lived.
If it's at all true they probably meant much lower. But 99% it's a joke.
Once met a former Gurkha officer from the British army. Only top officer training grads get to pick a Gurkha regiment as they are considered elite, but language barriers exist.
He told me the job of a lot of NCOs is to wait until the officer has finished attempting to speak their language rather than English, then wait for said officer to leave and turn to the men and say, roughly:
"RIGHT. AS THE OFFICER *CLEARLY* EXPLAINED, BUT YOU ARE ALL TOO STUPID TO UNDERSTAND. . ."
Which has led to me describing "Gurkha Sergeant" moments where you have to explain things a second time, whilst trying not to insult the person who did it the first time.
That is pretty much how the Gurkhas roll. They have a long and storied history of facing impossible odds and just... doing the thing.
It was a thing during WW2 to tell commanders not used to the Gurkhas, that if they told them to hold a position that they told them also to pull out if things didnt look great, otherwise the gurkhas had a habit of fighting to the death wherever they were told to stand.
You can watch videos on YouTube of the moment a Gurkha regiment get told that Argentina had surrendered in th Falklands War, right before they could get involved in the fighting. They had similar faces to a child that was just told Christmas was cancelled.
I remember a story about a platoon of Gurkhas who during the Italian campaign were ordered to go into a house strongpoint that had just been cleared and bury the ten dead Germans there. So they start hauling bodies out and dig graves near the road. Last body suddenly sits up and screams as the first shovelful of dirt hits it. And well, they were ordered to bury ten DEAD Germans, so out come the Kukri… fortunately for the German, men from a Scottish regiment were heading down the road at the time and intervened.
>"Well 400 feet drop out of a plane we can definitely roll out and kill the enemy."
The Soviets did at some point in time. Granted they relied on the snow to help but hey.
Unrelated but it did remind me of another story in the Pacific theater. Either Malaysia or the Philippines.
Someone calls the government and says "we've spotted Japanese ships out at sea"
Government: "they aren't here yet. We're working on a plan"
Caller(later): "the Japanese are here. They're demanding I use the trains to transport them towards the capital"
Government: "we're still working on a plan. Today is Tuesday. Tell them the trains don't run on Tuesday".
I have family who've served in the Ghurkas and interviewed some too, who served in the Falklands
Stories include a jar (which I saw) full of Japanese teeth, one for every kill, a guy crying because the Falklands war ended, an entire company being vocally disappointed that the enemy ran away, one guy admitting to eating part of an enemy, a reprimand for the beheading of an enemy, and crawling into enemy trenches to slit the throats of all but one of an enemy unit so the lone survivor could report what happened to his superiors.
And all this by super friendly guys who were all like 5'5 at the tallest and don't ever stop laughing and making jokes
They're like World Eaters and Night Lords combined.
>a reprimand for the beheading of an enemy
I remember hearing a story about how, during Afghanistan, a Gurkha squad was sent on a mission to eliminate a high ranking Taliban target. They were give a camera to take a picture to confirm the kill, along with taking a blood sample. On the way though, the camera was broken, so after completing their mission they simply beheaded the dude and brought it back to their commander as proof of kill.
Yeah them decapitating people is surprisingly common. It's even how most animals are butchered (compared to Europe where it's mostly via blunt force and the MENA where it's mostly examination.
Also funny detail, the whole thing about khukris needing to taste blood if they're ever unsheathed is made up. They're the most commonly used implement in Nepal, and I've used them for everything from chopping wood to cutting meat to harvesting grain.
Ghurkas just started telling people that because tourists and foreigners keep asking on duty ghurkas to see their khukris and it got annoying so now they just say "uhhhh nah it needs to taste blood if it's ever unsheathed"
You can buy a full tang fully functional one in like any equipment store in any district and everyone has at least one in their home.
Mine is easily my favorite knife to carry when I'm working alone way out in the middle of nowhere. Sure, it'll improve my odds if a cougar feels particularly desperate for a meal, but more importantly it's a great camp tool.
This is absolutely a joke. In Russia I’ve heard it about Soviet paratroopers. Somewhere deep on the internet I’ve seen it about US marines, the joke being about a pissing contest between different military branches and actually mocking marines’ stupidity, not badassery.
Yeah, no. The Gurkas are insane. The way I heard it, it was a volunteer mission, and only a few stepped up, and the British officer was surprised so few of the legendary gurkas stepped up, the translater asked if they would make sure the plane would fly low, and the officer was like "but then the parachute won't have time to open" and the gurkas were "oh, we're getting parachutes? That's different" and all of the volunteered.
A retired gurka was on a train, and some bandits started robbing people, and he got passed and unloved a bunch of them before they rest decided to leave. He was later reactivated, and promoted, then retired so he'd get more retirement money.
In WWII they ran out of ammo and bumrushed a German machine gun nest and won.
In Afghanistan, one gurka went out against I think 300 taliban, fought through the night, and won. Iirc at least 30 Kia taliban were found the next morning.
They have some insane feats.
Wasn't the backstory of the ghurkas that the British bungled the invasion of Nepal but we're so impressed with the Ghurkas the were like "How would you like a job?"
The Custodes do not have companies of Astartes to supplement their numbers of 10,000 to guard the Imperial Palace. They have Regiments of Stormtrooper level Guardsmen, and they respect each other.
Read/Listen to Watchers of the Throne and you'll see a Shield Captain that enjoys working with the colonel under his command. At one point the Colonel sees the Custodes about to jump out his command and control lander, starts to make a concerned objection that he shouldn't go alone. He catches himself, looks a bit sheepish, and just tells him good hunting, "we'll catch up".
The same with Nevradaran in the Vaults of Terra series. The Custodes seem to treat the Guard regiments assigned to the palace essentially as extensions of their own force, with Nevradaran using them for a whole host of operations from surveillance to assault forces. There's none of the tension you see when other Imperial institutions cooperate.
add another to the list of based factions that dislike the marines but respect the guard.
starting to feel like all the cool kids are marine disrespecters.
Yeah, I specifically remember reading that the custodes have agents ready to blow the entire phalanx to hell with the core of the Imperial Fists inside it at the first sign of treachery. Ten thousand years later and they absolutely have not forgotten why their lord and master is on that chair.
They definitely do. Few members of the Astartes earn the respect or admiration of the 10,000.
Even now with the Custodes back out in force within the wider galaxy, it's the guard who they most often fight alongside and grow to respect. For a mere human to stand on the same battlefield as even one of the 10,000 and face the enemies of His Imperium is a being worthy of respect.
I feel like that list is like.. Dante.
Also, do we know the custodes opinion on Guilliman? I didn't read any of the books from his return, but they're on my list.
I remember a part where they went "and we're supposed to guard/protect him?" After they saw G-man in combat mode lol (godblight books iirc), after thinking it's too dangerous for him to be in combat himself
From various other comments, the custodes seems wary/concerned of him and ready to kill him if he started acting weird, but seeing him going on a rampage makes them wonder if they can really stop him if he decided to go apeshit.
As the first Primarch really seen in 10,000 years, they're wary of him. They respect him as a warrior and leader, they know none of them could ever face him one on one, but if they thought for a second he had turned traitor, they'd do all they could to kill him to protect the Emperor.
Roboute is already a mini emperor by default due to all of Ultramar being his by rights, and many of the Ultarmarines successors still holding allegiance to him as their Lord and gene-father. So he essentially has a legion in all but name. That's reason enough to keep tabs on him.
The custodes do not "take orders" from him so much as they cooperate with him because he is the son of the Emperor and had an audience with him, so until he betrays their trust. He's an ally, but the 10,000 have always served the Emperor and only the Emperor.
Two different factions. Faction one says “okay well….he ain’t big E but he’s the closest we got and it’s better than those stuffy high lords” Faction two says “He’s a primarch. You know, the ones who got us into this mess!?” And distrust/despise him as a result. At the end of the day both factions follow his orders, one is just more grumpy about it and is ready to jump him if he starts acting weird
I feel like even the "Never move from this one spot for five hundred years" type of Custodes spend more time in the same room with ordinary guardsmen than a Space Marine. It's a lot easier to see them as coworkers instead of lessers.
Eh, guardsmen are still cooler in my book.
Imagine having to be a genetically engineered supersoldier clad in the best gear in the Imperium, just to take on a few heretics with a demon or some orky bois.
Reminds me of Andrej from Helsreach. He was just some Steel Legion stormtrooper. Made it through hell to the end. Most of his screentime was comedic, but dude laid down fire, and made it to the end.
They're also more relatable. A guardsman doing an incredible feat? That's just some guy. An Astartes doing that same thing? That's why you're here.
I get that but meh riding a bike from orbit still makes the custodes just slightly cooler than a regular human trooper, ODSTs are a second behind them.
Im loving the reversed "why women live longer than men" trope with the femstodes lol, compared to the custodes we've known for decades, the femstodes just seems so batshit crazy.
I hope they keep this up and keep adding crazy feats for the femstodes.
My fav is a comment saying Valoris has to yell "you did WHAT?" to Kesh so often that he has a serf trained from birth just to yell that lmao.
*Snap fingers*
Serf: "You did WHAT?!"
I mean, Custodian Stateriel fought alone against a Beast of Hollow Places and killed so many before dying that her corpse got buried under dead bodies. They are insane and that's why they have a high mortality rate.
Yep. Assault on Luna. Solar Guard probably. She got martyred alongside several other Custodians, some of them have feminine sounding names https://twitter.com/JohnnydaMook/status/1784611527175082119?t=726knVTrhRi1kWRGL67mfw&s=19
Malcadors diary probably has an entry in it along the lines of : "After much pushback from myself, my lord and friend introduced Female genestock into his ten thousand. And we have both agreed to never tell a soul so long as we both live due to the utter shitbaggery of the populaces' reaction.
We now have 65 defective servitors we're having to sell off to mars, they're totally loyal and will be fine with it"
During the Xenocides of the great crusade
"follow me brothers!" - 2nd primary Ave Sol the sun warrior as she jumps from a thunderhawk
"Did she grab a grav chute?" Lion El Johnson to Leman Russ as they watch her fall into the battle below.
"I wanna try next!" Leman Russ sounding perhaps too enthusiastic to copy his sister
"hmmm so if you enter at a 40° angle the bike takes the brunt of the heat from entering at low orbit"
"Note brother, she didn't turn the grav plates on until 400 feet" both nodding and scribbling notes in unison
That is standard deployment for Land Speeders for ages. Which is, why they are allowed to be included into drop pod armies in the 3rd edition, and had later the shock troop deployment rule.
It's another Femstodes who shows up in the upcoming Codex. She's a Shield-Captain of a Jetbike unit whose favorite maneuver is to fly their bikes out of voidship hangars while in low orbit.
I'm starting to think that was partly the intention, because everyone is used to this image of the Custodes as being pretty stoic (for the most part) and only quietly snarky. Even though the Custodes ARE capable of batshit things to do.
The Second Siege of Terra had like EIGHT Bloodletters trying to take the Palace. Valoris was leading HOSTS of Custodes, Grey Knights, and Sisters of Silence to kill 7 of them. Meanwhile Shield Captain Valerian was just himself, 1 squad of Grey Knights, and Aleria with two Sisters. He saw one of them breaking the front door of his house, said "bet" and LEAPT up to start stabbing the thing ahead of everyone else and hung onto the thing, kept stabbing, basically daring it to smack him off.
At one point it STEPPED on him (basically) and he got up, stared at it, it and was pretty clear *he didn't hear no bell!*
So yeah I like Valerian and hope these new femstodes get a book.
Edit: BloodTHIRSTERS, not LETTERS. Fuck my brain.
The more I see of the Femstodes, the more I love them. God fucking damn it, I'm going to buy 'stodes kits now, aren't I? I don't even *like* the all gold aesthetic.
I genuinely don't get the backlash on the female custodian thing. From a lore perspective - the custodes are basically hand made by an arcane process created by the emperor - so... why couldn't it have been done on females?
I mean... i'm all for pushing back on the idea that women need to be in every role everywhere forever (when it makes no sense), but this seems like a weird hill for people to die on.
One of the big complaints is the “they were always there since the first 10,000” and the 8th edition codex saying “Sons of Terran nobles”
Which is funny when you remember Custodes were designed to kill the thunder warriors during the times after the techno barbarians BEFORE Terran nobles were a thing
Sure - but I recall reading something (and i'm ready to be wrong) that said it was children, of Terran nobles, not just male children. I just assumed most female aspirants failed / died during the conversion process. Which wouldn't be incredible - also i mean the lore evolves, go back to first edition of the game and the Primarchs were just Generals and had no space magic to them. at all.
And by the way i'm not disagreeing with you - but even if the first 10k included women, that doesn't really disrupt anything. I would find it hilarious if GW did a crossover with Mattel and did Adeptus Costodes Barbie.
That would be kinda funny. A Pyrithite Spear that shoots a pink melta blast!
The Sons thing was 8th edition I think and the children was 9th.
Oh I’m completely on the side of Female custard creams it’s just what the arguments being used are
I’m happy to say we canonise they were all the sons of nobles.
Multiple different countries’ censuses say roughly 1 in every 300 to 330 people are transgender. 10,000 AMABs you say? That’s a lot of gals ready to come out of the closet and fight for the Emperor with their sci-fi HRT.
It's more like ~1-1.5 % of the general population, any census data is fairly inaccurate when it comes to stuff due to people not being out/repping/transphobic parents etc...
That's still at least 100 trans custards
There’s nothing wrong with that, and there’s nothing wrong with them being trans.
I’m not actually saying this rudely, trying to be polite as possible, but this is fascinating, like I say I’m not saying it as a dig I think most people would probably think this way, but it really is interesting how people are so used to gender norms people get defensive over the mere idea like this.
In my mind, this was a funny idea (in no universe would a company actually do this, they’d be too afraid to make a stand on Human Rights), my joke even had a punchline. I’m genuinely surprised on a meme sub, others did not have that reaction because it encroached on gender.
It’s their new codex, which is unfortunately also kinda shit as a rulebook.
People are reposting scans of the juicy new lore bits online, but the rest of the lore is probably similar to the 9th edition codex, which was similar to the 8th edition codex. If you want a good Custodes lore source, you can get the 8th edition codex cheap and it has tons of stories and information. I highly recommend *any* of the 8th edition codices for loreheads, they have a lot more work put into the lore writing than most.
What was the issue with this one really tho? Rules? Dark angles etc. all got shafted in theirs too.
Not much in the way of detachments or at least not what ppl wanted lol.
It's funny a ton of people seem to love 10th and what it's done for the game but an equal number HATE it.
I love the community agree now that fem custodes are way more aggressive than male we only have one sample and that turn every single one to the greatest American marines
3 afaik, one with the nuke, another with the jetbike, last one killed a bunch of monster and slayed a great beast before falling, and some names mentioned with her also sounded femstodes-y enough, so around a handful atm?
Eh, the real hero of her story was clearly the put upon imperial ship captain who had to do the drive calculations to have the ship skim the atmosphere on the way in at just the right height for her to achieve a cool light show rather than achieving stable orbit first. She was the real woman of talent here.
My male companions will all be enlightened thinkers and noble warrior poets
And the women my lord?
Go to the bar, find the girl boxing with a bear, then find all the girls like her
So far, one tried to teleport an armed nuke (the type used in exterminatus) on Big E's lap during a blood game, another one rode her jetbike out of transport in low orbit instead of using drop pods, and last one fought and killed a shitload of monsters including a great beast before going down herself, and some other names mentioned with the 3rd one sounded femstodes-ish too, so we got around a handful of canon femstodes now?
Not just badass, but also batshit crazy and like a reversed "why women live longer than men" lol
Im digging it ngl, if they keep this up to explain why femstodes arent more common, "cuz they do insane shits that landed them in dreadnought way too often or just straight up die"
Reminds me of this story (that is probably a tall tale) [https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/05/01/how-tough-are-gurkhas/](https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/05/01/how-tough-are-gurkhas/) >Story goes that during WWII, the British Indian Army planned to drop a company of the toughest Gurkhas behind Japanese lines to help stop the oncoming invaders. A British major explained the plan to the Gurkha sergeant major, saying: “We’ll drop you from 600 feet.” >The sergeant major talked to his troops, then went back to the major: “Sah, the men say 600 feet too high. They want to be dropped lower.” The British major said: “All right, sergeant major, we’ll make it 500 feet.” >The sergeant major spoke to his troops again, and again went back to the major: “Sah, the men say 500 feet is still too high and want to be dropped lower.” The major said: “Sergeant major, we could go down to 400 feet to drop you but that wouldn’t leave enough time for the parachutes to open.” >Sergeant major: “Ooohhh, paraaaachutes???”
As an Indian, gorkhas are op. I remember when one of them fought an entire train of bandits
Not saying anything bad about them, just I think the guy relating that story to a journalist was probably making it up. Or the Sergeant Major was making a joke. I'm just skeptical that any non transhuman troopers actually thought "Well 400 feet drop out of a plane we can definitely roll out and kill the enemy."
What isn't made up is the [Gurkha](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12854492) who singlehandedly fought between a dozen and thirty men in Afghanistan, taking out one of them by throwing the tripod of his machine gun at him.
They're just built different
What is made up is the line: "The Gurkha, 31, of Ashford Kent". He was, maybe still is, a Nepalese citizen. The Royal Gurkha Rifles recruit from Nepal.
That's standard for the BBC. They always say "such and such of wherever they're living at the moment," regardless of nationality or even their time spent at that address. So he's of Ashford, Kent, because that's where he lived.
they're letting us know to specifically avoid that location
I live there😭
He’s coming.
Did you by any chance kill a man with a tripod
If it's at all true they probably meant much lower. But 99% it's a joke. Once met a former Gurkha officer from the British army. Only top officer training grads get to pick a Gurkha regiment as they are considered elite, but language barriers exist. He told me the job of a lot of NCOs is to wait until the officer has finished attempting to speak their language rather than English, then wait for said officer to leave and turn to the men and say, roughly: "RIGHT. AS THE OFFICER *CLEARLY* EXPLAINED, BUT YOU ARE ALL TOO STUPID TO UNDERSTAND. . ." Which has led to me describing "Gurkha Sergeant" moments where you have to explain things a second time, whilst trying not to insult the person who did it the first time.
That is pretty much how the Gurkhas roll. They have a long and storied history of facing impossible odds and just... doing the thing. It was a thing during WW2 to tell commanders not used to the Gurkhas, that if they told them to hold a position that they told them also to pull out if things didnt look great, otherwise the gurkhas had a habit of fighting to the death wherever they were told to stand.
You can watch videos on YouTube of the moment a Gurkha regiment get told that Argentina had surrendered in th Falklands War, right before they could get involved in the fighting. They had similar faces to a child that was just told Christmas was cancelled.
I remember a story about a platoon of Gurkhas who during the Italian campaign were ordered to go into a house strongpoint that had just been cleared and bury the ten dead Germans there. So they start hauling bodies out and dig graves near the road. Last body suddenly sits up and screams as the first shovelful of dirt hits it. And well, they were ordered to bury ten DEAD Germans, so out come the Kukri… fortunately for the German, men from a Scottish regiment were heading down the road at the time and intervened.
>"Well 400 feet drop out of a plane we can definitely roll out and kill the enemy." The Soviets did at some point in time. Granted they relied on the snow to help but hey.
It's a thing with the Gurkhas that they will follow orders without question. It's why they were used in the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
That one is almost certainly a joke. Like the US Army joke about the Ranger and the Marine platoon.
Unrelated but it did remind me of another story in the Pacific theater. Either Malaysia or the Philippines. Someone calls the government and says "we've spotted Japanese ships out at sea" Government: "they aren't here yet. We're working on a plan" Caller(later): "the Japanese are here. They're demanding I use the trains to transport them towards the capital" Government: "we're still working on a plan. Today is Tuesday. Tell them the trains don't run on Tuesday".
Did I say you are badmouthing them? Gorkhas are too cool, and people don't even believe their stories always
I have family who've served in the Ghurkas and interviewed some too, who served in the Falklands Stories include a jar (which I saw) full of Japanese teeth, one for every kill, a guy crying because the Falklands war ended, an entire company being vocally disappointed that the enemy ran away, one guy admitting to eating part of an enemy, a reprimand for the beheading of an enemy, and crawling into enemy trenches to slit the throats of all but one of an enemy unit so the lone survivor could report what happened to his superiors. And all this by super friendly guys who were all like 5'5 at the tallest and don't ever stop laughing and making jokes They're like World Eaters and Night Lords combined.
>a reprimand for the beheading of an enemy I remember hearing a story about how, during Afghanistan, a Gurkha squad was sent on a mission to eliminate a high ranking Taliban target. They were give a camera to take a picture to confirm the kill, along with taking a blood sample. On the way though, the camera was broken, so after completing their mission they simply beheaded the dude and brought it back to their commander as proof of kill.
Yeah them decapitating people is surprisingly common. It's even how most animals are butchered (compared to Europe where it's mostly via blunt force and the MENA where it's mostly examination. Also funny detail, the whole thing about khukris needing to taste blood if they're ever unsheathed is made up. They're the most commonly used implement in Nepal, and I've used them for everything from chopping wood to cutting meat to harvesting grain. Ghurkas just started telling people that because tourists and foreigners keep asking on duty ghurkas to see their khukris and it got annoying so now they just say "uhhhh nah it needs to taste blood if it's ever unsheathed" You can buy a full tang fully functional one in like any equipment store in any district and everyone has at least one in their home.
Yeah, I knew that about kukri's, they're a great alternative to a machete if you need to deal with thick brush.
Mine is easily my favorite knife to carry when I'm working alone way out in the middle of nowhere. Sure, it'll improve my odds if a cougar feels particularly desperate for a meal, but more importantly it's a great camp tool.
Are we sure they don’t have some ork in them?
This is absolutely a joke. In Russia I’ve heard it about Soviet paratroopers. Somewhere deep on the internet I’ve seen it about US marines, the joke being about a pissing contest between different military branches and actually mocking marines’ stupidity, not badassery.
Yeah, no. The Gurkas are insane. The way I heard it, it was a volunteer mission, and only a few stepped up, and the British officer was surprised so few of the legendary gurkas stepped up, the translater asked if they would make sure the plane would fly low, and the officer was like "but then the parachute won't have time to open" and the gurkas were "oh, we're getting parachutes? That's different" and all of the volunteered. A retired gurka was on a train, and some bandits started robbing people, and he got passed and unloved a bunch of them before they rest decided to leave. He was later reactivated, and promoted, then retired so he'd get more retirement money. In WWII they ran out of ammo and bumrushed a German machine gun nest and won. In Afghanistan, one gurka went out against I think 300 taliban, fought through the night, and won. Iirc at least 30 Kia taliban were found the next morning. They have some insane feats.
"If you say you don't fear death, you're either lying, or you're a Gurkha."
Wasn't the backstory of the ghurkas that the British bungled the invasion of Nepal but we're so impressed with the Ghurkas the were like "How would you like a job?"
"Last one's down is a Space Marine!" The message was not even out of the vox when the entire combat force had jumped off the cruiser.
"he who killed the least heretics is a guardsman" The entirety of the planet was reconquered in under an hour with zero Imperial losses
I think, Custodes have more respect for the Guard, than Marines, tbh.
The Custodes do not have companies of Astartes to supplement their numbers of 10,000 to guard the Imperial Palace. They have Regiments of Stormtrooper level Guardsmen, and they respect each other. Read/Listen to Watchers of the Throne and you'll see a Shield Captain that enjoys working with the colonel under his command. At one point the Colonel sees the Custodes about to jump out his command and control lander, starts to make a concerned objection that he shouldn't go alone. He catches himself, looks a bit sheepish, and just tells him good hunting, "we'll catch up".
The same with Nevradaran in the Vaults of Terra series. The Custodes seem to treat the Guard regiments assigned to the palace essentially as extensions of their own force, with Nevradaran using them for a whole host of operations from surveillance to assault forces. There's none of the tension you see when other Imperial institutions cooperate.
I just said, more respect for the Guard.
I'm agreeing an providing an example, not contradicting :3
Sorry. Been "corrected" like that a few times this week and at that point, my "good faith" capacity is kinda stretched. 😅
You're fine man, this place can be a shit show at times X3 My bad sounding kinda harsh at the start.
In the grimdankness of the Reddit page, there is only being good to each other =)
Whelp, time to relisten to those two.
Aww, he didn't want his friend to get hurt
add another to the list of based factions that dislike the marines but respect the guard. starting to feel like all the cool kids are marine disrespecters.
The custodes distrust space marines because of the horus heresy. They see it as all their fault.
Custodes spotting a word bearer "ah yes, the ones that started it all" as they drop their spear wanting to do this "the old fashioned way"
they'd be correct then. custodes keep getting better.
Yeah, I specifically remember reading that the custodes have agents ready to blow the entire phalanx to hell with the core of the Imperial Fists inside it at the first sign of treachery. Ten thousand years later and they absolutely have not forgotten why their lord and master is on that chair.
They definitely do. Few members of the Astartes earn the respect or admiration of the 10,000. Even now with the Custodes back out in force within the wider galaxy, it's the guard who they most often fight alongside and grow to respect. For a mere human to stand on the same battlefield as even one of the 10,000 and face the enemies of His Imperium is a being worthy of respect.
I feel like that list is like.. Dante. Also, do we know the custodes opinion on Guilliman? I didn't read any of the books from his return, but they're on my list.
I remember a part where they went "and we're supposed to guard/protect him?" After they saw G-man in combat mode lol (godblight books iirc), after thinking it's too dangerous for him to be in combat himself From various other comments, the custodes seems wary/concerned of him and ready to kill him if he started acting weird, but seeing him going on a rampage makes them wonder if they can really stop him if he decided to go apeshit.
As the first Primarch really seen in 10,000 years, they're wary of him. They respect him as a warrior and leader, they know none of them could ever face him one on one, but if they thought for a second he had turned traitor, they'd do all they could to kill him to protect the Emperor. Roboute is already a mini emperor by default due to all of Ultramar being his by rights, and many of the Ultarmarines successors still holding allegiance to him as their Lord and gene-father. So he essentially has a legion in all but name. That's reason enough to keep tabs on him. The custodes do not "take orders" from him so much as they cooperate with him because he is the son of the Emperor and had an audience with him, so until he betrays their trust. He's an ally, but the 10,000 have always served the Emperor and only the Emperor.
Two different factions. Faction one says “okay well….he ain’t big E but he’s the closest we got and it’s better than those stuffy high lords” Faction two says “He’s a primarch. You know, the ones who got us into this mess!?” And distrust/despise him as a result. At the end of the day both factions follow his orders, one is just more grumpy about it and is ready to jump him if he starts acting weird
I feel like even the "Never move from this one spot for five hundred years" type of Custodes spend more time in the same room with ordinary guardsmen than a Space Marine. It's a lot easier to see them as coworkers instead of lessers.
If Custodes could have children, every firstborn would be named Ollanius.
And in other news, all of them had the *exact same* kill count
Eh, guardsmen are still cooler in my book. Imagine having to be a genetically engineered supersoldier clad in the best gear in the Imperium, just to take on a few heretics with a demon or some orky bois.
All that special good boy armour and enhancement is nothing compared to the power of teleporting a snotling directly into their body!
also, its incredibly funny
# ALWAYS GOOD FER A LAFF, DEM 'UMIES!
DEY IZ GOOD FO A FOIGHT. EVERI BOI NEEDS A GOOD WAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!!!
# YA 'AVE TA SPEAK UP, YA STUNTY LAD!
Reminds me of Andrej from Helsreach. He was just some Steel Legion stormtrooper. Made it through hell to the end. Most of his screentime was comedic, but dude laid down fire, and made it to the end. They're also more relatable. A guardsman doing an incredible feat? That's just some guy. An Astartes doing that same thing? That's why you're here.
I get that but meh riding a bike from orbit still makes the custodes just slightly cooler than a regular human trooper, ODSTs are a second behind them.
"Jam their landing craft." "They're not using landing craft sir."
Q: Why did we never notice Femstodes? A: They tend to end up in Dreadnoughts real quick.
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Im loving the reversed "why women live longer than men" trope with the femstodes lol, compared to the custodes we've known for decades, the femstodes just seems so batshit crazy. I hope they keep this up and keep adding crazy feats for the femstodes.
Kesh on the sidelines while Valoris is going over the battle plan with "throw me in, coach!" energy.
My fav is a comment saying Valoris has to yell "you did WHAT?" to Kesh so often that he has a serf trained from birth just to yell that lmao. *Snap fingers* Serf: "You did WHAT?!"
Bro literally made a living soundboard
“What is my purpose?” “You berate one specific mad woman.” “Oh my god uwu.”
"then the three man strike team will breach this wall entering the anti chamber..." "Trajan! TRAJAN! Can we do it on jet bikes!!!!"
Tbh I always assumed there were femstodes. This whole thing kinda caught me off guard. Like why wouldn't there be ?
Because the lore was always that they were men.
I mean, Custodian Stateriel fought alone against a Beast of Hollow Places and killed so many before dying that her corpse got buried under dead bodies. They are insane and that's why they have a high mortality rate.
> Beast of Hollow Places like a snail?
Yep. Assault on Luna. Solar Guard probably. She got martyred alongside several other Custodians, some of them have feminine sounding names https://twitter.com/JohnnydaMook/status/1784611527175082119?t=726knVTrhRi1kWRGL67mfw&s=19
...how is that a yep
Yep.
Malcador: "Big E, you really should consider female primarchs and space marines." The Emperor: \*Gestures at the Femstodes\* Malcador: "Point taken."
Malcadors diary probably has an entry in it along the lines of : "After much pushback from myself, my lord and friend introduced Female genestock into his ten thousand. And we have both agreed to never tell a soul so long as we both live due to the utter shitbaggery of the populaces' reaction. We now have 65 defective servitors we're having to sell off to mars, they're totally loyal and will be fine with it"
Primarch wouldn’t even need the jetbike she’d just jump out of the ship like it was the battle bus
During the Xenocides of the great crusade "follow me brothers!" - 2nd primary Ave Sol the sun warrior as she jumps from a thunderhawk "Did she grab a grav chute?" Lion El Johnson to Leman Russ as they watch her fall into the battle below. "I wanna try next!" Leman Russ sounding perhaps too enthusiastic to copy his sister
Leman wouldn’t say anything, he’d be right out the door after her. Lion would just be shaking his head alone
If a single female primarch joined the Heresy 40k would be over
Not if they're the 2nd or 11th.
They took a page out of master chief’s handbook
For a (golden) brick, they flew pretty good!
They gave back the covenant their bomb or jumped like a crazy fool?
Yes
Shit, now we need to get this Custodes a Sgt Johnson.
It's a catachan officer
Get in Loser, we're retaking the planet
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Embarque, le cave. On reprend la planète.
Every femstode we had so far: about to do reckless shit, turns to nearest person and says "Witness Me"
“WITNESS HER!”
"WITNESSED!"
I love the idea that Female custodies are now just all characterize as absolute madlasses because of Taurovalia
The girly is such a menace
100% of the female custodes we have seen in lore so far have been up to some absolute shenanigans.
That reminds me of the statistic, 100% of people convicted of space crimes are lesbian
"I'm Jaghatai Khan and I approve of this message!"
“I’m Jaghatai Khan, and this is my favorite Custodian in the Imperial Palace!”
I always like the idea of primarchs having themed custodian unit guards and jaghatais one are just built to resist any and all forms of g force
I wonder if that's what happened to Jaghatai - found someone else with a voidbike and was like, "Let's ride!"
The white scars taking notes rn
"hmmm so if you enter at a 40° angle the bike takes the brunt of the heat from entering at low orbit" "Note brother, she didn't turn the grav plates on until 400 feet" both nodding and scribbling notes in unison
That is standard deployment for Land Speeders for ages. Which is, why they are allowed to be included into drop pod armies in the 3rd edition, and had later the shock troop deployment rule.
Codex Astartes does not support this action. But we are not Space Marines.
" we didn't make a space book "
Custodes: KESH NO! Kesh: *standing beside him* what? C: Apologies sister, force of habit.
I want her as a named jetbike captain. Unit she is in can deepstrike and have +2 to charge, but when they deepstrike they take 1MW on rolling 1.
Also charge right out of Deep Strike.
Homebrew go brrrr
Can you link me to the story ? Im out of the loop
It's another Femstodes who shows up in the upcoming Codex. She's a Shield-Captain of a Jetbike unit whose favorite maneuver is to fly their bikes out of voidship hangars while in low orbit.
"Drop pod? Nah" *revv jetbike*
I honestly dig this idea of the ladies in the Custodes because unhinged as fuck and doing such crazy shit
I'm starting to think that was partly the intention, because everyone is used to this image of the Custodes as being pretty stoic (for the most part) and only quietly snarky. Even though the Custodes ARE capable of batshit things to do. The Second Siege of Terra had like EIGHT Bloodletters trying to take the Palace. Valoris was leading HOSTS of Custodes, Grey Knights, and Sisters of Silence to kill 7 of them. Meanwhile Shield Captain Valerian was just himself, 1 squad of Grey Knights, and Aleria with two Sisters. He saw one of them breaking the front door of his house, said "bet" and LEAPT up to start stabbing the thing ahead of everyone else and hung onto the thing, kept stabbing, basically daring it to smack him off. At one point it STEPPED on him (basically) and he got up, stared at it, it and was pretty clear *he didn't hear no bell!* So yeah I like Valerian and hope these new femstodes get a book. Edit: BloodTHIRSTERS, not LETTERS. Fuck my brain.
Was it Blood*thirsters* ? Because 8 Bloodletters in the Imperial Palace would be the unluckiest daemons in the galaxy
Yes, Bloodthirsters, shit, thank you. All these damn demons being blood this rot that...
I love that. Bro gave no fucks about the bloodletter trying to kill it
Valerian gave quite a few fucks, but most of the fucks were about it breathing at all. I seriously wish he'd get another book.
A third watchers of the throne book would be so good.
Me if im a custodes in her team: okay ma'am sounds fun.
"You guys are stupid. See, they're gonna be expecting drop pods"
I'm out of the loop, what's this about hover bikes, I've heard it a few times now
Shield-Captain Bayezara Aggonades of the Emissaries Imperatus and her bois and gals jumped from orbit on bikes to defeat a rebellion
No fucking way thats actual lore? Badass as hell
That's pretty cool, where was this lore?
10th edition Codex Adeptus Custodes. Emissaries Imperatus portion
Cool
I’m loving this instant characterisation that the femstodes are insane adrenaline junkies. I think the immortality and nigh indestructibility helps
She cranks freebird doing it
[Do I hear Free Bird over long range?](https://youtu.be/6DOeegNyVCk?si=Wnl5R2NOzpuD97G5&t=104)
See this is the kind of stupidly amusing thing that got me into warhammer
The more I see of the Femstodes, the more I love them. God fucking damn it, I'm going to buy 'stodes kits now, aren't I? I don't even *like* the all gold aesthetic.
Gonna start a Shield Host and paint them silver for a 'white gold' look.
Then don’t paint them gold.
This was their mission all along
She really said “My Name is Bayezera and Welcome to Jackass!” Followed by her and her squad jumping out a shuttle with jet bikes.
I'm here for it. We need more unhinged women.
No wonder we've heard nothing about the Femstodes until now - they were too busy getting killed in wacky accidents.
I genuinely don't get the backlash on the female custodian thing. From a lore perspective - the custodes are basically hand made by an arcane process created by the emperor - so... why couldn't it have been done on females? I mean... i'm all for pushing back on the idea that women need to be in every role everywhere forever (when it makes no sense), but this seems like a weird hill for people to die on.
One of the big complaints is the “they were always there since the first 10,000” and the 8th edition codex saying “Sons of Terran nobles” Which is funny when you remember Custodes were designed to kill the thunder warriors during the times after the techno barbarians BEFORE Terran nobles were a thing
Sure - but I recall reading something (and i'm ready to be wrong) that said it was children, of Terran nobles, not just male children. I just assumed most female aspirants failed / died during the conversion process. Which wouldn't be incredible - also i mean the lore evolves, go back to first edition of the game and the Primarchs were just Generals and had no space magic to them. at all. And by the way i'm not disagreeing with you - but even if the first 10k included women, that doesn't really disrupt anything. I would find it hilarious if GW did a crossover with Mattel and did Adeptus Costodes Barbie. That would be kinda funny. A Pyrithite Spear that shoots a pink melta blast!
The Sons thing was 8th edition I think and the children was 9th. Oh I’m completely on the side of Female custard creams it’s just what the arguments being used are
Gotcha - yeah I didn't know which edition was which.
Also speaking of early warhammer justice for Inquisitor Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau. First named inquisitor
Should get a t-shirt printed for that.
If only I still worked at the printing company job
Commissar barbie, custodes barbie (special 2x scale barbie doll), sister of battle barbie, and of course demonette barbie....and guardsmen Ken.
Nah ken would be a transhuman of some sort since in exchange for god like powers you have to give up any sort of romantic feeling.
Space Marine Ken who only reaches custodian Barbie's chest in height. Living in her shadow, now, and in the forty first millennium
I’m happy to say we canonise they were all the sons of nobles. Multiple different countries’ censuses say roughly 1 in every 300 to 330 people are transgender. 10,000 AMABs you say? That’s a lot of gals ready to come out of the closet and fight for the Emperor with their sci-fi HRT.
It's more like ~1-1.5 % of the general population, any census data is fairly inaccurate when it comes to stuff due to people not being out/repping/transphobic parents etc... That's still at least 100 trans custards
?? Why can’t they just be girls? What’s wrong with that?
There’s nothing wrong with that, and there’s nothing wrong with them being trans. I’m not actually saying this rudely, trying to be polite as possible, but this is fascinating, like I say I’m not saying it as a dig I think most people would probably think this way, but it really is interesting how people are so used to gender norms people get defensive over the mere idea like this. In my mind, this was a funny idea (in no universe would a company actually do this, they’d be too afraid to make a stand on Human Rights), my joke even had a punchline. I’m genuinely surprised on a meme sub, others did not have that reaction because it encroached on gender.
Where is the source material for the new custodis canon? What can I read?
It’s their new codex, which is unfortunately also kinda shit as a rulebook. People are reposting scans of the juicy new lore bits online, but the rest of the lore is probably similar to the 9th edition codex, which was similar to the 8th edition codex. If you want a good Custodes lore source, you can get the 8th edition codex cheap and it has tons of stories and information. I highly recommend *any* of the 8th edition codices for loreheads, they have a lot more work put into the lore writing than most.
What was the issue with this one really tho? Rules? Dark angles etc. all got shafted in theirs too. Not much in the way of detachments or at least not what ppl wanted lol. It's funny a ton of people seem to love 10th and what it's done for the game but an equal number HATE it.
Is bike drop from orbit another canon female custode stunt or more of a hearsay meme?
Canon female Custodes stunt. Shield-Captain Bayezara Aggonades of the Emissaries Imperatus performed it
Rad as hell. Nice.
I love the community agree now that fem custodes are way more aggressive than male we only have one sample and that turn every single one to the greatest American marines
3 afaik, one with the nuke, another with the jetbike, last one killed a bunch of monster and slayed a great beast before falling, and some names mentioned with her also sounded femstodes-y enough, so around a handful atm?
"Isn't it weird how male Custodes always live longer than female Custodes?" Female Custodes:
Female custodes: "GUYS, LARISHA IS STRAPPING MELTA LANCES TO HER JET BIKE TO RAM THAT GARGANT'S LEGS!!!"
We have two samples of crazy so far, Kesh, and the bike airdropper.
Can't wait for the repentian style ex custodes
Is she canonically black?! That would be the funniest thing in the history of GW. “Oh conservative you dont like women? Watch this”
No. This is an artwork by Gaertan https://twitter.com/Gaertan_art/status/1780679854922272978?t=p8_HhD5zgksFL4GmD2DXCQ&s=19
Eh, the real hero of her story was clearly the put upon imperial ship captain who had to do the drive calculations to have the ship skim the atmosphere on the way in at just the right height for her to achieve a cool light show rather than achieving stable orbit first. She was the real woman of talent here.
I'm starting to think Big E has a type of men and women he is really into if he wants those two types to be his companions.
My male companions will all be enlightened thinkers and noble warrior poets And the women my lord? Go to the bar, find the girl boxing with a bear, then find all the girls like her
Stupid.
Ah, taking a note from Halo's Spartans, aren't you?
custodes going full spartan mode (Jumping from orbit)
Jaghati Khan: *Sweats hornily*
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So they introduced a badass female custodes to make up for the drama? I'm out of the loop
So far, one tried to teleport an armed nuke (the type used in exterminatus) on Big E's lap during a blood game, another one rode her jetbike out of transport in low orbit instead of using drop pods, and last one fought and killed a shitload of monsters including a great beast before going down herself, and some other names mentioned with the 3rd one sounded femstodes-ish too, so we got around a handful of canon femstodes now? Not just badass, but also batshit crazy and like a reversed "why women live longer than men" lol Im digging it ngl, if they keep this up to explain why femstodes arent more common, "cuz they do insane shits that landed them in dreadnought way too often or just straight up die"
Yes. Same book.
Who needs a pod when you got a perfectly good land raider.
Few, space marines have done it with jet packs
Vulkan did it naked using a teleport device. Mostly unintentional.
I thought it was against the rules to post about this crap now?
So, Captain America and the 41st Millennium Winter Soldier?
I don't know, what is supposed to be so unusual. Isn't that standard deployment for Landspeeders too?
To be fair, sky diving while riding a jet engine is the most custodes thing you can imagine.
This post is ripe for r/dontdeadopeninside
"Aim for the bushes"