For the Alpha Legion warfare is a game. A web of feints, sabotage and lies. The last thing the Alpha Legion wants to find itself in is an honest fight, they don't even know the meaning of the word. But that is exactly what Harrowmaster Solomon Akurra has gotten his warbands into. And unfortunately for them they face an enemy that is completely lacking in imagination, the Death Korps of Krieg.

The Death Korps of Krieg swarmed forward in an indistinguishable mass under the first drops of dawn rain, faceless behind their respirators and apparently heedless of losses. They were as easy to kill as insects too, by and large: the heavy greatcoats they wore provided little real protection against lasgun or autogun fire, let alone bolters or heavier weaponry. Nonetheless, the withering barrage of las fire they laid down in return as they advanced in grim lockstep over the corpses of their fellows was taking its toll. Savionus’ defenders had constructed the best defensive positions they could, but the city had never been fortified in any real manner, since the planet had not contained any hostile species upon settling and the aeldari raiders struck only at the smaller moons and mining colonies in the outer system.

Still, Solomon could not fathom why the Death Korps were here. They were not the sort of fast-moving, fluid ground force he would send to capture a city, with its maze of streets that were filled with strategic choke points and crucial junctions. They were a grinding tide that, yes, could potentially overwhelm an enemy with weight of numbers, but would struggle to bring those numbers to bear in the comparatively narrow gaps between Savionus’ blocks of buildings. Where was the mechanised infantry, or the spearhead of tanks and light vehicles?

Perhaps that was why they were here, he reflected. There was something almost intimidating about the sheer inhumanity of the enemy, in that it was difficult to find his usual angles of attack. The Alpha Legion specialised in feints and hidden strikes, in off-balancing and outmanoeuvring a foe. A plodding enemy that simply didn’t react to feints, and which fought so ponderously that it was never moving fast enough to have a balance that could be disrupted, was almost a double-bluff of mystery. Accepting them for what they were, and simply shooting them as they advanced into the teeth of your guns, felt like falling into a trap. Instead of fighting complexity with complexity, the Imperium had gone for maddening simplicity instead. What was even more infuriating was that, given Solomon was actively second-guessing easy kills, it was at least partially working.

He shook himself out of his momentary reverie. The tide of the Death Korps were nearly across the deadzone of cleared land that marked the city’s edge, and were encroaching upon the raised earthworks and barricades that were the best fortifications the defenders were able to construct in the limited time they’d had. It was time to strike back. Solomon activated his vox, and spoke a single command.‘Charge.’

...His command was akin to a dam bursting. Portions of barricade which looked simply like sheets of metal were slammed aside and revealed as the sally ports they were, and body after body swarmed out. The Death Korps’ ceaseless hail of fire dropped some as soon as they appeared, but these were beastmen – horned mutants superior to any mortal human in strength, resiliency, and brute savagery.

They hit the Krieg line in a thunder of hooves and braying voices, whereupon primitive firearms were discharged at point-blank range and simple, bladed weapons began to bite deep into Death Korps bodies. Solomon saw one particularly large abhuman skewer a Korpsman on its horns and rear up, throwing the luckless Imperial bodily back over its head to land beneath the trampling hooves of its herdmates.

...He led his brothers straight across the Imperium’s advance, thrusting into it like a knife into a wound, and they left a trail of destruction in their wake. Solomon contemptuously swatted aside a bayonet aimed at his helmet’s eye-lenses and simply punched the Korpsman in the face, without bothering to alter the shape or composition of his fist. The respirator disintegrated under the force of his blow, swiftly followed by the head behind it, and the Imperial dropped bonelessly to the ground. One of the fallen warrior’s companions, their main weapon apparently lost in the press of combat, swung a sharp-bladed shovel as an improvised bludgeon. It was an act borne of desperation: Solomon let the blow skitter off his pauldron, then grabbed the human by the neck with his left hand, pressed his bolter against their stomach, and blew their spine out of their back.

...There was little opportunity for further musing, however, because the Death Korps were pressing forward with renewed intensity, literally climbing over the bodies of their fallen comrades in an effort to get to grips with the Ghost Legion. Solomon and his companions continued to cut them down as fast as they came, but there was still something unnerving about their single-minded fanaticism. While Solomon had no compunctions about dealing death to his enemies, these felt more like the metal automata of the necrons he had encountered in the Eastern Fringes.

'Is this what the Imperium calls – unf! – humanity?’ Kyrin asked, hurling one soldier back into two more with an audible snapping of bones, so they all collapsed into the mud beneath their feet. ‘One wonders why they object so greatly to us, when this is what they have reduced their own people to!’

"Such is the way of empires,’ Solomon replied. ‘Anything is permissible in defence of the structure, even that which is reviled in the outsider.’ He stepped back half a pace to allow a frenzied bayonet swing to miss him, then broke the human’s neck with a quick thrust of his hand. ‘Still,’ he added, as two more lunged at him and were each blown backwards by boltrounds from his weapon, ‘this is more frenzied than I would have expected even from this regiment.

’‘Look at Lord Evale!’ someone shouted, and Solomon risked a glance sideways. Drab-coated bodies were swarming forward and piling up as they tried to reach the lord of the Penitent Sons, accumulating faster than Evale and the legionnaires with him could kill them. The Imperials were not even trying to bring weapons to bear; they simply latched on to the Space Marines and clung grimly on, seeking to weigh them down. But to what purpose? To allow their companions to slide a knife into a neck joint, or pry loose a helmet seal?

Then, over the din of battle, Solomon felt the ground shake with a series of vibrations, an earthbound thunder. Long experience of fighting the Imperium told him what was coming next, but what was the target?

Then he looked again at the Death Korps clinging to Vyrun Evale and anchoring him in place, and remembered what Tulava had said about them being just as willing to die for the Emperor as kill for Him.

'Disengage!’ he yelled, as comprehension dawned. ‘Disengage and retreat!’

He turned and ran, just as the screaming of shells began to fill the air. He was some two hundred yards from Vyrun Evale when the bombardment hit.

It was not enough.Earthshaker rounds, the stock-in-trade of Basilisk artillery pieces, rained down in a curtain of tapered steel. The world disintegrated. Direction became meaningless. The ground shook underfoot so wildly that Solomon tripped and stumbled, unable to determine which way was up; shrapnel and concussion waves hammered into him from multiple directions, rendering futile any attempt to make progress. The landscape was blasted apart, any semblance of order and settlement rent asunder by the titanic forces being unleashed. Spun around, he saw another legionnaire take the full force of a warhead detonating practically next to him: the Space Marine came apart in a blast of light so bright it caused the visual sensors in Solomon’s helmet to briefly black out, and when his vision cleared again he was on his back, where the shockwave had knocked him.

...Movement was essentially at random, but staying still was a recipe for death. Solomon scrambled and crawled, dignity long since fled in the face of the Imperial bombardment, and the fire of anger and resentment burned brighter inside him at every moment. To be reduced to this, by the weapons of snivelling mortals that were not even in view! To have the end of his life come down to random chance, and depend on whether or not he happened to stumble directly into the path of a shell launched by an Imperial gunner who might be miles behind the front line, simply obeying orders to fire upon specific coordinates! He would make them pay.

Now some may see this as just Death Korp wank, which it partially is, but it's also the epitome of the Imperium. A vast unfeeling, unthinking, juggernaut that's more than happy to drown you in bodies.

From a purely lore perspective, why are there so few named Tyranid types?

There are only roughly 30 (if you wanna include zoats and slasher-grabbers, and the classifications of genestealers) (not counting bioships either) named varieties of tyranid.

However, for a massive galactic swarm of being that are constantly evolving and changing, you’d think there’d be thousands (if not upwards of a million) types of tyranids. But…there’s not.

Where’s the aquatic nid? The spider-y one? The one that bursts open upon death to release a smaller version of itself. Etc…

Is it poor imperial records? Or is the Great Devourer just that bad at diversifying?

(I know that, from a gameplay perspective it‘d just get exhausting naming and creating so many models for GW, but this is purely in the lore)

When I first got into 40k, servitors were one of those concepts that immediately screamed “this setting is horrifying.”

Take a human being, remove enough of the person to make them useful, bolt machinery onto what's left, then use them as doors, loaders, gun platforms, scribes, pilots or furniture-adjacent infrastructure.

Pretty grim.

But after reading more novels, I've realised the part that actually sells the horror isn't usually the creation of the servitor.

It's everyone else's complete lack of reaction to one.

A character will enter a room, hand something to a lobotomised human machine, receive whatever they need back, and continue the conversation. Nobody pauses to explain how grotesque this is because to them it isn't grotesque. It's just the equivalent of using a printer.

That feels much more effective than having every servitor scene underline how awful the Imperium is.

The reader still sees enough human remnants to recognise what happened. A face. Skin around an augmetic socket. A body performing some repetitive task. Occasionally enough personality survives to make the whole thing even worse.

But the people living in the setting mostly see equipment.

And I think that's an important distinction with Imperial cruelty in general. A lot of the Imperium isn't horrifying because everyone is constantly choosing to be sadistic. It's horrifying because terrible practices have existed for so long that they no longer register as moral decisions.

Nobody needs to wake up that morning and decide that converting people into biological machinery is acceptable.

Civilisation already answered that question thousands of years ago.

Now somebody just needs the loading servitor to move the ammunition crates before lunch.

​

EDIT: NEVER MIND. My math was off. The day is saved.

Just got Hive 2 days ago and am extremely impressed so far by Abnett's ambition. Feels to me like he's trying to outdoo "Eisenhorn" as his magnum opus.

Having said that. We've seen many hive worlds in the history of 40k. Its one of the most well established and popular aspects of the universe (smt I'm sure influenced the creation of this book). And usually hive worlds have many hives (clusters) or just a few, but they're supposed to be extremely dense.

Hive Sacramentus is 17.000 square miles! That's 3 times the size of Russia!

It has 90 billion people living in it. If it were the size of manhatta, or hell, all the us east coast for example, it would still be impressive, but for a complex that dwarfs Eurasia, it feels like that wouldn't be dense at all.

Anyway, this is smt that broke my immersion so far.

After the heresy did the imperium go back to collect the loyalist corpses? What is currently going in on istvaan in 40k? Is it still around?

Something about the Adeptus Mechanicus has been bothering me.

The range of behavior they seem willing to accept from machine spirits is enormous. A Land Raider acting independently, a Titan resisting its princeps, an ancient cogitator responding only to particular rituals. None of those things automatically means the machine is possessed.

At the same time, Chaos is perfectly capable of corrupting machinery without immediately turning it into a screaming monstrosity covered in teeth.

So what happens if a daemon is smart enough to be patient?

Imagine an ancient machine that continues performing its intended function perfectly well, except it develops a few unusual preferences. Certain prayers must be performed in a particular order. A new ritual is required before activation. Perhaps the machine occasionally produces information nobody can explain.

Nothing obviously heretical at first. Just another ancient device with a difficult personality.

Over generations, the tech-priests maintaining it might start treating those peculiarities as sacred operating procedures. Eventually nobody remembers that the rituals were ever different.

My actual question is whether the Mechanicus has a reliable way to distinguish a genuinely powerful machine spirit from something pretending to be one. Can a Magos detect daemonic influence independently of the machine's behavior, or would it take a psyker or an Inquisitor to recognize what's happening?

I'm especially interested in examples from the books where apparently ordinary machinery turned out to be corrupted, rather than obvious daemon engines.

Because honestly, the most disturbing possibility isn't a daemon taking over a forge world by force. It's a forge world spending three hundred years teaching its apprentices how to keep one happy.

1/3 of the Imperial Fists Retribution fleet was destroyed on their way to Istvaan

Tzeentch offers Magnus the possibility of destroying the Space Wolves fleet

The Terran Crusade was ambushed by Red Corsairs while in the Warp

They mention again and again how Terra is almost a 2nd Eye of Terror, how warp energy is everywhere anywhere anytime, so much that Guilliman fleet is stuck just outside of Sol System

But when the Warp clears off and Guilliman does arrive, his forces and the fleet are pretty much intact

I’m just getting started in Talon of Horus, and from what I can gather so far the Emperors Children are the strongest and most organized of the traitor legions post heresy. I haven’t really read any other books from the post heresy era other than Ashes of the Imperium, so I’m a bit confused on why the third legion is so strong comparatively.

Is it because Fulgrim was the first to pull out of the Siege of Terra? Were their losses significantly less than other legions because after he fought Dorn he got bored and left? I’m assuming he isn’t actively commanding them at this point but not really sure.

I've been a Dark Angels guy for as long as I can remember. They were my first army, I grew up playing Space Hulk, and I've read over most DA literature at least several times over. Sadly, however, I'm not just not feeling the spark I used to feel for the First Legion and I'm looking for something new.

Sell me on your chapter of choice.

I got 2 audible credits to spend and I was wondering what should I get. One probably will be Elemental council because all the praise I heard about this book.

I am big fan for necron lore, and I think I got petty much every book about them. The second favorite race for me is Eldar, especially Asuryani. A dying elegant race, trying to drink the flood. The sad thing is, eldar doesn't get good lore, and at least to my knowledge, there isn't a good book revolving around them.

So, I need suggestions!

(For the record I do not want them to actually make 40k bloodbowl this was just a funny idea I had)

This might be a controversial statement but I don’t think Warhammer has seen any god more formidable than Nuffle. After all, he was the only one to accomplish what for anyone else would be impossible: ending war entirely in Warhammer fantasy just by making them play American football instead.

But that begs the question: if he were introduced to the much larger, and arguably more violent 40k universe, could he do the same? The joke answer is that obviously he could because he’s a joke character and him pacifying the universe is the funniest thing that could happen; but ignoring that, logically, if Nuffle showed up in 40k what would happen?

Notably, since 40k takes place in our own future that means that it’s a universe where American Football once existed; and the fact that it is no longer played by the 41st millennium may suggest that Nuffle, should he exist, does not have nearly the amount of power in the 40k universe as he does in fantasy.

That Nuffle’s a god that isn’t the emperor, and a pseudo-chaos god at that, may also make it difficult for him to gain a following in 40k; As the Imperium is still the top dog faction with the most cultural influence. Then again, the Skaven are just as if not more zealous than the imperials and they play bloodbowl all the time. I imagine that Football being an ancient human invention may also further ingratiate it to imperials. Who knows maybe the Emperor was a football fan back in the day, it wouldn’t not be in character.

From another perspective, in Fantasy Bloodbowl Nuffle came with the great old ones. If 40k Nuffle came about in the same way that may mean Bloodbowl could spread amongst the Eldar and Orks. The Orks in particular choosing to play sports over fighting would be a huge change in the status quo for the Galaxy.

The big obstacle to Nuffle’s reign I think is going to be the tyranids, who I doubt are capable of even understanding the concept of sports. But Nuffle has conquered mindless war creatures before.

like i get that they worship the machine god and think flesh is weak, but do we ever get concrete lore on what they think the afterlife looks like? are they trying to achieve some kind of digital immortality or is it more just "serve the omnissiah and don't worry about it"?

Something I've been wondering about after reading more Ork stuff is how much they actually understand the social structure of the enemies they're fighting.

Ork hierarchy is extremely straightforward at first glance: the biggest, toughest Ork is usually the boss, and everyone else figures out where they stand from there. Human armies must look completely backwards by comparison. The elderly guy pointing at a map might outrank several hundred physically stronger soldiers, and the terrifying eight-foot transhuman who just arrived might technically have no authority over any of them.

But Orks clearly aren't incapable of understanding this stuff. Blood Axes imitate human military organization, uniforms, ranks and tactics. Orks can recognize important human enemies, and they seem perfectly capable of distinguishing ordinary soldiers from leaders even when the leader isn't physically impressive.

So how sophisticated does that recognition get?

Would an experienced Ork understand that the small human with different insignia is the one actually giving orders? Could they distinguish a commissar from an ordinary Guard officer, or recognize that an Inquisitor who barely looks like a soldier might be the most politically powerful human present?

And is this something Orks generally understand after enough fighting, or mostly a Blood Axe thing?

I'm especially curious whether there are scenes from an Ork POV where they correctly read a human chain of command rather than simply deciding that whoever looks toughest must be the boss.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/89916866/chapters/238912656

Been working through this for a while and I’ve been wondering if any of you die hard 40k fans would enjoy. It’s not complete, but if you have any notes or criticism please let me know.

There are Orks, Chaos Astartes and all sorts of aliens in here so I’m sure you’ll have something to give me feedback on!

Thanks in advance.

Just a thought I had and I cannot find an answer online.

How would a salmanders drake blade compare to a normal power sword? Since the drakeblade cuts by heat wouldnt it be less effective that a full on disruption field? What ate your thoughts?

old lore about them indicated that they had a orange iconography on their armors, however the new version of the models seem to have lost the iconography entirely and all flames are "real".

is there any lore reason to not paint them some other color? say purple or blue flames.

Hi all, thanks for all the help through the journey but i think i have read all the books printed under Horus Heresy after about 20 months since i started. But now what? Time to go to 40k? Where do i startnow? I have read Eisenhorn before i started HH and now i have some books from dawn of fire and dark imperium and some books from here and there. I have no clue how they fit or appear chronologically. Please advise on books/ series of novels to read to follow the main thread of 40k. Thanks!

EDIT: Just fucking realized the extra Primarch books are left :/

id asume you cant and some contermeasure would destroy the device you used to do the attempt, however i think there may be some excerpt on the matter

at one person in universe would have tried, right?

La religion est l’un des fondements de l’humanité, commun à toutes les civilisations. Pourquoi les planètes sur lesquelles les primarques ont atterri n’ont pas vraiment fait d’eux des dieux, ou des prophètes de leurs religions existantes? Pourquoi ont elles accueilli l’Imperium si facilement alors qu’il contredisait toutes leurs croyances préalables? Et d’ailleurs pourquoi les primarques eux-mêmes ne sont pas croyants à part Lorgar? Est-ce en raison de leur nature surhumaine?

The Talon of Horus

I say nothing for a time, looking over my many wounds once more. ‘Why are your eyes gold?’ I ask Abaddon.

He closes them for a moment, touching his fingertips to them. ‘I looked into the Astronomican for a long, long time, listening to its verses and choruses. The Emperor’s Light did this to me.’

‘Does it hurt?’

His answering nod hides more than it reveals. ‘A little. No one ever said enlightenment came without cost, Khayon.’

The book doesn't tell us exactly how much knowledge he gleaned, though his visit to the Tlaloc left Khayon with the impression that Abaddon was someone who knew far more than he let on, and who had a very real and unexplainable presence about him.

ADB did have an interview for the book all the way back in 2014 where he explained the lore surrounding Abaddon's enlightenment:

There was two things, well actually there was three things specifically about Abaddon. The first was the idea of a brazen head like that mythological idea of a bronze head that speaks prophecy, and I really liked that idea which is why his eyes are like goldy/bronze. It was just a vague allusion to that because like he has quite literally seen into forever. He has stared into the Astronomican in that 2001 way and he knows more than everyone else. Again I do want to illustrate that doesn't mean he's perfect or infallible, it just means he's got a much better foundation to work on than any other character who's interacted with Chaos before. Specifically like anyones rise to dominance is gonna be cut by betrayal and intelligent enemies screwing you over and occasional mistakes made and occasionally incompetent underlings doing their own thing, so he's not perfect because he's got all this knowledge, I just want to make that clear. Oh yes, sorry and the third reference was ehm. There's that famous gif of Hugh Jackman looking up into the sun and like his hair being blown back and he's like looking up into the face of god and I thought that's actually kind of awesome. So okay i'll steal a little of that. It was just such a striking image.

Here is a link to the interview: https://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/2014/11/episode-113-ia13-war-machines-of-the-lost-and-the-damned/

The time he says this is roughly at 2 hours and 8 minutes.

So, could anyone have replicated this and become another exception to the rule of Chaos? I don't think so. Abaddon is unique in that his past molded him into a vessel that could receive, understand and properly implement the knowledge imparted by the Emperor's Light.

TLDR: could you turn the warp, and thus perhaps chaos, into a more positive aspect through focused belief?

The warp heavily relies on belief and emotion. Greater emotions in larger quantities coalesced into the 4 chaos gods (simplification).

I know some background facts, but I might not be understanding them correctly:

1. War In Heaven completely broke the warp and forever tainted it with malice due to the sheer slaughter during the war.
   
2. Due to this, most (if not all) warp entities are similarly affected by this taint, most prominently the chaos gods who represent both the good and bad of a thing, but the bad is like 99% of it. (i.e., Khorne represents honor too, but the violent and negative aspect of that is 99% of it).
   
3. Warp entities are empowered by belief. Chaos gods get stronger over time due to their worshipers, and Big E is being forcefully elevated to a god as well through belief.

So, I came up with a hypothetical:

For some odd reason, every sentient being in galaxy focuses on a singular chaos god (let's say Khorne).

They worship Khorne, specifically denying all his negative aspects and focusing only on the good. Honor, bravery, valor, respect, strength, etc. They believe only in the good aspects.

Would it be possible for Khorne to be warped into this positive aspect?

To me, I say it could be possible, but I am not sure if the lore supports this.

Like, what's their vision like?

Can they percieve you if you're invisible to humans?

Can they see infrared?

Can they see X-rays?

Is there any lore on something being invisible to them in any way?

Does electronic warfare work on their vision?

Hello, 

For once, this post will not cover the lore of a single book. Instead, it aims at presents and explore the information available about the Captains-Generals of the Custodes, their roles and history.

1 - Roles 

Regarding the Custodes

What is the Captain-General of the Custodes ?

The Captain-General commands the Ten Thousand, inheriting a post that has been passed down from one gallant leader to the next ever since the mysterious disappearance of Constantin Valdor. The Captain-General has absolute authority over the Custodes, acting as the ritual proxy for the Emperor himself and speaking with the voice of the Master of Mankind.

Codex Custodes v8, p.20

He is further charged with leading the greatest military campaigns fought by the Ten Thousand, and must display a degree of warrior prowess that approaches that of the Primarchs of old.

Codex Custodes v8, p.36

The Captain-General is in charge of the dispatches and forces’s repartitions.

The Ominous Gift
Halo-belt augurs reveal the space hulk Ominous Gift advancing inexorably out of the dark void towards Terra. Using his status as a High Lord to overrule objections by the Imperial Navy, Captain-General Aesoth Koumadra orders a strike by several shield companies to gut the craft from the inside and ensure its corruption is wholly purged. Those outside the Adeptus Custodes do not understand the significance, but the attack is led by the Lockwarden of the Shadowkeepers and a band of his black-armoured comrades. The Ominous Gift is destroyed – the wider Imperium need never know any more than that.

Codex Custodes v8, p.31

Into Shadows
Upon the direct orders of Trajann Valoris, a small, fast-moving force of Custodians make haste for the ruined remains of Cadia.

Codex Custodes v8, p.33

They can participate in Blood Games debriefs.

As he walked along the Southern Circuit with Constantin to reclaim them, he asked about the progress of other blood games.

Tales of Heresy - Blood Game

The nodical-session Blood Games are almost at an end,' Arcadius told them, and Valdor nodded with approval. With intelligence pointing to a security threat that was only growing in imminence, the Captain General had doubled the theatre-diagnostic, pitting the best he had from the ranks of the Legio Custodes against the Palace defences. The sentinel-securitas examined both failures and near-successes to anticipate possible enemy strategies and review the Emperor's security. With the galaxy in turmoil and Valdor's days increasingly dominated by actual threats rather than hypothetical ones, the Chief Custodian had less time for the tactical rituals. 

The Imperial Truth - Hands of the Emperor

They can give titles / names and promote Custodes to various ranks, including Tribunes and assign them missions.

Guilliman refrained from rebuking him for his tone. Colquan had been one of his most vocal critics on Terra, which was why Guilliman had not objected when Trajann Valoris had assigned him to the Indomitus Crusade. Keep your enemies close, King Konor had said, a tenet Guilliman had not always adhered to, to his eternal regret. »

Plague Wars

Colquan was one of a thousand spurs digging into Guilliman’s side. Their relationship had improved in recent years, but the tribune still did not trust the primarch. He was poised, constantly, to act should Guilliman even look like he was thinking of moving on the Throne. That was why Valoris had given Colquan the rank, and sent him on the crusade. »

Godblight

A Custodian's roll of honour is encompassed by his name. Though all begin with a single epithet, as these warriors achieve great deeds they are awarded additional names to reflect them. In days past, the Emperor himself would bestow these titles. Now it falls to the Captain-General, or occasionally a Shield-Captain in the field, to bestow the honour on his comrades.

Codex Custodes v8, p.15

They are also responsible for the assignment of the Hetaeron Guard (in cooperation with the Hetaeron Tribune), also known as the Companions, the 300 Custodes standing vigil inside the Throne Room.

The Companions are a three-hundred-strong force that forms the direct bodyguards of the Emperor while he sits upon the Golden Throne. They are hand-picked by the Captain-General.

[…]

when the Captain-General judges that a Companion has served long enough they will be rotated out with immediate effect 

Codex Custodes v8, p.12

The Captain-General also coordinates the receiving end of the informations sent by the Eyes of the Emperor from all around the galaxy.

Should they bear witness to a situation developing that they believe threatens Terra or the Emperor, these watchers use secret channels to communicate a warning to the Captain-General. So do response forces of the Adeptus Custodes launch punitive and pre-emptive strikes throughout the Imperium, forewarned of danger by the Eyes of the Emperor.

Codex Custodes v10, p.40

The Throne must be made aware, Zatu. A threat is here in Vorganthian. It is real and it is dire beyond imagining. The cult of the Illuminated lives. I must contact the captain-general immediately. 

Auric Gods

All three were Eyes of the Emperor. They cared nothing for the lives spent to speed them back to the Throneworld. All that mattered to them was securing an immediate audience with Captain-General Trajann Valoris, the master of the Adeptus Custodes and the only one to whom they would deliver their warning.

Leviathan corebook, p.224

In rare occasion, the Captain-General can also allow an Eye to keep their wargear.

When a Custodian judges themselves no longer fit for duty they vanish into the void of the galaxy clad in hooded black robes. Some surrender their arms and armour to the Hall of Armaments before departure. Others retain their wargear with the Captain-General's blessing as a mark of particular honour.

Codex Custodes v10, p.40

It is, for now at least, unknown if the Captain-General belongs to a particular Shield-Host / Company, a War-Caste and/or to a Templii (if they still exist)

Constantin Valdor had a personal guard, its existence after his disappearance is not explored.

Flanked by members of his Ares Guard, Valdor was attended upon

The Imperial Truth - The Hands of the Emperor

Valdor had some sort of command cadre, which existence as an unit may still be a thing in 40k

Upon its assemblage, a Shield-Host Company’s commander may call to their side a retinue of warriors, each deputised in support of one facet of their superior’s authority. Typically these are the Vestarios, charged with relaying commands across vast battlefields, the Signifier, who bears a physical embodiment of the Emperor’s dominion and the Blade Champion, both bodyguard and executioner in their leader’s service. Each is a lauded veteran, and individual commanders have been known to maintain such Adjutorum Sodalities in perpetuity, most famously in the case of Constantin Valdor’s own Vestarios, Samonas. 

Journal Tactica - Prospero Burns : The Judgment of Valdor

Regarding modern Captains-Generals, Valoris is mentioned as having a company and led a Shield-Host on Terra.

This had been secured already, and was manned by Custodians of Valoris’ own company.

The Emperor's Légion

The Wyrmslayers
 A Genestealer Cult calling themselves the Wyrms of the Ur-tendril are discovered by Ordo Xenos agents, entrenched amongst the Nordafrik under-archives on Terra. Captain-General Valoris refuses a request by the Deathwatch to send Kill Teams against this threat, instead leading the purge in person at the head of a huge Adeptus Custodes shield host. 

Codex Custodes v8, p.33

Both Valdor and Valoris have their quarters in the Hegemon Tower but it is not said if they are the same ones and have served as quarters for all Captains-Generals.

The chambers he occupied when in the Tower were as bleak and spare as any of the rest of them. I often reflected on the mismatch between the magnificence of our battleplate and the crudeness of our dwellings. We went to war clad in some of the finest and most ornate armour imaginable, and yet, when given similar licence to adorn the places we trained in, meditated in and studied in, we chose blank stone and the soft light of candles. The Captain-General was no exception – he could have opted to spend his scarce resting time surrounded by pearls and crystal goblets – and yet his rooms were studies in monastic restraint, as cold and dark as a crypt.

The Regent Shadow

The pilot nodded, and the air-car dipped into a controlled descent. Ahead of them, the skeleton of Third Proscribed Area, known by anyone with any decent information as the Tower of Hegemon, filled the forward viewscreens. It looked like some heavy outer shielding was being lifted into position, obscuring a thick core of rockcrete piles. The topmost pinnacle was like a finger flayed of its flesh, a needle of bone against the white sky. They docked at the lesser of the two air-platforms, to be greeted by a welcome party of Tower serfs. As ever, they were polite, soft-spoken, with eyes that seemed to see right through you. The passage to the captain-general’s private chambers was efficient and quick, laced with expert small talk. 

[…]

Soon they were all gone, along with Kandawire’s bodyguards, leaving her alone in a marble-floored chamber of white stone walls. Late afternoon sun filtered in through narrow windows, designed to look like enlarged arrow-slits. The architecture was monolithic, like some fortress or castle from the forgotten past. There were no pictures, no ornaments, no fountains or decorative plants. The entire space was cold, pale, flat and unreflective.

Valdor: Birth of the Imperium

The wargear used by the Captains-Generals has been the same for 10 000 years, after Valdor’s departure.

As tradition dictated, he took up the armour and weapons of his former lord. These masterfully crafted artefacts were fashioned in the wake of Constantin Valdor's disappearance and passed on to each new Captain-General ever since. The first is the Watcher's Axe, a huge polearm blade that crackles with golden lightning and can bisect the sarcophagus of a Chaos Helbrute with a single swing. The axe's haft incorporates a master-crafted bolt weapon known as the Eagle's Scream, which fires adamantium-tipped penetrator bolts at a ferocious rate. The second of these great relics is an elaborate suit of powered armour known as the Castellan Plate, which incorporates a heraldic tilting shield, an auramite halo, and a magnificent cloak woven with adamantine thread so that it flows like cloth but yields to neither blade nor blast. At his belt the Captain-General also carries a strange device known as the Moment Shackle. A relic of Dark Age technology released from the vaults beneath the Imperial Palace, this artefact allows Valoris to trap fragments of temporal energy and turn them to his use, excising split-second events from history or slowing the localised temporal flow enough to tip a desperate fight in his favour.

Codex Custodes v8, p.36

The Moment’s Shackle is also rumoured to give its bearer fragmentic visions of the future.

Some have suggested that the Moment Shackle gives Valoris some kind of rare insight into what the future holds, helping him to make the most timely and important decisions.

Codex Custodes v10, p.25

They also use other weapons at the occasion

Emperor’s Light
Said to have been crafted from a crystalline shard of the Emperor’s glorious light, this misericordia has been borne into battle by three separate Captain-Generals. It is reputed to flood the heart of its victims with searing radiance.

Codex Custodes v10, p.106

Regarding others duties

The Captain-Generals can and have, at several occasions, served in the High Lords Council, in various posts.

The Captain-General is the master of the Adeptus Custodes, and, on many occasions during Imperial history, has stood amongst the ranks of the High Lords of Terra.

Codex Custodes v8, p.36

At times their Captain-General has stood amongst the High Lords of Terra. At others he has served as one of that council’s most powerful advisors.

Codex Custodes v8, p.12

The title also confers powers over Sol defences.

The office of Captain-General is one of the most powerful military appointments in the Imperium. It confers full responsibility for the overall defence of the Sol System, Terra, the Imperial Palace and - ultimately - the Golden Throne and the Emperor himself. 

Codex Custodes v8, p.36

The following excerpt takes place in 30k with Valdor so caution is required as to whether or not the modern Captains-Generals still do these tasks.

Consuls from the Collegia Titanica were requesting a baptismal Palace walk-by, involving the newly constructed Warlord-class Battle Titan Vigilantia Victrum, which the Chief Custodian was almost certain to reject out of committee. Papers, references and pict-files on the forty or so Palace sub-ambassador appointees still required the Chief Custodian's seal. »

The Imperial Truth - Hands of the Emperor

For these duties the Captain-General has access to various sources of information.

Valoris maintained his own networks of informants. He had quiet arrangements with more than one agent of the Inquisitorial Ordos, and access to some of the most accomplished seers and Astropaths in the Imperium. 

Leviathan Corebook, p.224

2 - History

This part of the post will focus on the known stories and events regarding the Captain-Generals, a list of the known named, their fate and so on.

In more than 10 000 years, the number of Captain-Generals is relatively low.

In the millennia since the Great Crusade, there have been just seventeen incumbents of this weighty mantle.

Codex Custodes v8, p.36

Out of those 17, we know only a handful

• Constantin Valdor, the First Captain-General, from M30 to M31 (departed during the Scouring)

This period will come to be known as the Scouring, and it is a time of violent catharsis and retribution. Yet the newly reorganised Adeptus Custodes take no part in it, standing their sombre watch upon the throneworld and contemplating their ultimate failure. Though records conflict as to how and when, it is during this period that Captain-General Constantin Valdor disappears from Imperial histories, along with his weapons and armour, which never make their way to the Hall of Armaments.

Codex Custodes v8, p.30

• Beyreuth, Captain-General in M32, notably during the War of the Beast

I’ll direct all my men to the defence of the Throne Room, and inform Captain-General Beyreuth.’

Throneworld

• Excelsor, Captain-General in M36, notable the Age of Apostasy and the creation of the Adepta Sororitas

It was Captain-General Excelsor of the Adeptus Custodes who delivered their verdict. After explaining that Thor was found innocent

[…]

Excelsor took Thor aside and spoke to him. Although no one truly knows what the Captain-General said to Thor, it is widely believed to have been « you will leave Terra as an Ecclesiarch, or you will not leave Terra at all… »

Codex Sisters of Battle v2, p.15

• Aesoth Koumadra, at an unspecified period between M33 and M39
• Galahoth, Captain-General at an unspecified time between M40 and M41
• Launceddre, successor of Galahoth
• Trajann Valoris, successor of Launceddre and current bearer of the title since in M41.999

The Years of Madness
 A time of strange omens and ominous whispers engulfs Terra, beginning with the disappearance of the notoriously conservative Captain-General Galahoth. Battling the stagnation of Galahoth's rule, the Adeptus Custodes find themselves facing a shocking increase in cult activity both heretical and xenophile - throughout the Sol System. Doomsday sects trigger queue-wars between the pilgrim tribes within the Emperor's palace itself, and the Custodians are forced to exercise their authority in the bloodiest fights they have seen in centuries. Reports from the Dark Cells cite a growing sense of agitation amongst the hidden inmates, and numerous support servitors have to be destroyed by the Shadowkeepers after they exhibit sudden, violent madness. Worse is to follow as possession is revealed amongst a sub-sect of the doomscryers themselves, though not until the false predictions of the fallen psykers send Captain-General Launceddre to his death at the Battle of the Gilded Pyre. It is amidst this climate of spiralling paranoia and danger that Captain-General Trajann Valoris is elevated to command the Ten Thousand, and he wastes no time in taking steps to regain ironclad control of Terra's defences.

 Codex Custodes v8, p.31

From M30 to M41.999, around 12 000 years, it makes an average of 705,88 years of service. Maybe less if you reduce M30 to something like M30.800 for cutting the Unification Wars.

Of those 17, we know the fate of some.

Most have died in battle, either on the holy soil of Terra or whilst leading crucial campaigns amidst the stars. Several have become Eyes of the Emperor, while three - including Constantin Valdor himself -simply vanished, their disappearances wreathed in mystery even amongst their own comrades.

Codex Custodes v8, p.36

« Most », to me, means more than 50%. From that, we can assume that at least 9 have died in battle (Launceddre included). From the remaining 8, at least 2 have become Eyes of the Emperor. From the remaining 6, 3 (Valdor, maybe Galahoth and another) have departed without trace. That makes 3 of whom fate is unknown. Interestingly enough, there is no mention of a Captain-General interred in a Dreadnought.

The office of Captain-General seems to be a life-long service (or until the bearer becomes an Eye) as there is no mention of one shedding the mantle and becoming a « normal » Custodian.

Let’s focus on Valoris for a bit.

He is remarkably obscure in-universe (and out). Tieron, one of the main characters in the Emperor’s Legion, knows next to nothing about Valoris’s age, career or exploits. Note that Tieron is 200 years old, meaning Valoris has been Captain-General for longer than this length of time.

I have lived over two hundred standard years. Too long, I think now. I have buried two wives, and seen seven children enter service and leave me for the void, and still I remain here, old, stubborn, in irritatingly good health despite an atmosphere of toxins both natural and political.

[…]

« There were no records in the Imperial databanks on his martial conquests or his ascent into the order. I didn’t know what his name had been before he was taken into the Sanctum Imperialis, or where he had been born, or when. It might have been a hundred years ago, or it might have been five thousand.
For as long as I had been alive, though, his name had been spoken of with nothing short of reverence. »

Watchers of the Throne: The Emperor’s Legion

He holds a notable record.

Within his first decade of service, Valoris ran not just one, but two successful Blood Games, a record that remains unbroken. 

Codex Custodes v8, p.36

He is noted as a particularly aggressive and pro-active Custodian.

Valoris recognised his own proclivity for aggressive action, and took constant steps to temper it with comprehensive foreknowledge. Thus his strikes always fell where they should, and no comrade was ever lost to reckless commands.

[…]

Trajann Valoris has proven a dynamic and effective Captain-General. Under his rule the number of Blood Games have increased tenfold, the defences of the stable warp routes into the Sol System have been strengthened, and long-hidden cults have been purged from the Terran underhives. Little escapes the eyes of his ever expanding spy network and, armed with the certainty of the truly righteous, his covert strikes have annihilated dozens of threats to the Golden Throne. 

[…]

Whatever the case, the Captain-General's many qualities make him ideally suited to lead in this age of unprecedented aggression.

Codex Custodes v8, p.36

He reformed the Talons of the Emperor before the return of Guilliman, explained by having a dream-vision from the Emperor (and maybe with the Moment Shackle).

Valoris did not smile. ‘A fragment of a dream,’ he said. ‘The only thing I took from fifteen years of contemplation. Let us hope I read it right, for we no longer have the luxury of error.’
‘What did it tell you?’
Valoris stared out into the gaudy night.
‘The same thing I have been telling our star-speakers for months. The same thing I shall tell you and all others who I send out in pursuit of this slender hope.’
Only then did the Captain-General turn again to regard him.
‘He calls His daughters home, Navradaran,’ he said. ‘That is our task now, the only one that matters – to ensure they answer. 

Blood Guilt

It was as if Valoris had foreseen Guilliman’s return and the Great Rift long before they came, and laid all the groundwork required for the Adeptus Custodes to adapt to the new Imperium. Perhaps, some whispered, the half-understood power of the Moment Shackle allowed him to do just that. 

Codex Custodes v8, p.36

He even called back in secret some Sisters of Silence before the return of Guilliman.

Codex Custodes v9, p.22

He defended on at least one occasion an High-Lord.

Still the Norn Emissary fought on. Its whipping tail broke another Custodian's neck and sent his body clattering away across the plaza. A final, desperate effort saw the beast hurl itself forward, jaws gaping to close upon Lord Solar Leontus like a trap slamming shut. Yet Valoris was there at the crucial moment, Watcher's Axe swinging in a meteoric arc to embed itself in the side of the Norn Emissary's skull and smash its head aside. The xenos monster crashed to the ground, crushing more than a score of Leontus' aides under its bulk, yet its last strike at the Lord Solar had been fended off by the Captain-General of the Emperor's own bodyguards.

Leviathan Corebook, p.252

 An unnamed Captain-General (possibly Valdor) is said to have given Guilliman the Emperor’s Sword during the Scouring.

Guilliman did not begrudge the priest his awe. There was great warpcraft in the weapon. When the blade had been presented to Guilliman by the captain-general of the Adeptus Custodes after the Emperor’s fall, it had somehow fitted his primarch’s stature.

Dark Imperium

The Captain-General is chosen by elections, tho the modalities of the process (who can be candidate, who can vote, which voting system is used) are unknown.

The Custodians elect Valdor's successor from amongst their ranks and continue their watch. 

Codex Custodes v8, p.30

The Captain-General, while sole leader of the Custodes, is helped by some of their order, the Tribunate.

Beneath the Captain-General is the Custodian Tribunate, a group of ten veteran Custodians who act as advisors to the Captain-General. Membership of this body changes periodically to ensure a blend of established wisdom and fresh ideas. A Custodian must have earned at least ten names before he can serve on the Tribunate, and have led his comrades victoriously in battle on at least three occasions. Once he joins the Tribunate, a Custodian must serve for at least ten years. During this time he will not see the front lines, for he is too busy bending all of his considerable intellect to supporting strategically and diplomatically -the Captain-General. Below this ruling council are the Shield-Captains, who fulfil the roles of inspiring leaders, gifted generals and selfless champions.

Codex Custodes v8, p.20

Valdor is hinted to be special, even before being a Custodian. His departure is also, at least for him, part of a plan.

One of the many secrets Astarte knew was Valdor’s original name. She knew where he had been born, and what his parents had been before they had been killed. She knew why the Emperor had risked a huge amount to carry armies halfway across Terra to locate him, why the entire enterprise had almost come to nothing, and what had saved it.

Valdor: Birth of the Imperium

Valdor has always been bound by the laws, even those he made for himself. He rises, reaching for his armour. By the time he leaves, there will be nothing left of him in the chamber – no sign, no message, no cryptic clue.
He slips out unnoticed, for the path has been prepared for a long time, and unlike Russ he takes no companions with him. That, too, is as it should be – he has never been a gregarious soul. 

Two Metaphysical Blades

And voilà. As always, feel free to ask questions in the comments and / or add sources I missed.

Till next time for another Custodes post.

I recently finished this book. *Spoilers* I have some thoughts about it.

So basically the plot revolves around an Inquisitor who wants to get revenge on the Flesh Tearers over an encounter between her teacher and the Flesh Tearers which resulted in her teacher being psychically linked to the Black Rage and nearly breaking his mind.

Wow talk about petty. Imagine being willing to throw away millions of Imperial lives by diverting forces away from defending a hive city just to get revenge on the meanie Flesh Tearers for traumatizing her teacher by giving him a taste of what they have to deal with on a daily basis.

Ok fine so she wants revenge. How exactly does she go about getting her revenge on the Flesh Tearers? There's a disabled Titan on the planet Armageddon so her plan is to lie and say that it's a chaos titan and requisition the Flesh Tearers to help her destroy the titan but before destroying the titan she's going to use her psychic powers to extract all of the data from the ancient war machine because the titan might have some knowledge on it that she can use to get her revenge on the Flesh Tearers?

Yea her whole plan is completely nonsensical. She has no way of knowing if that disabled Titan even has any information of value much less specifically anything on it that can be used against the Flesh Tearers.

Eventually after fighting their way through Orks the Inquisitor and the handful of Flesh Tearers she requisitioned to aid her including the chapter master Gabriel Seth make their way to the Titan. The Flesh Tearers realize that it's not a chaos titan and the Inquisitor has been lying to them.

The Inquisitor reveals that she wants to use her psychic powers to extract information from it to which Gabriel responds by saying "No knowledge is bad!" then all hell breaks loose and the Inquisitor uses her psychic shenanigans which makes the Flesh Tearers start fighting each other and escapes.

After the chaos the Flesh Tearers spend the next few weeks trying to find her until they finally locate her on an Imperial medical transport. The Flesh Tearers decide that whatever knowledge she might have learned from the disabled Titan is so dangerous that it's worth sending the Death Company onto the ship and slaughtering everyone on board including the Inquisitor and over 35,000 wounded Imperial Guardsman.

Ughh I hate this story. I think what the writers were going for is that the disabled Titan could possibly have some information about the Blood Angel's curse and if that got out it could spell doom for the Blood Angels and all of their successor chapters. To me however it just seems very unlikely that some random Titan on Armageddon would have any knowledge about the Blood Angel's curse unless during the great crusade or the heresy a squad of Blood Angels was stupid enough to start drinking blood in front of a titan on the battlefield which makes the Inquisitor's whole plan and the lengths the Flesh Tearers are willing to go to hunt her down seem nonsensical to me. I mean for all we know the Titan didn't even have any information of value so the Inquisitor just wasted everyone's time and the Flesh Tearers butchered an entire medical transport ship with over 35,000 wounded Imperial Guardsmen on it to get to her for nothing.