Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Just reading the codex Grey Knights and I read that in the beginning that Malcador was suppose to find the best of the men for the Emperor and he found 8 Space Marines and 4 Lords and Governors. Some of the Space Marines came from the Legions that turned Traitor. So some of the Original Grey Knights were CSM. Here I thought the Dark Angels had a secret, now the GK have one up on the DA. So I guess GK no long bathe in the blood of SoB, but now recruit from CSM.

So I am wondering now, do the Grey Knights still employ this tactic for recruitment? Do they still recruit CSM or SM chapters that have turned traitor to see if they are worthy to become GK?

No, they've never recruited CSM. It's referring to marines like Loken and Garro, both of whom saw their legions fall to Chaos and refused to follow. They remained loyal to the Emperor even when their legions did not.

They weren't CSM's, they never served Chaos, they were loyalist Space Marines who's legions had turned traitor, but they themselves had stayed loyal and fought back against their traitor brethren and against their Primarchs, choosing the Emperor instead.

So I guess GK no long bathe in the blood of SoB, but now recruit from CSM.

That's one hell of a jump... and, also, a really poor comprehension of what you read.

Yes, some of the Legions that the founders of the GK came from had turned... these Marines Malcador selected had not, thus displaying true dedication to the Emperor and considerable force of will to overcome the link that the Space Marines of the GC-era had with their Primarchs.

Do they still recruit CSM or SM chapters that have turned traitor to see if they are worthy to become GK?

No.

They were not so much Chaos Space Marines as loyal marines from traitor legions. It was their loyalty to turn their backs on their Primarch and Brother marines in favor of the Emperor that attracted Malcador.

In regards to modern Grey Knights I think they still go through the same recruitment procedures as a standard Chapter, only a little more brutal. They don't take in fully formed marines from any source.

The GK only recruit Psykers, and they may "poach" psykers from other Chapters (those Initiates slated for the Librarians), if they fit the particularly-stringent requirements for the GK.

Gks recruit almost exclusively from the Inquisition's Black Ships. Ships which travel the galaxy and collect all psykers from Imperial planets.

Anyone born a psyker either gets turned over to the Black Ships, torn apart by an intolerant populace, or has to hide themselves and live a secretive life of heresy and fear.

like they said. supposedly Garviel Loken and Nathaniel Garro joined the GKs. they never turned and Malcador supposedly saw them as pure in loyalty as one can be.

to go against your family and lineage for the greater good showed the integrity and honor and loyalty these two men had.

but from what i read, Loken was always seen as untrustworthy. people just were never sure. too bad their story has to be kept secret.

i think it would make for some of the best stuff out of the 30k-40k series

If Blood Ravens are considered Loyalists, I'm fairly sure those few are too.

Bharring wrote:
If Blood Ravens are considered Loyalists, I'm fairly sure those few are too.

Not really. Even if the theory of the Blood Ravens being a Thousand Sons successor chapter is true, none of the current Blood Ravens were ever actually members of the Thousand Sons legion.

Johnnytorrance wrote:
like they said. supposedly Garviel Loken and Nathaniel Garro joined the GKs. they never turned and Malcador supposedly saw them as pure in loyalty as one can be.

to go against your family and lineage for the greater good showed the integrity and honor and loyalty these two men had.

but from what i read, Loken was always seen as untrustworthy. people just were never sure. too bad their story has to be kept secret.

i think it would make for some of the best stuff out of the 30k-40k series

Its heavily implied that Janus, the first Supreme Grand Master of the GKs, was Nathanial Garro.

If this is true, its also the fact that the first Supreme Grand Master of the GKs(and most of the 8 marines) was not a psyker. An interesting little factoid.

Also, most of the "Loyalist" Traitors were all Terran born. So not nearly (as) corrupted. Though I remember Zso Sahaal from Lord of the Night was Terran.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Gks recruit almost exclusively from the Inquisition's Black Ships. Ships which travel the galaxy and collect all psykers from Imperial planets.

Anyone born a psyker either gets turned over to the Black Ships, torn apart by an intolerant populace, or has to hide themselves and live a secretive life of heresy and fear.

The Black Ships are only one of the many sources the GK's recruit from... They are quite literally allowed to recruit from every single planet in the Imperium if there's a worthy possible recruit. That includes even the recruiting of other Astartes Chapters, (the Silver Skulls are noted for actively notifying the GK's if they find a remarkably gifted young psyker among their own recruits), and the Black Ships.

However, the Black Ships alone don't have nearly the capacity to funnel enough possible recruits, since literally only 1 in 1000 potential neophytes survive even the first level of the GK's testing processes.

Do note I said "almost"

They get the vast bulk of their recruits from the Black Ships. Very few from other sources.

I think you don't realize just how many recruits the Black Ships have. Each ship will have thousands upon thousands of psykers in their holds. And there is a steady stream of them passing by.

The Black Ships are the only way the GKs could possibly get enough potential recruits to keep their numbers up. Only 1 in a million will become a GK. No way could the chapter itself gather the recruits necessary.

Well.... they potentially could. I mean, a psyker is born once in every one million births in the Imperium. On some worlds, that's one or two psykers a day. There's a million worlds in the Imperium. There's a *lot* of psykers born every day across the entire Imperium.

While many of these will not survive to the Black Ships, or will somehow avoid being taken by them, these numbers are relatively few, compared to the number of psykers born.

The GK only need a grand total of 1000 Marines... and it is questionable if they even have that many. Given that it isn't as if the GK drop like flies on every mission, they would only need a relatively small number of successful recruits to maintain Chapter strength, and that just from the Black Ships alone.

The ones taken from the Aspirants of other Chapters is nice, but it's just icing on the cake.