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Was reading a recent thread about the lifespan of the Custodes and something came to mind.
You have these incredibly well-equipped warriors whose job is largely to act as a Praetorian Guard to the Emperor. However, they don't really "do much" in the grand scheme of things, yet you have this enormous force.

Thinking about other things they could be up to - how do fellow Dakka members feel about the idea that Custodes take part in defending the human webway? Surely, any chance to help the Emperor is in eternal battle against the Demons would be useful - it'd also provide vastly better training than regular sparring, and no matter how strong the Emperor is, you'd definitely 100% want a "just in case" force surrounding, if not within the webway at all times to safeguard against the possibility a stray demon make it through to murder the "helpless" Emperor.

IIRC the Emperor has the human webway shut pretty tight, so nothing is coming in or out anytime soon. However, the Adeptus Custodes are essentially already the force that is surrounding the webway at all times to safeguard against possible breaches. The Companions (the 300 who stay with the Emperor), and the rest of the Adeptus Custodes not only protect the palace, but guard the webway as well.

The Imperial Webway is incomplete. And the only way in or out is locked down by the Emperor himself. The Custodes are tasked with protecting the Imperial Palace as they always have. And, IMHO, keeping an eye on the High Lords in case one of them tries to bring about another Age of Apostasy and the Ordo Hereticus can't be counted on (as the Custodes are beyond the authority of the High Lords and the Inquisition, they could very well be the final redoubt against treachery on the part of the ruling council).

The Custodes also fought in the human webway when the psychic barriers were broken. They didn't have to anymore when the Emperor started to keep the human webway permanently closed.

The webway breach that Magnus caused was horrible enough to tie up the Emperor and a large portion of his SoS and Custodes in a constant battle. I don't think they'd be enough alone to defend it, if it were to ever open. You'd need, like, a full-on crusade to clear it up.

Remember that a 'webway' is called such because they are nodes connecting different warp gates (that may use tunnelling sections in the pocket between the warp/space).

It isn't a 'webway' if it only had one node (which I haven't heard about any other nodes) unless it connected to Eldar gates as well.

 Daba wrote:

It isn't a 'webway' if it only had one node (which I haven't heard about any other nodes) unless it connected to Eldar gates as well.

Not sure if the Emperor connected the Imperial Webway to the Eldar network before Magnus wrecked it, but the Imperial Webway was meant to link to, and provide access to, the Eldar Webway. Which was to be Magnus' task; to explore and conquer the Webway, bringing it under Imperial and therefore Human control.

my understanding is that if the gateway was breached, if the emperors block went down, that not even 300 super super men would stop the daemons from spewing forth and consuming earth.

The forces of chaos know what is on the other side of the door and they have deployed their forces accordingly.