Warhammer 40k news and rumours. More Space Wolves revealed pg. 185

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.

**spiralingcadaver**

ImAGeek wrote:
Tbf they don’t sell female Custodes at the moment.

But AFAIK the way we know about this is through a leak, not an announcement? And I would be entirely unsurprised if we do see female Custodes (or a character, etc.) in the months following the release; I assumed that's why they would make such a change.

**Kanluwen**

It's just a short story in the codex. We have tons of stuff that never comes to fruition through those.

**CMLR**

Help me, aren't SM indoctrinated child soldiers with implants and Custodes bassically tube grown indoctrinated child soldiers? Or am I wrong?

**Mr_Rose**

CMLR wrote:
Help me, aren't SM indoctrinated child soldiers with implants and Custodes bassically tube grown indoctrinated child soldiers? Or am I wrong?

Custodes start out as natural-born human children, given to the Custodian Programme as infants. They then get a full genetic resequencing, maybe, that allows them to grow into a Custodian. Then there’s the conditioning and training etc. on top.
We are also told that for every hundred children given to the Programme, maybe five Custodians are created. It is implied that the balance all fail in some way; either the gene therapy fails outright or they exhibit some kind of defect and never reach full Custodian status. We are not outright told this however, so there is much speculation about the exact process and its results.

Like, I personally prefer the idea that instead of killing so many the process actually merges several into a single being, similar to how the Emperor himself was originally created, which explains their extraordinary mental fortitude amongst other things.

**MajorWesJanson**

Custodes are custom geneupgraded creations, that IIRC never had mention of being gender locked like the geneseed process.

Malcadors joke to Dornabout making the primarchs daughters instead of sons does imply that females were a viable option to gene enhance, and Custodes make sense for where that process was utilized.

Maybe they will adjust the fluff later, like say plastic kits for venturi jump squad to be female since their lighter build makes them more agile and suited for the role.

**xttz**

MajorWesJanson wrote:
Custodes are custom geneupgraded creations, that IIRC never had mention of being gender locked like the geneseed process.

I did a little research on this today and found that there was a recon, but not with this new book.

The first Custodes codex in 8th went through the lore & creation process with consistent use of gender, referring to them as 'sons of the emperor' and 'a brotherhood'. "It is known that all Custodians begin their lives as the infant sons of the noble houses of Terra.".
Then the following codex for 9th edition clearly intentionally rewrote all of that. Any male pronouns mentioned in the creation process were replaced with they/them, and now noble sons are just one of the possible ways they find inductees with other sources also mentioned.

Effectively what GW did to alter was a couple pages from their first dedicated book on Custodes lore. It's not all that different to how the first editions of published space marine fluff named specific Primarchs as simply commanders, generals, or heroes; before the latter versions added their full lore.

**RaptorusRex**

...Is it safe?

I think this is a change for the better, and expands on the lore in a really interesting way.

**Shakalooloo**

Compatibility with the primarchs' geneseed is supposedly one reason for marines all being male, and Custodes don't have any such geneseed implantation, do they? Being individually custom-made, any suitably promising applicant can get modded up to standard. It's similar to the stuff assassins go through, right? And they can be of any sex.

**frankelee**

It's all made up nonsense that wouldn't pass muster in Bio 101 anyway, it can be anything they claim it is. It didn't used to be some things, but they can pretend it is now.

**robbienw**

I have a bad feeling about this.

**warl0rdb0b**

The only bad feeling I get from this is the abominations that will come from Wargames Exclusive now, although it seems the fetish they have for cheesecake Tau and Kroot has taken over for now.

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

Shakalooloo wrote:
Compatibility with the primarchs' geneseed is supposedly one reason for marines all being male, and Custodes don't have any such geneseed implantation, do they? Being individually custom-made, any suitably promising applicant can get modded up to standard. It's similar to the stuff assassins go through, right? And they can be of any sex.

Custards seem to fall somewhere between an Astartes and a Primarch in terms of, well, design complexity, I guess.

Custodes, like Marines, start from a baseline smelly Hooman. Primarchs are lifeforms seemingly designed from the ground up, apparently not an enhancement to an existing human.

Custodes, like Primarchs, are described as strictly customer jobs. There they differ from Marines, who are essentially mass produced factory jobs, using standardised gubbins.

Marines are a legacy of the Primarch Project not being fully completed due to the abduction, and the need for loads and loads and loads of them for the Crusade era. This could be the same reason we didn’t get female Primarchs or Marines. Less “that technology is entirely beyond The Emperor”, and more “given the unique pressures, it would’ve taken too long to adapt it to female candidates as well, and time is the one thing The Emperor was entirely out of when the Warp Storms cleared” And only could. I present it as a potential talking point, not a claim.

Custodes have always been Made To Order, with whatever the process actually is and involves being tailored and tweaked to the individual subject. Now that may involve some kind of geneseed, at least to produce the organs and stuff that make them what they are. But…that doesn’t mean the resultant organs and that can’t be further refined for a given individual for peak performance and no tissue rejection.

**CMLR**

robbienw wrote:
I have a bad feeling about this.

Never tell me the odds!

**robbienw**

CMLR wrote:
robbienw wrote:
I have a bad feeling about this.

Never tell me the odds!

We're doomed.

**GaroRobe**

Didn't ADB want to include female custodes in one of his stories but apparently BL or GW wouldn't let him?

I wonder if that's true. I guess it's never too late to introduce something, since it's not like it was stated custodes need to be male

**deleted20250424**

GaroRobe wrote:
Didn't ADB want to include female custodes in one of his stories but apparently BL or GW wouldn't let him?

I wonder if that's true. I guess it's never too late to introduce something, since it's not like it was stated custodes need to be male

Majorkill says that was the case in his latest video.

I still don't know what the big deal is, but I do know I'm tired of my X feed being filed with the crap.

**xttz**

TalonZahn wrote:
I'm tired of my X feed being filed with the crap.

Isn't that what Twitter is for?

In the grim darkness of the near future there is only culture war...

**MajorWesJanson**

xttz wrote:
TalonZahn wrote:
I'm tired of my X feed being filed with the crap.

Isn't that what Twitter is for?

In the grim darkness of the near future there is only culture war...

I wonder what content moderation is like on the nooisphere. Maybe tied in with the Vanus temple assassins.

**deleted20250424**

xttz wrote:
TalonZahn wrote:
I'm tired of my X feed being filed with the crap.

Isn't that what Twitter is for?

In the grim darkness of the near future there is only culture war...

It's more "yas queens" than "no boobs on dudes" surprisingly.

I'm still in the "meh" camp.

It's the Gen X'er in me I guess.

**mortar_crew**

So orks lost tankbusta bombs altogether?!

**Mr_Rose**

MajorWesJanson wrote:
xttz wrote:
TalonZahn wrote:
I'm tired of my X feed being filed with the crap.

Isn't that what Twitter is for?

In the grim darkness of the near future there is only culture war...

I wonder what content moderation is like on the nooisphere. Maybe tied in with the Vanus temple assassins.

Ah yes, none of this silly “warning” stuff - the moderators ban people from life, not accounts from forums.

**xttz**

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/04/16/play-the-chosen-of-slaanesh-in-chaos-space-marines-armies-with-index-emperors-children/

Finally confirmation that EC are getting the world eaters treatment with a temporary index, likely until at least next year.

The Index will be released for free on Warhammer Community, so if you’re a fan of pink armour and noise complaints, look for it when Codex: Chaos Space Marines hits the shelves.

You might think that this heralds the imminent announcement of a new Codex, perhaps one bound in human skin and painted in garish colours – but if so, it’s too distant for even Warhammer Community’s astropathic choir to detect any signals, and we got a stern talking to from the Inquisitors for even trying. We can only assume we’re safe for the foreseeable future, but if that changes then we’ll let you know.

**chaos0xomega**

Huh, Lucius and Noise Marines, but what about Fabius Bile?

**StudentOfEtherium**

impression i get from this is that it'll just be the lucius and noise marine rules that already exist, but in an index of their own to preserve their rules until the codex comes out. some extra rules, but i'm not expecting a lot here

time to start watching rumor engines for anything particularly noisy, i guess

**xttz**

chaos0xomega wrote:
Huh, Lucius and Noise Marines, but what about Fabius Bile?

He's been doing his own thing for a while now, and isn't part of EC anymore. Most likely his datasheet will remain with CSM.

**Overread**

I think the only thing that surprises me that they aren't getting a codex of their own sooner. Then again it might mean that GW are doing more for them and that this year is already chock full of big new htings and they just don't have capacity to do the big update until later.

At the very least this is helping establish them as a fully separate subgroup that's going to get attention in the future

**FezzikDaBullgryn**

Custodes don't have "geneseed" or Primarchs. They have literal genetic implantation of the Emperor. Much like the GK have of Malcador. There is no reason the Custodes can't be women. No obscure paragraph from a magazine 20 years ago.

Also, the ration for applicants to complete custodes is WAAAAY worse than 100-5. It's like 50k to 1. The process of making a Custodian is not like the process of making a space Marine. They aren't "churning out new ones" every day. One of the youngest custodians (by his own admission) is still over several hundred years old.

Just saying, there is literally zero fluff or reason to say why custodes can't be women. or vice versa. They have the perfect genes of the Emperor inside them. There is literally no room for improvment on their human form. So their gender is entirely irrelevant.

**beast_gts**

Play the Chosen of Slaanesh in Chaos Space Marines Armies With Index: Emperor’s Children

We recently announced the imminent arrival of Chaos hordes mighty enough to darken the galaxy forever. There are two new Chaos Lords coming to ply their malevolent trade alongside a host of returning villains, but what you won’t find in the new Codex are a certain body-snatching duellist and his ear-splitting bandmates.

Lucius the Eternal and Noise Marine squads are both absent from Codex: Chaos Space Marines, and while none can say why they chose not to show up for the next big Chaos shindig, they aren’t going without rules. In fact, these devotees of the Dark Prince are getting their own Index, with updated datasheets to ensure you can field them alongside all the new Detachments.

While any Chaos Space Marine warband can still recruit Noise Marines of their own, the Index also includes a guide to fielding a true Emperor’s Children army, fixing up your keywords so they’ll feel properly luxurious on the battlefield.

They still have the Dark Pacts army rule you know and love, and besides needing to pick the SLAANESH keyword for anything that gets the choice – like Daemon Princes – you’re free to use whatever you like from the big buffet of units and Detachments that is Codex: Chaos Space Marines. You’ll also need to put Lucius in the WARLORD’s chair – prideful fellow that he is – but let’s be honest, you were probably going to do that anyway.

The Index will be released for free on Warhammer Community, so if you’re a fan of pink armour and noise complaints, look for it when Codex: Chaos Space Marines hits the shelves.

You might think that this heralds the imminent announcement of a new Codex, perhaps one bound in human skin and painted in garish colours – but if so, it’s too distant for even Warhammer Community’s astropathic choir to detect any signals, and we got a stern talking to from the Inquisitors for even trying. We can only assume we’re safe for the foreseeable future, but if that changes then we’ll let you know.

**Dudeface**

What I really like is the fact that given the index seemingly is literally 2 units and nothing else, it almost solely exists to signify an incoming codex to the point I don't know why they bother denying it.

**Chikout**

This means that an Emperor's Children codex is definitely on the way. How long was it between the world Eaters rules and their codex?