#and finding out that they have a gimp genetically engineered to look like you

[minweber]

Musings on Custodes: Nobilitas Terra

Ah, the now famous “all Custodians begin their lives as the infant sons of the noble houses of Terra” line from the 8th edition codex (not reproduced in the 9th one, btw). It has now experienced the kind meteoric rise in quotation previously enjoyed only by biblical verses in times of major church schisms. Let’s talk about the part of it that’s actually interesting though.

So Custodians are drawn from the children of Terra’s nobility. It is apparently not exclusive and other sources are allowed on Custodes’ own discretion, but this is both the traditional and the main one. It seems that originally the Emperor was doing something of a mamluk/janissaries thing with them, taking infant children from the families of his potential rivals as both hostages and soldiers that could be raised loyal only to him. Later, when his power grew to so far outstrip that of Terra’s aristocracy as to make any internal challenge of it inconceivable, it instead became prestigious to submit a child of a family to this service - not conscription, but an offering to the golden idol of humanity instead.

So surely, in 42nd millennium, with the Emperor’s eclipsing presence… changed, if not gone, there must be some sort of interesting dynamic between the Custodians and the bloodlines that spawned them? Well, the codex seems to dismiss the idea out of hand, stating that there is no real way for nobles of Terra to recognize their scions once they become Custodians - which presumably means that there is no grounds for interaction? And sure, I can recognize why the official lore in its current state isn't interested in that: Custodians are fixated on the Emperor to the exclusion of everything else, and the Terran nobility itself is a fairly faceless thing in the lore, one of which we don't really know enough about to build any kind of investment from their perspective.

But here we are all about the things that could yet be, rather than the things that just are! And I honestly think a bit of lore expansion in this direction could be pretty interesting!

Between the origins of the Rogue Traders and the Custodians themselves it seems that, much like the priesthood of Mars, some clans on Terra were indeed once powerful enough to make the newly ascendant Emperor deal with them in terms other than total subjugation or destruction. Would the meteoric rise of the Imperium during the Great Crusade grow or diminish their powers? On one hand - the previously mentioned growth of the Emperor's power in relation to them and the whole new "breed" of imperial elite he was literally creating (I know that in modern lore there is some speculation about what were actually his plans for the Astartes and the primarchs post-Crusade, but however things would have turned out for them, had he his way, I doubt it would have resulted in even a modicum of power returning to the hands of his once-rivals)... But on the other - during times of obscene growth and expansion rich and powerful tend to grow even more so, and I doubt that grimdark future avoids this tendency. So I will go out on a limb a little and say that while during the rise of the Imperium the power of Terran nobility may have waned in relative terms, it probably grew in the absolute ones.

And the following ten thousand years of sitting at the top of a stupidly expansive feudal confederacy probably did not hurt them either!

In the days of the Era Indomitus, then, these vague "noble houses of Terra" must be some sort of force to be reckoned with - politically, culturally, and probably even militarily. Likely on a galactic scale. And the personal guard of the Emperor, the supposedly most advanced beings in the entire Imperium, the living symbol of his power - are staffed almost exclusively by the scions of those houses. Do you see my vision? Do you agree that something simply must be there?!

Custodians are the Emperor's representatives and envoys, the single most powerful military force on Terra and the organization in full undisputed control of access to the most holy site in the entire Imperium, a place from which, technically, ALL authority within its borders is derived. Even without the bloodline connection there should be some kind of a relationship between them and the other powers of the throneworld! Even if we look at the pre-codex, fully palace-bound version of Custodes that care for absolutely nothing other than the Emperor's corpse physical safety - they still recognized that the events on larger Terra influence this safety and need to be at least reacted upon. And in the modern version they have never even been that shut-off. Even before the lifting of the Edict of Restraint, Solar Watch patrolled the Sol system entire, Aquilan Shield departed on their mysterious protector missions and the Emissaries Imperatus were busy being a diplomatic corps, for fuck's sake. I find it hard to believe that they would simply ignore Terra's political players, leaving them to do whatever unless someone rolled up armed to the Imperial Palace. So there definitely would be interactions - and once that hook is in, the fun begins.

Are custodians willing to "stoop down" and play nobility's games with them? Do they even have aversion to doing so? Surely, with all the talk about their talents beyond head-chopping, they are capable of scheming with the best of them? And if doing so is the most efficient way to get the job done - why would they object? And if they are no strangers to political manipulation and the noble families desperately want the prestige that comes with having produced a Custodian - why wouldn't the demigods indulge them and use it as a tool? Especially since they - if we keep the codex idea of it being impossible to recognize surrendered infants as the Custodians they become - hold all the cards and can basically present any of their number as a scion of this or that family? And while we are at it - do they themselves actually know? I imagine it must be not that important to them, but are there any records kept? Could you be a 200 hundred year old Custodian fresh out of training (a random example - like so many things, it is not known how long the creation and training of a Custodian takes) and be suddenly told that the aging matron of a noble house with whom you have to go and negotiate is actually your biological mother? Would that stir something? Curiosity, at least? Or is the Emperor’s light so absolute that it can blind one to even the most deep-nested human impulses?

Do Custodians remember sins and glories forgotten by the tapestries of gold and jewels? Do they watch some relatively minor and unimportant house with baffling prejudice - all because someone from it almost outdid the Emperor in something more than ten thousand years ago? Do some bloodlines enjoy unseen protection due to secret deals that have passed out of all human memory?

What about the internal politics of the organization? Millenia of drafting from a relatively closed pool of families means that some Custodians are related to each other - does that matter to them in any way? Even if the golden demigods are completely free of prejudice and superstition - which their history of paranoia kinda tells me they are not - genetics do play an objectively huge part in their existence. Is more expected of those drafted from families that produce more Custodians than others, or have spawned some especially renowned heroes? Once again - is it even public knowledge amidst the Custodes?

And what about the nobles themselves? Do they seek favor of the Adeptus Custodes? Is such a thing even possible? Do they view them as another player in their political games, or are they more of a force of nature, a condition that everyone has to deal with and adapt to? How does the process of submitting children even work nowadays? Is it compulsory? How many are taken from each family/genertaion? Do any struggle against this harvest, or has the honor of the thing completely overshadowed any resentment that they might have had?

Basically what I am saying is that, for the purposes of worldbuilding, interaction between systems is always better than the lack of thereof. And if one were looking for the ways to expand Custodes' lore - this one feels like a great source of characterization for them.

[sharpiepaws]

art questions

this was supposed to be like oooooh send in a number and i'll answer it but i don't feel like waiting i wanted to answer these all NOW whether you want answers or NOT 1. Art programs you have but don’t use i've installed firealpaca, medibang, drawpile, i think i have a crack of paint tool sai still, know i have a crack of csp lying around. truth be told the last time i used a digital art program that wasn't gimp was 2 years ago where i drew like 3 things in drawpile. 2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even) full front and 3/4 either direction are equally easy. it's profiles that are difficult. 3. What ideas come from when you were little a lot of my ocs come from when i was 13-ish. from when i was a little kid tho not much carries over except a theme of things being genetically engineered in some way. 4. Fav character/subject that’s a bitch to draw folliage/nature. i need to take a lot of references to make plants and foresty sorta landscapes look passable. 5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself i think i post nearly everything that's complete, and i complete nearly everything. anything that isn't posted is part of a larger whole and eventually will get posted. so probably like over 95% of what i do is posted online. 6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn’t supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it) 60s anime and akira toriyama's earlier work (dr slump/dragon ball). idk. smthn about the eyes. 7. A medium of art you don’t work in but appreciate vector artwork. tried it when i was 14 and hated it. just doesn't mesh well i'm a bitmap boy. 8. What’s an old project idea that you’ve lost interest in esther's redemption angel story. it's not really interesting to me and the afterlife "oh i'm a good angel and i help demons!" just feels really played out? i blame vivzie. 9. What are your file name conventions 001 002 003, a combination of keywords, or ajhgkjahkj 10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw puffy sweaters. any winter clothes really. 11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what yea i listen to pretty much anything. i kinda just pick an album or a dj set at random. i mostly listen to electronic music or alt rock. 12. Easiest part of body to draw arms. legs are a close second. 13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn’t your thing ... i don't think i have something like that if i don't like their work i don't really get interested in them lol. idk hidetaka miyazaki? for being a huge out masochist in interviews? that shit's funny. only played dark souls 1 tho. 14. Any favorite motifs characters grappling with their own mortality in some way shape or form 15. *Where* do you draw (don’t drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth) in my room. at my desk. 16. Something you are good at but don’t really have fun doing scriptthttt writttingg.g.. i forgot how much you have to Write to create Thing they can't just be nebulous ideas or cool scenes one after the other. 17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what i dink my oiter. and sometime my monsert if i want to feel like shit and have a really fast heart rate for a really long time. 18. An estimate of how much art supplies you’ve broken my collection of dried up poscas and copics and highlighters and literally any other marker is huge i'm sure. also i have popped the nib off of prismacolor's 005 fineliner at least twice. (prisma fineliners suck get staedtler or faber-castell instead) 19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.) plants no contest. rooms are also really cool. 20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy hands. i've always liked them. 21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways i dig baroque era paintings quite a bit. 22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any none i rawdog that sketchbook 23. Do you use different layer modes the closest thing i have to layers is my lightbox. 24. Do your references include stock images yes of course absolutely 25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by BEASTARS. i guess because furry? lol 26. What’s a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended i haven't finished any of my Works yet so i don't have an answer for this yet but i have a sneaking suspicion that one of them will be wildly misinterpreted but we shall see 27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with no not really. i didn't even realize warming up was a concept until like, this year or smthn 28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines) i did work for CUTE CERVID on their first comp. other than that no i am too reclusive and hate interacting with the Art Community at large to participate in most zines. 29. Media you love, but doesn’t inspire you artistically jet set radio funnily enough. the game literally about art hahahah i don't think i've ever drawn jet set radio fanart and i've been into that game for like 4 years now 30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated

this one. it's literally one of the best things i've ever drawn and everytime i post it it gets like 5 like/fav/engagements MAX