Hetaeron Guard Squad - Role: The Hetaeron Guard serve as a part of the Custodian caste called the Hykanatoi, the main strength of the Adeptus Custodes. They serve as the personal bodyguard of the Emperor and the executioners of any who would offer threat or opposition to His will.The Companions of the Emperor are the most skilled fighters among a force of transhuman warriors whose martial skills are already beyond the limits of the merely Human.During the early years of the Great Crusade, when the Emperor still walked amongst Mankind, the Hetaeron were a regular feature upon the worlds deserving of His attention. Yet as His actions were turned elsewhere, His personal guard followed, becoming almost a myth among the other Imperial forces in their absence.Members of this elite cadre were originally selected individually for their service by the Master of Mankind Himself, but following His battle with the Warmaster Horus during the Siege of Terra and subsequent internment within the Golden Throne, the Hetaeron Guard were chosen through prescient dreams believed to have been sent to one of their own by the God-Emperor.Dreams did not mean the same to Custodians as they did to average mortals, for their minds were irrevocably changed by what they had become during their transformation into the elite guardians of the Emperor. Whatever purpose dreaming had for the mortal psyche was made redundant by their alteration. But there were exceptions -- legendary ones.These prescient visions were spoken of carefully, reverently, for it was in the form of dreams, long ago, that the Emperor's will was most clearly manifested to the Custodians. There are accounts, written in arcane script and buried in the deepest vaults of the Inner Palace, that tell of detailed testimony from the oldest of the Custodes' order, now all long dead.The greatest of them all -- Diocletian Exemplar, Thanassar, even Constantin Valdor himself -- were said to have had dreams in which knowledge from the Emperor was passed on.The Companions of the Emperor were never more than three hundred strong. It was the highest honour among the Custodes to be chosen for duty within that brotherhood. There would be sacrifice, of course, but that counted as nothing besides the opportunity to serve in the most profound way imaginable.Following the internment of the Emperor in the Golden Throne after the defeat of Horus upon his flagship during the Siege of Terra, the Custodes outwardly wore the mark of their failure in the black robes that covered their auramite armour. It was a permanent reminder, replacing the traditional cloaks of blood-red that once adorned their battle-plate.It weighed heavy with every Custodian, for they knew more of the nature of the fall than most. The gold of their auramite was also blackened, as if charred by fire. It was said that the Companions' proximity to the Emperor did that, turning their pride into ashes.This bleak colour change reflected that the Custodians had remained in permanent mourning for failing to protect the Emperor in His hour of need. But with the return of the Avenging Son, the resurrected Primarch Roboute Guilliman, the Adeptus Custodes cast off their black cloaks and now don their crimson raiments of old.Taking to the sea of stars, they now bring the battle to the Great Enemy, intent on absolving themselves in the baptism of fire and blood for their failure ten millennia earlier. But the Companions still remain beside their silent lord, ever watchful, ever waiting for any threat to make itself known.