Adeptus Custodes - Era of Glory and Shame, M30-M32: Unification Wars (Late M29-712.M30) - The bloody chronicles of the Unification Wars, particularly when the Emperor first rose from the nightmarish bloodshed of Old Earth's long night to cast down the reign of the warlords and monsters that had long lorded over the birth world of Mankind, are fragmented or have been sequestered and suppressed from the Imperium's scholars and even the Terran Court. But in those dark chronicles the Custodian Guard, in some form or shape, have their part as far back as any can record or those few souls who survive yet from those times as Venerable Dreadnoughts can remember. Various extant accounts record the Emperor being flanked by "giants of crimson and gold" during several different campaigns of the Wars of Unification demanding the surrender of a tyrant or techno-barbarian warlord. Later, these few "Custodians," now numbering in the hundreds, would later be recorded as leading the cull against the proto-Astartes of the Thunder Warriors following their revolt against the Emperor. Since before the first worlds were conquered as the Great Crusade left the Sol System, since before the taking of Luna and the Treaty of Mars, before the Space Marines and before the Thunder Warriors, the Custodian Guard have walked at the Emperor's side.Great Crusade (ca. 798.M30-005.M31) - The Emperor united all of Terra beneath his rule and struck out into the galaxy at the head of his armies of unification. The Great Crusade sweeps through the void like a tidal wave, uniting the scattered worlds of Humanity and driving the myriad xenos races into the shadows. The Emperor leads the greatest battles of this era in person, and always at His side stride the peerless warriors of the Legio Custodes. Clad in gleaming auramite, wielding blades that crackle with fell energies, the Ten Thousand cut down all that stand before them, and stamp Mankind's glorious authority upon the stars.Battle of Gyros-Thravian (ca. 900s.M30) - The Battle of Gyros-Thravian was a campaign of the Great Crusade fought against the extremely powerful Ork Warlord Gharkul Blackfang, one of the most powerful Ork leaders ever encountered to that time. Three full Space Marine Legions, including the Luna Wolves, Death Guard and Imperial Fists, were deployed to face the Greenskin menace. Despite the strength arrayed against the Orks, it was the Imperial forces who were soon on the verge of defeat. It was then that the Emperor Himself, aboard His flagship Bucephelus, came to the aid of His sons. He personally led a force composed of 1,000 Legio Custodes into the heart of the mighty Ork horde. Blackfang was confronted by the Emperor and killed atop his Gargant while the Custodians proceeded to lay waste to the rest of the Greenskin horde. The Custodians accounted for the slaughter of the Orks, slaying over 100,000 of the savage xenos, with the loss of only three Custodians. Following their momentous victory, the Emperor commemorated the Custodians' sacrifice by engraving the names of the three fallen Custodians into His own personal power armour.Battle of Prospero (734.004.M31) - After the Triumph at Ullanor, the Emperor returned to Terra to apply Himself to a task of utmost secrecy and importance. The Great Crusade continued under the Warmaster Horus of the Luna Wolves, but dark powers were at work, attempting to pervert the favoured primarch's rule and sow discord throughout the nascent Imperium. The first outward sign of the coming catastrophe was the Burning of Prospero. Magnus the Red, primarch of the Thousand Sons, unleashed forbidden sorceries that wreaked havoc upon Terra and the Emperor's secret Webway Project, though most will never know whether this act was one of aggression or an attempt to deliver a desperate warning of Horus' fall. In the end, the truth is immaterial; the Emperor unleashed a censure force under the command of Constantin Valdor and Primarch Leman Russ of the Space Wolves, charged with apprehending Magnus on his homeworld of Prospero and returning him to Terra to answer for his acts. Matters escalate rapidly due to Horus' malevolent intervention and the mission of capture becomes one of wholesale annihilation, Valdor and his Custodians fighting alongside the Space Wolves to overcome the sorcery of Magnus' sons.Horus Heresy (005-014.M31) - The Warmaster Horus openly declared his allegiance to the Dark Gods of Chaos, leading fully half of his brother primarchs and their Space Marine Legions in rebellion against the Throne. Civil war consumes the Imperium, a swift-spreading conflagration that threatens to turn to ash all the Emperor has built. Yet as His sons and their Legions battle across the stars, the Master of Mankind is nowhere to be seen. In truth, He and his Legio Custodes are engaged in their own desperate conflict, fighting upon a trans-dimensional battlefield within the Webway that the Emperor sought to tame for Mankind's use, thus protecting them forever from the machinations of Chaos. Tragically, this existential war keeps the Custodians from exacting the Emperor's vengeance upon His wayward sons -- the Ten Thousand do not take a major role in the battle for the Imperium until the foe is beating at the very gates of the Imperial Palace.Siege of Terra (014.M31) - At the culmination of the Siege of Terra, the Emperor led a last-ditch boarding action against Horus' battle barge, the Vengeful Spirit. He meets Horus in single combat and defeats him at last, but the cost is appalling. Though they cut down Traitors and Daemons beyond count, the Legio Custodes are unable to prevent Horus from crippling the Emperor, and leaving his father's mind and soul trapped in a shattered husk of a body. Grief-stricken, the Custodians bear their master's failing body back to Terra, there to be interred forevermore within the life support machineries of the Golden Throne. They swear a penitent's oath and don the mourning black, consigning themselves to watching over their fallen lord for the rest of time.A Legend's End (ca. 014-021.M31) - The Emperor's surviving loyal sons lead a furious war of vengeance, hounding the Traitor Legions across the galaxy. This period will come to be known as the Great Scouring, and it is a time of violent catharsis and retribution. Yet the newly reorganised Adeptus Custodes takes no part in it, standing their sombre watch upon the Throneworld and contemplating their ultimate failure. Though records conflict as to how and when, it is during this period that Captain-General Constantin Valdor disappears from Imperial histories, along with his weapons and armour, which never make their way to the Custodes' Hall of Armaments within the Imperial Palace complex. The Custodians elect Valdor's successor as Captain-General and Chief Custodian from amongst their ranks and continue their watch.War of the Beast (544-546.M32) - Still recovering from the events of the Horus Heresy, the Imperium is again beset. This time it is the Ork menace of a powerful Warlord, known only as The Beast, that almost overruns Mankind, bringing their war all the way to the gates of Terra itself. Bound by oath and duty, the Custodians take little part in the sprawling conflict, save to strike down a force of Aeldari who attempt to cut a path to the Emperor's throne room during the chaos and confusion.