Sixteen Percent Pariahs, Germination

Ambition to Create the Adeptus Custodes and Sisters of Silence

932.M30.

Segmentum Obscurus, Antimatz Sector, the feral world Vespid.

The Shadow-pattern Stormbird jolted in the air currents, and Nimrod looked down through the narrow viewing window.

The Primarch drew the Osiris Mind-Control Staff, and his consciousness spread outward.

On the black basalt mountains, amid steep, vicious ravines, burly men wrapped head to toe in beast furs and with terrifying war paint smeared across their faces raised matchlock guns without any sights and fired primitive black powder while sprinting at full speed.

Bang, bang, bang...

At the extreme range of four hundred meters, the matchlocks struck the beasts charging between the rocks with precision.

The Vespid met the roaring lion-like beasts without the slightest fear, their ferocity turning into innate cunning before the clash.

They dodged nimbly, making the beasts crash into the rocks one after another, then swung the weapons in their hands to deliver lethal blows.

This was the Vespid way. They were calculating, watertight, and always pursued the most effective strike.

Nimrod brought the Vespid battle within the range of his consciousness, his eyes shining.

He immediately recalled the future legendary Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn's assessment of the Vespid:

"Frankly, compared with them, I would rather fight an enraged Kasrkin."

The Kasrkin were the elite of the "Cadian Shock Troops." Stationed on the fortress world Cadia, they faced the threat of Chaos directly.

"Any Cadian who still can't handle a Lasgun before the age of ten was born on the wrong planet," was enough to explain the brutal threats the people of that world faced.

After generation upon generation of battle against the horrors of the Warp and mortal champions wielding destructive power, the Kasrkin became the ultimate soldiers of the vast Astra Militarum.

They faced Chaos's repeated "Black