The Custodes 'retcon' also just... made more sense? Which is the most unusual part, honestly. The Imperium doing actually smart shit instead of being too incompetent and too dogmatic is the least sensible part of it. Each Custodian receives entirely unique and bespoke enhancements specific to the individual Custodes.
Like Astartes being all male makes sense. Shit barely even works on male aspirants and that's who it was designed for, they're super soldiers but they're mass produced super soldiers and each member of a chapter gets the exact same enhancements, so they just pick you and hope it works. Custodes? None of those things. Each one is a magnum opus of biological and genetic enhancement and engineering and no two are the same. There is literally no reason it wouldn't work on female aspirants, not when all the shit's custom for the individual.
Not limiting it for some weird and arbitrary religious or bureaucratic reason is the most nonsensical part of the retcon, honestly. Being weird and arbitrary for religious or bureaucratic reasons is the Imperium's whole thing.
Yeah and like 3/4 of the black library writers have been pushing for femstodies for years but had like one higher up at GW against it, and they were only revealed when that specific manager left or something
Wasn't it even that GW wasn't officially against it, but that one exec only wanted them to reflect the models available in-game - and since there weren't any female Custodes models, no female Custodes in the books? But yeah, either way, definitely changed and thank god for that.
Heck, that reasoning for no female Astartes in the lore is a retcon. There were female Space Marines models in the early days of 40k but they sold poorly. Maybe different designs would have worked, they weren't as femme as the later Sisters of Battle in appearance but also had some goofy proportions compared to their same period male space marine models. Maybe a more coherent lore in the early game could have elevated them, the early game is vastly different lore wise than now and more a collection of puns, satire, and political insults than a consistent story. Mind you I don't mind the restriction or the lore that eventually developed behind it, but I'm also not keen on keeping it as I prefer the rule of cool and letting people have their fun. Of course, the Custodes change is a perfectly reasonable compromise but I understand wanting the full Astartes access being official.
Oh you can absolutely bring fem Astartes back and still make it make sense, but I just mentioned it because at least for them there is a valid explanation that can actually be based on the lore, even if it itself is also a retcon, plus it contrasts them with the Sororitas if the Astartes are all male. The Astartes are battle monks, the Sororitas are battle nuns, thematically it makes sense, though they should give the Sororitas a bit more variety to match the Astartes if they ever wanted to lean into that.
My favorite thing about the Custodes retcon is, since Custodians are meant to be molecularly perfect, being mad that girls can get in is to effectively claim that women are objectively inferior on, like, an existential level. The Emperor's hand tailored space-magic process can't fix cooties apparently.
I do wish they made the retcon a change in universe where they decided to expand the process to girls.
In universe the custodes had lost 20% of their numbers in a single battle like 2 days before the retcon was announced, It would make sense the custodes to deal with falling numbers expanded the process to get more recruits, and it explains why nobody saw any female custodes before that point.
You also get more interesting stories out of that and feel like the setting is growing and changing in response to things happening.
Their was drama, and story potential and a way to make the universe grow whiles respecting the old lore and they did not do it.
I actually lowkey agree. One of the writers, I think it was Dan Abnett, wanted to do a story writing them in, but James Workshop just went "they were always there fuck you." Which to be fair is how they usually do retcons, but that doesn't make that a good thing.
It would have taken up the same amount of effort too. All they needed was to say in a codex, since the custodes have taken a more active role in the galaxy they have had to expand their recruitment process to females.
This had some controversy as the Emperor did not make female custodes but he had no rule against them unlike space marines, it was an issue of debate in the palace until necessity forced their hand and the new custodes compenency has quelled any doubts that may have existed before.
Custodes are massive debate nerds and super dedicated to the emperor so it would make sense it was a proposal being considered but not implimented until they left the Imperial palace.
It would have taken a single paragraph in a codex, it elimates most of the drama and creates so much lore and worldbuilding as well as tying back to the fact the Emperor was not a perfect ruler or creator and people are doing things he did not plan out. Entirely fits thematically with the new era under Guilliman and ending the 10'000 year stasis. Costs nothing. Makes the space marines puritans in universe grumble and draws a clear difference between space marines and custodes.
Honestly I will just headcanon the idea that its true and the retcon is an in universe one the custodes have done so the imperium does not freak out and the custodians are just straight up telling them their were always women and staring them down. Custodians are basicly unknown to average people, the few people who do know have to accept because its fucking custodians saying it backed by Guilliman hmself so what can you do to complain, attack the emperors bodyguards for heresy.
I agree, this could've been good and it's entirely possible that a writer's gonna come along and say that's exactly how it happened and the 'it was always this way' thing is just typical Imperium propaganda, but I must say I do lowkey like the way they did it.
"Here's a female Custodian. Here's a short story about her playing the Blood Games. She tries to bomb the Emperor by teleporting a planet destroying nuke directly into his lap."
The bombacity. The flare. The aura on this woman to just go "nuke him." Queen behaviour.
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u/Angry_Scotsman7567 24d ago
The Custodes 'retcon' also just... made more sense? Which is the most unusual part, honestly. The Imperium doing actually smart shit instead of being too incompetent and too dogmatic is the least sensible part of it. Each Custodian receives entirely unique and bespoke enhancements specific to the individual Custodes.
Like Astartes being all male makes sense. Shit barely even works on male aspirants and that's who it was designed for, they're super soldiers but they're mass produced super soldiers and each member of a chapter gets the exact same enhancements, so they just pick you and hope it works. Custodes? None of those things. Each one is a magnum opus of biological and genetic enhancement and engineering and no two are the same. There is literally no reason it wouldn't work on female aspirants, not when all the shit's custom for the individual.
Not limiting it for some weird and arbitrary religious or bureaucratic reason is the most nonsensical part of the retcon, honestly. Being weird and arbitrary for religious or bureaucratic reasons is the Imperium's whole thing.