What's In The Dark Cells of Terra? | Warhammer 40K Lore

[@Its_Cannon]

I love the idea of the four demons not having anyone to test, so they just shoot the shit with a custodian. Khornite demon: Remember that time I caught you with that right hook? Custodian: Remember when I cut your head off demon? Khornite demon/Custodian: Good times.

[@iona2225]

Slaanesh Daemon: "Ooo hello there, big boy." Custodian: "Hello, how are you?" SD: "I am so # R E D A C T E D B Y O R D E R O F H I S H O L I N E S S U P O N H O L Y T E R R A# " C: "... that's nice?" SD: "You know what I want." C: "I do! And we're having drinks later, some nice, decent conversation!" SD: "... ohhh you bloody tease."

[@theodoreslavo5385]

@@iona2225 Mebe they can paint the others nails and watch bad movies while eating ice cream too.

[@lordgod9958]

​@@theodoreslavo5385so your saying cheesey platonic friendship with nothing remotely romantic or sexual about it is pain to a slaaneshi daemon? Sounds about right

[@Irishwhitewater257]

"how's the corpse emperor?" "Ooh he's okay, I worry about him sometimes, he just seems so sad."

[@unknowncommenter6698]

Aren't Custodes supposed to be almost complete automatons with their personal interests being summarised as "standing around"?

[@randomtheorist251]

A further thing to consider about Subject 11 is that 11 is also the daemonic number of Malice, the Chaos god of Chaos's own self destruction.

[@ianharrison5758]

I have a crackpot theory that the 11th primarch was the host of malice himself. Goes like this: There’s a high probability that primarch souls are actually warp deities, as shown through the 2 warp angels that are soul bound to the blood angels. Assuming that theory is true, that would explain both Malice’s absence from the setting and his unique ability to be able to exist in real space. There’s a smaller warp entity that claims to be malice to the space marine chapter that follows it but it’s never shown any indication it’s even as strong as Drach’nyn, much less is a chaos god. This also means that the emperor went through the portal on Molech to bargain with the gods he wanted to inhabit his sons, not the dark gods, which explains why they see him as a threat. He’d bypassed their control of the warp by removing their potentially strongest rivals and making them his own generals. Malice hates chaos,so much so it wouldnt be hard for the emperor to convince him to join his cause. By taking Malice out of the warp while still an immature, gestating chaos god like slaanesh was long before her birth, the emperor was able to remove him from the feedback loop of negative emotions shaping his development, and instead allowed his essence to absorb the power those emotions created, but having his disposition be formed through the lens of a gene crafted trans human subconsciously wired to protect humanity. Despite this, there’s no way even a primarchs form could handle Malices growing power and thus started to mutate. This explains why he was redacted from history, to keep his true nature secret, but also why it’s said that the sons of the lost primarchs weren’t punished, only the primarchs were. It’s likely the emperor put the 11th in stasis while his sons were mind wiped and absorbed by the ultramarines, and he’s now a time bomb waiting to be activated. This explains the existence of subject 11, why the 13th legion boomed in size around the same time as his redaction, why sanginius fears the emperor learning of his gene flaw, and why none of his brothers see him as a traitor, rather, as a tragedy. Guilleman even left him and his other lost brother a place at his council table on Macragge. The pieces all fit together but GW won’t ever be ballsy enough to do anything with the lost primarchs so it’s still a crackpot theory

[@Sara3346]

​@@ianharrison5758Thank you for the amazing headcanon.

[@BMichaelGalloway]

​@@ianharrison5758Superb👍take! Now, of course, you realize you must take pains to stay hidden from the Inquisition with such a credible assumption... 🫡😉😁

[@ianharrison5758]

@@BMichaelGalloway I have eyes and ears everywhere, and informants within many Ordos. I have no need to hide, the inquisition would never be able to find me without me getting advanced warning, and even the most zealous of them all eoidknt exterminatus Terra itself

[@TheArtsyEldar]

The emperor's little SCP foundation... That aside, thanks for featuring my art!

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

MY PLEASURE! THANKS FOR MAKING IT!

[@BobelPop]

Considering how it is like the SCP, then the Inquisition is like the GOC in a way.

[@playlist4637]

Which art is that?

[@tarazzzs]

Maybe The Big E was part of the O5.

[@NobleKorhedron]

SCP foundation...?

[@TK199999]

Something to remember too, we know that some of Tyrants defeated in Unification Wars were imprisoned in black cells according Valdor. At the same time we also know that some of the Tyrants were other Perpetuals who opposed the EoM and his mission. So subject 11 could be the 11th Tyrant imprisoned. Which is scarier than lost Primarch, since that would mean a Perpetual so powerful that it took the first Custodies, the Thunder Warriors and the EoM just too imprison.

[@some_shitposting_idiot3023]

well, not that scary, the emperor made the thunder warriors and custodes so he wouldnt have to just force everyone with his psychic might to bend the knee to him (yes he would easily be able to subjugate all mankind if he wanted to), the emperor alone solo's nearly the entire verse

[@robertnelson9599]

The tyrants the Emperor defeated were placed in a different prison called Khangba Marwu. If Horus had been captured Big E was planning to keep him there.

[@r.cdahuman7682]

Personally I like the idea that a majority of the things held in the vaults are more corporeal in nature, as opposed to warp based. Yes they have the testing daemons, but the idea that the shadow keepers are keeping daemons or chaos entities is just super boring to me, especially since we already have titan and the ordo malleus. To me it's much more fun if it's things more akin to the c'tan. Very powerful godlike things of __this__ reality. Eldritch and ancient things, discovered during the unification wars, the great crusade or before, and taken to terra to be locked away by the finest warriors in the galaxy.

[@Stahlvanten]

SCP style 40k Vault underneath the Imperial Palace? Well yes please.

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

Exactly, so much of 40K just gets reduced to “chaos is everything bad” but it’s a huge, ancient galaxy with A LOT more that just chaos

[@VallornDeathblade]

Men of Iron, horrible xenotech, maybe even stuff like the Keys Of Hel that the Iron Hands have/had. There are plenty of horrors both human made and xenos to lock up in there. The Dark Age of Technology and the subsequent Cybernetic Revolt saw weapons that could bite holes in the information substrate of reality, or warp time around them. We saw nanotech plagues show up a couple of times as well including a chaos tainted weapon called the Bloodtide. Warp stuff might also not just be Daemons or Chaos. Psykana or psychic technologies such as those used in the titans of the Ordos Sinister were off limit to all but the Imperial Household and if The Emperor had the technology to make Psi Titans at his disposal I'm sure there are things even worse in those vaults. Finally, let's consider dangerous minds, prisoners who knew secrets that had to be kept but could never be allowed out. Perhaps locked in stasis or cryopods for centuries etc.

[@misanthropicservitorofmars2116]

If it was corporeal then trazyn would have raided the vaults clean by now..

[@Dodsodalo]

​@@livefromtheblacklibrary The watchers, if you are interested in that kind of stuff, of the Dark Angels, the little hooded xenos that follow them around, scare the absolute shit out of even greater Demons, there is an account of when a Greater Demon of Tzzencht with a love of being a trickster ran into one while it was rampaging thought the rock, it stopped stared at the xeno, looked under the hood, and essentially shat bricks, paled, screamed and fled like the Scooby Doo Gang came across the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Because there is something there. Elsewhere, watching. Essentially insinuating that there is another dimension with its own entities, that the watchers are just.... An extension of, that horrify even Daemons. It's the OTHER dimensions than the warp that are barely hunted at in the lore that REALLY interest me. I think another esoteric one is the.... Ghost Stars? Which allude to be connected to something.... Else. Warhammer 40k has aspects of it that are horrifying to even the Daemons and forces of order in that universe.

[@TheSpicyLeg]

In my opinion, there’s a cell with nothing but a single, small wooden table in the center. On the table is single small object made of paper; a magazine. A magazine with a single page that hadn’t succumbed to the ravages of time. On that page is the most dangerous of all things. A single anime girl. Should knowledge of this lost art get out, the Imperium would instantly collapse.

[@ianharrison5758]

It’s definitely a cat girl

[@Thatonelurkingboi]

@@ianharrison5758 even in the grimdark darkness of the 41st milliemium there are still catgirls. Maybe the emperor waifu is a catgirl should this fact get out not even Tzeentch could predict what would happen.

[@parkermaisterra8532]

Well guess it’s good to know that it isn’t just Mars that’s filled with all sort of horrific goodies that it uncovered/released could lead the galaxy getting absolutely boned.

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

OH YEAH, loooot of fucked up stuff in the Sol system lmao

[@SeventhSeraphOfficerRevolver]

@@livefromtheblacklibrary including the lovecraftian horror under the grey knights fortress

[@chucklesthecrustyjuggler]

The Dark Angels fortress monastery 'The Rock' holds untold naughties too

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

Yeah, I’d love to see those two

[@wolvo5441]

@@SeventhSeraphOfficerRevolver what’s the story behind that then, I love lovecraft cosmic horror

[@Mr.Doodlebob]

I think that the dark cells straight up contain a Cthulhu like entity that entered the universe and realized it wasn’t the big fish in the pond anymore

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

Probably lol

[@OljeiKhan]

Now i need to ponder how many Cthulhus it would take in order to bring down a Custodian

[@shaunzaarrae3727]

@@OljeiKhan Obviously too many, cus they’re all gone and there’s still 10,000 custodes

[@OljeiKhan]

@@shaunzaarrae3727 hmm i guess the math checks out 🤔

[@shaunzaarrae3727]

@@OljeiKhan I loled

[@lunny2230]

If subject 11 was one of the missing primarchs then perhaps he was a perpetual like Vulkan so couldn't be truly killed at the time so they just stuck him in a cell?

[@ethanguest3438]

Considering the primarchs were built with redundancy involved this would make sense tbh

[@lunny2230]

@ethanguest3438 I was about to reply, why would you build in redundancy for a perpetual primarch? 🤔 But then remembered the issue of what if that primarch was a bit of a dick? Even if he was perpetual, you would want to be able to lock him away quietly and then hope the other one turned out right. 👍

[@TheUncivilizedNation]

Vulkan’s redundancy could be Magnus since they’re both unique and irreplaceable… to our knowledge. If you’re right about Vulkan then by that logic the 2nd Primarch could be as psychically strong as Magnus. The two are called the Forgotten and the Purged by Lorger. Perhaps one is dead and the other sealed

[@lunny2230]

@@TheUncivilizedNation Yeah fair point mate. Vulcan and Magnus do definitely seem to be the outliers. Though it could be argued I guess that Vulcan is very empathetic, so Angron without the nails could have been his double, and the perpetual thing was just a genetic quirk? After all, Angron with his almost insta-demon respawn nonsense is kinda the equivalent of a perpetual now. And for all we know he could have been a perpetual originally (definitely a perpetual brat with daddy issues! 🤣).

[@NekrialofTheUnshapedTable]

@@lunny2230 Mortarion was actually incredibly psykically powerful but he just repressed it and only started testing his power right before and after he ascended so he could have been planned as Magnus's backup? He was nowhere near as powerful as Magnus but just a thought.

[@o.w.n.1327]

Coca Cola formula. A finished version of original Fallout 3. And I cannot emphasis this enough. A real women.

[@battlesister1559]

Shrek 5 is there too

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

The Shrek Christmas special

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

Maybe subject 11 is a woman

[@pedropierre9594]

Pretty sure its the emperors web browsing history

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

Tha fandom has universally agreed the Big E is an ass man

[@Vaille32]

There are 10k Custodes. They are not Adeptes Astartes. They do not have the Black Carapace, two hearts, etc. They were engineered before the Astartes even existed. In fact, they were who the Emperor used to slaughter his Thunder Warriors. The Custodes are vastly superior to the Astartes in every way.

[@viciousyeen6644]

If Astartes are Wolves, Custodes are Lions

[@Mutiny960]

Yeah i stopped watching right there and am never coming back to this BS channel. Pretty easy to post this on the 40k subreddit to prevent many others from coming here as well. It has Black Library in its name and the idiot running it doesn't even know the basics. Normally you could say it was a slip of the tongue when recording, but they doubled down on the stupid and listed the total number of "Space Marines" operating in the galaxy as an example of how strong these Adeptus Custodes "Space Marines" are. This place is a cash grab looking for ride the 40k popularity wave.

[@bmorebread8993]

@@viciousyeen6644 that explains their combat techniques not necessarily their superiority

[@dean40king]

Qeq

[@Vaille32]

@@bmorebread8993 In lore, the Custodes are vastly superior to Astartes, both physically and mentally.

[@AliceBowie]

They're all essentially big red buttons that will kill everything in the universe if you press it. In the Eisenhorn novel with the enuncia loom that Gregor goes in, there's a lot of bizarre stuff. Especially when Eisenhorn and Cherubael go to the alien planet to do something with the daemon chariot thing. The dark cells are just full of the kinds of things that grant extreme power. Like those objects that if someone touches them, most people die, while a few are transformed into indestructible alien killing machines.

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

God I need to catch up on Eisenhorn, I’ve only read his and Ravenors trilogies

[@killerbunny9535]

i have to agree

[@kamiwriterleonardo6345]

These Dark Cells really have some SCP vibes to them, I love it!

[@sajadhoxhaj6603]

The khrave you mention in 4:50 was a parasitic type of species that the Dark Angels fought and destroyed around the same time Horus was victorious on Ullanor. They also were warp like entities and only blade and fire could harm and they shared some sort of psychic link with each other similar to the tyranids and the hive mind. You can read Lion El'Johnson: Lord of the first if you want to find more

[@Tortle-Man]

The Khrave are not only aliens mind controllers, they are basically the 40k version of Vampires. Not like blood angels or night lords vampires, like fantasy vampires. Old Rogue Trader had vampires be these bat like warp entities that would possess and mind control people, turning whole planets into their zombie like thralls. We don’t have those anymore, but the only artwork we have of the Khrave is exactly that, warp entities that posses humans and turn them into bay like monsters that devour humans. Personally I love them and with they were more present.

[@raftguy1376]

Service guarantees citizenship. WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?

[@TheJoshman01]

They Dark Angels killed the Autocthoniar, which was like the primogenitor of the Khrave species made by the Old Ones to fight in the War in Heaven. Their empire was destroyed, but I believe members of the Khrave species are still around.

[@thecommentguy9380]

The lost primarchs being completely destroyed wouldn't make sense given the fact it's still quite the work to make them so Big E likely still keeps them around, but likely was never able to do anything about it because he's skeletor and Steven Hawking Also some of the techs in the cells are usable but just not entrusted to the imperium's use. Like that time the custodes took some items from the cells to help repair the Phalanx

[@Gow-13510]

Well we can kinda sure that II are highly hinted to be dead as it was in the book that Russ is the one who do it on Big E command. XI however is also hinted to be locked in the vault as there is a cell where Lock-Warden are guarding call “Project XI”

[@thecommentguy9380]

@@Gow-13510 the point is that they're still being kept, dead or not

[@spaghettimkay5795]

Very true. The only Primarch we know for certain the Emperor wanted to censure and kill was Angron, and he only went ahead with it just before the start of the heresy. Now with how bad Angron was, could the lost Primarchs have possibly been that much worse? I think it was more due to their power, not loyalty, that they needed to be wiped from history.

[@theemperorofmankind3739]

@@spaghettimkay5795 In lore they were each given a title. One is the purged and one is the forgotten. As well as Leman Russ does state that he dislikes the idea of killing another brother. Which in my opinion means that only one of them was killed. I am combining a lot of different lore with this and it might not work under greater scrutiny but what I think happened was the following. During the Rangdan Xenocide, which was described as an existential issue for humanity and of what little we know is that the Rangdan were pretty much consumers of the mind and bone. I interpret this as being a bit metaphorical and that the Rangdan were not actually a xenos race, just hyper advanced humans who used technology to change themselves to a point where they practically are a xeno race (See the leagues of Votann as an example) and with this they offered a different approach to what the Emperor had in mind for humanity so he decideed to wipe them out. Now with this I would think they may have been able to convince the second Primarch to join them but the majority of his legion did not follow. Which led to Leman Russ Purging the Second. For the 11th I think something else happened. Due to Mortarian's hatred of him as well as Magnus' stated dislike of the 11th I highly suspect the 11th to being the more powerful blank in the setting. Only being rivaled by the pariah field the Necrons are setting up. And due to the nature of him not being able to be percieved by others that he was slowly breaking down mentally to being insane. I base this off the fact that Kharn the betrayer has killed Sisters of Silence without even being able to see them. I suspect the Emperor due to him being probably the only one who could communicate with the 11th that he will 'fix' him in due time where he was locked away in these Dark Cells as they would be the only place that could hold him as another project on Terra. But as the Horus Heresy happened no one had the knowledge to help the 11th out so over time with the solitude he went completely insane. With him occasionally breaking out and being locked back into one of the Dark Cells, by a number of Shadowkeepers. A bit more evidence to this would be that Subject 11 is described as having combat abilities greater than that of a Custodes. I suspect that is not just because he is the 11th Primarch but also since he cannot be percieved it amplifies his abilities. Where he would be Forgotten with the only thing of him remaining is the title Subject 11. This is just my headcanon for those two.

[@ianharrison5758]

@@theemperorofmankind3739 I have a crackpot theory that the 11th primarch was the host of malice himself. Goes like this: There’s a high probability that primarch souls are actually warp deities, as shown through the 2 warp angels that are soul bound to the blood angels. Assuming that theory is true, that would explain both Malice’s absence from the setting and his unique ability to be able to exist in real space. There’s a smaller warp entity that claims to be malice to the space marine chapter that follows it but it’s never shown any indication it’s even as strong as Drach’nyn, much less is a chaos god. This also means that the emperor went through the portal on Molech to bargain with the gods he wanted to inhabit his sons, not the dark gods, which explains why they see him as a threat. He’d bypassed their control of the warp by removing their potentially strongest rivals and making them his own generals. Malice hates chaos,so much so it wouldnt be hard for the emperor to convince him to join his cause. By taking Malice out of the warp while still an immature, gestating chaos god like slaanesh was long before her birth, the emperor was able to remove him from the feedback loop of negative emotions shaping his development, and instead allowed his essence to absorb the power those emotions created, but having his disposition be formed through the lens of a gene crafted trans human subconsciously wired to protect humanity. Despite this, there’s no way even a primarchs form could handle Malices growing power and thus started to mutate. This explains why he was redacted from history, to keep his true nature secret, but also why it’s said that the sons of the lost primarchs weren’t punished, only the primarchs were. It’s likely the emperor put the 11th in stasis while his sons were mind wiped and absorbed by the ultramarines, and he’s now a time bomb waiting to be activated. The emperor likely had plans to contain the mutations and potentially fix them, as he knew about all the gene flaws and malcador was even able to bring The Khan back to life, and the emperor implied once he could even still revive ferrus manus, meaning they likely could access the true soul of the primarchs and interact with it on a deeper level than just psychic power. Then he got put on disability benefits by Horus and now there’s 2 reality altering things on Terra capable of potentially creating a new eye of terror: subject 11 and the Talisman installed into the golden throne set to detonate should the throne fail and deal a blow to chaos they could never recover from. This explains the existence of subject 11, why the 13th legion boomed in size around the same time as his redaction, why sanginius fears the emperor learning of his gene flaw, and why none of his brothers see him as a traitor, rather, as a tragedy. Guilleman even left him and his other lost brother a place at his council table on Macragge. I also believe that the Terminus Decree is to release subject 11 and essentially let Malice, still bound to a mutated but loyal form, go on a very enthusiastic walk across the galaxy. The risk comes from the possibility of Malice potentially betraying the imperium due to the sudden backlash of waking up a fully formed chaos god in a primarchs body after 10k years in stasis driving him mad and leading to him going on an unstoppable rampage across the galaxy. If he’s loyal, he alone can buy the imperium time to regroup after whatever happened that caused the decree to he invoked. If he’s not, he immediately kills everyone on Terra and sets of the Talisman of 7 hammers. This then destroys the mortal forms of both he and the emperor and let’s both ascend to the warp as true gods. This would create a massive storm within the warp, and since the loss of terra means the astronomicon is destroyed, both real space and the warp and thrown into unfathomable levels of chaos as both dimensions power hierarchy is compromised. Essentially if it goes bad after malice wakes up shit hits the fan in a way that makes the war in heaven look like a warmup

[@MrAbraxus666]

0:44 - Little Correction for all the people viewing. Custodes and Space Marines are exceptionally different. There are on average 1000 Chapters of Space Marines each with about 1000 Marines, making there a total of a million marines. The Space Marines to a Custodes are like Guardsmen to a Marine. There are only 10,000 Custodes and you cannot become a Custodes if you're an Astartes. I know it's a little thing, but it's hella important.

[@jasoncrowell8863]

The Imperium acts in one of two ways: They either throw everything in the trash, or they have their home filled with old cheeseburger wrappers...except the wrappers are capable of eating entire Astra Militarum regiments.

[@viciousyeen6644]

I find most interesting, that while the collection of dangerous objects in the cells must be huge, there are still many equivalent things just laying around somewhere without guards. Sometimes people live right next to them, or on them. Like with the lost technology of the golden age

[@CrimsonTemplar2]

Enjoyable bit of lore analysis. Following breadcrumbs in the lore is one of my favorite bits of 40K.

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

Absolutely, I love picking over little things like this

[@justinheads5751]

Alabaster is not a kind of plaster that's ground up, but alabaster is sometimes used in ground up plasters, so that might be the source of your confusion. Alabaster is a naturally occurring mineral/rock.

[@Channel-23s]

You’d think since the monsters or beings that escaped that people would notice or they would call for backup but damn this is mysterious cosmic Horror at its finest and best

[@vontheunknown7982]

I think the 11th Primarch is in one of the dark cells for sure, but what do you guys think? 8:20

[@catosicarius3027]

Pretty good theory, probably is true.

[@vontheunknown7982]

@@catosicarius3027 Subject 11, just say it all in my opinion.

[@battlesister1559]

I'm almost sure he is in the dark cells

[@moodyowlproductions4287]

Probably...

[@moodyowlproductions4287]

@@catosicarius3027 mission successful...once again you Cato Sicarius......(walk off)

[@rossig9562]

The Emperor happily slaughtered his Thunder Warriors when he was done with them, if he kept the 2nd and 11th Primarchs alive it was probably only so his remaining sons didn't immediately turn against him.

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

I’ve found more info about the 2nd and 11th and yeah they’re absolutely both dead

[@sovietunion7643]

@@livefromtheblacklibrary maybe but its hardly new to the imperium to 1984 style someone's fake death, and the big E has a history of keeping information from his sons "for their protection" so i wouldn't necessarily keep them out of the game yet.

[@launchpad62]

@@livefromtheblacklibrary well this isn't entirely true as there is no concrete evidence of their fates. Though there is a strong indication that #2 was "Lost" and #11 got "purged", there is no reason to believe #11 got killed. During the siege of terra the Emperor offered magnus forgiveness, but it would come at the cost of his sons, his legion would be purged. So it makes sense he could have captured one while their legion was wiped out. The writer definitely knew what they were doing using the number 11 lol, throwing gas on the flame.

[@sladewilson2753]

My dumb fan theory is that the 11th primarch (which is implied to be there) is in the dark cells and is used as a gene seed cow and he's the reason the imperium hasn't run out yet and how Cawl was able to get so much for the Primaris project

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

JESUS CHRIST

[@sladewilson2753]

@@livefromtheblacklibrary it's dumb yeah but it kinda makes sense imo

[@garberasandor9699]

Honestly, it sounds like the loyalist version of the daemonculaba for some reason.

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

@@garberasandor9699 That's so fucking horrifying and I'm 100% here for it

[@cnut7383]

I like the idea that he's a blank more. Think about what the culexus assassins can do and then how devastating a primarch tier blank could be, probably even affecting the emperor. We have magnus the most powerful psyker, and 11 the most powerful blank.

[@danielwells1734]

So if Terra was at extreme risk of being captured or destroyed, and all hope was (close to) lost, is it possible that the Dark Cells would be opened in order to fight back? No doubt it'd be very risky, but if there was no other option...

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

Yep, and thats like an absolute plan Z

[@sovietunion7643]

there is a box underneath the palace that the emperor has stated not to be opened until it appears the imperium is to be destroyed. there are instructions in the box for what to do, although no one knows what those instructions are. its certain the dark cells will be involved with these instructions.

[@ethanguest3438]

​@@livefromtheblacklibraryplan z^2

[@TheUncivilizedNation]

@@sovietunion7643 hopefully he as another contingency in case the destruction of Terra is what destroys the Imperium. Otherwise those instructions would be lost. Destroyed by the Talisman of Seven Hammers or something else

[@PiedPiper-hq6po]

​@@TheUncivilizedNation I think I heard it from someone before, just to clarify, wasn't the box handed to the Grey knights?

[@thewhompingwampa2671]

I knew of the Dark Cells already, that they hold horros from the DAoT and other such things. I also knew that when Abaddon's big fat scar on reality appeared some of the Cells were empty. But what I didn't know was that the actual Shadowkeepers _were fucking killed._ It's one thing for the cells to empty on their own but knowing that whatever they were holding finally managed to overpower the Custodes and are currently loose in the galaxy is nothing less than horrifying.

[@TheUncivilizedNation]

Don’t be too impressed. Khorne had invaded Terra and the Custodes were locked in a stalemate against the daemons. The balance being broken when Guilliman returned with reinforcements. If it wasn’t for Khorne the Shadowkeepers would’ve been at full strength and might’ve held the creatures back

[@thewhompingwampa2671]

@@TheUncivilizedNation Full strength or not, it still warrants respect to acknowledge how many Custodes it takes to effectively keep whatever nightmares lurked within the Cells.

[@danielmcphee2546]

trazyn the infinite: hm perhaps i should pay a visit to these dark cells when i have the chance.

[@Warmaster2001]

Cypher: I will help you in that.

[@PelinalDidNothingWrong]

Shadowkeepers are my chosen sub-faction for my Custodes Army. I love the mystique behind their lore and the dark cells of Terra.

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

Yeah and their design is cool as hell as a paint job!

[@PelinalDidNothingWrong]

@@livefromtheblacklibrary It is! I've decided to paint their accompanying Sisters of Silence in matching colours too

[@ragingfurball5419]

Subject 11 sounds like it would be the missing primarch himself, just with his title changed to 'Subject' to help obfuscate what he really is.

[@nouhorni3229]

But still '11' because that's not obvious.

[@TheCreepyLantern]

see i like the theory that maybe the Rangdan Xenocides are what took out one of the missing legions Maybe the thing in that cell is the thing that was the 11th primarch and is now half Rangdan. or possessed by a Rangdan or whatever else

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

I really need to read up on the Rangdan

[@TheCreepyLantern]

@@livefromtheblacklibrary like the black cells there ain't much but what's there is really interesting

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

It’s mentioned like VERY sparsely across the heresy I think but that’s it

[@TheCreepyLantern]

@@livefromtheblacklibrary yahhhh. 1d4Chan sums up what little we know pretty well if that helps

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

I’ll check that out!

[@EC23331]

Fairly certain there was a dustbin with disco balls that had a plunger and a whisk attached to the bin down in the cells.

[@ethanmueller8218]

What?

[@Svejser]

@@ethanmueller8218 EX-TER-MI-NATE

[@GodlordBazi]

The story about Malcador and the statues actually went a bit different than you explained it here. When Alpharius told Horus about the removal of the statues, Horus got mad as fuck and he went, accompanied by Alpharius and the Khan, to Malcador in order to confront him about that matter. Malcador basically stated that it was the decision of the Emperor to wipe those two guys (I think it was never mentioned that it was about the missing primarchs, just strongly hinted) from the records and remove everything that reminds of their existence, so it would be done and Horus would have to swallow it. Horus viewed the removal of the statues as a getting robbed of his personal glory, since those were monuments to what he called "his victories", and got so angry at Malcador that he lashed out at him. Malcador didn't even get up from his chair and psykically forced Horus on his knees. When a Custodian took a peek through the door and asked Malcador whether they should intervene and help him, Malcador told him that he doesn't need their help and they could go back to watch duty again. What followed was basically an "uncle" (Horus actually calls Malcador that way in this story) scolding his nephew for being disobedient, while Horus is fuming with rage. So it wasn't Malcador who got angry and no one said anything about the primarchs loving their two missing brothers, it was just Horus getting mad at Malcador and the Emperor due to their decision of removing a monument related to one of Horus' (and presumably Alpharius' and the Khan's as well) victorious campaigns, which seem to have involved at least one of the two missing primarchs in one way or another.

[@warchiefzeke9134]

I am Alpharius. This is a lie.

[@ianharrison5758]

From guillemans inclusion of them on his council table he designed to seat all his Brothers and his father, and the lion, who was ready to off G man if he was a traitor, didn’t disagree, it’s implied that while they may not have had a close bond with either primarch, both clearly saw their fates as tragedies to be remembered and honored. Horus does as well in his exchange, questioning malcadors right to remove the statues dedicated to the honors the legions have earned. Malcador chokes Horus specifically because he was going to say the name of one his brothers and malcador got so pissed he told Horus that if he kept it up he would UNMAKE him.

[@sovietunion7643]

ok but what if subject 11 isn't just a recreation of the 11th primarch, but IS the 11th primarch one theory or mix of theories is that one of the primarchs ended up being a blank. this would leave this primarch to seriously be able to threaten the emperor and most of the other primarchs as well, so it was the big E's choice to lock them away so they weren't a threat. this also ties into the theory of what is the final contingency instructions in the box underneath the palace that the custodes aren't supposed to open until it looks like the imperium is doomed. breaking out the 11th primarch being a blank would essentially destroy any chaos invasion within the system, and a blank primarch could easily beat back even enemies such as the eldar or other super pychic xeno races that may be threatening the imperium. its known dark things lurk within the halo stars, so a contingency of the 11th primarch being released as a last resort would make sense you may ask why would the big E have this sort of powerful being chained up (other than to protect himself), well a normal human blank is already enough to fuck with a pykers head mentally, a blank primarch could very well break the minds of any psyker in the area. you release a blank primarch on terra and the thousands if not more psykers the emperor needs are going to have a fit and likely die from seizure of this powerful a blank field just messing with their heads. releasing this primarch would very be destructive at best so its likely primarch 11th could have been this one.

[@VeraTepes]

"These guys don't DIE easily." I love it.

[@KonnyKhaos]

I think I knew what you meant by “the top 100, of the top 10,000, of the million space marines across the galaxy.” It must be said that the custodes are not great space marines but a different breed of super soldier all together.

[@Mutiny960]

This idiot doesn't even know that basic crap. They aren't a 40k fan, just some late-comer trying to ride the wave of 40k popularity right now.

[@KonnyKhaos]

@@Mutiny960 based, and I appreciate it. I knew something was off with this dude.

[@Mutiny960]

@@KonnyKhaos As the 40k TV Show gets closer we can expect a lot more of this di**-rider BS.

[@KonnyKhaos]

@@Mutiny960 well there’s always true loreheads like us who’ve been in the hobby for 20 years to call them out. Its a shame someone is spreading literal misinformation about such a loved IP for clout…

[@Mutiny960]

@@KonnyKhaos That's the kicker this is basic information. It's akin to calling yourself a chef and not knowing how to cook an egg.

[@KillTeamHungary]

Thank you for this. I am now inspired to write my next Custodes fan fiction about the Shadow Keepers.

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

HOLY CRAP ITS YOU! I’m honoured!

[@KillTeamHungary]

@@livefromtheblacklibrary :) Im nobody special :) But thank you!

[@probablythedm1669]

CHIM, capitalized because it is from the Ehlnofex language, is an ancient sigil connoting "royalty", "starlight", and "high splendor" and written with Daedric letters. It is, to my understanding, to realize you are not only in a dream but part of the dream. You are not the dreamer, for that is the Godhead, making you literally a figment of someone else's imagination. Most who realize they're not real zero-sum and simply cease to exist because they know they don't exist. But a few people are so sure of themselves they realize rhey don't exist but decide "Well then I'll just dream myself into existing!", and since they don't exist after that they can dream themselves as powerful as they want, so now they've essentially become a god within the dream by lucid dreaming themselves into existence while awake. It's like you have a weird dream and then some person from your dream realize they're just a part of your dream and only exist because you keep dreaming. So they decide to dream themselves into existence by lucid dreaming while still awake and also decide they're going to be a god and eventually just go make their own dream (becoming a new dreamer, aka. Godhead) with blackjack and hookers and just leave your dream after getting frustrated with how much effort it takes to alter your dream to their liking. Trippy stuff. Yes, I am a big nerd with a brain full of mostly useless fictional trivia (my fist Elder Scrolls game was Daggerfall). How could you tell? 🤓 I wish my brain cared to retain useful information instead, but alas, I forget the names of people I've known my whole life but I remember shit like CHIM and that one time Drazhar was killed by Jain Zar. Fml...

[@ChaoticVoicesofAndreas]

The slithering dreamer can't be anything else than Cthulhu or a Spawn

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

YEP

[@vicstanfieldshire7754]

There is also a part in Mechanicum I think; where the Sigillite is speaking with Dorn whilst Terra is being reinforced. They are discussing the fact that the loyal / traitor legion ratio is fairly equal, with respect to how many legions are actually in play at this time. Dorn makes a comment that it he could have had two more on his side, referring to the purged and the forgotten legions, ALSO implying that they WOULD have been on the loyalists side. This garners nowhere near the response Horus received. Malcador simply tells him that he cannot even think of such things and to put it from his mind. It just struck me as odd that they were called the “forgotten” and the “purged” since Dorn insinuates that they were BOTH loyal Legions…

[@natanaelsantos3924]

I mean, they don't necessarily need to be traitors to receive this treatment. Which means the reasons why they were forgotten and purged are far different than the expected.

[@vicstanfieldshire7754]

@@natanaelsantos3924 but it would have to have been something massive to need that type of response. Look at the mistakes of Magnus and Lorgar, even after that they remained. I imagine it wasn’t treachery, since that was a foreign concept up until the HH; or the Thunder Warriors before that.

[@vicstanfieldshire7754]

@@natanaelsantos3924 but ultimately it’s about Dorns perception of how those two legions would have interfaces, despit being “forgotten” he feels even that legion would side with the loyalists.

[@natanaelsantos3924]

@@vicstanfieldshire7754 All in all, this thing is just a massive hole in the lore to be filled when necessary by some book of the Black Library.

[@vicstanfieldshire7754]

@@natanaelsantos3924 I like the “build your own legion” concept…. Mine is that one of the legions used blackstone incorporated into their ceramite and Bolters / Swords and they were sent into the warp long ago to battle chaos.

[@blam320]

Personally, I think "Subject XI" is not a re-creation of the 11th Primarch, but the original article, hunted down and captured, and imprisoned in the Vaults. Perhaps too useful to be killed by Leman Russ, even in whatever state led to their expungement from Imperial history.

[@KaiCalimatinus]

I personally feel like the slithering dreamer, is one of those most powerful men of iron. The ones who could apparently unwrite and rewrite reality, and devoured space itself.

[@morelenmir]

How are there new Shadow Custodians? I thought there were all made as individual projects by the Emperor himself fifteen thousand years earlier. Is it a case of an existing Custodian being promoted to the Shadow Custodes?

[@michaeldimare3786]

Promotion, yes

[@Channel-23s]

Got the same vibes and feelings as the Ghoul Stars and I love it

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

I really need to read up on those more

[@admiraltiberius1989]

Having one of the lost Primarchs locked away would be insane. Especially if he did nothing wrong and instead was just a failure. Glad you mentioned it, Subject 11 is pretty on the nose but it'd be interesting. Another idea is that a Dark Age of technology super being ie an enhanced human or robot was captured by the Emperor and locked away. He knows secrets that could destabilize the Imperium. A fully functional STC could also be locked away.

[@ethanguest3438]

I know q comment mentioned him being used as a forced gene seed donor, considering the ultramarines took a lot of marines from one of the lost legions (can't remember which) If.it was the eleventh, they became the largest legion. If this was the case maybe the 11th primarchs main role in the crusade was proving stable geneseed for new space marines, would explain why the imperium has been able to have so many foundings inspite of the supposed degredation of geneseed. Also how cawl got so much in the first place maybe?

[@rainsoakedscribe7068]

Honestly, the Slithering Dreamer immediately rings the Lovecraftian alarm for me, especially when combined of your theory. It reminds me of Azathoth when your theory is added.

[@lincolnosiris3665]

He gave the Terminus Decree to the Lion? Are you sure about that? Never heard of that before and cannot remember any novel or codex that would indicate it.

[@MelissaWould]

Wasn't that given to the grey knights chapter master by mal?

[@lincolnosiris3665]

@@MelissaWould correct

[@sneedfest3399]

Just to point out, but Custodes aren't space marines and the shield hosts dont draw from the adeptus astartes

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

Oh I know, I just kinda misspoke

[@donelkingii3738]

I heard the Dark Cells still hold El Chapo to this day.

[@quack9355]

OFF TOPIC* So someone finally deciphers what the Arks of Omen card are for. Basically, for each 4 cards in order, it summarize each book of Arks of omen. So, 1st to 4th cards are for book 1. Book 2 is 5th to 8th. It's just simple as that. Lmao Guess GW really is that simple. Here I am invested on your interpretation of the cards vid lol. You should cover it. Especially withthe new cards now. The 3 out of 4 card now implies about the Tau so it's confirmed that the 4th book is about the Tau, mainly Farsight and his blokes.

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

Honestly my entire analysis got shitcanned so I’m waiting for all 12 cards to drop before making the last video, I’m honestly pretty stumped but I’m figuring it out!

[@davidodonovan1699]

Great video sir. Well done man. Legend

[@theplayerofus319]

Hey, just found your channel, great 40k content! Subscribed, keep it up!

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

AYYY HUGE THANKS DUDE!

[@philipclay8531]

Loving your channel!

[@lilvampire7439]

“These are guarded by the best of the best of the best of the best, those that are so strong they can withstand demonic corruption and are even stronger and aware than custodies. So the Astral Claws stole the cup…”

[@Ddnmddnn]

Do they have 3 naked custodes?😂

[@fildelara279]

There's a toaster in there. And a DVD player with The Ring movie in it

[@hugoguzman4985]

I think the Slithering Dreamer is related to Dromlach the Cosmic Serpent. "The symbol of Saim-Hann, the Cosmic Serpent, is the only creature believed by the Eldar to exist both in the Materium and Immaterium at the same time. Hence, the serpent is said to know all secrets, past and present."

[@LurkerAnonymous]

These are actually the remains of the ancient Vaults of Utumno.

[@11679MRT]

It's all interesting but the name drops are just there to flavor your 40k matches. You can imagine your Custodes are defending the cell of subject 11 from your friend's chaos army, for example. GW will never elaborate any further and are content to let our imaginations fill in the blanks(no pun intended).

[@alecnorona4277]

I like to think that subject 11 is the 11th primarch himself and he was far to dangerous to be kept in action and so he was put in one of those cells and his legion was destroyed and something similar might have happened to the 2nd primarch

[@kalf-ve8mf]

SCP Foundation right here!..(40k) 😁⚠🗝

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

More or less especially will all the withheld information

[@micaigneous_01]

Honestly, I don't think Subject 11 is the Primarch. It feels like a red herring to me, that it will be an insane power creature, but 11 was just assigned to it.

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

Even more likely than that it’s nothing and it a throwaway name that GW will never mention 🙃

[@micaigneous_01]

@@livefromtheblacklibrary knowing GW, that is a highly likely probability

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

There’s so many cool things that just NEVER get touched on

[@micaigneous_01]

@Live! From The Black Library that's why I'm glad RPG games exist. The Omega Vault is another thing sorely underutilized

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

Wait what’s that? :o

[@gr8m887]

Trazyn upon seeing the Dark Cells. "... amateurs."

[@NobodyDungeons]

So, my guess is that subject 11 is the 11th primarch, and something happened to the primarch to warrant imprisonment. Or it just the undying corpse of the 11th primarch.

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

Likely one of those, yeah

[@BlueGoblin1]

The idea of the vaults is to keep things as mysterious as possible. And make sure that the reader and the player understand that no matter how much they think they know. That they can still be surprised. And that is key to keeping the setting alive. When you think things through to their conclusion, it is easy for others to follow your lead, share their insight, and make the story's progression predictable. The vaults are a way to keep the door open to new possibilities.

[@michaelrosenstock9187]

The whole second and eleventh primearcs thing is probably they knew something like "the god emperor is the reason for the age of strife" and wanted to expose him

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

Wait he’s the reason for WHAT

[@michaelrosenstock9187]

@@livefromtheblacklibrary the rise of the men of iron?

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

OH GOD WHERE DOES IT SAY THAT

[@michaelrosenstock9187]

@@livefromtheblacklibrary its an educated guess ,the only thing that can really undermine the emperor more than almost anything would be an idea in such a caliber

[@nimbusshadow-wings]

My headcannon is that theres a aster STC down there, the big E is too smart to let all that knowledge go away, and he probally wanted to use it when huanity was perfected by his dream, then horus happened and stuff.

[@lusornemo8066]

This is like the SCP Foundation in 40K, and I like it.

[@commanderfarsight2351]

A.k.a...... The S.C.P Foundation 38k years from now.

[@Boombastus]

What I heard: "Everything does have enema" What I thought: "Well, it's called the grim dark future..."

[@moodyowlproductions4287]

Dark being entity"aaaahh let me the fuck out of here"(WHAM)! Shadow keeper Custodian"I DID NOT LET YOU OUT THE FRIST FUCKING TIME YOU ASKED,WHY IN THE FUCK WOULD I LET YOU OUT AFTER 10,000 YEARS HAVE PASSED AND THE BILLION TIME YOU ASKED,NOW SHUT THE FUCK UP.....sigh...GOD EMPEROR DAMMIT"!!!!!

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

IF YOU DON’T STOP ILL TURN THIS CAR AROUND

[@moodyowlproductions4287]

@@livefromtheblacklibrary dark being entity"(SLAP) live from the black library"THAT'S IT... YOU'RE GOING DOWN TO THE LOWER,LOWER SUB LEVELS"!!!!

[@ChromisPasqueflowerBowerbird]

WHY KEEP IT ON HOLY TERRA. I SMELL HERESY HERE...

[@KillerOrca]

It that craves is just like, the Ur-Junkie. Immortal and addicted to that 100% pure crack Walter White made back in the day.

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

Based

[@KillerOrca]

@@livefromtheblacklibrary Presumably "Walter White" was one of the various faces The Emperor wore throughout his life and after finding out It That Craves was immortal as well, he had it locked up for later study and just kind of...forgot about it.

[@realtsarbomba]

@@livefromtheblacklibrary Freebased?

[@andreaven2287]

It's surprising Trazin don't team up with abaddon just to steel everything from those cells like the cleptomaniac he is.

[@armybeast1823]

I like to think the emeporer never killed the primarch, instead keeping him forever locked until he coudl try to bring him back to loyalty. He implied he could do that to mortarion

[@Sphendrana]

so. SCP thrives even in the grim darkness of the future. Scary.

[@IstvanThree]

I somehow really like with the word "historitor" and all the ancient quotes and writers names that were changed a little over 40 thousand years 👍

[@hammond1994]

To be fair, Horus was being a petulant, disrespectful child when Malchador reminded him of his manners.

[@lenardbordo9838]

Whether we’ll get so know more of what the Dark Cells are holding or not is unclear as for now GW doesn’t seem to be so interested in shedding some light onto this mysterious part of Terra. But like the oceans in real life, we should get to know more of these vaults and what they are and were holding. And the idea of these things being corporeal instead of warp-based is a very good one. There are so many mysteries in the galaxy beyond Warp that should be explored: the Ghoul Stars, the Krorks, the Rangdan Xenocide, the Black Library, the Tyranid main fleet, just to name a few. So it is my hope that GW will allow its authors to shed light on some of these secrets that linger within the imperial palace.

[@MakkoMuerto115]

Terra can have a little eldritch horror prison break, as a treat :^}

[@ahmedshaharyarejaz9886]

Trazyn must have broken into the Vaults after the Great Rift opened.

[@Dingghis_Khaan]

My personal crossover headcanon is that the Dark Cells once contained the man who committed the act that created Drach'nyen. Mankind's first murderer, and perhaps the first Perpetual. In the aftermath of the Great Rift, his cell is found empty. In Imperium Nihilus, the chants of apostates echo across countless worlds cut from the light of the Emperor. They chant not the name of He Who Sits On The Throne, not the blasphemous names of the Ruinous Powers, not even of any Xenos overlords. No. Instead, their chants are dedicated to one cause, and to one man. One vision, one purpose: peace through power, in the name of Kane.

[@lordofgnomes1230]

Wait, would the khornate demon want to be there? He gets guaranteed tries at spilling the *BEST* blood there is human kind can offer, that's pretty neat. Khorne probably nuts every time he manages to get one.

[@ordo_draigo_assault_ham]

They house the most dark and dangerous threat to that universe, 3D printers and non-standard paints.

[@MiniatureMasterClass]

Evidently one of the lost Primarchs is locked in there.

[@varun009]

Actually, it's rumored that the emperor, like many perpetual took up different names and roles throughout history. Therefore, there is technically a non-zero chance that he has jesus christ locked up in there and that is so incredibly metal.

[@SupraPetey]

The terminus decree is held by the Grey knights supreme grand master not a primarch

[@KaiCalimatinus]

The Dark Cells are the Imperial SCP Foundation. And 682 got out.

[@wills5482]

Just exchange half a dozen of those things with Trazyn and they probably have something to unzombify the emperor lying in some Necron storage box. Or just ask Zharek since he will give it in exchange for some billions of human clones to host the necron souls

[@davidodonovan1699]

Cool. That's for the story's. Love it. Thanks

[@IanCampbell-r2v]

In case no one else said it, the Lament of Unreason is a pretty obvious reference to the Lament Configuration from Hellraiser

[@thenotoriousfoca1339]

I would not mind if the 40k story is eventually explained, and brought to an end. The setting allows to get much more story anyway

[@tarazzzs]

The Vaults of Terra also known by it's other, more ancient name. Name that were used even before the Dark Age of the technology. The SCP foundation. The Emperor. as one of the O5, personally made absolute sure the organization survives no matter what, even if humanity will be send back to the stone age.

[@YOGI-kb9tg]

2 things messed up. The dark angel don't have the terminus decree that's they grey knights and vulkan doesn't have 7 items he made the talisman of 7 hammers which he installed into the golden thrown as last resort if the emperor dies.

[@Bigpandazomg]

So that thing with Horus, he was about to say one of their names, that's why Malcador went apeshit. Also I'm team Subject 11 is like, that primarchs corpse, its just SO fucked up that they had to lock it away or something.

[@CheeseyBreezey]

"It that craves" is a very similar title to "she who thirsts" which implies to me it's slaaneshi in nature, or emulating a slaaneshi nature.

[@Khalith]

I imagine we could get one or two short stories of horror novels about such things. A full novel? I don’t know about that.

[@zach21267]

I almost thought the bright insight guy was doing warhammer videos 4 a sec

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

Just looked up who that is and holy SHIT we sound A LOT like!

[@zach21267]

@@livefromtheblacklibrary yea i had to check you weren't the same person but great video my guy

[@antonybullock2240]

Is it where the Emperor stashes his hard-core pornography? Oh and his collection of war gaming minis which he’ll never paint. It’s just a mountain of lead.

[@PrimarisBlackTemplaDraven]

Imagine finding the lost primarch there.

[@livefromtheblacklibrary]

Just chillin

[@PrimarisBlackTemplaDraven]

@@livefromtheblacklibrary chillin with the lockwarden.

[@r1e234]

things they have in the vaults under lock and key to prevent collapse of humanity and possibly the galaxy: -a remote that may or may not flip the galaxy 180 degrees one way and the rest of the universe 180 degrees the other way -olive oil thoroughly unvirgined by the emperors children -a martini that is 99% vermouth -socks they think are corrupted by nurgle but may just be Leman Russes old favorite socks -knight riders evil window wipers -a rubik's cube the emperor couldn't solve -the last copy of the movie ''in the name of the king: a dungeon siege tale'' which they used to test potential shadowkeepers with by having them watch the entire thing and write a two page essay on the parts they liked but because of [REDACTED] it got discontinued from the trials -the custodes who went mad trying to watch the movie ''in the name of the king: a dungeon siege tale''