Constantin Valdor

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The Emperor's favorite automaton.

"What is left for you, Constantin? What more can He take from you that He hasn’t already?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all."

– Last conversation between Ushotan and Valdor.

"I'm sorry, but you've thrown off the Emperor's groove."

– The last thing many, many enemies of the Imperium ever heard as Valdor came for them.

Constantin Valdor was the original Captain-General of the Legio Custodes. He's renowned as one of the greatest warriors in the golden age of the Imperium, to the point where "can he take a Primarch in a fight?" is a question taken seriously both in and out of universe. And he could at least hold his own against a Primarch, as he once dueled Alpharius to a stalemate without realizing who it was he was fighting. However, Alpharius was not only one of the weakest Primarchs in melee, but was also completely confident he could have killed Valdor had he wished to. If Malcador was the Emperor's right-hand man, Valdor was his left.

History

Unification Wars

Not much is known about Valdor's origins. It is stated that the Emperor spent a lot of time and effort searching for him, suggesting he was somehow special even before his transformation into a Custodes. Although widely believed to be the first of his kind, Valdor himself isn't sure if he was the Emperor's first creation, or merely the first one that actually survived.

One of the first major conflicts that Valdor would take part in was the infamous Battle of Maulland Sen. One of the first major pushes by the budding Imperial forces, it would see the deployment of an entire legion of the newly created Thunder Warriors, alongside the Emperor, Constantin, and thirty of the Custodian Guard.

The Emperor would eventually give Constantin the Apollonian Spear. Although it is one of the deadliest melee weapons in the Imperium, this was meant to serve as a check on his power. The Spear would give him glimpses of the "truth" of the enemies he slew with it, and it was the Emperor's hope that this would prevent Constantin from becoming too callous in regards to killing. This got to be a bit of an issue when Constantin started killing traitor Space Marines and daemons with the thing.

He would also oversee the eventual death of the Thunder Warriors at battle of Mount Ararat. One last, final stand of the Thunder Warriors in defiance against their enemy and certainly not a gigantic betrayal in the name of cold pragmatism. Valdor himself noted that he hadn't trusted the Warriors since Maulland Sen, having seen for himself their instability and savagery in that battle. Though he would later acknowledge that the betrayal of the Thunder Warriors was a crime, he also stated that he believed it to be a worthwhile sacrifice in light of the future it would help build.

To underscore just how fucking important this guy is, when the new Provost Marshal of the Imperium worked out what he and the Custodes had done at Ararat and attempted to lead a coup d'état alongside the last surviving primarch of the Thunder Warriors, Valdor personally led the brand-new I Legion onto the field to stop them, meaning he was present for the birth of the Astartes as a fighting force as well. Oh, just as a side note, he was also there to oversee the creation of their fucking Primarchs and present when they were eventually taken from the facility and scattered. He even waded into the chaos to save the gene-seed banks from being destroyed.

Guy has been fucking BUSY.

Of note is the fact that since its inception Valdor was incredibly skeptical of the Primarch project. This is quite telling, as he himself thought his greatest weakness was being unable to question the Emperor, so given that the Emperor made a decision he was unsure about, that's a big deal. It got worse when the Primarchs were scattered by Chaos/the Space Karen, with Valdor telling Malcador that they must've been tainted and that they should just scrap the whole thing right there, suggesting that instead of the Legiones Astartes the Emperor should just go with Custodes generals leading unaugmented human armies. Thus started the long historical trend of the Custodes distrusting the Adeptus Astartes.

Great Crusade

Valdor at Terra

Not much is known about the shit he got up to during the Emperor's Grand Galactic Tour other than that he was probably present at the Ullanor Crusade. Presumably he then made a beeline back to Terra with the Emps to help oversee the Webway project.

Horus Heresy

Valdor was busy overseeing the Webway project when a giant red faggot called Magnus broke through multiple dimensional wards to warn his father of his brother's imminent betrayal - in doing so he punched a hole in the Webway that can never (read fucking never) be fixed and was instantly filled by an infinite amount of daemons. They even manifested on Terra itself, and a battle ensued. Needless to say, Big E and Valdor were mightily pissed off about the whole thing. Valdor and a cadre of fellow Custodians were subsequently dispatched to Prospero to drag that silly asshole back to Terra for sanction (and to ascend the Golden Throne) while his father went in to figure out how to get a handle on it. He rounded up a contingent of Custodes and Sisters of Silence and accompanied Leman Russ and the Space Wolves to Prospero. They were to prosecute the Thousand Sons for their crimes and bring Magnus back to Terra in chains.

Chaos had already struck however, and Horus turned Russ against his brother. No longer was his task to arrest the Sorcerer-King, claimed the Warmaster, but to execute the warlock. Though Valdor argued with the Space Wolf as to his task, as he was already far too skeptical of the Primarchs at this point, his force was too small for him to really object. He possessed no authority to overrule the Wolf King once his mind had been determined due to the nature of his role and the Primarchs. This didn't go incredibly well as you will see and I'm sure he would agree if he was able to.

The Thousand Sons were not willing to roll over and fucking die however, and in response to orbital bombardment and artillery strikes they broke the Edict of Nikaea and the city of Tizca became a battlefield of the worst kind, as the true power of the Sorcerer's Apprentices were unleashed. Against the Space Wolves full legion and aided by the elite guard of the Emperor, the Thousand Sons stood little chance. Some of the greatest psykers in the Legion were hunted down by the Custodes, executed carefully as the Sisters smothered their psyker talents with their null veil. Valdor himself was said to have fought against the elite Khenetai "Blademasters" whose powers allowed them to predict each blow before they landed. None of them survived, and Valdor walked away from the conflict sporting a single wound, as he tried to regain control of the annihilation unleashed around him. It was too little and too late however, Magnus had to flee with his sons, leaving the Space Wolves grievously injured, and a possible ally now forced into the traitor side without choice.

With a huge disaster on his hands, Valdor returned immediately to Terra. His next war would be the War in the Webway. This would effectively spell the end of the Custodians as a viable fighting force (as well as the Sisters of Silence) and he would remain an armchair general up until the Siege of Terra.

The Custodes were initially held in reserve during the early days of the Siege, but when the Death Guard made landfall and started turning the area around the palace into a recreation of the worst parts of WWI, Valdor led a series of counterattacks against them. The Custodes proved to be especially lethal against the Death Guard, as their Emperor-forged nature made them anathema to anything touched by Chaos. Even with all their new gifts from Papa Nurgle, the XIV Legion routinely lost dozens or even hundreds of Astartes to these attacks.

Post-Heresy

Valdor agreed with Roboute Guilliman when he enacted the Edict of Restraint, the law limiting the Custodes only to the protection of the Imperial Palace. Realistically considering that the Custodes are above any authority but their own he would be the main reason it actually matters to them. So if you were wondering why the greatest warriors in the galaxy were doing jack shit until the Indomitus Crusade you have him to blame.

Eventually Valdor disappeared, leaving behind only his Apollonian Spear. Perhaps he saw how all the Primarchs were doing the "disappear mysteriously so people can spread legends about you returning for the final battle" shtick, and didn't want to be left out. Apparently, in “Two Metaphysical Blades,” he disappears at the same time as Leman Russ as both had psychic visions of something most likely due to their weapons being personally crafted by the Emperor.

King in Yellow?

In the most recent Eisenhorn book, the good inquisitor and his allies had managed to track down a book that purported to contain the truth about the King in Yellow, the mastermind of the long-running background hook spanning both Eisenhorn and Ravenor's novels.

It turns out that the book was no mere book, but a book of the King of Yellow's true identity. The book included a countdown too.

No guesses as to whose name was listed in it.

Last seen with an army of "custodians", the blanks that pilot their ships, and thousands of "winged" Astartes...in a stable part of Extimate Space that may or may not be the Human Webway. The Thousand Sons, Word Bearers, Emperor's Children and various other traitor warbands are trying to gain access to his fiefdom while the Eldar view him as a serious enough threat to dispatch forces from five craftworlds to invade the sector and potentially trigger a wider war with the Imperium. Just don't expect an update anytime soon, book 1 of the Bequin series was released in 2013 and book 2 was released in 2021. At this rate, we won't get a book 3 update on Valdor until 2029.

On Tabletop: HH2

Valdor's overdesigned model.

Points	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
350	8	7	5	5	5	5	6	5	10	2+/3++

Valdor is a monster in HH2, now being a FUCKING PRIMARCH with the Skirmish and Unique sub-types.

Primarchs have a set of shared rules:

• Independent Character, Eternal warrior, Fearless, It Will Not Die (5+), Bulky (4) and Relentless. Unit type character
• They are not effected by negative modifiers to their statlines (other then wounds).
• Resolve snap shots at their normal BS.
• All hits from either shooting or close combat are allocated by the Primarchs controlling player. These hits are kept in a separate wound pool.

• Legio Custodes:
• Counter-Attack (1):
• Lightning Blows: A hit roll of 6 inflicts two hits instead of one. This ability used to be on every guardian spear, but now it's specific to Valdor only.
• Loyalist

• The Apollonian Spear: Has two profiles-- slicing and shooting. Its melee profile is nasty, with S7, AP2, and Murderous Strike (4+), which is pretty good, though maybe not at the level of the Primarchs' weapons, especially without Master-Crafted. Its shooting profile is fantastic, however-- Assault 2, S5, AP2, and Concussive (1), to reduce the WS of whatever he's charging.
• Misericord: S5, AP-, Instant Death. Just use the spear.
• Arae-Shrike:
• Melta Bombs: Need to blow up a vehicle? Wonderful, here you go.
• Frag Grenades:

Valdor's fantastic, but not that great when compared to the Primarchs, who mostly body him with some notable exceptions. However, he's only 350 points. That's absurd for how good he is.

Valdor Vs the Primarchs: Heresy 2.0

Primarch fighting has significantly changed in the new edition. The sweeping changes to the Weapon Skill system really put those with lower scores at a huge disadvantage. While the changes to universal special rules mean that characters can often bring more attacks (like with Rage and Rampage) or newer tricks (Brutal) to the table that they never could before.

This means that Primarch vs Primarch fighting is more likely to actually resolve itself within the duration of the game, rather than taking turns whittling off small numbers from each other.

Also, because Overwatch Reactions are now done at full ballistic skill, shooting will likely play a more significant role. However, for the sake of brevity, there should be no need to include them unless they make a meaningful difference to the outcome.

Remember that all Primarchs are Nemesis units, which means you're getting +1 attack and +1 to your charge rolls, but Primarchs ignore the part that says you can't hit them on worse than a 4+, so you're hitting WS8 Primarchs on a 5+.

Constantin Valdor vs. The Lion

Constantin Valdor vs. Fulgrim

• Fulgrim with the Laer Blade (Initiative 9, +3 Attacks, Hits on MC 3+): 6.22 hits, 5.18 wounds, 1.73 unsaved wounds, which is reduced to 1.40 at the end of the turn due to IWND.
  • Fulgrim charging with the Laer Blade (Initiative 10, +4 Attacks): 6.89 hits, 5.74 wounds, 1.91 unsaved wounds, which is reduced to 1.58 at the end of the turn thanks to IWND.
• Valdor with the Apollonian Spear (Hits on 5+): 2.33 hits, 1.55 wounds, 0.52 unsaved wounds, which is reduced to 0.19 at the end of the turn thanks to IWND.

Fulgrim wins.

Constantin Valdor vs. Perturabo

Constantin Valdor vs. The Khan

• Jaghatai Khan with the White Tiger Dao (Hits on MC 4+): 3.75 hits, 3.13 wounds, 1.04 unsaved wounds, which is reduced to 0.71 at the end of the turn thanks to IWND.
• Valdor with the Apollonian Spear (Hits on 4+): 3.5 hits, 2.33 wounds, 0.78 unsaved wounds, which is reduced to 0.45 at the end of the turn thanks to IWND.

The Khan wins.

Constantin Valdor vs. Leman Russ

Constantin Valdor vs. Rogal Dorn

• Rogal Dorn with Storm's Teeth (Hitting on 3+): 4 hits, 3.89 wounds, 1.30 unsaved wounds, which is reduced to 0.97 at the end of the turn thanks to IWND.
  • Reaping Blow (+2 attacks): 5.33 hits, 5.18 wounds, 1.73 unsaved wounds, which is reduced to 1.4 at the end of the turn due to IWND.
• Valdor with the Apollonian Spear (Hitting on 5+): 2 hits, 1 wound, 0.5 unsaved wounds, which is reduced to 0.17 at the end of the turn thanks to IWND.

Dorn wins.

Constantin Valdor vs. Konrad Curze

Constantin Valdor vs. Sanguinius

Constantin Valdor vs. Ferrus Manus

Constantin Valdor vs. Angron

• Valdor with the Apollonian Spear (Hits on 2+): 5.83 hits, 3.89 wounds, 1.95 unsaved wounds, which is reduced to 1.62 at the end of the turn thanks to IWND.
  • Valdor on the first turn of combat (+1 Attack, hits on 2+): 6.81 hits, 4.54 wounds, 2.27 unsaved wounds, which is reduced to 1.94 at the end of the turn thanks to IWND.
• Angron with Gorefather and Gorechild (Turn 1, 6 attacks, Hits on 3+): 5.33 hits, 5.18 wounds, 1.73 unsaved wounds, which is reduced to 1.40 at the end of the turn thanks to IWND.
  • Turn 2 (+1 Attack): 6.22 hits, 6.05 wounds, 2.02 unsaved wounds, which is reduced to 1.69 at the end of the turn thanks to IWND.
  • Turn 3 (+2 Attacks): 7.11 hits, 6.91 wounds, 2.30 unsaved wounds, which is reduced to 1.97 at the end of the turn thanks to IWND.
  • Turn 4 (+3 Attacks): 8 hits, 7.78 wounds, 2.59 unsaved wounds, which is reduced to 2.26 at the end of the turn due to IWND.

This one is a tie-- they both die on the fourth turn of combat, and have the same initiative.

Constantin Valdor vs. Guilliman

Constantin Valdor vs. Mortarion

Constantin Valdor vs. Magnus the Red

Constantin Valdor vs. Horus Lupercal

Constantin Valdor vs. Lorgar

Constantin Valdor vs. Vulkan

Constantin Valdor vs. Corax

Constantin Valdor vs. Alpharius