Contemptor-Galatus Dreadnought

The Contemptor chassis is among the finest of all dreadnought patterns, and in the hands of the Adeptus Custodes it is refined to a pitch of excellence found nowhere else. The Galatus configuration is a guardian's panoply, a hull arrayed for the defence of holy ground and revered persons and for the annihilation of any enemy rash enough to test that defence in close assault. It carries within it the spirit of a fallen Custodian, his vigilance undimmed by the ruin of his mortal form.

The war-engine takes its name from its wargear. In one arm it wields the Galatus warblade, a colossal sword whose sweeping strokes cleave through armour, monster and horde alike, and in the other it bears the Galatus shield, a slab of layered plating proof against the heaviest blows. Set within that shield is a potent flame weapon, so that even as the dreadnought turns aside an enemy's assault it wreathes the attacker in cleansing fire, punishing the very act of drawing near.

In the disposition of a Custodian force, the Galatus is the unyielding anchor. It plants itself before that which must not fall, be it a relic, a threshold or a treasured champion, and dares the foe to come against it. Those who accept the challenge are met with blade and flame in equal measure, and are broken upon a guardian that knows neither fear nor fatigue nor the smallest thought of retreat.