Coronus Grav Carrier
"Coronus pattern grav-carriers served as the primary tactical transport of the Legio Custodes by the closing years of the Great Crusade. These repulsor/suspensor lift skimmers offer both great speed and manoeuvrability to the Legio Custodes in battle, allowing them to redeploy swiftly to meet threats and,if needed, to even evade such threats completely as required. The Coronus is also, despite being a skimmer craft, extremely durable, with battlefield survivability almost comparable to that of the Land Raider class of battle tank thanks to its advanced material construction and integrated field defences. The Coronus' principal firepower is provided by a turret emplacement of potent and flexible blaze cannon; an advanced las weapon which uses different cyclic fire modes to engage infantry targets with volleys of comparably low-powered pulses, or using concentrated energy single discharges, deal with more heavily armoured targets."
- – Horus Heresy: Inferno
Originally, the Custodes only had boring old Grav-Rhino transports. But FW took one look at them and went 'fuck that' and replaced them with the Coronus. Triaros-sized, the Coronus is described as the Razorback of the Custodes, which leads you to wonder just how big their Grav-Spartans are going to be. Armed with twin-linked Lastrum Bolt Cannon and Arachnus Blaze Cannon, the Coronus Grav Carrier is perhaps one of the most recognized vehicles used exclusively by the Legio Custodes and is also ECKS BAWKS HUEG, being the largest ground vehicle of the Custodes and just slightly shorter than a Baneblade.
- Length: 12m; approx
- Mass: 200 tonnes; approx
- Crew: 3-5 crew including 6 Custodians
Overview
This heavily protected transport skimmer provides them with a degree of speed and agility unmatched by the grinding armor of others who fight in the name of the Emperor, allowing the Legio Custodes to deploy rapidly into a range of terrain whilst reducing the risk of being pinned down by enemy forces. You could say that in contrast to the Eldar tanks, what it lacks in elegance makes up for it pimpin'BLING. The Custodes sure know how to ride in style.
Principally used as a transport (Hence its fucking name if you haven't even guessed) and like every other fucking vehicle palette swap in the Imperium, the strikingly-designed Custodes exclusive Coronus Grav Carrier served as the technological basis for the Pallas and Caladius grav-craft. Seriously you would think that the Imperium would have been much more creative with their vehicle designs during the Great Crusade, but it seems that the Emperor/Fabricator General of Mars really, really liked the whole idea of 'swapping the turret on a vehicle chassis and call it a day' shlick. (That was actually a good idea, mind. Common chassis = easier to maintain & less total amount of different spare parts required.)
While its primary function is transporting a unit of warriors into battle, its armaments such as its hull-mounted Lastrum bolt cannon and turret-mounted Arachnus blaze cannon ensure that it is more than capable of mounting an appropriately aggressive defense force. Trying to ram the Coronus onto enemy infantry like a Leman Russ or trying to do a anti-grav wheelie is highly looked down upon by the Techpriests of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
For the scholars among the noble fa/tg/uys and ca/tg/irls, the Gothic name Coronus may be analyzed as a possible mutation of two words related to Old Earth : the Latin word corona ("crown", guess which monarch we are talking about) or Cronus, the Latin name of the Greek god Kronos - you know, the guy who cut his father Uranus' balls with a scythe. Accordingly, the name Coronus would then expess both the Emperor's kingship and the destruction of the tyrannical (and more generaly rival) powers standing against him and the rise of Mankind.
| Forces of the Adeptus Custodes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Command: | Companions/Hetaeron - Shield-Captain - Blade Champion | |||||
| Troops: | Allarus Custodians - Aquilon Terminator - Custodian Guard Custodian Warden - Sagittarum Guard - Sentinel Guard Vexilus Praetor - Venatari - Warder | |||||
| Walkers: | Contemptor-Galatus Dreadnought - Telemon Heavy Dreadnought Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought | |||||
| Transports: | Coronus Grav Carrier - Grav-Rhino Rhino - Venerable Land Raider | |||||
| Vehicles: | Caladius Grav-Tank - Dawneagle Jetbike Gyrfalcon Pattern Jetbike - Pallas Grav-Attack | |||||
| Flyers: | Ares Gunship - Orion Gunship - Stormbird | |||||
| Titans: | Warlord-Sinister Pattern Battle Psi-Titan | |||||
| Spacecraft: | Drop Pod | |||||
| Auxiliaries: | Sisters of Silence - Solar Auxilia | |||||