Editing Eyes of the Emperor (section)

=Culture=
[[File:1436992474625.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Traditional depiction of Ashpenax the Golden, a figure often portrayed in the works of the Eyes of the Emperor]]
''Perfect motion can only come from perfect stillness.''

- Sayings of the Vardhana.


The Eyes of the Emperor saw themselves as monks first and warriors second.  Though they spurned talk of gods, they were a deeply contemplative brotherhood and maintained great libraries in its strongholds.  Written works of all kinds were stocked by the Eyes, including many beautiful illuminated manuscripts hand-crafted by the Marines themselves.  Their fortresses and warships were places of quiet, restorative beauty, adorned with silks, fine metalwork, and decorative plants.  Many of the Legion enjoyed cultivating miniature potted trees and would, on occasion, make gifts of their work to their closest allies.

The Eyes did not entrust serfs with their secrets.  Menial work in the Legion's own places was performed by servitors, the marines themselves, or rarely by child-aspirants.  Every member of the Legion has some level of technical training and is expected to supervise the routine maintenance of his equipment.  Firing ranges are almost always busy, but the fighting cages rarely see any traffic.  All members of the Legion spend time in the carefully prepared meditation chambers, to relax, meditate and recover from injuries of war.

==The three castes of the Legion==
[[File:Eyesoftheemperor.jpg|200px|thumb|A warrior of the ''Satria'', wearing the Legion's black battle robe.  This garment signified the hatred the Eyes felt towards the enemies of mankind and their willingness to slay those who endangered humanity.]]

Under the leadership of the Ten, the Eyes developed a strict caste system.  The gene-seed a new recruit determined their rank and role in the Legion.  Gene-seed harvested from the smaller Progenoid Gland in a marine's neck would bind its recipient to the same caste as the donor.  However, the Legion's medicae carefully inspected the gene-seed of a fallen Brother to determine whether the warrior's life had purified or debased the material and destined his successor for another caste.

The '''Satria''', the lowest caste, were the ordinary warriors of the Legion.  They had three orders.  The lowest and most numerous were equipped as ordinary marines, filling out the Tactical and Support Squads.  The middle order went into battle using the stealth equipment of Reconnaissance squads.  Heavy Support roles were reserved for the most highly-regarded of the three Satria orders.

The '''Wesias''', the middle caste, were the most technically able part of the Legion.  Their most prevalent duty was the supervision and maintenance of the Eyes' many servitors.  As with the Satria, they formed three orders.  The lowest formed close-combat squads for the defence of the Legion's warships and fortifications, although their skills would sometimes be used in an offensive role.  The middle order operated the Legion's many sophisticated vehicles and bikes.  The most honoured of the Wesias aspired to win their gene-seed a place among the ''Acharya'' caste.  These warriors formed the Nineteenth's Terminator Brotherhood.  Cutting across the evaluation of the Council of Ten was the judgement of the Mechanicum.  All of the Wesias had the right to petition the techpriests for training, and TechMarines could be found in all three of the caste's orders.  Although the influence of the Forge Worlds made the Wesias less reverent of the Acharya's gene-seed, Master Forge was able to command the caste's loyalty thanks to his contributions to the Quest for Knowledge.

At the peak of the Eyes of the Emperor were the '''Acharya''', the direct gene-descendants of the Council of Ten.  Some were indoctrinated as Apothecaries or Librarians but the majority were warriors, entrusted with all of the Legion's leadership positions.  They styled themselves as "mere teachers", the elder brothers of the other castes who were responsible only for guiding other Marines into deeper understandings of the Imperial Truth.  But their grip on the Legion was absolute, especially as the Primarch Shakya Vardhana showed no inclination to challenge them.

==Domain and notable worlds==

Officially, the Eyes of the Emperor had no domain beyond their training world, Marusthali.  In reality, their holdings were vast, widespread, and constantly changing.  Far-ranging explorer vessels planted Legion enclaves ahead of the Great Crusade, entrusting loyal auxilia with the task of recruiting and training human supporters for the Imperium ahead of the arrival of armed force.  These enclaves would often offer up a tithe of recruits for the Eyes of the Emperor when the day of compliance came.


===The Death World Marusthali===
{{Infobox 40k Planet
|name= Marusthali
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:Desert planet j1.jpg|200px]]
|class= Death World/Space Marine Chapter Homeworld
|orbdist= 0.94AU ± 0.13AU
|gravity= 1.03G
|temp= Warm and arid
|pop= no civilian population
|governor=
|system= Marusthali System
|sector=
|subsector=
|segmentum= Ultima Segmentum
}}
Although they drew their manpower from a wide range of worlds, the Eyes of the Emperor trained all of their neophytes on the Death World Marusthali.  If this inhospitable planet was barren of life, its arid heat would still make human life difficult.  But it is plagued by horrific predators, including the feared '''olgoi-khorkhoi''', a gigantic acid-spewing worm-like creature.  After three failed colonization attempts, the brutal world's name was changed from "Kumul" (the dune) to "Marusthali" (land of the dead).

The world was the last that the Vardhana visited before he took command of the Legion.  Few were privy to what had drawn the Primarch to this desolate place, but his actions were above question.  For a whole season, Shakya Vardhana lived in the wastes of Marusthali, purifying his spirit before undertaking his Father's sacred charge.  This period of solitude and deprivation is echoed in the training of the Neophytes of the Legion.  After passing the Aspirant Trial, every Neophyte is brought to Marusthali to be implanted with the gene-seed and trained according to the standards of the Eyes of the Emperor.  Thus, this terrible world is the answer to one of the great riddles of the sons of the Vardhana.  Although they draw men from a wide variety of worlds and allow these warriors to retain something of their homelands' identities, all go through training together on Marusthali and must learn to co-operate with their battle brothers, regardless of origin.  Neophytes make this lesson a part of them or perish.


'''Notable places'''

The only man-made sights on Marusthali are the works of the Eyes of the Emperor.  Successful aspirants first meet the elegant lines of the '''Khiruhton''' spaceport, which perfectly marries a symbolic gateway form with its function as a landing pad.  Those who survive the march to the squat fortress, '''Lothal''' are sometimes awed by the scale of the building, but rarely marvel at its external appearance.  However, the interior is a masterpiece of architecture.  Great halls, carved from the living rock, are carefully lit to produce a daunting atmosphere.  This hallowed place is the heart of the Legion, housing the genetic repositories that ensure the survival of the Eyes of the Emperor.  Neophytes struck down with ''The Mark of the Vardhana'' are escorted to the bowels of Lothal, never to emerge.  

Farming on Marusthali is extraordinarily difficult, but the Eyes of the Emperor impose this onerous task on their recruits in the belief that a dose of humble work gives a finer temper to a warrior's spirit than a purely martial education.  Neophyte companies are seasoned in fortified farming communities on the flanks of the '''Anshan''' range.  Each commune is presided over by a scholar of the Acharya, with prospective Acharya among the Neophytes tasked with supervising their juniors.  For all the efforts of these youths, their survival is only possible thanks to the ''Springs of the Vardhana'', Marusthali's sole source of freshwater.  It is a matter of some contention whether the Primarch created or merely discovered the springs.

One of the last tasks of the successful neophyte on Marusthali is to dig himself a '''Stupa''' (rock dwelling) in the volcanic rock of '''Mount Zohhāk'''.  Here he must endure the passing of a full season, nourishing himself by hunting the great predators of the Death World and learning discipline in solitude.  After the disappearance of Shakya Vardhana, an occasional recruit would report that they had been saved by the intervention of the Old Man of the Desert, but none have verified these tales.  Whether the Neophyte dies or survives to join the Legion, his Stupa is destined to be his memorial.  The Eyes of the Emperor go to great pains to inter their fallen in the graves they have wrought with their own hands.  '''Ashtur''', the empty Stupa of Shakya Vardhana, is a centre of veneration.

==Recruitment and training==
''None of you will fail.  Each of you will give to the Legion the whole of your being.''

- Nilam Tamboli


As a secretive and highly ritualised Legion, the Eyes preferred to gather their Aspirants at a very young age.  By the time that Shakya Vardhana was rediscovered, the age of induction had dropped to 6, with the boys gathered up and given religious and physical instruction ahead of final physical, psychological and genetic screening.  Those that failed at this stage were inducted into one of the various meditant orders that provided the Eyes with their support staff.  The successful aspirants undertook a final ordeal to test their spiritual purity.  The precise details of the ordeal were a closely-guarded secret, with failed aspirants and neophytes converted into Servitors.  It is clear that there were many degrees of achievement in the final aspirant trial, allowing the Eyes of the Emperor to separate the recruits into different castes.  

Spiritual indoctrination accompanied the process of an aspirant becoming one of the Legion.  There were seven vows of purity that each neophyte must take to become a full fledged space marine. Each vow was the result of a long period of spiritual education and meditation and precedes the implantation of new Space Marine organs.  Ahead of the first surgeries, the neophyte took the vow of '''Rapture''', affirming his joy at undertaking the path of the Emperor.  Once the ''Secondary Heart, Ossmodula,'' and ''Biscopea'' have been successfully implanted, a vow of '''Determination''' corresponded to the ''Haemastanen'' and ''Larraman's Organ''.  The third vow of '''Concentration''' commenced the Neophyte's hypnotherapy courses and the implantation of the ''Catalepsean Node, Preomnor, Omaphagea,'' and ''Multi-Lung''.  Next, the vow of '''Investigation''' came with the enhanced perception of the ''Occulobe'' and ''Lyman's Ear''.  Neophytes who survived to the next stage took a vow of '''Tranquility''', finally setting the disturbances of their past life behind them as they accepted the ''Sus-an Membrance, Melanchroma,'' and ''Oolotic Kidney'' into their bodies.  In what would typically be the Neophyte's tenth year in the care of the Legion, he must take a Vow of '''Mindfullness''' ahead of the implantation of the ''Neuroglottis, Mucranoid,'' and ''Betcher's Gland''.  The final vow of '''Equanimity''' is a declaration of the Neophyte's dedication to the Legion and the Emperor and his indifference to his own singular fate.  Following this vow, the ''Progenoid Glands'' and later the ''Black Carapace'' are implanted.

Once the implantation process is complete, the new member of the Legion is granted the rank of ''Shishya'', or disciple.  He is paired up with an experienced battle brother of the same caste, his ''Guru'', who will train and monitor him for seven years before the ''Shishya'' is considered a regular battle brother.  During this time, ''Shishya'' are not exempt from battle duties, but accompany their ''Guru'' in the campaigns of the Imperium.  As a sign of his wisdom, a ''Guru'' bears a veteran bolt implanted in his forehead for each ''Shishya'' he has trained.