So aside from being the Great Dusty One's personal bodyguard on Terra, what do these guys actually do all day? I mean you've got like ~10,000* guys sitting around the palace doing supposedly nadda. So what is their purpose in the year 40,000? It's not like the Moldy Old Man going for a stroll through the Eye of Terror any time soon now is he? So what do these guys do all day? How do they stay combat ready after guarding an unbesieged palace for 10,000 years? Anybody know?
* 3rd ed rulebook, seventh page. Although I suppose the number could be 5,000 if they dual wielded.
I've got some ideas:
1. They go on the High Lords' super special awesome black ops missions where they leave no trace by killing everything
2. They work clandestinely through/within the Inquisition, no names, no faces used
3. They loan guys out to the Grey Knights and repaint their armour to match
4. They sit around the palace bored completely out of their minds
5. They sit around the palace playing card games, rolling dice, playing regicide, and trying to find a way of getting piss drunk without dad finding out
6. They are actually entirely or mostly in stasis in case of invasion, so the actual number of guys bored out of their minds are few
7. They are one of the Lost Legions (OMG!!!111!one!). Okay, not exactly on topic, but it was going to come up sooner or later...
8. They are training to defend against the Void Dragon whom they were warned about by teh Emprah in a psychic dream
9. They haven't existed since the Heresy, and their name is simply propaganda generated by the High Lords to make their enemies think Terra is slightly better protected than it is
10. (Last one, I promise) They guard the most important possession in all the Imperium, The Big Red Button with orders not to let anyone push it until the fluff gets so screwed up, that GW has to ret-con the whole thing
So, anyone know anything I don't about these guys? (quite likely) Any other possible uses for the Emperor's corpseguards? Ring bearers at Guilliman's Wedding to himself perhaps?