HH7节译：并翼的雄鹰——星际战士与禁军的异同

Of the Legio Custodes and the Legiones Astartes 

As has been mentioned, the Custodian Guard and the Space Marines are related in form, as perhaps might be expected of works of a same creator's hand, but they are very different in function and capacity. There are of course similarities between the two. Both are physically transformed well beyond 'natural' human limits in terms of strength, endurance and fortitude, and fitted for inhuman environmental adaption and resilience, though in this the Legio Custodes are the markedly superior of the two in might, if not in adaptability. Both are subject to extensive psychological and cognitive conditioning, and are physically and mentally reworked to render most of their baser drives inert and their beings rechannelled towards aggression, goal acquisition and the fulfilment of duty, and as a further safeguard against distraction and as a biological control, both are of course incapable of procreation. In both cases all that is left are beings of singular purpose; in the case of each Legiones Astartes, what is created is a living engine of conquest that cares for little else, and in the Custodian Guard, each is created protector of unrelenting diligence and savage capability—a watchman whose vigilance will never tire.

就如我们之前提到的那样，禁军卫士和星际战士在外形上是相关的——就像我们对于出自同一位创造者之手（不同）作品的看法那样，但他们在机能和能力上大不相同。当然，两者之间存在着相似性：两者都接受了生理改造，在体力、耐力和勇气方面突破了“自然”人类的限制；两者都拥有超人的环境适应力和恢复力，不过在这两者中，禁军们如果不是在适应性上更为优秀，就是在力量上超越了星际战士。两者都接受过心理和认知上的调整，而且也都被进行过精神和思想上的重置，他们的大部分低级欲望因此变得迟钝，他们的性格被重新调整出了富有攻击性、目标导向和（专注于）履行职责的特征；而且作为防止分心的进一步保障手段和生物控制手段，两者当然都是不能生育的。两者也都是有单一目标的群体：每名阿斯塔特军团战士都是作为活生生的征战机器而被创造出来的，他们对其他事物漠不关心；每名禁军都是作为拥有毫无松懈的勤勉和强大能力的保卫者而被创造出来的——他们是永远保持警惕的守望者。

What also differs truly between the two, Custodian Guard and Space Marine, is not just their functional purpose, but the extent of their augmentation and the means by which it is accomplished. While the process through which the Legiones Astartes are fabricated from a human being is well enough documented in its outline, though its details are, of course, rightly held secret by those parties involved in the process on a Legion by Legion basis, genuine facts about the manner in which the Custodian Guard are created are very few, even within the hands of the Imperium's hierarchy. This is because —as with all else about the Custodian Guard——it is a matter for the Imperial Household alone, and that authority is one none may gainsay or question. What is known, however, marks them as different. Firstly, there is the matter of the age of the candidacy. For a child to become one of the Legio Custodes, it is known that they must begin the process in their late infancy and certainly before adolescence has taken hold on their physical structure. This stands in stark contrast to the Space Marines whose implantation is only possible after adolescence and best served before full maturity. This may link to a second of the few known facts about the creation of the Legio Custodes: that the gene-craft and alchemistry that transforms them is as absolute as it is subtle, and worked upon the smallest conceivable microscopic level of their genome and cellular structure. It is a process that effects such change on the mortal human form that, when complete, unless they suffer such massive bodily harm as to forcibly end their lives, they are effectively immortal, without perceptible ageing taking place after full maturity.

禁军卫士和星际战士之间真正的区别不仅在于他们的职能目标，而是在于他们的改造程度和完成这些改造的方式。虽然将凡人转变为阿斯塔特军团战士的过程已经被完善地记录在了有关的大纲文件中，不过，其中的细节当然是被那些参与过军团创建的人们恰当地保守着秘密。关于禁军创造方式的真实信息也是极其罕见的，哪怕帝国的统治者们也对禁军知之甚少。就像其他所有关于禁军们的事项那样，这是因为这些内容事关帝国皇室，可能谁也不能质疑或质疑这份权威。不过，即便是我们已知的内容也足以表明禁军们的与众不同。首先是关于候选者们的年龄：那些（将会）成为禁军的儿童必须在婴幼儿后期就开始接受改造过程，而且是要在青春期发育将他们的生理结构定型之前进行。这就与星际战士们形成了鲜明的对比——后者只有在进入青春期之后才可能接受植入手术，而且最好是在身体完全成熟之前进行。这可能与禁卫军团创造过程中第二个罕为人知的事实有联系：将凡人转变为禁军的基因工艺和炼金技术是绝对的，也是同样微妙的，它们是在基因组和细胞结构的微观层面上发挥作用。这个过程会改变受试者的凡人形体，当这一过程完成时，除非遭受了极其严重到能够强行终止他们生命的外伤，否则他们实质上就是不朽的——在完全成熟之后，他们就不会发生可被察觉到的衰老。

Not then for the Legio Custodes the pattern of surgical grafting and organ implantation that creates a Space Marine, no such crudities of augmentation at all mar the Custodian; what creates them is as invisible as it is potent, worked upon the core genetics and at a deep cellular level, and perhaps tailored to each specific inductee. There are those who insist that so invisible and yet so powerful this process is that it crosses over into a metaphysical realm of biomancy and psychic manipulation on a level unguessed at. Given that it is said that the Emperor Himself has overseen the creation of every single Custodian Guard who has ever lived, this may well be true.

创造星际战士的那套外科移植和器官植入的改造手术并不会用到禁军身上，禁军们完全不会受到这种粗暴强化过程的损伤：创造他们的过程是无形的，但也是强大的，该过程是在他们的核心基因和深层细胞层面上发挥作用，而且可能是为每个特定的入选者量身定做的。据说是帝皇本人亲自监督了有史以来每一名禁军卫士的创造，由此看来，这很可能是真的。

The peerless warriors who then result from this arcane process are a rare breed indeed, and not to be squandered recklessly on the battlefield. They were created with a single purpose in mind; to be the Emperor's own elite guard. They were a force created both to defend the Emperor from physical harm wherever the Great Crusade might take Him, to stand watch over His private domains and most guarded secrets, and to serve as the direct agents of His will —as His personal emissaries— be that will to protect, to venture, to claim, to keep secret, or to execute without remorse.

通过这种神秘的过程而产生的出类拔萃的战士确实是颇为罕见的，不能在战场上肆意挥霍。他们的意识中被创造出了一个单独的目标：成为帝皇本人的精锐护卫。创造这支部队的目的有两个：一是无论帝皇随大远征前往何方，禁军们都要保护他免受生理伤害，监视守护帝皇的私人区域和最需要守护的秘密；二是充当帝皇意志的直接代理人——禁军们担任着帝皇的私人特使，按照帝皇的意志去进行保护、探险、宣布旨意和保守秘密，或者去无怨无悔地执行处决。