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Tyranids

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A small swarm of Tyranids, including a Warrior and several Termagents and Genestealers.
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A small swarm of Tyranids, including a Warrior and several Termagents and Genestealers.

In the table-top wargame Warhammer 40,000, Tyranids are a swarm of Bug-like aliens in many shapes and sizes.

Tyranids form a superorganism traveling the universe on their Hive Fleets, destroying all ecosystems in their path in a manner similar to locusts. They are psychically linked via their Hive mind, a collective consciousness that links all Tyranid organisms to one another. This gives them a great ability to strategize and coordinate.

Tyranids were first described in Rick Priestley's Rogue Trader, the first edition of Warhammer 40,000, with a basic form not too different from its current state. At that time they were not an emphasised race in the game, but in later editions they became a playable race in their own right, being especially popularised by the Space Hulk, Space Crusade and Ultra Marines Warhammer variants.

Contents

Tyranids in Warhammer 40,000

Tyranid Invasion

Ahead of the main mass of Tyranids are Genestealers that infest and inhabit planets good for feeding the fleet. They are strongly linked to the Hive Mind and are considered some of the most independent creatures of the Tyranid make-up, luring their fleet to the planet for consumption.

When Tyranids attack a planet, they do so with a full force of the Hive Fleet. This composes of some near thousand Hive Ships (bioships travelling across the galaxy) that empty all forces onto an unsuspecting planet. The skies darken and the ground is covered with Tyranids. When the planet is completely covered and all resistance defeated, all the planet's contents- including all air, water, soil- are absorbed by the Hive Ships. Even the Tyranids themselves, those who had just conquered the planet, are consumed in order to "recycle" them and make even better Tyranids for attacking the next world.

Hive Mind

The Tyranid race make up a superorganism called the Hive Mind. This is the sole influence and will of the Tyranids. It keeps the smaller, less sophisticated Tyranid creatures in check through synapse creatures. Without the influence of the Hive Mind, they become mere animals with instinctive motives. The "Synapse" keeps creatures fearless, linked, and drives them forward to the planets for consumption.

The Hive Mind does not appear to wholly control the entirety of all Tyranid Hive Fleets, as fleets have been known to fight amongst one another.

Hive Fleets

Although there appear to be a great number of Hive Fleets in existence, the ones below are the notable ones recorded by the Imperium of Man

Each Hive Fleet has their own colors, varying creatures, and bio-weapons, but all are still uniquely, Tyranid.

Hive Fleet Behemoth
The first recorded encounter with the Tyranids occurred in the Eastern Fringe of the Galaxy and was documented in reports from the planet Tyran. An Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator station at Tyran identified a collection of worlds in the area that had been stripped bare of their biomass and atmosphere. The station was subsequently attacked and consumed. A year later, an Imperial Inquisitor named Kryptman, who received information regarding the attack, arrived on Tyran to investigate. After searching the planet he chanced upon a data codex hidden deep within Tyran's crust, which contained information about the invaders

The information collected by the Explorators on Tyran allowed Kryptman to identify the pattern of attacks and predict the course of the hive fleet. However, these predictions came too late: several more civilisations were wiped out, largely because astropaths could not send psychic requests for help because of a phenomenon known as the "Shadow of the Warp"- somehow, the presence of a hive fleet near a planet stops psychic communication, which is the primary method of interstellar communication used by the Imperium.

The Tyranid force, dubbed "Hive Fleet Behemoth", cut a swathe into the Ultramar system, the realm of the Ultramarines Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes. Undeterred by the Marines' strike fighters, the fleet reduced Prandium, the garden world once known as the "Jewel of Ultramar," to bare rock.

Eventually, Chapter Master Marneus Calgar mustered his entire force for a last-ditch defense of the Ultramarines' homeworld of Macragge. Here, during the Battle of Macragge, the hive fleet was completely destroyed. However, the Ultramarines suffered heavy losses, losing their entire First Company in a last stand at the northern polar fortress.

Hive Fleet Kraken
The second wave of Tyranids to fight against the Imperium was known as "Hive Fleet Kraken". Instead of throwing one mass of troops against the human armies, this swarm split into countless smaller fleets, each one enveloping whole systems before reinforcements could arrive. The brunt of this attack was borne by the Scythes of the Emperor and Lamenters chapters of the Space Marines and the Eldar Craftworld Iyanden, all of whom suffered very heavy losses. Kraken was not fully destroyed though, and split into several splinter fleets. There was little respite for the Imperium after Kraken's near destruction as a new hive fleet emerged soon after.

Hive Fleet Leviathan
The third wave of Tyranid attacks, "Hive Fleet Leviathan", appeared from below the galaxy and attacked from two points, cutting off large portions of the galaxy from reinforcements. In order to buy some time, the Imperium, under the command of Inquisitor Kryptman, attempted to redirect the attacks of this fleet towards the Ork-held worlds of the Octavius system. While the plan was a success, the Tyranids have since been steadily working their way through Ork space, suffering massive losses, assimilating everything that stands before them. The Imperium has bought itself a century at least to prepare for the next attack, but there is no telling how the Tyranids may evolve thanks to the newly-harvested Ork DNA.

Leviathan also attacked around the same time as Kraken, making both fleets difficult to deal with as one or the other would provoke some sort of uprise or invasion. To date, Behemoth is the only tyranid hive fleet that did not utilize the "tendril" tactic, suffering the consequences.

Other Hive Fleets
Though Behemoth represents the Imperium's first "official" encounter with the Tyranid race, there were some Tyranid or Tyranid-like lifeforms discovered centuries earlier. These encounters are thought to relate to three earlier hive fleets: Tiamat, Ouroboris, and Colossus.

Species and Biology

A Hive Tyrant.
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A Hive Tyrant.

The Tyranids are all of a basic genetic stock, characterised by six limbs, both an endoskeleton and an exoskeleton, external skeletal features distinct from an internal skull, five carapace plates on their head and a series of ventricles on their heads and at the base of their tails.

The assimliated DNA structures and resources of the planets invaded warp Tyranids into a multitude of genera, all of which have an extremely rapid rate of evolution. Tyranid matter is constantly reabsorbed into biomass reclamation pools to create new varieties mixing with new assimliated DNA structures of the races of the invaded planet.

Lower, less evolved breeds of Tyranid are constantly kept in check by the more advanced synapse creatures which have much stronger links to the Hive Mind.

What follows is a list of the major Tyranid genera- this list is by no means exhaustive. Starting with the Codex: Tyranids published during the 3rd edition of Warhammer 40,000 and continuing to the current iteration, players are encouraged to create their own varying forms of the Tyranids. The player has the option of fielding a basic Tyranid (or a squad, which is called a "brood"); then the player is given a list of allowed upgrades which they are permitted to apply to the creature(s). Certain combinations of upgrades are frequently given nicknames to differentiate them from other versions of that creature- for example, a Carnifex outfitted with multiple guns may be called a "Gun-fex"; a brood of Termagaunts upgraded to carry short-ranged spike-firing weapons known as 'spinefists' may be called "Spinegaunts".

The synapse creatures, which have the strongest link to the Hive Mind, include:

Other large non-synapse Tyranids include: The Gaunt genus encompasses the basic units of a Tyranid invasion force. These creatures mostly have the same body type, which is generally man-sized or smaller; but each has different attacking traits: The most unique forms of Tyranid are those which incorporate the DNA of races assimilated during conquest. Examples include: The following creatures were part of the Tyranid forces in the very first edition, but were dropped completely afterwards. Tyranids also utitilize creatures collectively known as bio-titans. These include: Ripper Swarms are often seen accompanying Tyranid forces in battle. Rippers are small, more worm-like Tyranids which live only to consume all that they can; they are generally only seen in large swarms, which traverse the planet, ingesting all that they can in order to speed along the ultimate consumption of all useable material on the planet. Due to their small size, they make for poor fighters individually- but in very large numbers, they quickly become a serious threat.

Lastly, the Norn Queens are always hive ship-bound, and psychically communicate with their invasion forces via their Dominatrices. Only partial specimens have been recovered by the Ordo Xenos Biologis, and next to no information has been gathered.

Notable Tyranids

While the Tyranids are a Hive Mind entity and "recycle" their forces after each successful assault upon a planet, there have been occasional sightings of extraordinary individual creatures within the Tyranid armies. As the Tyranids never communicate with non-Tyranids, it is impossible to know whether these are actual individuals within the Tyranid community, or are new species that are slowly being introduced into the forces of the Hive Mind.

Old One Eye

First appearing in the Third Edition of Warhammer 40,000, Old One Eye was a monstrous Carnifex mutation with gigantic pincers and a missing eye. The creature was found on Macragge centuries after Hive Fleet Behemoth was destroyed. Originally presumed dead, Old One Eye tore apart the ship transporting its body. Later the Tyranids persistently raided the system where it was left, suggesting it "called" the forces to it. It had the ability to rapidly regenerate even fatal wounds, which led some to speculate that it was a genetic experiment of the Hive Mind. Carnifexes sporting many of the notable features of Old One Eye have been seen among the swarms of later Hive Fleets, suggesting that Old One Eye was reabsorbed by the Hive Mind, and its traits deemed useful.

The Red Terror

The Red Terror was a mutation of the Ravener genus first sighted on the mining world of Devlan. It was nightmarishly fast and was armed with huge scythes and capable of swallowing its victims whole. It was primarily subterannean in nature and could burrow straight through the densest of materials, due to a powerful acid it can secrete. It was speculated that there may be more than one Red Terror, as with all of the Tyranid notable "characters", but any engagements there may have been with other such creatures yielded no survivors.

Death Leaper

Death Leaper is a particularly vicious Lictor introduced during the Rise of the Swarm campaign. It was originally encountered by a Space Marine named Brother Erasmus. The two fought and both were wounded, Brother Erasmus losing an eye and an arm. As a result of the damage sustained in this battle, Death Leaper's chitinous exoskeleton provides him less protection than most Lictors, but Death Leaper's stealth is unsurpassed, and it is able to conceal itself in places where normal Lictors would be unable to hide.(It is also heavily involved in the upcoming campaign, Medusa V, and its reclamation is the central objective for the Tyranid forces involved in the campaign.)

Notably, whereas Old One Eye and The Red Terror were only mentioned in the Third Edition Tyranid codex and were presumed to be no longer useable but Games-workshop rereleased the rules for them on the official internet site, Death Leaper was introduced after the current edition was published and is therefore still valid. Death Leaper is also unique in that its stats specifically refer to it as a "special character," and state that an opponent's permission must be sought in order to use it (as is the case with special characters of other races).

References

See also

Similar species have been used in other media. These include:
Warhammer 40,000 Articles
Main Armies Chaos | Daemonhunters | Dark Eldar | Eldar | Imperial Guard
Ork | Necron | Space Marines | Tau | Tyranid | Witch Hunters |

 

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