Tyranid

File:SmallNid.JPG

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

In the table-top wargame Warhammer 40,000, Tyranids are a playable faction representing the Tyranid race, nomadic aliens comprising a great many forms of genetically engineered creature.

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 their current state. At that time they were not an emphasised race in the game, instead representing a limited number of occasionally-encountered alien protagonists, the principal unit available known as a Zoat, a centaur-like creature. In later editions the Tyranids became a playable race in their own right, being especially popularised by the Space Hulk, Space Crusade and Ultra Marines Warhammer variants.

Tyranids in Warhammer 40,000

Second Edition

Second Edition Warhammer 40,000, released in 1993, featured the Tyranids in the supplemental books Wargear and Codex Imperialis, and then later in their own devoted army Codex, released in (date). An extensive model range was released, representing most of the units described in these publications. The army was however very different to the factions previously seen in the game. Notable were the huge numbers of rank-and-file units a Tyranid player was able to deploy compared to most other armies due to their low points cost (second only to the Imperial Guard, according to many players) and the large and flamboyantly designed centre-piece models, very different to anything Citadel had released before.

The tyranid player now had access to a range of unit types roughly equivalent to that of the other factions, including:

• Leaders; principally the Hive Tyrant
• Rank-and-file models; the Termagants, Hormagaunts and the main adversary in Space Hulk, Genestealers
• Powerful and versatile elite units, the Tyranid Warriors
• Heavy units mimicking tanks, artillery and dreadnoughts, the Carnifex (a massive creature built like a battering ram, which excelled in close combat), Zoanthrope (a Tyranid psyker in addition to the Hive Tyrant), Lictor (a camouflaged stealth unit) and the Biovore (a quadrupedal creature whose body formed a living artillery gun)

Third/Fourth Edition

The Tyranid supplement to Third Edition Warhammer 40,000, like most of the other supplements released at that time, focused on revamping the rules for the various units while maintaining the overall structure of the army, so that veteran players would not find their older collections unusable or less useful in the new edition. It did however add some new units and tweak the behavior of others. A brand new model range, somewhat different to the older ones, was released to coincide with the new publication.

New units included:

• The Tyrant Guard, units similar to Tyranid Warriors who could be selected as bodyguards for the Hive Tyrant, in response to some players' complaints that the Hive Tyrant could be isolated and killed too easily
• Gargoyles, essentially Termagants with wings, who had previously been seen in Epic 40,000
• Raveners, large snake-like creatures with claws, to fill the role of a fast close combat unit

The Third Edition Codex, as with a number of subsequent publications, included an army list which allowed far greater flexibility to the player than previous army lists, allowing extensive customisation of units; at the time more so than any other available faction. Unit types noted as a 'Mutable Genus' in the main army list were permitted to be extensively modified by choosing from numerous options in the 'Custom Hive Fleet' section of the book. The options available bore a resemblance to the random equipment tables featured in Rogue Trader, but were no longer randomised.

The nature of the army list in Third Edition further cemented the Tyranid army's reputation for fielding vast numbers of models, allowing the player to overwhelm an opponent with weight of numbers. This was even more pronounced in the variant Seeding Swarm army list published in White Dwarf (number), which represented the initial stages of a massive Tyranid assault and even further emphasised the use of many expendable, 'cannon-fodder' type units. This army list was widely criticised as being unbalanced and thus impossible to beat for some opponents.

Tyranid model range

The designs of Citadel's Tyranid range has gone through three major revisions roughly coinciding with Second, Third and Fourth edition Warhammer 40,000. Most Tyranid models however share certain characteristics:

• They usually possess six limbs of some kind
• They are universally designed to look entirely organic, using no manufactured equipment whatsoever
• They tend to have a distinct head with two eyes and a fanged mouth
• Most have bony or chitinous armour plates on the outside of their bodies

In the design of the range to be launched to supplement the Third edition of the game, Citadel chose to formalise the design of the Tyranid range to the following parameters:

• All Tyranids would have six limbs, although some may be adapted into wings, claws or weapons, or may be vestigial
• All Tyranids would have a tail
• All Tyranids would possess five bony ridges on their head or neck as a common racial feature
• The Tyranids' organic weapon symbiotes would be fused to the creature's body in most cases

Background Fiction

Tyranid Invasion

Ahead of the main mass of Tyranids are Genestealers that infest and inhabit planets covertly by stowing away on board starships or distributing themselves in small numbers by mycetic spore. As a Genestealer infestation grows, it produces numerous hybrids between true Tyranid and their prey species; which eventually are able to effectively infiltrate parts of the planet's infrastructure and governance. As the new Coven expands, more individuals are captured and more official bodies subverted, until the Hive Fleet which distributed them draws near. At this point, two things happen. The first is that, if it has not done so already, the coven will produce a singular specimen of a rare Genestealer mutant known as a Magus. The Magus is highly intelligent, highly psychic, and acts as a beacon to the Hive Mind around which the rest of the Coven will flock and to which the Hive Fleet will be drawn. The invigorated coven then erupt en masse to destroy or sabotage as much of the infrastructure of the planet as possible, weakening resistance to the main Tyranid invasion to come.

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 sector, 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. Kraken was finally brought to battle on a grand scale at Ichar IV, a Hive World, in 993.M41. 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. According to Lieutenant Kage of the Last Chancers penal regiment, the Imperial Guard "Lost over a million men at Ichar IV", though this may serve simply to illustrate in a very broad sense the scale of the battle, as numerically speaking a million soldiers is not a great burden for a Hive World. 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.

Leviathan, inevitably in the end, was immobilized and destroyed, thanks to the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Xenos, Deathwatch and the Ultramarines Fourth Company (Read Latest Codex Space Marines-An Eternity of War).

Other Hive Fleets

Although the space marine codex's background fiction states that Hive fleet Behemoth was the first time the Imperium encountered Tyranids, other background ficton, dated earlier (within the fictional universe's dating system) tells of encounters with creatures having some simlarities to the Tyranids (Horus rising, for example). These stories are thought to relate to three earlier hive fleets: Tiamat, Ouroboris, and Colossus.

Species and Biology

File:Tyranid Hive Tyrant.jpg

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:

• Hive Tyrant: very large, very powerful creature with access to many upgrades
• Tyranid Warrior: superficially similar to Hive Tyrants, but are smaller and more numerous
• Broodlord: a larger, more powerful version of a Genestealer; similar to the Genestealer Patriarch described in the Second Edition background material

Other large non-synapse Tyranids include:

• Lictor (superbly camouflaged scouts, closely related to Tyranid Warriors)
• Carnifex: a large, tank-like creature). In the novel Warriors of Ultramar, Captain Uriel Ventris is said to have seen a larger, faster moving version of a Carnifex inside a hive.
• Ravener: fast-moving, snake-like creatures

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:

• Hormagaunt: very fast-moving assault species
• Termagaunt: similar to Hormagaunts, but trade speed for ability to carry guns
• Gargoyle: similar to Termagaunts, except they have wings and can fly
• Spinegaunt: the simplest of all genus. Produced by the Hive Mind in vast numbers, even when compared with other Gaunts.

The gaunt genus is very mutable, so every hive ship has dozens, if not hundreds, of their own variation. The four variations listed above are the most common, but over 400 variation have been documented.

The most unique forms of Tyranid are those which incorporate the DNA of races assimilated during conquest. Examples include:

• Genestealer: incorporating human DNA, are much-feared assault specialists, capable of scouting ahead of the main Tyranid army
• Biovore: incorporating Ork DNA, act as artillery for the Tyranids
• Zoanthrope: incorporating Eldar DNA, Zoanthropes exhibit some psychic abilities
• Tyrant Guard: rumoured to include Space Marine DNA, Tyrant Guards act as large, durable bodyguards for critical Hive Tyrant leaders

The following creatures were part of the Tyranid forces in the very first edition, but were dropped completely afterwards.

• Squigs: Small Ork DNA-based creatures that were quickly replaced by the more Tyranid-like Rippers. In later editions, Squigs became part of the Ork race.
• Zoat: Mysterious reptilian, centaur-like alien species enslaved by the Hive Mind. Their telephatic powers were used to communicate with other species, a task the Hive Mind eventually deemed futile. According to Games Workshop, they are now officially extinct.

Tyranids also utitilize creatures collectively known as bio-titans. These include:

• Malanthrope: resembles a very large Ripper. These function similar to Rippers on a colossal scale
• Trygon: resembles a very large version of a Ravener. They are able to create monstrous tunnels other tyranids use to travel to battle
• Hierodule: resembles a very large Carnifex, they come in both scythed and barbed variants
• Hierophant: a massive, spider-like creature
• Harridan resembles a very large Gargoyle. They carry their "young" into battle
• Dominatrix: a specialised Bio-Titan, commanding the forces on the battlefield and providing the highest level of psychic control. They are the female counterparts to the Hive Tyrant.

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.

Norn Queens, as described in the novel warriors of Ultramar, fill the role of the "queen" of the hive, simlar to that of a queen ant. They have no models or rules in the game, as they are bound to the hive ship and cannot leave it. They control the making of new tyranids and psychically communicate with the other tyranids. A Norn queen is always the most protected part of the ship, so humans have little data on them.

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 Canadian 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).

The Death Leaper was introduced as an entirely new species of the Lictor genus at the beginning of the Medusa V campaign in the summer of 2006.

References

• Kelly, Phil (2004). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Tyranids (2nd Edition ed.). Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 184154650X. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Priestley, Rick (1992). Rogue Trader. Eastwood: Games Workshop. ISBN 1872372279.
• Spurrier, Simon (2006). Xenology. Nottingham: Black Library. ISBN 1844160106.
• Watson, Ian (1993). Space Marine. London: Boxtree. ISBN 185283840X.
• "Genesis of the Tyranids". Games Workshop. Retrieved 2006-04-24.
• "Forgotten-Fleets". Games Workshop. Retrieved 2006-05-07.

See also

Similar species have been used in other media. These include:

• Bugs (Starship Troopers)
• The Chtorr (The War Against the Chtorr)
• Xenomorphs (The Alien series)
• The Zerg (StarCraft)
• The Formics (Ender's Game)
• Yuuzhan Vong (Star Wars Universe)