Hive Fleet Naga

Hive Fleet Naga is a small Tyranid Hive Fleet active on the Eastern Fringe, somewhere to the north of Tau-controlled space, first discovered in 801.M41.

Discovery and early campaigns of Naga

When first discovered by the Imperium, Hive Fleet Naga was thought to be just another splinter of Hive Fleet Behemoth, back when most experts thought Behemoth comprised the entirety of the Tyranid species. The arrival of Hive Fleet Kraken and other small hive fleets invalidated that theory. Yet, for most of its life, Hive Fleet Naga was fought by xenos species, due to the lack of control the Imperium had in that area, plus a decent amount of warpstorms that made space travel really dangerous there. The few imperial worlds there put up a desperate defense, but cut off from the rest of the Imperium, there was little they could have done to avoid doom. Also, most experts believe that, if the trajectory of Hive Fleet Naga had been slightly different, it would have made direct contact with the Tau, possibly ending their empire right there.

Hive Fleet Naga first appeared in this galaxy in xenos-controlled territory. During most of its early encounters, it laid waste of dozens upon dozens of alien worlds, mostly those from the Ulumeathic League (an unnamed alien species GW doesn't care about, so we can basically consider them extinct at this point). During its travels, it also found dozens of Eldar Maiden Worlds and Exodite Worlds, eating most of them. The psychic cries for help from this attacks would cause the Craftworlds of Malan'tai, Iyanden and Idharae to quickly organize a defense for the remaining Eldar worlds in the area.

Naga vs the Eldar forces

When Hive Fleet Naga headed towards the Exodite World of Halathel in 808.M41, Craftworld Malan'tai sent their fleet (along with other Eldar forces), to intercept and drive back the Tyranids before they could consume the planet. Naga responded by dividing itself into two different splinter fleets, one on course to Halathel, and the other one to the maiden world Eth-aelas. The first tendril managed to beat the Malan'thai fleet and reach the world, whose population organized a futile last stand to defend their worldspirit shrine, failing to do so. The planet became overrun, but the remaining Malan'thai vessels managed to destroy the bio-tyranid ships from orbit. The splinter fleet was destroyed, but the planet was lost. The Eldar were luckier fighting the second splinter fleet, destroying it completely and launching a successful but long campaign of biopurge in the area.

The destruction of Craftworld Malan'tai

After the seeming destruction of Hive Fleet Naga, suddenly all contact was lost from Craftworld Malan'tai. No-one knew what had happened to them until it was discovered decades later by a group of Grey Knights. Drifting in realspace and bereft of all life, it seemed like Craftworld Malan'tai had been completely consumed by the Tyranid menace. However, the most worrying news the discoverers were able to find out was "what" exactly caused that. Apparently, after the destruction of Naga's first tendril, a dying bio-ship crossed paths with the Craftworld and launched everything it could against it as a desperate final act of revenge. Malan'tai's forces were able to defend themselves from most of the bioforms, but suddenly, something appeared and turned the tides of the battle.

Some psychic-consuming organism (either a mutated Zoanthrope or a Neurothrope) managed to reach the Craftworld's Infinity Circuit. An Infinity Circuit can contain thousands, if not millions, of Eldar souls, stored to protect them from Slaanesh's gaze and to power up the psychic parts of the Craftworld. The beast, usually called "The Doom of Malan'tai" gained immeasurable power by consuming all of those souls, becoming an absolute monster, capable of tearing Eldar souls from their bodies. Nowadays, the story of the The Doom of Malan'tai is frequently told between Eldar groups, referring to the real menace the Tyranids are to the galaxy, and by mothers to scare the kids if they don't behave (if you don't clean your soulstone every day, The Doom of Malan'tai will come for you).

Bafflingly, the xenarite studies conducted by those Eldar savants in the Ulumeathic League who were few and courageous (or foolish) enough to brave and probe the cold, lightless halls of what remains of the Craftworld itself, have revealed no trace whatsoever of such a creature- what the Ulumeathic League knows of the whispered abomination known as the Doom of Malan'Tai came to them not through the presence fo the creature itself, but the absence it left. Never before the senses of the eldar had ever experienced the sensation of a vast, unforgiving void inside the Infinity circuit of a Craftworld.

All that was left of the spirits of the Ancient Guides was the echoing pain of their essence being destroyed, eaten in a place that was even darker and colder than the Warp itself, their essence torn to minuscule shreds by an entity that looked through the eyes of the Swarm like the lens of a microscope. The only coherent message recovered by the Eldar sages was a mnemonic looped message, enclosed in a spirit stone forcefully yanked out of the circuit, which foretold of the dark and vast presence in the distant fringes of the universe, a cold and insatiable entity whose fingers were the Hive Fleets themselves.

Rac i tovon radag, hend -o i gaw i baras, a praui an i er lelya-, preui -o i baug echor. Hi na- i manadh -o Malan'tai, tae cín emel.

Curse the deep beast, eye of the void that eager, and pray for the one gone, prey of the cruel cold . This is the Doom of Malan'tai, clasp your heart.

Tyranid Hive Fleets
Major Hive Fleets:	Hive Fleet Behemoth - Hive Fleet Kraken - Hive Fleet Leviathan
Minor Hive Fleets:	Hive Fleet Colossus - Hive Fleet Dagon - Hive Fleet Gorgon - Hive Fleet Hydra - Hive Fleet Jormungandr Hive Fleet Kronos - Hive Fleet Moloch - Hive Fleet Naga - Hive Fleet Ouroboris - Hive Fleet Tiamet