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Hive Fleet

2019-08-14T19:43:12Z

2001:56A:F829:9000:1483:EEB4:C6CF:45B0:

A '''Hive Fleet''' is a swarm of [[Tyranid]] bio-ships that travel together. They roam through space, invading planets and consuming their biomass to reproduce.

== Origin ==
Nobody knows where the Tyranids come from, but it's definitely outside of the galaxy. The first major waves of Tyranids came from the galactic east ([[Ultramar]], the [[Tau]] Empire, etc.), but the latest invasions occurred in the galactic south. At first, they seemed to be occurring at random, as systems would just fall silent without anything happening to their neighbors, but then it became clear that [[Hive Fleet Leviathan]] was attacking from below the galactic plane. Think of Leviathan as a really big, space Jaws, attacking and eating planets from below.

== Organization ==
Most of the mass of a Hive Fleet is in its Hive Ships, massive biological factories that take in biomass from conquered planets and turn it into more Tyranids. Each one contains one or more Norn Queens, who sift through the biomass looking for interesting traits and genes that they can graft into their "children", chosen based on the obstacles they faced. Over time, this directed mutation and evolution results in different hive fleets having very divergent variants of warrior organisms and distinct styles of invasion.

The Hive Ships are protected by various strains of cruisers and droneships. Razorfiend Krakens hunt enemy ships, while escort drones cluster around hive ships as a living protective screen.

The Hive Fleets are rounded out by a pair of ship classes that they use to identify targets and get there in a reasonable amount of time. They send Vanguard drones ahead of the fleet, loaded with [[Genestealer]]s, [[Lictor]]s, and other infiltrator organisms, to candidate systems. Infiltrators that find their way to planets with lots of biomass found cults or colonies whose psychic networks act as beacons in the [[Warp]] and attract the attention of the fleet that spawned them.

Once a destination is determined, the fleet has to get there before it starves to death (analagous to the fuel limitations of other fleets.) It does this by employing a ship called a "narvhal" which somehow harnesses the target planet's gravity to bend space-time into a "corridor", which allow the fleet to travel to this planet at faster-than-light speeds (not as fast as a Warp-capable ship, but certainly faster than drifting at sublight). Presumably, this employs some sort of incredibly sweet facial horn. This bending has the fortunate (?) side-effect of causing tectonic upheaval on the target planet, disrupting any defenses but also warning anyone who knows what they're looking for that the fleet is coming for them. Narvhals have delicate gravimetric senses which are easily overloaded by nearby planets and stars, so the corridor dissolves as the fleet approaches its destination, and the fleet makes its final approach at sublight speeds, spending years or even decades in real-space. The fleet may hibernate to cool down and evade detection, only waking up when they are too close to be stopped.

== Famous Hive Fleets ==
*[[Hive Fleet Behemoth|Behemoth]]
*[[Hive Fleet Kraken|Kraken]]
*[[Hive Fleet Leviathan|Leviathan]]
*[[Hive Fleet Gorgon|Gorgon]]
*[[Hive Fleet Hydra|Hydra]]
*[[Hive Fleet Jormungandr|Jormungandr]]
*[[Hive Fleet Kronos|Kronos]]
*[[Hive Fleet Tiamet|Tiamet]]

== Tabletop ==
[[Games Workshop]] used to publish experimental rules for [[Genestealer]] cults and [[Deep Strike|deep striking]] "Seedling Swarms", but from Fourth Edition onwards, Tyranids have been a strictly one-codex army. The only reason to choose one Hive Fleet over another is for the color scheme. Genestealer cults now have their own codex, but they aren't considered battle brothers to regular 'nids. Which makes sense, considering they end up getting eaten anyway.

8th edition changed this with the introduction of Hive Fleet Adaptations, the Tyranid version of Chapter Tactics and they're one of the best internally balanced yet.

== See Also ==
* [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/List_of_Hive_Fleets Lexicanum's list of all canon Hive Fleets]
* [[Tyranid Hive Fleet Creation Tables]], a set of roll-tables for generating your own Hive Fleet
** [[Hive Fleet Nidhoggr]], a homebrewed fluff project by /tg/
** [[Hive Fleet Mi-go]], another brainchild of /tg/, this time generated from the tables

{{Tyranids-HiveFleets}}

Hive Fleet Leviathan

2019-08-14T19:41:27Z

2001:56A:F829:9000:1483:EEB4:C6CF:45B0: /* The Devastation of Baal */

Leviathan is the third and largest [[Hive Fleet]] so far to have assaulted the galaxy in [[Warhammer 40,000|Warhammer 40k]] (you call tell by mentioning it as the "largest so far" [[Games Workshop|GW]] is just planning to unveil a new bigger fourth one as a global summer campaign at some point), and the cause of the ongoing '''Third Tyrannic War'''. The hive fleet has struck below the galactic plane, rising upwards in a jaw-like formation swallowing whole entire sectors in the shadow of the [[warp]]. Holy [[Earth|Terra]] lays directly in their path and for a chilling reason; the [[Emperor]], glowing as he does in the warp, is serving as a [[Astronomican|big beacon]] to the [[Tyranid]]s which they can't miss, like a moth to a lightbulb. In fact, the canon pretty much says he is responsible for bringing the Tyranids to the galaxy in the first place, because he is acting as a draw to them. Way to go Emps.

[[Inquisitor]] [[Kryptman]], the long standing authority on the Tyrannic menace, quickly acted when he suspected a new hive fleet was arriving and did several things that, while are extreme, [[what|make a hideous sort of sense]]. He ordered the [[exterminatus]] of countless worlds to deny the Tyranids vital biomass, really forestalling their advance. The exchange of this though was [[grimdark|countless numbers of people have died and habitable worlds have been destroyed wholesale]]. Even the [[Imperium of Man|Imperium]] couldn't stomach this and the [[Inquisition]] has kicked Kryptman out. He was not done yet though. By capturing a brood of [[genestealer]]s and sending them off into [[ork]] controlled space, he hoped the two species would destroy each other but it seems to be backfiring amazingly, as both sides seem to be growing constantly stronger through the conflict. The whole thing only ended when [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka|Ghazghkull]] dropped down into the sector and kicked ass.

Oh, and a shadowy bunch of Inquisitors called the Strategic Collective have given the [[High Lords of Terra|High Lords]] a memo called the Stark Report which is causing them all to shit themselves because they are saying Leviathan is only a SCOUTING fleet and that the main fleet is still en route, but will most likely arrive in less then a century. They say if their findings are true, they will need to increase mobilisation of Imperial war elements by 500%… and that is being conservative.

Grim times indeed!

==The Devastation of Baal==
Following down the same road as its precursors, Hive Fleet Behemoth and Hive Fleet Kraken, Leviathan has now been largely destroyed, the Bio-Mass it absorbed and used in its creation lost to the [[Hive Mind]]. Although one Tendril remains mired in perpetual conflict with the Orks of the Octarius Empire, the largest Tendril has now been obliterated at [[Baal]] after the Great Rift opened up and dragged most of their ships into the Warp. At the same time, [[Ka'bandha]] and the army of Khorne Daemons he led showed up on Baal Prime to make it clear to the Hive Mind that he would not be robbed of his revenge.

Although the Hive Fleet [[Devastation of Baal|devoured most of the Baal System]], the [[Blood Angels]] were able to rebuild and resupply using the new Primaris Marines provided to them by the Indomitus Crusade, though it is said that they are still stretched thin. The [[Swarmlord]] died again in this battle, slain in single combat by an exhausted Dante.

Unfortunately, several of the Hive ships that the Great Rift swallowed up were expelled back into the Materium, allowing the countless new splinter fleets this created to extend as far as Segmentum Solar. Many of these splinters are said to possess entirely new biomorphs, possibly as a byproduct of Warp fuckery.

On top of that, the Tyranids have begun detaching elements of the Octarius tendril to form new tendrils, which have been greatly strengthened by their acquisition of Ork genetic material. It's gotten to the point where the Hive Fleet has occasionally left biomass behind for lesser Hive Fleets such as Kronos and Hydra to feed upon, as they are thought to have acquired all they need to begin their push to Segmentum Solar.

{{Tyranids-HiveFleets}}
{{40k-Timeline}}

Hive Fleet Behemoth

2019-08-14T19:28:39Z

2001:56A:F829:9000:1483:EEB4:C6CF:45B0:

[[File:Nids3rdEdCover.jpg|thumb|250px|Tyranids of Hive Fleet Behemoth looking for [[Ultramar|the all you can eat buffet]].]]
'''Hive Fleet Behemoth''' was the first [[Tyranid]] [[Hive Fleet]] to enter the galaxy. It was destroyed during the '''First Tyrannic War''' of 745-746.M41. The discovery of the Tyranids, as heralded by Behemoth, was one of the first major events in the [[Time of Ending]].

==Invasion==
For nearly a decade prior to their discovery, the [[Explorator Fleet]]s were aware that something was happening out in the Eastern Fringe, as worlds which had previously been confirmed to support life had been reduced to Dead Worlds, even to a microscopic scale. [[Inquisitor]] [[Kryptman]] of the [[Alienhunters|Ordo Xenos]] was dispatched to investigate. When he reached the Explorator Base on the former ocean planet Tyran, he discovered a lifeless rock containing a single data-record was left detailing what happened, leading to the current designation of the Tyranids as such. Kryptman then branded them as ''xenos horrificus'', an alien form of life so destructive that extinction was the only option. Analyzing the path of known Tyranid attacks and extrapolating a future course, he discovered that they were heading straight for [[Ultramar]].

While moving towards Ultramar, the Hive Fleet ate a moon-sized chunk of biomass the Imperium held for 9000 years at Occulus, fought the Star Krumpa [[Freebooterz|Freeboota]] [[Ork]]s who had been plaguing this part of the galaxy for years; finding their first serious fight (noted by the boyz involved as a particularly great fight) but eating most of the Orks in the end, had two scout tendrils dodge around [[Trazyn the Infinite|Trazyn's]] dynasty at Solemnance, and annihilated the Death Shadows [[Chaos Space Marines]] at Sybari.

Upon learning of this, the [[Imperium of Man]] suspended the [[Damocles Crusade]] currently underway against the [[Tau]] Empire, in order to re-allocate resources and because the [[High Lords of Terra]] had determined that the Tau would serve as a nice buffer/buffet between them and the new threat.

[[Marneus Calgar]], the [[Chapter Master]] of the [[Ultramarines]], took most of the [[Space Marine Chapter|Chapter]] to the Ultramar world of Prandium. Despite this concentration of force, the Tyranids were able to overwhelm the Ultramarines and force them to abandon Prandium. Calgar spent a week fasting and declared that the Ultramarines had suffered the sin of pride by allowing themselves to become complacent (bear in mind this was years before [[Matt Ward|our spiritual liege]] was working at [[Games Workshop]]).

Falling back to [[Macragge]], the Ultramarines fortified their chapter homeworld, but the Tyranids responded by unleashing the powerful and specialized variant of Hive Tyrant, the [[Swarmlord]]. Despite the best efforts of his [[Honour Guard]] (including the <s>force feeding</s> sacrifice of their commander), Calgar was so grievously wounded that he lost both his arms and legs, one eye, and his stomach, and had to retreat to orbit, leaving the northern polar fortress with only the First Company to defend it.

Fortunately, [[Imperial Navy]] reinforcements from [[Segmentum#Segmentum Tempestus|Segmentum Tempestus]] (yes, the Tyranids were so bad they needed reinforcements from another Segmentum) finally arrived. The battle only turned in the Imperium's favor which kept the Imperium <strike>functional</strike> in existence. The ''Emperor''-class Battleship ''Dominus Astra'' detonated its warp-drive, dragging most of Hive Fleet Behemoth into the [[Warp]], [[Fail|making all previous space battle tactics obsolete forever]] as one ship, or even just the warp-drive can now destroy hundreds of other ships. On the plus side, the Tyranids might have been able to meet the [[Chaos Gods]], so perhaps there will also be a [[Rip and Tear|Hive Fleet Khorne]] joining us soon.

Returning to Macragge, the Ultramarines Third Company scoured the northern fortress, where they discovered First [[Brother-Captain|Captain]] Saul Invictus and the entire First Company had been killed to a man. Only one member of the First Company, Battle-Brother Altarion, had survived the battle, and he was so messed up that he had to be put into a [[Dreadnought]], which of course invites philosophical debate on whether he actually died or not, but that's for another day.

==Aftermath==
While the Imperium had achieved a victory on the battlefield, the cost of Hive Fleet Behemoth was severe. An entire world of Ultramar was lost and the Ultramarines First Company with it. Captain [[Severus Agemman]] of the Second Company was promoted to First Captain of the Ultramarines, while Veteran [[Brother-Sergeant|Sergeant]] [[Cato Sicarius]] was promoted to Captain of the Second Company. The losses the Ultramarines suffered were so great that [[Dante]] sent several companies of the [[Blood Angels]] to help the Ultramarines purge the remaining Tyranids from Ultramar.

Nearly a century later, the Ultramarines had still not fully recovered from the losses Hive Fleet Behemoth had inflicted, but by that point Macragge was cleansed of Tyranids. Several ships of Behemoth survived, but without the coordination of the [[Hive Mind]] they broke apart into smaller Hive Fleets. The Swarmlord was officially listed as destroyed in action, but its corpse was never located.

Despite all their losses the Ultramarines believed that they had crushed the Xenos threat and another enemy of the Emperor was no more. Such hopes came to haunt them when two and a half centuries later, when [[Hive Fleet Kraken]] assaulted the Imperium's borders…

=== Court of the Nephilim King ===
One of the splinter fleets of Behemoth, these guys were so small at first that they evaded the sensors used by the Ultramarines and escaped before going dormant for a while. Centuries later, they reawakened and attacked the nearby unsuspecting worlds, gaining enough biomass to become a threat. They earned the name "Court of the Nephilim King" when they attacked a world belonging to the [[Imperial Knight]]s of House Raven, who noted that the splinter fleet's preference for monstrous warrior-creatures aided by synapse organisms eerily mirrors a Knight Household's organizations After a series of crushing defeats against them in which the splinter fleet was able to counter their every tactic, the surviving Knights were forced to retreat and have since sworn vengeance against the Court of the Nephilim King.

{{Tyranids-HiveFleets}}
{{40k-Timeline}}

Hive Fleet Jormungandr

2019-08-14T19:25:12Z

2001:56A:F829:9000:1483:EEB4:C6CF:45B0: /* Countermeasures against Jormungandr */

Hive Fleet Jormugandr is a minor Tyranid Hive Fleet that arrived to the galaxy from the North East to the Ultima Segmentum. It developed its activity in between the Second and Third Tyranid War, and was presumed destroyed around 995.M41. Its named after the World Serpent of Norse mythology, who is fated to kill the god Thor during Ragnarok.

==Arrival and strategies of Jormungandr==
The first sightings of Hive Fleet Jormungandr were made in the North East area of the Ultima Segmentum. Even though it seemed that it wouldn't cause that much trouble due to its relatively small size (at least compared to Behemoth and Kraken and later Leviathan), it quickly grew thanks to attacking unprotected outpost worlds. It spread around the Thalassi Sector, encircling most of the planets within it.

Its strategy was more subtle than the previous two Hive Fleets: Seemingly uninterested in direct attacks at first, Jormugandr floated around space, focusing on throwing as many space debris mixed with [[mycetic spores]] as possible. These spores, containing creatures such as [[Raveners]], [[Trygon]]s, [[Mawloc]]s, and [[genestealers]], managed to enter relatively undetected thanks to all the confusion caused by the massive rain of meteorites and space debris Jormugandr had launched. The infiltrating units then burrowed deep underground and/or started assimilating the population into [[Genestealer Patriarch|genestealer cults]]. The digging tyranids and the genestealer cults would often work together: the mawlocs and trygons would carve deep and complex tunnel systems to protect themselves and to reach more vulnerable spots on the planetary defenses. The genestealers would then guide the digging units where they should go next and when to start or stop the tunneling operations. This strategy meant terrible news for the planetary authorities, most of which were not only undermanned and under-trained, but also the deep tunnels meant they could never be sure if they had destroyed all of the invasive organisms if detected. Only when the invasion of the planet was sure of their tactical superiority they would then call for the Hive Ships to arrive and consume everything.

==Countermeasures against Jormungandr==
After two massive tyranid invasions, the Imperium knew very well not to fuck around with them. However, at first the Imperium found themselves at the end of defeat after defeat. The loss of the forge world Megyre was specially telling, after the loss of many titans and all of the arcane weaponry stored there. The tides of war began to change when Commander [[Chenkov]] destroyed the vanguard of the Hive Fleet, stopping it from advancing further into Imperial space. Multiple astartes chapters were dedicated to Jormugandr's destruction, including the Blood Angels and the [[Crimson Castellans]].

The decisive blow to Jormugandr was the Battle of Black Nebula, where the Imperial Navy managed to destroy and splinter most of the Hive Fleet. Admiral Vortigern Hanroth's fleet was able to slowly but surely break the Hive Ships, thanks to space marine boarding actions and a massive amount of firepower, but not before losing 3/4 of his fleet.

==Effects of Hive Fleet Jormungandr==
Hive Fleet Jormungandr was a hard pill to swallow for the imperial authorities. Despite its small size, it had managed to advance quite a lot before being stopped, and not at a small cost. Dozens of planets were destroyed and, most importantly, hundreds of imperial words were infected by very hard to root out genestealer infestations as well as hordes of other Tyranid organisms that had hidden themselves underground. This meant that constant attention was needed to eradicate possible genestealer takeovers, and when Hive Fleet Leviathan arrived to the galaxy, hundreds of dormant Tyranids that had retreated to their tunnel networks woke up and began attacking anew, diverting vital resources to deal with them.

Worse, enough of the Hive Fleet's ships were able to escape, allowing them to begin rebuilding their numbers and renew their attacks. Consequently, dozens of worlds that had thought themselves safe discovered that they could never consider themselves wholly free of Jormungandr's grasp.
{{Tyranids-HiveFleets}}