2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Hive Fleet Leviathan

2020-01-12T13:18:48Z

2601:1C0:5C00:C130:199E:7FFE:7FA6:8F65:

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 kick starting the [[Octarius War]]. The hope was that 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 Jormungandr

2020-01-12T13:14:13Z

2601:1C0:5C00:C130:199E:7FFE:7FA6:8F65:

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, though surprisingly they have little to do with the Space Wolves.

==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 coils.
{{Tyranids-HiveFleets}}

Hive Fleet Ouroboris

2020-01-12T10:26:17Z

2601:1C0:5C00:C130:199E:7FFE:7FA6:8F65: /* Confirmed sightings of Hive Fleet Ouroboris */

''Not to be confused with the [[Ouroboros]], an entity captured by the Dark Angels that is certainly neither a Tyranid nor a heretical entity.''

'''Hive Fleet Ouroboris''' is a [[Tyranid]] [[Hive Fleet]] first described in M36 near the [[Eye of Terror]].

==Tyranids during the Great Crusade?==
The time of arrival of Hive Fleet Ouroboris is an interesting point of discussion. The earliest mentions of this Hive Fleet were made in M36, when the then-Cardinal of Thracian Primaris, Miriamulus the Elder, wrote in his life work about how, in an earlier age, the Helican Sector had been attacked by what he called the "Legion of Ouroboris". He mentions how this attackers could strip all the life wherever they went, and how "winged monsters vomited from the bellies of bigger beings" composed most of its forces. In this documents, it is mentioned that the [[Emperor]] himself had to fight them to drive them back, culminating in a two weeks long battle over a Warp Rift close to the Eye of Terror.

This description made certain Imperial scientists think years later that this was humanity's first encounter with the Tyranid menace, although this is a point of contention. True, the descriptions written here are close to Tyranid biology, strategy and behaviour (and the idea of the Emperor personally fighting Tyranids is an amazing concept) we cannot fully prove this was the case. By the time of the [[Great Crusade]], there were hundreds, if not thousands, of alien species Mankind had to deal with and there were also some species of insectoid nature that could have fit the description. Hell, this was close to the Eye of Terror, and if the Emperor part was true, maybe it was an early [[daemon]] encounter that was censored later as a [[xenos]] attack. That would certainly match the "strip all life" part ([[Exterminatus]] on the planets before the rumours of daemons spread throughout the galaxy, then blame the blasted xenos). There's also the problem of its location: they appeared very close to the Eye of Terror, and not in the fringes of the galaxy. Most experts believed this proved the "Legion of Ouroboris" couldn't be a Tyranid fleet, but the arrival of [[Hive Fleet Leviathan]] in M41 by moving down the galactic plane meant that this argument is now invalid. To be honest, the fact that most of the early chronicles about Ouroboris were made millenia after its encounter make these story tacky at best. Still, if this "Legion of Ouroboris" was indeed a Tyranid Hive Fleet, it would mean this was Mankind's first contact with the tyranids, many millenia before [[Hive Fleet Tiamet]]'s discovery. The immediate answer to this puzzle might be warp time chicanery, but tyranids don't use a warp based FTL so baring somebody in the future throwing a hive fleet into a warp storm that possibility seems unlikely.

Also, some people believe that the tyranid-like creatures living in Fenris are, in fact, Tyranid bioforms captured and sent to that planet by the Space Wolves captured during this campaign as war trophies many millenia ago, but this is also not confirmed.

==Confirmed sightings of Hive Fleet Ouroboris==
The first "modern" sighting of Hive Fleet Ouroboris was in M41, when it attacked the Thracian Sector. Named after the legends of the "Legion of Ouroboris" (furthering increasing the confusion between the old legends and the current threat), several campaigns have been launched against this alien threat. Ouroboris favours massive aerial swarms of Gargoyles and other flying bioforms, in a manner alarmingly similar to its namesake. Especially worrying is that most chemical anti-Tyranid weaponry doesn't seem to faze them in the slightest. Also, some experts have discovered that the DNA of the fleet contains older models of creatures and genetic structures in comparison to other more recent Hive Fleets, which similarly suggests that the Tyranids may indeed have been in the galaxy longer than anyone believed. Currently a chapter of [[Primaris Marines|Primaris]] [[Space Marines]], the [[Silver Drakes]], is keeping this threat in check although [[Lamenters|this Astartes chapter is currently undermanned and with very few reinforcements]], so the war is either going to last a very long time, or not long at all.

On a meta narrative note if Hive Fleet Ouroboris was sent back in time and eventually became the Legion of Ouroboris then Game Workshop basically gave that twist away with the name. An Ouroboris is a snake that eats it's own tail, no beginning, no end and it is a symbol of infinity, of endlessness. So if Hive Fleet Ouroboris ended up in a stable time loop, then it's name would be perfect for it's ultimate fate.

{{Tyranids-HiveFleets}}