The Carnathema Abomination

The tyranid biomorph known as the Carnathema Abomination is something truly beyond what the common soldiers ever fear of encountering on the war-torn battlefield, a creature so twisted in its mere concept even the wicked monsters that spawn this horror turn their gaze away in the cold vastness of the stars.

This isn’t a simple weapon, another nameless creature forged by the ever growing maws of the Great Devourer, but something much greater: a singularity of destruction and chaos merged into one being, an antithesis to the Hive Mind itself, a venom created to eradicate everything in its path. Where the Carnathema goes, silence soon follows, a macabre chanting of silent cacophony; every synapse, every psychic connection melts against the sheer presence of this nightmare, a true harbinger from the depths of space.

But how would such a macabre creature come to be? At first, it was just another biomorph, a new experiment by the splicer beasts to create a new organism that could sport the cunning of a Hive Tyrant and the murderous instincts of a Dimachaeron, an unholy union between mind and carnage. It would have been smarter, faster, more efficient, and even capable of a certain level of autonomy over the other members of the swarm; a blueprint of greatness, the seed of evil. As soon as the first embryo was produced, the Norn-Queen realized something had gone awry: its frame was mangled and distorted and the hunger it demonstrated surpassed anything else in the Tyranid genetic library. As it grew at an exponential rate under the queen’s eyes, its presence began to engulf the nursing chamber; the sensory spines that were gifted to it to compensate for the lack of eye were instead pulsing with a psychic might not programmed in its DNA, an unseen mutation deriving of its genus. Soon it grew too powerful, and so it had to be aborted, swarmed over by thousands of nursing gaunts before it could harm the synaptic link of its progenitor. Thus, a new monster was born, something truly new to the tyranid race, a creature of pure hunger and chaos that could be considered both a new step forward for the great devourer and a dangerous step back to a mindless path of destruction.

When a Carnathema is unleashed, it’s not done so lightly, for its synaptic field is damaging to the communication network of planetary biomorphs. It’s a weapon only reserved for the most desperate of battle, those that demand the most desperate of choices. The Carnathema is not bred onboard the hive fleet vessels, like the rest of its brothers, instead, its embryo is incubated inside a reinforced Tyrannocyte that is immediately ejected and fired onto the planet; by the time it crashes down, the beast has already matured and eaten away at its fleshy prison. Once it becomes free, everything around stops as a psychic wave propagates through the air and breaks the mind of any creature unfortunate enough to link with it; then, the carnage ensues. The Carnathema has several weapons at its disposal, retractable adamantine claws capable of injecting powerful acids into its target, or enormous sickle scythes to take hold of the prey as its bio-plasmic scream takes aim. Nothing is safe from this beast’s rage, not even its brethren, but that is the price that needs to be paid to achieve a swift victory.

Once its duty has been fulfilled, only one creature can be used to subdue it: its only rival and opposite, the Swarmlord. At the last stages of planet assimilation, the two battle without end in the barren wastes of the dying world; sometimes, tactics win and peace is restore, while other the macabre chitin of the Carnathema coat in the ichory blood of the weak, a reminder to the beast’s true nature as the ultimate force. Regardless, the fleet only needs enough time to feast on the planet’s resources, if such an outcome comes to pass, the monster is simply left to die on the barren rock, screaming at the stars and making the very ground trembling with fear.

Rules

9th Edition Rules

This unit contains 1 Carnathema Abomination (Power Rating: 15). Only one of this unit can be included in your army.

Name	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	A	Ld	Sv	Pts/model
Carnathema Abomination	14"	2+	3+	7	7	14	6	9	3+	350

Biomorphs:

-Piercing Venom Injectors

Weapon	Range	Type	S	AP	D	Abilities
Piercing Venom Injectors	Melee	Melee	x2	-4	D3+3	When attacking with this weapon, on a wound roll of 6+ the damage is converted into mortal wounds.

-Ravaging Claws

Weapon	Range	Type	S	AP	D	Abilities
Ravaging Claws	Melee	Melee	User	-4	3	You can re-roll failed wound rolls for this weapon. In addition, each time you make a wound roll of 6+, that hit is resolved with an AP of -6 and a Damage of 5.

Special rules: <tabs> <tab name="Dissonance Field"> During the Fight phase, before any unit can attack, chose one unit within 6" of this model; that unit can't utilize its Invulnerable save until the end of the phase. </tab> <tab name="Frenzy Death Throes"> If this model is reduced to 0 wounds, roll a dice before removing the model from the battlefield; on a 4+, it lashes out in its death throes, and each unit within 6" suffers D6 mortal wounds. </tab> <tab name="Synaptic Void"> Tyranids units within 12" of this model lose their Synapse special rule and Synapse keyword. In addition, when a Psyker unit within 18" of this model is attempting to cast or block a psychic power, it must use one less dice to do so. </tab> <tab name="Unchained Fury"> This model does not take up a Battlefield Role slot and must be taken in a separate detachment from the rest of your army. This model may not benefit from any Hive Fleet Adaptations and/or Adaptive Physiologies. </tab> <tab name="Undying Nightmare"> This model has a 5+ Invulnerable save. In addition, this model cannot lose more than 4 wounds in the same phase. Any wounds that would be lost after that point are not lost. </tab> </tabs>

Keywords:

• Faction: <Hive Fleet>, Tyranids
• Lords of War, Carnathema Abomination, Monster