Title: Blood, Claws, and Star Systems: The Tyranid Threat
The Warhammer 40,000 universe is home to a glimmer of hope amidst the dark horrors that lurk in the depths of space. One such nightmare is the Tyranids, a species so terrifying that Inquisitor Fedus Kryptman famously stated before his excommunication, “They can bleed, and they can die.” This sentiment, however, is proving to be a beacon of resistance in the ongoing Octarian War, as the Tyranids find themselves facing increasingly unyielding adversaries.
The Imperium is bolstering its defenses, reinforcing entire star systems, raising thousands of Astra Militarum regiments, and assembling dozens of Space Marine chapters solely to combat the Tyranid threat. Meanwhile, several Asori craft worlds have initiated a scorched-earth policy, incinerating entire worlds with ancient and highly advanced weapons of destruction that have not seen use in Terran millennia. The Empire is also innovating, developing new technologies and weaponry to combat the Tyranids and testing experimental prototypes in the Eastern Fringe. Even the enigmatic Necrons and the chaotic forces of Chaos are diverting their attention towards the Tyranids, a foe that threatens to devour a galaxy they each believe to be their exclusive domain.
Despite these efforts, however, the success has been limited. The Leviathan, the primary hive fleet of the Tyranids, continues its relentless advance, albeit slowed. Yet with each defeat, the hive mind adapts, spawning new breeds of warrior organisms and bio constructs to counter and overcome their foes. Conversely, each victory for the Tyranids results in another world falling, devoured to satiate the insatiable hunger of the hive mind.
The Tyranids’ primary hive fleets include the Behemoth, the Kraken, and the Leviathan. Hive Fleet Behemoth, the first major Tyranid hive fleet encountered by the Imperium of Man, was eventually defeated in the year 745 of the 41st Millennium through the combined might of the Ultramarines, the White Scars, and the battle fleets of the Navis Imperialis. The ensuing conflict became known as the First Tyrannic War.
Hive Fleet Kraken, the second major Tyranid hive fleet, was responsible for the outbreak of the Second Tyrannic War. This war officially began in 992 of the 41st Millennium, and ended only after the Ultramarines successfully broke the back of the Tyranid invasion at the Battle of Ikar IV and the Asuryani of Craftworld Yandan bravely defended their home at great cost.
The Leviathan, the third and largest Tyranid incursion into the Milky Way galaxy, marked the start of the Third Tyrannic War with its arrival in the year 997 of the 41st Millennium. Less than five standard years after the defeat of the Kraken, Inquisitor Lord Fus Kryptman detected the signs of another Tyranid invasion. Through the Kryptman census, he charted the course of the Leviathan, which approached from below the galactic plane, attacking from two points in a pincer-like formation.
The Leviathan’s onslaught was eventually halted on the world of Tarsis Ultra, where a combined force of Planetary Defense Force troops, Astra Militarum regiments, Ultramarines, Mortifactors, and a Deathwatch kill team under the command of Inquisitor Kryptman crushed the left half of the Leviathan. This victory reestablished astropath contact with the Imperial worlds trapped between Leviathan’s jaws, marking the Imperium’s first victory in a war that had just begun.
In the era Indomitus, the Blood Angels and their successors, along with the Sanguinary Brotherhood, defeated a massive tendril of the Leviathan with the aid of the Demons of Khorne’s Blood Legions, commanded by the Bloodthirster Cander and the Indomitus Crusade of Roboute Guilliman. However, the Hive Mind had only just begun to intensify its final push against the Imperium, directing the largest mass of Hive Fleet Leviathan towards the Western reaches of the Segmentum Pacificus. This marked the beginning of the Fourth Tyrannic War, with the Leviathan attacking from both above and below the galactic plane with three new tendrils.
Leave a Reply