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Been working on the backstory of my hive fleet. Im no writer, just used to DM our d&d groups back in the day. I find having a story makes me more interested in my projects which in turn keeps me motivated
HIVE FLEET MARDU
ORIGINATIONS
Hive Fleet Mardu is the first Tyranid Hive Fleet to not come from outside the Galactic Rim but instead is the Imperial attempt at combating the other various tendrils of The Great Devourer. By capturing different species of Tyranids, the Scientists of Sar-Co2, in their own hubris, have bred their own Hive Fleet in an attempt to control them through psionic resonators. While this at first worked well, and they were able to deploy some of the basic Tyranid life forms to battle zones where Orks were known to inhabit, once the true tests started vs another Hive Fleet, their plans fell apart. The resonators never stood a chance against the true power of the Hive Mind and immediately Mardu fell upon their creators in a bloody buffet.
After this, Mardu escaped their confines on Sar-Co2 and began to prey on the citizens of this massive Hive World. From here, history is a bit spotty but what is known is that no alarms were raised, nobody outside the system was warned or contacted. The theories range from the citizens simply believing that all the murders were due to roving gangs, to cultists, to disbelieving that anything was happening at all. Other theorize that a Genestealer cult was responsible for Mardu’s freedom and they cut off any government attempt at a distress beacon, or maybe the governor was in on it. Either way, the system is lost and unrecoverable. Normally the Guard would be called in and Exterminatus would be performed except for the next bit of information.
Hive Fleet Mardu has not left the system. While a full fledged Hive Fleet now, they’ve spent a long time inside the system, content on the multiple Imperial hive planets where unlike other Tyranid fleets, they did not strip the entire planets of their bio-mass but instead use the humans as cattle. Breeding them for more bio-mass in the long run it seems.

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES
Rictus Grin: One of the prominent features of Hive Fleet Mardu is their bloody jaws, giving them an appearance of a terrifying grin of sorts. This happens when the Tyranid partly regurgitates their meal back up and is believed to be a hunting mechanism of sorts as their guts contain a host of deadly bacteria they then use to coat their teeth and claws with. The other lesser known effect of the Rictus Grin is the reduction in morale seen in troops who have witnessed these Tyranids in person.

Consumption of Prey: Most of the time, a Hive Fleet will wait till after the battle is won before devouring all bio-mass, only to return to the acid pits and back to their Hive Ships to be re-made anew. Hive Fleet Mardu is one of, if not the only known species of Tyranids to actively consume their prey on the field of battle, usually with the victims battle brothers watching.

Warrior with Barbed Strangler and Rending Claws

sweet! I really like it. It's more frightening then the standard affair for sure!

Excellent white-red-black color scheme.