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Hey Dakka!

I'm no stranger to the lore of 40k, but there are a few questions I have about Tyranids, as I am trying to build up Fluff for my army which is both orginial, plausible and NOT a "ZOMG, IM SO POWERFUL" self hyping type background.

Norn Queens

Having read the first Ultramarines Omnibus, it sounded like they were Massive ( obviously), but how big in comparison to vehicles/ imperial ships + buildings.
- Would it be possible to cut one off from the Hive mind if sufficiently weakened?
Is there any technology that could do this?
-if a warp storm surrounded a fleet, would it overpower the connection to the hivemind?
If that happened, would the Norn Queen retain its 'intelligence' or would it become feral?

Genestealers

How likely is it that a planet with, perhaps, a mechanicus base, large-ish military protection and elite guards/ an industrial hive world could fight off a Genestealer infestation without protection/ reinforcements.
- if a Genestealer cult could take hold, how long would it go unnoticed?
- would it be able to enslave an entire population?


General

Could the Tyranids produce a organism that can latch onto humans/ augmented humans and access their brains to use their knowledge/ use their physical bodies?
- Can normal Tyranids be born without a hive fleet ? with or without a Norn Queen?


I appreciate there are a lot of questions, so pick any you feel you can answer, anything will help.

Thanks for your time.

~ Nidception

trying to answer to the best of my knowledge.

- Would it be possible to cut one off from the Hive mind if sufficiently weakened?
Is there any technology that could do this?

If seperated far enough the connection would be cut weakening it doesn;t so annything.
Maybe a Strong phycer can do something like it but thats yust an assumtion

-if a warp storm surrounded a fleet, would it overpower the connection to the hivemind?
If that happened, would the Norn Queen retain its 'intelligence' or would it become feral?

The hive fleet creates a shadow in the warp there can't be a warp storm near themm

How likely is it that a planet with, perhaps, a mechanicus base, large-ish military protection and elite guards/ an industrial hive world could fight off a Genestealer infestation without protection/ reinforcements.
- if a Genestealer cult could take hold, how long would it go unnoticed?
- would it be able to enslave an entire population?

They can probaly hold themm off depending on how big the infestation is, removing themm all togheter is almost imposible
There are cults all over the imperium and they have been there for millenia many still undiscovered
Yes they will and have enslaved entire populations.

All of this is in the tyranid codex to read.

Could the Tyranids produce a organism that can latch onto humans/ augmented humans and access their brains to use their knowledge/ use their physical bodies?
- Can normal Tyranids be born without a hive fleet ? with or without a Norn Queen?

Lictors can suck out someones brain and gain all the knowledge the target possesed.
Not in the normal sense of beign born, but they can create more nids from biomass using biopools ( read about the gorhala swarm for an example of this )

Well space marines can learn everything about a target by eating its brain (that's right up there with spitting acid on the "Space Marine WTF scale"), and tyranids have access to space marine genetic material so they can incorporate that part too.

I would imagine that most tyranid biomorphs are born sterile/without a reproductive system. The last thing you want is for your gaunts to start breeding in the middle of battle if their synapse connection gets severed. If there's tyranid making organisms than tyranids can be made, but without some connection to some beast important enough to operate them they might not make anything particularly effective.

Nidception wrote:
Norn Queens

Having read the first Ultramarines Omnibus, it sounded like they were Massive ( obviously), but how big in comparison to vehicles/ imperial ships + buildings.

Massive. They have some artwork of one from Sabertooth Games. I think it's stepping over a mountain range. It's a creature too large to be carried by anything other than a space ship.

- Would it be possible to cut one off from the Hive mind if sufficiently weakened?

I suppose if you were to separate one a great distance that it would become a feral version of itself. Much like the Fenris Kracken, The Catachan Devil and the Catachan Brainleaf.

Is there any technology that could do this?

Not that I know off but perhaps there are answers in a Deathwatch story?

-if a warp storm surrounded a fleet, would it overpower the connection to the hivemind?

The warp is calmed/inert when the Tyranids are around

 dementedwombat wrote:
Well space marines can learn everything about a target by eating its brain (that's right up there with spitting acid on the "Space Marine WTF scale"), and tyranids have access to space marine genetic material so they can incorporate that part too.

I would imagine that most tyranid biomorphs are born sterile/without a reproductive system. The last thing you want is for your gaunts to start breeding in the middle of battle if their synapse connection gets severed. If there's tyranid making organisms than tyranids can be made, but without some connection to some beast important enough to operate them they might not make anything particularly effective.

Hormagaunts can breed on their own, they lay eggs. Tervigons are effectively the mothers of gaunts and can produce them quite frequently. In the last ditch a Tervigon gave birth at least twice in the course of a single engagement.

Some things I don't know, some I think simply aren't known, but I'll try anyway.

Norn Queen

but how big in comparison to vehicles/ imperial ships + buildings.

Size isn't mentionned as far as I know, except by saying that they inhabit massive chambers inside the Hive Ships. They don't have to be enormous, since most/all organism they birth are Ripper Size, but I assume they would still be massive, otherwise they're no need to have them in 'massive chambers'.

Would it be possible to cut one off from the Hive mind if sufficiently weakened?

Since there is psychic dampeners used by the Imperium, yes, certainly.

if a warp storm surrounded a fleet, would it overpower the connection to the hivemind?

Dunno. I guess that would depend on the author.

If that happened, would the Norn Queen retain its 'intelligence' or would it become feral?

Being cut from the Hive Mind would make her go feral, but that doesn't mean she'd become like Instinctive Behaviour gaunts. The big bugs are very intelligent even on their own.

Genestealers

How likely is it that a planet with, perhaps, a mechanicus base, large-ish military protection and elite guards/ an industrial hive world could fight off a Genestealer infestation without protection/ reinforcements.

Very likely. Genestealers are the scouts, spies and infiltration specialists of the Nids. Their function is to try and infiltrate a world and reproduce until they spawn a Broodlord, and thus demonstrating to the nearby Hive Fleet that the world is rich enough to support advanced lifeforms that are worth munching on. They attack to disrupt the planet's inhabitant right before the infestation starts. If they are discovered before the Hive Fleet is ready to strike, or before the broodlord is spawned, then most likely, the planet's inhabitant will win the fight.

if a Genestealer cult could take hold, how long would it go unnoticed?

Well, until they either get caught or until the Hive Fleet invade. Genestealers and their Cults dont wage war on their own unless something went wrong or unless it's part of the Hive Fleet's strategy.

would it be able to enslave an entire population?

It would have to be a very small population.

General

Could the Tyranids produce a organism that can latch onto humans/ augmented humans and access their brains to use their knowledge/ use their physical bodies?

The Lictor already does the whole brain-slurping-to-gain-knowledge thing. I imagine that it would be easy for the Hive Mind to design something to do the other. But psychic Nids (especially the Broodlord) are already capable of inducing 'xenophilia' in human beings (and probably other advanced xenos). Scientists who examine Nids specimen often becomes obsessed with how perfect the Nids organisms are, and then start doing very stupid things like releasing those specimens...

Can normal Tyranids be born without a hive fleet ? with or without a Norn Queen?

Depends on which source you base yourself on. Lexicanum and older fluff states that only the Norn Queens can breed Nids larvae. Newer fluff (and the IA books) indicates that even Gaunts could alter themselves in order to start breeding, when they are cut off from their Hive Fleet.



I think you would find The Anphelion Project IA book very interesting. Its about an inquisitor's mission to a Mechanicum biological research world where they have a sort of Jurassic Park for Nids. It shows very well how, even without any space support, and starting with only small organisms, a Nid infestation can overrun a world in a matter of weeks.

On the subject of Genestealers, the steady infiltration of the Imperium in the lead up to the arrival of Hive Fleet kraken is an excellent example of how they can be used. Throughout the Imperium, people in high places were secretly genestealer cultists and did their best to argue against putting up defenses to oppose the upcoming assault by Kraken and often infested worlds to the point that the large majority of entire planetary populations willingly walked into digestion pools to be nommed.

Ichar V took a double whammy, first having to fight a massive war against a Genestealer cult uprising that devastated the planet, and when they thought everything was over a good portion of Kraken came down on the planet to eat, oh and it turned out the Imperium didn't do a particularly good job of cleaning up the Genestealer cultists.

Genestealers are extremely accomplished infiltrators, nobody in subsector Aurelia noticed the likely genestealer cult until a big ol' tendril fleet came down upon them to have a snack, and I'm not even sure how the Tyranids found Iyanden.