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I was wondering if the Nids could be corrupted by Chaos?

One way that could happen is if the local GSC is getting started and things are going well until little Miss Chaos *Happy Fun Times* decided to join in the *fun* of the GSC's *Tea and Cakes Social* and corrupting the GSC and the Nids show up and have everyone over for *Dinner* and bam! Chaos Nids.

I don't know if that is even possible or not or is cannon but having a hive fleet of Chaos Nids making *Fancy Snack Cakes* out of not only non chaos nids but everyone else as well which is going to how shall we say *Ruin* someone's day and would really suit the *Noble Bright* 40k setting.

Didn't we just have this thread?

Short answer - no. While it's possible for isolated pockets of GSC or 'Nids to be infected (Iron Warriors infected a hive ship with the Obliterator virus, Nurgle poxed a cult, etc.), the Shadow in the Warp overrides it.

One way that could happen is if the local GSC is getting started and things are going well until little Miss Chaos *Happy Fun Times* decided to join in the *fun* of the GSC's *Tea and Cakes Social* and corrupting the GSC and the Nids show up and have everyone over for *Dinner* and bam! Chaos Nids.

Well, no 'tyranids' were involved, but one of the original GSC lists (in the way way back) was a chaos cult list. That's actually where the word cult comes from in the first place. The patriarch model at the time had a nice big throne with the 8-pointed star.

beast_gts wrote:
Didn't we just have this thread?

Short answer - no. While it's possible for isolated pockets of GSC or 'Nids to be infected (Iron Warriors infected a hive ship with the Obliterator virus, Nurgle poxed a cult, etc.), the Shadow in the Warp overrides it.

Ok then I suppose that Nid chaos bio titans are off the table so to say but still a bunch of guardsmen facing a chaos corrupted Nid bio titan(s) would be having a major crisis of faith when they would see such a monstrosity.

Thanks for the heads up.

Kargan3033 wrote:

beast_gts wrote:
Didn't we just have this thread?

Short answer - no. While it's possible for isolated pockets of GSC or 'Nids to be infected (Iron Warriors infected a hive ship with the Obliterator virus, Nurgle poxed a cult, etc.), the Shadow in the Warp overrides it.

Ok then I suppose that Nid chaos bio titans are off the table so to say but still a bunch of guardsmen facing a chaos corrupted Nid bio titan(s) would be having a major crisis of faith when they would see such a monstrosity.

Thanks for the heads up.

If you want to make a dope as hell model, go right on ahead!

Just be aware it's VERY non-canon, if you do.

Voss wrote:

One way that could happen is if the local GSC is getting started and things are going well until little Miss Chaos *Happy Fun Times* decided to join in the *fun* of the GSC's *Tea and Cakes Social* and corrupting the GSC and the Nids show up and have everyone over for *Dinner* and bam! Chaos Nids.

Well, no 'tyranids' were involved, but one of the original GSC lists (in the way way back) was a chaos cult list. That's actually where the word cult comes from in the first place. The patriarch model at the time had a nice big throne with the 8-pointed star.

Ok then thanks for that bit of info, well didn't the Iron Warriors corrupt a Nid bio ship that they used to land chaos titans on the world they raided for the loyalist space marine's gene-seed, I believe the book was call Game Of Iron?

If I still have that book I'm going to have to re-read that fine story if I have it to be sure.

In addition to the other examples given, I believe there was a bit in the Space Wolves Omnibus where they encountered some Nurgley 'nids on a space hulk.

Basically, widespread (hivefleet sized) chaos 'nids seem unlikely, but the galaxy is a big, weird place. It's not too hard to imagine some isolated pockets of 'nids getting corrupted.

Kargan3033 wrote:
I believe the book was call Game Of Iron?

Storm of Iron

If rocks, trees, dogs and tanks can be corrupted by chaos, then so can tyranids.

Corrupted by chaos and worshipping chaos are two different things.

Anything can be corrupted. The shadow in the warp doesn't stop warp corruption.

beast_gts wrote:

Kargan3033 wrote:
I believe the book was call Game Of Iron?

Storm of Iron

Thanks, it's been some time since I read that book so I forgot the title.

I've got to agree with the person who pointed out that there's a difference between "corrupted by chaos" and "worshipping chaos". Tyranids that are corrupted by Chaos aren't going to be getting any benefits out of the situation, just like Tyranids succumbing to a bio-weapon aren't getting any benefits out of the situation.

Voss wrote:

One way that could happen is if the local GSC is getting started and things are going well until little Miss Chaos *Happy Fun Times* decided to join in the *fun* of the GSC's *Tea and Cakes Social* and corrupting the GSC and the Nids show up and have everyone over for *Dinner* and bam! Chaos Nids.

Well, no 'tyranids' were involved, but one of the original GSC lists (in the way way back) was a chaos cult list. That's actually where the word cult comes from in the first place. The patriarch model at the time had a nice big throne with the 8-pointed star.

Once upon a time there was a half-Eldar Space Marine and at one point in time Space Marines were all mind wiped convicts. And Zoats were ambassadors for the Tyranids. "one of the original GSC lists" doesn't really have much weight in determining whether an idea is still valid. :-/

It's as valid as any lore in the grimdarkness of the 41st Millennium.

entirely possible, without the hive mind they are little more than animals and animals can be corrupted by the warp.

Also we have an example of the Destroyer virus corrupting a hive ship, how that happened we have not got a clue.

 Formosa wrote:
entirely possible, without the hive mind they are little more than animals and animals can be corrupted by the warp.

Also we have an example of the Destroyer virus corrupting a hive ship, how that happened we have not got a clue.

well, not entirely possible.

Animals are corrupted by the warp in the same idea of radioactive and nuclear material turns things into mutants.
Nids can not be influenced by the warp or dedicated toward a chaos god. Because the chaos gods are manifestations of emotions given form, nids do not act off emotions, they act off primal instinct. When they are slaughtering entire planents its not because they do so in the name of khorne they do so because they instinctually know this. When they are infecting planets with gene stealer cults, its not tzeentzch that is infuincing them to do so, its their nature and biology that tell them to.


So, its not possible for the nids canonically to be corrupted/influenced by the warp, they could be mutated by the warp by exposure but it would not be controlled or influenced by the warp directly.
And the thing is, even then, mutation is highly unlikly, as nids canonically have a very VERY strong control over their evolutionary biology, that any mutation that did not benifit them, would very quickly be discarded and removed from their gene sequencing so it would not even carry over.

Codex: Genestealer Cults (8th ed.), pg. 37 'Infestation and Plague'.

Nurgle genestealer cult. Canon.

 Lord Damocles wrote:
Codex: Genestealer Cults (8th ed.), pg. 37 'Infestation and Plague'.

Nurgle genestealer cult. Canon.

I dont have that book infront of me, so quoteing a page number does not do anything for any one.

Chaos 8th ed pg 55 'choas rules imperium drools'

Its canon.

No one is saying they cant get sick or catch the plague devised by nurgle, they just cant be "dedicated" to them or under their control because they dont act on emotions they act on animal instinct.

Genestealer Cults are a varied lot. At the very top you've basically pureblood Tyranids; at the bottom you've normal regular humans who are just part of the Cult. Between the two you've got huge ranges of mutation and infestation.

So yes as Chaos latches onto emotions and souls it would be very probable that a Cult could be corrupted by Chaos. Even all the way to the upper ranks of the humanoid hosts and invested. Because they still have their souls and minds to corrupt.




Pureblood Tyranids, as noted earlier, could be warped by Chaos energies, but they can't be taken over because there's no soul for the demons to tempt or feed on to corrupt and possess. There's meat and chitchin and bone but no juicy food or emotions.


Now I'm guessing that in theory demons could very well possess lower tier Tyranids for their own ends; so basically anything that isn't Synapse. They could get limited use out of such bodies ,but they might be harder to hold onto than human or other "true living hosts. It might be demons could hold those bodies but only if there were no Synapse influence at all and only if they can generate lots of fear or other emotions to feed off regularly. So grabbing a bunch of termagaunts to lay waste to a village - possible so long as the synapse and fleet are gone.

 Overread wrote:
Genestealer Cults are a varied lot. At the very top you've basically pureblood Tyranids; at the bottom you've normal regular humans who are just part of the Cult. Between the two you've got huge ranges of mutation and infestation.

So yes as Chaos latches onto emotions and souls it would be very probable that a Cult could be corrupted by Chaos. Even all the way to the upper ranks of the humanoid hosts and invested. Because they still have their souls and minds to corrupt.




Pureblood Tyranids, as noted earlier, could be warped by Chaos energies, but they can't be taken over because there's no soul for the demons to tempt or feed on to corrupt and possess. There's meat and chitchin and bone but no juicy food or emotions.


Now I'm guessing that in theory demons could very well possess lower tier Tyranids for their own ends; so basically anything that isn't Synapse. They could get limited use out of such bodies ,but they might be harder to hold onto than human or other "true living hosts. It might be demons could hold those bodies but only if there were no Synapse influence at all and only if they can generate lots of fear or other emotions to feed off regularly. So grabbing a bunch of termagaunts to lay waste to a village - possible so long as the synapse and fleet are gone.

thats how i look at it, the cults i could possibly see getting infected with chaos and then having a conflict of interests between the two cults happening, which would just i think result in a cult civil war, or them just splitting off into 2 separate cults at that point.

But pure blood nids cant be taken over by chaos.
Even if the Synapses was broken, i still dont think chaos would be able to control them, because they would just be mindless animals, no soul, no emotions, no desires, just base instinctual needs.

 Backspacehacker wrote:
I dont have that book infront of me, so quoteing a page number does not do anything for any one.

Infestation and Plague
The Cult Tenebrous finds itself becoming the infested rather than the infesters when their bulk lander is swallowed by a warp storm that strands them on the outskirts of Nurgle’s Garden. The cult discovers the true meaning of parasitism and horror.
Eventually, the Grandfather of Plagues allows them to emerge into realspace once more, horrifically changed and ready to serve their new master’s sickly agendas.

beast_gts wrote:

 Backspacehacker wrote:
I dont have that book infront of me, so quoteing a page number does not do anything for any one.

Infestation and Plague
The Cult Tenebrous finds itself becoming the infested rather than the infesters when their bulk lander is swallowed by a warp storm that strands them on the outskirts of Nurgle’s Garden. The cult discovers the true meaning of parasitism and horror.
Eventually, the Grandfather of Plagues allows them to emerge into realspace once more, horrifically changed and ready to serve their new master’s sickly agendas.

Thank you friend!
So if anything that just kinda reaffirms what Overread said, its the human aspect of the GSC getting corrupted before the nids can take them over. Not the nids them selves getting corrupted by chaos.

I could see it happening in two ways.

1) An existing cult(genestealer or chaos) snares a corrupted(nid or warp) victim. Hilarity ensues.

2) An existing genestealer cult comes across a warp-tainted artifact/weapon/etc. Unwittingly becomes influenced by it and is Corrupted by Chaos, sometimes even without them knowing.

I'm sure there are differing ways it could happen, either thru happenstance or conniving.

Nah, Nids can get corrupted by Chaos just like anything else. Any claim that they're immune is just Nid fanwanking.

The hive mind itself is said in the Tyranid codex to be immune to daemonic corruption.

Tyranid Codex Page 4 wrote:When the Tyranid hive fleets clash with the Daemons of Chaos, neither race is granted succour. The inconstant warp-stuff from which Daemons are made offers the Tyranids no sustenance, while the unknowable entity of the Hive Mind is immune to terror and daemonic corruption. Thus,these two super-predators instead battle for the right to consume or despoil the galaxy’s vast stocks of mortal flesh, tearing each other apart in a frenzy of unsurpassed slaughter from which only one can emerge victorious.

As for individual tyranids, they seem to be more or less immune when part of a larger hive fleet. I recall a mention in one of the psychic awakening books where a hive fleet emerges from a warp storm, and the warp stuff is said to just flake off as though it can't touch them.
Although when individual tyranids have been captured or separated from their fleet they have been known to be corrupted.

But as others have said, it's worth distinguishing between 'corrupted by chaos' and 'worshipping chaos'. They are more or less soulless, emotionless creatures, and so don't have anything to directly offer the chaos gods. So such corrupted individuals wouldn't empower chaos entities like chaos cultists do.
But in the same manner that ambient exposure to chaos can corrupt and twist inanimate objects, individual tyranids can have their forms warped.

Arson Fire wrote:
But as others have said, it's worth distinguishing between 'corrupted by chaos' and 'worshipping chaos'. They are more or less soulless, emotionless creatures, and so don't have anything to directly offer the chaos gods. So such corrupted individuals wouldn't empower chaos entities like chaos cultists do.
But in the same manner that ambient exposure to chaos can corrupt and twist inanimate objects, individual tyranids can have their forms warped.

Indeed. Though one could imagine Nids getting corrupted by Chaos to the point they were cut off from the Hive Mind, then serving Chaos of their own volition.

Chaos nids are canon and had rules in Rogue Trader slaves to darkness.

blaktoof wrote:
Chaos nids are canon and had rules in Rogue Trader slaves to darkness.

As is often noted, Rogue Trade lore is somewhat Canon but also somewhat not Canon because the lore was still in its infancy back then and a lot of things in key areas have changed since those days.

Arson Fire wrote:
The hive mind itself is said in the Tyranid codex to be immune to daemonic corruption.
As for individual tyranids, they seem to be more or less immune when part of a larger hive fleet. I recall a mention in one of the psychic awakening books where a hive fleet emerges from a warp storm, and the warp stuff is said to just flake off as though it can't touch them.

This is also noted in the 9th edition book.

pg 13, Inexplicable Phenomena wrote:
The longer the scholars of the galaxy study the Tyranid menace, the more bewildered they become by the xenos' weird interactions with the warp. In some ways, the Tyranids appear empirically inert. The Ordo Xenos have pieced together records that show splinter fleets swallowed by warp rents, only to emerge from other immaterean phenomena in entirely different regions of the galaxy. Should most races' craft be plunged through the warp like thus they would likely emerge badly damaged or mutated, if they emerged at all. The hive ships appear unharmed by their experience, however, surging from the roiling tides of warp space as hungry and as deadly as ever.

The Ultramarines fall back, sacrificing a venerable old battleship to blow it's warp drives and pulling most of Behemoth into a warp vortex.

My new headcannon is them cleaning up for a few months and then holding the celebration feast just as Behemoth emerges half the galaxy away over a hive word and carries on without pause.

Zombie-plague nurgle-nids seem possible. The nids themselves would not have been corrupted by Chaos per say, but their corpses were.