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This is something I've been thinking about for a while. We know they've built a continent sized flesh mountain, and that it called an entire Genestealer Cult to the planet, never to be seen again

What are your personal theories? I personally think that they're building some kind of beacon to call the other Hive Fleets to the galaxy, and that they're going to be the next big existential threat. I'm very curious as to what you guys think though, so please share your thoughts on the matter!

I thought it might be an injured Norn Queen.

She had to lay down on the planet and needs nutrients to get better.

 Solarnopsis wrote:
I personally think that they're building some kind of beacon to call the other Hive Fleets to the galaxy, and that they're going to be the next big existential threat.

For me, something like this would both be disappointing and repetitive, due to a number of factors we already know about.

- there are already more named hive fleets in the lore than one person can keep track of
- hive fleets are already coming in from different edges of the galaxy, which was already supposed to be a fearsome doomsday threat
- intergalactic travel is supposed to take a long time, even in this setting; why do we care about these reinforcements that will take 10K years to arrive?
- it sounds like a lame primaris-ification of Tyranids -- "If you thought your old nids were deadly, check out these Andromedan NuTyranids!!"

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
I thought it might be an injured Norn Queen.

She had to lay down on the planet and needs nutrients to get better.

You might just be joking, but this is even worse. The fanbase is constantly begging for the xenos factions to be treated as authentic threats and to achieve unconditional in-universe wins. So you wanna take one of a xenos faction's big mysteries and go, "Oh yeah, that ominous thing we wrote in? Don't worry about it, some Tyranids just got ****ed up so badly that they had to tyrannoform a nap planet."

 Altruizine wrote:
For me, something like this would both be disappointing and repetitive, due to a number of factors we already know about...

Fair points, I can see where you're coming from. In that case do you have a theory you think would be more interesting? Or do you think it would be better to leave it as a mystery?

Lathe Biosas wrote:I thought it might be an injured Norn Queen.

Interesting theory, I wonder what might be strong enough to injure a Norn Queen badly enough to require a whole continent's worth of biomass. Or perhaps she's the one behind the Bio-mountain, and she's slowly building some kind of planet sized bioweapon to devour other planets in one.

A firm base of operations? Maybe a super brain type thing to better orchestrate efforts?

Sure, ever more Hive Fleets are entering the Galaxy. But they’re far from having it all their own way.

So a super brain to help organise things better, or act as an Astronomicon type thing, so the Hive Mind has a clearer idea of where its elements are in relation to each other seems plausible, even if it’s predominantly to ensure better coverage, and avoid too many Fleets and Splinter Fleets congregating in too small an area, when there’s either biomass here, here and here?

The purpose of such writing is to encourage threads like this. The answer is always less interesting than the discussion. So my answer is that Hive Fleet Tiamet is building a plot device.

for me it just biomass reserves for incoming fleets. Like galaxy already avare of tyranids threat, so exhausted fleets gonna meet resistance in weakened state. but if hive mind have spare biomas here and there in galaxy, for those who incoming, it should going way more smooth.
at least this is how it work. vanguard strikes, create bridgehead, and then main forces advance without much resistance. i tdon't think Hive mind doesn't understand this

I agree with sigkill, but its also fun to wonder if they are further cross pollinating with SC2. Everyone needs an Overmind.

I like when the Tyranid behave less like a perfectly rational superintelligence and more like something that thinks in a completely different way than we are used to. For example, there are many stories where it seems that while the hive mind is extremely adaptable, it doesn't really plan ahead the way humans do - it ls largely reactive in its behaviour.

It is also largely guided by internal processes, in the absence of major external stimuli. Since the genesis of Hive Fleet Tiamet is pretty traumatic and doesn't at all feel planned, it may be that the part of the hive mind dealing with it has gone "off script" in a sense, and is just doing weird stuff, maybe falling back to strategies used against enemies it encountered long in the past.

I may be missing something, but existance of Norn Emissary and how Leviathan attack can't be considered reactive actions. It's pure strategies.

The Norn Emissary wasn't part of the initial Tyranid strategy, but is clearly a reaction to this galaxy using a protagonist-based defense strategy. I expect the hive mind will cease their use once it realises the impregnability of plot armour.

It is true that Leviathan cannot be a response to anything that has happened in this galaxy, but with regards to reactivity I am also primarily considering less grand scale maneuvers, e.g. how the Tyranid respond to encountering enemies with lots of guns. Leviathan is probably one of the most large-scale things to ever happen since the War in Heaven, and would probably be a good idea against any conceivable enemy, and may have been in the past.

 Solarnopsis wrote:
Fair points, I can see where you're coming from. In that case do you have a theory you think would be more interesting? Or do you think it would be better to leave it as a mystery?

I don't have any personal theories. There was a time I woulda said leave it a mystery, but if they're committed to creating and advancing a storyline then I suppose I'd prefer they do something with this tidbit. Let some xenos schemes come to fruition, too, don't just do the Primarch-->Daemon Primarch shuffle forever.

I think I'm actually more interested in the more recent tease of a moon-sized Tyranid creation, since its mischief is mobile (compared to the immobile and isolated Tiamat project).

We're entering the plot-advancing campaign period of the edition, so I hope they follow through with some of the threat they built up around Tyranids at the start of 10th. Nothing much has really happened with it, if they just move on to Orks Everywhere! for 11th without wrapping up the previous setup I will be disappointed.

Genestealer cultists have apparently made pilgrimages there before then going on to infiltrate other worlds. I suspect they were in some sort of communion with the Hive Mind.

My hypothesis is that it is a giant Hive Mind node/transmitter to spread the Shadow in the Warp across vast distances. Sure, that sounds similar to the Pariah Nexus, but in an opposite way. The Necrons are shutting down the connection to the warp in their area of effect, whereas the Tyranid construct would not do that but rather spread the Shadow. They may have a similar effect of driving humans insane and disrupt interstellar warp travel but the way in which they do so is different.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:A firm base of operations? Maybe a super brain type thing to better orchestrate efforts?

Sure, ever more Hive Fleets are entering the Galaxy. But they’re far from having it all their own way.

So a super brain to help organise things better, or act as an Astronomicon type thing, so the Hive Mind has a clearer idea of where its elements are in relation to each other seems plausible, even if it’s predominantly to ensure better coverage, and avoid too many Fleets and Splinter Fleets congregating in too small an area, when there’s either biomass here, here and here?

Iracundus wrote:Genestealer cultists have apparently made pilgrimages there before then going on to infiltrate other worlds. I suspect they were in some sort of communion with the Hive Mind.

My hypothesis is that it is a giant Hive Mind node/transmitter to spread the Shadow in the Warp across vast distances. Sure, that sounds similar to the Pariah Nexus, but in an opposite way. The Necrons are shutting down the connection to the warp in their area of effect, whereas the Tyranid construct would not do that but rather spread the Shadow. They may have a similar effect of driving humans insane and disrupt interstellar warp travel but the way in which they do so is different.

A sector-scale synapse node (as in "establishes synaptic connection and awareness over a whole sector") would hit the Imperium a one of its weakest points (strategic mobility and real-time awareness) while still being at the proper balancing point between "this is an extinction-level threat we need to remove right now, no matter the cost" and an actual insta-win button. You could still limit it somewhat (e.g. by having a limit to how many things it can manage at the same time or whatever) to adjust it to the needs of the plot, but it would certainly be an interesting plot hook to have stuff revolve around for a prolonged campaign.

Tsagualsa wrote:

A sector-scale synapse node (as in "establishes synaptic connection and awareness over a whole sector") would hit the Imperium a one of its weakest points (strategic mobility and real-time awareness) while still being at the proper balancing point between "this is an extinction-level threat we need to remove right now, no matter the cost" and an actual insta-win button. You could still limit it somewhat (e.g. by having a limit to how many things it can manage at the same time or whatever) to adjust it to the needs of the plot, but it would certainly be an interesting plot hook to have stuff revolve around for a prolonged campaign.

At the grand strategic level it would be an obvious target for the Imperium, but a vast Shadow would limit as you say strategic mobility and coordination. Maybe it would also limit battlefield effectiveness of targeting Synapse creatures. Up til now, GW has taken the lazy shorthand of "kill the boss monster and all the lesser monsters die or run away to be easily killed later". Maybe now it will be "We killed the Hive Tyranit/Norn Queen! Wait...nothing is happening! They are still coordinated!". That would be terrifying for the Imperium and everyone else because the Tyranids can out attrite virtually everyone else, and the Imperium has won all its victories effectively through decapitation strikes against Norn Queens.

I haven't read anything about it beyond what is written there in the OP and everyone's replies. But sounds like it's a wifi extender for the Hive Mind, hopefully trying to improve it's strategising over long distances. Maybe the Hive Mind has actually been saying don't eat everyone in the galaxy this whole time.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
A firm base of operations? Maybe a super brain type thing to better orchestrate efforts?

I find the idea of a brain bug offensive.

It is probably a Zoat nursery.

Maybe it's a baby Norn Queen? We have no idea how they are made...

Or maybe some other giant Tyranid monstrosity?

The Orks were trying to turn Ullanor into an "attack planet" during the War Of The Beast.. maybe a planet-sized bio-construct? A living Death Star?