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The gods of Chaos are born from the emotions of sentient beings, and sustained by them. Does this mean that the tyranids might be able to starve them by taking over the galaxy and devouring all organic life?

In the fluff, I don't remember seeing much interaction between Chaos and 'Nids. (Then again, I haven't read much fluff where Chaos are the protagonists.)

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Eh, time and space are meaningless to the Chaos Gods. Realspace is a distraction for the Gods as a sidebar to the Great Game so while they might get fewer snacks from the souls there, in the end, it doesn't really matter.
If the Tyranids really started to look like they were going to consume the Milky Way, the chances are the Gods will have done something about it first.

Well…..kind of? At least in their current incarnation.

But as ever? Galaxy (stupid, call it stupid) thinking? What is emotion? We know how emotion affects the warp, but nobody has ever seen the warp completely devoid of emotion.

And just because the Hive Mind is unfathomable and ineffable to us? Doesn’t mean it doesn’t have emotions. Just ones utterly alien and unknowable to our Thinky Bits.

From observations in the Milky Way we can see that Demons and Tyranids do not get along at all.

Tyranids hate them because killing a demon generates no biomass; meanwhile Tyranids project a huge Shadow in the Warp which drives pretty much every demon from that region of the warp.

In theory Tyranids are a double death to the Warp in the Milky Way. Both driving out Demons from their vicinity and also consuming living biomatter that generates emotional energies which Warp demons feed off.

Take food and what counts as land and the demons might well be left with nothing.



Personally I think the only question really is if the Warp Demons can jump Galaxy to Galaxy. If they can't then Tyranids could destroy them by simply denying them any more food and any more space before consuming the last of the Milky Way and leaving no anchoring or chance for Demons. Now the Demons might still survive for a long time, but there'd be no fresh souls, no fresh energy. The Warp could die from Entropy.


However if the Greatest of the Demonic Gods could jump through the Warp to another Galaxy then potentially they could survive that way if the Tyranids won.
Perhaps they already to exist in other Galaxies; or perhaps those Galaxies have their own Warp Gods born of emotion and the Great Four would have to fight to secure a new territory; perhaps being one of the exceptionally few instances where they'd stand united; at least until they'd gained enough to fall into in-fighting once again.






Heck perhaps the Tyranids are the Universe's white-blood-cells. The cure for rifts and great concentrations of psy energies (which then cause rifts and tears in reality). Perhaps that's what they do. Float in the gulf of space and descend upon any Galaxy or region that creates ripples in reality. Curing and preventing the Warp spilling fully into reality

Does the Shadow actually affect the Warp or does it just block communication between Realspace and the Warp?
We know it causes Psykers immense pain and/or death and that it makes it harder for Daemons to remain in Realspace but what about in the Warp itself?

 Gert wrote:
Does the Shadow actually affect the Warp or does it just block communication between Realspace and the Warp?
We know it causes Psykers immense pain and/or death and that it makes it harder for Daemons to remain in Realspace but what about in the Warp itself?

I'm fairly certain it creates a huge void in the Warp itself. As much as reality imposes on the warp realm itself. At least get enough Tyranids/hivefleets and it creates an ever growing barrier and void.

It's annoyingly vague. It makes it harder for Psykers to manifest powers and causes Daemons to lose their grip on reality which would suggest a blockage of connection but then it also apparently makes Warp travel more difficult but doesn't say why. That could mean that it becalms the Warp or it just blocks the Astronomican meaning Navigators can't navigate properly.
However, it's important to note that the Shadow doesn't affect the Tyranids themselves which would further the idea that it's a blockage or siphoning.

Personally, I don't like the idea that the entirety of the Warp can just be erased because of one race and I don't think it makes the Tyranids a believable threat. With the rest of the races, there's always something holding them back. The Imperium fighting a thousand wars so it can never bring its full might to a fight, the Aeldari are slowly dying out, the T'au are the plucky upstart stuck in the corner of the galaxy, the Necrons are powerful but have lost much of their former strength to time, and Chaos is always fighting itself so it can only push hard for short bursts.
But if the Shadow does just destroy the Warp and their race is essentially limitless, then the Tyranids literally can't lose which just sucks.

I don't think it destroys it.

Since all psy power comes from the Warp and the tyranids most certainly use it I figure that the Shadow is more how the Tyranids manifest within the Warp. They are simply so alien and so different that their influence is a natural counter t to that of Milky Way creatures and their impact on the Warp.

Whilst native creatures of the Galaxy create a habitat, the Tyranids are an invasive species that drives the natural habitat out; replacing it with their own.



I figure that it might also explain some of the oddities with how the Hive Mind Works. I figure if its in some way using the Warp that would explain how totally isolated Genestealer Cults can communicate and draw in Hive Fleets. Clearly the use is different to how Demons or living mortals use the Warp, but I suspect that's some element to how the Hive Mind functions.

Maybe, in Wraithflight the Eldar protagonist briefly fantasizes with the idea that if they could somehow tame the Tyranids, the Hive Mind could pretty much drive out Slaanesh.

GW has recently been pushing the idea that the Hive Mind is a God, and one that plays in the same weight class as the Chaos Gods. How it actually measure up is of course up to Doylist and Watsonian interpretation, but at the very least it has a better chance than Ynnead
Or the Emperor for that matter.

Is that whole God stuff actually a thing?