In Space Marine 2, the Tyranids are your first enemies, and you fight against them almost all the time. But the game never really explains who these strange insect aliens are. MeinMMO explains who this Xenos species actually is.
What are Tyranids, anyway? Imagine this insect species like a swarm of locusts: Countless beings devastate entire regions, destroying everything they can somehow eat.
Tyranids are roughly the same, just a few billion times larger. Guided by a hive mind, the biomechanical “Hive Fleets” fly through space, consuming every planet and anything else they find.
The connection to individual drones is maintained by psionic activity – which is also the reason they came into the world of Warhammer 40,000 in the first place. A fleet sensed a psionically powerful impulse in the Imperium, and now the Emperor, as the strongest psionic of all times in the realm of humans, is the reason they are still there. The Tyranids first attacked the Imperium at the planet Tyran – hence their name.
Since then, the Tyranids have been a constant threat to the Imperium and essentially the whole world. Because they don’t really differentiate in what they get in front of their biting jaws. As long as the fleet can grow.
The hallmark of the Tyranids: Enormous hordes of drones in various forms. Generally, it is said their number is legion:
There is only one goal: Eat
Tyranid fleets do not conquer worlds; they eat them. Very literally: When a world is infested by Tyranids, everything there is converted into “biomass”. This is then pumped out through tubes and brought back to the fleet.
In Space Marine 2, you will see in one of the campaign missions how this works. The Tyranids need the biomass to create new drones and develop. Because like any good swarm, they naturally adapt constantly to dangers.
Tyranids do not build ships, weapons, or armor; they simply grow from biomass what they currently need. Even ammunition is made from living organisms, as there is plenty of biomass available.
Accordingly, they rely on mass rather than class. Enemies are often simply bombarded with drones until they literally choke on their own entrails. Everything can be recycled afterwards anyway.
Once a world is the target of an invasion, there is hardly any way to save it. Often, Space Marines only try to evacuate as many people as possible and then leave themselves. One of the few documented victories over a swarm fleet was achieved by the famous Ultramarines. However, Tyranids also have something like “natural” enemies:
- The Gauss weapons of the Necrons disintegrate everything they hit on a nanoparticle level. Accordingly, no biomass remains. Moreover, there is a suspicion that Tyranids cannot utilize the metal of the Necrons.
- Chaos hates Tyranids because they have no souls to corrupt. Hence, there is a conflict between Tyranids, who want to consume everything, and Chaos, which wants to corrupt everything.
Clever bugs: Invasions with decades of preparation
However, Tyranids are not mindless shells, at least not all of them. Some of the bugs have evolved to control lower drones, essentially a “smaller”, mobile hive mind.
Additionally, each fleet has a Norn Queen, the only female Tyranid of a fleet, responsible for the literal production of new drones. The queen always resides in the most secure ship in the center of the squadron because without her, the entire fleet would be lost.
However, Tyranids have developed a few other tricks that make them so dangerous, specifically: the “Genestealer” cult. Humans are infected by some Tyranids and suddenly have the urge to reproduce.
Through reproduction, the infection spreads and becomes stronger until a generation arises that has nothing to do with humans anymore. These obey the fleet’s hive mind and work their way into important positions of planetary defense to facilitate the attack for the other Tyranids. A few important types of Tyranids:
- Norn Queen – The mother of a Tyranid fleet
- Carnifex – The strongest
unit
of the Tyranids, literally a living tank - Biovores – Flying Tyranids that explode in the faces of enemies
- Genestealers – Infected humans who become Tyranids and infiltrate human society
- Swarm Tyrants – One of the few Tyranid forms with its own mind, serving as commanders in a battle
- Lictors – Hidden assassins and hunters
- Rippers – Small maggots that digest everything and turn it into biomass, which is then transported away
- Zoanthropes – Psionically active Tyranids that, among other things, relay
orders
of the hive mind, basically the mages of the army
By the way: If simple Tyranids lose contact with a hive mind, they become wild
and only follow their lower instincts. That’s why there are creatures like Zoanthropes, which serve as relays for the will of the swarm.
Tyranids are dangerous – But not the biggest threat
There are ongoing discussions about whether the Tyranids are the greatest threat in Warhammer 40,000. One argument is that they not only threaten humans but also Eldar and Drukhari. The rule of thumb is: Everything will be consumed by Tyranids; the only question is when.
However, there are two major adversaries that pose at least as great or even greater danger to the Imperium itself. The first is the Warp, the four Chaos Gods and their cultists, who want to sacrifice all souls to the demons.
The second, according to many considerations, is the greatest danger, is indeed the Imperium itself. Many fans agree: If the Imperium ever falls, it will not be due to an outside force, but through corruption and war from within.
If the Tyranids seem familiar to you: Yes, they are directly the template for the Zerg from Starcraft. This is not surprising, as the creators of Warcraft originally planned a Warhammer idea: In a perfect world, the greatest MMORPG today would be World of Warhammer.
