Tyranid Character Guide

The Ymgarl Genestealer Strain Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Tyranid Genestealers 3 Chapter 2: Ymgarl Genestealer Characters 22 Tyranid Physiology 3 Creating Ymgarl Genestealer Explorers 22 Genestealer Reproduction 4 Genetic Legacy 23 Brood Mind 4 Ymgarl Genestealer Career Path 24 Infiltration 4 New Skills 29 Tyranid Genestealer Generations 5 New Talents 30 Hive Fleet Invasion 6 New Traits 33 Ymgarl Genestealers 6 Chapter 3: Tyranid Armory 34 Ymgarl 6 Ranged Weapons 35 Ymgarl in the Koronus Expanse 7 Melee Weapons 36 Methodology and Goals 7 Armory Table 37 Koronus Ymgarl Physiology 7 Chapter 4: Tyranid Psychic Powers 38 Other Tyranid Bioforms 8 Tyranid Psychic Powers Chart 38 Carnifex 8 Tyranid Psychic Power Descriptions 38 Gargoyle 10 Chapter 5: Tyranid Starships 40 Hive Tyrant 11 Tyranid Starship Special Rules 43 Hormagaunt 11 Creating Tyranid Starships 44 Lictor 12 Tyranid Starship Hulls 46 Ravener 13 Chapter 6: Alternate Career Ranks 48 Ripper Swarm 14 Ymgarl Fleetmaster 50 Termagant 15 Ymgarl Genestealer Magus 52 Trygon 15 Ymgarl Impersonator 54 Tyranid Warrior 17 Ymgarl Scavenger 56 Tyranid Warrior Prime 17 Ymgarl Splicer 58 Tyrant Guard 18 Venomthrope 20 A Note from the Author 60 Zoanthrope 21

2 Tyranid Genestealers

“I can think of few greater xenos threats to the Their olfactory organ is linked at its base to the Imperium than that of the Genestealer. An apex rear of their palate, combining their scent and taste for predator possessed of intelligence and cunning that possible use as a sophisticated air-analysis method. rival our own, they exist for the sole purpose of They also display respiratory gill systems along the reproducing in vast numbers and sowing utter chaos dermis/valves between their fused exo-ribs. This in their wake.” system is then somehow linked to breathing holes on –Inquisitor Kalistradi from "The Nature of the Beast" their limbs and cranium. However these characteristics may not be general Genestealers were the first Tyranid species to be across all Genestealers, as they are one of the most encountered by the Imperium. But before the mutable Tyranid species and often exhibit a wide and Imperium had knowledge of the Tyranids as a species, varying range of different traits. It has been they believed Genestealers were a separate species hypothesised that these traits manifest depending on indigenous to the moons of Ymgarl which spread to the particular host species the infection discovers; but other planets by infiltrating passing cargo ships and this theory has been disregarded by some experts, derelict Space Hulks. It is believed Genestealers were citing that the traits are more likely different introduced to the moons of Ymgarl in M35 from Hive Genestealer subspecies altogether, which are separate Fleet Tiamet in the Tiamet System, carried inside the from the host. Imperial vessels that were sent to destroy the system. Purestrain Genestealers are Genestealers which When the Battle for Macragge with Hive Fleet have been spawned not through the process of Behemoth took place, Technomagi spent years infecting hosts but rather by the hive ships themselves classifying the left-behind bodies, including in great bio-factories and birthing vats. Not polluted or Genestealers used as Tyranid shock troops. Further altered by “inferior” genetic material, they are investigation confirmed that all Genestealers were in markedly stronger and faster than a normal fact Tyranids. Genestealer and possess a wider variety of adaptive The truth is that infiltrating Genestealers had been biomorphs. This is intentional, as Purestrain working their way into the galaxy for thousands of Genestealers are the creatures from which all other years prior to the invasion of the Hive Fleets proper. Genestealers are born, and even a single Purestrain Genestealer can create a vast brood from a local Tyranid Physiology population given time and enough raw material. Genestealers are stronger and hardier than Humans, able to withstand even the most hostile environments unprotected, including hard vacuum, and are capable of living for centuries. They are a highly intelligent species with a disproportionately large and adaptive brain that is housed in a bulbous head. They combine extraordinary intelligence and subtlety of mind with remarkable strength and quickness of body. Genestealers are bipedal, standing in a perpetual crouch, and have two sets of arms, one equipped with Human-like hands, one with powerful ripping claws. Their dense musculature and the distending hinge of their jaw allows the generation of incredible bite- pressure.

3 Genestealer Reproduction Infiltration Possibly the most terrifying aspect of Genestealers Genestealers form the first wave of a Tyranid is their insidious method of reproduction. invasion, either infiltrating a suitable world hundreds Genestealers reproduce completely separate from a of years before the actual invasion, or in the more Hive Fleet, unlike the majority of other Tyranid short term, where they are deployed onto a planet by creatures. Through the use of a tube-like tongue Mycetic Spores from the hive fleet. In both cases they called an Ovipositor, they insert a tiny embryonic pave the way for the invasion by weakening the organism containing their own genetic material into a planet's defences. host victim. Over time this organism alters the host's Once upon a new world, the Genestealers seek out genetic code, and their consciousness is also all forms of life, attempting to home in on species of a completely suppressed by a localised version of the highly organised nature. Genestealers at first Hive Mind, known as the Brood Mind, becoming a concentrate on infecting host victims, who go on to virtual slave. Any offspring born by the host will be breed Genestealer/host hybrids and begin a horrific Genestealer Hybrids, which the host will be generational cycle of new hybrids increasingly like the psychically mesmerised to care for, giving rise to the host species. Over decades, the hybrids will spread Genestealer Cults that grow in secret within human through a society and a hidden cult is established and other societies. within the host's society. All members of the Genestealer cult are psychically linked and controlled Brood Mind by the original Genestealer. The cult is totally devoted Genestealers have an interlinking telepathy to gaining political power within the society, often similar to the greater Hive Mind which is generated cloaking itself in the guise of a legitimate religion, by the entire Tyranid race. This Brood Mind is smaller while infecting suitable hosts, prospering and and more localised than the Hive Mind and is used to multiplying, and hiding their true nature from the exert complete control over their host victims and broader society also for communication. It also acts as a psychic beacon to draw a Hive Fleet towards the infestation in order to devour the planet.

4 Tyranid Genestealer Generations

Purii (Purestrain) Genestealer Primacii (4th) Generation A full Genestealer starts the infection cycle by The fourth generation, the Primacii, are almost inserting their genetic material into a host victim. As indistinguishable from their host species, only with the infestation spreads and the cult grows, the first slight physical deformities. Some still sport give-away Genestealer takes the role of a Genestealer Patriarch signs such as being bald. They are able to blend in to and often grows larger into an obese and psychic the host society and work to lure, kidnap, or do monstrosity whatever it takes to provide more hosts. Some rare individuals of this generation have psychic powers Contagii (Infection) Generation and become a Genestealer Magus. The host victims, or Contagii, return to their own societies and begin to have an urgent need to find a Purii (5th) Generation mate and begin a family. This mate also becomes Paradoxically, the Genestealer's DNA reemerges in infected with Genestealer DNA. Contagii still the fifth generation, giving birth to a full Genestealer, physically resemble other members of their species, albeit one showing some physical characteristics of though they may have a slight blue or mauve pallor to the host species. Thus the cycle can begin anew, as their skin and can be psychically controlled by the the new Genestealers have the potential to infiltrate Patriach to become mindless slaves, making them the other worlds and become a Patriarch. perfect infiltrators.

Maelignaci (1st) Generation As the contagii mate, the Genestealer genetic material passes onto their offspring, the Maelignaci. The Maelignaci are animals, slow, clumsy and moronic. Within the cult they generally regarded as expendable shock troops. They often possess three or even four arms, and are unable to use their host species technology or weaponry.

Hybrid (2nd) Generation The Hybrid offspring of the Maelignaci are born unique with no two alike. However this generation can be selectively bred, using their parents like live- stock, and is often manipulated for traits such speed, strength or aggression. They bear more resemblance to their host species than a Genestealer, but are still unable to use their host's technology.

True Hybrid (3rd) Generation The next generation are True Hybrids and can be mistaken for a member of their host species, if they wear disguising clothes, or stay in dark areas, etc. Some of this generation are capable of using weapons of their host species

5 Hive Fleet Invasion Unlike any other Tyranid creature, the Ymgarl The Brood Mind of a Genestealer infestation acts Genestealers are outcasts. The Hive Mind has no wish as a psychic beacon to draw in a Tyranid Hive Fleet. to reabsorb their genetic material in fear that the When a Hive Fleet comes within a few hundred light uncontrollable genetic instabilities that allow the years of an infected world, a sublimiminal reaction is Ymgarl Genestealers their formidable flesh-shaping triggered within the Brood Mind which forces the abilities might contaminate the Tyranid gene-pool. Genestealers into a frenzy of killing and breeding, Instead, they are abandoned on whatever planet they thus collapsing the society in which they were hidden happen to be on, being forced to search for contact and making way for the full Tyranid invasion. with the Hive Mind on other planets after the Hive However Genestealers are notoriously Fleet has fed. They infiltrate the ships of any explorers independent from the Hive Mind and have a great will and investigators unlucky enough to land on the prey to survive. During a planetary invasion Genestealers planet after the Fleet's passing and spread in their wanting to survive are innately driven onwards and instinctual need of being absorbed back to the Fleets, outwards from the Hive Fleet by infiltrating fleeing only to be abandoned again. ships. Or, after the invasion, the Genestealers are The Hive Fleet of origin of the Ymgarl reabsorbed into the Hive Fleet as pure bio-matter like Genestealers is a mystery, as is whether they are all other life is. The infiltrating Genestealers go on to capable of reproduction or remnants of the original infest more worlds and then in turn lead the Hive creatures encountered on the moons of Ymgarl. Fleet to them. No one amongst the Imperium knows how deep and widespread the Genestealer infestation Ymgarl of the galaxy has become. Ymgarl, located somewhere in the galactic north- west, is most notable for its moons being the supposed Ymgarl Genestealers origin of Genestealers, in particular the Ymgarl Ymgarl Genestealers are a mutated form of Genestealer strain, before the Imperium had Genestealers originally thought to be native to the knowledge of the Tyranids as a species. moons of planet Ymgarl, notable in that they are The Genestealers were thought to spread off the among the first contacts mankind has ever had with moons to other parts of the Galaxy by infiltrating the Tyranid race. passing cargo ships and derelict Space Hulks. It was Ymgarl Genestealers were first encountered on not until the Battle for Macragge that Genestealers the moons of Ymgarl long before the arrival of Hive were observed to be used as shock troops by the Fleet Behemoth, wherefrom they occasionally spread Tyranids, and further investigation of the alien bodies on cargo barges to other worlds. They were thought to after the battle confirmed that all Genestealers were be autochtonous to the moons until they were part of the Tyranid race. encountered among the swarms and were revealed to In response to this revelation, the Salamanders be a Tyranid organism from the start. Lying dormant undertook a xenocidal campaign to purge the moons in hiding, they consume anything that disturbs their of Ymgarl and Inquisitors increased their alertness hibernation. This is due to their unique ability of levels for possible Genestealer infestations. However being able to alter their physical characteristics via a the Ymgarl Genestealer strain was not entirely limited form of shapeshifting, the drawback being a eradicated by the Salamanders and many still lurk in greatly quickened metabolism which forces them to hibernation in the dark corners of the galaxy. either feed almost constantly, hibernate in hiding or starve to death. They possess feeding tentacles instead of a maw, resembling those on the Lictor, which they use to suck their prey dry of blood, their only source of nourishment.

6 Ymgarl Genestealers in the Koronus Expanse

Largely in Hibernation in the Calixis Sector, the Some have made claims that it is clearly a Genestealer Ymgarl are considerably more active in the Koronus Incursion, trying to divide the forces of the Imperium Expanse. Stepping out of mere hibernation and of Man and take the Expanse for themselves and their embarking out upon the galaxy, the Ymgarl in the Hive Fleets. Koronus have begin to work their way into a varied Still more have made their place amongst fringe and curous niche. Some have even revealed worlds, blending in and living surprisingly mundane themselves and begun to work for various lives. A recent report from a Feral World revealed that enterprising agencies in the expanse. a tribe of Raiders, upon being killed, turned into Their formidable shapeshifting abilities allow strange shaped beings. The bodies were destroyed, so them to disguise themselves quite well among the this claim cannot be verified. various Xenos races that inhabit the expanse, and From everything that has been learned, the allows them the freedom to attempt to restore their methodology and drive of the Ymgarl Genestealers lacking genetic strain. Ymgarl inherently lack the that have made their way into the Koronus Expanse Brood Mind ability of Purestrain Genestealers, but it seems to depend on the individual Genestealer, not is possible that through exposure to new genetic traditionally what the Tyranid scourge does, and what material and experimentation with their shapeshifting they hope to find in this section of the galaxy. that their biology might be able to repair itself. In spite of this, Ymgarl feel no call to whatever Hive Koronus Ymgarl Physiology Fleet initially spawned them, and it is believed that Ymgarl are incredibly different from Humanity or they are either out of reach, or simply that any other Xenos race. They are still occasionally uninterested in contaminating their own pools with afflicted by bouts of hunger while utilizing their Ymgarl blood. shapeshifting, and need to feed to survive. Ymgarl require the blood of other organisms to survive, a Methodology and Goals curious need, and one not without problems for the Attempting to divine Ymgarl methodology and Ymgarl attempting to blend into society. A crafty goals has proven fruitless to all those who have Ymgarl might be able to find non-violent ways of attempted it, as they recieve conflicting data from obtaining the blood needed. many of the speciments they unearth. With their limited shapeshifting ability, a Ymgarl Some appear to have begun indulging in can blend in with the local populace or create a variety biomedical research of a kind, and are harvesting of improvised defensive weaponry and armor. As they genetic material, perhaps in an attempt to restore their practice and become more adept at shifting, they begin lost abilities or become something else entirely. to recover a myriad of different Tyranid abilities, some According to some loose lipped Inquisitorial from other strains of Tyranid entirely. assets (who were shorty after never seen again), some Ymgarl retain the chitinous protection that other have begun to utilize their gift of shapeshifting to Tyranids do, granting them resistance to physical work for the Imperium of Man, acting as infiltrators attacks. They can utilize their shapeshifting ability to and saboteurs, though the reasoning behind this is hide these. unclear. Ymgarl possess feeding tentacles instead of a Several Deathwatch teams have reported finding maw, granting them the ability to snare prey to feed. Ymgarl remains amongs the Eldar, Orks, and even They can utilize their shapeshifting ability to hide Tau troops that dot the landscape of the Expanse, only these. finding them after the spilling out of ill fitting armour. While they no longer have their connection to the According to rumors told through Port Wander and Hive Mind, the absence of that mysterious connection beyond, certain high level persons of interest have has left a void in the mind of the Ymgarl. This void been acting strangely as of late, and acting grants the same beneficial resistances that regular incredibly out of character. Tyranids have due to the missing neural links.

7 Other Tyranid Bioforms “There is a cancer eating at the Imperium. With each In battle, the Tyranids are a horror beyond decade, it advances deeper, leaving drained, dead comprehension, a monstrous tide of merciless claw, worlds in its wake. This horror, this abomination, has venom, and fang that cannot be bargained with, thought and purpose which functions on an reasoned with, or surrendered to. It strikes with the unimaginable, galactic scale, and all we can do is try relentless fury of a rabid beast, yet it is driven by a to stop the swarms of bio-engineered monsters it cold and alien intelligence that makes every unleashes upon us by instinct. We have given the component of the swarm—from lowly flesh-boring horror a name to salve our fears; we call it the parasites to gargantuan war-creatures the size of a Tyranid race, but if it is aware of us at all it must Battle Titan—far more dangerous than any mere know us only as Prey.” animal could ever be. Carried through the void on –Inquisitor Czevak at the Conclave of Har immense living bioships, the seemingly numberless and inexhaustible hive fleets are attracted to worlds The Tyranid threat is a menace unlike any other rich with life like a great ocean predator may be drawn faced by the Imperium, massive in scale and wholly to blood in the water. They descend upon their prey- alien in its nature and need to devour, not just world, raining down poisonous spores that taint and mankind, but all life in the galaxy. The Tyranids are a pollute the atmosphere and unleashing murderous vast swarm of predatory beasts driven and controlled hunting creatures to slaughter any animal life that by a single Hive Mind: one flesh, one will, and one might pose a threat to consumption. Depending on the biology, all designed to consume and absorb biomass particular fleet’s resources and size, other adaptive and on a monumental scale and focused solely on mutating war-beasts and biologically created leader- satiating a hunger without end. From the cold depths creatures will also be unleashed to wage an of intergalactic space they have come—the tendrils of unrelenting war of extermination on the world, a war the Great Devourer—an all destroying swarm that will only end in one of two ways: the defeat and composed of billions of organisms, each one the agent purging of the Tyranid assault by the defenders, or the of a great and immortal intelligence. They have left complete consumption and reduction of all living nothing but dead husks of former life-bearing worlds matter by the Hive Fleet, a dead world left in its wake. in their wake, and if the Imperium cannot stop them, all hope is lost. Carnifex Named for the doomed Explorator outpost on Carnifexes are giant creatures that can be found at Tyran which fell before the onslaught of what would the forefront of Tyranid assaults. These multi-ton come to be named Hive Fleet Behemoth in 745.M41, monsters act like living battering rams that can smash the Tyranid threat has since ravaged hundreds if not through almost any obstacle whether it be a platoon of thousands of star systems, principally in the men, enemy tanks or a fortified position. They are Segmentum Ultima, like a vast and monstrous set of specially evolved for use in shock assaults, spaceship jaws biting down on the galactic plain, although no boarding actions and massed battles where they can corner of the wide Imperium has so far proved beyond put their overwhelming strength and preternatural the reach of the fragmented tendrils of the onrushing toughness to best effect. A Carnifex is a living engine nightmare tide. Indeed, the Genestealer, long an of destruction and the attack of just one of these insidious threat that has troubled Mankind for creatures is a terrifying thing to behold, a primeval millennia appears now to be a harbinger of the force of nature unleashed in a killing frenzy. Tyranids, and the dim secrets of the ancient past hint Carnifexes have been encountered in every major at past threats, but never so widespread or potentially encounter with Tyranids since the arrival of Hive Fleet catastrophic as at present. Behemoth, most notably at the Battle of Macragge where large numbers of them were killed during the siege of the polar fortresses. These, the first Carnifexes to be seen by Imperial forces, became known as Screamer Killers because of the high- pitched scream they made as they charged into combat.

8 The Screamer Killer had four great sickle-shaped ground pressure footprint that can exceed the load claws of diamond-hard chitin, bone and cartilage. The bearing strength of bridges and gantries or break combined assault of these mighty scythes driven by through ice unexpectedly. Knocking one down is best the creature’s huge muscle mass was powerful enough achieved with an armoured vehicle but getting one to rip through even armourplas and ceramite with into close proximity with any Carnifex is a ease. The source of their high-pitched screaming was dangerousproposition. found to be rasping plates in their esophagus that Most Carnifex kills registered come from high were used to energize a form of bio-plasma in their energy attacks—lascannon, plasma and melta weapon gut. This bio-plasma ‘vomit’ made a dangerous short strikes to critical locations. Carnifexes can shrug off range flamer-like weapon. In some instances other small arms fire and even bolt gun hits with Screamer Killers were reported using an electrical minimal loss of function... field around their claws to build up an incandescent Some great heroes have successfully pitted their bio-plasma ball before launching it at a target over speed and agility against a Carnifex to overcome it in longer ranges. The Screamer Killer had a massive close combat, but any more have died trying. body that was found to be extremely tough. It was also covered with a thick, chitinous hide that protected it from damage The Screamer Killer is now believed to be just one extreme mutation of the Tyranid warrior genus Tyranicus Tyranicii with a massively enlarged exoskeleton and musculature. It is accounted as a stable enough mutation to be given its own classification of Carnifex Primus. An ever-widening variety of sub-classifications of Carnifexes developed over the first Tyrannic war and subsequent attacks by Hive Fleet Kraken and Hive Fleet Leviathan. Over time it has been discovered that each Hive Fleet, perhaps even each hive ship, has its own variants on the basic Carnifex. As with so many of the more extreme warrior mutations, Carnifexes lose much of the synaptic reception of the Hive Mind native to Tyranid Warriors and revert to a more animalistic intelligence level. It should be noted, however, that when this is mated to their ferocious capacity for violence, even a solitary Carnifex should not be underestimated. Many reports exist of lone Carnifexes that turn the tables on their would-be hunters and terrorize outlying colonies. All Carnifex species seem well able to adapt to extremes of environment from arctic cold to desert heat. Their tremendous strength allows them to plough through swamps and jungles without hindrance and their endurance seems, to all intents and purposes, inexhaustible. If Carnifexes demonstrate one vulnerability, it is possibly that their bipedal nature and great weight give them a high

9 Gargoyle vents, exhausts and exposed gears, fouling machinery Flying at the head of the swarm, Gargoyles are and weapons with their bodies. In this way Gargoyles often the first sign of the onrushing wave of Tyranids, are very difficult to defend against or trap in a as they blot out the sun and choke the sky with their bottleneck, as their ability to fly allows them to come leathery wings and infernal screeching. Not dissimilar at their foes from all angles and exploit any opening in appearance to a Termagant, albeit with the addition they can find. A Gargoyle which becomes trapped in of wings, a Gargoyle is individually weak, and relies an enclosed space (as sometime happens when they as much on its speed and ranged weapons as it does force their way through openings) is deadly indeed as tooth and claw. However, in great numbers (as it goes into a frenzy to escape, fighting as only a Gargoyles are almost always encountered) they can cornered beast can. make as fearsome a foe as any Tyranid. The primary goal of Gargoyles, in their role as part of the Tyranid vanguard, is, it seems, to sow confusion. They achieve this by peppering foes with their fleshborers and then darting away before retaliatory fire can find them, always staying out of arm’s reach and using their speed to move from target to target before they can be outmatched. This command of the air and their agility makes Gargoyles a particularly fearsome foe to fight, especially as they often descend on enemies from hundreds of metres, swooping down to strike lethal blows. This forces foes to constantly scan the skies and be alert for any shadow or flicking form that could be the first sign of a descending Gargoyle brood. Gargoyles are also a menace for aircraft and can make air travel across a Tyranid-contested world extremely dangerous, as they hunt ceaselessly for prey, often supported by other, more massive Tyranid bio-forms such as Harpies and Harridans. Fast and manoeuvrable, it is not unheard of for Gargoyles to ambush craft many times their own size, latching onto the hulls in large numbers and chewing through power cables, couplings and other vital components to bring them down in flames. Dangerous when beyond the range of Tyranid synapse creatures, they become even more so when driven forward by the implacable will of the Hive Mind, pouring down from the sky upon their foes like clawed rain, forcing their way through small openings and blanketing sensors and observation towers with their bat-like wings. Under the direction of the Hive Mind, Gargoyles will even throw themselves into

10 Hive Tyrant

“And I looked upon the great hive beast, and knew that hope was lost.” –Attributed to Hector Prime, Commander of the Tower of Adamant, Hethgard, executed for cowardice

The Master of the battle-swarm, the Hive Tyrant is a massively built and powerful creature which serves in some part as a ‘leader’ of the Tyranid attack on the ground. Akin in power to a living tank, able to rip through armour plate like wet paper and wreak indiscriminate slaughter, they are also incredibly fast and lithe. Some may even possess wings and extreme biomorphic mutations, often taking the place of unwholesome weapons which may burn or strangle their victims at range. Each is also a powerful psychic node for the greater Tyranid Hive Mind, not merely providing the swarm with a strategic focus and overriding purpose, but also harnessing the Hive Mind’s raw power offensively to drive fragile human minds insane with fear and burn out the brains of enemy psykers who would match their paltry powers against it. Hormagaunt

“We cannot live through this. Mankind cannot live through this. In a single day they have covered this planet with a flood of living blades and needle-fanged mouths. Kill one, and ten take its place. If they are truly without number, then our race is doomed to a violent death before every shred of our civilization is scoured away by a force more voracious than the fires of hell themselves. Death! By the Machine God, Death is here!” –Magos Varnak, last words

A seemingly stable bio-mutation of the Gaunt genus of Tyranid war-beast, the Hormagaunt is a biological machine, a living weapon designed and bred with but a single purpose in mind: to close with a living enemy as rapidly as possible and eviscerate it with its long-bladed talons and do so again, and again, and again without remorse or relent until nothing living opposes it. Unleashed in huge, restless swarms made up of close packed ranks of rippling claws and hard-edged chitinous plates, Hormagaunts move across the ground like lighting quick shoals of deadly fish. Drawn to the scent of blood, they close in for the kill, leaping, screaming, and scuttling. They leave nothing alive in their wake.

11 Lictor Fighting Lictors is very difficult, as first a solider needs to find one. Even then, bringing one to battle “It was like the shadows just came alive and took him, can be difficult as they strike and kill a handful of men right from under our noses. One moment he was there, the before vanishing, sometimes right before the eyes of next he was gone... and none of us saw an Emperor- their enemies, and leave no trail to follow. Lictors are damned thing.” usually only brought down by quick thinking heavy –Sergeant Morvik, 351st Castobel Rifle Brigade weapons teams or powerful Imperial heroes, such as well-armed Space Marines, which have the strength Lictors are the lone hunters of the Tyranid swarm, and nerve to slay the beast before it can melt away roving ahead of the hive fleet, seeking out prey and into the terrain. Another less reliable method of leading the Hive Mind to concentrations of enemies. destroying Lictors, and one favoured by many As tall as a Tyranid Warrior, Lictors are distinct in Imperial Guard commanders, is the recon by fire appearance from other Tyranid creatures in a number method. Once even the slightest evidence of a Lictor of ways, such as a pair of long mantislike claws is detected, they will isolate the area they believe it to extending over the creature’s shoulders which it can be lurking in (sometime kilometres across) and carpet use for climbing and impaling its prey; long, drooping bomb it into ash and dust. While this only rarely feeder tendrils that hang from its maw and greatly works (Lictors being cunning enough to either slip increase its senses, and shimmering chameleonic away or hide where you least expect them) it does scales which allow it to hide with ease. A natural raise morale among the local soldiers, at least until the predator, the Lictor is patient and stealthy and can Lictor strikes again... move past even the most alert foes, or spend days hiding immobile, waiting for a chance to strike once its prey’s guard is down. This behaviour has given the Lictor an almost mythical reputation amongst its foes, as a ghost-like horror which can strike at any time and place, before vanishing into thin air just as easily. A Lictor’s primary purpose is to lead the Tyranid swarm to fresh prey and seek out large groups of foes that might be hiding or fleeing before the swarm. In this role, they move silently and almost completely invisibly across all kind of terrain, using their enhanced senses to find their foes. When they locate prey, they will move in and begin to stalk it, avoiding open conflict or situations where it might be outnumbered or outmatched and instead choosing to pick off its targets one by one. During the course of these attacks, the Lictor will be exuding a pheromone trail which other Tyranid creatures can then follow to the location of this fresh prey. The Lictor also gathers information for the Hive Mind. Part of the creature’s unique genus means that it is capable of literally devouring a victim’s memories by eating their brain, learning more from them in a single bloody meal than hours of brutal interrogation might yield.

12 Ravener Perhaps the most disconcerting aspect of the serpentine Raveners is their ability to appear in almost “The thing I learnt was to trust nothing; not the air, not any location and usually where their foes least expect the water, not the ground beneath your feet. Make no them. By burrowing through even some of the hardest assumptions, and you might live to tell someone else.” substances, they can worm their way into heavily –Advice to fresh troops on fighting the Tyranids, given by fortified structures, squeezing through opening much Sergeant Gorth of the Volg 3rd “Mercy Bringers” smaller than themselves and slinking off to hide in dark places to await the time to strike. This known Raveners are horrific predators that burrow tactic of the Ravener often prompts Imperial through the earth with frightening speed and commanders to send their men on patrol looking for precision. They are twisted, serpentine creatures Ravener “nid holes” which might be hidden in whose armoured bodies are several times the size of a subterranean tunnels or deep cellars. Needless to say, grown man’s, and yet they move with a lightninglike should an Imperial Guard patrol find such a “nid speed that can see their victims slashed apart into hole,” more often than not it is their dying screams bloody chunks, having never seen their assailant. which alert their comrades. Vulnerable only to massed firepower and heavy weapons, the Ravener’s prey stands little chance if caught alone or off guard, as they often exploit their ability to burrow through almost any substance to surprise their victims, sensing their way by vibrations as faint as a beating heart, through many metres of intervening material. Often Raveners strike deep behind a battle line or in strongholds thought impregnable to outside assault, and worse yet for those that must face them; Raveners rarely hunt alone, but are instead often encountered in broods of half a dozen or more creatures. In several recorded cases, when such a brood breaks in to a shelter or underground bunker, they have inflicted utter carnage in minutes, ending the lives of hundreds in a few scant moments of screaming, blood-soaked fury. While Raveners do appear similar in size and basic design to Tyranid Warriors, with the major exception being their serpentine tail rather than legs, they are in fact very different beasts and bred for a very different purpose. Possessed of little more than animal intelligence, unless directed by the Hive Mind they will willfully chase fleeing prey or become distracted by fast moving targets disregarding all other concerns. The role of a hunting beast however is one they excel at, and they possess extraordinary senses for tracking foes, able to feel the slightest tremor made by passing footfalls even kilometres away and see into dozens of light spectrums, even following the pulsing waves of a vox transmission to its source. This makes it very hard to hide from a Ravener, and it is especially dangerous if being directed by the Hive Mind and its senses used to guide the bulk of the swarm toward the location of its prey.

13 Ripper Swarm Rippers are energetic and fearless organisms, quite capable of pulling down creatures many times their One of the most terrifying aspects of a Tyranid own size, from a rampaging Grox to an armed man. hive fleet is the speed and scale of its operations in Huge swarms of Rippers are often seen on the stripping a planet. Even while the Tyranids are battlefield, advancing behind Tyranid assault forces. overrunning a world’s defences, they are in the These gorge themselves on the fallen, tearing apart the process of rapidly assimilating the genetic imprint and wounded and cannibalising the dead. It might appear biomass of every living thing on the planet. that an armoured Space Marine would be safe from Eventually, once all resistance has been eliminated the attacks of individual Rippers, but en masse they and everything consumed, the world will be stripped can immobilise and drag down even the strongest down to its bedrock, as all of its moisture, atmosphere Battle-Brother. and nutrients are absorbed by the hive ships. By the In certain instances, hive ships have been driven time the hive fleet moves on, nothing but a lifeless away from a world, leaving Tyranid ground forces ball of rock will be left in their wake. isolated. Rippers appear to respond to such In the initial phases, billions of voracious Tyranid circumstances by burrowing below ground and organisms are released all over the planet. Vast waves metamorphosing into higher life forms. This has led of these creatures move across the surface of the many among the Magos Biologis to believe that world, constantly multiplying and consuming Rippers are an immature form of the prime Tyrancii everything in their path. The empty deserts left behind genus. This would mean they are theoretically capable are devoid of even the bones of their former of gestating into any kind of Tyranid creature with the inhabitants, thanks to the relentless efforts of the right impetus from the Hive Mind, from Hive Tyrants ravenous hordes. to Hormagaunts. The wonder that Tyranids routinely Eventually these organisms will be reabsorbed by produce and sacrifice their young so prodigiously the Hive Mind and in some cases evolved to perform serves only to reinforce how inhuman they truly are. higher functions depending on the genetic material they have absorbed. The majority become biomass to be rendered down to their base cells and reshaped by the Norn Queens to fulfill the hive fleet’s needs. Tyranid-held worlds have been reported to feature “digestion pools” at the base of impossibly tall capillary towers that project beyond the atmosphere. Endless streams of Tyranid creatures have been seen sacrificing themselves in the searing acids of the pools so that their biomass can be sucked up in to the hive ships orbiting high above. These small harvesting organisms are extremely varied but the most numerous are those known to Adepts as the Tyranicus Omniphagea, more commonly known to Imperial forces as Rippers. Rippers have serpentine bodies, around half a metre long, that terminate in a broad head above a set of vestigial gripping claws. The head is split by a wide maw filled with rows of exceedingly sharp ripping hooks and razor-edged boney ridges. The Ripper’s powerful jaws can bite through flesh and bone with alarming ease, and they have been known to gnaw their way through plasteel to reach food.

14 Termagant Trygon

“As I looked into its dead black eyes, I saw the “Hey! Did you feel the ground shake just now?” terrible sentience it had in place of a soul. And –Guardsman Prall at the Battle of Table Mountain looking back from the deepest recesses of the alien’s mind, I perceived what I can describe only as an The largest Tyranid creatures can become hard to immortal hunger.” accurately categorise as they increasingly appear as –Ultramarines Chief Librarian Tigurius strange aggregations of symbiotes and parasites on a colossal scale. This is not the case with the Tyranid The Termagant is one of the basic warrior units of Trygon however, a distinct genus of vast serpentine the Tyranid Swarm, and one of the most commonly creatures that tower above even the mighty Carnifex. encountered creatures on the battlefield. They are Adepts have postulated a link between the Trygon and bred and unleashed in their thousands by the hive the smaller but equally ophidian Ravener, but it fleets in great waves to blunt the fire of their enemies remains unclear whether Trygons are massively and overwhelm them in an unstoppable tide of flesh mutated Raveners or Raveners are underdeveloped, and fang. Man-sized, but low and hunched in perhaps even immature, Trygons. Certainly adult appearance, they are agile, fast, and extremely deadly. Trygons can reach truly monstrous proportions, with Termagants are usually armed with a variety of examples of up to thirty metres in length on record, symbiotic weapon-creatures of various forms, as well although twelve to fifteen metres is more common. as needle-teeth and ripping claws with which to rend Trygons are extremely heavily armoured by a coat and devour their prey. of overlapping scales that covers them from jaws to tail. In addition to offering excellent protection, these specialised scales form an essential part of the Trygon’s natural weaponry. The thick armour plates include high concentrations of silicates and as the Trygon moves they become agitated, generating a powerful biostatic charge that is captured by subdermal platelet stacks. The Trygon directs this energy by exhaling an ionised spray from its gills, to prompt a deadly, high-voltage discharge. Trygons have two sets of diamond-hard scything talons folded beneath their hood-like carapace that they use with lethal effect in close combat. Driven by a Trygon’s size and strength, these wicked blades can easily impale an armoured vehicle or cut an armoured man in two. However, the primary purpose of the Trygon’s claws is to allow it to burrow though practically any material at a terrifying rate. These creatures have shown themselves capable of detecting an enemy from below and seem to have a singular fondness for bursting out of the ground beneath them with shocking suddenness. Tanks and troops surprised in this way seldom have a chance to reply to the barrage of sweeping claw strikes and biostatic lightning unleashed upon them.

15 Seismic detectors have been used with some Unfortunately, a mutation now dubbed the Trygon success to provide early warning of a Trygon’s Prime has been confirmed, that appears to have the approach. Unfortunately, on many worlds, natural relevant synapse development to make it a conduit for seismic activity can mask a Trygon’s motion and in the influence of the Hive Mind. A Trygon Prime can some instances Tyranid swarm activity seems to have be easily spotted by their elongated jaws and the been deliberately coordinated to cover the approach containment spines running the length of their bodies. of burrowing Trygons. Trygons have forced tunnels These are extended platelet stacks that enable the through just about every material known to man, Trygon Prime to store up even greater charges of bio- although they are considerably slowed by adamantium electricity. A Trygon Prime is swathed in sheets of plating. lightning whenever it moves, and when it opens its It appears that Trygons use their bio-static charge jaws, searing arcs of energy leap forth that leave only to assist with tunnelling, as their tunnels have been charred corpses in their wake. The strong synaptic link found coated with a fused, glass-like silicate layer on a Trygon Prime shares with the Hive Mind allows it to the inside. This effect stabilises the tunnel walls and dominate lesser Tyranid creatures, including other prevents them from collapsing behind a burrowing Trygons, and it will rarely be found without an Trygon. Other Tyranid organisms will take advantage attendant horde of Termagants and Hormagaunts. of these tunnels to move around unseen and follow up on Trygon attacks. The emergence of a burrowing Trygon is often just the harbinger of a tidal wave of nightmarish horrors. Commanders have found static defences become virtually useless once Trygons are operating in the area, unless tunnel torpedoes or mole mortars can be brought to bear to keep them at bay. Over an extended period, Tyrgons are capable of excavating a network of underground tunnels covering a huge area, which makes it difficult to wipe out Tyranid forces even with saturation bombardment. Clearing out Trygon sub- surface tunnel networks is dangerous work even for a Deathwatch Killteam and is a duty given only to the most experienced and well-equipped Battle-Brothers. Trygons have also been known to dig deadfall traps by leaving a thin crust over a deep conical hole. Sufficient weight in troops and armour will collapse the roof of the sinkhole and deposit the victims into the Trygon’s waiting claws. A Trygon’s greatest weakness is probably that it can be baited or misdirected while burrowing by the first tasty morsel to cross its path. Under the direction of the Hive Mind, a Trygon becomes even more dangerous, as it will tunnel deep into the heart of the defences before bursting forth.

16 Tyranid Warrior Tyranid Warrior Prime

“Every one of the myriad of Tyranid warrior- “Don’t be fooled by its appearance, this is no simple creatures is a killing machine, perfectly adapted to soldier of the Hive Mind. Note the way it moves, the slaughter its victims. They are the ultimate predators, colours on its chitin and the subtle deference those and we are their prey.” around it exhibit, like an alpha male leading a pack of –from the reflections of an unknown Adept wolves.” –Scout Sergeant Veraz, Storm Wardens The Tyranid Warrior is death incarnate; a biological engine designed for murder, in every aspect The leadership cast of the Tyranids is often of strength, size, and resilience it is literally difficult for Imperial commanders to identify, and superhuman. They are also incredible fighters, each there is often the mistaken assumption that larger more than equal to a Space Marine in combat power, Tyranid creatures are more important; a mistake that be it with their great scythe-like talons of augmented has cost more than one officer his rank and countless bone (sharp enough to bisect an armoured Man in a men their lives. This is especially true of Tyranid single stroke) or the nightmarish living weapons they Warrior Primes, an evolution of the Tyranid Warrior carry that spit flesh-boring parasites for ammunition genus with elevated intelligence and a stronger link to and consign their victims to a death too vile to the Hive Mind. It has in fact only been in recent times contemplate. Tyranid Warriors also act as vital that the Primes have been identified and reported psychic resonators for the Tyranid swarm, receiving, among the ranks of the hive fleets, though as many amplifying, and transmitting the Hive Mind’s scholars and magos are quick to point out, this is less controlling will and purpose to the lesser creatures likely to be because they are a recent evolution and around them. more likely because they blend in with the rest of a Tyranid Warrior brood. Primes are also being encountered in greater and greater numbers within Hive Fleet Dagon, perhaps as a direct response to the constantly evolving tactics of Imperial forces and the hive fleet’s need to deal with the elevated Deathwatch presence in the Orpheus Salient after several costly encounters. In function, Tyranid Warrior Primes take on the role of commanders and captains within the swarm. Much in the same way as a Hive Tyrant might lead a host of Tyranids, a Prime will oversee a smaller section of the battlefield or direct a smaller strike force of warriors. When close to a more powerful synapse creature they will defer their control, acting as lieutenants and sergeants, often personally leading broods. However, should they find themselves alone, they can easily bind together those Tyranid creatures nearby into an effective fighting force and carry on with little trouble. In this way, a Tyranid Warrior Prime is just as capable of directing a swarm as a Hive Tyrant and many an Imperial officer has suffered as a result of underestimating their ability to project the Hive Mind and lead lesser Tyranid creatures.

17 Tyranid Warriors Primes have also earned a Tyrant Guard fearsome reputation as resourceful and cunning tacticians, directing nearby Tyranid creatures through “Emperor’s blood...it’s still alive! Hit it with another the Hive Mind to take advantage of terrain, enemy round from the battle cannon before... it’s coming movements and other prevailing battlefield right for us! Hit it again! HIT IT AGAIN!” conditions. It is often the failing of the Imperium (and –Last words of Captain Fulher, 12th Ascandian even some xenos races such as the Tau and the Eldar) Armoured that the Tyranids are seen as mindless animals, driven forward by the will of the Hive Mind with no thought Tyrant Guard exist for a single purpose and a to tactics or strategy. The truth is of course that single purpose alone, the defence of the Hive Tyrant creatures like the Tyranid Warrior Prime and the Hive they are charged with protecting. In this capacity they Tyrant are just as capable as any other commander, excel like no other kind of bodyguard in the galaxy. perhaps more so as they have unshakable faith in their Their armoured hides and thick muscles are almost troops and are fearless in battle, making them almost impervious to small arms and highly resistant to even the perfect battlefield leaders. the heaviest weapons which means they can soak up an appalling amount of damage before they are destroyed. Though similar in size to a Tyranid Warrior, a Tyrant Guard has more of the appearance of a hound or boar, loping alongside the Hive Tyrant on four limbs, their massively armoured heads close to the ground and alert for danger to their master. When they detect a threat to the Hive Tyrant, they immediately move to block lines of sight and throw themselves in front of bolts, blasts and missiles. When in close combat, they swarm around their Hive Tyrant, keeping the bulk of its foes away so it may deal with them more easily. Never encountered without the presence of a Hive Tyrant, and never straying far from its side in battle, Tyrant Guard are nevertheless vicious opponents in their own right, tearing at their foes with large, bladed talons and gnashing teeth, with an animalistic fury notable even in the midst of a Tyranid swarm. They do however always remain close to their Hive Tyrant, like loyal dogs running at their master’s feet and unlike more independent Tyranid creatures, they cannot be tempted or lured into pursuit, remaining steadfastly in the Hive Tyrant’s shadow regardless of the presence of nearby foes. Some scholars speculate that the Tyrant Guard, not encountered in the early stages of the hive fleets, were an evolution to combat the tactics of Imperial forces which quickly found that destroying Hive Tyrants with heavy weapons fire was a good way

18 to break up a swarm. Like so many Tyranid creatures, safety, only the continued survival of its master. To however, this is merely speculation, as Tyrant Guard this end, Tyrant Guard are blind, their heads encased have only been observed on the battlefield, and most entirely in rock-hard chitin, save for a razor-lined maw specimens recovered are extensively damaged by the with which to bite and savage their prey. This is efforts of destroying them. doubtless a further protection against damage, as the What has been established by Imperial scholars presence of eyes would only create a weak spot which and tacticians is that the Tyrant Guard are among the their foes could exploit. Despite this seeming dimmest of the Tyranid creatures, on a par with many disability, Tyrant Guard seem to have little trouble of the smaller gaunt genus creatures in their intellect. detecting enemies, and appear to have a kind of sense This seems to be a deliberate evolution of the Hive link with their Hive Tyrant, seeing what it sees and Mind in creating a lumbering, heavily defended and reacting to danger instinctively as it becomes aware of utterly loyal bodyguard with no sense of personal its foes.

19 Venomthrope A Venomthrope’s feeding instincts means that it can operate quite effectively even while beyond the “More than a minute in that cloud and you’ll be range of the Hive Mind, drifting into formations of bleeding out of your eyes, ears and mouth, praying troops and spreading its deadly toxins or lashing out at for the pain to stop.” exposed warriors. In battle, Venomthropes are –Captain Ascote, pointing out a Venomthrope to his therefore often found on the flanks of the swarm, or men at the Battle of Twelve Bridges exploiting gaps to get at rear-echelon troops where their toxic presence can cause as much havoc as Many Tyranid creatures carry toxins on their possible and they can force troops to abandon claws and fangs, but none more so that the defensive positions lest they become caught up in its Venomthrope; a veritable factory of poisons, its slowly spreading mist of death. As a general rule, the tendrils drip with vile substances and it is constantly only sure way to deal with such an attack is a quick surrounded by a cloud of lethal vapours. Held aloft by response from heavy weapons and a sustained blast of numerous gas-filled bladders (also the source of the fire to tear the creature apart before it can get to close, toxic cloud that fills the air around it) it moves along even then it still leaves a toxic corpse which can be by using its tentacle-like hooked tendrils to drag itself almost as deadly as the creature was in life. across any surface. These same tendrils are also used to snare enemies and drag them into its poison cloud, where it holds them fast until their feeble struggles cease and it can devour them at its leisure. Not as powerful a combatant as a Tyranid Warrior or Ravener, the Venomthrope relies mostly on its poisons to do its work, expecting only mild resistant from its prey once it gets close enough to envelope them with its cloud or touch them with its deadly tendrils. Venomthropes are not just toxic to non-Tyranid life forms, but also to any environment they enter. Over time their miasma of toxic spores infects the very ground and air of a world, rendering it hostile to even its own indigenous species. The Hive Mind uses this aspect of the Venomthrope by gathering them together in large numbers and unleashing them on a region to gradually poison it, making it harder for non-Tyranid life forms to continue the fight. Venomthropes can be especially deadly in enclosed areas or underground, where their toxins can fill ventilation systems and foul airscrubbers, making the corridors and chambers of a fortress or void ship deadly to its garrison or crew. In efforts to combat these tactics, the Adeptus Mechanicus has tried repeatedly to study the Venonthrope and develop either more sure methods of protecting troops against its venoms or to discover an antidote to them. So far no successes have had any large or lasting effects on the Imperium’s efforts against the Tyranid swarms, and as soon as a new method or antidote is found to counter the Venomthrope, it seems the creature quickly adapts and overcomes it.

20 Zoanthrope In addition to their ability to hurl terrible bolts of warp energy at their foes, Zoanthropes are also very “Can’t you feel it? It’s like a claw crushing my mind difficult to destroy, especially considering how weak in its grasp, squeezing my brain between its talons. I and feeble their bodies appear. This resilience stems can feel it scratching behind my eyes, tearing at my from their ability to create a powerful warp bubble sanity... Emperor save us!” around themselves, shielding them from all kind of –Sanctioned Psyker Euos Dax, Castobel Regional weapons and even turning aside blows in close Command combat. Like their ability to drift above the ground, the shield seems a constant part of the Zoanthrope and Zoanthropes are amongst the strangest and most is always present as long as the creature lives. It has bizarre of all Tyranid creatures. Their feeble atrophied been noted that the shield seems to strengthen or bodies hang limp and seemingly lifeless beneath their coalesce around particularly powerful attacks, flashing massive craniums, far too large for their weak limbs bright for an instant to turn aside the blow before to support. Only their immense psychic power allows fading back to a uniform shimmer. them to move at all, drifting across the battlefield on a cushion of psychic energy. This vast store of energy and their ability to focus it is also what makes them such terrible foes, for a Zoanthrope is capable of conjuring up earth-shattering bolts of warp energy with the strength to smash apart even the most heavily armoured troops or vehicles. In this role, the swarm uses Zoanthropes as psychic cannons, blasting apart strong points and tanks with equal ease or raining warp fire down upon the heads of massed foes, slaying dozens of warriors in a single, blinding flash of power. There is an unknown and alien intelligence which lurks within the chitin cranium of the Zoanthrope, its actions seemingly governed by both the Hive Mind and some inner psychic instincts to seek out particular enemies and use its powers in certain ways. Despite their power, however, Zoanthropes sometimes seem to be victims of their own massive energy reserves and there have been numerous afteraction reports of Zoanthropes “burning out” in battle. After hurling numerous bolts or sustaining their shield for an extended period, their craniums have been observed to burst and bleed out, sending them crashing limply to the ground. Psykers who have witnessed these events liken it to the perils of the warp which normal psykers can suffer when psychic energy overloads their minds.

21 Chapter 2: Ymgarl Genestealer Characters

Ygmarl Genestealers are incredibly difficult 2. The player then generates the characteristics that difficult characters to play, and as such are define their Explorer's personal attributes utilizing the recommended only for advanced players. base statistic values presented here and one of the The mentality of the Ygmarl Genestealer varys for methods detailed in the Rogue Trader Core Rulebook. each individual. Their isolation from the hive mind has permitted something almost completley unseen: 3. Finally, the player gains the starting skills, independent identity in Tyranids. Some are motivated talents, traits, and gear listed and spends the 500 by the desire to restore their damaged genetics and starting XP that all characters get, a process which is become more robust examples of Tyranid life. Some described on page 30 of the Rogue Trader Core have begun to embrace the lifestyle of the explorer Rulebook. that the Koronus Expanse offers, and many have signed on with Rogue Traders, though not all have revealed themselves to their employers. Still more have become raiders, taking what they need. A select few have decided to embark upon a quest to restore their ability to form a Brood Mind, and attempt to re- connect with their original Hive Mind, whichever one it might be. It is important to decide what motivates the Ymgarl Explorer, and whether it will mesh well with the group. Always consider the rest of the party, and ensure that the Ymgarl will fit in at least decentl ywell with the concept decided upon. Which Hive Fleet they are originally from could also be a driving force of their story. One advantage to the Ymgarl subset of Genestealers is that they are not limited purely to the planet Ymgarl. Their genetic mutation is a more common one than the Imperium is aware, and can be explained as coming from any Hive Fleet. As such any existing Hive Fleet, or any that the GM may have placed in or around the Koronus Expanse could have been their progenitors.

Creating Ymgarl Genestealer Explorers The rules included in this supplement allow the players to create their own Ymgarl Explorers and replace the usual rules for character creation in the Rogue Trader Core Rulebook. A player can create a Ymgarl Genestealer Explorer using the following instructions.

1. When building a Ymgarl Explorer, a player first selects a Genetic Legacy. These Legacies represent remnants of genetic abilities that provide some benefits to the Explorer.

22 Genetic Legacy

Ymgarl Genestealers have unfortunately suffered Nimble Infiltrator a large amount of genetic degredation, the primary Specializing in infiltration and stealth, this Tyranid reason why they are no longer wanted by their background provides +5 Agility. original Hive Fleets. The remnants of undamaged DNA are still present within their systems, and the Refined Neuroreceptors Ymgarl are still able to utilize some of them. Begin The sensory receptors on this Tyranid are the character creation process by selecting one of the incredibly sensitive, and able to process more following Genetic Legacies to represent the remnants information. The Tyranid gains +5 Perception. of Tyrannic Genomes in their systems. Resilient Bioform Adaptable Infiltration Designed to withstand an incredible amount of This Tyranid has learned the art of infiltration via damage, this Tyranid gains +5 Toughness. disguise and subterfuge. This legacy grants the Tyranid +5 to Fellowship. Slayer of Foes No stranger to the art of death, this Genestealer Calculating Mind has left a large body count in it's wake. The Gifted with a more analytical mind than most of genestealer gains +5 Weapon Skill or Ballistic Skill. the swarm, this Tyrannic legacy grants a +5 bonus to Intelligence. Xenoform Neurobiology Gifted with an incredible mental resilience, even Frontline Warrior more potent that most of the swarm, the Tyranid gains This Genestealer lead the charge against the +5 Willpower. targets of the swarm before degredation. This Tyranid gains +5 Strength.

23 Ymgarl Genestealer Career Path

Ymgarl Genestealer Characteristics As with human characters, Ymgarl Genestealers also have characteristics that their players generate at character creation. Unlike human Explorers, Ymgarl Genestealers have different base values for their Characteristics, see below.

Starting Wounds: Boasting an incredibly resilient Tyranid body, Ymgarl Genestealers roll 1d5+3 and add twice their starting Toughness Bonus to determine their starting number of wounds. Starting Fate Points: Not blessed by a strong connection to the warp, Ymgarl Genestealers begin play with 1 fate point.

Ymgarl Genestealers begin play with the following Skills, Talents, Traits, and Gear. Insanity: Tyranid Explorers suffer Insanity as normal, Starting Skills: Awareness, Common Lore but do not suffer the effects as Humans do. At each (Tyranids), Concealment, Deceive, Disguise, Literacy, milestone, apply a -10 (cumulative) penalty to all rolls Navigate (Surface), Silent Move, Speak Language pertaining to the Hunger talent. At 100, the character (Low Gothic), Speak Language (Tyranid) enters a feral feeding state focused purely on Starting Talents: Ambidextrous, Biological consuming blood and is removed from play. Camoflage, Leap Up, Lightning Reflexes, Sprint, Corruption: Tyranid explorers do not suffer Feeding Tendrils, Hunger, Hibernation, Shapeshifting corruption points due to Tyrannic origins and their Starting Traits: Multiple Arms (Toughness Bonus is body having an incredibly flexible biological makeup. factored into base stats), Non Imperial, Speak Not Unto the Alien, Reinforced Chitin 2, Dark Sight, An Alien Body: Ymgarl Tyranid All Medicae tests made by Non-Tyranids on Starting Gear: Scything Talons, Spike Rifle Tyranids suffer a -20 penalty due to the odd nature of their biological makeup. Additionally, anyone A Strange Yet Vulnerable Mind operating on a Shapeshifted Tyranid may, with a Ymgarl Genestealers, whilst immune to many sufficient number of degrees of success, identify the effects that might damage their minds due to Tyranid for what they truly are. See the the absence of the Tyranid Hive Mind, still Shapeshifting Talent in chapter 2 for more details. remain vulnerable to that which might drive it to a maddened feeding state. 24 Ymgarl Genestealer Ranks and Progression

25 26 27 28 New Skills

Speak Language might be problematic. Those trained in this skill can (Advanced) understand, if not speak with great proficiency, the Intelligence Tyranid language. Skill Groups: Tyranid Speak Language is used to communicate with Common Lore others using the same language. The Imperium has (Advanced, Investigation) nearly as many languages as it has star systems, but Intelligence for all this variety, most people can speak or Skill Group: Tyranids understand a variation of Low Gothic. In most The Common Lore Skill allows the Explorer to situations, Skill Tests are unnecessary so long as those recall general information, procedures, divisions, involved all speak a common tongue. However, traditions, famed individuals, and superstitions of a communication with those using obscure dialects or particular world, group, organization, or race. The cryptic, complex concepts will require a Test at an following additional Skill Group has been added to appropriate Difficulty. those available. The manner in which this skill New Skill: Speak Language (Tyranid) functions remains unchanged. While the majority of the Tyranid race utilizes the New Skill: Common Lore (Tyranid) Hive Mind to communicate, there is a spoken version Knowledge of the various strains of the Tyranid of the Race's language. A rough mixture of clicks, genome, and their strengths and weaknesses. Also growls, and snarls, it can be mimicked by those who comes with an understanding of Tyranid Hive Fleets are not Tyranids, but finding one willing to teach it and Tyranid nature and history.

29 New Talents

Aerial Biomorph Brood Psyker Requirements: Hunger (Tempered), Shapeshifting Requirements: Brood Telepathy, Hunger (Tempered), Mastery, Size (Hulking) Maximum, Ymgarl Tyranid, Shapeshifting Mastery, Ymgarl Tyranid Unnatural Agility (x2), Unnatural Speed (x2) Touched by the power of the immaterium, this The Ymgarl has manufactued a set of wings that talent grants the Psyker trait, and allows the Ymgarl to grants the Flyer (20) Trait. Should the Ymgarl ever manifest powers as though they were a Sanctioned become larger that Size (Hulking), the wings are no Psyker (See page 157 of the Rogue Trader Core longer able to confer the benefits of this trait. Rulebook, and grants the Psy Rating (1) Talent. Shapeshifting to a smaller size allows the wings to become utilized again. Chameleonic Scales: Requirements: Hunger (Tempered), Shapeshifting Alpha Genestealer Mastery, Ymgarl Tyranid Requirements: Brood Telepathy, Hunger (Tempered), Similar to the fearsome Lictor, this talent allows Shapeshifting Mastery, Ymgarl Tyranid the Ymgarl the ability to render themselves almost The Ymgarl now has a constant telepathic link invsible to the naked eye and most other means of with any other Ymgarl which can function clearly and visual detection, such as infrared or ultraviolet scopes. without restriction (such as from intervening objects Whenever they use Concealment, all tests to detect or other forms of shielding) up to one kilometre. This them suffer a -30 penalty. In addition, they may make allows them to communicate with one another and Concealment tests as a half action rather than a Full pass information to nearby Ymgarl quickly and Action, and may do so when being observed or when quietly. A Ymgarl Explorer at the heart of this there is no nearby cover. telepathic link (declared the focal point of the link) can track its foes with the senses of many and Extraordinary Senses: employs its greater intellect to coordinate and Requirements: Heightened Senses (All), Hunger command the other Ymgarl. As long as the Explorer (Tempered), Shapeshifting Mastery, Ymgarl Tyranid is conscious and within range, the entire group gains a The Ymgarl has developed incredible senses that +20 bonus on all Awareness and Tracking Tests. allow it to see in many spectrums of light and also sense changed in the air around them or slight tremors Biological Camoflage in the ground. They may make Awareness tests to Requirements: Ymgarl Tyranid dtect enemies even if they would not normally be able Ymgarl Genestealers utilize their Willpower when to do so due to intevening terrain or other conditions. making Disguise checks utilizing their shapeshifting. Additionally, their senses are so good that they never Applying normal cosmetic disguises still utilizes the suffer more than a -30 modifer to perception tests default Characteristic. regardless of modifiers.

Brood Telepathy Feeding Tendrils Requirements: Hunger (Tempered), Shapeshifting Requirements: Ymgarl Tyranid Mastery, Ymgarl Tyranid All Ymgarl Tyranids have a series of feeding This genestealer has managed to restore some of tentacles instead of a maw. These allow it to initiate a the abilities that the Hive Mind once provided. It has Grapple (as detailed in the Rogue Trader Core a successful willpower test establishes a telepathic Rulebook) with a target up to 1m away. With every link with each other Genestealer within a 1km radius, successful Opposed Strength Test the Ymgarl makes functioning without restrictions (such as intervening as part of the Grapple Action, the target is pulled 1m objects or other forms of shielding) closer. These also allow the Ymgarl to suck their prey dry of blood, their only source of nourishment.

30 Flesh Hooks Hardened Carapace 8 Requirements: Hunger (Tempered), Shapeshifting Requirements: Hardened Carapace 6 Mastery, Ymgarl Tyranid An incredibly robust set of Chitinous plates This supplies the Ymgarl with dozens of tiny protects the Tyranid from harm, granting an additional hooks, which they can fire from their chests to snare 2 armor points for a total of 8. The same restrictions their prey and draw victims towards them. These mentioned in the Reinforced Chitin 2 and allow it to initiate a Grapple (as detailed in the Rogue Shapeshifting Talent still apply. Trader Core Rulebook) with a target up to 10m away. With every successful Opposed Strength Test the Hibernation Ymgarl makes as part of the Grapple Action, the Requirements: Ymgarl Tyranid target is pulled 1m closer, plus a futher 1m for each Ymgarl Genestealers may enter a Hibernative degree of success. state. This requires the Ymgarl to focus for 1d5 rounds, or automatically activates if the Ymgarl is Genestealer’s Kiss: knocked unconcious by Critical Damage. While in a Requirements: Brood Telepathy, Hunger (Tempered), Hibernative State, the Ymgarl's wounds will not Shapeshifting Mastery, Ymgarl Tyranid deteriorate or heal. A successful Very Hard (-30) The Genestealer has managed to reform an Awareness Test will allows the Ymgarl to locate prey ovipositor within its maw that implants the alien’s passing within their normal perception range, and genetic code into its victims. This seeds the host’s feeding up the target will remove all critical damage body with a parasite that will grow into a monstrous from the Ymgarl, and allow them to then heal hybrid creature. Over a number of generations, these normally. hybrids will give birth to more hybrids until eventually a new Genestealer is born. A host can resist Hunger such an implantation, but only if they pass a Requirements: Shapeshifting, Ymgarl Tyranid Challenging (+0) Toughness Test as soon as it The use of the Ymgarl's shapeshifting ability occurs. Once infected, the host becomes beholden to requires an incredible amount of chemical fuel. This the Genestealer that infected it (and through their results in the Ymgarl's metabolism being incredibly Brood Telepathy, that Genestealer’s entire brood), and high, even by Tyranid standards. Whenever the it protects and nurtures the progeny it carries as if it Ymgarl Shapeshifting Talent is utilized, the Ymgarl were its own child. must make a Challenging (+0) Toughness Test. On a failure, the Ymgarl has overextended it's body's Genetic Flexibility natural energy reserves, and must then make a Hard Requirements: Character Creation Only, Ymgarl (-20) Willpower Test to avoid feeding on the nearest Tyranid available source of food. (This may include other The Ymgarl has an incredibly diverse set of Explorer Characters). Even if the Ymgarl succeeds on Genetics due to encountered biomass during their this Willpower test, they must feed on a sufficient travels throughout the Koronus Expanse. A Ymgarl quantity of food within the next hour or suffer 2d5 who selects this talent selects any one Characteristic. Toughness damage that cannot be healed until the Advances for this Characteristic on the Characteristic Ymgarl has fed, and afterwards heals normally. Advance Table become Simple: 100, Intermediate: Feeding requires an amount of blood roughly equal to 250, Trained: 500, Expert: 750 1 human sized creature (approximately 5 liters). This blood may come from any source due to the Ymgarl's Hardened Carapace 6 incredibly adaptive digestive system, and need not be Requirements: Reinforced Chitin 4 fresh, though dried blood provides no nutrients. A more heavily ossified set of Chitinous plates When not shapeshifting, the Ymgarl must feed once protects the Tyranid, granting an additional 2 per number of days equal to Toughness Bonus. armor points for a total of 6. The same Returning to their original form is a cessation of restrictions mentioned in the Reinforced the Shapeshifting ability, and as such requires Chitin 2 and Shapeshifting Talents still apply. no tests.

31 Perfected Disguise Hunger (Sated) Requirements: Hunger (Tempered), Shapeshifting Requirements: Hunger, Shapeshifting, Ymgarl Mastery, Ymgarl Tyranid Tyranid The Ymgarl has perfect a single alter ego, which The Ymgarl has become accustomed to the they can now shift back and forth between as a Full insatiable hunger that wracks their bodies when Action without needing to make the tests normally shapeshifting. This talent reduces Toughness Test required by Ymgarl Hunger. Once taken, the preferred presented in Ymgarl Hunger to an Ordinary (+10), disguise may only be changed after a successful and reduced the Willpower Test presented there to a Extended Disguise Test with appropriate modifiers as Difficult (-10). This talent also grants the Ymgarl the decided by the GM. Until the Ymgarl has finished ability to last much longer without feeding upon a constructing this new disguise by achieving the failure through sheer willpower, extending the feeding required number of successes, the Ymgarl may not use hour requirement to 1d5 hours. This talent also cuts this talent. By taking this talent twice, up to two the needed nourishment down to one half a human alternate forms can be mastered. This alternate form sized creature (approximately 2.5 liters) due to a more may be a different Tyrannic version with different efficient metabolism. The toughness damage on not weapons and traits. feeding is reduced to 1d5, and without shapeshifting the Ymgarl is now able to feed once per number of Reinforced Chitin 2 days equal to twice their Toughness Bonus. Requirements: Ymgarl Tyranid A series of Chitinous plates cover the Tyranid's Hunger (Tempered) body, grating 2 armor to all locations. When Requirements: Hunger, Hunger (Sated), shapeshifting into a non-tyrannic form, the Tyranid Shapeshifting, Ymgarl Tyranid does not gain the benefit of this armor, but can utilize The Ymgarl has mastered the hunger that arises armor of the impersonated species. For more, see the whenever they utilize their Ymgarl Shapeshifting Shapeshifting Talent. ability. This talent reduces the toughness test presented in Ymgarl Hunger to a Routine (+20) test, Reinforced Chitin 4 and reduces the Willpower test presented there to a Requirements: Reinforced Chitin 2, Ymgarl Tyranid Challenging (+0). This talent also grants the Ymgarl A more heavily refined set of chitinous plates, this the ability to last much longer without feeding upon talent increases the amount of armor given to all shapeshifting, extending the time to 2d5 hours. This locations by two, for a total of four. The same also cuts the needed nourishment down to only a restrictions apply. fraction of a human sized creature (approximately 1 liter) due to an incredibly efficient metabolism. Shapeshifting Toughness damage is now reduced by the Ymgarl's Requirements: Ymgarl Tyranid Toughness Bonus to a minimum of 1. The Ymgarl, This talent allows a Ymgarl the ability to when not utilizing shapeshifting, is able to stave off shapeshift to disguise itself amongst any of the bipedal hunger for a number of days equal to three times their humanoid races that wander the Koronus Expanse, Toughness Bonus. subject to GM discretion. They may hide any natural weaponry that might alert unsuspecting victims to the Memory Devourer: Ymgarl's true nature. This allows them to blend in Requirements: Hunger (Tempered), Shapeshifting fairly well, requiring a successful Disguise check. Mastery, Ymgarl Tyranid This disguise can be maintained for a number of hours This allows the Ymgarl to devour the brain of it's equal to the Ymgarl's Willpower Bonus, and must be prey to gain access to all of it's victim's most recent of a creature of the same size category as the Ymgarl. and distinct memories (usually the location of friendly Shapeshifting requires several minutes to complete. troops or defences). If the Ymgarl wishes to learn The Ymgarl will revert back to their natural shape something very different from the victim, such upon reaching time restriction, being knocked as an old memory or one the victim does not unconscious, or death. They may shapeshift again remember well, it must make an Easy (+20) in 1d10-WP Bonus hours, provided they have fed. Intelligence Test. Any Medicae tests done on the Ymgarl to heal them that get 2 or more degrees reveal it's true identity. 32 Shapeshifting Expertise Ymgarl has managed to reform functional glands that Requirements: Ymgarl Tyranid, Shapeshifting produce a quantity of Poison that covers weapons. The Ymgarl has begun to master the art of Grants the Toxic quality to all Natural Weapon Shapeshifting, and is able to produce more believable Attacks, which includes Rending Claws and Scything disguises for a longer period of time. Taking this Talons. talent grants an additional +10 to the disguise check to shapeshift, extends the duration of the New Traits shapeshifting limitation to twice the Ymgarl's Willpower Bonus in hours, and allows the Ymgarl to Non-Imperial become one size category larger or smaller than their This Character was not raised amongst humans, base size, with the to hit bonuses and penalties that and knows little about the culture and history of the might entail for the duration of the disguise, though it Imperium. The laws, traditions, religion and does not grant any additional attribute bonuses, and superstitions of Mankind are unfamiliar and alien to the Ymgarl loses the benefits to any talents and traits Characters with this trait. The character suffers a -10 that have size requirements that no longer are met. penalty on all Common Lore, Forbidden Lore and The Ymgarl may not exceed the normal size Scholastic Lore tests relating to the Imperium of Man. categories with this talent. The Ymgarl will revert back to their natural state upon death or Speak Not Unto the Alien unconsciousness. The degrees of success on Medicae This character is a member of an alien species, tests needed is increased to 3. viewed with a mixture of fear and loathing by those of other species, and so is essentially different in form Shapeshifting Mastery and thought that any kind of social interaction is a Requirements: Ymgarl Tyranid, Shapeshifting, significant challenge. Shapeshifting Expertise This creature counts all Fellowship-based tests as Posessing true mastery of their shapeshifting being two steps more difficult when dealing with ability, the Ymgarl has refined their skills to an almost creatures of a species other than its own. Additionally, perfect extent. The Ymgarl gains an an additional those of other species treat their Fellowship-based +10 (For a total of +20 from this talent) to all disguise tests as being two steps more difficult when dealing checks to shapeshift, allows the shapeshift to persist with him. These penalties do not apply when dealing for a number of days equal to twice their Willpower with individuals who have come to trust the xenos bonus, and allows the Ymgarl to shapeshift two size player character, for whatever reason (although the categories larger or smaller. This talent also reflects final arbitrator of this is the GM). Finally, the presence the fact that the Ymgarl has finally begun to master of any xenos aboard a human vessel is unsettling for their shapeshifting abilities, and allows them to add to the crew, and as rumours spread, discontent over the their own formidable abilities several talents from alien in their midst becomes noticeable. The continued other Tyranid strains. The degrees of success required presence of one or more xenos player characters by medicae tests increases to 4. aboard a ship reduces its Morale by 2.

Tenacious Grappler Ymgarl Tyranid Requirements: Hunger (Tempered), Shapeshifting The creature is a species of Ymgarl Tyranid, and Mastery, Ymgarl Tyranid though the all consuming Will of the Hive Mind that The Ymgarl drag down their prey by grappling on links and controls all Tyranids no longer calls to them, so that they might extract the precious blood that they they gain the following benefits due to remaining require to survive. When attempting to grapple an portions of their neural framework. Ymgarl Tyranids opponent armed with a Melee weapon, the Ymgarl are immune to Fear and poisons, including the effects suffers only -10 to their WS instead of a -20. of weapons with the Toxic Quality. This trait grants proficiency with all Tyranid weaponry and allows Toxic Biomorph: the Ymgarl to produce Living Ammunition. Requirements; Hunger (Tempered), Shapeshifting Mastery, Ymgarl Tyranid After an immense amount of practice, the 33 Chapter 3: Tyranid Armory

Tyranid Weapons Tyranid weapons are living things. In many cases the weapons wielded by the various species of Tyranid are symbiotic creatures that grow and live together with the host creature that wields them. Presented here are a selection of Tyranid weapons. Weapon Training: Only creatures with the Tyranid Trait or Ymgarl Tyranid Trait may use Tyranid weapons. No weapon training Talent is required for a Tyranid to use a Tyranid weapon. (Weapon Quality) Deadly Snare: The weapon envelops the target in snares which not only constrict but seek to strangle and flay their victim. This weapon quality functions in the same way as the Snare weapon quality (See Chapter V of the Rogue Trader Core Rulebook), except that any character entangled by the weapon suffers the weapons damage again in their turn every round if they do not break free. (Weapon Quality) Living Ammunition: The ranged weapons of the Tyranids use ammunition that is grown, gestated, or excreted by the creature or weapon. As such, ranged Tyranid weapons do not have a clip value (it is considered to be infinite), and do not need to be reloaded. The weapon also never Jams. (Ymgarl Special Ability) Integrated Weaponry Due to the organic nature of Tyranid Weaponry, a Ymgarl may integrate a number of Tyranid Weapons Special Ammunition (Weapon Dependent) (equal to half their unmodified Toughness Bonus) into Certain Tyranid Weapons have variant ammunition their own biomass, and hide them with their types. These require a separate Acquisition Test, but Shapeshifting ability, utilizing Disguise instead of afterward are generated by the Tyranid's Biology, Sleight of Hand. The Ymgarl must still have allowing them to select which ammunition type they sufficient carrying capacity to do this, and the GM desire. may rule they need to be a larger size for certain weapons. Rending Claws and Scything Talons do not Changing Ammunition Types count toward this limit, as detailed in their individual Changing ammunition types is a incredibly swift, descriptions. A Tyranid may utilize Perfect Disguise as the valves and pathways within the Tyranid's to incorporate hiding weapons into their shifting, and biology function at an incredibly high speed. are considered to have succeeded on the Disguise Effectively, all Tyranids function as though they are Check with a number of degrees of success equal to equipped with a Fire Selector. one their unmodified Willpower Bonus. Changing Weaponry with this would follow the same Equivalent Imperial Gear procedure as developing a new disguise, Ymgarl may purchase Bioforged equivalents to detailed in the Perfect Disguise Talent. Imperial gear. The gear has the same bonuses and penalties, and is generally available for 3-4 rarity higher than their imperial counterparts, all subject to GM Discretion. 34 Tyranid Ranged Weapons Fleshborer A Fleshborer is a nest for razor-fanged borer Barbed Strangler beetles which it ejects towards enemies. The Barbed Strangler shoots a seed pod the size of a man’s fist using muscle contraction along the fleshy barrel of the weapon. Upon impact, the strangler seed-pod grows to maturity in seconds, sending out hooked tendrils to bind and tear at its prey.

Spike Rifle Essentially a long tube of muscle, the spike rifle fires a short harpoon-like bone into its targets over a considerable distance, which imbed themselves if they deal damage. Razor sharp and fired with great force, the spike is able to punch through light armour and even right through unarmoured targets. Once Deathspitter embedded in flesh it becomes very difficult to remove A Deathspitter is a complex weapon symbiote that as it has tiny barbs which dig into the victim, holding shoots maggot-like organisms at targets with a spasm it in place. Removing the spikes requires a of agonised muscle. Upon striking the target, the Challenging (+0) Medicae Test, and failure means that squirming projectile disintegrates in a spray of the weapon's damage is dealt again to that location, corrosive slime. ignoring armor.

Spine Fists Carried in pairs, these weapon beasts attach to a Tyranid creature’s arms and can fire a sustained volley of razor sharp darts. The speed at which the Spine Fist can fire, and thus its rate of fire and its deadliness, is related directly to the creature using it. It has tubes Devourer attached to the creatures airways allowing a stronger A Devourer is a conical lump of flesh that showers creature to expel more force into the weapon and fire its target with a mass of worm-like parasites that more darts. Thus a Tyranid creature can fire only burrow through flesh and armour, thus eating the single shots from its Spine Fists unless it has the Swift target alive. Attack or Lightning Attack Talents. Creatures with the Brain Leech Worms (Special Ammunition): A Swift Attack Talent can fire them with a semi-auto rate Devourer may be host to these more voracious and of fire of 2, and a creature with the Lightning Attack deadly variety of creatures. A Devourer with Brain Talent can fire them with a full-auto rate of fire of 4. Leech Worms does 2d10+6 R damage. Brain Leech Creatures may of course choose to fire them at a lower Worms are a separate Acquisition of Unique Rarity. rate of fire. Finally, a Spine Fist draws directly from the strength of its user and adds their Strength Bonus to the damage it deals.

35 Stranglethorn Cannon Tyranid Melee Weapons The Stranglethorn Cannon is a more potent species of Barbed Strangler that shoots seed pods that Bonesword spawn deadlier and more aggressive tendrils. Boneswords are living blades of chitin that possess a rudimentary sentience slaved to the will of the wielder that infuses the blade with crackling psychic energy and drains the life-force of its victims. Drain Life: When a victim takes any damage from a Bonesword, the wielder and victim make an Opposed Willpower Test. For every degree of success, the Bonesword’s wielder deals an additional 1d10 points of Damage, ignoring the victim’s Armour and Toughness Bonus. Strangle Web A composite creature, like all Tyranid weapons, the Strangle Web fires a spray of sticky mucus at its target, enveloping them in strands of glistening web. Almost immediately the web begins to harden and those covered become enmeshed in a cocoon of constricting fibers which begins to crush them. Those that survive the crushing are the left to the mercy of the swarm. Lash Whip Venom Cannon and Venom Cannon (Heavy) A Lash Whip is a living scourge of muscle and The Venom Cannon uses an electrostatic charge to sinew. Its tendrils snake around an opponent’s shoot highly corrosive crystals coated with a metallic, defences to strangle and ensnare those that are not venomous residue. On impact, the crystals shatter, sliced apart by the bony hooks at the tip of each creating a deadly cloud of fragments. Some larger tentacle. species of Tyranid also use an even larger and more potent species of the Venom Cannon, the (Heavy) Variant.

36 Rending Claws Scything Talons Rending Claws are diamond hard growths of bone Scything Talons are razor-edged claws of fused capable of crushing reinforced ceramite and ripping chitin and serrated bone used to stab and slash. through the thickest of armour with frightening ease. Scything Talons count as a Natural Weapon for the Rending Claws count as a Natural Weapon for the purposes of some talents, cannot be used to parry, and purposes of some talents, cannot be used to parry, and cannot be disarmed. One acquisition grants a talon for cannot be disarmed. One acquisition grants a claw each arm the Ymgarl can attack with. (Mechanically for each arm the Ymgarl can attack with. this translates to 3) (Mechanically this translates to 3)

37 Chapter 4: Tyranid Psychic Powers Many Tyranid bio-forms possess potent psychic Hypnotic Gaze powers, manifested not from drawing the power of Action: Half the warp but by tapping into the vast gestalt will of Opposed: Yes the Hive Mind itself. Such is the potency of the Hive Range: 10 metres Mind that a fully fledged Tyranid fleet can blanket Sustained: Yes entire regions of space with its presence, casting a Description: The Broodlord can use its powerful gaze shadow in the warp and projecting its ancient and to snare the mind of a nearby warrior, holding it terrifying consciousness across the barrier between immobile and helpless as long as its stare remains Materium and Immaterium. When a Tyranid creature unbroken. The Broodlord can affect a single enemy with a particularly strong connection to the Hive with this power, provided it can make eye contact with Mind, or the ability to channel its power, taps into this its intended target. If the target succumbs to the power, vast store of will, it can create deadly psychic effects, it is then held immobile (counts as being Helpless) subverting minds, incinerating flesh or even bending until it can break free by winning an Opposed reality to aid the Tyranids’ all consuming hunger. Willpower Test at the start of any of its turns, or the Ymgarl Tyranids are different from conventional Broodlord’s gaze is somehow broken. Tyranids in that their own damaged biology has given them something that their fellow Tyranids do not Leech Essence have: a connection to the true immaterium. Ymgarl Action: Half Tyranids follow all the normal rules for Sanctioned Opposed: Yes Psykers as presented in the Rogue Trader Core Range: 10 metres x PR Rulebook. In addition, the powers in this section can Sustained: No be purchased with the Tyranid Psychic Power Talent, Description: Using the raw power of the Hive Mind, provided that all the Requirements are met. the Tyranid creature tears the life-force from a nearby foe, devouring its essence and healing its own Dominion wounds. The target suffers 1d5 damage, plus an Action: Half additional 1d5 damage for each degree it fails the Opposed: No Opposed Test, not reduced for either armour or Range: Special Toughness. The Tyranid creature is then immediately Sustained: Yes healed by an amount equal to the damage inflicted, up Description: The Tyranid creature reaches into the to its total number of starting wounds. When working depths of the Hive Mind and strengthens its links to out the effects of Leech Essence, the Ymgarl should the indomitable alien will, projecting a blanket of calculate each 1d5 damage roll separately, because if control and purpose through its Brood Telepathy to all the target dies (or burns a Fate Point) before all the Tyranid bio-forms nearby. While this power is in damage is applied, no further wounds can be drained effect, the Tyranid creature’s Brood Telepathy range is from their desiccated corpse. doubled. In addition, the hardened resolve of the Hive Mind gives both the creature and all other creatures with the Tyranid Trait affected by the power +10 to all Willpower test for its duration.

38 Onslaught The Horror Action: Half Action: Half Opposed: No Opposed: No Range: 25 metres x PR Range: 75 metres, PR Radius Sustained: Yes Sustained: No Description: The Tyranid creature infuses a nearby Description: The Ymgarl may unleash a wave of brood with burning energy and the pitiless drive of the horror that gnaws at the resolve of its enemies. This Hive Mind to devour all in its path. The creature power may be used to target an area within 75 metres. chooses a single Tyranid within it's Brood Telepathy Each target within Psy Rating meters of the initial Range, allowing it to either make a Full Move, point must take a Willpower test with a –30 modifier, Standard Attack (Ranged or Melee), or Charge Action or flee in panic. as a Free Action once per Round. The Tyranid continues to benefit from the effects of this power as Warp Blast long as the creature sustains it and they remain in Action: Half range. Opposed: No Range: 50m x PR Paroxysm Sustained: No Action: Half Description: By sending out a burning bolt of warp Opposed: Yes energy, the Ymgarl blasts an area with power. The Range: 25 metres x PR Ymgarl must choose a single creature within range as Sustained: Yes the target, through others nearby may be affected. The Description: Summoning the power of the Warp, the Ymgarl must make a successful Focus Power Test Ymgarl assails its foes with crippling pain, tearing at modified as if it were making a ranged attack at the their nerve endings and filling their minds with agony target, taking into account such things as range and that makes it difficult for them to stand let alone fight. concealment. Warp Blast inflicts 1d10 Energy Damage The Tyranid creature chooses a number of foes within x PR, with a Penetration of 2 x PR. Creatures within range equal to its Psy Rating. Those that fail their 1m x PR of the target are also affected and suffer Opposed Test reduce both their Weapon Skill and damage as well. This power may be Dodged. Ballistic Skill to 10 while they remain affected by the power. The pain is also quite distracting when trying Warp Lance to concentrate and therefore targets under the effects Action: Half of Paroxysm suffer a –10 to all Intelligence, Opposed: No Perception, Willpower and Fellowship Characteristic Range: 30m x PR and Skill Tests. Sustained: No Description: More focused than a Warp Blast, the Psychic Scream Warp Lance is primarily used against heavily Action: Half armoured targets and vehicles. Taking the form of a Opposed: No single concentrated beam of energy, it can strike a Range: 20 metre Radius single target within range. The Ymgarl must make a Sustained: No successful Focus Power test, modified as if it were Description: The Ymgarl may let forth a terrible making a ranged attack at the target, taking into silent scream that echoes in the mind as a crippling account such things as range and concealment. Warp shriek. All sentient, living creatures within range Lance inflicts 2d10 Energy Damage x PR, with a suffer a hit that deals 1d10+8 Impact Damage to their Penetration of 5 x PR. This power may be Dodged. head with the Shocking quality (See Rogue Trader Core Rulebook). The victims suffers a –30 penalty to his Toughness Test to resist Stunning. If the Toughness Test is failed, the victim is stunned for 1d5 rounds.

39 Chapter 5: Tyranid Starships Teeth, claws, tentacles, spines – give me guns, oh Hive ships Emperor give me guns! I know how to fight an enemy These void-swimming behemoths act as primary who attacks me with guns!” nodes for the Hive Mind and direct the activity of the - Captain Endolus at the Battle of Macragge entire swarm. Hive ships function as living mother ships, bio-factory vessels breeding and hatching The race known to Man as the Tyranids have been endless swarms of Tyranids to pursue prey across void the bane of all organic life for eons, devourers of and planet alike. Though most swarms will typically worlds and the agents of the fall of more races and contain more than one hive ship, in some circles it is civilisations than even Mankind can ever aspire to. As believed that there is still a single ship that maintains the menace of the Tyranid Hive fleets Kraken, central control of the entire collective and acts to Behemoth and Leviathan stretch across the southern coordinate the assault, though this cannot be and eastern arms of the galaxy, great swathes of space confirmed. There are also unsubstantiated reports that and even entire sectors have disappeared from the there are a very small number of hive ships in every Emperor’s Light beneath the vast shadow of the Hive swarm that are much more massive than the rest. Mind. On the other side of the galaxy in the Koronus Dwarfing even great battleships, these immeasurably Expanse, there exist only remnants of these deadly vast creatures arrive very late in the process of Hive Fleets. Severed from whatever Hive Mind they planetary assimilation and are believed to be those might once have been a part of, these isolated vessels responsible for the method by which even the and drifting hulks have some similarities with their atmosphere and oceans are consumed from orbit, as more active bretheren, and some incredible the final stage of the world’s consumption by the hive differences. Those Ymgarl who have discovered and fleet. Though such a gargantuan organism would been able to unlock the secrets of these 'Hiveless' explain how once lush and fertile worlds are left ships have found remarkable things within. barren, airless and sterile, there are as of yet no recorded sightings of such a monstrous creature. The Hive Mind Imperial scientists believe that hive ships and their attendant drone ships have a deep connection to the Hive Mind – the over-arching gestalt consciousness of the Tyrannic race. This pervasive psychic contact permeates the area around the hive fleet to such an extent that Warp space is distorted for light years around the fleet’s position. Travel through the Warp becomes increasingly uncertain near the Tyrannic fleets and astrotelepathy exceptionally unreliable or completely useless. Many Astropaths have lost their minds in battle with the Tyranids, and entire squadrons have been crippled by dangerous Warp eddies. Thus, as the hive fleets advance, confusion and terror precede them beneath the suffocating shadow they cast over the doomed worlds in their path. Hiveless vessels do not cast this ominous precursor to their arrival, nor the same disruption. While still able to communicate with other vessels on a local scale, Hiveless vessels are very much isolated during long travels unless they have a powerful telepath of some kind aboard or a Tyranid still connected to a Hive Mind elsewhere.

40 Kraken, Cruisers and Droneships to be determined. Hiveless ships do not progress into These bio-ships range in size from comparable to more advanced ships naturally, having been cut off the escorts of other races to massive ships nearly the from the devices and resources to do so. With equal in size of the hive ships they accompany. Ever sufficient research and development, this process evolving, some of these creatures of the void are might be restarted but the specifics of how are a secret called Kraken, named after the hive fleet in which entrusted to the Hive Mind, a resource which Ymgarl they first appeared, identified as specialized no longer have access to. biological entities which accompany hive ships in a Many of these beasts are developed with very swarm and defeat each new foe they encounter. Hive specialised abilities that were probably evolved over ships are known to respond to new threats by birthing the Tyranids’ long experience against various races more of these Kraken to overwhelm the defences of throughout the galaxy. Found in a wide variety of any sentient race or hapless world they encounter. forms, these creatures exhibit bizarre forms that can Hiveless ships still retain the ability to manufacture be quite unlike one another. Unlike the far larger hive lesser bio-weapons and life forms, but the ability to ships that have shown a basic pattern of growth produce more advanced Tyranid Strains has been lost despite their great variety, these beasts have shown a by them. Though they lack this function, they are still diversity of forms and functions so numerous as to a formidable threat and not to be taken lightly by defy conventional classification. First described in those who encounter them in the Expanse. detail by forces opposing Hive Fleet Kraken, these Though the Imperium has come to learn much creatures demonstrate characteristics that are about these creatures of the galactic ether, the obviously evolved to counter specific threats, and they distinction between the so-called classes of ship usually appear in the forefront of a swarm as it remain unclear. It has only recently, for instance, been approaches insystem to break up enemy formations. It ascertained (through careful observation of the is believed that because some of these ships are subdual and consumption of Bonnis II in the Coronet evolved to fill such a specialised role, their size varies Sector) that many of the escorts and cruisers found in greatly dependant upon need. Many within the typical Tyranid swarms are immature hive ships in Imperium fear that if such mutability can exist within various stages of development. It is believed that the the lower orders of the Tyranid race, that hive ships Hive Mind nodes in these space-dwelling organisms and their gargantuan kin could also evolve rapidly and remain dormant until they are mature enough to effectively pose an even more direct threat to the project their will across vast reaches of space, though forces that oppose them. With proper guidance from a when this takes place in a creature’s life cycle has yet Ymgarl, Hiveless Ships can do the same.

41 Vanguard Droneships armed. They appear primarily to act as scouts and These fast scouts are the only type of Tyranid bio- travel light years ahead of a swarm to locate and seed ship that have ever been observed operating suitable prospective planets for assimilation. They independently of a hive fleet. These creatures quickly may well also act to illuminate enemy vessels for develop their psychic connection to the Hive Mind, attack by later contingents of the invading swarm. allowing them to be sent far ahead of the hive ship Agents of Mankind have struggled against death and other synapse vessels, but this comes at a price. itself to gather information about the Hive Mind ever They mature quickly and remain slight, flimsy since humans first encountered them in the Tyran creatures in comparison to their much slower growing system. And, at a huge cost to themselves, they have (and longer lived) brethren. Vanguard drone ships ascertained more detailed information about the possess great speed and agility, but are only lightly operating activities and tactics of Tyranid swarms.

42 Tyranid Starship Special Rules

Tyranid Hiveless Vessel Special Rules a rate of one per week. This means that every week a All Hiveless ships are subject to the following Tyranid Ship could re-grow one torpedo, one squadron special rules: of fighter equivalents, or one squadron of bomber Handling Feedback: The piloting systems on equivalents. Tyranid vessels are semi-sentient and able to provide feedback and automatically correct mistakes. Tyranid Traversing the Void vessels may re-roll any piloting tests for Manoeuvre Normally Tyranids do not travel in the same way Actions. that Imperial Vessels do, but that is not the case with Animalistic Horror: The sheer brutality of Tyranids Hiveless vessels. The Hiveless Vessels of the when the engage in Boarding Actions is something Koronus Expanse have a unique component not found that few witness and live to tell the tale. Double in other Tyranid vessels: the Narvhal Drive. The Crew Population and Morale damage inflicted with a Narvhals are mostly defenseless vessels that allow successful Boarding Action or Hit and Run attack. hive fleets to travel to the edge of most systems, then Spawning Pools: Due to the ability to spawn the travel to the desired planet by conventional sub-light barely sentient lesser lifeforms that handle minor drives. This is an incredibly slow process, and is systems aboard Tyranid Vessels, crew are easily hindered by gravity wells of other planetary bodies replaced. Reduce all Crew Population losses by 1 (to and other celestial hazards. Perhaps this drive was a minimum of 1). developed by a long lost hive fleet specifically due to Bred for Duty: The mechanical nature with which the increased number of celestial hazards present in Tyranids perform their duties on ship combined with the Koronus Expanse. For whatever reason, the the ease with which the fallen are replaced leads to a conversion allows for travel much further into resilient system of command. Reduce all Morale systems, but not without a cost. losses by 1 (to a minimum of 1). The Narvhal Drive functions very similar to the Bio-Organic Hull: Due to their living nature, Tyranid Warp Drives utilized by the Imperium. By breaking Vessels are not maintained in the same manner as the the barrier partially into the Immaterium, the starships of the other races. In any instance where the navigational problems caused by gravity wells and Tech-Use skill would be utilized (this includes special other hazards is negated, but at the risk of drawing the actions in starship combat), utilize a Medicae Test watchful eyes of those that inhabit the beyond. instead. Note: Enterprising Ymgarl may find a way to This allows Tyranid Vessels to travel the stars in put non-organic systems on their ship to diversify it's the same manner that Imperial Vessels do, by entering abilities. Utilize Tech Use as normal for non-organic the Warp. When traversing the Warp with Tyranid parts integrated into Tyranid Vessels. ships, utilize the same steps that Imperial Vessels do Localized Hive Mind: Though not as powerful as the as detailed in the Rogue Trader Core Rulebook. true Tyranid Hive Mind, Hiveless ships can communicate with each other within a star system and Drawn to the Stars so long as they maintain relatively close distance No easy task to perform, the operation and within Narvhal Drive. This allows for navigation of Tyranid Vessels is not something every communications as though utilizing a standard Vox Ymgarl can do. Those that do are known as Ymgarl Caster between Hiveless Vessels, range being GM Fleetmasters, capable of understanding and managing discretion. the various needs of the monstrous and confusing Bio- Biological Ordinance: Due to various spawning Ships that lay abandoned across the Koronus Expanse. pools located throughout Tyranid Vessels, Even with their own skill, they often seek out fellow replacements to consumable items are regenerated at Ymgarl to ease the burden of maintaining the enormous beasts that carry them across the void.

43 Creating Tyranid Starships

Tyranid Starships are constructed much in the Spore Fields same way as Imperial starships, with some differences Surrounding Tyranid Vessels is an incredible to the rules. Begin by selecting a Hull from the number of small pieces of biomass. This biomass is Tyranid Hull Types. After this is done, proceed with capable of stopping incoming munitions fire, and is selecting Essential Components, checking below to replaced as quickly as it is destroyed. For statistics make sure what parts and effects are available. utilize Imperial Void Shields with the same statistics, benefits, and restrictions located in the Rogue Trader Essential Components: Core Rulebook and other supplements. Essential Components are required for a starship to function. A ship must have one (no more) Tyrannic Command Clusters Component from each of the following categories, Providing a localized series of interface clusters, lest the ship lose some vital function. Without a life this provides an ideal point from which to monitor all sustainer, for instance, the vessel is nothing more functions of a bio-ship. For statistics, utilize Imperial than a cold and empty tomb, while a ship would be Bridge Components with the same statistics, benefits, blind and deaf without an auger array. and restrictions presented in the Rogue Trader Core Rulebook and other supplements. Bio-Mass Conversion Drives Tyrannic vessels move themselves through the Tyrannic Bio-Sustainer immaterium utizing an organic means of propulsion While many Tyranids can function in pure that produces equivalent thrust to Imperial vessels. vacuum, they require some support during their These also serve to convert obtained biomass to spawning stages, as do some of the lesser Tyrannic provide energy to the propulsion and rest of the bio- bioforms. For statistics, utilize Imperial Life ship. Utilize Imperial Plasma Drive with the same Sustainer Components with the same statistics, statistics, benefits, and restrictions located in the benefits, and restrictions presented in the Rogue Rogue Trader Core Rulebook and other supplements. Trader Core Rulebook and other supplements.

Narvhal Drive Tyrannic Housing Pods This component is a modified version of the In order to transport the large quantity of Tyranids traditional Narvhal Bio-Ship that guides the majority necessary to successfully overtake a planet, there must of Tyranid Fleets through the void. A highly modified be adequate space, which Housing Pods provide. For interface system allows operators to sense far off statistics, utilize Imperial Crew Quarters Components locations in the void, then touch the immaterium to with the same statistics, benefits, and restrictions reach their destination unimpeded by traditional presented in the Rogue Trader Core Rulebook and restrictions of the Narvhal Bioship (For more details other supplements. see Traversing the Void on page 43). For statistics utilize Imperial Warp Drives with the same statistics, Tyrannic Bio-Sensors benefits, and restrictions located in the Rogue Trader Tyranid ships are able to sense anomalies in the Core Rulebook and other supplements. void through a complicated network of sensory organs located throughout their superstructure. For statistics, Zoanthropic Shielding utilize Imperial Auger Array Components with the Another component unique to Tyranid Ships of same statistics, benefits, and restrictions presented in the Expanse, this field is a means of protecting a ship the Rogue Trader Core Rulebook and other from the dangers of the Immaterium. Grown from a supplements. strain bearing some similarities to Tyranid Zoanthropes, it protects Tyranid Vessels utilizing the Biological Voidships Narvhal Drive to traverse the void. For Due to the strange nature of Bio-Ships, those not statistics, utilize Imperial Gellar Fields with proficient with their workings suffer a -20 to all the same statistics, benefits, and restrictions Medicae tests to repair damage done to them. located in the Rogue Trader Core Tyranids are considered to be proficient. Rulebook and other supplements. 44 Supplemental Components Pyro-Acidic Battery There exist several special components that can These Tyranid weapons work by launching be added to Tyranid Bio-Ships during their compact organic shells containing virulent toxins and construction, primarily weapons. Rules regarding pyro-acids. These can cause considerable damage on how to represent Tyranid Starship Weapons are impact, but it is the release of their ravening payloads detailed below. into the confines of a ship that can prove the most deadly. For statistics, utilize any Imperial Bio-Plasma Macrobattery Weapon located in the Rogue Trader Massive Bio-plasma-emitting spines can also be Core Rulebook or other supplements. Due to their found on Tyranid bio-ships. These spines emit pyro-acidic quality, upon achieving any critical hit the gargantuan balls of Bio-plasma that can devastate vessel struck is automatically subjected to a 'fire' enemy voidcraft. Bio-plasma spines serve as effective critical hit in addition to whatever critical effect is short-range weapons batteries in void combat for rolled. Tyranid bio-ships. Bio-Plasma Spines function the same way that Imperial Lance weapons do. For Tyrannic Boarding Torpedoes statistics, utilize Imperial Lance Weapons with the Due to the penchant for Tyranids to engage in same statistics, benefits, and restrictions as detailed in Boarding actions, Tyranid vessels only utilize the Rogue Trader Core Rulebook and other Boarding Torpedoes, or rather their Bioform supplements. equivalent. Utilize the rules for Imperial Torpedo Tubes and Boarding Torpedoes presented in Feeder Tendrils Battlefleet Koronus and other supplements for any Many Tyranid ships have huge tentacles which Torpedo components. they use to ‘feed’ on planetary atmospheres, and which can also be used to punch through the Tyrannic Launch Bays hull of a ship allowing the Tyranid organisms Tyranids utilize a variety of attack craft and inside to assault the enemy. For statistics, utilize the bomber variants aboard their vessels, largely in the Murder Servitors Supplemental Component located form of deployable bio-form variants of small craft. on page 205-206 of the Rogue Trader Core Rulebook. Utilize Imperial Equivalents of Launch Bays, Bombers, Fighters, and Assault Boats located in Massive Claws Battlefleet Koronus for any Landing Bay components. Tyranid vessels are terrifying in combat at close Possible variations include hull-boring worms, ether- quarters. Not only are they packed full of swimming brood carriers, protazoid enzymes, bioengineered killing machines, often the ships ravening limpet mines and the like. themselves have specially evolved claws designed to rip through the armour of its target, or crushing Other Supplemental Components mandibles that latch onto the ship’s prey and then Tyrannic vessels may utilize bio-formed slowly but inevitably tear through decks and gantries. equivalents of any Imperial Starship component, For statistics, utilize the Armored Prow Supplemental provided there would logically be an equivalent. For Component located on page 204 of the Rogue Trader more components, check the Rogue Trader Core Core Rulebook. Rulebook or other supplements.

45 Tyranid Starship Hulls Tyranid Hive Ship Hull: Grand Cruiser (Equivalent) Dimensions: 7.5 km long, 1.8 km abeam Mass:40 Megatonnes Crew: GM Discretion Accel: 2.2 Gravities Max Sustainable Tyranid hive ships are monstrous, void swimming leviathans that are found at the very heart of the hive fleets. Tremendous physical variety has been observed in these behemoths, although thick, stone-like armour plates and dense clusters of weapon growths are common features. Despite their seemingly impossible size, hive ships are living creatures incorporating millions of bioengineered organisms. Each is a biological factory capable of creating millions of Tyranid organisms, of replicating genomes and splicing together new creatures perfectly adapted for each new world encountered. Tens of thousands of Tyranid warriors are carried aboard hive ships, the cocooned officers of nightmare hordes yet to be born.

Speed: 5 Manoeuvre: +5 Detection: +10 Hull Integrity: 90 Armor: 21 Turret Rating: 4 Space: 90 Ship Points: 70 Weapon Capacity: Port 2, Starboard 2, Prow 1, Dorsal 1 Tyranid Cruiser Hull: Cruiser (Equivalent) Dimensions: 5 km long, .8 km abeam Mass:28 Megatonnes Crew: GM Discretion Accel: 2.5 Gravities Max Sustainable Tyranid cruiser class vessels represent a mixture of immature hive ships and overgrown escort drones. They are aggressive in their attacks, storming out from the hive fleet in response to any threat to the massive hive ships, often using claws and tentacles to make direct attacks on ships in an effort to physically smash them to pieces. Cruiser sized Tyranid bioships are seldom found far from the hive ship, however, and it has been theorised that they receive their nourishment from them in some manner. Tyranid cruisers are arguably the greatest threat within the Tyranid fleet, since they are themselves massive and well-armed, whilst not being relied upon as a synapse creature. This allows cruisers to attack far more aggressively than hive-ships, since their loss will not greatly endanger associated elements of the fleet. As with most Tyranids vessels, however, their threat is only really effective at close range.

Speed: 5 Manoeuvre: +10 Detection: +10 Hull Integrity: 70 Armor: 20 Turret Rating: 2 Space: 75 Ship Points: 60 Weapon Capacity: Port 1, Starboard 1, Prow 1, Dorsal 1 46 Tyranid Vanguard Drone Ship Hull: Raider (Equivalent) Dimensions: 1.6 km long, 0.3 km abeam Mass:6 Megatonnes Crew: GM Discretion Accel: 5 Gravities Max Sustainable Vanguard drone ships range far ahead of the main fleets at times, seeking suitable worlds for the hive ships to feast upon. They carry specific Tyranid infiltration organisms, such as Genestealers, Lictors, Hormagaunts and Leapers which they seed onto likely worlds with spores from low orbit. Vanguard drone ships in close proximity to the hive fleets are those which have either recently returned with such scouting information, or are about to depart with their cargo of woe for more worlds. The threat posed by these organisms to countless planets is such that they are often priority targets in raids against the hive fleets.

Speed: 10 Manoeuvre: +25 Detection: +10 Hull Integrity: 90 Armor: 16 Turret Rating: 1 Space: 40 Ship Points: 35 Weapon Capacity: Prow 1 Tyranid Escort Drone Hull: Frigate (Equivalent) Dimensions: 1.95 km long, .3 km abeam Mass:7.5 Megatonnes Crew: GM Discretion Accel: 4.3 Gravities Max Sustainable Slow and heavy in comparison to the other Tyranid escort class vessels, escort drones are heavily armed for their size and usually come mobhanded. They are often the hive ship’s last line of defence and cluster in dense shoals about the behemoth’s flanks.

Speed: 7 Manoeuvre: +18 Detection: +15 Hull Integrity: 40 Armor: 20 Turret Rating: 1 Space: 42 Ship Points: 42 Weapon Capacity: Prow 2

47 Chapter 6: Alternate Career Ranks Alternate Career Ranks represent diversions and Lastly, each Alternate Career Rank has a set of Ranks differing branches to a character’s basic Career Path. at which it can be selected. Typically, this is a These might be the result of exposure to new cultures minimum Rank within a Career Path that the Alternate or agencies in the Expanse, hidden secrets a character Career Rank can replace (such as Rank 3 or higher). chooses to reveal to his fellow Explorers, or the result If an Explorer meets all the above requirements for of specialised training or equipment a character has an Alternate Career Rank, he can select it in place of gained in his travels. Note that these Alternate Career one of his normal Career Path’s Ranks when he earns Ranks do not fundamentally change a character’s enough xp to access that Rank. The Explorer replaces nature; if a character is following the Arch-militant the Rank he would have taken with the Alternate Career Path, then his path stays focused on martial Career Rank. The Explorer exchanges the Alternate abilities and conflict. Rather, they signify a Career Rank’s Advance Table for the usual Rank he character’s experiences moving along a side path, would be able to make purchases from as part of his learning new abilities and gaining new experiences Career. At this point, the Explorer has access to the along the way. new Advances and may spend xp to purchase these Alternate Career Ranks can let a player Talents, Traits, and Skills. Some of the Alternate differentiate and personalise his character, especially Career Ranks also have special Traits or other abilities in situations where several players have chosen the that the Explorer gains immediately upon selecting the same Career. Based on the new directions a player Alternate Career Rank. Once the Explorer has earned wishes his Explorer to follow, he might find his enough xp points to reach the next Rank in his Career, character evolving in ways the player had not initially he returns to the next Rank in his original Career Path. anticipated when creating him. While any new Alternate Career Rank is filled Alternate Career Ranks also allow a character to with new opportunities, there are some drawbacks to become even more firmly rooted into the settings of diverging off of the standard path. This new focus Rogue Trader, the Calixis Sector and the Koronus might deny an Explorer access to other Skills and Expanse. Each of these paths offer Explorers new and Talents, or force the Explorer to pay more experience exciting ways to interact with the rest of their for them. A player could even find his character’s surroundings. maximum ability with certain Skills reaching its upper limit earlier than he had planned. This is a potential Taking an Alternate Career Rank price for taking a more generalised character in a more Alternate Career Ranks might look very appealing, specific and specialised direction. and not just because they represent something that As all of this can complicate the normal character diverges from the standard Career Path. With access progression system, Alternate Career Ranks are to new powers, Skills, and Talents, a character can recommended for more experienced players. Keep in stand out from others and, ideally, better aid his mind also that regardless of how many new options an fellow Explorers. However, some Alternate Career Explorer gains, an Explorer’s Rank is still governed Ranks can complicate the campaign at large, and by the total amount of xp he has earned over the players should always ask for the GM’s permission course of his development. before having their Explorers take on Alternate Career Ranks. Elite Advances from Missed Career Ranks Each Alternate Career Rank has several Choosing an Alternate Career Rank means a character Prerequisites that an Explorer must meet before has diverged from the generalised regular path of his selecting it. Many of these Prerequisites are Talents, career for a more specialised one. While this means Skills, or Characteristic thresholds, and an Explorer access to new and often unique abilities during his must fulfil all of the listed Prerequisites for an tenure, it can often mean missing out on the Alternate Career Rank before selecting it. opportunities afforded in the regular development of In addition, some Alternate Career Ranks are only his character. The Explorer can purchase these available to Explorers from certain Careers. “missed” Skills and Talents Other Alternate Career Ranks have various restrictions in this regard. 48 with the GM’s approval as Elite Advances in the Career Progression missed Rank at a cost set by the Game Master. A Advancing to a character’s next Rank is done recommended base cost for these Advances is twice normally once the character has accumulated and the original cost (so a 200 xp Skill would cost 400 xp, spent enough xp. The character might find in later while a 500 xp Talent would cost an impressive 1,000 Ranks that the digression he took for his Alternate xp). The GM can modify this amount up or down as Career Rank has left him bereft of certain Skills, ones he sees fit, keeping in mind that Alternate Career needed as Prerequisites for some of the Advances the Ranks present opportunities to characters they character might wish to have. To acquire them the normally would not have, and there should be a trade- player must obtain them as Elite Advances. off for this opportunity. Alternately, the player might find developing the new Advances his character gained in his Alternate Career Rank is a way to further individualise a character and make up for the missed opportunities of the path not taken.

49 Ymgarl Fleetmaster

Some Ymgarl are drawn to a calling from the While a few Ymgarl can operate one or two moment of their awakening. For some, this drive functions of these vessels it, it is those who are given brings them to a treasured possesion: the skills and the title of Fleetmaster that can manipulate the various knowledge to operate and maintain one of the facets of the Bio-Ship with an almost artful precision massive vessels that brought them to this section of and purpose. the galaxy in the first place: a Tyranid Bio-Ship. Able to direct lesser Tyrannic bio-forms and other These large vessels are only tangentially Ymgarl alike, they have an unparalleled understanding understood by the Imperium in areas where Hive of how these ships work, how to operate them, and Fleets are a regular sight. Those that traverse the how to navigate them safely through the stars. Koronus Expanse are different animals entirely, and While this ability is certainly an advantageous one, that is no metaphor. it does come at a cost. Some of the more traditional Tyranid Bio-Ships are living creatures, requiring Ymgarl Genestealer skills are lost to those who are an incredible amount of expertise to operate and granted this voidfaring knowledge. maintain in some ways, but much simpler and more Because of their ability to traverse the Expanse, reliable in others. Thankfully, the Bio-Ships of the these Fleetmasters often become leaders amongst Koronus Expanse are largely automated, and the groups of their own, and several now travel the localized Hive Minds that they produce are enough to Koronus Expanse, possibly hoping to re-unite all the allow control of the titanic organisms by but a few wayward Ymgarl who inhabit it. Ymgarl.

50 Ymgarl Fleetmaster Requirements and Advancement

51 Ymgarl Genestealer Magus

In Genestealer Cults, the Magus plays a vital role in infiltrating a civilized society. Due to his intelligence, charisma, appearance, and understanding of the society being infiltrated, he is well suited to his role as mouthpiece of the clan to the outer society. The Magus is a special mutation which appears in a clan if a psychically-active species, such as humanity, is infiltrated. As a Genestealer Hybrid of the 4th generation, he appears nearly human, although is invariably bald and heavy boned. He is highly intelligent and possesses formidable psychic ability. His "normal" appearance allows him to operate as the public spokesman for the clan or cult, which is disguised as a legitimate religious, political or social movement. The Ymgarl variant of the Genestealer Magus has the same skill with deception, but augments that with a terrible capacity for destruction. The Ymgarl Genestealer Magus is a veritable master of the Immaterium, and greatly in tune with it's psychich abilities. Thanks to the bevy of junk DNA floating around in their systems, Ymgarl have access to a wide variety of Tyranid Psychic Techniques, and are able to unleash the psychic abilities from several different types of Tyranid, including Hive Tyrants and Zoanthropes. Though experimentation and study, the Ymgarl has begun to gain an understanding of the formerly unknown entity that is the immaterium. Gaining comprehension of Psychic Techniques and the warp, this gives an exra edge when utilizing and dealing with those who utilize the powers of the warp. A true force to be reckoned with, both on and off the battlefield, crossing a Ymgarl Genestealer Magus unprepared could cost more than expected.

52 Ymgarl Genestealer Magus Requirements and Advancement

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New Talent: Warp Shunting Out of practice born of the inherenty odd nature of the Ymgarl Tyranid mind, the Magus has learned to better control the odd eddies and currents of the warp. Gain the benefits of the Rite of Sanctioning Talent in the Rogue Trader Core Rulebook.

53 Ymgarl Impersonator

While some Ymgarl Genestealers scrimp and Allowing for more social interaction, the Ymgarl scrouge to get by, some fully embrace the wild becomes more familiar with the various social nicities freedom of the Koronus Expanse and begin to work and nuances that the other races practice. Eventually, within the society, such as it is, that exists there. combined with their natural talent for deception, they Ymgarl Impersonators have fully mastered the art can become skilled at operating in the open with truths of blending in to a particular society or race. Though and negotiation. an incredible amount of practice, they have managed Spending more time in alternative forms to their to perfect their shapeshifted disguise to the point Tyrannic base, many Infiltrators develop skill with the where it is almost completely unrecognizable, even by weapons of the other races. This can give them an medical professionals. extra edge should they go up against them afterwards. This allows the Ymgarl to function as a member Not all who develop this skill do so for beneficial of the society of their choosing without any of the reasons, for some perfect the art of hiding purely for usual drawbacks for being, well, a member of an all the goal of making hunting and evading that much consuming race bent on the destruction of all living easier. With the bevy of additional social interaction, things. Giving them a chance to live beyond the knowledge, and experience, and weapons training, simple need to feed, this also allows the Ymgarl to these kinds of Infiltrators are a nigh unstoppable force experience a whole galaxy that previously had no on certain planets, able to feed to their heart's content chance to exist to them. Broadening their horizons, whilst continually eluding capture. this brings the Ymgarl an epiphany of knowledge Regardless of what they decide to to, about how the various societies that traverse the Void Impersonators are the masters of shapeshifting and function. adaptability.

54 Ymgarl Impersonator Requirements and Advancement

New Talent: Impeccable Disguise New Talent: Eternal Shapeshifting This talent allows the Tyranid to perfectly match This talent allows the Tyranid to maintain their the biology of the race selected with Perfect Disguise. Perfected Disguises without end. So reflexive and The disguise is now effectively flawless, and only ingrained is this shifting that they continue to remain breaking character or psychic mental intrusions could shifted even when unconscious or killed. reveal the true identity of what is underneath. This talent removes the penatlies of Non-Imperial and Speak Not Unto the Alien, due to the increased exposure to the race for the former, and the impeccable disguise for the latter.

55 Ymgarl Scavenger

Naturally gifted in the art of evasion, tracking, and survival, Ymgarl Tyranids are well suited to living on their own amongst the other denizens of the Koronus Expanse. Given their own natural proclivities and ability to blend in and learn, some Ymgarl have found that, in certain locations, there are better ways to obtain the blood they require than hunting. Perhaps through watching others perform the same actions, perhaps by blending in and asking, perhaps by being roped into it at the behest of a large number of individuals with weapons they have come across this new set of skills. Regardless of how, one thing can be said without fail, Ymgarl Scavengers have learned how to scavenge what they need to sell and obtain blood through commercial means. The examples above of how the Ymgarl came to this conclusion are not the only methods that might drive them to this skill, as the universe is a large place with many night unexplainable things within it. What does hold true is that these Ymgarl have taken a shine to to Technological and the Commercial trades. Ymgarl Scavengers have begun to develop an understanding of Non-Biological Technology and the importance it holds for the other races. This newfound understanding can, as mentioned above, provide an excellent method to obtain the thrones required to purchase the blood they need from an unscrupulous, or scrupulous depending on the planet, source. Alternatively, they could also simply be fascinated by Technology, and have begun following a passion of a sort. If they embark upon a more mercantile centric interest, so too do they begin to understand the value of commerce, and the process of exchanging money for goods and services, and vice versa. The natural resiliency of the Ymgarl aids their pursuit of this goal, since many of them are able to explore out and scavenge far further than other humanoid could under the same circumstances, drawing more to this path than one might initially think.

56 Ymgarl Scavenger Requirements and Advanement

New Talent: Hybrid Form Through practice and experimentation, the Scavenger has learned how to assume a form in- between their base Tyrannic one and their preferred Disguise. This allows the Tyranid to utilize Tyranid Weaponry while in the form of their Preferred Disguise. A successful Common Lore (Tech) or Forbidden Lore (Archeotech) skill test allows the Tyranid to camoflage Tyrannic weapons to look like others. Which weapon is the most appropriate for the Tyranid weapon to be camoflaged as is best determined by what equivalent weapon leaves a similar wound.

57 Ymgarl Splicer

While the Ymgarl who wander the Koronus Medicine and research are the primary skills that Expanse are in the end free to do whatever they wish, Splicers utilize to perform their craft: exploring the many of them are haunted by a single overwhelming limits of their own abilities. The motivations vary facet of their existence. They are not wanted. Cut off from Splicer to Splicer, but eventually most come to from the Hive Mind of the Tyranid race, the Ymgarl the realization that there is much that can be done to are alone in the universe, and many seek the reason. enhance their already substantial natural abilities. Splicers are those Ymgarl who dedicate These augmentations can produce some truly horrific themselves to the pursuit of genetic engineering and looking, and incredibly practical enhancements. discovery. Some do this out of a curiosity, since their Many Splicers look to the other races of the abilities are unlike any other Tyranid in existence. Expanse for genetic material to attempt to incorporate There are those that embark upon this path in an into their own. This grants them a familiarity with the attempt to bring to light the flawed genetics that inner workings of those races, an ability which can caused them to be cut off from the rest of their race, come in most handy when attempting to take down a and potentially restore their connection one day. Still squad of them. others embark upon this for a much more simpler Splicers represent the Bio-Engineering elite of the reason: to become stronger. The Koronus Expanse is Ymgarl in the Koronus Expanse. For all those who not for the faint of heart, and being able to shapeshift embark upon this path, great rewards may lie in wait. combined with the natural resiliency of their Race In this path more than any other lies the potential to many would say that of all those in the Expanse, the either embrace or reject the opportunity to join the Ymgarl are some of the best suited. Those who have Galactic community. embarked upon the mastery of Splicing can not only tell, but show those who might think that just how wrong they are.

58 Ymgarl Splicer Requirements and Advancements

New Talent: Genetic Enhancement The Ymgarl has begun to enhance their already substantial shapeshifting abilities. Pick one of the following Traits: Auto-Stabilised, Quadruped, Sturdy, the Splicer's base Tyrannic form gains that Trait. It may be altered with the Shapeshifting talent as normal.

New Talent: Genetic Perfection Experimental splicing has yielded incredible fruit. Each instance of this talent requires an instance of Genetic Enhancement before it can be purchased. Pick one of the following Traits: From Beyond, Regeneration, the Splicer's base Tyrannic Form gains that Trait. It may be altered with the Shapeshifting talent as normal.

New Talent: Genetic Apotheosis The Splicer has become something more than they ever possibly could have amongst the Hive. Pick one of the following Traits: Phase, The Stuff of Nightmares. The Splicer's base form gains that Trait. It may be altered with the Shapeshifting Talent as normal. 59 A Note from the Author

And so here is the completed first draft Tyranid Character Guide, as of 8-18-14 (US Date Notation). This was an incredibly interesting project to work on, and took much more research from a wider variety of sources! The particulars of how the Ymgarl got there are meant to be vague to allow for the GM running to come up with a variety of explanations and options. Since Tyranids are incredibly rare in the Koronus Expanse, there is little to no lore on them being there. Additionally, in an effort to not step on the toes of any official lore that might come out vagueness seemed to be the best option. The Ymgarl were the obvious choice for a PC Tyranid, due to their separation from the hive mind and the fact that their homeworld is located right around the Calixis Sector and Koronus Expanse, so just take that as a baseline and go forth from there! Hopefully this meshes up will with the existing Xenos Character Guides, and here's hoping that you enjoy the opportunity to play a Ymgarl Genestealer! A huge thanks goes out to those who have done the artwork utilized in this guide. If you would like a credit, please feel free to contact me and I will add in a Credits page with your name and a link to the original image location. Additional thanks goes out to LibreOffice, without whom I would not be able to create these Character Guides. And incredible free program, and highly recommended. Special thanks goes out to all those who gave me feedback on the FFG forums, helping with balance issues, grammatical obfuscation, and typos, in particular aleandro01. It's been a huge help! Finally, a huge thanks to Fantasy Flight Games for continuing the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay system. Good luck to them and here's to the next set of fantastic supplments. If you have any questions, find some typos, or simply wish to contact me, send me an email at [email protected], or visit http://www.lodgeblackmangames.jigsy.com.

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