Post by creatureboi on Apr 19, 2014 9:12:07 GMT
I'm currently building myself a new Tyranid army, based on a splinter fleet of Kraken. As I build, paint and play with the army I also want to build a background and history for it. I'm writing this as a series of chapters, taking my hive fleet from its humble beginnings to (hopefully) a terrible and voracious predator feasting on the weak inhabitants of this galaxy. I want to use some of the key battles I fight to build this narrative in a way that links the story of my fleet to their actual battlefield experiences. It will eventually be a series of short chapters, like a mini-series of linked stories. I've named this series "The Eternal Predator" because no doubt I will suffer a lot of defeats as well as victories, but obviously I can't kill off my army in it's own story so it will keep finding ways of coming back! I think that's part of the horror of facing Tyranids; no matter how many you kill there re always millions more. This is simply the first chapter - the prologue, if you will...
The Kraken Falls
The once great Hive Ship drifted above the world its prey had known as Iyanden. She had come here with her sister-ships to feed on the seemingly fragile Eldar-prey. Together they had unleashed their children on the world below. The prey had appeared an easy target - many of the frail creatures had been butchered and fed to the digestion pools. She had drunk deep of their precious bio-mass and grown strong after her long journey through the void.
But then the Eldar-prey had unleashed mighty defences against them. Her children had burned. Her sister-ships had been smashed by artificial prey-ships. She was alone. Surrounded by the corpses of her sister-ships. Her vital fluids were leaking into the cold void through great wounds in her flesh. The bio-matter she had consumed was all but gone.
Desperately she reached out with her mind, seeking the comforting touch of the Hive Mind's presence. There was nothing there. Without the sounds of her sister-ships nearby the silence reverberated around her mind. For the first time in her life she was lost.
Straining her senses she searched ever further for some glimmer of life, a fragment of her former family. Nothing remained. Then, at the very limits of her perception, she felt the faintest of faint whispers; a distant echo of the Hive Mind. Without the amplifying presence of her sister-ships she could not bring that whisper into greater focus. Hope began to fade as her tortured body started to fail.
Her reserves of bio-mass were gone. Without this source of nourishment and raw materials she could not begin to repair the terrible damage the Eldar-prey had done to her. She was drifting in the cold void. Dying, alone.
Falling back upon her ancient instincts she struggled her way through space, nuzzling close to the nearest of her dead sister-ships. Extending her feeder tendrils she burrowed deep into her sister's flesh. She consumed the bio-mass of her sister-ship, using it to seal the gaping wounds in her own skin. Slowly her terrible injuries began to heal and the pain abate, but the psychic anguish remained.
She could not stay with the corpses of her sister-ships for long. The Eldar-prey were searching for her, seeking survivors to wreak vengeance upon for the destruction caused to their world. She was no longer mortally wounded but her eternal hunger still raged. She needed a fresh source of food, somewhere safe, far away.
Casting her mind back out among the stars she searched for worlds rich in life. She listened for the call of scouting organisms seeking prey.
There! In the darkness, a beacon of light. Like a man turning his face to the warmth of the sun she looked towards her distant goal. Silently she slipped away from the graveyard of her sister-ships, heading for fresh feeding grounds. Deep within her, mighty progenitor organs began to quicken, preparing new broods of children to hunt for her. Her reserves of bio-mass were still low but she had sufficient for this task.
Her children would feed and she would absorb them back into herself, taking the precious bio-mass they had harvested. She could then begin the breeding cycle all over again. She would build herself a new family, a new Hive Fleet. Together they would feast on the galaxy and breed. Then she would never be lonely again.