Tyranid-POV story again maybe?

[OhGodItsHimRun]

I recently bought, and just finished reading Peter Fehervari's "Cult of the Spiral Dawn". As a result, I'm thinking about trying again from scratch to write a Tyranid/GSC-POV story.

I'll be using the same notes from last time, but I'm aiming for a more generational framework, now that I've actually read a GW novel (involving the GSC).

Would anyone be interested in collaborating with me to help keep the forward momentum going no matter what fresh hell my job throws at me?

[NidNoms]

good luck my friend, i hope it will be good

[OhGodItsHimRun]

Yay. A reply. In response, here's the opening segment which I came up with while at work that night, and proofread after I got home. Hopefully it whets somebody's appetite.

***PROLOGUE***

As before, the dreaming ended, and the Brood was spawned. Awareness came, and the Brood knew of its numbers. Of the world to be harvested. Of the capabilities demonstrated by the life-system. Of the needs of its overself.

The bodies of the synaptic modulation strain were attending to the spawning pool; monitoring its functions to eliminate unwanted genetic variances. Their mind briefly touched the mind of the Brood, but the Brood already knew its purpose. It left the pool and spread out into the depths of the foliage. Moving and thinking as individual bodies, yet never forgetting their collective self and its purpose.

They were the harvest evaluation strain, but that was not the purpose of their spawning; earlier spawnings of this adjunct-self had already given their Overself knowledge of the capabilities of the life-system. Like most life-systems encountered since the end of the great journey, this one lacked the neurological capacity to appreciate the potential of becoming one with their Overself, and so their sacred purpose had again been reduced to merely a harvest of the world's life-system.

And as before, the prey strove to resist the harvest. And so the Brood was spawned again. Given the purpose to depopulate critical locations which held too many bodies for the synaptic interdiction strain to attend to in a timely manner. So they ran through the jungle, with great speed and perfect stealth. Their minds attuned to the microscopic spore organisms which floated in the world's air, revealing the movements of the prey passing through the invisible clouds, so that the Brood could slip past them entirely unnoticed. Their eyes receptive to the ultraviolet illumination which eluded many of the Overself's other bioforms. Their tongues tasting the prey on the air, and realizing that this world was host to two different life-systems of prey.

That their Overself had not shared this wisdom with the Brood was of no concern to them; their instincts had been designed to understand the nature of one prey, so as to most efficiently undermine and dismantle its resistance. Knowledge of the other prey would only confuse those instincts and reduce their efficiency. And so the Brood ran, unseen and unheard by the other prey as they passed them. To fulfill the purpose for which they had been spawned.

::END OF PREPARED TEXT::

[Indominus]

That's actually pretty good writing I must say. A story from the Tyranids POV is a unique and interesting concept for a story, in a world where well-written Tyranid novels are few and far between. I wish you luck in your writing, and send a psychic prayer from Hive Fleet Indominus that this work inspires our fellow brood members...

[tomboyleillustration]

Ooh! Great start, think you are nailing the Brood/Tyranid point of view!

[OhGodItsHimRun]

Some author's notes:

Protagonist at this point is a Hive Fleet Genestealer Brood (harvest evaluation strain), spawned to infiltrate and slaughter through fortified defensive positions of an Orkish planet (night world / jungle world). The other Tyranid bioforms mentioned are Zoanthropes (synaptic modulation strain), Lictors (synaptic interdiction strain), and the various terraforming spores used to break down a planet's biosphere for easier digestion (no in-game models for those).

The planet is in the midst of a three-sided war, with both the Tyranids and Imperial Guard separately invading the Orkish world at the same time. The Tyranids are a splinter of Hive Fleet Kraken seeking to rebuild their resources (and adapting their colorations to this environment because that's my chosen color scheme since before Hive Fleets got specific rules), while the Guard are the "surplus population" from a Shrine World sent off to anywhere else really, in order to die in the Emperor's name without making a mess of the temples.

The Imperial Navy has been running a long-term interdiction campaign against a fleet of Orkish space-pirates known as the Blackburnaz (due to their ships' stealth technology which is roughly equivalent to an Eldar shadowfield), and having tracked down their base of operations, the Navy has requisitioned a Guard Regiment to go down to the planet's surface to systematically find and destroy the Blackburnaz' repair facilities (and whatever ships are powered down and thus readily targeted for destruction).

The aggregate intelligence of the local Tyranid bio-fleet has prioritized the Orks as the more effort-efficient source of biomass to harvest, thus this Genestealer Brood being genetically and instinctively programmed to hunt Orks rather than Humans.

The Humans are as of yet unaware of the Tyranid presence on the planet, and it shall become a plot point when that fact changes.

The Brood is currently full-sized, but will suffer attrition as it goes through its multiple strike-objectives, until there are only two bodies left when the last target location has been pacified, one body with feeding tendrils and scything talons, the other with an ovipositor-tongue and the magical power of opposable thumbs.

At that point, the Humans have realized the true scope of the planetary situation, and order an Exterminatus to wipe out the Tyranids, even at the expense of leaving the Ork-hunt incomplete. The Overself then gives the survivng bodies of this Brood a new purpose, to infiltrate the launch zone for the retreat of the "valuable" IG assets, and secret themselves away on board one of the Humans' ships. Because unlike GW's staff writers, I believe that the Tyranid Hive Mind is smart enough to grasp the single most basic principle of agriculture.

The feeding-tendrils Genestealer will be lost trying to scrabble up into the ship without the benefit of thumbs (but after being able to feast on a Guardsman's brain to share the wisdom of these prey with his brother), while the last surviving body of the Brood will go on to become my Cult's Patriarch.

I invite opinions from all forumites, and I welcome anyone interested in collaboration (in this thread, by PM, or I could do email or even create a Discord server, if I had cause to do so).

Let me know what you think?

[babyripper]

This story actually sounds... interesting! I was expecting something far more basic and less sophisticated - but it’s a well thought out and interesting story. I like that it’s not just “Tyranid swarm murders all or gets defeated”, it’s actually “Tyranid swarm technically loses, but infiltrates enemy ready to take revenge”. Only thing that could get confusing (without the context given in the post that explains it all) are the names and the way the tyranid thinks of different organisms - I would be able to guess some of them, but I’m not sure how much of a grasp i’d have on the larger story (with the imperial guard and orks) without it being explained at some point. I guess it would become more obvious as the story progresses? Count me in for wanting more!

BabyRipper

[Indominus]

Same here, id love to see this become a full story!

[sunshine]

I loved the previous work you did with the POV cult stuff, I would readily read a tale of two stealers

[OhGodItsHimRun]

Hooray for positive feedback, on this night when I'm thinking about writing again.

To address your concerns, babyripper, there is a moment I have planned when the Brood receives the knowledge of an additional cluster of prey suitable for a "target of opportunity" engagement along their route, and are joined in their assault by the Lictor which was standing unseen mere yards away from the humans in question. The Lictor feasts on the brain of the squad leader, while one of the Genestealers with feeding tendrils does likewise with a rank and file soldier. And with the benefit of the Lictor's greater cognitive analytical capabilities being on the same task at the same time, now the Brood knows the language of these prey.

Which should certainly facilitate the understanding for the reader.

My main obstacle at the moment is a lack of familiarity with Orks, to be able to stage compelling tactical engagements for the Brood to undertake in accordance with the purpose of their most recent spawning.

Anyone feel qualified to help me out?

[Indominus]

Well I can help a bit here. Interaction with Orks is always fun. Now, if im to assume that the Brood decides the best way to deal with any threat is evolution or tactical adaptions made to how the brood attacks, then it would be interesting to write their initial engagement with an enemy that has no tactics, is semi-random and works by "Charge and crush everything".

Id say maybe take some inspiration from what happened in the Octarian wars. When they were outnumbered, the Nids changed to Hit-and-run tactics, and tried to use Lictors to assassinate the Warboss. If you read the whole thing in the Nid codex it goes into more detail. Or alternatively, if the brood observes both Guard and Orks fighting each other maybe it could use that to its advantage, but idk how you want your Brood to behave. Just some ideas here, im not a massive Lore Junkie, but looking back on previous interactions they've had with Orks could help a lot!

[OhGodItsHimRun]

Huh. I guess I need to make it more clear in the primary text that the Brood is the collective mind of this particular unit of Genestealers, who form an adjunct-self of the larger collective mind of the Tyranid splinter fleet harvesting the planet. And overall, the Tyranids are winning against the Orks, because of that very mentality of "charge in and crush everything", while the Tyranids constantly utilize three-dimensional tactics, with some of their bodies on the ground, some in the trees, and some tunneling beneath the prey, to shape every battlefield to their own advantage. The evolutionary advantage of their Kraken ancestry is mobility, after all.

So the basic mobs of Ork troops are an easily harvested source of biomass for the Tyranids; let the Orks throw themselves at the Carnifex, and then the Raveners or Shrikes or Rippers or Hormagaunts eviscerate them before they can kill it. But there are some locations on the battlefront which prove more stubborn. Inherently defensible positions for heavy weapons units which are strong enough to bring down the Carnifex bait before the trap could be sprung. And with enough manpower to make a Lictor the wrong tool for clearing it out.

Thus a squad of Genestealers with Toxin Sacs being spawned, to slip unnoticed through the foliage, climb the walls and breach the fortifications, and slaughter the Orks inside so that the rest of the Kraken forces can move freely through that bastion's former field of fire.

Sense making?

[Indominus]

Sense is being made.

[xenith]

Have you read Devastation of Baal? That has some good Tyranid PoV sections.

[Indominus]

Apr 24, 2018 6:57:43 GMT xenith said:

Have you read Devastation of Baal? That has some good Tyranid PoV sections.

Ah yes, that section of the lore where yet again, the Nids are defeated due to extreme superhuman plot armour and the refusal to kill off a chapter master for a popular faction. Still fail to see how the Swarmlord wasn't able to kill Dante after years of evolution and experience, yet was able to eviscerate Calgar in its first incarnation.

But yeah, another good source of inspiration for POV Tyranid stuff.