Hive Fleet Nidhogg

Pic-file of a Hive Tyrant of Hive Fleet Nidhogg, location unknown

### **Strength**

Unknown; thought to have been wiped out, but many previously conquered worlds are seeing a resurgence

### **Unique Traits**

Frequent mutations, formation of nests, subterranean assaults, siege

### **Known Infestations**

None; after it's destruction the extent of its spread is unknown.

### **Identification Marks**

Blue-Black skin, red and yellow shell, bone coloured biomorphs.

**Hive Fleet Nidhogg** is a formidable strain of Hive Fleet Jormundgandr that has terrorised the south-east Segmentum Obscurus since a warp storm brought it there from the Ultima Segment. It has become known for its subterranean assaults and the individual tenacity of its broods. The Hive Fleet was first seen in its current form on Volkatus III, and since then has become infamous for the almost total destruction of the Molten Fists Chapter. However, the only remnants of the fleet that remains are hidden in previously invaded planets, as the entire space fleet was obliterated by the Indomitus Crusade.

## History

### Discovery

Hive Fleet Nidhogg began as a particularly aggressive tendril of Hive Fleet Jormundangr that had advanced significantly ahead of the main fleet and accumulated large amounts of biomass. This tendril was a large threat to many surrounding systems, and the Ordo Xenos was aware that if it wasn't stopped it could consume the sub-sector.

However, as the entire tendril gathered in a system near the Somnium Stars to break through the major defensive point in the sub-sector, a large warp storm materialised in the system. The vast majority of the bioships were taken in to the warp instantly, and the rest were destroyed by Daemons. The Imperium forces of the system quickly adapted their defences to attempt to deal with this new threat, but the Daemonic forces did not attack, and instead fled back into the quickly dissipating warp-storm. The Imperial forces were left confused and bewildered at the strange events, but did not question them.

### Volkatus III

Around 6 months later, contact with the world of Volkatus III, on the south-east edge of the Segmentum Obscurus, was lost. Upon entering the system, the Ordo Xenos found it barren of all life and biomass; the markings of a Tyranid attack. Records found in the ruins of Volkatus III showed that 3 small bioships had entered the system, hiding from detection in an asteroid belt. By the time the ships were detected, they had made orbit around Volkatus III and had attached spores to asteroids and debris and were flinging them at the planet's surface. Many of these asteroids hit large cities or military bases. The planetary defence fleet was mobilised and the 3 ships were destroyed with few casualties.

With the human forces on the planet being unaware of the spores that had made it to the surface, the threat was assumed neutralised, and the PDF stood down. In the next few days however, contact began to be lost with small villages and patrols that were near the impact sites of the spores. Reports came in of small groups of hormaguants roaming the planet, as well as some form of silent killer, which has now been identified as a Nedanjar-Lictor, a form of Lictor unique to the Hive Fleet.

The Planetary Governor evacuated as many civilians as they could to the safety of the capital city's walls. Shortly after, small groups of Tyranids began to assault the walls. They erupted from the ground not even 100 metres from the Imperial guns, charging towards them. These groups were defeated, but it was just the beginning of the Tyranid assault. As the battle progressed, it became evident that there were several "nexuses" of Tyranid infestation. Later identified as underground nests, all biomass around these nexuses was slowly but surely connsumed to fuel the Tyranid attack.

Later, Tyrannic War veterans examined the recordings of the battle. They noticed that shots that would have pierced the vital organs of a normal Tyranid barely staggered those of Hive Fleet Nidhogg. Also notably absent from the Tyranid battle plan was synapse units. Normal Tyranid assaults featured, by necessity, creatures that spread the will of the Hivemind to nearby Tyranids. Hive Fleet Nidhogg had very few of such units, yet their attack was well organised and structured.

Eventually, the capital fell as the nests consumed all undefended biomass on the world and directed their full attention to the capital. One of the world's last pict-recordings showed a massive, snake-like bioform erupting from the ground below the capital, rearing a hundred metres taller than the wall.

The Hive Fleet continued north-west through the Segmentum Obscurus unabated, consuming all planets it came across and splitting into multiple tendrils. These tendrils would then converge on the Astartes homeworld, Fortiar II.

### Battle of Fortiar

The Battle of Fortiar ultimately resulted in the almost-total destruction of Hive Fleet Nidhogg. The Molten Fists, the greatest Imperial force in the region, had become known to the Hivemind through some earlier interactions with Nidhogg. Elements of the 3rd Company fought back a small tendril of Nidhogg on the world of Zamkol, buying enough time for the civilians to escape while they used their flamers to burn Nidhogg out of its nests. As the battle came to an end, the same massive snake-like bioform first seen on Volkatus emerged. The 3rd Company was forced to retreat prematurely, leaving countless citizens to the mouths of the Tyranids. Unfortunately, the civilians had been infected by genestealers, and after the Battle of Fortiar the 3rd Company had to eradicate the world's population.

As the Nidhogg's voracity became known, Ragnar Vulkus, the Lord Commander of the time, ordered the populations of the outer worlds of the Fortiar system to be tested for genestealer cult infections - particularly pressing as these were both gas giants whose only population was on a series of moons. The 6th Company in its entirety was ordered to do so with full haste. The first couple of moons showed no sign of infections and so the Captain - Ikuyi - ordered the Company to spread out, so that the moons could be cleared quicker. This proved to be a dire mistake, and a genestealer cult emerged soon after. The 6th Company was wiped out to a man, torn apart by mutants, but for their sacrifice the Molten Fists had advance warning of the Hive Fleet's arrival.

Ragnar Vulkus put out an emergency call to all nearby forces asking for assistance, and recalled all elements of the Molten Fists to the Fortress-Monastery. At the same time, he sent Astartes out to withdraw the tribes of Fortiar to Kolasis and arm them - if the Molten Fists survived the battle, they would be integral to their numbers recovering. As the Hive Fleet drew closer, and the possibility of significant reinforcements arriving fell, Vulkus ordered the unthinkable - the placement of a series of deadly tectonic devices in the crust of Fortiar, designed to destabilise the planet should the Tyranids make landfall. Vulkus had studied the battle strategies of Nidhogg, and determined that making the very ground that they tried to make their nests in unstable would be an effective counter.

The Chapter fleet was in a dire situation as well. Its flagship had recently been damaged, and so was not in the system, and many of its vessels had not been repaired from recent skirmishes. The Lord Commander ordered them to raze any vessels coming from the edge of the system. Had he had more ships at his disposal, he would have ordered them to raze the moons of the outer planets, but he could not risk losing his already limited fleet.

By the time Nidhogg arrived in the system, Kolasis was fully defended, filled with Astartes and mortals alike, all ready to defend the Fortress-Monastery with their lives. Elements of the relatively new and inexperienced 117th Mome Raths of Vaguemyth were among the defenders. The fleet was manned only by a skeleton crew, and was in low orbit around Fortiar. Their goal was not to destroy the Nidhogg fleet, but to prevent spores reaching the ground and sap biomass from the Tyranids. Vulkus also created several specialised squads armed with flamers and Thunderhawks in order to quickly respond to spores that did land on the ground. The overall aim of the strategy was to avoid actual combat as long as possible, so that the Tyranid numbers would be sharply decreased by the time such combat was unavoidable.

The Astartes fleet was able to survive for almost 24 hours under the relentless assault of the Tyranids. Spore after spore was shot down, but for each one they destroyed, another got through. These early spores were destroyed by Vulkus's fast response squads, but before long Nidhogg had its claws firmly on Fortiar's surface. Eventually, however, the Battle Barge *Burning Light of the Emperor* was stuck by a meteor containing genestealers. With no crew to defend it, it was overrun. In a final defiant act, the pilot flew the vessel into the heart of the Tyranid fleet, detonating its warp cores and killing countless in the process. The core of the formation was now destroyed, and it was not long before the rest of the fleet followed the *Burning Light* into oblivion.

Ragnar Vulkus considered the void battle a success, however, as the Tyranid fleet was almost exhausted and had relatively limited biomass to bring to bear against the Molten Fists. The rest of the Tyranids made landfall, even resorting to crashing their remaining ships to feed the new nests they were establishing. Several of the fast response squads were lost as the Tyranids made landfall, but most returned safely to Kolasis. As more and more Tyranids arrived, the Lord Commander of the Molten Fists had to make the painful decision as to whether he needed to activate the tectonic devices he had buried in Fortiar's crust. He waited until the last possible moment, when the first Tyranid swarms were racing towards Kolasis before doing so. Great explosions rocked Fortiar's surface, followed by earthquakes and massive eruptions that rivaled those that lead to the formation of the planet. Countless Nidhogg nests were destroyed, and the surface was now so unstable that no more would be formed for the rest of the battle.

In the wake of this bittersweet victory, Vulkus ordered that the Molten Fists leave the safety of Kolasis and hunt down the surviving Tyranids. Several leader bioforms were able to rally a considerable defence amid the chaos, resulting in many Molten Fists being killed and consumed. Over the course of several days, most of these feral groups of Tyranids were hunted down and killed. Ragnar Vulkus, eager to finish off the Tyranids on his homeworld, led his 1st Company to track down and kill a Nest Tyrant that was at large in Qetelen. Just as he slew it with the *Ashen Blade*, the dreaded news reached him; a second Tyranid fleet had arrived in the system, larger than the first.

Vulkus immediately ordered a full-scale retreat to Kolasis, but the Molten Fists had extended too far. As fresh Nidhogg bioforms landed around them fully a third of the Molten Fists were trapped away from the stalwart walls of Kolasis, and almost all were killed. The only ones who survived were Ragnar Vulkus and some of the 1st Company. As they retreated, a massive bioform landed near their position. Accurately predicting that this was the Tyranid's leader bioform, Vulkus decided to eliminate it while it was relatively undefended. The group - some 50 Marines, two Dreadnoughts (including Raphael Kardova), and a Land Raider - fought their way towards the bioform, which would later be identified as a Swarmlord.

By the time they arrived, the Swarmlord was fully awake, and Tyrant Guards already surrounded it. In order to prevent it escaping into the network of tunnels that were being dug into the mountain behind it, Ragnar Vulkus ordered a charge. The Lord Commander and his honour guard, accompanied by Raphael Kardova attacked the Swarmlord directly, while the rest of the survivors held off the Tyranids. The Lord Commander and his entourage fought the Swarmlord to a standstill, slowly chipping away at the much larger creature while trying to avoid its blows as best they could. But there was only so much they could do against the peak of the Tyranid form, and one by one the honour guard fell, until only Kardova and Vulkus remained. Determined not to let another Chapter Master die under his watch, Kardova pushed forwards, weaponry firing continuously at the Swarmlord. It staggered and fell back, and while it was distracted Vulkus ran round behind it and beheaded it with the *Ashen Blade*.

Victorious, the pair looked around to see their brethren being pushed back at every quarter, the sheer number of Tyranids wittling them down. Just as Vulkus and Kardova readied themselves to sell their lives dearly, droppods landed all around them, and from them emerged strange Space Marines, clad in the colours of the Molten Fists. They were taller, stronger, faster, and their wargear was strange. The Indomitus Crusade had arrived.

The Primaris reinforcements of the Molten Fists, combined with elements of the Deathwatch and Imperial Guard, purged the Tyranid forces from Fortiar and the void surrounding it. Without their timely arrival, it is likely that both Vulkus and his veterans, and the Molten Fists who had made it back to Kolasis, would have been lost.

## Tactics

Hive Fleet Nidhogg begins its attacks from orbit, attaching spores to any asteroids or space debris that it can find. These are then fired at the surface, where the spores awaken and form nests. When bio-ships in space are destroyed, they allow themselves to be taken by the planet's gravity and fall to the surface, where they provide biomass for the developing nests.

Each nest takes 1-3 days to become fully active, at which point Nedanjar-Lictors and Hormaguants are spawned en masse to act as scouting parties and provide biomass to the nest. It is at this point that the Nest Tyrant is spawned, which ultimately rules the nest. During this time, spore chimneys begin to grow from the nest and begin to pollute the planet's atmosphere.

Each nest spends about a week gathering biomass from nearby areas, until it reaches a tipping point. From there, it produces hordes of melee bioforms, carried to their destination by unqiuely adapted burrowing creatures. Nidhogg attempts to undermine its foe's defences, slowly but surely wittling them down until the various nests can pounce as one and eliminate their foe.

Nidhogg's main weakness is its lack of aerial bioforms, and its overreliance on nests. It struggles to maintain aerial superiority, meaning its nests can be targetted from above with relative ease. As it found out on Fortiar II, when the ground is made too unstable to use nests, Nidhogg's entire strategy is disrupted, and their efficacy harshly reduced.

## Fleet

The exact size of Hive Fleet Nidhogg's current fleet is unknown, as all of its known fleet was obliterated in the Battle of Fortiar. However, the Ordo Xenos does not know much about the multitude of Nidhogg resurgents that have emerged in worlds previously thought dead. The exact nature of these resurgent broods is unknown, as is their true origin, but some could possess void capabilities.

## Unique Features

### Mutations

Due to the Hive Fleet's extensive exposure to the corruptive energies of chaos early in its life, its genetic code has been permanently mutated and made unstable. This means that mutations are particularly common among Nidhogg's broods, especially in Genestealers and Broodlords. Examples of these mutations are extra limbs, deformed carapace growth or archaic or new organ placement, among others. The differing organ placement is particularly prevalent, as it means that even experienced Tyranid killers can not reliably land a kill shot as the organs differ from tyranid to tyranid. However, some brood members are simply mutated beyond recognition, and completely inviable, reducing the fleet's efficiency.

### Tyrant-Thrope Nexus

The Tyrant-Thrope Nexus is a phenomena unique to Hive Fleet Nidhogg. It occurs when a Nest or Hive Tyrant uses a series of 4-5 Zoanthropes to exponentially amplify its synaptic range. This nexus is typically formed within the nest so that it is not endangered. The result of this extended synapse is that the swarm moves as if it is a single organism, and the Hive Fleet does not have to expend precious biomass on synapse creatures.

## Unique Strains

* **Nest Tyrant** - Nest Tyrants are spawned by the Hive Mind during the development of a nest. They developed out of a need for a leader bio-form that was less bio-mass intensive than a Hive Tyrant. They are halfway between Tyranid Primes and Hive Tyrants in most regards.
* **Laedast** - The Laedast is an adaption of the Mawloc bio-form that specialises in transporting troops to the backlines of the enemy. The tunnels it creates are much larger and more stable than that of the Trygon and Mawloc, and it burrows at a much lower level than those organisms to counteract the lack of stealth creating large tunnels causes.
* **Nedanjar-Lictor** - The Nedanjar-Lictor is an advanced variant of the Lictor organism that, in addition to the already formidable arsenal of weapons at the Lictor's disposable, has another pair of limbs armed with semi-sentient digging instruments. These allow the Nedanjar to create a network of small tunnels underneath a target area, which aid in its movement and stealth.
* **Grafa-Exocrine** - The Grafa-Exocrine is a adaption of the Exocrine who's bio-cannon fires in two bursts; the first is an explosive short range burst and the second is a more concentrated long range shot. The bio-cannon host is able to choose which order, or how many of each shot to fire. The Grafa was developed to travel in tunnels created by the Laedast and break through the top layer of ground, allowing the swarm to attack the defenders in a sudden explosive event.

## Quotes

### About Hive Fleet Nidhogg

"These *things* have brought nothing but ruin to humanity. These creatures from humanity's nightmares, I swear to kill them all. We will hunt down Nidhogg, till the last gaunt collapses in a hail of bolter fire!" - Ragnar Vulkus, Chapter Master of the Molten Fists after the Battle of Fortiar.