Hive Fleet Tartarus

(To be added)

**Hive Fleet Tartarus** is one of the many forces of the Tyranids' Hive Mind. Impossibly implacable and cruel they seek to scour life from the galaxy. Hive fleet Tartarus is no exception and while their horde swells and their fleet's hunger, their numbers have often been thin, thanks to overwhelming multi-race onslaughts.

## History

### FIRST CONTACT

First appearing from the darkened void of space they swiftly overcame the defences in the Handurg system l, a notable Agri-world in the Segmentum Obscurus swiftly consuming the nearby systems like a dark stain spreading through the galaxy.

During this butchering it became horrifically apparent that the Shadow in the Warp possessed by this hive fleet - a splinter fleet from Hive fleet Kronos - is more akin to a veil in the Warp, with at climactic battles such as the battle for the fortress world Magnum Castellan in mid 800.M40, where the Shadow in the Warp became so unknowably thick and smothering, that defenders reported sighting of colossal bio-titans where there where none and often guardsmen fired upon other squads thinking than to be xenos, psykers often receiving catastrophic cranial ruptures just from being in vicinity of such impossible psychic blanketing. Additionally, huge shock beasts have been sighted at a higher rate than any other known Hive Fleets, with Tervigons, Screamer-Killer beasts and Psychophages being often sighted ploughing into the frontline and thundering into Hive Fleet defences.

### INVICTUM VI

Following the destruction of the Magnum Castellan system, and devouring of Handurg Prime, The hive fleet briefly left the galactic plane, only to emerge decades later right below the Forge World Invictum VI the native Adeptus Mechanicus managed to send a final plea before their envelopment. Fortunately, the distress call was received by Space marines from the Ultramarines, accompanied by imperial knights, and a delegation from the sisters of battle from the order of our martyred lady. Unfortunately for the world, the plea was intercepted by the Thousand Sons and Death Guard, the former seeking knowledge on the hive fleet's enhanced Shadow in the Warp the latter to settle a grudge with the Tyranids. Finally an Ork WAAAGH! Descended upon the world “lookin’ for a good Krump”

During the ensuing carnage of a week, the combined Imperial courage and faith were enough to overcome the Tyranid force and thus the seekers of endless knowledge, the Thousand Sons' force, withdrew from the butchery with the Death Guard following after their grudge was satisfied.

By the end of the siege, the Forge World had suffered the destruction of 53% of facilities and infrastructure, and the toxicity produced by the Death Guard had rendered the southern hemisphere uninhabitable. 13 Months later the Ork infestation was still raging strong, the forge world was abandoned, and was scheduled for Exterminatus.

**Casualties listed in the imperial index**:

**Ultramarines**: 15%

**Sisters of Battle**: 60%

**Death Guard**: 10%

**Thousand Sons**: 20%

**Tyranids**: 98% (89% of casualties recycled, +51% biomass gained)

**Orks**: 99%

## TACTICS

Since the battle for Invictum VI Imperial strategos has observed an anomaly in the operation of the Hive Fleet, the profound ‘Hive Mind’ operation of the Tyranid species has evolved in this hive fleet, instead of deploying huge amounts of forces rapidly to envelop the doomed world, instead blanketing the prey world in thick mist of spores in equal depth to that of a heavy snowstorm, using the deteriorating visibility they seed infiltrator organisms and minor swarms to overwhelm coastal defences, pick of smaller settlements, swamp outposts and dispatch leaders. It is also during this time that the Genestealer Cults will burst from their coven’s in full. As the smaller strains and leader beasts sweep across the outposts and coasts the Hive Mind will “inject” larger forces such as Malceptors, Screamer-Killers, Tervigons and Pyschophages to respond to assaults on swarms, armoured columns or critical areas or sieges, this will slowly lead to vast mega-swarms devouring screeching and chittering through fortress after hive city after helpless town.

The psychic strains often deploy alongside ram troops in shock teams that slam into critical areas and vastly bolster their enhanced shadow in the warp, creating illusions of forces hundreds of times their size and colossal bio-titans.

Additionally, heavy emphasis is placed on the introduction of Genestealer Cults allowing for the effective destruction of heavily occupied worlds.

## Unique Strains

* **Murroivus** - Living walls used to fortify objectives

* **Synaptic Temperer** - Thought to be the source of the “Veil in the warp” bulbous brain-like appendages upon void beats and smaller versions on leader beats to that crackle with the unmaking and creation of the warp energies. When mounted on void ships are known to possess defences capabilities similar to that of a Zoanthrope brood.

## Appearance

A unending tide of interlocking purple chiming player, carpeting the floors and oceans of prey worlds, spiking from them, huge monoliths of black flesh and armoured purple chitin spike from the carpet, the beats of the swarm

### Colours & Identifying Marks

Deep purple carapace, and flesh the colour of the blackest depths of the deepest oceans