First Edition Equestrian Codex

by JawsOnYou67

Rating: everyone
Tags: Science Fiction, Horror, Crossover, Alternate Universe, Human, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Adventure
Length: 6292

All Information contained within this Codex will be regulated to infromation taken from its parent story, Fall of Equestria: Strange Chances.

The Following is a Recount of Specific Additions to Fall of Equestria: Strange Chances and will recant all previously marked information from the story. They will be split into 3 chapters, which range from Tyranids, to The Caribou Empire, to Unaffiliated. There will be other categories added at a later date but for now you will be given these three. So enjoy, and have fun reading!

Published 2018-02-09 21:30:06 UTC
Last updated 2018-02-09 21:30:06 UTC

Equestria Codex: Chapter 1

Everything below this point are specific mentions in the story which I have given a mark to further reveal in the First Edition of the Equestrian Codex. New additions will be added as time goes on, this will be split into three distinct categories and then from there further altered. The First being Tyranids, which will then be split into the categories involving Bio-Morohs, Creatures, and finally Mentioned Events. Next is Unaffiliated which will be separated much akin to the first. Finally and perhaps the most robust, The Caribou Empire which will be separated in itself into Weapons, Species, Important Members, and finally Planets. This can be further broken up by events involving each of these.

Fall of Equestria: Strange Chances

Tyranids

Hive Guards: A Hive Guard is a Tyranid species that defends the consumption structures of the Hive Mind, such as Spore Chimneys and Capillary Towers set up during the later stages of a Tyranid planet invasion that have few built-in self-defenses. A Hive Guard is essentially a gun-beast, providing a durable, stable, and movable firing platform for the massive Impale Cannon bonded to its forelimbs.

Hive Guards are mildly telepathic, allowing them to "see" through the eyes of all other Tyranid organisms, effectively allowing them to shoot at a target without seeing it, by utilising an unconscious wealth of incoming tactical and targeting information. In addition they can also command, through a complicated series of mental stimuli, the shard-beasts bonded with the ammunition they fire, to change vector whilst in flight to successfully home in on targets.

Their long Impaler Cannons fire bony spines, as long as a man is tall, at velocities high enough to rupture plasteel or battle tanks. At the base of each spine is a small shard-beast Tyranid creature, a parasite that feeds off the blood vessels of the spine. As the spine is fired, the shard-beast's own innards are torn from its body and it only has a few moments of life left to use its thin membranous fins to steer the spine towards its prey. Some Hive Guards are known to grow a Shockcannon in the place of an Impaler Cannon.

Hive Guards are exclusively territorial and have limited mental capacity, content to stay perfectly motionless and defend a structure. Though under the Hive Mind's influence, they can be driven away from their charges to the front lines, for example when a heavily mechanized foe needs to be dealt with. They have incredibly short incubation cycles and can be maintained as end-stage larvae almost indefinitely, meaning biomass does not have to be wasted on maintaining idle Hive Guard defenders but they can instead can be quickly spawned when the Hive Mind's rear is under attack.

Hive Tyrant/Hive Lord: Hive Tyrants are monstrous Tyranid creatures created to be commanders of the Tyranid swarm. They embody the Hive Mind completely and act as the primary Synapse conduit through which it enforces its will over lesser Tyranid creatures. Hive Tyrants are extremely powerful, large and strong monsters three times the height of a man that can tear through plasteel or ferrocrete as if they were glass. They excel in both close combat and ranged fighting, and in fact every part of their body is perfectly designed to maim and kill. They are highly mutable, with individual Hive Tyrants displaying a wide range of physical characteristics, biomorphs, and bio-weapons.

Unlike most other Tyranid creatures, Hive Tyrants are completely self-aware, incredibly intelligent, and can learn from their mistakes. Some possess an instinctive cunning that borders on tactical genius. Though in the end they are still ultimately slaved to the Hive Mind, their relationship with it is closer than that of any other Tyranid creature. This makes them terrifyingly psychic and able to manifest deadly psychic powers in battle, including being able to invigorate the Tyranid swarm, destroy the foe's morale, or shred the enemy's minds. Hive Tyrants are equipped with a range of Biomorphs, but most common are the Bonesword, Lash Whip, Heavy Venom Cannon, and Stranglethorn Cannon.

Hive Tyrants are essentially immortal, as their experiences, character and knowledge are stored within the collective consciousness of the Hive Mind. Should one be slain in battle, a replacement body can be grown and imbued with the same experiences as its predecessor.

Hive Tyrants appear to be either a more complex and highly evolved form of Tyranid Warrior, or else they evolved from a completely different and higher genus. Some Imperial techno-magi believe that Hive Tyrants are the consort-minds of the Norn-Queen that forms the repository of the Hive Fleet's own collective consciousness, which would mean they completely embody the Hive Mind, but their destruction would not diminish it in any way.

Ripper Swarms: Rippers are small, maggot-like species of Tyranids which serve as the primary means of devouring bio-mass and the genetic imprint of a planet.

They are the most numerous of Tyranid creatures, and in great swarms they can pull down and consume creatures many times their own size. However they are completely mindless and will perish if they lose a synaptic link with the Hive Mind.

During the final stages of a planetary invasion, they scour the entirety of a planet ingesting all biological material on the planet and leaving only an empty and desolate wasteland. Eventually, the Rippers will become bloated full of biomass, unfit for combat. At this point, they simply crawl into Reclamation Pools where they and the bio-mass they've fed upon are broken down and absorbed by the Hive Fleet. However, in some cases they might be evolved to perform higher functions depending on the genetic material they have absorbed.

In certain instances, hive ships have been driven away from a world, leaving Tyranid ground forces isolated. Rippers appear to respond to such circumstances by burrowing below ground and metamorphosing into higher life forms. This has led many among the Magos Biologis to believe that Rippers are an immature form of the prime Tyrancii genus. This would mean they are theoretically capable of gestating into any kind of Tyranid creature with the right impetus from the Hive Mind, from Hive Tyrants to Hormagaunts. The wonder that Tyranids routinely produce and sacrifice their young so prodigiously serves only to reinforce how inhuman they truly are.

Leviathan Bio-Ship: Bio-ships are the living spacecraft making up the Tyranid Hive Fleets. Although bio-ships take on a seemingly endless variety of forms, they are broadly divided by the Imperium into three major classes depending on its general role in the Hive Fleet. The ships are also factories producing the different Species of Tyranid used in ground invasions. The ships themselves are essentially the largest species of Tyranid and are controlled by the Hive Mind.

Tyranid Hive Ships are the massive Bio-ships that form the heart of the Hive fleets, acting as nodes for the Hive Mind to direct the swarm around them and serving as star borne factories that churn out the endless Tyranid swarms.

Rumors abound regarding Hive Ships. Some believe that though most swarms have multiple Hive Ships, there is still just one ship that maintains a central control of the entire swarm, allowing it to coordinate its fleet's assault, though this can not be confirmed. There are also unsubstantiated reports of indescribably huge Hive Ships that arrive in the final stages of a world's consumption, which would explain how the Hive Fleets can consume the vast quantities of material represented by a planet's life, air, and oceans.

Whatever the truth, the Hive Ships that have been observed tend to share some similarities, despite their otherwise significant physical variety. Stone-like armor plating and densely-clustered weapon growths are common among Hive Ships, and though slow and ungainly, a Hive Ship is almost invariably akin to a Battleship in the magnitude of the threat it poses on the battlefield.

Heirophants: The Hierophant Biotitan is an immense, hideous creature, towering over the battlefield and bristling with spines, tendrils and symbiotic weapons. They are amongst the largest bio-creatures yet encountered amongst the swarms of the Tyranid Hive Fleets, comparable in size and power to an Imperial Titan.

A brood of Hierophants are likely to be at the forefront of a major Tyranid attack. They are armed with massive Bio-cannons, multiple claws and chitin blades, and armored with a thick chitinous hide that exudes poisonous spores from rends in the plates. In addition, the creature's vulnerable belly region is protected by spiny tendrils which lash out at any enemy who gets too close. These tendrils are capable of impaling or strangling with incredible force. As a last defense, the Hierophant is equipped with poisonous sacks that exude a gas lethal to non-Tyranid creatures.

Like all Tyranid creatures, the bio-titan seems to be able to mutate rapidly, evolving new weapons and defenses. Other variants of the bio titan have been identified with huge crushing claws or long scything blades, cluster spines and other bio-weapons.

Norn Queen: Norn-Queens (also known as Splicer-Beasts) are the productive parts of the Tyranid swarm. They live upon massive Hive Ships in huge chambers at the center of the Hive Fleet and ingest genetic materials, churning out all the countless types of creatures that make up the Tyranid Hive Fleet. All Tyranids have links back to a Norn-Queen, as the only way for Tyranids to reproduce is via this cloning technique. Itw is said that they lead the Tyranid forces and direct the evolution of the Tyranid race.

Norn-Queens require a constant supply of fuel, in the shape of genetic material, in order to reproduce or bring forth new Tyranid life forms. This mainly consists of the fluids formed in Reclamation Pools, that are pumped up into the Hive Ships through massive Capillary Towers. Genetic material is also supplied directly to the Norn-Queen via living creatures and scavengers, such as Coffin-Crawlers. All this, including transport creatures, is pumped into the great jaws that are located at the top of the Norn-Queen, and synthesized by the Queens genetic shredder organs. The dissembled DNA structures form a gene-bank, which provides the raw material from which new creatures are created. Once a type of bio-construct has been designed more identical creatures can be cloned by the Norn-Queens.

Norn-Queens are capable of bringing forth new bio-constructs in a variety of different ways, each designed to ensure maximum efficiency. Most bio-constructs are born as tiny wriggling larvae or may begin life as eggs that must be nurtured further before they hatch and develop into adults. Clusters of eggs spill from rows of ovipositor orifices along its flanks, fluid filled depressions on its upper surface writhe with maggot-like larvae, fetal sacs hang like ripe fruit from umbilical branches, and huge larval Teleporter Worms burst from incubator pouches on the Norn-Queen's sides. Simpler bio-constructs may emerge already in their adult form to be gathered and directed by the horde of creatures that feed and serve the Norn-Queen.

Hive Mind: The Hive Mind is the gestalt collective consciousness of the Tyranid species. It is a nearly omniscient entity composed of pure psychic energy that originated outside of the Milky Way Galaxy. The Hive Tyrant is said to be a living vessel for it. It controls every Tyranid creature in a mental vice-like grip and directs their every action.

This control can be disrupted, however, with the death of the Hive Mind's synapse creatures through which it transmits and augments its psychic commands, such as when a Hive Tyrant's death leaves the lesser Tyranid bioforms to act completely on basic animal instinct. On the battlefield, certain large and relatively autonomous Tyranid creatures, such as the Hive Tyrant or the Tyranid Warrior, are able to telepathically exert the Hive Mind's influence in order to control smaller Tyranid bioforms, which without the Hive Mind's psychic direction would revert to the instinctive, non-sentient behaviour of feeding and self-preservation. These synapse creatures focus the Hive Mind's psychic gestalt into nodal points that quell the natural instincts of nearby small Tyranid bioforms and are an essential component for a Tyranid swarm's effective command and control.

The Hive Mind is so staggeringly complex in its power and construction that it either drives most psykers insane or kills them. The only known agent of the Imperium of Man believed to have looked upon the Hive Mind and retained his sanity is Chief Librarian Tigurius of the Ultramarines. This could be due to his uncanny talent for making accurate predictions in general, but the accuracy and frequency of his knowledge concerning the intentions of the Great Devourer seem to show he has indeed tapped into the Hive Mind, a feat thought possible only by a psyker possessed of power equivalent to that of the Emperor of Mankind.

The Hive Mind also has the ability to block interstellar communications and travel through the Warp due to the potent psychic presence it creates in the Immaterium, essentially disrupting the normal flow of psychic energy within the Immaterium in much the same way as a Warp Storm. This ability has become known as the "Shadow in the Warp"; the Hive Mind uses this power when it unleashes a Hive Fleet, cutting off astropathic communications to the besieged part of the galaxy and forcing vessels already in the Warp in the vicinity of the Hive Fleet to drop back into realspace, thus making a call for reinforcements impossible. This invasive psychic shroud sows terror and confusion on prey worlds as it traps and prevents the doomed inhabitants from calling for assistance. It even penetrates into the minds of nearby creatures and manifests as a primal malaise that can never be expelled. If a creature possesses psychic potential, then the horror they feel is magnified tenfold. Any use of their psychic abilities could unleash a form of incurable psychosis. As a Hive Fleet approaches a target planet, whole populations plunge into madness and despair even before the first Tyranids have made planetfall.

Lictors: Lictors are Tyranid creatures that act as specialist scouts and vanguards, roving ahead of the Tyranid swarm to seek out and locate potential prey.

Lictors are masters of stealth and can move swiftly through even the densest terrain without any sound. They are covered in a Chameleonic Skin that changes color to blend in perfectly with their background and renders them all but invisible to the naked eye. They are not instinctively aggressive, like other Tyranid creatures, but are opportunistic hunters that will stalk their prey from the shadows, avoiding situations where they would be outmatched, until they choose to strike. They will often pick off their prey in ones and twos while they are separated from reinforcements. Lictors have in fact been known to wait motionless for days, completely unnoticed by their victims, until the right time to strike.

Lictors are armed with mantis-like claws, Scything Talons, Flesh Hooks, and Feeder Tendrils which are tipped with sharpened bony plates strong enough to pierce a victim's skull and are used to lobotomize victims and devour their brain. From a victim's brain, Lictors can absorb their memories, and so learn the position of enemy forces or any weaknesses that the Tyranids could exploit.

Lictors appear to be a specialist mutation of Tyranid Warriors and are highly adapted to survive in hostile environments and a stalker/predator role. Despite their large size, Lictors are very agile and fast, able to outmaneuver nearly all other enemy units. It is with this speed, coupled with their strength, that Lictors strike from hiding, taking their victims entirely by surprise and unable to react in time. They are intelligent and possess highly developed sensory organs so they can see, smell, hear and taste their prey long before it becomes aware of their presence. They stand far taller than even a Space Marine. They are also known to be the only Tyranid species that will stalk its prey before killing.

Lictors exude a pheromone trail as they locate and hunt their prey which draws other Tyranids to the area. A larger concentration of prey stimulates a stronger pheromone response and so brings a larger group of trailing Tyranids. So even if a Lictor is discovered and killed by the enemy, it doesn't guarantee safety as other Tyranid creatures are likely already on their way.

Hive Wall: The existence of the Tyranid Hive Wall has always been an existence which has been discussed at length amongst Imperial Xenologists if it truly exists or not. Due to the methods employed by the Hive Mind with its Galactic Swarm, there are few accounts of Tyranids requiring to hunker down in one location for any length of time. Though several state that when pressed, the Hive Mind will cause the Tyranids to go into a defensive mindset and fortify their location using the Bio-Matter that is collected and then when they can begin the consumption of the planet, the Hive Wall is then devoured and the Hive that it was used to protect dismantled.

Bone Swords: A Bonesword is a Tyranidclose combat Biomorph which can drain the life-force out of its victims.

A bonesword is living organism, which has a small brain situated deep within its hilt and has a rudimentary sentience that allows it to gradually grow in length and repair any battle damage to itself and maintain a deadly monomolecular edge. However, it is completely slaved to the will of its wielder and is incapable of any independent thought.

The weapon is made of chitin and constantly crackles with powerful psychic energy that flows along embedded nerve tendrils to create a psychic field around the blade, effectively creating a biological version of a force weapon. This energy amplifies in potency when in close proximity to another bonesword, such as when used in pairs. It is serrated on both edges and was originally a creature's massively elongated horn. The bonesword can generate a powerful surge of psychic energy when stimulated by its user.

Zoenthrope: Zoanthropes are a species of Tyranid created solely to harness the potential psychic power of the Hive Mind, in effect a type of psychic artillery used in Tyranid planetary invasions and a synapse creature used to relay the commands of the Hive Mind to lesser creatures.

Originally believed to be a mutant strain of Tyranid Warrior due to the close physical resemblance, more recent encounters with the Zoanthrope strain have reported a different physical structure apparently engineered by the harvesting of lifeforms present in the path of the Hive Fleets. Various evidence points to these later incarnations of Zoanthropes being improved by Eldar DNA. Zoanthropes have atrophied bodies and limbs supporting bloated heads so heavy they should snap their own necks under their weight - but, energized by psychic forces, they appear to overcome their mortal limitations and levitate, drifting over the battlefield.

Despite their seeming frailty, Zoanthropes are lethal opponents. Zoanthropes possess batteries of psychic power they can use to both defend themselves by projecting a constant psychic barrier or launch assaults that are powerful enough to destroy enemy battle tanks, boil through adamantium plates, or even fell mighty Titans. However, Zoanthropes are predisposed to sedentary behavior, a stance adopted to conserve their psychic power, when not in the presence of the Hive Mind. They also care little for happenings beyond their immediate reach and prioritize their own survival above all else.

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. 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.

Termagant: ermagants are fast, agile and cunning Tyranid creatures of the Gaunt genus. While not very strong individually, Termagants will overwhelm much more elite foes with superior numbers and support from larger Tyranid breeds.

Termagants are slightly more than two metres from head to tail, and were originally created to roam the arterial passages of Bio-ships as agile bodyguards searching for intruders. They carry anti-personnel Bio-weapons in their forelimbs, commonly Fleshborers which have a symbiotic relationship with the Fleshborer beetle species. Depending on the situation, termagants are sometimes also equipped with Spike Rifles, Stranglewebs, Spinefists, or Devourers.

Termagants are among the first species of Tyranid dispatched when a Hive Fleet invades a system. In battle they are often seen accompanying Tyranid Warriors. In fact, there is a strange affinity between the two species. Termagants will react instinctively when a Tyranid Warrior is threatened by swamping the opponent with overwhelming numbers before the Warrior can be harmed. This reaction may be to protect the Synapse ability of Warriors and so preserve the Hive Mind's control over the Tyranid swarm.

Termagants are naturally cunning and have a strong sense of self-preservation. Often they will skirt an enemy ambush and instead find a way to assail their foe from an unexpected quarter, or they will seek out and exploit enemy weak points. If cut off from the Hive Mind's influence, a Termagant's self-preservation instinct will take control and they will typically abandon the fight in search of shelter. This seeming weakness means however that Termagants remain a threat once a Tyranid assault has been defeated since every cave, ruin, or path of undergrowth that surviving defenders pass by could conceal a nest of Termagants ready to attack upon discovery. In some circumstances the Hive Mind will suppress the survival instincts of Termagants to instead send them rushing forward for the sole purpose of depleting enemy ammunition stores.

Tyrant Guard: The Tyrant Guard (species name: Tyranicus scutatus) is a species of Tyranid spawned for the sole purpose of defending a Hive Tyrant from harm (though on occasion, a Carnifex may also benefit from the Tyrant Guard's protection.

Tyrant Guards are among the dimmest of the Tyranid creatures, on a par with many of the smaller gaunt genus creatures in intellect. This seems to be a deliberate evolution of the Hive Mind in creating a lumbering, heavily defended and utterly loyal bodyguard with no sense of personal safety, only the continued survival of its master, often blocking attacks with their bodies. Tyrant Guards can be found with a variety of Biomorphs such as Scything Talons, Crushing Claws, Lashwhips and Boneswords.

They are living shields - tough, only dimly aware of pain, and all but impervious to small-arms fire. Protecting them are iron-hard exo-skeletons covered by interlocking layers of chitinous plates. They are also completely blind, as eyes would present an unnecessary vulnerable point for foes to exploit; they are instead controlled by the synapse creature they protect, becoming an extension of its body. Should their master be killed they go berserk, brutally stampeding down the murderers to prevent the knowledge of how to kill a Hive Tyrant from being passed on.

Tyrant Guards are scientifically rumored to contain the DNA of defeated Space Marine chapters as their bodies appear to include a fused ribcage and a Black Carapace, but the Imperium considers this blasphemy and denies its possibility.

Reclamation Pool: Reclaimation pools are a vital part of a Tyranid invasion. Each invasion goes through identifiable stages. First comes the identification and infiltration of a prey world, when Mycetic Spores land vanguard creatures such as Genestealers and Lictors. These become active, probing defenses and assessing the world's ability to resist an attack. Next comes the subjugation phase, when the planet's defenders are assaulted and overwhelmed by swarms of Tyranid creatures.

After all major resistance has been overcome, comes the consumption phase as the planet's atmosphere is changed and all genetic material is broken down into reclaimation pools. Creatures such as Rippers and Malanthropes consume all the planet's biological material before jumping into the pools and being consumed themselves. The pools are then harvested by hive ships which enter low orbit and pump the gene-rich biological soup on board via Capillary Towers.

Capillary Towers: Capillary Towers are Tyranid plants that reach the upper atmosphere (and beyond). Where they grow, Reclamation Pools then start to appear. The towers are linked to them via underground roots. Later, the towers link up with the sucking proboscis feeding tubes of hive ships in low orbit, which then pump the biomass upwards and distribute it to the waiting bio vessels.

The capillary towers are capable of growing in the deepest of seas, able to sustain the pressure of the depths and the coldest of waters. As they grow the planet's tidal flow is altered by their powerful metabolic filtration systems, used to draw all biomass.

Trygon: A Trygon is a monstrous serpentine species of Tyranid capable of tunneling through just about any material - carving out underground tunnels that can be used by other Tyranid creatures to bypass enemy lines. For the enemies of a Trygon, an attack from below is incredibly hard to detect and even harder to defend against. The emergence of a Trygon will often herald a larger Tyranid attack as hordes of smaller creatures pour out after it using the freshly created tunnel. It appears that Trygons use their bio-static charge to assist with tunnelling, as their tunnels have been found coated with a fused, glass-like silicate layer on the inside. This effect stabilises the tunnel walls and prevents them from collapsing behind a burrowing Trygon.

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.

A Trygon is also heavily armoured in shifting carapace plates that generate a bio-static charge as the creature moves. Known as a Bio-Electric Pulse, this energy can be channeled into a sudden powerful arc that is strong enough to kill by exhaling an ionised spray from its gills.

Genestealer: A Genestealer is a species of Tyranid used as the ultimate shock trooper. Their purpose is to advance ahead of a Hive Fleet and pinpoint potential planets for the Tyranids to devour. They are amongst the most deadly creatures in the Galaxy, combining high cunning, lightning-fast reactions and movement, with large, extremely sharp claws that can rip through the toughest armour in seconds.

Genestealers were the first Tyranid species to be encountered by the Imperium. But before the Imperium had knowledge of the Tyranids as a species, they believed Genestealers were a separate species indigenous to the moons of Ymgarl(using leech-like creature called Csith as main host for reproduction) but then spread to other planets by infiltrating passing cargo ships and derelict Space Hulks. It is believed Genestealers were introduced to the moons of Ymgarl in M35 from Hive Fleet Tiamet in the Tiamet System, carried inside the Imperial vessels that were sent to destroy the system. In 680.M41, the first Genestealer Cult was encountered by the Imperium on Ghosar Quintus.

When the Battle for Macragge with Hive Fleet Behemoth took place, Technomagi spent years classifying the left-behind bodies, including Genestealers used as Tyranid shock troops. Further investigation confirmed that all Genestealers were in fact Tyranids. The truth is that infiltrating Genestealers had been working their way into the galaxy for thousands of years prior to the invasion of the Hive Fleets proper.

Genestealer Patriarch: The Patriarch is always the oldest purestrain of the cult. As the first Genestealer of the group, all other members are psychically linked through it; this leads it to attain a level of intelligence much higher than that of other Genestealers. Over time, it can become a very powerful psyker; it grows in size and strength, gaining a bloated and immobile appearance. A Patriarch whose cult is on the verge of taking over a world becomes a psychic beacon, attracting Tyranids to the planet; as the Tyranids approach it will fall under the power of the Tyranid Hive Mind, and begin leading the cult in attacks on vulnerable positions to facilitate the inevitable invasion. It is assumed that it knows nothing of its role in the Tyranid invasion, and once the Tyranids are successful, it and the brood are also consumed by the Hive Fleet.

Twice the height of a Space Marine and with strength enough to slice an Ogryn into bloody chunks, this creature is a leering nightmare of tooth and claw. In a flurry of whipping limbs and diamond-hard talons the Patriarch can tear through platoons of heavily armoured warriors and even light vehicles. Yet it is the hypnotic spell with which it binds its chosen hosts that mark it out as perhaps the most dangerous Tyranid yet encountered by the Imperium. The uncanny powers of the Patriarch make it a fearsome puppet master, a threat so pervasive it has a xenocode threat designation unto itself. By spreading the Genestealer Curse, this creature is capable of destroying not just warriors and war machines, but entire worlds.

Patriarchs are known to live for hundreds of years, and unless killed, are practically immortal. They are seen by the cult as a "father" figure, and should their destruction come to pass, the cult would be thrown into disarray. Eventually, however, the next oldest purestrain genestealer would assume the role of Patriarch. The relationship between a Patriarch and a Broodlord (if there is any) is unknown.

Fleshborer: The Fleshborer, designated by the binomial Pulpa terebro, contains a compact brood nest where Borer beetles lay their eggs, which hatch and mature, sustained by the weapon for future use as ammunition. These beetles are kept in their mature state in a hormone-induced dormancy until the weapon is ready to be fired. At this point, neural impulses from the wielder forces one of the insects into a firing sphincter. From here, the beetle can be fired at a target by a further impulse.

The beetles move very little until the weapon is triggered by a massive electro-chemical shock which drives the beetle into sudden frenzied action. Using their powerful flea-like legs they launch themselves out of the weapon at tremendous speed. The beetle itself is blind, having been specifically bio-engineered this way to lessen any possible deviation its flight path. On striking they expend their life energy in a matter of seconds, boring frenziedly through the target's armour, flesh and bone. If however the beetle fails to find a target, or hits something that even in its frenzied state it cannot bore through, it quickly dies regardless. The beetles secrete a potent digestive enzyme upon impact with a target, aiding the penetration of armour and flesh.

Fleshborers have been speculated to be a niche evolution of the borer beetle itself, bred to lay the eggs involved directly rather than simply storing a hive of beetles. The weapons are also conjectured to be closely related to the devourer.

Caribou

Personal Shielding: Within the last two hundred years, with the advance of technology by the Caribou Regime, Officers and higher ranking members of the Caribou Military have been given special permission to equip Personal Shielding which act as a thin layer of energy that covers their bodies and act as an insolating layer of protection in the event their armor fails them and they are forced to rely on the energy provided by the shielding to keep them alive.

Due to the relatively recent adaption of this technology, the shield will only last for thirty seconds under continuous strikes of any form of weapon above one hundred P.S.I. before the shielding will fail and the wearer is left exposed to the attacks that initially broke it. They will then be forced to retreat for upwards of ten minutes to give the shield time to recharge or risk a magical recharge which does cut the time down by half, it does degrade the material of the components for the Shield System and causes them to malfunction.

Supreme Leader Flash Sentry: Once a loyal stallion to the Crystal Empire five hundred years ago, the dawning of the Caribou Regime saw him turn traitor to receive what he believed to be his just reward in the form of one Twilight Sparkle. Through his actions, he betrayed all that he had once believed in, giving up the locations of a multitude of Resistance Hide Outs, and even going so far as to nearly discover the location of the Resistance Leader Flurry Heart and give away said information to the Caribou.

In recognition for his actions, Dainn himself blessed him with the Alicorn Amulet, which has led to the Pegasus's extended life even to this day. While he may not be a Unicorn, the Amulet has led to him developing twisted and dark means for Environmental Control over the elements which he used to great effect when called off world. To this day, nearly five hundred years following his Betrayal, he now rules over the entire planet of Equis, while Dainn has been working to bring other planets under his thrall.

Anti-Changeling Division: When the Changeling Wars began, following the Betrayal of Queen Chrysalis to Dainn, there was a select group within the Regime Military which were tasked with the eradication of Changeling Hives for the Regime. These Ponies and Caribou were quite proficient in their actions as they systematically exterminated an entire species, or so that thought. With the dawning of this new age, they found what they believed to be a brand new Hive, one below Equestria, that they thought they had missed.

Hybrids:When the first impregnation of an Alicorn occurred, the conception of Flurry Heart was immaculate, though with the next breeding, the monster that it resulted in was one to be feared. It appeared that when a Caribou impregnated an Alicorn, the child born would be an abomination, dwarfing both parents, not only in size but in muscle growth as well. The massive body of the Hybrid have been known to deflect even firearms smaller then rifles, most small arms fire does nothing more then annoy them.

Their minds are quite dull, barely registering anything regarding pain, but pleasure, as any Caribou would attest, results in his acute attention. The only way to garner a Hybrid's attention is through that of conflict, they appear to relish this particular craft and take to it even better then Minotaur do.

Human

The Imperium of Mankind: The Imperium of Man is the galactic empire under which the majority of humanity is united. The founder and nominal ruler of the Imperium is the god-like Emperor of Mankind, the most powerful human psyker ever known.

The Imperium is the largest and most powerful political entity in the galaxy, consisting of at least a million worlds which are dispersed across most of the galaxy. An Imperial planet might be separated from its closest neighbor by hundreds or thousands of light years. As a stellar empire, the size of the Imperium cannot be measured in terms of contiguous territory, but only in the number of planetary systems in its control.

Several aliens and forces - the forces of Chaos, Tyranids, Eldar, Dark Eldar, Orks, Tau, Necrons - challenge the supremacy of the Imperium. From within, the Imperium is threatened more insidiously by rebellion, mutation, rogue psykers, and subversive cults. Without the protection of the Imperium, mankind would fall prey to the countless perils that threaten it.

Chaos

Slannesh: Slaanesh is the Chaos God of lust, greed, excess, pain, pleasure, perfection and hedonism. Slaanesh was the last of the major Chaos Gods to be born—coming into existence with the collapse of the Eldar civilization.

The name Slaanesh derives from Slaaneth - the god's name in the language of Chaos, (Slaa meaning "ecstasy", "pleasure", etc, Neth meaning "lord of", "master of", or "prince of"; hence, the Prince of Pleasure). The correct adjective of things associated with Slaanesh (such as its worshipers) is "Slaaneshi".

Slaanesh typically appears in a form which is female on the right side and male on the left, with two sets of horns rising from its flowing golden hair. It can, however, assume any form—male, female, hermaphrodite or asexual—but prefers male bodies. Its sacred number is six. The symbol of Slaanesh combines the conventional symbols for male and female. It is also known by a multitude of titles, such as Prince of Chaos, Prince of Excess, Prince of Pleasure and Lord of Dark Delights. To the Eldar, who do not name the god, it is referred to only by the Lovecraftian titles of She Who Thirsts, She Who Is Not Named, The Great Enemy, The Great Serpent, etc.

Slaanesh was fully born at the moment of the Fall of the Eldar. The birth of Slaanesh created the Eye of Terror and slew most of the Eldar except those far enough away from the Eldar homeworlds to escape. This event also slew all the Eldar gods except for Khaine (who was shattered into many pieces), the Laughing God - Cegorach, and Isha - who was, according to one Craftworld, taken captive by the Chaos God Nurgle.

Slaanesh has a neutral attitude to some of the other Gods of Chaos (as he is generally too caught up in his own pleasures to be interested in rivalries or alliances), but his particular enemy is Khorne, whose belief in pain and death is completely opposed to Slaanesh's principle of a life of unrestricted pleasure.

404, Artwork Not Applicable for Codex Subject Material.