Interesting fluff revelation

[Seahawk]

I recently read Pharos, and in it, the loyalists essentially overcharge a Necron relic in order to defeat the traitors trying to control it. This sends out an energy pulse into the universe, a pulse that's detected by the Hive Mind. It then turns its mighty attention in the direction of the Milky Way galaxy.

 

So, this happens during the Heresy, putting it between 009.M31 and 014.M31.

 

The first Hive Fleet enters our galaxy around 740.M41. That puts it at about 10,700 years it takes for them coming through the warp from across the intergalactic void.

 

So, on to a curiosity. On a good day, it takes about 7-9 months to cross the Imperium's northern half (about 500,000,000,000,000,000 km / 50,000 light years / 15.3 kpc). Presuming the Tyranids are always having a good day in the warp, can we extrapolate the distance, and approximate which galaxy the devils came from? I think so!

 

So let's go. Let's presume the following:

 

- 8 month travel time = 15.3 kpc

 

To reduce it to a 6 month value, we have 11.5 kpc. To put it all together, that's a distance of 23 kpc per year, times 10,700 years, equals a grand total of 246.1 kpc, or 802,286 light years.

 

There is one known galaxy around that distance away from us: the Leo I galaxy, a dwarf spheroidal galaxy. It's not nearly the closest galaxy to us; it's the 17th closest galaxy to us. Makes you wonder about the rest and what secrets they hold...

 

 

[Stercus]

Except you're missing the amount of time the signal takes to travel to wherever the hive minds come from, so the true distance is likely to be substantially lower.

[Redtoof]

Interesting topic. I'd speculate that the hive mind was probably already on it's way by then, since GW have been leaving little hints since forever that earlier proto-nids have been seeded in the galaxy long ago.

 

In any case, I don't think we have a very good idea how fast the hive fleets can travel, or how fast warp travel is possible outside of the galaxy. Also they may have stopped on the way for snacks. ;)

[Aothaine]

I remember reading that Tyranids don't use warp travel. They, like the Necrons, have developed drives that move them just as fast in real space.

[Seahawk]

Fair enough. That is the furthest possible galaxy that the Tyranids could have come from, given instant infinite flash distance. It's also tricky in general, because once the Tyranids are in our galaxy they seem to ooze around at sublight, rather than through the warp.

 

The book says it actually flashed through at "many times the speed of light." Since that's a rather nebulous term, I'll assign an arbitrary number to it to give us some reference. 10! :lol:

 

 

The numbers (so people can correct me if I'm wrong)

 

10 Ly (distance the pulse travels in a year)

74,980 Ly (distance one can travel through the warp in a year)

 

So...roughly maybe who knows...I'm mathing it as it takes about 10650 years for the pulse to reach the Tyranids, and once it responds, it'll only take them about 1.42 years to travel through the warp to our galaxy. This makes sense, because it's giving a leeway of about 70 years to skirt and probe the galaxy's defenses, such as with genestealer seeding. 

 

That'd make it a rough distance of 106,500 Ly, which.......is only about the length of our own galaxy away, somewhere around the distance between Ursa Major II or the Large Magellanic Cloud. Quite scary how close they could be floating out there, really! 

 

It's all relative and speculation anyway. Could be closer or farther, who knows, but this was all just an exercise in potential averages in the first place, and just something fun I had on my mind.

 

 

Redtoof, it's actually said they weren't going to come here until the pulse was detected.

"Into the eternal blackness, a flash of quantum energy shone out at many times the speed of light; a brief flare, milliseconds in duration, projecting from an unremarkable spiral of stars. 

 

It was not missed. 

 

In the darkness, something of limitless hunger stirred in a slumber that had lasted for aeons. A million frozen and unblinking eyes saw the flash, tripping cascades of stimuli. Their purpose served, the eyes died.

 

The entity processed the message the eyes provided without ever truly awakening. Automatically, instinctively, its gargantuan, dreaming mind analyzed the signal, comparing it against all parameters for the one thing it sought.

 

Prey.

 

Slowly, glacially, the great devourer shifted its course."

 

[Xenith]

So I read somewhere that the nids use some form of FTL travel, basically by harnessing the gravitational well of the target planet, then something something space tubes, funnels, accelerate towards it.

 

Either way, they seam to be able to locally 'bend' realspace to cross vast interstellar distances quickly.

 

Does the blurb mean that somewhere, there is an 'ultimate beast' that is Tyranid? And all the current fleets are essentially its dandruff? 

[Aothaine]

 

Does the blurb mean that somewhere, there is an 'ultimate beast' that is Tyranid? And all the current fleets are essentially its dandruff? 

 

Well they all report back to the hive mind. Perhaps the mind is as large as a galaxy.

[Canadian_F_H]

Interesting take. Tho I had always assumed that every local galaxy was already essentially lost to the tyranids in every direction from us...

 

Instead this implies that they were adrift in the black void between galaxies... arguably closer to us than our closest major neighbor andromeda. This could mean 1 of 2 things... our neighbor galaxies are already consumed... or life may not take root as readily as our galaxy would imply and the superpredator tyranids simply drift thru the blackness waiting to sniff the blood in the water...

 

I also asumed that our satalite galaxies were not infested... tho they may have suffered tyranic invasions immediatly prior to their arrival at the milkyway.

Edited July 5, 2017 by Canadian_F_H

[The Unseen]

I read somewhere that Tryanids have this little specialized ship/creature that manipulates gravity into a pseudo-wormhole like deal, siphoning off some of the target locations gravitational force, but it only works far away from any large gravitational fields. So they can travel interstellar distances fairly quickly, though not as quickly as webway/warp travel, but once they get close to anything, their limited to sub-light speeds.

 

And what I thought was implied by the whole "eyes" thing was just that the Hive Mind had a specialized set of sensory systems waiting for stimulus while it was floating in the void.

[Seahawk]

That would be the Narvhal, found in the 5th edition codex. All the fluff up to that point said that Tyranids travel through the warp; this codex (and not since) say that they can't. Sooo...whatever GW.  :LOL:

[Redtoof]

The fluff surrounding the mechanics of how tyranids work has always been confused and inconsistent. I think it's better left somewhat as a mystery. Maybe they use multiple methods of getting around. Maybe they have multiple ways of detecting prey species? Maybe GW never decided all this and just let writers do what they want because it's not space marine cannon, so who cares? Who can say?

[Canadian_F_H]

Perhaps it is as best determined by the imperium, tau and eldar,but none of them have conclusive answers. Ie. Our knowledge of their FTL isn't from the tyranic perspective so nobody is certain.

[Xenith]

Interesting take. Tho I had always assumed that every local galaxy was already essentially lost to the tyranids in every direction from us...

 

There's some fluff stating that imperial comms folk managed to get some sound from another galaxy, however it was just abunch of voices shouting "orks, orks, orks, waaagh" or something to that effect.

 

Basically, the Imperium of M41 doesnt know what is beyond the reaches of it's own galaxy, or if humankind ever made it beyond the reaches of the galaxy before the old night.

[Closet Skeleton]

I remember reading that Tyranids don't use warp travel. They, like the Necrons, have developed drives that move them just as fast in real space.

 

Necrons lost their 'physics breaking super speed' and just use the Webway now.

 

 

Does the blurb mean that somewhere, there is an 'ultimate beast' that is Tyranid? And all the current fleets are essentially its dandruff? 

 

The Great Devourer is just a synonym for the Tyranid race as a whole. The Hive Mind is basically a warp entity since its a psychic collective consciousness, so its an individual the same way Slaanesh is both the depravity of every individual pre-fall Eldar and a god.

 

 

I also asumed that our satalite galaxies were not infested... tho they may have suffered tyranic invasions immediatly prior to their arrival at the milkyway.

 

Satellite galaxies are a confused category because its really hard to tell with telescopes how they actually relate to their 'parent' and if every astronomical object in the category is actually the same sort of thing. Whether they're just the outer reaches of the galaxy or actually separate dwarf galaxies is shaky.

 

If the Tyranids eat anything in their path they'd go for the satellites before the main galaxy if there is any biomass in there. Since most Hive fleets seem to be going in well aimed tendrils they'd probably skip out on detours.

[Canadian_F_H]

I meant that the nids didn't come from them. But may have attacked them first... which narrative ly would be cool. Sort of a warning shot that nobody noticed kind of thing... like the first characters to dissapeared or die in a horror movie but nobody else realizes they are gone yet.

[Panzer]

 

Interesting take. Tho I had always assumed that every local galaxy was already essentially lost to the tyranids in every direction from us...

 

There's some fluff stating that imperial comms folk managed to get some sound from another galaxy, however it was just abunch of voices shouting "orks, orks, orks, waaagh" or something to that effect.

 

Basically, the Imperium of M41 doesnt know what is beyond the reaches of it's own galaxy, or if humankind ever made it beyond the reaches of the galaxy before the old night.

 

Always loved that fluff blurp but I can't remember where it's from.

Also to be more specific, they end out a Drone but they aren't even sure if it ever made its way out of the galaxy to begin with. Could be that it got caught by some Ork before it even reached the galaxy borders. :P