[Caledor]

Anyone have any ideas what would happen if Tyranids absorbed Tau genetic data, and accidentaly absorbed what makes them listen the the etherials? Or is it just deeply imbeded in their psychology? Trying to find a narritive hook for a Tau/Tyranid alliance for Apocalypse. And it seemed interesting.

 

[Mad King George]

it your have to be a boss tyrinid considering the hive mind and all

 

[Dirge Eterna]

Or the Ethereals extort a gestalt conciousness almost the same as the Hive Mind, which, being a bajillion lightyears away, would lose control of the swarm to the Tau.

-Dirge

 

[Silb]

Or the Ethereals extort a gestalt conciousness almost the same as the Hive Mind, which, being a bajillion lightyears away, would lose control of the swarm to the Tau.

You make the hive mind seem like an sentient being, I was under the impression that it was a psychic field generated and recieved by all the nids (more powerfully generated from stronger nids like norn queens, and not generated at all by stealers and gaunts). Basically, the same thing as the WAAAAAGH!!!

Back on topic, the ethereals control over the tau is more like strong telepathic suggestions in the Tau's mind rather than a complete controlling power like the Hive Mind. My theory is that if the ethereals somehow managed to "hack" into the Hive Mind or if the nids accidentaly "connected" themselves to the ethereals, the Hive Mind would at the very least be weakened, enough so that the ethereals would give commands that some nids (like gaunts and possibly stealers) would obey, while others (like hive tyrants and norn queens) would disregard them; this would cause the nids to start killing each other out of confusion and conflicting allegiances.

 

[Dirge Eterna]

Perhaps a psychoactive trigger? A team of Pathfinders poisened a Norn Queen to produce offspring loyal to the Ethereals?

In my defense, I've always considered the Hive Mind to be a sentient being. The nids' wouldn't function as a whole if the top of the tree was a Norn Queen. There HAS to ba a higher intelligence for the kind of tactics and organization even different swarms exhibit.

-Dirge

 

[Metal_Ead]

It would not happen. Thats like saying Tau next to Orks would start screaming Waaagh! Or that Orks would start obeying the Tau. All the races have unique phsyology, brains, and psykers/ or leaders. Warhammer 40,000 is not Star Trek where one alien can have sex with another alien cause they are the same. The races in 40k are unique and uncompattable physicaly and mentaly. There are an awful lot of bipedal huminoids however!

 

[LordWaffles]

Maybe if the tau managed to capture a hive tyrant and "corrupt" his brain and "radio" to only "receive" messages from the ethereal, maybe. I always figured it that the hive mind sends signals to the norn queen, who sends them to tyrants, than warriors, than the mass. Or somesuch. And the highest layer broadcasts the loudest. So if you had a hive tyrant sending the 'corrupted' messages to the warriors, they'd resonate down to the others.

...
Or the tau found a breeding pit and a norn queen the hive mind left for dead, and they managed to corrupt her messages before her hive completely deteriorated.

 

[Elchimpster]

Dude, it's all a stretch bro.
The very idea of Tyrannids allying with any "food race" is simply foreign to my brain...regardless of what the ally matrix says.

Only slightly better is the concept of Necrons allying with other races.

My OWN feeling on this is that Tyrannids should always fight alone, as a swarm of never ending bugs ala Starship Troopers, no friends, no allies.

Anything else is simply twisting the fluff to fit.
That's just MY take on it. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Silb]

Maybe if the tau managed to capture a hive tyrant and "corrupt" his brain and "radio" to only "receive" messages from the ethereal, maybe. I always figured it that the hive mind sends signals to the norn queen, who sends them to tyrants, than warriors, than the mass. Or somesuch. And the highest layer broadcasts the loudest. So if you had a hive tyrant sending the 'corrupted' messages to the warriors, they'd resonate down to the others.

...
Or the tau found a breeding pit and a norn queen the hive mind left for dead, and they managed to corrupt her messages before her hive completely deteriorated.

That is a good theory, the only problem is that there is no way mentioned in fluff that even hints that it is possible for anyone to "corrupt" or "hack" into a nid's brain. There are only 2 ways that I think the nids could follow one of the other races:

1.If a psyker was more powerful than tigirius (who survived contact with the hive mind) and tried to contact and control the hive mind, they might succeed. Of course, a psyker that powerful would probably have to be the emperor or possibly one of the chaos gods.

2. If a way to control a high ranking nid's thoughts was found; possibly by capturing it, puting it in statis, and running experiments on it, then it could command a decent amount of nids to attack the other nids.

 

[Elchimpster]

2. If a way to control a high ranking nid's thoughts was found; possibly by capturing it, puting it in statis, and running experiments on it, then it could command a decent amount of nids to attack the other nids.

It could also be seen as foreign, tainted or otherwise "not right" at which time they would likely turn and kill it.

 

[Mad King George]

It could also be seen as foreign, tainted or otherwise "not right" at which time they would likely turn and kill it.

like in aliens resurrection ?

 

[Elchimpster]

like in aliens resurrection ?

YES!!!
Perfect! Just like that. There is something alien and feral about them that no matter what we do, we can't mimic, and if we do...it'll likely be noticed. Just like the various versions of genestealer hybrids mingling with humanity. It's noticeable, that's why they remain hidden. Humans aren't all that sharp, so we notice little...but the bugs, and their hive-mind...dude...they'll notice!

 

[Silb]

The nids are incredbily feral when not controlled by the hive mind. In the nid codex fluff it says that the norn queen attacking Ichar IV(or some planet with a similar name) was infected by some kind of a virus, and without its guidance, the nids attacked each other. I can understand how my second theory would be incredibly unlikely, maybe even impossible, but my first theory seems pretty likely. A powerful-enough psyker or controlling power (like a C'tan or chaos god) could possibly shut the hive mind off from all the other nids and maybe even give the nids his own commands, since without the hive mind, they would not recognize the commands as foreign due to their lowered intelligence.

 

[Marneus Calgar]

I dont think it would happen, but it would be an interesting Fluff story..

 

[GhostBear]

From the other side of the spectrum. Why not just make whatever Tau your using a Genestealer Cult or some such? (Not too familiar with Genestealer cults myself)

 

[Triumph Of Man]

Only slightly better is the concept of Necrons allying with other races.

When there is a common goal at hand, Necrons will work alongside other races. Even if the alliance is as tenuous as "I'll flay you after," they are still able to logically ally with an enemy in the face of a greater threat (there is an example of this where the Necrons come to the aid of the forces of Order in the Eye of Terror campaign, combining their efforts with what remained of the Imperial and Eldar fleet in attacking the Blackstone fortress).

If Chaos is looking at world domination, you can bet on it that the Necrons will probably be working to foil them in whatever way they can. Because the entire universe looking like the Eye spells a problem for the C'Tan.

 

[Tau Chaotix]

it may be possible for a chaos god, c'tan or possibly the emporor.

But for tau it would be impossible since they have no phsycik powers watsover.

so its not possiible for this aliance to happen.

 

[Captain Galus]

lol if you could find a good hook thats awesome...but a tau/nid alliance keeps me up at night :shok:

 

[Tau Chaotix]

all the long range powers of Tau and the close rangeswarm powers of 'Nids...


OUCH!!

 

[Frostbite]

Well, it is not unprecedented for the Tau to find a way to control another race against their will. This is strongly hinted at in the entry about Vesdid, and the fact that they refused to ally with the Tau until they were presented with the Communication Helms. Once they put those helmets on, the entire race immediately ceased resistance and bowed to the Tau. This would be next to impossible to do with nids however, as the nids are not sentient, and their only emotion is hunger.

Another thing, the Ethereals control over other Tau is on two levels, and neither has anything to do with psychics. The first and most basic is a pheromone that they are able to release from an organ in their forehead. Upon scenting this pheromone, any other Tau loses the ability to oppose said Ethereal. The second and more recent is deeply psychological. From birth, they are trained to obey the Ethereals above all and without question to such a degree that it takes an intense emotional strain to overcome it.

Neither of these control measure would have any effect on the Tyranids, and so extermination is the only answer.