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'''Hive Fleets''' are massive locust-like [[Tyranid]] swarms, comprising billions of creatures including the actual [[bio-ships]], living spacecraft used to cross interstellar space and the voids between [[galaxy|galaxies]]. Each creature of the Hive Fleet is an inseparable part of the [[Hive Mind]].
== Overview ==
An entire Hive Fleet is directed by the single coordinating will which is its [[Hive Mind]], formed from untold billions of individual consciousnesses, each of which is a living creature in the fleet. Mankind still searches vainly for the higher beings they suppose control the Hive Fleets, and though such mighty creatures exist, they no more control the Hive Mind than single brain cells control a man's body. It is the sum of the Hive Mind which motivates it, not its constituent parts.
Three major Hive Fleets have invaded the galaxy, each coming into conflict with the [[Imperium]]. Of the three major Hive Fleet invasions, two entered the galaxy through the [[Eastern Fringe]], but one is moving up from below the galactic plane. The Hive Fleets encountered thus far are just a splinter of the main Tyranid invasion force that is traveling through the void between galaxies.{{Fn|31}}
The bio-ships contain everything required to sustain the fleet; some ships being purely for crushing resistance, the larger ships contain birthing pools to create the huge land armies of the Tyranids and even more ships when the need arises. The nutrients used as food and raw material are replenished by scouring conquered planets of every cell of biological matter, including all the Tyranids it seeded onto the planet. Because the Tyranid forces are recycled in this way, the "design" of the Tyranid warriors can be altered by genetic engineering, allowing the Tyranid forces to rapidly adapt to overcome any enemy. Further, the Tyranids absorb the DNA of defeated enemies, allowing for further genetic diversity. It is believed the [[Genestealer]] and [[Broodlord]] are derived from [[Human]] DNA, the [[Zoanthrope]] from [[Eldar]] and the [[Biovore]] from [[Ork]] DNA.
==See also==
*[[List of Hive Fleets]]
*[[Behemoth]]
*[[Kraken]]
*[[Leviathan]]
*[[Bio-ships]]
==Sources==
*{{Endn|1}}: [[Codex: Tyranids (4th Warhammer 40,000 5th Edition)|''Rulebook]], pg. 215===Uncited===*[[Codex: Tyranids'' (4th Edition)]]*[[WD145|''White Dwarf'' #145]] (1992), Tyranid army list*{{Endn|3}}: [[Warhammer 40,000 5th Edition Rulebook]] pg.215
[[Category:Hive Fleets]]