Devourer
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This article is about the the Tyranid infantry weapon. For other uses of Devourer, see Devourer (disambiguation). |
A Devourer is a Tyranid bio-weapon, typically carried by Tyranid Warrior breeds and their variants (including Shrikes and Tyranid Primes)[1a], Carnifexes[8a], Raveners[8b], as well as Termagants.[1c]
Overview
The devourer is a conical lump of partly rotted flesh, infested by writhing flesh-worms, Ripper-like larvae with black, shiny heads. The cone is dotted with holes which serve both as breathing tubes and firing barrels. When the weapon is triggered, a bio-electric jolt signals the brood to attack, hurling a shower of the creatures at the enemy. When they strike an enemy, they immediately start burrowing into the flesh, eating their way through the victim's nervous system towards the brain. The agony caused by this process is enough to drive the victim insane, though death is usually quick.[1b][2][3][7]
When the worms are launched at the target, in a swarm of hundreds at a time, they either shatter against the target and spread acid and poison over it, or pierce the armour to burrow into the flesh as described above.[4]
Devourers wielded by the largest Tyranid organisms are loaded with hives of brainleech worms, a more aggressive and voracious breed of worm.[1b]
Images
Tyranid Warrior with a Devourer[5]
Twin-linked Devourers
A Devourer
Inset: Devourer larvae[7]
Sources
- 1: Codex: Tyranids (5th Edition):
- 2: Codex: Tyranids (4th Edition), pg. 30
- 3: Codex: Tyranids (3rd Edition), pg. 8
- 4: Codex: Tyranids (2nd Edition), pg. 56
- 5: Tyranid Warrior Brood
- 6: Warhammer 40,000 6th Edition Rulebook, pg. 217
- 7: White Dwarf 257 (UK), Tyranid Bio-Weapons Thesis, pg. 77
- 8: Codex: Tyranids (8th Edition)
