Warhammer 40K: Tyranid Synapse – The Web of the Hivemind
The Tyranid Synaptic web is what allows them to devour entire planets and function as a single-minded fighting force. But how does it work?
Synapse is the Tyranid Psychic Power which unites all of the Tyranids into the Hive Mind. It is projected by Synapse Creatures which are usually leaders such as Hive Tyrants, Tyranid Warriors and Broodlord or specialist psykers like Zoanthropes. These creatures have greatly increased synapse networks within their cortex and these act as psychic conduits for the Hive Mind to order nearby troops. Without the Synapse guiding them, most Tyranids will revert to a feral state, although some, such as Genestealers with their Brood Telepathy, can perform just as well without Synapse as they do with it. In 2nd Edition this power was called Hive Mind.
Tyranid Codex, 10th Edition
Synapse Creatures of the Tyranids
Synapse Creatures are some of the larger, more intelligent Tyranid organisms that act as psychic conduits or nodal relays through which a portion of the iron will of the Hive Mind flows to other lesser members of the hive. It is through Synapse that the swarms’ natural Instinctive Behavior is overridden to the will of the Hive Mind.
Known Synapse Creatures include:
- Broodlord
- Dominatrix
- Hive Tyrant
- Maleceptor
- Neurotyrant
- Neurogaunt
- Neurolictor
- Tervigon
- Trygon Prime
- Tyranid Prime
- Zoanthrope
In practice the Synapse Web functions similar to a military structure with the “orders” filtering down from the top creatures to the lesser Tyranid beasts. This how control of the Hive Mind is exerted over these lesser creatures.
The Hive Mind itself is the gestalt collective consciousness of the entire Tyranid race, a psychic embodiment of the Tyranid instincts and racial imperatives to devour and destroy. It’s not a single mind capable of small, conscious thought the way a Human‘s mind works, but instead it is a grand agglomeration created from the psychic presence of untold billions of Tyranid creatures. It is a nightmarish and unfathomable intelligence that allows Tyranids to coordinate and adapt as if every Tyranid creature is merely a part of a single massive organism, one which is utterly focused on consuming all other life.
This powerful collection of minds even exudes it’s presence in the warp. The psychic presence of the Hive Mind is so powerful that it radiates out of Tyranids like a flood. This permeating psychic power on the gigantic scale of a Hive Fleet distorts the Warp for light years around the fleet’s position, preventing Imperial Astropaths from sending or receiving telepathic messages, stopping spacecraft entering the warp and forcing spacecraft already in the warp wildly off-course as warp travel becomes increasingly unpredictable. This invasive “shadow in the warp” 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 has psychic potential, the horror they feel is magnified tenfold and using their psychic abilities could drive them into incurable insanity.
For more on the Tyranids check out the Lexicanum
