Swarmlord

The Swarmlord, also known as the Tyrantlord or The Herald of the Great Devourer, is a unique Tyranid organism which features in Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Description
Apparently related to the Hive Tyrant genus, the Swarmlord is much, much older than these creatures. Said to have existed as long as the Hive Mind itself, it is far more powerful than a regular Tyrant: armed with four biological weapons known as Bone Swords, covered in a thick plating of chitinous armour and possessed of the lightning reflexes necessary to use them to annihilate nearly any opponent, the Swarmlord is a fearsome creature to face indeed.

However, it is not these qualities that make the Swarmlord truly unique. It has been gifted with a level of autonomy unknown amongst other Tyranid organisms, making it the perfect synapse creature to make on-the-spot battlefield decisions for the Hive Mind: invasion forces led by this beast act in an even more fluid way than regular swarms, with every single organism from the mightiest bio-Titan to the smallest Ripper instinctively knowing its place and purpose through the psychic guidance of the Swarmlord. Needless to say, on the rare occasions that it falls in battle, absolute chaos reigns throughout the Tyranid horde as their connection to the Hive Mind is lost.

Another singular facet of the Swarmlord is the manner of its birthing; there is only ever one Swarmlord in existence at any given time, with only the death of the previous Swarmlord triggering the spawning of another. However, the new host will possess all of the abilities, memories and tactical acumen of the deceased host biologically imprinted upon its fresh form, including the manner of its death. This means that as long as the Hive Fleets exist, so will the Swarmlord, with every death causing it to return even stronger than before.