A Norn-Queen is the highly intelligent Tyranid bio-form that leads the great Tyranid swarms and directs the evolutionary paths they take as they adapt to each new environment or tactical need. They live upon massive Hive Ships in huge chambers at the centre of the Hive Fleet and ingest genetic materials. They then churn out through asexual reproduction all the countless types of bio-forms that make up the Tyranid Hive Fleet. All Tyranids have links back to a Norn-Queen, as the only way for Tyranids to reproduce is through this cloning technique. Although they are sentient beings unlike so many of the other Tyranid bio-forms, they spend their entire lives psychically arguing through the Hive Mind with their "sisters" about how the next swarm of Tyranids could be better adapted to the species' needs. The Norn-Queens are constantly producing Tyranid organisms, new bio-weapons, and starships from a planet's recently consumed bio-mass. The Norn-Queens control the fleet and send orders to Tyranid synapse creatures on an invaded planet. The synapse creatures then retransmit those orders to the lesser Tyranid bio-forms.

The Norn-Queens control the evolutionary course of the Tyranid swarm. Upon arrival at a new world they intend to strip of its biomass, the Tyranids disgorge the "Alpha" swarm of bio-forms.The Alpha swarm contains the genetic material of that particular Hive Fleet's ruling Norn-Queen. These creatures then relay telepathic information to the Norn-Queen on the new world's environmental conditions and battlefield requirements, which spawn the second and subsequent generations of Tyranid bio-forms, sometimes with tens of thousands of casualties in the collection of the data. Capture of an Alpha wave Tyranid bio-form can lead to the creation of a deadly neurotoxin which can directly affect the Norn-Queen, as was done by the Ultramarines during the invasion of Ultramar by Hive Fleet Behemoth. When a Norn-Queen is killed, the psychic backlash of its death in the Hive Mind causes nearby Tyranid Hive Ships to calve, creating more Norn-Queens within their interiors. This is an instinctual survival mechanism of the Tyranid species that is known as the Hydra Effect, and is the reason why
when a Hive Fleet is defeated, it can quickly form splinter fleets that eventually become larger than the original.

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Zarza can only be considered a poweful exception among the Tyranids. She was simply born with much more presence in the Hive mind, Thus her Swarm trumps any previous. This leading her to have gained the name

High Queen Zarza

. This superior Power allows her also to summon the Greatest weapon ever created by the Tyranids, The Swarmlord. The Swarmlord is a uniquely powerful Tyranid biomorph. Amongst the billions of creatures created by the Tyranid Hive Mind, there exists one as old as the Tyranid race itself, the ultimate conduit through which the Hive Mind's implacable will is enforced. This creature is to a Hive Tyrant what a Hive Tyrant is to a Termagant. It is a monster of darkest nightmare that has preyed on empires and overseen the extinction of entire civilisations. It is a legendary destroyer of world and its names are legion. It is the Tyrantlord of the Hive Mind, the Herald of the Great Devourer and the Destroyer of the Kha'la Empire. To the Imperium of Man, the latest interstellar civilization to face this ancient predator, it is the Swarmlord, and it represents the greatest Tyranid threat to the galaxy. The Swarmlord is the pinnacle of the evolution of the Hive Tyrant bioform, a truly unique monster. The Swarmlord is essentially immortal, like a Hive Tyrant, as once killed it is reborn by the Hive Mind with the exact same experiences, character and knowledge, in essence becoming stronger than its predecessor every time because of its new experience. But unlike a Hive Tyrant, the reincarnation of the Swarmlord appears to be a stress induced response that is triggered only when conventional strategies of the Hive Mind fail and greater resourcefulness and tactics are needed. To this end, the Swarmlord possess more autonomy from the Hive Mind than any other Tyranid creature. The Swarmlord has aeons of battle experience and bloodshed to draw upon. As weapons the Swarmlord wields four bone sabres, crackling with disruptive power, that are capable of slicing through adamantium and force fields as if they were nothing. They differ from commonly seen Tyranid Boneswords in that each sabre has a crystalline growth, not indigenous to the galaxy, at its core that partially protrudes through the blade's serrated surface. The Swarmlord can parry with these sabres at such speed that its foes find it all but impossible to inflict a hit on the creature.

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A new Tyrant joined the fray and, in an eyeblink, the whole character of the swarm changed. The ravening berserker-spirit that had driven the Tyranids onto the ridge was gone as if it had never existed. Left in its place was something cannier and infinitely more worrisome. It was then that I knew the battle to be lost.
-Battle Of Macragge, About the sudden Swarmlord