Trygon var addthis_config = {"data_track_addressbar":true};

Tyranids Portal

A Trygon in action.¹

Trygons are huge Tyranid creatures, similar to giant Raveners.

Overview

A Trygon is a monstrous serpentine species of Tyranid capable of tunneling through just about any material - carving out underground tunnels that can be used by other Tyranid creatures to bypass enemy lines. For the enemies of a Trygon, an attack from below is incredibly hard to detect and even harder to defend against. The emergence of a Trygon will often herald a larger Tyranid attack as hordes of smaller creatures pour out after it using the freshly created tunnel.¹ It appears that Trygons use their bio-static charge to assist with tunnelling, as their tunnels have been found coated with a fused, glass-like silicate layer on the inside. This effect stabilises the tunnel walls and prevents them from collapsing behind a burrowing Trygon.⁴

Trygons have also been known to dig deadfall traps by leaving a thin crust over a deep conical hole. Sufficient weight in troops and armour will collapse the roof of the sinkhole and deposit the victims into the Trygon’s waiting claws. A Trygon’s greatest weakness is probably that it can be baited or misdirected while burrowing by the first tasty morsel to cross its path.⁴

A Trygon is also heavily armoured in shifting carapace plates that generate a bio-static charge as the creature moves. Known as a Bio-Electric Pulse¹, this energy can be channeled into a sudden powerful arc that is strong enough to kill by exhaling an ionised spray from its gills.¹

Basic Info

Ordo Xenos Departmento Analyticus Record
Designation	Trygon	Main Weaponry	4x scything claws
Common Title	Mother Ravener/Slash-tail
Species Name	Tyranicus subterra-extremis	Secondary Weaponry	Bio-electric field
Average Height	7.1m
Average Weight	9.7 tonnes	Tertiary Weaponry	Other claws and fangs
First encountered	Beta Anphelion IV
Role	Subterranean assault
Threat evaluation	Very high

Trygon Prime

A Trygon Prime is a variation of the Trygon modified to wield Containment Spines running the length of their bodies that can better harness their bio-electric buildup and further direct it into a more terrifying lightning bolt. They are also adapted to share a synaptic link with the Hive Mind, allowing them to influence lesser Tyranid creatures.

Bioshock Brood

Instead of generating individual bio-static fields, Trygons can work in a Bioshock Brood to combine and greatly amplify their own charges into a single bioelectric field covering the whole brood. Lightning arcs from beast to beast with a build-up of power so great that the generated field can disrupt, absorb, and even deflect incoming enemy fire. When released it has the power of a raging tempest which reduces targets to charred corpses. Tell-tale signs of an imminent surfacing from a Bioshock Brood include hairs standing on end, the tang of ozone, or unusual electronic static through comms channels - though these warnings usually go unnoticed.³

Images

• 

  Trygon (5th edition), based on the Forge World sculpt but adapted by Aly Morrison and Tom Walton ²

• 

  Trygon from Forge World, sculpted by Simon Egan ²

Related Articles

• Species of Tyranid

Sources

• ¹: Codex: Tyranids (5th Edition), p.50
• ²: White Dwarf 361 (UK), p.22
• ³: White Dwarf 362 (UK), p.49
• ⁴: Deathwatch: Mark of the Xenos, pg 45

• Imperial Armour Volume Four - The Anphelion Project