"It's there, I know it is, lurking in the shadows, stalking me like an animal. It's death itself I tell you, just watching me, waiting… Oh blessed Emperor, why won't it just kill me?"
- — The ravings of Cardinal Salem
The Lictor Deathleaper, Hive Fleet Leviathan's ultimate assassin.
Deathleaper is a unique Lictor created by the Hive Mind of Hive Fleet Leviathan as its ultimate assassin, but who the creature was truly hunting for remains elusive.
The Deathleaper is an advancement of the Lictor strain specifically created by the Hive Mind to serve as a terror weapon. Possessing an instinctive understanding of how to spread fear through prey populations, it uses its skill in stealth, infiltration and assassination to sow paranoia and dread before the hive fleet arrives at a prey world to attack en masse.
History
First encountered on the Imperial world of St. Caspelan in 997.M41, this Tyranid terror weapon spread fear and undermined the population's morale, breaking their will to oppose the coming swarm.
Far from being a mindless assassin, Deathleaper instinctively knew that the death of St. Caspelan's spiritual leader, Cardinal Salem, would have only created a martyr that would have increased the intensity of the defences on St. Caspelan.
The infamous Lictor known as Deathleaper.
Instead, Deathleaper infiltrated the cardinal's bunkers, slaughtered his advisors and hacked through his bodyguard, only to leave the cardinal himself unharmed, covered in the blood and viscera of his closest aides.
The vile Lictor continued its brutal psychological torture of the cardinal by repeating this gruesome carnage for ten solar days, bypassing ever-increasing levels of security. Each time, Deathleaper came within a claw's grasp of the cardinal before once again mysteriously fleeing from the bloody scene.
The knowledge that the Tyranid assassin could eliminate him at any time was more than the cardinal's sanity could take. His panic-stricken paranoia and broken mind did more to break the morale of the Caspelan Planetary Defence Forces than any mere execution could have accomplished.
As terror and confusion reigned free, Hive Fleet Leviathan invaded the world. The swarm of the Great Devourer easily butchered its leaderless prey due solely to the actions of the Deathleaper.
Sources
- Codex: Tyranids (5th Edition), pg. 59
- Codex: Tyranids (6th Edition), pp. 162-164
- Codex: Tyranids (9th Edition), pg. 102
| Tyranid Forces | |
|---|---|
| Command | Norn-Queen • Hive Tyrant • Neurotyrant (Neuroloid) • Broodlord • Neurothrope • Dagon Overlord • Malanthrope • Maleceptor • Swarmlord • Tervigon • Tyranid Warrior Prime • Trygon Prime |
| Elites | Haruspex • Hive Guard • Lictor (Neurolictor) • Leaper • Biovore • Pyrovore • Venomthrope • Ymgarl Genestealers • Zoanthrope • Hive Guard • Tyrant Guard |
| Troops | Gaunt (Termagant • Hormagaunt • Barbgaunt• Neurogaunt) • Rippers (Sky-slasher) • Genestealer • Tyranid Warrior (Tyranid Shrike) |
| Fast Attack & Flying Bioforms | Gargoyle • Harpy • Ravener • Hive Crone • Harridan • Tyrannocyte |
| Heavy Support | Biovore • Carnifex (Thornback • Stone Crusher • Screamer-Killer) • Dimachaeron • Exocrine • Mawloc • Haruspex • Pyrovore • Trygon • Tyrannofex • Sporocyst • Maleceptor • Psychophage • Toxicrene |
| Spores | Meiotic Spore • Mycetic Spore • Mucolid Spore • Spore Mine |
| Others | Bio-Titan (Hierophant • Nautiloid • Vermis • Viciator • Dactylis • Dominatrix) • Cerebore • Hierodule • Malefactor • Norn Emissary • Norn Assimilator • Capillary Tower • Reclamation Pool • Spore Chimney |
| Unique Tyranids | Deathleaper • Old One Eye • Parasite of Mortrex • Doom of Malan'Tai • Red Terror • Mist Reaper • What Lies Beneath • Death's Shadow |