Ravenous

From Tardis Wiki, the freeDoctor Who reference

More

  • More
ImagesAvailable.png

Ravenous

Jaxa.jpg

Main aliases:

Kolstani

Biological type:

Humanoid

Place of origin:

First mentioned in:

First appearance:

Appearances:

You may be looking forthe audio series.

TheRavenous, originally known and existing as theKolstani, (AUDIO:Day of the Master[+]Loading...["Day of the Master (audio story)"]) were a race of creatures fromKolstan, a planet in theTime Vortex. They were from theOld Times, feared because they fed onTime Lords. A clan of Ravenous returned in the era before theLast Great Time War and were encountered numerous times by theEighth Doctor,Liv Chenka,Helen Sinclair, andthe Eleven.

Biology[[edit] |[edit source]]

In their natural state, the Ravenous resembledclowns, with the Doctor speculating that they inspired the traditional image of the modern clown as part of a universal racial memory attempting to make them less scary. (AUDIO:Deeptime Frontier[+]Loading...["Deeptime Frontier (audio story)"])

The Ravenous were essentially the natural predator of the Time Lords, having evolved specifically to feed onregeneration energy; however, Time Lords suffering fromregenerative dissonance, such as the Eleven, were essentially immune to the Ravenous, as their condition somehow contaminated their regenerative energy so that the Ravenous couldn't feed on it. (AUDIO:The Odds Against[+]Loading...["The Odds Against (audio story)"]) They were also unable to feed on the Master when his essence was possessing a human body, as this process also served to make his remaining regenerative energy unappealing. (AUDIO:Day of the Master[+]Loading...["Day of the Master (audio story)"])

History[[edit] |[edit source]]

Origin[[edit] |[edit source]]

The Ravenous were originally a race known as the Kolstani, who existed on the planetKolstarn, a unique world that existed in the Time Vortex, the Kolstani drawing on the energy of the Vortex to sustain themselves, to the extent that they could warp reality to a minor degree. The Gallifreyan scientistArtron attempted to analyse that power to create a system of perfectregeneration, but was interrupted when theEighth Doctor and the theBruce Master came to the planet, the Doctor seeking his insight into the Ravenous after encountering them several times, while the Master wanted his aid in restoring his ability to regenerate.

Having acted as Artron's assistant for several months, the Master devised a machine that would allow him to absorb the energy from the Kolstani, forcing Artron to help him by fatally wounding the Doctor, but Artron reconfigured the device to give him that power rather than the Master. However, draining the energy from the Kolstani compromised their mental stability and reduced them to a state of perpetual hunger, where they sought to take the regenerative energy from Time Lords as a means of compensating for their own loss of energy. (AUDIO:Day of the Master[+]Loading...["Day of the Master (audio story)"])

Old Times[[edit] |[edit source]]

In theOld Times ofGallifreyan history, according tothe Matrix, the Ravenous threatened the earliestTime Lordpioneers. TheEighth Doctor originally speculated that the Ravenousevolved as the universe's way of balancing out the increased lifespans thatRassilon gave to his people.

One incident involving the Ravenous occurred during Time Lord interventions with the earlyhumancolonyplanetYalta Prime. Rassilon orderedTime-Skiff Alpha 9 to materialise in Yalta Prime's atmosphere to awe the humans, but the Ravenous attacked the skiff during its journey and it arrived one week late without a single living crew member.

Rassilon led the near-genocide of the Ravenous. To retain moral high ground, the Time Lords kept a single family of Ravenous alive and imprisoned them in abubble dimension which was lost in theTime Vortex. (AUDIO:Deeptime Frontier[+]Loading...["Deeptime Frontier (audio story)"])

Imprisonment[[edit] |[edit source]]

Isolated in their prison dimension, the Ravenous learned "new tricks", includingpossession. (AUDIO:Deeptime Frontier[+]Loading...["Deeptime Frontier (audio story)"])

Seeking thatTime Lords be brought to them in their prison dimension, the Ravenous placed abounty atthe Maldovarium. Acting on this, theNightstalker came to1963Shoreditch and attempted to kidnap theFirst Doctor andSusan Foreman for the Ravenous. When the Nightstalker mentioned that they could sense Susan, the Ravenous could be heard screeching. It was stopped byRiver Song and Susan. (AUDIO:An Unearthly Woman[+]Loading...["An Unearthly Woman (audio story)"])

Return of the Ravenous[[edit] |[edit source]]

Fearing the comingLast Great Time War,Daria Visteron used theDeeptime Frontier to release the Ravenous from their prison dimension. (AUDIO:Deeptime Frontier[+]Loading...["Deeptime Frontier (audio story)"])

After defeating theKandyman's andthe Eleven's scheme with thethought spider, theEighth Doctor and his companions caught of a glimpse offaces reflected inglass,screaming, andHelen Sinclair saw aword in hermind: "Ravenous." Afterwords, the Eleven mused to himself that he knew what they fed on, and that all anybody could do was run. (AUDIO:Sweet Salvation[+]Loading...["Sweet Salvation (audio story)"])

The Eleven was later found by one of the Ravenous onboard adying TARDIS which he had stolen. The Eleven was scared enough to call for the Doctor’s help escaping it. According to the old tales, the Ravenous ate temporal energy, with Time Lords thus being their most potent source of "food", while shorter-lived life forms such as humans would be little more than the equivalent of a packet of crisps to satisfy the Ravenous' appetite. After the Eleven stole the Doctor's TARDIS, the Doctor was able to escape the Ravenous by using the last of the dying TARDIS's power to make a random materialization, leaving the Ravenous in the TARDIS as the ship's interior dimensions finally collapsed. (AUDIO:Seizure[+]Loading...["Seizure (audio story)"]) This Ravenous'corpse was found by theDeeptime Frontier. (AUDIO:Deeptime Frontier[+]Loading...["Deeptime Frontier (audio story)"])

The Ravenous foundthe Nine atthe Nine's prison while pursuing the Doctor, (AUDIO:The Odds Against[+]Loading...["The Odds Against (audio story)"]) and the two allied to trap the Doctor by creating a fake origin for the Ravenous. (AUDIO:The Odds Against[+]Loading...["The Odds Against (audio story)"],L.E.G.E.N.D.[+]Loading...["L.E.G.E.N.D. (audio story)"]) The Eleven took the Nine's place in this partnership and tricked the Doctor into thinking the Ravenous had been destroyed. (AUDIO:The Odds Against[+]Loading...["The Odds Against (audio story)"])

With a Ravenous hiding in his mind, the Eleven eventually tricked the Doctor into taking him to the desert planetParrak, which was said to be the location of Artron's tomb. (AUDIO:Planet of Dust[+]Loading...["Planet of Dust (audio story)"]) Tracking down a copy of Artron's Matrix print, the Eleven then returned to theCrucible of Souls, using Artron's knowledge to essentially reverse the polarity of the Crucible; where it had been originally designed to absorb the life energy from the dying universe, it would now grant regeneration energy to the entire universe, making them all capable of regeneration and providing more potential food sources for the Ravenous.

Realising the threat this plan posed, three incarnations of the Master joined forces to stop the Eleven and the Ravenous by bringing the now aged-Artron to the Crucible, with the Ravenous hesitating to consume him due to their fragmentary memories of his past kindness. While the Masters reprogrammed the Crucible to remove the ability to regenerate from the rest of the universe, the Doctor was able to help Artron realise that he had to sacrifice his own power to restore the Kolstani to normal. With their normal power and mental stability restored, the Kolstani promised to take Artron and bury him somewhere peaceful in memory of his sacrifice. (AUDIO:Day of the Master[+]Loading...["Day of the Master (audio story)"])

In the Beyond[[edit] |[edit source]]

The Ravenous existed inthe Beyond, a place outside the universe where numerous erased events and timelines were preserved during theLast Great Time War. They grew stronger by feeding on Time Lords trapped in repeating events and eventually amassed an army which plundered an alternate version of Gallifrey itself. Their feeding risked destroying the Beyond by taking the temporal energy that bound it together. The Ravenous were attracted to the deepest point of the Beyond by theparadox of two versions ofIrving Braxiatel meeting. They caught the younger Braxiatel and fed on him, however the temporal energy within him proved too great and destroyed them. (AUDIO:Beyond[+]Loading...["Beyond (audio story)"])

Behind the scenes[[edit] |[edit source]]

The DWM Review,DWM 538.