Editing Old One (The Knight, The Fool and The Dead)

{{you may|the Old One|Great Old One}}According to one account, "'''[[Great Old One|Old Ones]]'''" was a name used during [[the Doctor's early life|the Doctor's education]] for the most powerful species of the [[Dark Times]]. He had read of their "rise", which was to be contrasted with the generally peaceful demeanour of most species of their era.

In their heyday they were "giants of the universe", but, by the time [[the Doctor]] crossed paths with them, all of them had been reduced to mere "remnants". Among those late-surviving Old Ones were the [[Exxilon (species)|Exxilon]]s, the [[Eternal]]s, the [[Jagaroth]] and the [[Racnoss]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Knight, The Fool and The Dead (novel)|The Knight, The Fool and The Dead]]'')

== Old Ones ==
=== Eternals ===
[[File:Uninvited.jpg|thumb|The Eternals. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Uninvited Guest (comic story)|Uninvited Guest]]'')]]
The [[Eternal]]s, as their name suggested, had eternal [[lifespan]]s. The first event that they were known to have been involved in was to banish the [[Carrionite]]s and [[Hervoken]] into the [[Deep Darkness]] during the [[Dark Times]] of the Universe. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Shakespeare Code (TV story)|The Shakespeare Code]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Forever Autumn (novel)|Forever Autumn]]'') On Earth, they could be recognised as gods, [[angel]]s, earth spirits, [[devil]]s, [[demon]]s, ghouls, and [[poltergeist]]s. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Blood Harvest (novel)|Blood Harvest]]'')

Some of the Eternals passed themselves off as [[Gallifreyan]] deities, the [[Menti Celesti]], such as [[Time (mythology)|Time]], [[Pain (Set Piece)|Pain]] and [[Death (mythology)|Death]], a development which [[Lady President]] [[Romana II]] found distressing. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Happy Endings (novel)|Happy Endings]]'') Not all Eternals did this, and until he met the [[Fifth Doctor]] and probed his mind, the Eternal known as [[Striker]] professed that he had never heard of the [[Time Lord]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[Enlightenment (TV story)|Enlightenment]]'')

A [[Skirmish between the Halldons and the Eternals|temporal skirmish]] opposed the Eternals to the [[Halldon]]s, but an end was brought to it by the Time Lords, in one of the very few [[time war]]s they would fight prior to their [[Last Great Time War|great War]] with the [[Dalek]]s, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Meet the Doctor (DWAN 2006 short story)|Meet the Doctor]]'') the, by a dissenting account of their history that disagreed with the stories of [[Yarvelling]] or [[Davros]], rebellious [[Creation of the Daleks|creations]] of the Halldons. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[We are the Daleks! (short story)|We are the Daleks!]]'') During the [[Last Great Time War]], the Eternals finally forsook the universe, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Brief History of Time Lords (novel)|A Brief History of Time Lords]]'') abandoning their "hallowed halls" as they "despaired" of this reality. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Meet the Doctor (DWAN 2006 short story)|Meet the Doctor]]'')

=== Exxilons ===
[[File:Exillon.png|thumb|The Exxilons after being driven out of their Great City. ([[TV]]: ''[[Death to the Daleks (TV story)|Death to the Daleks]]'')]]
The Exxilons were an ancient species, apparently capable of space travel before life had formed on other worlds. They travelled throughout the [[Mutter's Spiral]] and were reportedly the most powerful species in the [[universe]], at least for a short time. ([[TV]]: ''[[Death to the Daleks (TV story)|Death to the Daleks]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Death to the Daleks (novelisation)|Death to the Daleks]]'') At the height of their power, they influenced the development of other early civilisations, including the [[Earth]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Death to the Daleks (TV story)|Death to the Daleks]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Death to the Daleks (novelisation)|Death to the Daleks]]'')

They were one of the species involved in the [[Millennium War]], joining forces with the [[Uxariean]]s to fight the minions of the [[Mad Mind of Bophemeral]] in the [[Andromeda (galaxy)|Andromeda Galaxy]]. They were both caught in a trap that led to their eventual downfall and the creation of the [[Crab Nebula]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel (novel)|The Quantum Archangel]]'')

Eventually, the Exxilons decided to pool their knowledge and create the [[Great City of the Exxilons]]. It combined all of the [[science]] known to the Exxilons and was intelligent and capable of repairing itself. During this time, the Exxilons would travel to other inhabited worlds where they would construct great beacons on their surface that would drain the mental energy of the natives and send it back to the Great City. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Exxilons (audio story)|The Exxilons]]'') Eventually, the City decided that the only flaw left was the Exxilons themselves and it drove them out. The City drained all the [[energy]] from the planet, which meant the Exxilons were incapable of developing any technology above the stone age. They slowly descended into a primitive species. ([[TV]]: ''[[Death to the Daleks (TV story)|Death to the Daleks]]'')

During the [[space plague]] at the end of the [[Third Dalek War]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Secret Lives of Monsters (novel)|The Secret Lives of Monsters]]'') [[human]]s came to Exxilon in search of [[parrinium]]. Their ship failed as soon as they reached the planet, and they were attacked by the primitive Exxilons as soon as they arrived. They tried to survive on the planet, but the Exxilons were a permanent danger. Shortly afterwards, the [[Third Doctor]] and [[Sarah Jane Smith]] came to the planet by accident, and Sarah was kidnapped to be sacrificed. Before the Doctor could do anything about it, the [[Dalek]]s came to the planet, looking for parrinium which they could use to threaten the Earth colonies. They too were de-powered by the City, but after several defeats, they were able to modify their weapons, allowing them to fight back. They enslaved the surface Exxilons and forced them to mine the parrinium. While escaping from the Daleks, the Doctor and Sarah Jane encountered the underground Exxilons. The Doctor helped one, named [[Bellal]], find a way into the City and destroyed it from within. ([[TV]]: ''[[Death to the Daleks (TV story)|Death to the Daleks]]'')

=== Racnoss ===
[[File:Racnoss.jpg|thumb|The Empress of the Racnoss. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride (TV story)|The Runaway Bride]]'')]]
The Racnoss evolved in the [[Dark Times]] of [[the universe]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride (TV story)|The Runaway Bride]]'', ''[[The Infinite Quest (TV story)|The Infinite Quest]]'') When the [[Kotturuh]] stood in judgement over the Racnoss, they judged them not to be a "particularly useful" species and thus cursed them with [[mortality]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Guide to the Dark Times (short story)|The Guide to the Dark Times]]'') They were nearly wiped out by the [[Fledgling Empires]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride (TV story)|The Runaway Bride]]'') in the [[Racnoss Wars]] ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Empire of the Racnoss (audio story)|Empire of the Racnoss]]'') over [[distant past|4.6 billion years BC]]. [[Gallifreyan]]s also had a hand in this. Another source posited that the Racnoss [[Cannibalism|ate each other]] to near extinction, at least according to [[the Matrix]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen (novelisation)|Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen]]'')

Nearly all of the survivors of the race escaped in [[Secret Heart|their spacecraft]], around which the [[planet]] [[Earth]] would later form. An [[Empress of the Racnoss (The Runaway Bride)|Empress of the Racnoss]] stayed in her [[Webstar]], but also went into hibernation at the [[edge of the universe]] until she decided to search for her young. Around [[2007]], the [[Torchwood Institute]] began a drilling attempt to the centre of the Earth. This awoke the ''[[Secret Heart]]'', which in turn signalled the Empress of the Racnoss. She came to Earth and used Huon particles manufactured from the River Thames to feed [[Donna Noble]] with the right catalysis of particles to awaken her young. The Doctor killed the Racnoss young by flooding the tunnel to the centre of the Earth with water from the Thames while the Empress teleported back to the ''Webstar'' plotting revenge. However, she had used up all of her power to attack London and revive her children and was left defenceless to a tank attack ordered by {{Simm|n=Harold Saxon}} which destroyed the ship and killed her, rendering the Racnoss extinct. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride (TV story)|The Runaway Bride]]'')

=== Jagaroth ===
[[File:Scaroth.jpg|thumb|Scaroth, the last of the Jagaroth. ([[TV]]: ''[[City of Death (TV story)|City of Death]]'')]]
At some point in the [[distant past]], following the era of the [[Fledgling Empires]], the Jagaroth had constructed a massive interstellar empire only for it to grow beyond their ability to control. When their subjects rose up against them, the Jagaroth were reduced to only one ship. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Whoniverse (novel)|The Whoniverse]]'') This ship made it to the primordial [[Earth]], having tracked a [[Racnoss]] energy signal, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[City of Death (novelisation)|City of Death]]'') four hundred million years prior to the [[20th century]], ([[TV]]: ''[[City of Death (TV story)|City of Death]]'') due to the presence of the [[Empress of the Racnoss (The Runaway Bride)|Empress of the Racnoss]] and her brood having hidden at the centre of the Earth earlier still in its history. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride (TV story)|The Runaway Bride]]'')

Finding it unsuitable for habitation, they planned to leave the planet. However, their atmospheric thrust motors were damaged and inoperable, and they decided to take off using their warp-drive, against the advice of [[Scaroth]], their warp-field operator. The attempt to do so deep failed, and the ship exploded. The massive burst of radiation generated by this explosion catalysed the development of life on Earth. 

It also propelled Scaroth into the [[Time Vortex]], where he splintered into twelve incomplete aspects of himself, each trapped at different points in the [[timeline]] of Earth. These aspects of Scaroth pushed forward the development of [[human]]ity, so that technology sufficiently advanced for [[time travel]] could be created and he could return to stop his past self from entering warp drive, and in turn save his people. He was eventually able to travel back in time to the moment before his ship's explosion, but was stopped by the [[Fourth Doctor]], [[Romana II]], and [[Duggan]]. After the latter knocked him unconscious, Scaroth was returned to 1979, where he was killed by his servant Hermann, in turn destroying the time field. This allowed the creation of life on Earth to go unaltered, and brought about the extinction of the Jagaroth. ([[TV]]: ''[[City of Death (TV story)|City of Death]]'')

{{Dark Times Species}}
[[Category:Old Ones|*]]