Cerebravore

Cerebravore
Biological type:	Psi-form
Place of origin:	Unnamed planet
Appearance:	Revolutions of Terror

Cerebravores were intelligent predatory psi-forms created from Pranavores by experiments performed by Fleshkind.

Biology

Cerebravores were originally created to be used for military purposes in the psychosphere of an alien planet. Being psi-forms they were not perceptible to most corporeal creatures. They fed on fear and dark emotions. Cerebravores preyed by first scaring a victim telepathically magnifying its worst fears. If the victim turned out to be susceptible, they could use it as a host and manifest themselves physically. By this stage, they could generate fear both inwardly to the host and outwardly manifesting the worst fears of potential future victims. Eventually, the host would die of exhaustion and the cerebravore would search for another.

When Gabby Gonzalez was looking at Cerebravores using headgear with a special ocular circuit for observing psi-forms, she described them as spidery reptile things.

Culture

Cerebravores developed an individualistic predatorial culture based on silence. They called their activities "the silent hunt" that happens under "the holy veil of quiet". They disdained species whose bodies consisted of substance, but attacked psi-forms and flesh-based creatures alike.

History

A species whom Cerebravores called Fleshkind weaponised local Pranavores by separating them from their hive mind, their conscience and any sense of higher self. As a result, Pranavores mutated into a telepathic strike force.

Before staging a revolution against their creators and consuming all of the Fleshkind, an advance Cerebravore party crossed a dimensional bridge created by a Fleshkind scientist. The bridge was supposed to lead them to Fleshkind enemies, but brought them to Earth instead.

On Earth, the Cerebravores emerged in Miguel Gonzalez's laundromat. They terrorised several neighbourhoods in Brooklyn, attacking Gabby Gonzalez, making Cindy Wu their host and causing an advisory to stay home on the local NY1 news.

The Tenth Doctor and the Fleshkind scientist destroyed the dimensional bridge preventing more Cerebravores from coming. The Doctor and Gabby then defeated Cerebravores in the final face-off at Green-Wood Cemetery. (COMIC: Revolutions of Terror)

Behind the scenes

• The name of the species means "feeding on cerebrum" or, slightly simplifying, feeding on higher brain functions.
• The name is first used by the Tenth Doctor. It is most likely that he invented a name for them like he did with Pranavores because he never encountered Cerebravores before and they themselves did not use this name. However, the origins of the name are not stated explicitly.
• Cerebravores were featured and named in the third of the three issues of the comic story Revolutions of Terror alongside the Doctor and Gabby in the gallery of three main characters of the story. (The second issue featured a human possessed by a Cerebravore and did not give their name in the gallery.)

External links

• Cerebravore at the Doctor Who Legacy wiki