Old Swarm

Old Swarm
Species:	Ravager
Affiliated with:	Passenger form
Sister:	Azure
First appearance:	The Halloween Apocalypse
Appearances:	TV: Once, Upon Time
Main actor:	Matthew Needham

Incarnations of Swarm

The Old Swarm was the incarnation of the Ravager Swarm who led the resistance against the Division's binding of time at the Temple of Atropos during the Founding Conflict, ultimately being defeated by the Fugitive Doctor and remaining imprisoned in a containment chamber on the Burnished Rage battleground for most of the lifetime of the universe. Allowed to escape by the final incarnation of Tecteun, he killed his guards and regenerated into a new incarnation.

Biography

Battles with the Doctor

Swarm and the Doctor fought numerous times across time and space (TV: The Halloween Apocalypse) as part of the Founding Conflict between forces aligned with Time and forces aligned with Space; Swarm his sister Azure represented Time while the Time Lords and their Division, who intended to bring an end to the Dark Times, represented Space. (TV: Once, Upon Time) Azure suggested to the Doctor that she and her brothers existed to "correct the error" that the Doctor's existence in the universe, standing up for life against death, constituted. (TV: The Vanquishers)

Towards the end of the Founding Conflict, Swarm and Azure learnt the Division's greatest secret, the Mouri in the Temple of Atropos on the planet of Time that kept the force of Time bound. Viewing this endeavour as heresy, the pair took control of the Temple, bringing along millions of hostages within Passenger forms, and evicted the Mouri. The Division dispatched the Fugitive Doctor, along with Karvanista and two other agents, to capture Swarm and Azure and restore the universe to normal. In the Siege of Atropos, the Doctor confronted Swarm and Azure in the inner sanctum and revealed she'd had the Mouri secret themselves in one of the Passengers, unleashing them to retake their positons in the Temple. The Doctor's team then immobilised Swarm and Azure and had them transmatted away. (TV: Once, Upon Time)

Swarm and Azure were officially banned from the Temple thereafter, with the Mouri being quantum-locked against them in fear of their return. (TV: War of the Sontarans)

Imprisonment

Swarm was imprisoned in a containment chamber on the Burnished Rage battleground, allegedly at "the dawn of the universe". Every thousand years, agents of the Division would come check whether he was still secure in his containment; En Sentac visited him a number of times over the millennia, though they did not know if he had literally been there since "the dawn of the universe". During this time, he "planned" and "waited". (TV: The Halloween Apocalypse)

Escape and renewal

Swarm regenerates after killing En Sentac. (TV: The Halloween Apocalypse)

During what would become En Sentac's last such tour, performed in the company of K-Toscs, (TV: The Halloween Apocalypse) the "Awsok" Tecteun decided to "reintroduce" the Ravagers by releasing Swarm, (TV: Once, Upon Time, Survivors of the Flux) remotely disabling all the technology keeping him frozen. Shortly before this occurred, Swarm reactivated an old psychic connection he had with the Doctor, linking himself to the Thirteenth Doctor, (TV: The Halloween Apocalypse) as part of a long con to gain access to the Division's base outside Universe One. (TV: Survivors of the Flux) Using his powers to freeze En Sentac in place, Swarm kept his warden paralysed for a few moments before draining their life force. He renewed himself, screaming in exultation, becoming a taller, younger Swarm. (TV: The Halloween Apocalypse)

Appearance and clothing

The Old Swarm had pale and almost "scaly" skin. (TV: The Halloween Apocalypse)

During his imprisonment, the aged Swarm had a stout appearance. He spoke in a deep, raspy voice; his nostrils were narrow and slit-like and he had dark, squarish shadows around his sunken blue eyes. Crystal formations ringed his race, oriented towards the back of his head, giving the appearance of scales flaking off. (TV: The Halloween Apocalypse) While walking free, he wore a coat with a large fur collar. (TV: Once, Upon Time)