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Revision as of 09:51, 19 April 2023
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In the CyberHive, ArcHivist Hegelia identified several subspecies of Cybermen descended from the Mondasians, which she termed "Cyber-subspecies". (AUDIO: Origins of the Cybermen, The Early Cybermen, The Cyber Nomads, The Ultimate Cybermen)
The CyberHive's history
CyberMondasian
The original Cybermen of the planet Mondas, the converted form of the native Mondasians, were named CyberMondasians by Hegelia. One faction of these Cybermen, the CyberFaction, fully embraced cyber-conversion and ultimately left Mondas for Planet 14, while Mondasians who were more restrained with their modifcations remained on Mondas. (AUDIO: Origins of the Cybermen) However, another account showed the Eighth Doctor encountering Cybermen of CyberMondan descent after the destruction of Mondas, with these Cybermen having adopted the same design as (AUDIO: Human Resources) the "CyberFaction". (AUDIO: Origins of the Cybermen)
In an instance of parallel evolution, a variant of CyberMondasian emerged aboard a Mondasian colony ship in a genesis event overseen by the Saxon Master. Recognised on sight by the Twelfth Doctor as "Mondasian [Cybermen]", they evolved from the special patients. (TV: World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls)
CyberFactions
Early CyberFaction
The Cybermen of the CyberFaction, of a form identified by Hegelia as "early CyberFaction", were responsible for the first recorded invasion attempt of the planet Earth in the late 20th century. These Cybermen were led by a Cyber-Planner. (AUDIO: The Early Cybermen, TV: The Invasion)
Later, in 1986, the CyberMondasians waged an invasion of Earth which ended in the destruction of Mondas, seemingly wiping out the subspecies. (AUDIO: The Early Cybermen, TV: The Tenth Planet) Meanwhile, CyberFaction survived and broke into several groups and subspecies over the following centuries. (AUDIO: The Early Cybermen)
CyberTelosians
One subspecies came to Telos and colonised the planet, usurping the native Cryons. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen) Identified as CyberTelosians by Hegelia, (AUDIO: The Cyber Nomads) these Cybermen were responsible for the attack on the Earth Moonbase in 2070. (TV: The Moonbase, PROSE: Doctor Who and the Cybermen) Residing in the Cyber-tombs of Telos, the CyberTelosians were led by the Cyber-Controller. (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen)
As noted in other accounts, however, there were also Cybermen of Telos who were originally native to the planet (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen, PROSE: Doctor Who and the Tomb of the Cybermen) and unrelated to the Mondasians, being an example of parallel evolution. (TV: The Doctor Falls) Cyberman Level Nine was a primitive version of these Telosian Cybermen. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Tomb of the Cybermen)
Late CyberFaction
One group of the CyberFaction remained in Earth's solar system, (AUDIO: The Early Cybermen) In 2079, the Space Station W3 was attacked by a model of Cybermen which Hegelia identified as "late CyberFaction", still active in the solar system. Like the earlier CyberFaction, these Cybermen were co-ordinated by a Cyber-Planner. (AUDIO: The Early Cybermen, TV: The Wheel in Space)
CyberNomads
Further space-faring Cybermen, identified by Hegelia as CyberNomads, roamed and proliferated across Mutter's Spiral for centuries before a confrontation with the Vogans, resulting in a war which mostly wiped out these Cybermen. ((AUDIO: The Cyber Nomads, TV: Revenge of the Cybermen) Meanwhile, the CyberTelosians lay within the Cyber-tombs on Telos up to as late as the late 25th century. (AUDIO: The Cyber Nomads, (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen)
Neomorph
26th century
The 26th century saw the emergence and proliferation of a new, advanced subspecies of Cyberman, identified by Hegelia as CyberNeomorphs. (AUDIO: The Ultimate Cybermen, PROSE: Killing Ground) Based on Telos, (TV: Attack of the Cybermen) it was the ArcHivists' belief that the Neomorphs came about as a result of a group of surviving CyberNomads coming across Telos, proceeding to awaken and combine their Cyber-technology with the CyberTelosians to form one, new Cyber-race. (AUDIO: The Ultimate Cybermen) Variants of the CyberNeomorphs included Cyber-Leaders and Cyber-Scouts. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen)
Ultimately, however, the CyberNeomorphs fell into decline. (AUDIO: The Ultimate Cybermen) After failing to destroy Earth in 2526, (TV: Earthshock) the Cybermen were engaged in a Cyber-War which endangered the Cyber-race. Seizing an alien time vessel, the CyberNeomorphs of Telos sent some of their number to Earth's solar system in 1985. There, they intended to change the course of history by using Halley's Comet to destroy the Earth, thus preventing the destruction of Mondas in 1986. This plan, however, was thwarted by the Sixth Doctor, leading in the destruction of both the time vessel and Cyber-Control on Telos. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen, AUDIO: The Ultimate Cybermen)
In an instance of parallel evolution, they had also evolved from the CyberMondans aboard a Mondasian colony ship. (PROSE: Alit in Underland, TV: The Doctor Falls)
Isomorphs
As a result, the remaining Neomorphs were stranded in Earth's solar system in 1985. Modifying themselves, these surviving Neomorphs were dubbed CyberIsomorphs by Hegelia. Based on Earth's moon, Hegelia suggested that the Isomorphs made contact and exchanged data with the earlier CyberFaction, who were also present in the solar system. The Faction remnant were influenced to retreat into the mineral rich asteroid belt, regroup and build a stronger base from which to act. As a result, the Isomorphs had influenced the development of the Cybermen into what eventually became the Neomorphs. (AUDIO: The Ultimate Cybermen)
The Isomorphs themselves attempted to convert Earth into New Mondas with the Nemesis in 1988 only to be defeated by the Seventh Doctor, who used the Nemesis to destroy their fleet. Though Hegelia took this as the end of the Isomorphs in the 20th century, she noted that it could not be said for certain that the Cybermen of the future, despite their misfortune, had not managed to survive in the 26th century. (TV: Silver Nemesis, AUDIO: The Ultimate Cybermen)
Other subspecies
Pete's World
In a parallel universe version of Earth which the Tenth Doctor dubbed Pete's World, Cybermen, dubbed Human.2, were the creation of Cybus Industries, founded by the terminally ill John Lumic. These Cybermen were identified by the appearnce of the Cybus Industries "C" logo on their chest plates. Many humans were forcibly "upgraded" into Cybermen in the 2000s. (TV: Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel) These Cybermen crossed over en masse and invaded the Earth of N-Space, only to be mostly sent into the Void by the Tenth Doctor. (TV: Army of Ghosts/Doomsday)
A group of these trapped Cybermen were released and attempted to conquer Earth in 1851, where they created Cybershades out of animals and worked on establishing a CyberKing battleship. However, they were destroyed by the Doctor. (TV: The Next Doctor) However, more Cybus-derived models took to space, and their Cyber-ships appeared in the Pandorica Alliance. (TV: The Pandorica Opens) It was speculated they later united with the Cybermen native to N-Space. (PROSE: The Whoniverse)
Cybus-esque
The Arctic
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In N-Space, there existed groups of Cybermen which were all but identical in appearance to Cybus' Cybermen with the exception of their chest plates. One group was distinguished by the outline of a Cyber faceplate where the logo of a Cybus Cyberman would be. Led by a Cyber-Lord, these Cybermen manned a Cyber-ship ship which was caught in a temporal storm which sent them crashing to Earth's Arctic thousands of years before 2010, where they were found and destroyed by the Eleventh Doctor. (GAME: Blood of the Cybermen)
The Cyber Legions
Most other groups of these Cybus-style Cybermen were distinguished by generic chest plating which lacked the "C" logo. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War, Closing Time, Nightmare in Silver et al.) These Cybermen were organised into Cyber Legions. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War, GAME: The Eternity Clock) Like the Arctic Cybermen, these Cybermen made several appearances in Earth's early history, preceeding the first recorded invasion, from crashed Cyber-ships. (TV: Closing Time, PROSE: Plague of the Cybermen)
Ultimately, these Cybus-style Cybermen were engaged in the Cyber-Wars against the human empire, which saw the destruction of the Tiberian spiral galaxy. Following the war, these Cyber-suits remained in the universe as relics. (TV: Nightmare in Silver) In addition, a couple of battered models followed Ashad as Cyberguards. (TV: Ascension of the Cybermen)
In an instance of parallel evolution, they also evolved from the CyberMondans aboard a Mondasian colony ship. (TV: The Doctor Falls)
Cyber-Wars
- Main article: Weapons-grade Cybermen
A thousand years following the destruction of the Tiberian spiral galaxy, a new Cyber-Army of advanced Cybermen appeared on Hedgewick's World of Wonders, organised into the Cyberiad, only to be all but destroyed, barring a single Cybermite. (TV: Nightmare in Silver) It was possible these Cybermen were a result of cross pollination between the Cybus Cybermen and the Cybermen of Mondasian evolution. (PROSE: The Whoniverse)
This model of Cyberman participated in the Siege of Trenzalore, (TV: The Time of the Doctor) and made up the army of "Cyberdears" created by Missy on Earth in the 2010s. (TV: Dark Water/Death in Heaven) In an instance of parallel evolution, they also evolved from the CyberMondans aboard a Mondasian colony ship, the Twelfth Doctor identifying them as a "weapons-grade version". (TV: The Doctor Falls)
Far future
Ashad
Ashad, known as "the Lone Cyberman", was a willing albeit rejected recruit to the Cyber-Empire in the far future. Undergoing a partial cyber-conversion, Ashad's human body was housed in an incomplete, weathered Cyber-suit resembling those associated with the Cyberiad, (TV: Nightmare in Silver) but with a left arm resembling those of both the planet Mondas and the Mondasian colony ship's CyberMondasians, (TV: The Tenth Planet, World Enough and Time, The Doctor Falls) lower legs matching the Cybus-style model assocaited with the Cyber Legions, (TV: Rise of the Cybermen, A Good Man Goes to War) and a unique Cyber-helmet with an incomplete faceplate that exposed the left side of his face. (TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati)
Cyber-Warriors
In the immediate aftermath of the far future Cyber-Wars, Ashad and his Cyberguards discovered a Cybercarrier containing thousands of warrior class Cybermen or Cyber-Warriors. These Cyber-Warriors were Cyber-suits with a Cyber-helmet resembling those of the CyberNeomorphs and a faceplate resembling those of the early CyberFaction. Their bodies mostly resembled those of the Cyberiad, but were distinguished by spikes atop their shoulders. (TV: Ascension of the Cybermen/The Timeless Children) When time began to "run wild", Cyber-Warriors were active during the Flux event in 2021. (TV: Once, Upon Time, The Vanquishers)
CyberMasters
The CyberMasters were created when the Spy Master used the resources of Ashad's Cybercarrier to convert the corpses of the Time Lords he had killed on Gallifrey. Externally, they resembled the Cyber-Warriors of the Cyber-Wars, though they had the ornate neckpieces of the Time Lords and Gallifreyan symbols on the side of the helmets. Being Time Lords, they retained the ability to regenerate, which made them effectively invincible. However, this new race was seemingly wiped out when Ko Sharmus detonated the death particle on Gallifrey. (TV: The Timeless Children)
Cyber-Mainframe
On Earth in the 2010s, UNIT did battle with an invasion force of particularly ambitious Cybermen, who externally resembled the Cybermen associated with the Cyberiad. Determined to hail neither from UNIT's own universe, nor the parallel Earth they knew of, these Cybermen of the Cyber-Mainframe had utilised virtual reality technology to conquer numerous parallel universes in a bid to upgrade the entire multiverse. They were, however, unfamiliar with the Time Lords, an ignorance which proved their undoing when the War Master visited a parallel world they had occupied while attempting to escape the Last Great Time War. Returning to the Earth of N-Space, the Master chose to join forces with UNIT against the Cybermen, who attempted to convert him, only to be destroyed when he overloaded their systems with power from infinite dimensions, siphoning some of it off to give his TARDIS enough energy to return to "the fray" of the war. (AUDIO: Code Silver, Master of Worlds)
Behind the scenes
Hybrids
During the gap between the broadcasts of The Invasion and Revenge of the Cybermen, a number of hybrid Cyber-suits were crafted out of existing Cyberman parts for publicity purposes.[1]
- The Cyber-head of a "late CyberFaction" along with the chest unit of an "early CyberFaction" was fitted to what was the Cyber-body of the CyberTelosian Controller to form a new Cyber-suit which posed with Third Doctor actor Jon Pertwee for the Radio Times in 1970. Notable for being potentially the first appearance of a live-action Cyberman in colour, its image later appeared on the classic Doctor Who website and The Doctors Revisited.
- The Radio Times' Doctor Who Special (1973) featured a pair of Cyberman pursuing Polly Wright and Ben Jackson. One suit was a mostly standard CyberTelosian, with head, chest unit and body but with the legs of the Controller, whilst the other was a "late CyberFaction" head atop a standard Telosian body.
- Elsewhere in the Doctor Who Special, another Cyberman hybrid appeared among a group of monsters menacing the Third Doctor. This Cyberman was an "early CyberFaction" head atop a CyberTelosian body.
- In 1974, a Cyberman which appeared for a photocall with Fourth Doctor actor Tom Baker was an "early CyberFaction" with the chest unit and exoskeletal rods of the Telosians.
Invalid sources
- The Doctor Who Role Playing Game: The Cybermen identified the CyberMondasians as "Model I Cybermen", the CyberTelosians and "late" CyberFaction collectively as "Model II Cybermen", followed by the all but identical "Model III Cybermen", the "early" CyberFaction as "Model IV Cybermen", the CyberNomads as "Model V Cybermen", and the CyberNeomorphs as "Model VI Cybermen". Before Silver Nemesis introduced the Isomorphs, FASA featured a "Model VII Cyberman", said to be all but identical to the Model VI, in Countdown.
- Doctor Who: Cybermen Monster File referred to different "Marks" of Cybermen: the original Cybermen introduced in The Tenth Planet (1966) were identified as Mark I, Mark II referred to the Cybermen introduced in The Moonbase (1967), Mark III to the Cybermen introduced in The Invasion (1969), Mark IV to the Cybermen introduced in Earthshock (1982), Mark V to the Cybus Industries Cybermen introduced in Rise of the Cybermen (2006) and Mark VI to the Cyberiad Cybermen introduced in Nightmare in Silver (2013).
Other matters
- Flight of the Cyberons and A Worthy Successor allude to the possibility that the Cyberons may be a "cousin" species to the Mondasian Cybermen. However, the latter are not explicitly mentioned for licensing reasons.
- Supremacy of the Cybermen notably pitted a different form of Cyberman against each of the first thirteen incarnations of the Doctor.
- First Doctor: CyberMondasian
- Second Doctor: CyberTelosian
- Third Doctor: CyberNomad
- Fourth Doctor: Cybermen from The Dark Dimension
- Fifth Doctor: CyberNomad & CyberIsomorph
- Sixth Doctor: An exclusive variant in the Matrix.
- Seventh Doctor: CyberIsomorph
- Eighth Doctor: Cybermen from Dreadnought
- War Doctor: An exclusive Time War variant derived from an unused Cybusman concept.
- Ninth Doctor: "Cyber-Warriors" of Cyber-Earth
- Tenth Doctor: Cyber Legions
- Eleventh Doctor: Cyber-Silurians
- Twelfth Doctor: Weapons-grade Cyberman
Footnotes
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