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| {{Infobox Object
| | vansell and the doctor loomed a child |
| |image = Loom (Supremacy of the Cybermen).jpg
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| |aka = Breeding-engine, gene-loom
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| |type =
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| |origin = [[Gallifrey]]
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| |made by = [[Rassilon]]
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| |used by = [[Time Lord]]s, [[Sontaran]]s, [[Cyberman (Mondas)|Cybermen]]
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| |first = Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible (novel)
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| |appearances = [[Looms - list of appearances|'''''see list''''']]
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| }}'''Looms''' or '''breeding-engines''' were devices used by the [[Great House]]s of the [[Time Lord]]s to perpetuate their race. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible (novel)|Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible]]'', ''[[The Book of the War (novel)|The Book of the War]]'') Unable to procreate [[sex]]ually, the Time Lords had to rely on these [[Rassilon]]-invented devices ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible (novel)|Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible]]'') to "weave" new life from base matter and [[biodata]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Book of the War (novel)|The Book of the War]]'')
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| == Description ==
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| Pre-[[time war]] Looms had frames ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Short Briefing Sergeant's Tale (short story)|The Short Briefing Sergeant's Tale]]'') with a mesh of "a million fine chords" which sang with the wind and had microscopic data flowing down themselves, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Human Nature (novel)|Human Nature]]'') as well as stores of [[semiotic fluid]] in which [[embryo]]s formed. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Christmas on a Rational Planet (novel)|Christmas on a Rational Planet]]'') It was said that the Looms smelled of "tangy celestial potental". Some Looms were kept in [[The Doctor's cot|Cradles]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cobweb and Ivory (short story)|Cobweb and Ivory]]'') [[House Dvora]]'s looms were made of shining [[silver]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Return of the King (short story)|The Return of the King]]'') During the [[War in Heaven]], breeding engines were redesigned into a vat-like shape ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Short Briefing Sergeant's Tale (short story)|The Short Briefing Sergeant's Tale]]'') which continued to be used after the [[Last Great Time War]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Supremacy of the Cybermen (comic story)|Supremacy of the Cybermen]]'')
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| When someone was loomed, they would be dripping wet when pulled out of the weft of chords by another [[Time Lord]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Human Nature (novel)|Human Nature]]'', ''[[The Blue Angel (novel)|The Blue Angel]]'') Errors in the weft could leave the loomed with physical deformities that persisted across [[regeneration]]s, as happened with [[Philetes]]' [[clubfoot]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Brakespeare Voyage (novel)|The Brakespeare Voyage]]'')
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| Each [[Great House]] on [[Gallifrey]] had their own Loom which they used to create new members of their Family. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible (novel)|Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible]]'', ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'') Every breeding-engine was kept outside the corresponding [[chapterhouse]] in a [[loomshed]]'s cradle, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Book of the War (novel)|The Book of the War]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Cobweb and Ivory (short story)|Cobweb and Ivory]]'') where they would whisper to each other in the night. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Book of the War (novel)|The Book of the War]]'')
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| The breeding-engines were slightly prescient, but not enough to weave a newborn's entire life story into their biodata. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Book of the War (novel)|The Book of the War]]'') During looming, [[childe|childrene]] were primed with foreknowledge through [[memetic priming]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Against Nature (novel)|Against Nature]]'')
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| [[File:Time Lord cloning vat Final Chapter.jpg|thumb|left|An illegal [[biodata]] "cloning vat" used by the [[Elysian]]s to secretly create [[Time Lord]]s. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Final Chapter (comic story)|The Final Chapter]]'')]]
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| The genetic relationship between people originating from each Family Loom was lateral rather than direct, meaning that people from the same Loom were "[[cousin]]s" of each other. Many Gallifreyans were loomed as "full-grown adults", albeit ones that began child-like and had to mature mentally. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'')
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| Most members of a [[Great House]] were loomed to full physicality but lacked the experience of the elders, so they were called [[childe|childrene]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Against Nature (novel)|Against Nature]]'') or "loomlings". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Unnatural History (novel)|Unnatural History]]'', ''[[The Taking of Planet 5 (novel)|The Taking of Planet 5]]'') [[Leela]] felt pity for [[Gallifreyan]]s, saying that the Looms prevented "true children" from existing on their planet. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'') According to one account, upon being Loomed into the [[House of Lungbarrow]], [[the Doctor]] was physically in the form of a child. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Human Nature (novel)|Human Nature]]'') Some childrene of other Houses, while being mentally or emotionally older, apparently did physically resemble children ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Of the City of the Saved... (novel)|Of the City of the Saved...]]'') Some [[Time Tot]]s, a term specifically used for mental and physical children, were loomed. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Apocrypha Bipedium (short story)|Apocrypha Bipedium]]'') Only childrene of [[Newblood]] Houses were loomed with their [[Binary vascular system|second hearts]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Christmas on a Rational Planet (novel)|Christmas on a Rational Planet]]'')
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| Looms also kept a tally of all the people they birthed, and could normally indicate how old each of its "offspring" was and how many [[regeneration]]s each had gone through. Data from all the Family Looms on Gallifrey was sent to the [[Bureau of Loomographic Records]], which served as a central repository of [[gene]]tic information.
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| Each Great House had a specified number of cousins which could exist in the Family at any given time. The [[House of Lungbarrow]], for example, was allotted forty-five cousins. When a member of a Family died for the final time, the Loom would weave a new cousin into the Family. Cases did exist when an additional cousin was illegally woven, such as [[the Doctor]]'s cousin [[Owis]], but these were extremely rare. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'')
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| [[File:Sontaran Cloning.jpg|thumb|right|The creation of [[Sontaran]]s. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Outsider (comic story)|The Outsider]]'')]]
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| Looms were used by other species, including [[Sontaran]]s. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'') The [[Kroton (species)|Krotons]] grew [[weapon]]s in the looms of [[Quartzel-88]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Alien Bodies (novel)|Alien Bodies]]'') The [[Osirian Court]], amongst other societal traits similar to the Great Houses, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Body Politic (audio story)|Body Politic]]'') used "flesh looms", such as the one [[Sutekh]] used to give himself a new body. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Pyramid of Sutekh (audio story)|The Pyramid of Sutekh]]'') [[Cernunnos]]' [[mammoth]]s of the [[pre-universe]] created [[human]]ity in breeding-engines like those of the Great Houses. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cobweb and Ivory (short story)|Cobweb and Ivory]]'')
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| [[Faction Paradox]]'s [[remembrance tank]]s were deliberate parodies of breeding-engines ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Book of the War (novel)|The Book of the War]]'') and were sometimes called "looms" in the [[City of the Saved]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Philology: The Real Professional Bag of Tricks (short story)|Philology: The Real Professional Bag of Tricks]]'')
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| == The Doctor and Looming ==
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| According to several accounts, [[the Doctor]] was loomed from the genetic material of [[the Other]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'') He [[scream]]ed when he was dragged out from the Loom. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Blue Angel (novel)|The Blue Angel]]'') Upon leaving the Loom the [[childe]] Doctor's first word was "Again". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Human Nature (novel)|Human Nature]]'') When he was only five years old, the [[First Doctor]] boasted that he could remember existing in the [[House of Lungbarrow]]'s Loom before being actually born:
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| {{quote|I can remember waiting to be born... It was like being all strung out. All unravelled inside the Loom. I was spread really thin... I couldn't think. Not put thoughts together... But I knew where I was and what was happening. I couldn't wait to get out. And then I was born. My lungs nearly burst. The first rush of air was so cold..."|The Doctor|Lungbarrow (novel)}}
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| The [[Fifth Doctor]] once claimed to be "unambiguously loom-born" ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (audio story)|Cold Fusion]]'') and remembered being born on [[Otherstide]] through the Loom of the [[House of Lungbarrow]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'')
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| When [[Serif]] tried to mentally regress [[John Smith (Seventh Doctor)|John Smith]] to the moment of his birth, Smith relived the Doctor's looming. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Human Nature (novel)|Human Nature]]'')
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| The [[Eighth Doctor]] remembered both being loomed and having parents and a childhood. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Unnatural History (novel)|Unnatural History]]'', ''[[The Shadows of Avalon (novel)|The Shadows of Avalon]]'', ''[[Bafflement and Devotion (short story)|Bafflement and Devotion]]'') He knew that one of these was a [[dream]], but he could not recall which. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Shadows of Avalon (novel)|The Shadows of Avalon]]'') In the seas of [[Hyspero]], [[Sam Jones]] encountered a group of [[starfish]] creatures who told her that the Eighth Doctor was "woven from genetic broth, a Loom, on a Patriarchial world without mothers - though sometimes he believes he was birthed of a more Earthly mother." ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Scarlet Empress (novel)|The Scarlet Empress]]'') The [[boy (Unnatural History)|boy]] from [[Faction Paradox]] suggested that this was because [[the enemy]] was rewriting the Doctor's past "when he wasn't looking". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Unnatural History (novel)|Unnatural History]]'')
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| In [[The Infinity Doctors universe|one universe]], [[the Doctor (The Infinity Doctors)|the Doctor]] believed he had been "born of the Loom, son of [[Ulysses|the greatest explorer of his age]] and [[Penelope Gate|a human woman]]." ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'')
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| When [[Maris]] tried to investigate the Doctor's origins, she found five conflicting birth notices for him, including one claiming he was created from Lungbarrow's Loom and another that he was born to a human mother. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Celestial Intervention - A Gallifreyan Noir (short story)|Celestial Intervention - A Gallifreyan Noir]]'')
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| == History ==
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| In the time of the [[anchoring of the thread]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Book of the War (novel)|The Book of the War]]'') [[Rassilon]] created the Looms to stabilise the Gallifreyan population after they were rendered sterile by [[Pythia]]'s curse. One was given to each [[Great House]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible (novel)|Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible]]'') These breeding-engines were designed to produce generations of flawless academicians and observers, and they did so for ten million years. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Book of the War (novel)|The Book of the War]]'') ''[[A Brief History of Time Lords]]'' speculated that Rassilon created the [[Life cycle|regeneration cycle]] by "playing with [[test tube]]s and genetic looms". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Brief History of Time Lords (novel)|A Brief History of Time Lords]]'')
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| However, there were instances of womb-[[birth|born]] children during the period where Looms were in use. Rassilon passed a decree that "only the Loom-born shall inherit the Legacy of Rassilon", and enforced this decree by wiping out the womb-born. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') In the Doctor's time, Time Lords born of a Loom were seen as "high born." ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Celestial Intervention - A Gallifreyan Noir (short story)|Celestial Intervention - A Gallifreyan Noir]]'') However, some womb-born survived this persecution and hid among the general population for hundreds of centuries. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'')
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| Despite their supposed infallibility, mutations began to appear in the breeding-engines twelve hundred years before the [[War in Heaven]]. This resulted in a generation of [[renegade Time Lord|renegades]] that included [[the Imperator]], [[Grandfather Paradox]], and [[the War King]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Book of the War (novel)|The Book of the War]]'')
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| The [[Order of the Weal]] was interested in unstable [[Great House|bloodlines]], and ''[[The Book of the War]]'' hypothesised that the Order made subtle alterations to the programme dynamics of the Houses' engines. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Book of the War (novel)|The Book of the War]]'')
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| During the [[Carnival Queen]]'s attack on Gallifrey, an [[embryo]] began scratching the [[blueprint]]s of a [[De-mat Gun|demat-gun]] in the [[semiotic fluid]] of its gene-loom. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Christmas on a Rational Planet (novel)|Christmas on a Rational Planet]]'')
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| While for most of history "Great House children were spun like a cottage industry on the old gene-weaving frames", this system was no longer possible during the [[War in Heaven]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Short Briefing Sergeant's Tale (short story)|The Short Briefing Sergeant's Tale]]'') The Looms of [[Romana III's Gallifrey]] were overworked making warriors such as [[Cavis]] in the decades before the War. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Shadows of Avalon (novel)|The Shadows of Avalon]]'') Into the War, [[loomstack]]s on [[Gallifrey Eight]] were used to mass-produce soldiers. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Taking of Planet 5 (novel)|The Taking of Planet 5]]'')
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| [[The Enemy]] once defined itself as "the weave that the looms make not". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[No Enemy But Despair (short story)|No Enemy But Despair]]'') It was feared that the enemy's influence could retro-compromise the Houses' [[House Military|soldiers]] and affect the nature of their breeding-engines; this exact phenomenon may have caused the [[Sixth Wave]] to retro-annul itself at birth or to be born supporting the wrong side. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Book of the War (novel)|The Book of the War]]'') Some neo-loomed [[Fifth Wave]] agents were intentionally exposed to aspects of the Enemy to prepare them for War. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Subjective Interlock (short story)|Subjective Interlock]]'')
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| In the [[Rivera Manuscript]], the enemy's [[The Cataclysm|attack on the Homeworld]] made the breeding-engines continuously scream from the [[loomshed]]s. The enemy soldiers eventually attacked the engines directly, detonating themselves and leaving the looms intact but mutated. These mutations spread as a sickness throughout the survivors of the attack. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Book of the War (novel)|The Book of the War]]'')
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| When [[Sutekh]] corrupted the [[Faction Paradox]] shrine under [[Pompeii|Civita]], the [[remembrance tank]]s grew into a vast [[Tree of Filth]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Coming to Dust (audio story)|Coming to Dust]]'') Parts of Gallifrey were covered in [[Loomforest]]s shortly before the [[Last Great Time War]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Celestial Intervention (audio story)|Celestial Intervention]]'')
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| [[File:Supremacy Loom.jpg|thumb|left|Rassilon after placing [[the General]] in a Loom. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Supremacy of the Cybermen (comic story)|Supremacy of the Cybermen]]'')]]
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| When Rassilon and the [[Cyberman (Mondas)|Cybermen]] conquered Gallifrey, they used Looms to trap captured Time Lords in a state of perpetual [[regeneration]], where the Looms could harvest the energy created. The Cybermen later linked it to the [[Cyberiad]] and the [[Eye of Harmony]], where they planned to alter history. The [[Twelfth Doctor]] and Rassilon countered this plan by using the energy to regenerate the universe and return history to normal. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Supremacy of the Cybermen (comic story)|Supremacy of the Cybermen]]'')
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| [[Gustous R Thripsted]] discussed Gallifrey's "gene-looms" in ''[[Genetic Politics Beyond the Third Zone]]''. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Christmas on a Rational Planet (novel)|Christmas on a Rational Planet]]'')
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| == Behind the scenes ==
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| * Like many ideas and concepts in ''Doctor Who'', this has not been referenced on-screen, and can be seen to contradict other sources. There have been many statements by [[the Doctor]] and others referring to him having been a "boy" or showing the Doctor and other Time Lords as children.
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| ** Many prose and audio sources have recently found ways of integrating Looms and Great Houses into the televised ''Doctor Who'' continuity. ''[[A Brief History of Time Lords (novel)|A Brief History of the Time Lords]]'' references [[Rassilon]] using "genetic looms", ''[[Celestial Intervention - A Gallifreyan Noir (short story)|Celestial Intervention - A Gallifreyan Noir]]'' references the [[House of Lungbarrow]], ''[[Lords and Masters (short story)|Lords and Masters]]'' mentions the Patriarchs of the [[Great House]]s, and the ''[[Gallifrey: Time War]]'' box set refers to [[loom forest]]s. The ''Faction Paradox'' short story ''[[Cobweb and Ivory (short story)|Cobweb and Ivory]]'' references Looms being kept in Gallifreyan cradles, thus hinting [[the Doctor's cot]] was the shell of Lungbarrow's Loom.
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| * [[Steven Moffat]] said that it was "reasonable to assume that Time Lords [met] and marr[ied] and mate[d] in much the same way" humans did. He acknowledged "some highly inventive material in the ''[[Virgin New Adventures]]'' books contradicting this" and described the ''New Adventures'' as "a separate (and equally valid) continuity" to the modern [[BBC Wales]] TV series.<ref>[[DWM 482]]</ref> When asked if [[series 11 (Doctor Who)|series 11]] would confirm the existence of Looms, [[Chris Chibnall]] said he had not read ''Lungbarrow'', as he had not been able to find a copy.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ8WMXFgMU8&t=1280 Jodie Whittaker Talks About Her Role as the Thirteenth Doctor]</ref>
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| * [[Lance Parkin]]'s short story ''Executive Action'', published in the [[charity publication|charity anthology]] ''Walking in Eternity'', contextualized the conflict between Loomed and Womb-Born seen in ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'' and referenced in ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]''. Loomed Gallifreyans were said to be considered "pale imitations" to the Womb-Born, with considerably weaker mental powers, suggesting that Rassilon instigated the forced social change to ensure that no Time Lord could become more powerful than he.
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| == Footnotes ==
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| {{reflist}}
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| == External links ==
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| {{fpx|Breeding engine|Breeding engine}}
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| [[pt:Tear]] | | [[pt:Tear]] |
| [[Category:Gallifreyan technology]] | | [[Category:Gallifreyan technology]] |
