Chris Cwej

Character Background

Christopher Rodonanté Cwej, usually just known as Chris Cwej, is a character from the Virgin New Adventures range of spin-offs. His surname should technically be pronounced "Shvay", but he pronounces it "Kwedge" rather than keep correcting people.

His first appearance was in the novel Original Sin by Andy Lane, with his adjudicator partner Roz Forrester. Adjudicators are the police force of 30th century Earth, which was at that time divided into the Overcity and the Undercity. Chris was born in 2954 to a family who lived in the lower levels of the Overcity, and which had a long association with the Adjudicators. Chris is tall, blonde and muscular, and when he first met the Seventh Doctor and Bernice, he had had a "body bepple" (bodily alteration) which made him look like a teddy bear.

He and Roz were investigating a murder case in Undercity in the year 2975 when they encountered the Doctor and Bernice. They helped the Doctor defeat his old enemy Tobias Vaughn.

Chris and Roz travelled with the Doctor for many adventures. In this eventful period, Chris fathered two daughters: Jasmine Surprise Cwej-Hutchings with Ishtar Hutchings, and iKrissi with Dep of the People. After Roz's death in battle, Chris continued to travel with the Doctor for a short time. The Doctor and Chris travelled to the Doctor's home planet of Gallifrey, where the Doctor faced members of his House and many dark secrets were revealed. After this, Chris decided to travel alone using a time ring given to him by Romana.

After the Doctor

Chris Cwej subsequently appeared in novels in the Bernice Summerfield range of New Adventures, beginning with Gary Russell's Deadfall, and then in several other appearances. Deadfall portrayed Cwej as having had his memories (including his adventures with the Doctor) erased by a group known as the Knights of Jeneve. Dead Romance by Lawrence Miles revealed that Cwej's memories had also been altered by the Time Lords (who were not named as such, but were clearly identified by history and characteristics). They had told him that he had been abducted from 30th century Earth by an "evil renegade", an oblique reference to the Doctor.

Chris continued to work as an agent for the Time Lords: in Dead Romance, he opened a gateway for the Time Lords to invade and destroy a bottle universe version of 1970 Earth. Back in his native universe, in Tears of the Oracle Chris came close to death, and only survived when the Time Lords regenerated him. His new body, to his shock was short and fat. However, after an encounter with the Ferutu in Twilight of the Gods, he was reverted down his personal time line to age 13 and regained his original body.

Chris next appeared in The Book of the War, an encyclopedia detailing the "War in Heaven" in the Faction Paradox spin-off stories. The Faction Paradox line was based on ideas created for line of BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures, and contained many ideas and characters which had their roots in Doctor Who novels or television. However, many of these concepts were changed for legal and creative reasons -- for example, the Time Lords became the "Great Houses". The continuities of the Faction stories and the BBC novels have diverged somewhat, and whether they can be reconciled is no longer clear.

The Book of the War revealed that not only had the Great Houses deliberately altered Cwej's timeline and biodata, they were using alternate copies of him from different timelines as soldiers in their war with the mysterious "Enemy". These "Cwejen" existed in three types: the original (blond and handsome) "Cwej-Prime", the fat and balding Cwej-Plus, and the monstrous and heavily armored Cwej-Magnus. Each type existed in multiple iterations, which the Great Houses intended to use as an "Army of One." One of the Cwejen was present at a mysterious incident in the Hollywood Bowl, which may have been a point of contact with the Enemy.

Chris does not appear by name in the subsequent Faction Paradox novels, but a character who strongly matches his description appears as an agent of the Great Houses in Lance Parkin's Warlords of Utopia. This individual calls himself "Herr Abschrift", German for "Mr. Copy", suggesting that he is a copy of the original Cwej.

References

• I, Who, Lars Pearson