- For information on the Doctor Who Universe from a metafictional standpoint, see separate article.
A Universe may be considered as a space-time continuum, and the matter, energy, laws and biodata contained therein, such as it operates as a complete totality unto itself.
Cosmology
These Universes exist within an expanse called the Void (DW: Army of Ghosts), an ur-space often conceptualised as an ocean in which they float (FP: The Cosmology of the Spiral Politic).
A number of universes exist (DW: Inferno), but it is not known if that number is infinite or merely incalculably huge (FP: The Cosmology of the Spiral Politic).
Some exist 'sideways' or 'parallel' to each other (DW: Battlefield), although such spacial language must be understood as simplification given that 'space' is a phenomenon local to within universes (FP: The Cosmology of the Spiral Politic). Likewise, some exist 'before' (NA: All-Consuming Fire) or 'after' (MA: Millennial Rites) each other, although such temporal language must be understood as simplification given that 'time' is a phenomenon local to within universes (FP: The Cosmology of the Spiral Politic).
Many universes develop a civilisation equivalent to the Time Lords - the first culture within a given reality to reach a level of sophistication which allows them to tailor the laws of that universe to their own nature. (MA: Cold Fusion)
The composition of the universe consists of galaxies which are made of stars which are orbited by planetary bodies. Earth, for example, lies in the Sol system of the Mutter's Spiral in the Local Group in the Local Supercluster which holds possbily 2000 galaxies of the universe.
Parallels
Most 'parallel' universes are exactly that; parallel. They run alongside each other but have an independent existence. They may share many common features but do not 'diverge' or 'branch off' from each other at any specific point. (FP: The Cosmology of the Spiral Politic)
The countless worlds in which the Roman Empire never fell or in which the Nazis won World War II (FP: Warlords of Utopia') were not twigs off the branch of some 'main' universe or paths that have split off at some particular juncture. They were entirely separate creations that share many, but not all, of the features of the familiar universe (FP: The Cosmology of the Spiral Politic). The same would seem to hold true of Pete's World and Inferno Earth. (DW: Rise of the Cybermen, Inferno)
Those universes which share the most features in common may be considered as being located 'closest' to each other and those which share the least features in common may be considered as being 'furthest away' from each other. Although, again, the spacial terminology here is a simplification as 'space' only exists within universes. (FP: The Cosmology of the Spiral Politic).
It was, however, possible for complete new universes to be formed by 'branching off' from specific points in another universe's history. The difficulty with this though is that it cuts the lifespan of the original universe in half. (NA: Blood Heat)
A healthier way for a universe to reproduce is for it to develop within it a species capable of 'engineering' a new universe from scratch. (FP: The Cosmology of the Spiral Politic) The Time Lords never apparently attained this level of accomplishment. However an unpopular fringe theory on Gallifrey held that their own entire reality had been engineered in this way by the 21st Century Humanity of some other universe. (FP: The Book of the War)
History
"Before"
The so-called 'Pre-Universe' which existed prior to the Doctor's had a green void, stars shaped like doughnuts and physical laws closer to what might be understood as magic. (MA: Millennial Rites)
Knowledge of this universe was a closely guarded secret, and was only in the Doctor's possession as a result of his connection to the Matrix during his time as Lord President. (MA: Millennial Rites, DW: The Invasion of Time) Even then, the knowledge would ultimately prove temporary; In his Sixth and seventh life the Doctor was fully conversant with the details and specifics of this universe (NA: All-Consuming Fire, PDA: Synthespians™), whereas by his tenth it would almost be an article of religious faith to him that such a universe could not have existed (DW: The Impossible Planet).
This universe's equivalent to the Time Lords were the Old Ones, who found a means by which to survive into the next. (NA: All-Consuming Fire, MA: Millennial Rites) The Beast claimed to have existed before the universe. (DW: The Impossible Planet)
Between
After the Pre-Universe had surrendered to old age, most of its inhabitants had died, and the survivours hid in, or where trapped in any of matter that was fortunite to survive, such as Satan. The green void was somehow replaced by a black void, and the "Great Beast" of an unknown time period of the current Universe was banished into this era that had no time at all. A majoraty of sentiants in the Universe who had died, somehow where brought by the Great Beast to this infinintly blank era, such as Suzie Costello and Captain Jack Harkness.
"Nothing, there was nothing... Oh my God nothing! I don't want to die, I don't want to die!" Revived murder victim from the Resurrection gauntlet Everything Changes
This cause the few who where brought back to life (with either the Bad Wolf entity Temporal paradox, or the Resurrection gauntlet) to be lead to believe there is no afterlife. Everything Changes They Keep Killing Suzie
"You don't get reunited John. It just goes black..." Jack Harkness to John Ellis Out of Time
However when the Great Beast was slain by Jack it is possible this unexplained inprisonment was eleminated. End of Days
Life of the Universe
The universe of the Doctor and of the Time Lords was known as N-Space. Constantly expanding (DW: Genesis of the Daleks), it was created roughly fourteen billion years ago as a consequence of the Big Bang out of a continually existing black void in an event known as Event One (DW: Castrovalva)
- For more information on Event One, see corresponding article.
Event Two signified the end of the universe (PDA: The Infinity Doctors), which has variously been projected to occur in 60,000,000,000 AD (BFA: Zagreus), 100,000,000,000,000 AD (DW: Utopia) or 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 AD (PDA: The Infinity Doctors).
The universe passed the point where it should have succumbed to heat death long before any of these dates, but vented most of its entropy into E-Space. (DW: Logopolis)
The universe was replete with pocket universes and other realms or domains discrete from the wider continuum. Some of these existed in exotic spacial dimensions such as Calabi-Yau Space (PDA: The Quantum Archangel), some folded into quirks of perceptual history such as the Eleven-Day Empire (EDA: Interference) and others, such as Mictlan had no measurable existence beyond the purely conceptual (EDA: Alien Bodies).
The Time Lords of Gallifrey were, as the first sentient culture to develop within this universe (NA: Lucifer Rising), responsible for setting the parameters within which the universe operates (NA: Sky Pirates!). They expunged magic in favour of science as the basic governing principle. (NA: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible, Christmas on a Rational Planet) They established the morphic field that would seem to favour the development of humanoid life. They established the Web of Time which guaranteed the universe a stable, linear, history (BFA: Neverland, FP:The Book of the War).
With the Time Lords now lost to the Last Great Time War, this particular universe has become a more uncertain and dangerous place. The ability to travel to other universe was stopped (DW: Rise of the Cybermen) and the creation of time paradoxes has a much more dangerous effect (DW: Father's Day).
"After"
Though he denied the existence of a universe before his own, the Doctor remained aware that the death of his universe would be followed by the birth of another (DW: Army of Ghosts). The Time Lords at the end of the universe killed themselves at a Time Institute ceremony (ST: The End)
This universe would be a pink void, interspersed with green mists of orbiting plankton and Saraquazel, who would become its equivalent of a Time Lord. (MA: Millennial Rites). The City of the Saved existed 'in between' the end of the Doctor's universe and the start of this one. (FP: Of the City of the Saved...)
The inhabitants of the City of the Saved once believed they had penetrated into this universe and established a colony there, but in fact they were deceived and had only reached a simulated environment inside the hostile TARDIS known as Antipathy. (FP: Of the City of the Saved...)
