Stenza

The Stenza were a warrior race and the self-proclaimed conquerors of the Nine Systems.

Biology

Relative to Earth, they had cold skin and could kill humans by placing their hands to the face and freezing them to death. Because of their extremely cold temperatures, when the Stenza travelled to other worlds, they always wore armoured suits for protection and to maintain their body temperatures. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)

The Stenza had a hive mind, containing all their collective knowledge, which could be accessed even by an individual who had been separated from the rest of their kind. (TV: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos)

Society

Culture

In order to decide who would become the next leader of the Stenza, an individual would be given a randomly-selected "trophy" to hunt and capture without the use of weapons or assistance. These trophies were kept in stasis in trophy chambers, on the cusp between life and death. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth) Their ultimate goal was to hold whole civilisations in stasis, but until Tzim-Sha, they never found a way. (TV: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos)

The Stenza were known for being tricky, as their "contract of consent" for their hunts never appeared in the language of the species they were hunting. For this reason, Ryan Sinclair accidentally gave Tim Shaw permission; however, once the truth was revealed, he verbally revoked permission due to it being a misunderstanding. However, Tim Shaw did not care. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)

After killing a victim, they would then take a piece from their victim's anatomy, i.e. a tooth, and graft it onto their faces. According to the Thirteenth Doctor's analysis of one of their transport pods, they came from 5,000 galaxies away from Earth and the Milky Way. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)

This process was known as the "Ritual of the Stenza". (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth, WC: Case File One)

When they conquered a planet, they would "cleanse" it, driving many of the inhabitants away. (TV: The Ghost Monument)

History

They conquered and terrorised several planets in the Twelve Galaxies, including Albar and Desolation, forcing the residents to create weapons for them to use. These included bioengineered species, such as the sentient, murderous Remnants, and flesh-eating microbes in the water. These weapons (living and otherwise) eventually destroyed all life on Desolation, save for the Remnants and microbes themselves. (TV: The Ghost Monument)

One Stenza called Tzim-Sha travelled to Earth in his pod in order to capture his selected trophy, Karl Wright, so he could become the leader of the Stenza, but he cheated, by using a gathering coil to locate him. The Thirteenth Doctor defeated him, sending him away by teleport. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)

Later, on Ranskoor Av Kolos, where Tzim-Sha ruled the Ux as a false god, he accessed the Stenza's hive mind, and recreated some of their technology, like the SniperBots (TV: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos) invented on Desolation. (TV: The Ghost Monument) His ultimate plan was to steal planets and hold them in stasis. When the Doctor arrived, he had already captured five civilisations, each of which having once defied the Stenza. He targeted Earth, as the site of his own first defeat, but the Doctor managed to return the worlds to their original locations, with the help of the Ux. (TV: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos)

Behind the scenes

Stenza are similar to the aliens from the Predator franchise, as they are warriors who hunt for trophies and take a part of their target as a trophy.