The Bane were an alien species who attempted to conquer Earth in secret. There, they encountered the human Sarah Jane Smith on several occasions.
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Biology
The Bane were split into two types, the children and the Bane Mother. The Bane children were large, green, vaguely cephalopod-like creatures. They had seven ambulatory tentacles, three on each side and another on their end. They had a large, single eye on their heads and rings of tentacles around their mouths. There were pads on the undersides of their seven tentacles which allowed them to walk across ceilings and floors, and a flexible turtle-like shell on the back. The Bane children had the ability to read and modify the memories of humans. (TV: Invasion of the Bane)
The Bane Mother was much larger than her children and a blue-green colour. She showed none of the intelligence of the Bane children. She was the one who secreted the Bane chemical. (TV: Invasion of the Bane) Mr Smith at one point claimed that the Bane reproduced by laying eggs. (TV: The Lost Boy)
The Bane had a physical aversion to mobile phone transmissions and even more so to an Arcateenian's superluminal communications technology. They could also be injured by a spray Sarah Jane Smith kept in her attic. (TV: Invasion of the Bane)
Bane blood is white or cream in colour, as when Miss Wormwood exploded some Bane about to kill Clyde Langer and Luke, the remains that were splattered on the two boys were white/cream in colour. (TV: Enemy of the Bane) When the Bane Davey was wounded in Sarah Jane Smith's home it left behind a black slime. (TV: Invasion of the Bane)
Culture
When individual Bane failed, they would be eaten alive. Predation was a major part of their culture. The Bane had a saying, "the sweetest delicacy is the tongue of an enemy who has looked at you and licked his lips". Mrs Wormwood relayed this saying to the Bannerman Road gang, much to Clyde disgustedly confirming that he's now a vegetarian. (TV: Invasion of the Bane, Enemy of the Bane) Mr Smith stated that because they were an oviparous species, the Bane found the navel of mammals offensive. (TV: The Lost Boy)
Technology
The Bane made use of image translators to appear as humans (TV: Invasion of the Bane) and phonic disruptors for defence. (TV: Enemy of the Bane) They were also capable of creating life. (TV: Invasion of the Bane)
Bane were also sufficiently advanced in their technology to be aware of the Time Vortex and artron energy. (TV: Invasion of the Bane)
History
In the 2000s, the Bane attempted to invade Earth. They developed a drink, Bubble Shock!, which was highly addictive due to the Bane enzyme. The Bane children took the form of humans using image translators and ran the factories to produce the Bubble Shock!. Unfortunately for them, 2% of the population was immune to the enzyme. In order to combat this, they scanned all the people who came into the factory and created an archetype to experiment on.
Eventually, Sarah Jane Smith learned about the actions of the Bane. She confronted Mrs Wormwood in the Bubble Shock! factory and was able to escape with the archetype, despite several assassination attempts. The Bane were forced to step up their plans and took control of all the Bubble Shock! drinkers. Sarah Jane, the archetype and Maria Jackson stopped the Bane Mother, though Mrs Wormwood was able to escape. Sarah Jane adopted the archetype, naming him Luke Smith. (TV: Invasion of the Bane) Mrs Wormwood was held responsible for her failure to invade Earth, and was hunted by the Bane. (TV: Enemy of the Bane)
At some point after this, the Bane went in search of the remains of Horath, hiring the Sontaran Kaagh as a mercenary. When he encountered Mrs Wormwood in the Snake Tongue Nebula, they came to an agreement to join forces. Mrs Wormwood came back to Earth, asking Sarah Jane for help obtaining the Tunguska Scroll, which was kept in the Black Archive. At the same time, the Bane had followed her to Earth, with one even infiltrating UNIT. Though the Bane tried to stop them, Sarah Jane took the Tunguska Scroll and Mrs Wormwood and Kaagh were able to escape with it, taking Luke Smith with them. Using the Tunguska Scroll to track Horath's remains, they found a stone circle that contained a wormhole to Horath's body. When Mrs Wormwood tried to get Luke to join them, Kaagh and Wormwood fell out, leading to Wormwood betraying him. Seeing that he lost, Kaagh dragged her into the wormhole, shutting it down. (TV: Enemy of the Bane)
One Bane was captured by the Krulius and stored in a data-pod. The Krulius later used his digital bio-converter to upload the Bane's bio data onto the internet. There it was found by Mr Smith, Rani Chandra and Clyde Langer who sent the Bane back to it's original place. (COMIC: Monster Hunt) Another Bane was kept at the Doloth Star Base. When the Judoon caught the Krulius all his captured aliens were set free. However the Krulius had managed to take clone cell samples of his former captured aliens with him, which allowed him to grew perfect copies of these aliens. (COMIC: Return of the Krulius)
In late 2010, two Bane took part at the army of alien slaves led by the Krulius to attack Sarah Jane's house. When Clyde defeated several of the aliens, the Bane regrouped with the army and the Krulius ordered them to retreat. Sarah Jane thought that the aliens were under some kind of hypnothic influence. (COMIC: Defending Bannerman Road)
Alternate timeline
In Andrea Yates' World, where the Trickster manipulated events so that Sarah Jane Smith died in 1964, the Bane never came to Earth and thus Luke Smith never existed. As the Trickster explained to Sarah Jane while she was in limbo, he had turned away all the foes she would have defeated, his intention being for her absence to allow Earth to be destroyed by the meteorite K67. (TV: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?)