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A childe was a loomed "youth" of the Great Houses, with the plural term being childrene. The terms were coined to differentiate the offspring of the Houses from the offspring of lesser species, since "youth is relative, as is biology." (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved... [+]Loading...["Of the City of the Saved... (novel)"])
Names
During the War in Heaven, House Mirraflex and House Meddhoran used the term in common vernacular (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved... [+]Loading...["Of the City of the Saved... (novel)"], Against Nature [+]Loading...["Against Nature (novel)"]) Prior to the conflict, House Lungbarrow, at least in the recollection of a prominent member, used the term "loomling." (PROSE: Unnatural History [+]Loading...["Unnatural History (novel)"]) The more common term "Time Tot" was sometimes used in the context of looming. (PROSE: Apocrypha Bipedium [+]Loading...["Apocrypha Bipedium (short story)"])
Nature
Physical age
Most Houses loomed their childrene as full grown adults and handled their mental development separately (PROSE: Lungbarrow [+]Loading...["Lungbarrow (novel)"], Against Nature [+]Loading...["Against Nature (novel)"]) but some childrene physically resembled the children of lesser species (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved... [+]Loading...["Of the City of the Saved... (novel)"]) or even infants. (COMIC: The Final Chapter [+]Loading...["The Final Chapter (comic story)"])
Although one account suggested the Doctor was loomed as a physical adult, (PROSE: Lungbarrow [+]Loading...["Lungbarrow (novel)"]) and the Seventh Doctor once remarked that he was "not as young as I was… Mind you, I never was", (WC: Death Comes to Time [+]Loading...["Death Comes to Time (webcast)"]) others suggested the Doctor had at one time been a physical child. (TV: Listen [+]Loading...["Listen (TV story)"]) At the eight of eight, the Master appeared as a child. (TV: The Sound of Drums [+]Loading...["The Sound of Drums (TV story)"]) The Thirteenth Doctor once claimed that there were no "teenagers" on Gallifrey during her own youth, (TV: Ascension of the Cybermen [+]Loading...["Ascension of the Cybermen (TV story)"]) but referenced being "regressed into a child" when she learned of her origin as a deaged and memory-wiped form of the Timeless Child. (TV: The Timeless Children [+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"])
As late as the age of 200 years, a Time Lord was considered a "boy", though he physically appeared as an elderly man; (PROSE: The Three Doctors [+]Loading...["The Three Doctors (novelisation)"]) the Doctor likewise claimed to have been "a kid" at the age of 90. (TV: The Stolen Earth [+]Loading...["The Stolen Earth (TV story)"])
At least some childrene were cared for by avatroids (PROSE: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing [+]Loading...["Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (short story)"]) such as the Doctor's childhood companion Badger. (PROSE: Lungbarrow [+]Loading...["Lungbarrow (novel)"])
Other references
Jack, a reader of Doctor Who Adventures, once asked the Eleventh Doctor if Time Lords were born as babies or fully grown adults, if they were born at all. While the Doctor did emphasis that Time Lords were indeed born, he then went a tangent about a supposed ancient Gallifreyan legend which suggested the species descended from knitwear. (PROSE: "Birth of the Time Lords" [+]Part of Doctor, Doctor! 232, Loading...{"page":"28","namedpart":"Birth of the Time Lords","1":"Doctor, Doctor! (DWA 232 short story)","2":"''Doctor, Doctor!'' 232"})