The Time Shades were legendary beings on Gallifrey, with reports of their existence going back as far as the days of Rassilon; specifically the period of the Great Wars and Dark Times.
Each Shade was intimately connected with one particular aspect of Time, such as eternity or dreams. (AUDIO: Damned If You Do [+]Loading...["Damned If You Do (audio story)"])
Nature[[edit] | [edit source]]
Their remarkably fluid forms seemed to escape all light and shadow, even swallowing those up, with at least one member of the pantheon wearing gold on their shadow body and having a black globe for a head, (AUDIO: Damned If You Do [+]Loading...["Damned If You Do (audio story)"]) having the same appearance as Shayde, (COMIC: The Tides of Time [+]Loading...["The Tides of Time (comic story)"]) as well as the babels. (PROSE: Newtons Sleep [+]Loading...["Newtons Sleep (novel)"])
This form seemed to shimmer to Narvin, who couldn't quite tell what the Shade of Portent really looked like, until he started to adjust to their presence. They could apparently sometimes be found in the catacombs beneath the Capitol. (AUDIO: Damned If You Do [+]Loading...["Damned If You Do (audio story)"])
The Shades were demonstrably connected with Time itself. At least the Shade of Portent could see through meta-temporal future history with ease, and share visions with ephemerals. (AUDIO: Damned If You Do [+]Loading...["Damned If You Do (audio story)"]) In making changes to the timelines, they could only choose the effect, not the cause, instead relying upon ephemerals to make largely predetermined choices, guided by the will of the Shades. (AUDIO: Damned If You Don't [+]Loading...["Damned If You Don't (audio story)"])
Members[[edit] | [edit source]]
There was a "pantheon" of Time Shades, including the Shade of Eternity, the Shade of War, the Shade of Dreams, the Shade of Protection, and the Shade of Portent.
The Shade of Portent was able to see the future, and knew that Narvin, a Time Lord of relatively low rank, would become pivotal to the timeline. They abducted five students from the Academy, freezing them in time, in order to draw him in. Clad all in gold, this Shade appeared to have a glass head, which, oddly, reminded Narvin of a black hole. They were able to give him kaleidoscopic visions of the timeline which would soon form around him — in a fragment of the Untempered Schism which seemed to appear around him — (AUDIO: Damned If You Do [+]Loading...["Damned If You Do (audio story)"]) in order to ensure that Narvin would one day save the Shades themselves. (AUDIO: Damned If You Don't [+]Loading...["Damned If You Don't (audio story)"])
Possible identifications[[edit] | [edit source]]
Under discussion at Talk:Time Shade
The loa[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Gallifreyan sect known as Faction Paradox, (AUDIO: Alien Bodies [+]Loading...["Alien Bodies (novel)"]) noted for their manipulation of their own shadows, would call down and channel "Spirits of Time" whom they called loa, who helped them protect the Eleven-Day Empire (AUDIO: The Eleven Day Empire [+]Loading...["The Eleven Day Empire (audio story)"]) until its fall to Lolita. (AUDIO: The Shadow Play [+]Loading...["The Shadow Play (audio story)"])
The Faction viewed these loa or spirits as emergent processes within the structure of time itself, who were in some sense alive, (PROSE: "Loa" [+]Part of The Book of the War, Loading...{"namedep":"Loa","1":"The Book of the War (novel)"}) as contrasted with the Great Houses' conventional view that the laws and processes of time were mere mathematical equations. (PROSE: The Ancestor Cell [+]Loading...["The Ancestor Cell (novel)"], "Loa" [+]Part of The Book of the War, Loading...{"namedep":"Loa","1":"The Book of the War (novel)"}, Weapons Grade Snake Oil [+]Loading...["Weapons Grade Snake Oil (novel)"])
They were also involved in rituals. (AUDIO: The Eleven Day Empire [+]Loading...["The Eleven Day Empire (audio story)"]) This name was chosen because they were "a presence which walks on a plane alongside humankind rather than above it", (PROSE: "Loa" [+]Part of The Book of the War, Loading...{"namedep":"Loa","1":"The Book of the War (novel)"}) and not in a different world altogether. They were described as follows:
[They] aren't your average bunch of gods-from-above, that's what I'm saying. They're not untouchable, and they're not infallible. They get drunk and they get angry and they have good days and they have bad days, same as the rest of us. They're real, but they're not-quite-real. They're here, but they're not-quite-here. Ready to get involved at a moment's notice, if you know how to get in touch with them. [...] You don't worship them, not like you worship gods. You talk to them. Like friends. Like companions. And they talk back.
During Narvin's one-on-one encounter with the Shade of Portent — who had lured him in, in order to nudge him to ensure Narvin's place in Gallifrey's future timeline — he noted how the Time Shade seemed to be there, but also not-there, completely absorbing all light and shadow, an "apparition" with what might be described as a "black hole" for a head.
Nonetheless, they engaged one another in conversation, and Narvin tried not to let on his instinctive feeling of reverence for this being. He also noted that the Shade of Portent was very sarcastic. (AUDIO: Damned If You Do [+]Loading...["Damned If You Do (audio story)"])
Shayde[[edit] | [edit source]]
Shayde, a being who travelled with the Fifth (COMIC: The Tides of Time [+]Loading...["The Tides of Time (comic story)"], The Stockbridge Horror [+]Loading...["The Stockbridge Horror (comic story)"]) and Eighth Doctors (COMIC: A Life of Matter and Death [+]Loading...["A Life of Matter and Death (comic story)"] et al.) exactly resembled the description given by Narvin for the Shade of Portent. (AUDIO: Damned If You Do [+]Loading...["Damned If You Do (audio story)"]) A mental construct made of shadow, by most accounts created by the Matrix Lords and connected to the Matrix Rassilon, (COMIC: Wormwood [+]Loading...["Wormwood (comic story)"]) in his original form he was an entirely black humanoid with a globe for a head, (COMIC: The Tides of Time [+]Loading...["The Tides of Time (comic story)"] et al.) which could also be removed to access dimensionally transcendental storage within his body. (AUDIO: No Place Like Home [+]Loading...["No Place Like Home (audio story)"])
Notably, Shayde was able to track individuals through space and time, (COMIC: Oblivion [+]Loading...["Oblivion (comic story)"]) and could also travel through space and time unaided, phase through solid objects, and shoot "psychic bullets". (COMIC: Me and My Shadow [+]Loading...["Me and My Shadow (comic story)"], Oblivion [+]Loading...["Oblivion (comic story)"]) He also had extensive shapeshifting abilities (COMIC: Wormwood [+]Loading...["Wormwood (comic story)"] et al.) and could even merge with other beings. (COMIC: Me and My Shadow [+]Loading...["Me and My Shadow (comic story)"])
By one account, Shayde was originally known as "Aspect Black" of the Time Sentinels, being a lone agent who eventually rebelled against the Sentinels. (COMIC: The Good Companion [+]Loading...["The Good Companion (comic story)"])
The Time Sentinel[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Time Sentinel, identified with Shayde but in essence a singular entity, was a system left behind by the Time Lords to monitor the timelines. Based on an asteroid with its own Eye of Harmony, its various aspects were denoted by colour. (COMIC: The Good Companion [+]Loading...["The Good Companion (comic story)"])
The Aspects of the Time Sentinel were present on prehistoric Gallifrey, where they threw time sensitives into the Untempered Schism. After crossing paths with the Tenth Doctor, the Time Lord told Cindy Wu that he had seen something like them a long time ago and he had believed that they were Matrix agents. (COMIC: Old Girl [+]Loading...["Old Girl (comic story)"])
Babels[[edit] | [edit source]]
Advanced casts known as babels (PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Loading...["The Book of the War (novel)"]) also closely matched (PROSE: Newtons Sleep [+]Loading...["Newtons Sleep (novel)"]) Narvin's description of the Shade he encountered in the catacombs, (AUDIO: Damned If You Do [+]Loading...["Damned If You Do (audio story)"]) as well as Shayde's appearance. (COMIC: The Tides of Time [+]Loading...["The Tides of Time (comic story)"])
Considered the Homeworld of Gallifrey's (PROSE: Damaged Goods [+]Loading...["Damaged Goods (novel)"]) "first line of defence", according to The Book of the War the casts were weapons created by the Great Houses to act as their agents in the outside universe. The babels, created during the Catherion Imprimiture, during the Imperator Presidency, were far more advanced, (PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Loading...["The Book of the War (novel)"]) with one babel on its own being capable of transforming the timeline of an entire species, in order to fashion it into a weapon for the War in Heaven.
This babel also acted as an oracle, being able to perceive future timelines, (PROSE: Newtons Sleep [+]Loading...["Newtons Sleep (novel)"]) much like the Shade of Portent. (AUDIO: Damned If You Do [+]Loading...["Damned If You Do (audio story)"], Damned If You Don't [+]Loading...["Damned If You Don't (audio story)"])