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The Nostrovites were a race of metamorphic humanoids.
Biology
The Nostrovites, in their natural form, appeared to vaguely resemble a near-Human, but with red eyes, sharp claws and teeth, and visible blood vessels. Nostrovites were carnivores, but only ate living flesh and would normally ignore corpses. The females, at least, could create a sticky, web-like structure to keep prey alive until they were hungry again. The blood of the Nostrovites was black. (TW: Something Borrowed)
Their brains were located in their abdomen. (WEB: torchwood.org.uk)
With the use of their proteus glands, they could adopt other humanoid forms. Though they could mimic appearances, they could not mimic smells. (TW: Something Borrowed) Owen Harper believed that they would require genetic samples from the form they wanted to take. He also believed that they had genetically modified themselves to be able to shapeshift or that they were a composite race that had taken the proteus gland from another species. (WEB: torchwood.org.uk)
Life cycle
The Nostrovites, like many other species, had two sexes - male and female. However, they also required a third member: a host. After fertilising the female's eggs, the male would take the eggs and store them in a sack in his mouth. After finding a potential host, the male would bite them and inject the eggs into the host's bloodstream. The eggs would quickly develop inside the host as if the host was merely pregnant with another of its species.
After a while, the female would track down the host and tear them open to release the young. This process was Nostrovite childbirth. The female became very resilient and it was shown that several rounds of bullets had little effect on a female Nostrovite. (TW: Something Borrowed)
History
- The Nostrovites were familar to Jack Harkness, although he never said whether this was to do with prior experiences in his native time or with Torchwood 3.
At some point in their history, some Nostrovites discovered Earth and developed a taste for Human flesh.
In 2008, a mated pair of Nostrovites came to Cardiff. Though the male was killed by Jack Harkness, it was able to inject Gwen Cooper with eggs. The day after the attack was Gwen's wedding, which she went through with even though the female was still out there. The female followed her to the wedding, killing Mervyn and capturing Toshiko and Colin Davies. It took the form of Carrie and when it was discovered it tried to hold Brenda Williams hostage, but was shot by Gwen.
The Nostrovite survived, trying to get closer by taking the form of Jack Harkness, but Gwen was able to escape again. Eventually, the Nostrovite eggs were removed by Rhys Williams using the Singularity Scalpel and the female was destroyed by Jack. (TW: Something Borrowed)