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A CSTE, standing for Complex Space-Time Event (PROSE: Continuity Errors [+]Loading...["Continuity Errors (short story)"], TV: Boom [+]Loading...["Boom (TV story)"]) or complicated space-time event (TV: Flesh and Stone [+]Loading...["Flesh and Stone (TV story)"]) was an individual "of such blinding historical importance" that they "appeared bigger than whole worlds" on the Great Houses' charts of the Spiral Politic, a symbolic map of history which normally focused on the relationship between the interlocking timelines of whole planets. (PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Loading...["The Book of the War (novel)"])
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor[[edit] | [edit source]]
The term "CSTE" was coined by Professor Arthur Candy, who believed the Doctor to be "the most complex space-time event there has ever been anywhere". Highly sceptical of the Doctor's morality, Candy believed that as a CSTE, the Doctor warped reality around him without even needing to make explicit alterations via time travel, explaining how everything usually worked out for him even in extremely hostile environments. As such, "like all [CSTEs], he [could] not easily be studied because his very presence alter[ed] the way you [thought]". (PROSE: Continuity Errors [+]Loading...["Continuity Errors (short story)"]) Published on Earth around the turn of the 21st century, the Dalek Survival Guide acknowledged the Doctor as a Complex Space-Time Event. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide [+]Loading...["Dalek Survival Guide (novel)"])
Multiple instances of alternate timelines in which the Doctor was killed prematurely resulted in stars burning out across the universe, (AUDIO: The Furies [+]Loading...["The Furies (audio story)"], TV: Turn Left [+]Loading...["Turn Left (TV story)"], The Name of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Name of the Doctor (TV story)"]) reflecting the "blinding historical importance" which a CSTE represented. (PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Loading...["The Book of the War (novel)"]) Before his regeneration, the Twelfth Doctor acknowledged the danger of his first incarnation choosing to die before doing the things that he was "supposed to do" and, after spending some time resisting regenerating even it if meant his final death, ultimately conceded to the TARDIS that the "silly old universe" still needed saving and that "[they'd] get it all wrong without me." (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Loading...["Twice Upon a Time (TV story)"])
Borusa's Causal Therapist once speculated that, since the Fourth Doctor was a complicated space-time event and experienced considerable luck during his adventures, the Doctor's presence caused an imbalance in the finite amount of luck in an area and caused bad luck for people on the edges of his adventures after he left them. This, the Causal Therapist speculated, was the reason for Borusa having several short-lived regenerations. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen [+]Loading...["Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen (novelisation)"]) Incidentally, observers such as Clive Finch, Mickey Smith, Elton Pope and Martha Jones noted that death and destruction tended to accompany the Doctor, which also affected the Doctor's companions and their families. (TV: Rose [+]Loading...["Rose (TV story)"], Aliens of London [+]Loading...["Aliens of London (TV story)"], Love & Monsters [+]Loading...["Love & Monsters (TV story)"], The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"]) The Doctor themself was aware of the danger that followed them, (TV: Rose [+]Loading...["Rose (TV story)"], Closing Time [+]Loading...["Closing Time (TV story)"]) with Davros confronting the Tenth Doctor with the observation that "ordinary people" took it upon themselves to sacrifice themselves in the Doctor's name. (TV: Journey's End [+]Loading...["Journey's End (TV story)"]) Speaking with the Ninth Doctor, Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen made note of the devastation which accompanied him, likening his impact to that of a god. (TV: Boom Town [+]Loading...["Boom Town (TV story)"]) The circumstances in which companions were forced to leave the Doctor's company would, at times, lead the Doctor to avoid taking on companions or even go into seclusion. (TV: The Runaway Bride [+]Loading...["The Runaway Bride (TV story)"], The Next Doctor [+]Loading...["The Next Doctor (TV story)"], The Snowmen [+]Loading...["The Snowmen (TV story)"])
The Seventh Doctor once identified himself as a complex space-time event. (AUDIO: Afterlife [+]Loading...["Afterlife (audio story)"]) An older version of the Seventh Doctor, when interacting with his younger self's companions, said that he was an extremely complicated space-time event. (AUDIO: A Death in the Family [+]Loading...["A Death in the Family (audio story)"])
When I.M. Foreman watched the Eighth Doctor relax in his sleep, she thought that for a moment he looked more like a person than a complex space-time event. (PROSE: Interference [+]Loading...["Interference (novel)"])
The Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor remarked that he was a complex space-time event in conjunction with Donna Noble. (TV: Journey's End [+]Loading...["Journey's End (TV story)"]) Indeed, after the timelines coverged on her, she herself was a "complex and unique space-time event". (PROSE: "What will you be?" [+]Part of Companions and Allies, Loading...{"page":"90","namedpart":"What will you be?","1":"Companions and Allies"})
The Eleventh Doctor later described himself as a "complicated space-time event", noting that as such, throwing himself into a Crack in Time could "satiate" it for a while. River Song claimed to also be a complicated space-time event, but the Doctor claimed that she was nowhere near complicated enough for this purpose. A swarm of Weeping Angels taken together, on the other hand, just about "added up" to the equivalent of the Doctor's complexity. (TV: Flesh and Stone [+]Loading...["Flesh and Stone (TV story)"])
The Thirteenth Doctor once remarked that she was a complex space-time event. (PROSE: The Pythagoras Problem [+]Loading...["The Pythagoras Problem (short story)"])
The Fifteenth Doctor would later remark that he was a "higher dimension life form… a complex space-time event!" to explain why using his body to power a quantum chain reaction would have much more devastating results than using such a weapon on a human. (TV: Boom [+]Loading...["Boom (TV story)"])
Other instances[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor's TARDIS was a complex space-time event. (PROSE: Interference [+]Loading...["Interference (novel)"])
Queth was a complex space-time event. (PROSE: Life After Queth [+]Loading...["Life After Queth (short story)"])
Phaeron wormholes were complex space-time events. (PROSE: Deep Time [+]Loading...["Deep Time (novel)"])
Missy admitted to River Song that, as much as she wanted to, she could not kill River due to her being a complicated space-time event, explaining that one tug in the wrong place could cause the whole causal nexus to unravel. (AUDIO: The Bekdel Test [+]Loading...["The Bekdel Test (audio story)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- DWM 591 stated that Clara Oswald was a Complex Space/Time Event.