Stenza

The Stenza were a warrior race and the self-proclaimed conquerors of the Nine Systems. According to the Thirteenth Doctor's analysis of one of their transport pods, they were based five thousand galaxies away from Earth and the Milky Way. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)

	Humanoid
	Stenza homeworld
	Tzim-Sha
	The Woman Who Fell to Earth
	TV: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos, WC: Case File One
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Biology

Relative to Earth, they had cold skin and could kill humans by placing their hands to the face and freezing them to death. Because of their extremely cold temperatures, when the Stenza travelled to other worlds, they always wore armoured suits for protection and to maintain their body temperatures. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)

The Stenza had a hive mind, containing all their collective knowledge, which could be accessed even by an individual who had been separated from the rest of their kind. (TV: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos)

Society

Culture

In order to decide who would become the next leader of the Stenza, an individual would be given a randomly-selected "trophy" to hunt and capture without the use of weapons or assistance. These trophies were kept in stasis in trophy chambers, on the cusp between life and death. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth) Their ultimate goal was to hold whole civilisations in stasis, but until Tzim-Sha, they never found a way. (TV: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos)

The Stenza were known for being tricky, as their "contract of consent" for their hunts never appeared in the language of the species they were hunting. For this reason, Ryan Sinclair accidentally gave Tzim-Sha permission to hunt on Earth; however, once the truth was revealed, he verbally revoked permission due to it being a misunderstanding. However, Tzim-Sha did not care. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)

After killing a victim, the Stenza would then take a piece from their victim's anatomy, i.e. a tooth, and graft it onto their faces. This process was known as the "Ritual of the Stenza". (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth, WC: Case File One)

When they conquered a planet, they would "cleanse" it, driving many of the inhabitants away. (TV: The Ghost Monument)

Stenza would sometimes use Hydrorcs as henchmen. (GAME: The Edge of Time)

Stenza were among the various species of ultramarine skin colour whom joyfully celebrated Blue Monday on 24 January, others including the Balhoonians, Crespallions, and Hooloovoo. (PROSE: Time Traveller's Diary)

History

The Stenza conquered and terrorised several planets in the Twelve Galaxies, including Albar and Desolation, forcing the residents to create weapons for them to use. These included bioengineered species, such as the sentient, murderous Remnants, and flesh-eating microbes in the water. These weapons (living and otherwise) eventually destroyed all life on Desolation, save for the Remnants and microbes themselves. (TV: The Ghost Monument)

One Stenza called Tzim-Sha travelled to Earth in his pod in order to capture his selected trophy, Karl Wright, so he could become the leader of the Stenza, but he cheated by using a gathering coil to locate him. The Thirteenth Doctor defeated him, sending him away by teleport. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)

The wider Stenza race, however, remained active conquerors. On 4 April 2304, they conquered Tivoli, wrestling control of it from the Voord. They were initially viewed by the Tivolians as heroes. They later lost the planet to the Raxacoricofallapatorian on 19 May 2311. (PROSE: Time Traveller's Diary)

Projected to the planet on Ranskoor Av Kolos, Tzim-Sha had survived for centuries in exile, ruling the Ux as a false god. Accessing the Stenza's hive mind, and recreated some of their technology, like the SniperBots (TV: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos) invented on Desolation. (TV: The Ghost Monument) His ultimate plan was to steal planets and hold them in stasis. When the Doctor arrived, he had already captured five civilisations, each of which having once defied the Stenza. He targeted Earth, as the site of his own first defeat, but the Doctor managed to return the worlds to their original locations, with the help of the Ux. Tzim-Sha was subsequently imprisoned in one of his own stasis chambers by Graham O'Brien and Ryan Sinclair who chose to sentence him to life imprisonment rather than kill him. The Ux then sealed the structure behind themselves as they left, preventing anyone from ever releasing the tyrant. (TV: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos)

Behind the scenes

• Stenza are similar to the aliens from the Predator franchise, as they are warriors who hunt for trophies and take a part of their target as a trophy.