Herot
Herot was a village that existed in the day cycle of the Century class prison ship Castor, created and sustained in a pocket dimension by a captive dimension traveller.
History
The dimension travelling alien on board the Castor created Herot as a way to escape from the pain of the crimes committed by prisoners that it was forced to experience in order to rid the prisoners of their guilt. (PROSE: Wooden Heart). As such, the village's history is only as long as the creator's captivity. The timelines of Herot and the Castor are seen to be in sync, therefore the oldest that the village can be is 12 generations (approximately 300 years).
Late in its history, children began disappearing from the village. This, as well as missing information in historical records, insubstantial buildings and the local countryside being warped, was indicative of the lack of power going to the Castor and the lack of enthusiasm of the semi-suicidal alien creator. These strange goings on were set right after the Doctor steered the Castor to a new section of space, allowing its solar cells to function once more.
Culture
Herot is ruled over by an elected elder. By the time the Doctor and Martha encounter the village, it is ruled by Petr, the 12th elected elder. The source of wisdom and guidance in the village, however, is the Dazai, an inherited title passed from mother to daughter.
Despite the lack of churches, many villagers held a belief in the existence of a "creator", which the Dazai, Jude, Saul and Petr eventually met. Herot's inhabitants also had mythology, in particular, the belief that if the stolen children were to return to the village, then Herot would be destroyed. This belief, although not founded in science, was in fact correct, as if the children did return, then the "creator" would not be able to sustain the pocket dimension becuase of the large amount of data required to imagine children.
By the time of Petr, travellers and traders from outside the village were known to exist, but not particularly common. The world outside of the village was inaccessible for a time, during which the Castor was losing power and Herot's creator the will to continue. Once the Doctor powered the Castor up again, it is assumed that the rest of the constructed world was once again accessible. If this was the case, the Dazai retreated to the mountains to overcome her own demons in order to be of better service to the village.
