Ice Warrior
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- For the story, see The Ice Warriors. For the Target Books novelisation, see Doctor Who and the Ice Warriors.
The Ice Warriors and Ice Lords were a race of reptilian humanoids from the planet Mars.
Physical Characteristics
As adults fully armoured Ice Warriors were large and imposing reptilian humanoids, reaching up to 7 feet tall. Armourless, they had flattened, scaly faces with sharp fangs, large black eyes (RT: Descendance) and thin green tongues (NA: Legacy , BNA: The Medusa Effect). Ice Warriors had a skeletal structure much like that of a Humans, though with a flatter skull and wider eye sockets. (RT: Ascendance) Among Ice Warrior women, their females tended to possess a slighter build and a dorsal spine. (NA: GodEngine) They had dorsal crests. Some Ice Warriors found larger dorsal crests on females sexually attractive. (NA: Transit)
They had clamp-like hands, at least in their armour. They preferred cold climates and could be killed by extreme heat, though small fires were no more dangerous to them than a Human. (RT: Descendance) Due to differences in atmosphere and gravity, in Earth-like environments, Ice Warriors perpetually wheezed and tended to move slowly. (DW: The Seeds of Death) Despite this, they were capable of moving at fast speeds when needed. (NA: Legacy ) They spoke in a drawn-out hiss. (DW: The Ice Warriors)
The species possessed a large lifespan with some Martians in 1997 being alive since the time Shakespeare was writing his plays. (NA: The Dying Days) The typical lifespan for an Ice Warrior was living for nearly three hundred standard years. (NA: GodEngine)
Martians were noted as being herbivores. (NA: GodEngine)
Technology
Armour
Ice Warriors almost always wore hard thick, green, ceremonial armour. They usually wore a similarly-coloured helmet with a red blast-screen covering their eyes, which covered everything but their mouths. The helmets also had "ear holes" (DW: The Curse of Peladon). They particularly hated it when an enemy fired at their eyes (DWM: 4-Dimensional Vistas). Common Ice Warriors wore patterned thick shell-like bulky green armour, while the Ice Lords wore lighter armour, sleeker, bullet-shaped metallic helmets, simple breastplates and capes (DW: The Seeds of Death). During the late 20th century, it was known that the nobility of many Martian clans wore a form of bio-armour. (NA: The Dying Days)
By the late 26th century, at least, this armour was built directly into the body. This armour was controlled by an implant at the back of the brain and powered by the Ice Warrior's nervous system. Ice Warriors also had artificial membranes inside their throats, allowing them to filter out gases not necessary for their survival. (BNA: The Medusa Effect)
The armour consisted of carapaces and helmets that were grown in nutrient tanks and augmented with cybernetics. This provides a warrior with an increased level of strength and also gave them a direct link to the Martian battle net as well as boosted reaction time by five hundred percent. (NA: GodEngine)
Weapons
Ice Warriors also used small, hand-held sonic weapons built into their armor just above their "hands" (DW: The Ice Warriors) more colloquially called "sound guns" (NA: Transit). The Ice Warriors tended to used rifles and sonic cannons. (DWM: 4-Dimensional Vistas)
They also made use of genetically engineered weapons such as the Red Death which was programmed to target individuals with a specific DNA pattern. (NA: The Dying Days) Similarly, Ice Warrior geneticists discovered the lethal nature of Martian sleeping fever which tended to burn itself out after a decade and used it as the basis for their bacteriological weapons. (NA: GodEngine)
The Ice Warriors never developed subspace technology. During the 22nd century Dalek invasion, the Ice Warriors had one superweapon, the GodEngine, put together from technology left over by the Osirians, god-like visitors to Mars from long ago. The GodEngine could destroy a star by making it go supernova. (NA: GodEngine)
Terraforming
The Ice Warriors were capable of terraforming planets to better suit their needs with the process being known as "ares-forming". (NA: The Dying Days) They were capable of deploying seeds on a planet that altered the environment and turn it into an icy world. (DW: The Seeds of Death) Beyond this, their vessels were capable of bombarding a planet with bombs at specific locations in order to knock the world out of its orbit and drift further from its home sun. (TME: Mission to Magnus)
Transportation
It was known that Martian rockets had remained unchanged for a hundred thousand years and followed the same technological development of tens of thousands of worlds in the galaxy. It was believed that one of the reasons why the Martians had never conquered their solar system or indeed the rest of the galaxy was due to the scarcity of resources. The propulsion system on their warships were magnetic engines that emitted no heat and was capable of playing havoc with primitive guidance systems. (NA: The Dying Days)
On their homeworld of Mars, the Ice Warriors used air cars. (RT: Descendance)
Culture
Ice Warriors had a strong sense of honour. As an example, after the Doctor saved the life of the Ice Lord Izlyr, he felt obliged by duty to help the Doctor escape. (DW: The Curse of Peladon) Ice Warriors also had a strong dislike for lying, though they would do so in serious situations. (NA: Legacy ) They also believed that a victim of murder would not rest in peace until their killer had atoned for the crime. (BNA: The Medusa Effect) During the ritual blood duels, Ice Warriors often spat at their opponent's face in the challenge. (NA: GodEngine) Due to their sense of honour, terrorism was considered an anathema by the Ice Warriors were typically did not perform such attacks. (NA: GodEngine)
The Ice Warriors used a hereditary system of rulership, with fathers passing on their land to their sons. These sons had to become adults first in the Ritual of Tuburr named after a deity of the same name. (RT: Descendance) On the other hand, advancement in the hierarchy was decided on merit and skill. (NA: Legacy ) This feudal way of life was maintained at least as late as the era of the Galactic Federation. (DW: The Curse of Peladon) In their early years, the Ice Warriors often would send their young on the surface of Mars as part of a ritual trial of endurance. If they survived, then they took the oath of Turburr where they try and pull the Sword of Turburr from a brazier. (NA: Legacy) The holy nature of the Sword of Turburr meant that Martian law forbade any forging of copies of it. (NA: GodEngine)
The strict code of honour descended from the time of the early Martians before they became a warrior species and their planet began dying. At that time, they only hunted for food but did not fight one another nor did they ever experience warfare. In fact, the word "warrior" was unrecognized in that era and instead their belief in honor meant that they operated under a "gift economy"; this was a system where people did not pay for things but instead were given freely with the reciever giving something in return. In these early years, the Martians were more involved in the arts and the crafts rather than be soldiers. In time they began to slowly change after the disastrous climatic changes and the deaths they suffered but were always considered a reasonable people. They were also a prideful people who refused to admit a problem even if it was dangerous. (BFA: The Key 2 Time - The Judgement of Isskar)
It was believed that the Ice Warriors were not known for their sense of humour (BNA: The Medusa Effect). Nevertheless, Bernice Summerfield actually had done a thesis on that very subject and knew at least one "hilarious" Martian joke. (DWM: Emperor of the Daleks) In fact, Martian humour was occasionaly elusive to humans and most of it was lost in translation. (NA: The Dying Days)
Ice Warrior marriages were short affairs, made when the participants were young and intended to preserve bloodlines of clans. (EDA: Placebo Effect) The Martian homes were typically known as "nests". (DWM: Emperor of the Daleks) In such locations, young Ice Warrior males tended to scratch virility symbols onto the walls in order to attract females. Among the circular shaped military nests, entrance was achieved through a passageway known as Xssixss. At the very centre of the nest was the Queen's Chamber and the tunnel's mouth was the only entrance or exit from a nest. (NA: Transit)
Typically Martian Lord funerals involved cremations, but for a short time in their history they froze the bodies in coffin-sized blocks of ice - a symbol of their wealth on the water-scarce planet - whereupon they were sealed in crystal spires. This was inspired by the Osirians. Tomb raiding was punishable by summary execution and territorial reparations by the raider's clan. (NA: The Dying Days) In fact, it was believed that their use of tombs, pyramids and burial of the dead was similar to that of Earth's Egyptian civilization which suggested that both were influenced by the Osirian race. Warding shrouds are metallic cloths used to protect the Martian dead prior to cremation. During the funeral rites, a deceased Martian had metallic clothes known as warding shrouds to protect them before the cremation. (NA: GodEngine)
Amongst their culture, the Ice Warriors prided beauty and aesthetics above everything else except for those items related to war. Furthermore, the planetary identification glyph of the Martians was a triangle overlaid with a lightning bolt with an artificial burning sun at its centre. Many of their myths as well as legends dated from the time of the Primal Wars. In terms of religion, they were known to had worshipped Oras. (NA: GodEngine) In addition, there was another Martian god known as Claatris who was the god of war and also an Osirian. (MA: The Crystal Bucephalus)
They were known to had possessed a caste based society with chefs highly prized witin its structure. (NA: GodEngine) Amongst their people, it was known that women and family were considered sacred. Despite this being the case, it was known at times that women were known to eat their young. (IDW: Doctor Who: Cold Blooded War!)
Clans
Much of the Ice Warrior's early history and culture was defined by clans and families. They had a very rigid society of castes and classes. There were many struggles for power between the different families. When the Doctor and Stacy came to Mars, there was a struggle for power between the Balazarus Mons and Darsus Mons families. (RT: Descendance, Ascendance)
Known clans include:
- Argyre clan
- Thaumasia clan
Ranks
- Supreme Lord - a high ranking position. (NA: Legacy)
- Grand Marshal - the staff of a Grand Marshal was an important relic. (NA: Legacy)
- Marshal - wear decorative helmets with jewels. (DW: The Seeds of Death, NA: Legacy)
- War Lord - a normal Ice Warrior with higher importance. (DW: Doctor Who and The Ice Warriors)
- Shsurr - a title that roughly translates to mean M'lady. (NA: Legacy)
History
At some unknown point in the past, the species that became known as the Ice Warriors constructed a large moon shaped craft that would later become known as Phobos. This vessel served as a generation ship designed to transport the prehistoric Martians to their homeworld of Mars. (VD: Crimson Dawn) The Martian Industrial Revolution was noted to had taken place at the same time as the Pliocene era on nearby Earth. (NA: The Dying Days)
Thousands of years ago, the Martian civilization was noted as being a peaceful people who were not warriors but artisans who hunted for food but never experienced war amongst their own kind or other races. In this era, their world was a thriving planet with the native sentient species thriving for 12,000 years in peace. Though they preferred the cold, one settlement was built in the equator but its construction of the shelled shaped buildings allowed for a cooler climate and there were waterways which kept the populace fulfilled. Their sense of honour stretched back from this time as their civilization was based on a gift economy where things were given freely and recievers gave something back in return. It was a world of craftsmen, builders and farmers which built wondrous pyramids on their home planet. (BFA: The Key 2 Time - The Judgement of Isskar) During this Early Period, Martian cities were noted as being much like those on Earth where food waste and plant matter was left on the streets. (NA: The Dying Days)
However, a visit by The Doctor and his companion Amy led to the fall of the race. The two time travellers were looking for a segment from the Key to Time one of which was located in the equatorial settlements pyramid. Two further travellers from the Commune of the White Sky had also arrived and by tampering with the segment, it led to the formation of a gravity plug which sent earthquakes and hurricanes across the planet for three decades which devastated the Martian civilization. Some managed to get off world but most remained on Mars where they fought amongst themselves for food and shelter. After thirty years, the energies from the segment of the Key to Time had been spent and finally the ground had settled. What remained of their race emerged onto their world where they planned to rebuild it even if it took them a thousand years. (BFA: The Key 2 Time - The Judgement of Isskar)
Despite this honourable goal, it was the Ice Lord Izdaal who had been observing the sky and his studies determined that there atmosphere was no longer capable of keeping out the deadly radiation from space which would eventually kill them all. Taking this to his government, he told them that their turmoil was not over and with evidence seen amongst the sickening children, he declared that their world was no longer sustainable. He was ultimately ignored by his people and thus Izdaal took the ultimate sacrifice. To prove himself right, he elected to step outside and face the Red Dawn, knowing that such an act would be fatal. His death led to his people coming to the same conclusion and they worked to survive, slowly becoming a conqueror race that took what they wanted from others. (BFA: The Key 2 Time - The Judgement of Isskar) As Mars slowly began to die, one million Martians remained trapped in suspended animation onboard the generation ship that became the moon "Phobos". (VD: Crimson Dawn)
The Ice Warrior’s prime was around several million years B.C.E.. Millions of years ago, a group of Ice Warriors led by Lord Arakssor were convicted for their warmongering ways and declared war criminals with their sentence being imprisoned in the ice on the primitive planet Earth in Antartica where they were to remain for all of time. (BFA: Frozen Time) Despite the imprisonment of the war-like groups, the Ice Warriors continued to be become a more violent people. Some exploration attempts to other planets were made. One of these explorers, Varga went to Earth, but his ship was trapped in a glacier for millions of years. Sometime after this, the Ice Warrior’s civilization went into decline as Mars became more inhospitable. (DW: The Ice Warriors, NA: Legacy)
- Possibly, this decline was caused by the passing of the Fendahl.
Centuries ago, Martian scientists concluded that the possibility of oxygen breathing lifeforms to be a complete absurdity. There were many attempts by the Martians to revitilise their world but they lacked the resources to accomplish this feat. They had attempted to grow plants in the barren soil of their planet but these were always rotten and dying. By 1997, Mars was in its dying days and its people racked by sterility and disease. The Argyre clan of Ice Warriors made an attempt to invade Earth, nominally taking over the United Kingdom with human collaborators to form a mutually beneficial relationship, but actually intending a mass terraformig ("ares-forming") of the planet. This was thwarted and the clan was eradicated. (DW: The Dying Days)
- Xznaal, the Ice Lord in charge of the Argye clan, showed familiarity with Gallifreyan's and showed respect to the Doctor suggesting that they had either encountered the Time Lords or were aware of their existence.
In 2008, an invasion was attempted in Sydney, Australia but was thwarted by UNIT. (DWM: The Age of Ice) Later, in the year 2012, an expedition by Lord Barset went to Antartica in order to follow an earlier failed expedition by his grandfather in 1929. His ancestors mission was a complete failure with only a single survivor who informed others that the expedition had fallen prey to intelligent reptile men with superior technology. Seeking to uncover this advanced weaponry for himself, Barset's people accidently freed the imprisoned Arakssor and his fellow murderers. (BFA: Frozen Time)
Another invasion and terraforming was attempted in the mid-21st century, when the Ice Warriors, led by Slaar, invaded a base on the Moon regulating the global T-Mat system and attempted to use a type of Martian fungus, which would turn the Earth into a more hospitable planet for them (DW: The Seeds of Death).
In 2086, another invasion was attempted, leading to the Thousand Day War. By 2088, the Humans had won this conflict. (NA: GodEngine, The Dying Days) By the early 22nd century, the Interstitial Mass Transit System had been established, linking the planetary bodies of the Sol system in a way that allowed humanity to treat Mars as a colony world, marginalising the few remaining survivors of the war. (NA: Transit, EDA: Fear Itself) and, through the 22nd century, marginalized the Ice Warriors on their own home planet (). Later, though, the Ice Warriors had become allies with the Humans. The Ice Warriors colonised a new planet and named it New Mars (NA: Legacy, BNA: The Medusa Effect).
At some point during the 22nd century Ice Warriors came into conflict with the Selachian Empire when one colony refused to sell weapons to the Ockorans. The Ockorans used their sun-stoker on these colonists to kill them. (PDA: The Final Sanction) Circa the 24th century, a group of Ice Warriors on the planet Magnus got caught up with the deals of the Mentor, Sil, who said he would lower the temperature of Magnus in order to make the world a more comfortable environment in which Martians could live. The Doctor and Peri put an end to this plan. (TME: Mission to Magnus, NA: Legacy )
In the 25th century, the Doctor combated the plots of the Ares Corporation and awakened the sleeping Martians in the artificial moon of Phobos; the event became known as Resurrection Day. (VD: Crimson Dawn) However, by the 26th century, the Ice Warriors were an isolated species. They had left Mars entirely and were isolated on New Mars. (NA: Legacy) During this century, an Ice Warrior, Haama, accompanied Abslom Daak and his crew in the Kill-Wagon (DWM: Star Tigers, Nemesis of the Daleks, Emperor of the Daleks)
In the 34th century, during an Ice Age on Earth, Varga and his crew were finally revived and decided to take over first Brittanicus Base and then the world. (DW: The Ice Warriors, NA: Legacy ) By the late 40th century, the Ice Warriors had, for the most part, renounced their war-like ways and the Ice Warriors joined the Galactic Federation (DW: The Curse of Peladon, The Monster of Peladon). At some point after their entry into the Federation, the Ice Warriors served as monitors and were dispatched to Draconia to oversee the crisis developing among the Draconians after the ascendance of Empress Adjit Kwan. Led by Commander Ixzyptir who was empowered to declare martial law in case the civil unrest became too great and was charged with overseeing the protection of Adjudicators that were to negotiate a peaceful settlement. At the time, the Tenth Doctor arrived and was mistaken for the Adjudicator where he was kidnapped by rebel factions though the Ice Warriors were responsible for the protection of Donna Noble. (IDW: Cold Blooded War!)
Undated Events
- In an early point of Ice Warrior history, the Doctor and Stacy accidentally interrupted Izaxyrl's rite of ascension. During the distraction, Izaxyrl was kidnapped by Lord Artix in order to stop the ceremony. If Izaxyrl was not an adult, he could not inherit the title of High Lord of Balazarus Mons from his father Uzoxx, which would mean Artix would take over. Though Izaxyrl was eventually rescued, the Doctor and Izaxyrl returned to the fortress of Darsus Mons to try to rescue Stacy and Ssard and were captured. Despite this, Artix was eventually defeated and Izaxyrl became an adult. (RT: Descendance, Ascendance)
- When this event occurred is unknown, though the Ice Warriors knew about Humans by that time. It was also significantly before the 40th century.
- The Doctor mentions that the Ice warriors may have froze the water to prevent The Flood from escaping and killing all Ice Warriors on Mars. (DW: Waters of Mars)
- This likely occurred thousands of years before 2059.
- On the planet Yama-10, the Ice Warriors attempted to mine the hostile world of Trisilicate when their position was attacked by the Mondasian Cybermen who wanted to claim that world as part of their empire. Taking the battle to the polar ice caps which were a more suitable condition for the Martians to fight in, the battle raged between the two opposing sides. However, this impacted the ice which began to melt and drowned the Cybermen as well as entombed the Ice Warriors in ice. (DWM: Deathworld)
Behind the Scenes
- Strictly speaking, according to their debut story, the Ice Warriors never had that name until Victoria Waterfield gave it to them. Subsequent stories would forget this, and have the Ice Warriors use this name to refer to themselves. Their debut story also implies that Mars can no longer support life. The Ice Warriors seen in that story come from the Mars of long ago. The storyline of DW: The Seeds of Death made it clear that Mars could still support life in the Doctor Who Universe even up until approximately the 21st century, when that story took place.
- The distinctive qualities of the Ice Warriors came out of the design process. The original conception of the Ice Warriors described them as partially machine-like and from the planet Mars. Rather than try to make up a race of cyborgs which would appear too similar to the Cybermen, designs for the character emphasized the more organic, reptilian qualities of the Ice Warriors.
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