Chronovore: Difference between revisions

|appearances = {{il|[[PROSE]]: ''[[No Future]]''|[[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel (novel)|The Quantum Archangel]]''|[[COMIC]]: ''[[The Crimson Hand (comic story)|The Crimson Hand]]''|[[COMIC]]: ''[[The Heralds of Destruction (comic story)|The Heralds of Destruction]]''}}

}}

 

The '''Chronovores''' were [[god]]-like [[transcendental being]]s who, as their name implied, fed on [[time]] itself. They were greatly feared, and sometimes respected or worshipped, because of this.

The Chronovores existed on another plane outside the universe, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dark Path]]'') and as such, they were generally uncomfortable in the universe due to the lack of physical [[dimension]]s. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Blood Heat]]'') They lived in the [[Time Vortex]] but ate and fed in the [[Six-Fold-Realm]], otherwise known as [[Calabi-Yau Space]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel]]'') They could also be found in the [[Black Void|black void]] surrounding the universe where it was still expanding, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[No Future]]'') or in [[the Morass (The Crimson Hand)|the Morass]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Crimson Hand]]'')

The [[Seventh Doctor]] considered them the [[thermodynamics|Third Law of Thermodynamics]] incarnate. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Timewyrm: Genesys]]'')

They were [[Time sensitivity|time sensitives]] like their cousins the [[Eternal]]s, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Crystal Bucephalus (novel)|The Crystal Bucephalus]]'') also being cousins to the [[Temperon]], as well. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Sirens of Time]]'') However, the [[Guardians of Time]] viewed them and the Eternals as their "own children," and [[the Master]] called them the Guardians' "bastard children," the dark caste of the Chronovores being segregated at birth from the Eternal caste and consigned to exile because they failed to meet the standards of the Council of Guardians, based on their description in the [[Ancient Covenant]]s. According to the council's ruling, the Chronovores were nothing but [[vampire]]s: subsisting on the primal energies of the Six-Fold Realm, only truly living by drawing the life essence from the moments of choice, where they could thrive on the what-ifs and the what-might-have-beens, keeping the cosmos alone in the [[multiverse]].

{{quote|Imagine the [[multiverse]] – the totality of all possible universes – as a [[garden]]. The multiverse has to be tended, nurtured... and pruned. Parallel universes are a fact of life – quantum uncertainties lead to [[Jonbar hinge]]s and then the universe diverges, buds. But the overwhelming majority of these buds rapidly rejoin their primary universe, nanoseconds later. However, there are occasions when buds diverge from that primary reality very quickly. They possess enough dimensional momentum to achieve escape velocity – they become important. These parallel universes branching off from the primary are considered to be weeds in the garden, an infestation that must be cleared. [...] but there appears to be a possibility that they will run out of reality. [...] But these parallel realities are considered to be a threat, and, like weeds, they are pruned, weeded out. And the Chronovores are the gardeners|The [[Sixth Doctor]]|The Quantum Archangel}}

They originally fed on the raw energy of [[star]]s ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dark Path]]'') before evolving. Their primary food source was the [[Lux Aeterna]], from which they gained sustenance. However, they also fed on the timelines of people (especially liking the history of a [[Time Lord]]), planets, alternate [[worldline]]s, and entire realities, timelines and parallel universes being rare feasts. As they feasted, the reality would darken and corrupt, "blossoming with the fruits of its self-destruction," which added flavour and spice to their consumption. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel]]'')

Chronovores appeared as pure-white [[humanoid]]s with small wings and helmet-like heads, firebirds of life and fire, but they could easily change their shapes like other transcendental beings, usually taking on feminine forms. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time Monster]]'') [[Artemis (No Future)|Artemis]], described simply as a "bird-woman-thing", ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Conundrum (novel)|Conundrum]]'') generally assumed the form of a woman in black, with black hair, red nails, and a red mouth of perfect teeth. She also wore a crown of thorns and diamonds, and manifested as a multi-dimensional mouth at one point. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[No Future]]'') Kronos had several appearances, as a man, a woman, and something like both, and appeared as all Chronovores in order to trick the Master into thinking the entire race was after him. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel]]'')

In addition to their feasting on time and erasing people and things from [[history]] as a result, the Chronovores had great powers to shape reality, such as rescuing two [[TARDIS]]es from a [[time ram]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time Monster]]'')

In her service to [[the Monk]], Artemis changed events so that the [[Silurian]] [[Morka]] was able to kill the [[Third Doctor]] without the possibility of [[regeneration]], thereby creating the [[Silurian Earth]]; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Blood Heat]]'') she again changed the Doctor's history so that the [[Garvond]] could come into existence; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dimension Riders]]'') she ensured [[Huitzilin]]'s survival; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Left-Handed Hummingbird]]'') she pulled a boy named [[Jason (Conundrum)|Jason]] from Earth and installed him as the [[Master of the Land]], after recreating the [[Land of Fiction]] from the ashes; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Conundrum (novel)|Conundrum]]'') and freed [[Varda]] from its [[time loop]], enabling an invasion of [[1976]] [[Earth]] that never happened.

She later retroactively saved the [[Seventh Doctor]] from a fatal shot, made the Monk's mouth disappear and materialise a giant fishing hook through it, and changed history so that [[Ace]] saved [[Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart]]'s life. Because of this new timeline, Ace never set Artemis free, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[No Future]]'') but as the Chronovores existed outside of time, they were unaffected by [[temporal paradox]]es. Additionally, a large number of Chronovores created a natural jamming field which made [[TARDIS]] dematerialisation impossible. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel]]'')

In terms of weaknesses, a point-blank [[artron energy|artron pulse]] from an [[artron cannon]] tore their forms, and they could become poisoned by [[Klypstrømic warhead]]s that irradiated the vortex, leaving them weak and broken. But even these weapons were "small fry" to Chronovores, with [[vortex lance]]s being ineffectual and [[Earthshock bomb]]s being an irritation. Under the onslaught of the [[Eye of Harmony]], their polydimensional matrices shattered and evaporated, while those caught on the edges were left broken, injured or dying. Otherwise, like the Eternals and other Transcendental Beings, the Chronovores could will themselves dead, and this was considered the only way they could die. When [[Kronos]] committed [[suicide]], the amount of sheer energy released sent ripples through the cosmos, felt by those sensitive to time, and disrupted the [[space-time continuum]], detonating the [[Great Attractor]] (the largest [[black hole]] in the known universe) and causing it to explode. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel]]'')

The blood of an Eternal was able to restrict Chronovores, suppressing their power. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[No Future]]'')

The Chronovores were feared and hated by most other races, especially the [[Eternal]]s who viewed them as parasites, uncontrollable beings of fire and ice and unutterable cruelty, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel]]'') and even the [[Third Doctor]] suggested Kronos to be a threat to the entire created universe, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time Monster]]'') the general consensus being that it was better not to attract the attention of the Chronovores to the normal universe.

More than tens of thousands of Chronovores made up the all-powerful [[Divine Host]], the shock troops of the race. Only a few Chronovores roamed the universe at any time, spotting the few alternate timelines as they formed and devouring them, as they were unable to enter what they called the "[[Higher Place]]" (the space-time continuum) unless they were summoned. According to the Ancient Covenants that governed them, once a link was forged between two regions, either spatial, temporal, dimensional, or otherwise, the Chronovores were free to pass between them. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel]]'') They were summoned through rituals, one in particular that involved a pentangle with the blood of five races whose genetic destinies had been altered by the [[Capitol]] on [[Gallifrey]]: [[Minyan]], [[Silurian]], [[Dalek]], [[Human]], and [[Mandrel]]. A Chronovore would consume the blood, making an image of the being appear and move around the pentangle as it grew older and died. Artemis commented that it was always the "same races." ([[PROSE]]: ''[[No Future]]'')

Not being "normal life" or existing in the universe, concepts like "pain" and "obey" ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Blood Heat]]'') were not understandable. Neither were the concepts of using metaphors or a language or having a personality, and Artemis was content to eating Earth and every human as they had such short lives anyway before the Doctor convinced her she had a merciful personality. She did find mortals could be entertaining. For freeing her, however, she willingly granted Ace a wish.

She warned the Seventh Doctor to never tell a Chronovore to 'stop' as it annoyed them. She, if not all Chronovores, thought it laughable that Time Lords felt they owned Time, like how fish thought they owned water; she stated that fish at least could feign ignorance as they had never heard of fishermen. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[No Future]]'')

Breaking the Ancient Covenants, the Eternal [[Elektra]] and the Chronovore [[Prometheus (The Quantum Archangel)|Prometheus]] conceived a child, Avatar, and were confronted by the Guardians as the [[Six-Fold-God]] in the darker strata, deep within the time vortex. Prometheus's existence was undone and Elektra was taken away, the darker strata being shunned and disowned and wiped from the collective memories of both races because of the horror and collective shame of summoning the Six-Fold-God. Later, [[Lillith]], matriarch of the Chronovores, petitioned for the Avatar to be destroyed, but the God spun a [[Crystal of Kronos|crystal]] and imprisoned the Avatar, which would later be known as [[Kronos]]. The crystal appeared on many world, eventually arriving on [[Daemos]] before the [[Daemon]]s brought it to [[Atlantis]] on [[Earth]]. Although used benevolently and worshiped, when the Master accessed the crystal in an encounter with the Third Doctor, Kronos was released earlier than intended and went mad, destroying Atlantis. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time Monster (TV story)|The Time Monster]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel]]'')

The Chronovores were present at the [[Timewyrm]]'s creation, bestowing the name upon her. ([[PROSE]]: '' [[Timewyrm: Genesys (novel)|Timewyr,: Genesys]]'')