Transcendental being: Difference between revisions

'''Transcendental beings''' were creatures that had existed since before the universe of [[N-Space]] had formed, made from the very fabric of [[time]] itself. These beings included the [[Guardians of Time]], the [[Eternal]]s and their cousins the [[Chronovore]]s (described as the Guardians' children), the [[Time Wraith]]s, the [[Swimmer (species)|Swimmers]], and the [[Great Old One]]s. The [[Sixth Doctor]] described them as beyond [[human]]ity's comprehension, and even his own. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel (novel)|The Quantum Archangel]]'')

In the aftermath of the [[Big Bang]], the Transcendental beings found themselves in their new home when six dimensions curdled into themselves and formed a six-dimensional universe, a separate realm where they could thrive and prosper without interference from the lesser beings. Known to human science as [[Calabi-Yau Space]], the [[Six-Fold-Realm]] was protected by the [[Ancient Covenants|Great and Ancient Covenant]], which bound them, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel (novel)|The Quantum Archangel]]'') serving as codes of conduct. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[No Future (novel)|No Future]]'') For example, the Guardians were essentailly the universe, so they would not dare interfere in order to preserve the structure of reality, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel (novel)|The Quantum Archangel]]'') using agents as they mustn't be seen to act. ([[TV]]: ''[[Mawdryn Undead (TV story)|Mawdryn Undead]]'') Because of this power, the [[Time Lord|Time Lords]] may have made a deal with the Guardians, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[No Future (novel)|No Future]]'') as [[Rassilon]] wouldn't dare to break the Covenant, the Time Lords never managing the total destruction of a race of Transcendental beings. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel (novel)|The Quantum Archangel]]'')

They preferred the Realm or the upper levels of the [[Time Vortex]], ignoring the deepest levels known as the darker strata. Although they could share the vortex with the lesser beings, the Covenants divided them. However, some Transcendental beings, including the [[Great Intelligence]], the [[Nestene Consciousness]], the [[Animus]], and [[Nyarlathotep]], saw the universe and its people as a challenge to be conquered and raped, and stole away into the hidden places, regions of the [[multiverse]] even more remote than the darker strata of the vortex. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel (novel)|The Quantum Archangel]]'') The [[Celestial Toymaker]], [[Fenric]], and [[Hecuba]] enjoyed playing games with lesser beings, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Celestial Toymaker (TV story)|The Celestial Toymaker]]'', ''[[The Curse of Fenric (TV story)|The Curse of Fenric]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Queen of Time (audio story)|The Queen of Time]]'') while the [[Gods of Ragnarok]] used them for entertainment. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[No Future (novel)|No Future]]'', [[TV]]: ''[[The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (TV story)|The Greatest Show in the Galaxy]]'') The [[Carnival Queen]] mentioned creatures who had escaped the [[Pre-universe|old time]], describing them as a handful of baby godlings and '[[Great Intelligence|great intelligences]],' but considered them to be weak, unimaginative creatures, who gave into the Order imposed on the universe by the [[Time Lord|Watchmakers]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Christmas on a Rational Planet (novel)|Christmas on a Rational Planet]]'')

The Eternals viewed mortals, whom they called "[[Ephemeral]]s," as toys for diversion from the boredom of [[Eternity (location)|Eternity]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Enlightenment (TV story)|Enlightenment]]'')  

Transcendental beings had some difficulty interacting with normal life, Chronovores and Guardians feeling cramped in the dimensions of the normal universe, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Blood Heat (novel)|Blood Heat]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Destroyer of Delights (audio story)|The Destroyer of Delights]]'')

The Eternal [[Elektra]] and the Chronovore [[Prometheus (The Quantum Archangel)|Prometheus]] conceived [[Kronos|a child]] they planned would lead all Transendental Beings to common ground and live together with the races spawned by the universe, including humans, [[Gallifreyan]]s and [[Dalek]]s. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel (novel)|The Quantum Archangel]]'')

Whereas normal life was made from [[baryonic matter]], the Transcendental beings were made from the very fabric of time itself; the Chronovores were described as living nonbaryonic matter, who in their natural form existed as six-dimensional polymorphic lattices of [[photino]]s and [[chronon]]s, bound by [[superstring]]s. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel (novel)|The Quantum Archangel]]'') The Guardians' and Old Ones' natural form was stated to be a collective consciousness, possessing neither form nor substance and existing between dimensions. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Divided Loyalties (novel)|Divided Loyalties]]'')

Transcendental beings were often immortal, with the Guardians always existing until they were no longer needed and the Eternals merely being "transferred" rather than killed. ([[TV]]: ''[[Enlightenment (TV story)|Enlightenment]]'') The Old Ones were incapable of being killed in the normal universe, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[White Darkness (novel)|White Darkness]]'') and the Toymaker remarked that were he to be killed, he would simply reappear. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Solitaire (audio story)|Solitaire]]'') Effectively, the only way for a Transcendental being to truly die would be if they willed it. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel (novel)|The Quantum Archangel]]'')  

Various Transcendental beings displayed similar powers, such as being able to change their appearance ([[TV]]: ''[[The Armageddon Factor (TV story)|The Armageddon Factor]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[No Future (novel)|No Future]]'') manipulating time and creating [[Timeline|timelines]], ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Time & Time Again (comic story)|Time & Time Again]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Protect and Survive (audio story)|Protect and Survive]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[No Future (novel)|No Future]]'') and following and moving individuals through time and space. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Web of Fear (TV story)|The Web of Fear]]'', ''[[Enlightenment (TV story)|Enlightenment]]'', ''[[The Curse of Fenric (TV story)|The Curse of Fenric]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Well-Mannered War (novel)|The Well-Mannered War]]'') Both the Eternals and Chronovores were [[Time sensitivity|time sensitives]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Crystal Bucephalus (novel)|The Crystal Bucephalus]]'')

[[File:Guardians of Time The Whoniverse.jpg|thumb|The [[Guardians of Time]] overlook the birth of the universe. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Whoniverse (novel)|The Whoniverse]]'')]]

The Guardians were one of the powers of the [[Omniverse]] that could do anything, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[No Future (novel)|No Future]]'') existing as the pinancle of reality, able to collectively act and reshape the universe . ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel (novel)|The Quantum Archangel]]'') They each personified a different concept, and were only as strong as their elements were in the universe. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Well-Mannered War (novel)|The Well-Mannered War]]'') They were known to only a few advanced species, including [[Time Lord|Time Lords]] and the Eternals, who called them "Enlighteners" and deferred to them. ([[TV]]: ''[[Enlightenment (TV story)|Enlightenment]]'')  

Known as the Six-Fold God, the six Guardians were the [[Black Guardian]] of [[Entropy]],  the [[White Guardian]] of Structure, the [[Red Guardian]] of Justice, the [[Azure Guardian]] of Equilibrium, the [[Celestial Toymaker|Crystal Guardian]] of Dream, and the [[Gold Guardian]] of Life. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel (novel)|The Quantum Archangel]]'')

The Old Ones were cruel and dangerous beings from the [[Pre-universe|previous universe]] who tried to conquer the normal universe, and played a more active role than other Transcendental beings. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel (novel)|The Quantum Archangel]]'') They were more a pantheon of various beings than an actual race. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Divided Loyalties (novel)|Divided Loyalties]]'')

Old Ones included the [[Nestene Consciousness]], which could be considered its own race, and [[Nyarlathotep]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel (novel)|The Quantum Archangel]]'') , as well as the [[Gods of Ragnarok]], [[Fenric]], the [[Great Intelligence]], and the [[Animus]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[All-Consuming Fire (novel)|All-Consuming Fire]]'') all of whom were also called "[[Elder God|Elder Gods]]." ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Black and White (audio story)|Black and White]]'', ''[[Gods and Monsters (audio story)|Gods and Monsters]]'')

Eternals were creatures who used Emphemerals, parasites feeding on their minds, using them as blueprints for their own amusement as a diversion from the endless wastes of [[Eternity (location)|Eternity]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Enlightenment (TV story)|Enlightenment]]'') They were disembodied energy matrices, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Goth Opera (novel)|Goth Opera]]'') some of whom posed as gods on [[Gallifrey]], such as [[Death (mythology)|Death]], [[Pain (mythology)|Pain]], and [[Time (mythology)|Time]].  ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Happy Endings (novel)|Happy Endings]]'')

Chronovores, the most fearsome being [[Kronos]], were winged beings who fed on time. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time Monster (TV story)|The Time Monster]]'') According to one account, they were originally native to the real universe, feeding on the raw energy of stars before evolving to a higher plane. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dark Path (novel)|The Dark Path]]'') They could be bound by the blood of an Eternal, change their appearance, and manipulate timelines. ([[PROSE]]: '' [[No Future (novel)|No Future]]'')

Although not explicitly stated to be Transcendental beings, creatures that displayed similar characterstics included the [[Timewyrm]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Timewyrm: Revelation (novel)|Timewyrm: Revelation]]'') the [[Mandragora Helix]], ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Mark of Mandragora (comic story)|The Mark of Mandragora]]'') the [[Kraken (Unnatural History)|Krakens]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Shadows of Avalon (novel)|The Shadows of Avalon]]'', ''[[Unnatural History (novel)|Unnatural History]]'') the [[Ancient Lights]], ([[TV]]: ''[[Secrets of the Stars (TV story)|Secrets of the Stars]]'', [[WC]]: ''[[Sarah Jane's Alien Files|The Alien Files]]'') the [[Pantheon of Discord]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith]]'', [[WC]]: ''[[Sarah Jane's Alien Files|The Alien Files]]'') and [[The Trickster]] ([[TV]]:'' [[Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)|Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?]]'', ''[[The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)|The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith]]'', ''[[The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith]]'', [[WC]]: ''[[Monster File: The Trickster's Brigade (webcast)|Monster File]][[Monster File: The Trickster's Brigade (webcast)|: The Trickster's Brigade]]'')

As the [[Temperon]] was distantly related to the Chronovores, they were presumably Transcendental beings as well. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Sirens of Time (audio story)|The Sirens of Time]]'')

Many of the same Transcendental beings are identified by different names, making true ''specific'' distinctions unclear. Various accounts have refered to the Celestial Toymaker as being from a race of [[Toymaker]]s, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Celestial Toymaker (novelisation)|The Celestial Toymaker]]'') a Guardian, a Great Old One, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Divided Loyalties (novel)|Divided Loyalties]]'') and an Elder God, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Black and White (audio story)|Black and White]]'') although "Elder God" may have just been a synonym for "Great Old One."

Additionally, the Guardians were also Great Old Ones, considered a pantheon within a pantheon, with the other Great Old Ones considered to be "sub-Guardians." ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Divided Loyalties (novel)|Divided Loyalties]]'')

The [[Fifth Doctor]] knew of many time sensitive races: [[Time Lord]]s, [[Legion]]s, [[Tharil]]s, Chronovores, Eternals, and [[Transient Being]]s. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Crystal Bucephalus (novel)|The Crystal Bucephalus]]'') The [[Sixth Doctor]] later referred to the Great Old Ones as "transient beings". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'')

The [[Carnival Queen]] referred to a handful of baby godlings and '[[Great Intelligence|great intelligences]],' ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Christmas on a Rational Planet (novel)|Christmas on a Rational Planet]]'') implying there were others besides [[Yog-Sothoth]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[All-Consuming Fire (novel)|All-Consuming Fire]],'' ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'')

The Eternals were considered part of the "[[Old One]]s" that existed during the [[Dark Times]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Knight, The Fool and The Dead (novel)|The Knight, The Fool and The Dead]]'')