Trion (planet)

You may be looking for the homonymous species.

Trion
Type:	Planet
Natives:	Trions, Laima, Slots
First mentioned in:	Planet of Fire
Appearances:	PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma

Trion was the home planet of the humanoid Trions. It was located in a binary star system, orbiting the suns Major and Minor. (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma)

History

Early history

Early in its history, the planet was attacked by the Tractators, an experience so traumatic to the Clansfolk that it survived as an ancestral memory for millennia. (TV: Frontios) During this time of "barbarianism", they were also fed on by the Laima, who arrived on the planet when the Clansfolk were still evolving from the jungle. (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma)

Trion was colonised by the Time Lords (PROSE: The Quantum Archangel) and the Laima became hugely advanced, building the Mobile Castle and discovering the ultimate unified theory. They became aware that the gravity constant of the universe prevented their evolution beyond the physical world and so they set up a gravity control unit on Earth, leaving some, who became known as the Slots, behind on Trion to maintain the unit whilst they ascended. The Slots named the planet "Trion" after the three great civilisations: the Laima, the Slots, and the Clansfolk, who also became known as Trions. (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma)

Old Regime

The Imperial Clans ruled the Trions for nine-thousand years in what was known as the Old Regime, also claiming dominion over eighteen suns and the Galactic Core. (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma) They colonised a number of planets, including Darvey, Sarn and Verdon, (TV: Planet of Fire) some of which were centuries old by the 20th century. (PROSE: Lords of the Storm)

Under the Clans, Trion prospered as a scientific community with such technology as spacecrafts, transmats and the Vacuum Transport system. They also experimented with time travel, but believed that their efforts were sabotaged by the Time Lords. Their reign was initially harsh and dictatorial, but softened during the reigns of Ykstort I and Nilatis IV and were thought of positively by the regular Trions. However, public opinion towards the Clans began to change, unnoticed by the Clansmen who lived separately from them. (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma)

The revolution and aftermath

A civil war began on Trion with the revolutionaries' aim being to overthrow the Imperial Clans. Rehctaht became the leader of the revolutionaries (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma) whilst the Trion Queen was taken to a safe-house, having been offered the Winter Palace by Vislor Turlough's grandfather. (AUDIO: Kiss of Death) In the revolution, Turlough's mother was killed. (TV: Planet of Fire)

Rehctaht won the war and took control of Government House, becoming ruler of Trion. She held inquisitions for those who had been loyal to the Clans and exiled many of them to primitive planets and old Trion colonies, including Turlough, his father, his brother and Charlie Gibbs. Some, however, chose to remain and work in the Revolutionary Regime, as Juras Maateh did.

Rehctaht promised the Trions new freedom which would give them the chance to develop new technology in the absence of the Clans. However, this was proven untrue when the economy declined, prompting the Trions to rebel against her after seven years of rule in the Counter-Revolution led by the Committee of Public Safety. Rehctaht was killed. (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma)

New Regime

COPS oversaw the transition to the New Regime, which included a democratically elected Council, Congress and Parliament. The Clansmen's exile was lifted and those who were still alive were permitted to return, including Turlough and his brother. Those who did return were treated as heroes.

Turlough, with the help of the Magician, was able to discover time travel by creating and perfecting an ARTEMIS drive which he planned to present to the Trions. (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma) The Tenth Doctor and Emily Winter later visited Trion to ask if Turlough had written the diary that had been planted by the Advocate to manipulate Matthew Finnegan. (COMIC: Final Sacrifice)

Government

Main article: Trion government

Places of interest

The National Museum of Natural History of the Home Planet was located at Efnisien whilst a Central Museum was located at Charlottenlund, near the Giants' Drop. Other ruins included Mhacha, Connall and Bricriu. (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma)

Geography, flora, and fauna

Trion was a hot and gaseous planet, drab and colourless but with cities of neon and plasticity. (PROSE: The King of Terror) It was located in a binary system; the Trions called their suns Minor and Major. It had three moons: Cu Chulainn, Cu Roi, and Njordr Nerthus. Njordr Nerthus had an atmosphere, but was not livable.

One Trion continent, Slotisland, was reserved for Trion's other native species, the Slots. Slotisland was home to the Slotsruins, traces of the vanished civilisation of the Laima, but the Slots kept the Slotsruins behind a force field to keep it secure from outsiders. Slotisland's secluded location, in the middle of an ocean that covered most of Trion's eastern hemisphere, was undoubtedly helpful in this regard.

The main Trion continent, home to the Trions, was divided into several regions, among them Ohwrotco, Noved, Dnalevelc, Norring, and Tronna. An impossibly vast chasm called the Giants' Drop was a popular tourist attraction.

Trion was also home to the Mobile Castle, a bizarre and ancient artefact poorly understood even by the Trions themselves. (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma)

Vislor Turlough once described the trees on Trion as being three times the size of Earth trees, with plate-like thick mauve and purple leaves growing in spirals up blood-red trunks. (AUDIO: Loups-Garoux)

Trion had vulcanologists. (TV: Planet of Fire)

Transport

The main mode of transport around Trion was the Vacuum Transport system. There were shuttles between Trion and its moons, with one flying between Reyer and Fodla on Njordr Nerthus. (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma)

Notes

• A planet called Trion features indirectly in the 1984-85 BBC science fiction series, The Tripods, as the homeworld of the three-legged Masters. The series was partially directed by Christopher Barry and guest starred Doctor Who alumni such as Pamela Salem and John Woodvine.