DW Monsters: Kaldor Robots

The next story in the series is The Deadly Assassin, which does not have a “monster”, or any aliens other than the Time Lords. In the next story, The Face of Evil, we have a mad computer, but then we come to The Robots of Death. Robots, particularly human-shaped ones, have featured several times on the show, but these remain fondly remembered, at least partly for their Art Deco look. They featured in a 1999 novel, Corpse Marker, by the writer of the original TV story, but it’s really in the audio medium that they have had their greatest success. They have so far appeared in three audios alongside the Doctor, and in two series of their own, one of them reaching eighteen episodes.

DW Monsters: Kastrians

The primary antagonist in The Masque of Mandragora is not only a unique entity, but one that’s more of an abstract threat than something we could stat up; it produces visible effects and controls people, but it doesn’t really qualify as a “monster”. Following that story, though, is The Hand of Fear and Eldrad. Now, Eldrad himself is also unique, in that he’s the last surviving member of his species, the Kastrians, but because we can throw time travel into the mix, that doesn’t mean we could never meet another. Having said that, the Kastrians do not return, or even get much of a mention, elsewhere in the TV series. Indeed, their only other appearance to date is in the audio story Eldrad Must Die! which is, of course, a direct sequel.

DW Monsters: Krynoids

After The Brain of Morbius, which features a unique monster, we come to The Seeds of Doom (not to be confused with the Second Doctor story The Seeds of Death) and the Krynoids. There are only two in the story, but they’re a species of alien that could plausibly be found on many other planets, so they’re within my remit for these posts. The Krynoids are a one-off monster within the series, and have been little used elsewhere. Other than a few short stories, they have featured in only one licensed audio, Hothouse, which acts as a sequel to the TV serial without really expanding the description of the species.

Description and Biology

Krynoids are plants that begin their life cycle as seed pods flying through space. Once they land on a suitable planetary surface they germinate, infecting the nearest large animal by injecting them with bacteria-like cells. The original plant then dies, but the infective cells take over and restructure the host's body using it as the foundation to grow the second, reproductive, phase of the Krynoid. Essentially, then, we have two forms: the plant inside the seed pod, which produces the infective spores, and the much larger form that the spores grow into and that eventually produce new seed pods.

DW Monsters: Androids

Following Terror of the Zygons, the next two stories are:

• Planet of Evil – the anti-matter monster here is an apparently unique entity and, in any case, is more a sort of mobile hazard than something with creature statistics
• Pyramids of Mars – although we only encounter one Osiran, they are a race… however, they’re sufficiently powerful that they are more effectively described as one-off NPCs. I’m also going to pass on their servitor robots for the time being as there isn’t much to say about them other than them being large, strong, robots.

This brings us to The Android Invasion. The alien race here are the Kraals, which have leathery skin, sculpted skulls, and a small nose-horn. Other than their physical appearance, however, there seems little to set them apart from humans, and in game terms they (as with races such as the Draconians) probably don’t need any particular rules. Their titular android creations, however, are a different matter. 

DW Monsters: Skarasen

The next story up is Terror of the Zygons, the only classic series appearance of the eponymous aliens. While I have done those before, as a recurring race in the modern series, the story also includes the Zygons' pet monster, the skarasen. Considering that we're told the creature is essential to Zygon survival, it's noteworthy that it has not appeared again on TV in any subsequent stories involving the race. 

The spin-off media, however, have been more willing to include them. They have so far appeared in two of the licensed audios (and one older one, outside the regular license) and two novels. The most significant of these is probably the Eighth Doctor novel The Bodysnatchers, which features a batch of infant skarasen. Each of these stories has, naturally, also included the Zygons; there have been many Zygon stories without the skarasen, but never the reverse.

Trouble at t'Mill (con game report)

This weekend, I ran a Doctor Who game at the annual Continuum convention in Leicester. I've had relatively little to run the game before, despite having written about related topics here, although this was the third in a loose series where I have previously run the other two (including one at last year's Continuum). The game was run using the Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space system (2nd ed.) - one that I haven't used in my "monster" posts since, of course, the relevant information already exists in print. For those who haven't previously encountered it, it's available here.

Unfortunately, I'm not terribly good at coming up with ideas for adventures. I can tweak stuff that already exists, and throw in ideas but writing the adventure itself, not so much. (My recent fantasy sourcebooks, which are available here and here, consist of settings, NPCs, and plot hooks, but cannot reasonably be described as "scenarios"). Fortunately, there is a readily available source of plot ideas for Doctor Who: the expanded universe.

DW Monsters: Cybermats

The Wirrn are the only new race introduced in season 12, with their story being followed by, in order:

• The Sontaran Experiment 
• Genesis of the Daleks  
• Revenge of the Cybermen

All of which feature their titular returning “monsters”. However, the last of these three does include, in addition to the Cybermen, their creations, the cybermats. These had previously appeared in a couple of Second Doctor stories, in slightly different form, and have also appeared once in the modern series. Outside the TV series, they have so far featured (typically quite briefly) in nine audio stories and one original novel – all, of which, of course, also include the Cybermen in more prominent roles. Two of the audios address the question of the cybermats’ origin and nature, which is probably the most detail we’re ever going to get on them; the two answers given are, however, contradictory.

Description and Biology

The appearance of cybermats changes at least as much as that of the Cybermen, but they are always small segmented metallic creatures that crawl along the ground. Although some of the versions lack any visible biological parts, the original version had organic eyes, and that in the modern series has animal-like teeth implanted in it. It seems reasonable to assume, however, that all cybermats are, like their creators, cyborgs combining both organic and electronic elements.

The wide variation in form is doubtless because the Cybermen have arisen more than once on different planets and have come up with different cybermat designs independently, as well as their tendency to upgrade their technology. As a minimum, it seems likely that all cybermats have an organic brain (or at least part of one), but there’s no reason to assume that they all originate from the same sort of creature. While the TV series has not so far weighed in what those might be, as noted above, the audios provide two possible answers.

The more plausible explanation, to my mind, is that given in the Fifth Doctor audio Spare Parts, where it stated that the Mondasian version of the cybermat was created from a type of pet popular on the Cybermen’s original homeworld. As a domesticated animal, this would have been tractable, and easily configured by cyber-tech to end up as something similar to what we see – the original physical form also loosely resembling the final shape.

The alternative, more horrific, possibility comes from The Crystal of Cantus, an audio story that does not directly feature the Doctor. Judging from the cover art, the Cybermen in this story are Telosian, rather than Mondasian, and here we’re told that cybermats are created using the brains of human babies. There is some logic to this in that very young humans can’t reasonably be converted into the regular Cybermen we see, and they might not wish to waste the potential resource. On the other hand, it’s hard to explain why they would put the brain in such an obviously non-humanoid body, or whether it would work terribly well – or behave in the way that it does – if they did. Most (but not all) cybermats also seem too small to physically fit even a baby’s brain inside them.

Plus… ick!

Other than the brain, there may not be many organic internal organs in a cybermat, although, again, this might vary between models. So long as you have a suitable means of providing the brain with oxygen and nutrients, there are probably few parts you absolutely have to keep organic, depending on the technology available. In general, similar principles apply to their “biology” as do for the Cybermen themselves.

Game Attributes

In many respects, cybermat statistics can be modelled on those of Cybermen, with the exception that they are much smaller and that, in systems that care about such things, they are a different shape. They obviously have low physical strength and don’t seem especially agile. Their cyborg body will be resilient, as that of the Cybermen is, although in systems where physical size is built into the relevant statistic, that may well cancel out. The armour plating is marginally bullet-proof, but not exceptional.

Regardless of the origin we go with, it seems clear that cybermats are of only animal intelligence, although likely a fairly intelligent animal, such as a dog. For this reason, they don’t have many skills beyond attacking and stealthily sneaking about. The attack is delivered by a bite; the various models have metal teeth, or organic ones, or perhaps even piercing mandibles, but in game terms, this is unlikely to make much difference. Since one of their purposes is to scout out their environment, their senses are likely quite good.

Special Abilities

For the sake of simplicity, I will assume that the two special abilities we see cybermats use are general functions of the cyborg, even though we only see one or the other (or neither) being used in any given story. Specific models can be described by cutting out either or both of the abilities and/or adding a vulnerability to gold in those versions said to be susceptible to this attack. The Cybermen can probably swap out functional modules in their creations anyway, depending on what they want them to do on any given occasion.

The eyeless, almost wormlike, version of Revenge of the Cybermen has the ability to inject its victims with a venom, virus, or other toxic agent stored inside it. We know that the chemical in question can be changed to suit different purposes, so even the base model may vary somewhat, but we’ll assume a regular poison. The other special feature, seen in Closing Time, is the ability to drain electricity from their surroundings, providing energy to their masters.

---

5E - Cybermat

Tiny construct, neutral

Armour Class: 16 (metal plating)

Hit Points: 19 (3d4+12)

Speed: 20 ft.

STR 6 (-2)	DEX 10 (+0)	CON 18 (+4)
INT 3 (-4)	WIS 12 (+1)	CHA 5 (-3)

Skills: Perception +3

Damage Resistances: Cold, Fire, Poison

Senses: Passive Perception 11

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d6) piercing damage and 11 (3d6) poison damage.

Challenge: 1 (200 XP)

BRP - Cybermat

STR 1D3+6 (8)	CON 18	SIZ 1D6 (4)
INT 3	POW 2D6 (7)	DEX 2D6 (7)
Hit Points: 11	Move: 8
Base SR: 6	Damage Bonus: -1D6

Armour: 5-point metal plating

Skills: Listen 50%, Spot 60%

Combat Skills: Bite 50% (1D6-1D6 damage, plus a POT 10 poison)

GURPS - Cybermat

ST 8	DX 10	IQ 3	HT 18
Damage: 1		Move: 2
DR: 10		Size: -4

Advantages: Alertness +3, Damage Resistance +6, Doesn’t Eat or Drink, Doesn’t Sleep, Fit, Innate Attack (Toxic, melee attack, resistible, 2d, linked with Piercing, melee attack, 1d)

Disadvantages: Cannot Speak, Electrical

Savage Worlds - Cybermat

Agility: d6	Smarts: d6 (A)	Spirit: d10
Strength: d4	Vigour: d12

Skills: Fighting d6, Notice d8

Edges: Cyborg, Hard to Kill

Special Abilities: Bite (Str+1), Poison (lethal)

Pace: 5                  Toughness: 5 (4)                   Size: -3 (Very Small)

STA - Cybermat

Control: 6	Fitness: 6	Presence: 4
Daring: 6	Insight: 2	Reason: 2
Command: 0	Security: 1	Science: 0
Conn: 0	Engineering: 0	Medicine: 0
Stress: 7	Resistance: 2

Bite: Melee 2^ (1H, Deadly)