[ICON] Dr. Who statistics

[Yuber Okami]

but was there any stats in the FASA stuff for the Wyrm??? and , do you know any on-line resources about them? i said that because i don't fully understand the language of the episode (i mean, i'm not from an english-speaking country). I know they come from Andromeda galaxy and have a hatred for humans, but don't know why (maybe i shall see the episode again)

[Diamond]

I do not believe there was any FASA materiel on the Wirrn. At least there wasn't in the core books, I wouldn't put it past them to have it in some suppliment somewhere, they did a good job. Allow me to offer their entry from "Dotor Who illustrated A-Z":

A parasitic breen of intelligent man-sized insect resembling wasps who exist in Space, occasionally landing in search of food and breeding facilities. With that intent the Wirrn Queen penetrated Nerva Beacon, laying her eggs in one of the sleeping humans, who nurtured the suppurating larvae within Nerva's solar chambers. The overwhelming hordes of hatching Wirrn were diverted to their doom by Noah.

There's also their entry at the Doctor Who Alien Fact File

First encountered by humanity in the galaxy of Andromeda, the Wirrn are large insect-like creatures. The slime exuded by their larvae can transform a human into a member of the swarm, giving the Wirrn all of their skills and knowledge.

Right, here's what I would do for a rough draft on stats: I'd use the mental skills and INT of the humanoid which was consumed to create that Wirrn. That includes humanoidss transformed into Wirrn by being infected by casual contact with the larvae, as Noah was. Physically, you need two stats - one of the fully grown Wirrn (wasp-looking thing) and another for the blob-like larvae. The larvae are not impressive - say FITNESS and CO-Ordination of 1, with the skill Unarmed Combat (infection) at 1(2). But since infection is so scary, the caracters will be well motivated to use electric fields and other tricks to keep them away. I forget, how useful were energy weapons against them? I remember the humans had a few in that episode.

The adult Wirrn were more capable - they could scuttle about with much more speed - perhaps co-ordinateion 3?. As a wasp-like creature I'd give 'em several points of armor for their exoskeleton. How strong were they? I forget if there was an example of them struggling directly with humanoids, but one would think they would be strong enough to be able to overpower a long humanoid, else what will they absorb the body and memories of? Keep in mind they can also feed off of raw electrical power, which they somehow transform to mass to create hundreds and hundreds of larvae.

[Yuber Okami]

A pair of things from the episode:

-The Wirm said that they fought humanity for a thousand years before humans destroyed their breeding colonies, forcing them to flee into space. There is no reference about why the war begun at first, though (maybe the humans atacked first and the Wirm were originally a peaceful species after all...)

- Wirms were not a technologically advanced race

- Wirms can live in space, but their breeding colonies must be terrestrial. They can't reproduce in space

- They have a genetical memory, and possibly a common conscience

- The ones who atacked the ark could be the last of their race, or not

About the lasers... they only made the larvae to retreat, but didn't kill them, and i'm not sure if they are of any use against the mature form.. how could this be reflected in their stats? and, are the larvae the only wirms that can turn their victims into another wirms, or the adults can also do it?

[Diamond]

The adult feeds on energy. It can sit in a solar reactor, I don't think a hand-held laser is going to be much more than a light snack. But the larvae clearly were effected by energy, but not as much as you would expect normal animals to be. Perhaps they can only safely absorb energy in small amounts. Call it an advantage: Energy Absorbtion (10), where 10 is the number of points of power (not to be confused with "energy" on the Starship scale) that can be safely absorbed. The adults might have Energy Absorbtion (50). After all, while it sat in the solar reactor, it might not have been in the *center* of the solar reactor, it could have been on the edge. Add to that the few points of armor for the wasp-like exoskeleton, fighting hand-to-hand is very unwise.

[Diamond]

Come to think of it, I'd make that "Energy absorbtion" advantage be the number of power points that the Wiirn could absorb per TURN, not per attack. That way attackers with energy weapons could team up, a very Doctor-Who-like ambiance.

[Yuber Okami]

Good idea! but i think larvaes weren't defeated by the lasers, so maybe they should have a higher energy absorption value: there were at a time three people firing on an enormous larvae and they only managed to make it retreat... but it's true that that larvae was as huge as a human beign and (i think) was in the final stages of it's development... so, when do you update your page???

[J T]

Here's some more WIRRN continuity!

3999 AD (late July) The novel "Doctor Who Placebo Effect" takes place. The Wirrn are chased out of the Milky Way after they attack a human colony. They head for the Andromeda Galaxy.

~5,001 AD The Nerva Space Beacon is refitted into the Ark to protect against the Solar Flares. A group of Star Pioneers leave Earth and colonize Andromeda. The solar flares devastate the earth.

~6,000 AD After millions of deaths the descendents of the Star Pioneers finish destroying all of the Wirrn breeding grounds in Andromeda. One Wirrn Queen heads for earth.

~10,000 AD After traveling for thousands of years the Wirrn queen reaches earth and invades the Nerva Ark. Earth becomes habitable again but no one re-colonizes it.

~15,000 AD The majority of the events in "The Ark in Space" occur.

Other Notes (not already mentioned):
The Wirrn used to pupate in mindless herbivores until man destroyed their breeding grounds. They retain the knowledge (and to some degree the personality) of the beings they pupate in. The infectious slime actually carries the knowledge of the pupa. So if the egg is laid in Bob then the pupa will have all of Bob's knowledge - but ANYONE who is infected with Bob's slime will turn into a Wirrn and will have all of Bob's knowledge as well as their own knowledge!!! The Wirrn can reproduce without any host bodies if they have enough energy but they lose the benefit of a host's knowledge. The novel says they don't do this because it takes much longer.

Wirrn queens can grow to be 10 times larger then Wirrn drones. Wirrn queens communicate telepathically with their drones.

The Wirrn can live in the vacuum of space for thousands of years.

Fission Guns were used against the Wirrn - not Lasers. The novelization makes it clear that the Wirrn are immune to these weapons due to their exoskeleton armor. The 500,000-volt charge that hits the Wirrn queen kills her…slowly.

The Doctor Who novel "Placebo Effect" by Gary Russell has lots of new info on the Wirrn (the essentials of which are noted above).

Hope this helps!