Ice Warrior


 * For the story, see The Ice Warriors. For the Target Books novelisation, see Doctor Who and the Ice Warriors.

The Ice Warriors and Ice Lords were a race of reptilian humanoids from the planet Mars.

Physical characteristics
As adults fully armoured Ice Warriors were large and imposing reptilian humanoids, reaching up to 7 feet tall. Armourless, they had flattened, scaly faces with sharp fangs, large black eyes (RT: Descendance) and thin green tongues (NA: Legacy , BNA: The Medusa Effect). Ice Warriors had a skeletal structure much like that of a Humans, though with a flatter skull and wider eye sockets. (RT: Ascendance) They had dorsal crests. Some Ice Warriors found larger dorsal crests on females sexually attractive. (NA: Transit)

They had clamp-like hands, at least in their armour. They preferred cold climates and could be killed by extreme heat, though small fires were no more dangerous to them than a Human. (RT: Descendance) Due to differences in atmosphere and gravity, in Earth-like environments, Ice Warriors perpetually wheezed and tended to move slowly. (DW: The Seeds of Death) Despite this, they were capable of moving at fast speeds when needed. (NA: Legacy ) They spoke in a drawn-out hiss. (DW: The Ice Warriors)

Armour
Ice Warriors almost always wore hard thick, green, ceremonial armour. They usually wore a similarly-coloured helmet with a red blast-screen covering their eyes, which covered everything but their mouths. The helmets also had "ear holes" (DW: The Curse of Peladon). They particularly hated it when an enemy fired at their eyes (DWM: 4-Dimensional Vistas). Common Ice Warriors wore patterned thick shell-like bulky green armour, while the Ice Lords wore lighter armour, sleeker, bullet-shaped metallic helmets, simple breastplates and capes (DW: The Seeds of Death). By the late 26th century, at least, this armour was built directly into the body. This armour was controlled by an implant at the back of the brain and powered by the Ice Warrior's nervous system. Ice Warriors also had artificial membranes inside their throats, allowing them to filter out gases not necessary for their survival. (BNA: The Medusa Effect)

The armour consisted of carapaces and helmets that were grown in nutrient tanks and augmented with cybernetics. This provides a warrior with an increased level of strength and also gave them a direct link to the Martian battle net as well as boosted reaction time by five hundred percent. (NA: GodEngine)

Weapons
Ice Warriors also used small, hand-held sonic weapons built into their armor just above their "hands" (DW: The Ice Warriors) more colloquially called "sound guns" (NA: Transit). The Ice Warriors tended to used rifles and sonic cannons. (DWM: 4-Dimensional Vistas)

They also made use of genetically engineered weapons such as the Red Death which was programmed to target individuals with a specific DNA pattern. (NA: The Dying Days)

During the 22nd century Dalek invasion, the Ice Warriors had one superweapon, the GodEngine, put together from technology left over by the Osirians, god-like visitors to Mars from long ago. The GodEngine could destroy a star by making it go supernova. (NA: GodEngine)

Terraforming
The Ice Warriors were capable of terraforming planets to better suit their needs. They were capable of deploying seeds on a planet that altered the environment and turn it into an icy world. (DW: The Seeds of Death) Beyond this, their vessels were capable of bombarding a planet with bombs at specific locations in order to knock the world out of its orbit and drift further from its home sun. (TME: Mission to Magnus)

Transportation
On their homeworld of Mars, the Ice Warriors used air cars. (RT: Descendance)

Culture
Ice Warriors had a strong sense of honour. As an example, after the Doctor saved the life of the Ice Lord Izlyr, he felt obliged by duty to help the Doctor escape. (DW: The Curse of Peladon) Ice Warriors also had a strong dislike for lying, though they would do so in serious situations. (NA: Legacy ) They also believed that a victim of murder would not rest in peace until their killer had atoned for the crime. (BNA: The Medusa Effect)

The Ice Warriors used a hereditary system of rulership, with fathers passing on their land to their sons. These sons had to become adults first in the Ritual of Tuburr named after a deity of the same name. (RT: Descendance) On the other hand, advancement in the hierarchy was decided on merit and skill. (NA: Legacy ) This feudal way of life was maintained at least as late as the era of the Galactic Federation. (DW: The Curse of Peladon) In their early years, the Ice Warriors often would send their young on the surface of Mars as part of a ritual trial of endurance. If they survived, then they took the oath of Turburr where they try and pull the Sword of Turburr from a brazier. (NA: Legacy)

Ice Warriors were not known for their sense of humour (BNA: The Medusa Effect). Nevertheless, Bernice Summerfield actually had done a thesis on that very subject and knew at least one "hilarious" Martian joke. (DWM: Emperor of the Daleks)

Ice Warrior marriages were short affairs, made when the participants were young and intended to preserve bloodlines of clans. (EDA: Placebo Effect)

Typically Martian Lord funerals involved cremations, but for a short time in their history they froze the bodies in coffin-sized blocks of ice - a symbol of their wealth on the water-scarce planet - whereupon they were sealed in crystal spires. This was inspired by the Osirians. Tomb raiding was punishable by summary execution and territorial reparations by the raider's clan. (NA: The Dying Days)

Clans
Much of the Ice Warrior's early history and culture was defined by clans and families. They had a very rigid society of castes and classes. There were many struggles for power between the different families. When the Doctor and Stacy came to Mars, there was a struggle for power between the Balazarus Mons and Darsus Mons families. (RT: Descendance, Ascendance)

Ranks

 * Supreme Lord - a high ranking position. (NA: Legacy)
 * Grand Marshal - the staff of a Grand Marshal was an important relic. (NA: Legacy)
 * Marshal - wear decorative helmets with jewels. (NA: Legacy)
 * Shsurr - a title that roughly translates to mean M'lady. (NA: Legacy)

History
The Ice Warrior’s prime was around several million years B.C.E.. At this point, the Ice Warriors were a violent people. Some exploration attempts to other planets were made. One of these explorers, Varga went to Earth, but his ship was trapped in a glacier for millions of years. Sometime after this, the Ice Warrior’s civilization went into decline as Mars became more inhospitable. (DW: The Ice Warriors, NA: Legacy)


 * Possibly, this decline was caused by the passing of the Fendahl.

By 1997, Mars was in its dying days and its people racked by sterility and disease. A clan of Ice Warriors made an attempt to invade Earth, nominally taking over the United Kingdom with human collaborators to form a mutually beneficial relationship, but actually intending a mass terraformig ("ares-forming") of the planet. This was thwarted and the clan eradicated. (DW: The Dying Days)

Another invasion and terraforming was attempted in the mid-21st century, when the Ice Warriors, led by Slaar, invaded a base on the Moon regulating the global T-Mat system and attempted to use a type of Martian fungus, which would turn the Earth into a more hospitable planet for them (DW: The Seeds of Death).

In 2086, another invasion was attempted, leading to the Thousand Day War. By 2088, the Humans had won this conflict. (NA: GodEngine, The Dying Days) In the early 22nd century, Stunnels which ran though subspace made for almost instantaneous travel between Earth and Mars. Humans treated it as their colony (NA: Transit) and, through the 22nd century, marginalized the Ice Warriors on their own home planet (EDA: Fear Itself). Later, though, the Ice Warriors had become allies with the Humans. The Ice Warriors colonised a new planet and named it New Mars (NA: Legacy), also known as Neo Aries (BNA: The Medusa Effect).

At some point during the 22nd century Ice Warriors came into conflict with the Selachian Empire when one colony refused to sell weapons to the Ockorans. The Ockorans used their sun-stoker on these colonists to kill them. (PDA: The Final Sanction)

Circa the 24th century, a group of Ice Warriors on the planet Magnus got caught up with the deals of the Mentor, Sil, who said he would lower the temperature of Magnus in order to make the world a more comfortable environment in which Martians could live. The Doctor and Peri put an end to this plan. (TME: Mission to Magnus, NA:  Legacy )

By the 26th century, the Ice Warriors were an isolated species. They had left Mars entirely and were isolated on New Mars. (NA: Legacy) During this century, an Ice Warrior, Haama, accompanied Abslom Daak and his crew in the Kill-Wagon (DWM: Star Tigers, Nemesis of the Daleks, Emperor of the Daleks)

In the 34th century, during an Ice Age on Earth, Varga and his crew were finally revived and decided to take over first Brittanicus Base and then the world. (DW: The Ice Warriors, NA:  Legacy )

By the late 40th century, the Ice Warriors had, for the most part, renounced their war-like ways and the Ice Warriors joined the Galactic Federation (DW: The Curse of Peladon, The Monster of Peladon).



Undated events

 * In an early point of Ice Warrior history, the Doctor and Stacy accidentally interrupted Izaxyrl's rite of ascension. During the distraction, Izaxyrl was kidnapped by Lord Artix in order to stop the ceremony. If Izaxyrl was not an adult, he could not inherit the title of High Lord of Balazarus Mons from his father Uzoxx, which would mean Artix would take over. Though Izaxyrl was eventually rescued, the Doctor and Izaxyrl returned to the fortress of Darsus Mons to try to rescue Stacy and Ssard and were captured. Despite this, Artix was eventually defeated and Izaxyrl became an adult. (RT: Descendance, Ascendance)


 * When this event occurred is unknown, though the Ice Warriors knew about Humans by that time. It was also significantly before the 40th century.

Behind the Scenes

 * Strictly speaking, according to their debut story, the Ice Warriors never had that name until Victoria Waterfield gave it to them. Subsequent stories would forget this, and have the Ice Warriors use this name to refer to themselves. Their debut story also implies that Mars can no longer support life. The Ice Warriors seen in that story come from the Mars of long ago. The storyline of The Seeds of Death made it clear that Mars could still support life in the Doctor Who Universe even up until approximately the 21st century, when that story took place.
 * The distinctive qualities of the Ice Warriors came out of the design process. The original conception of the Ice Warriors described them as partially machine-like and from the planet Mars. Rather than try to make up a race of cyborgs which would appear too similar to the Cybermen, designs for the character emphasized the more organic, reptilian qualities of the Ice Warriors.