Cyberon

The Cyberons were a species of cybernetically augmented humanoids. The "true Cyberon" was actually the drug of the same name, a bluish fluid which flowed through the veins of all converted Cyberons and made up a gigantic hive mind; individual Cyberon drones had no individuality or emotions.

Characteristics
The Cyberons wore what resembled white garments, with metal plates and armour attached to prominent areas like the outer side of the leg, the torso, and the head. It had various pieces of technology, such as pipes, neon blue lights, and chest equipment. (WC: Cyberon is Back!!) They also had three-fingered hands. (PROSE: The Last Dose)

Conversion
Cyberons used organic matter in order to create new Cyberons. To do this they could use a Conversion Engine. (PROSE: Flight of the Cyberons) The Cyberon drug took several doses to convert someone. (PROSE: Cyberon)

Vulnerabilities
After Louise Bayliss' jewellery killed a Cyberon, "the boffins in the Vault" suggested that gold created interference between the Cyberon and the human nervous system. (PROSE: The Last Dose) Indeed, gold was a viable weapon against the Cyberons, as evidenced by its use by the Superiors against the Cyberons. (PROSE: A Bright White Crack) This effect was directly rooted in properties of the Cyberon fluid: a Cyberon drone drained of Cyberon fluid would no longer have any particular weakness to gold. (PROSE: The Blue Scream of Death)

Hierarchy
Cyberon Commanders were in charge of normal Cyberons. (PROSE: Flight of the Cyberons) The ultimate leader of the Cyberons was the golden Philosopher-king of the Cyberons, who stood "spitefully" at the peak of the nootropic volcano on Aurichall from which the Cyberon drug flowed. (PROSE: The Blue Scream of Death)

Technology
Cyberons were capable of sending distress signals through psycho-wavelengths. (PROSE: The Blue Scream of Death)

Cyberons had no access to time travel technology and had no need of a cargo bay on their ships. (PROSE: Flight of the Cyberons) However, they had fairly sophisticated transmaterialisation systems built into each Cyberon armour. At any time, a Cyberon in distress could attempt to transmaterialise back to its homeworld. However, should the Cyberon be deemed compromised, this could be refused, preventing the Cyberon from materialising at its intended destination. (PROSE: The Blue Scream of Death)

Origins
The Cyberons' "distant cousins" performed acts of time travel, some of which related to the destruction of the "original homeworld." (PROSE: Flight of the Cyberons) Vault staff believed the two species had a common ancestor but were otherwise distinct. (PROSE: A Worthy Successor) The Cyberon fluid was naturally-occurring, spewing out of a nootropic volcano on the Cyberon homeworld Aurichall in the Amazolian system and naturally converting any humanoids who came into contact with it. The Cyberon drug was produced by "the tectonic grinding of rival noospheres" and it was speculated by some that the Cyberons themselves were "a living extrahistorical extension of humanity’s collective speculative psyche" as it existed in the 21st century. (PROSE: The Blue Scream of Death)

Cyberon War
In 2008 PROBE detected an activation of Cyberon in Philadelphia and Patricia Haggard hopped on a plane to stop others from reaching it first. She traced the Cyberon to Brittany Mordley, Tom's niece. Patsy managed to talk Brittany down so she could get a hold over the Cyberon in her system. (PROSE: Silver-Tongued Liars)

In the 31st century the Earth Alliance fought the Cyberons in the Cyberon War. (PROSE: Flight of the Cyberons)

By the time Chris Cwej was in the Superiors' employ, the Superiors needed large amounts of gold to keep the Cyberons at bay, which prompted Cwej to reflect that it would have been more convenient for the Superiors if Isaac Newton has lastingly turned his genius to alchemy. (PROSE: A Bright White Crack)

Near-extinction and survival
Following the Cyberon War, they were believed near-completely destroyed. (PROSE: Barnyard of the Cyberons) To ensure they could never return, nanonetch swarms were released all over "human space", harmless to other living beings but capable of devouring a Cyberon within instant if they detected one. (PROSE: The Blue Scream of Death)

One last vestige was a farming station where the Cyberon drug was used to augment animals for better meat but Chris Cwej destroyed it. This was assumed to destroy the Cyberons for good until he learned that in the fourth millennium, the Jathar Expense had a bogeyman figure called the Carnachy, "Empire of the Consumed", that strongly resembled the Cyberons. It was unclear if this was purely myth or if the species had survived. (PROSE: Banyard of the Cyberons)

At some point, a wealthy C.E.O. residing on a human colony was gifted for his birthday a captured surviving Cyberon vessels containing "a full pantry" of Cyberons frozen in stasis. He thawed one out and, after ensuring it would be immune to the nanites, publically dissected it alive at a private party, with the aim that he and his guests would micro-dose on the Cyberon drug drained from the Cyberon. Unexpectedly, once drained of Cyberon fluid, the Cyberon, regaining individuality and no longer weak to gold, attacked them and escaped. It attempted to transmaterialise back to Aurichall but was denied, and was instead thrown back to the 21st century. It broke down in Derby on 24 September 2020, with most of its remains soon found by the Preternatural Research Bureau. (PROSE: The Blue Scream of Death)

Behind the scenes
Although they made their debut in a story with no direct legal connection to the Doctor Who universe, the Cyberons had a significant history of development which bound them inseparably with Doctor Who — long before their first mention in a story considered valid by this Wiki, the Cwej short story A Bright White Crack.

Development history
The Cyberons' complex history began when the August 1994 issue of DWM when BBV Productions announced pre-production on "a chilling CYBERMAN adventure. 'Sword of Orion'." This film would have been an adaptation of the Audio Visuals story of the same name, which was later also adapted by Big Finish as licensed Doctor Who. This film evolved into being a story called Sentinel about Cybermen on an island, although this plot was abandoned and later repurposed for Autons. In 1995, the film, now called Cyber-War, was covered in DWM 225 and The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond, the latter using Cyberman designs from The Dark Dimension and indicating the film would feature the Cybermen facing the Ice Warriors. However, despite all this, Bill Baggs was unable to secure the rights to use Cybermen. (REF: Downtime – The Lost Years of Doctor Who)

This led to the development of a new creature who would retain the core appeal of the Cybermen, but be distinct enough to constitute a separate copyright in BBV's control. Designer and self-confessed Cyberman fan Terry Cooper was approached, turning in a design which would be used in the Cyberons' live-action appearances — although very different looks were used for the covers of the first handful of audioplays featuring the Cyberons. (REF: Making the Cyberons)

Solo appearances
The Cyberons had their debut in BBV Productions' audio play Cyber-Hunt, released in November 1998 as the final Series 1 story of Audio Adventures in Time & Space. It was a scaled down version of Cyber-War, with Cyberons in the place of Cybermen. As the first of BBV's The Wanderer series, it also featured Nicholas Briggs as a variation of his Audio Visuals Doctor, reimagined as the titular Wanderer; the only other The Wanderer story did not feature the Cyberons. The main setting of Cyber-Hunt, Carson's Planet, later reappeared in the Big Finish Productions story "Death to the Daleks!". In addition to voicing the Doctor-standin, Briggs, under his alias of David Sax, also provided the Cyberon voices for Cyber-Hunt.

The Cyberons reappeared in February 2000 in Cybergeddon, the first story of Series 3 of Audio Adventures and labelled as part of "the Cyberons series".

Tying back to the DWU
The Cyberons appeared in live action as antagonists of BBV's January 2001 film Cyberon, written by Lance Parkin. This film is of interest to Doctor Who for the character of Lauren Anderson, who was reused in the Who spinoff  When Being You Just Isn't Enough. This essentially placed Zygon as a crossover between the adventures of Lauren Anderson and Doctor Who, retroactively suggesting that the earlier film, and by extension all previous appearances of the Cyberons, took place in the DWU. The present Wiki does not currently cover these stories, however, as they contained no DWU elements at the time of their release.

The first appearance of the Cyberons in a piece of media covered by this Wiki in its own right came in the comedic, fourth-wall-breaking standalone BBV production Do You Have a Licence to Save this Planet?. Within the continuity of the film, the Cyberons were an "unlicensed" species. They desired to complete themselves by gaining the "ears" they lacked, which, by making them properly licensed, would allow them to gain fame and fortune through merchandising. The story was, overall, a self-parody of BBV's modus operandi when it came to their Doctor Who spin-offs; as such, the Cyberons' role in the plot lampooned the way in which were originally conceived as stand-ins for the Cybermen, with the only major difference in design between the two races being the Cyberons' lack of the trademark handle-like tubes on their Cyber-helmet — what the parodical Cyberons in Do You Have a Licence to Save This Planet refer to as "ears".

Within the story, the Licensor ensnared a few Cyberons into his service through false promises, sending them to what he believed to be Earth as his agents, alongside some regular Autons. The Licensor's schemes were foiled by the Chiropodist (or "Foot Doctor"), who had in truth tricked the Licensor and his party onto Unlicensed Earth, which, due to the ironclad laws of the Licensor himself, thus ceased to exist with them on it. Prior to this, the Foot Doctor had revealed the deceitful nature of the Licensor's deal with the Cyberons, causing them to turn against him. (NOTVALID: Do You Have a Licence to Save this Planet?)

Finally, in 2020, the Cyberons were properly introduced (albeit through the back door) to the mainstream, "valid" DWU by the short story A Bright White Crack. The second entry in the licensed solo adventures of Seventh Doctor companion Chris Cwej, the story featured a licensed reference to the Cyberons as a species with whom the Superiors had dealings which required gold. This suggested the Cyberons shared the same weakness to gold as the proper Cybermen, although within the text of the story, the phrasing could just as easily have meant that the Superiors appeased the Cyberons through monetary bribes.