Mutter's Spiral

Mutter's Spiral, or Mutter's Cluster, (PROSE: The Taking of Planet 5) was the Time Lord designation for the star cluster in which Earth's solar system was located; (TV: The Deadly Assassin, The Invasion of Time) Gallifrey was located in the same galaxy as the Earth. (TV: Doctor Who, PROSE: The Devil Goblins from Neptune)

Powers that sought dominion over Mutter's Spiral included Skaro's Dalek Empire, (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan, Frontier in Space) the Cyber-Empire of Mondas (TV: Revenge of the Cybermen, The Age of Steel) and Sontar's Sontaran Empire, who fought over it in their war with the Rutan Empire of Ruta III. (TV: The Sontaran Experiment, Horror of Fang Rock) Spreading out across the galaxy and beyond from Earth was humanity. (TV: The Waters of Mars, Kill the Moon)

Most accounts described Mutter's Spiral as a galaxy, the same one known to humanity as the Milky Way or Galaxia Kyklos (WC: Shada, TV: Four to Doomsday) The name of Mutter's Spiral was taken from the cosmologist Stellion Mutter; (PROSE: The Taking of Planet 5) it could also be referred to as "Stellion's Whorl", (PROSE: Cybergeddon) "the Stellian Galaxy", (TV: The Mysterious Planet) or the Stellarian Spiral Galaxy. (PROSE: The Bloodletters) According to the Aubertides, however, Mutter's Spiral was a smaller section within the "the Stellarian Galaxy", with Gallifrey near the galaxy's core. (PROSE: Human Nature) Castellan Spandrell once informed President Romana of a Fortean Flicker across the Stellarian Galaxy. It was traced to the planet Hogsumm. (PROSE: The Highest Science, Happy Endings)

Size
Mutter's Spiral was approximately one hundred thousand light-years in diameter. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Invasion from Space, The Eyeless)

Gat of Gallifrey considered Mutter's Spiral to be a "tiny" galaxy. (TV: Fugitive of the Judoon)

Neighbours
Mutter's Spiral's nearest significant neighbouring galaxy was the Andromeda Galaxy. It was also surrounded by several nearby minor satellite galaxies, including Galaxy Seven (PROSE: The Eyeless) and the two dwarf galaxies the Larger Magellanic Cloud and Smaller Magellanic Cloud. (AUDIO: The Last Voyage)

The Dagmar Cluster was "two and half galaxies" away from Mutter's Spiral. (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace)

Mutter's Spiral was part of the Five Galaxies, (PROSE: Borrowed Time, TV: Delta and the Bannermen) and the Ten Galaxies, which the Dominators claimed to master. (PROSE: Mutually Assured Domination)

The space whale known as "Cash Cow" hailed from a separate galaxy. (TV: Meat) The Lupari left their home galaxy to protect Earth from the Flux. (TV: Once, Upon Time)

Mutter's Spiral was located millions of light-years away from the Ninth Galactic System and the constellation of Miros, (TV: Mission to the Unknown) and "half a universe" away from the Torajii system. (TV: 42)

Locations
According to the Tenth Doctor, Mutter's Spiral contained about 50 billion planets. (PROSE: The Last Dodo) A power vacuum was opened in the galaxy after the end of the Last Great Time War. As such, the galaxy's history was then marked by centuries of warfare. (COMIC: Fugitive)

Mutter's Spiral contained Earth's solar system, (TV: The Deadly Assassin) Earth itself was located at galactic coordinates 58044 684884 (TV: The Pirate Planet) in Sector 8023 of the Third Quadrant. (TV: Logopolis)

Gallifrey was also located in Mutter's Spiral, (TV: Doctor Who, PROSE: The Devil Goblins from Neptune) in the Kasterberous system. (PROSE: Prisoners of the Sun) While most accounts placed Gallifrey at the centre of its galaxy, (PROSE: The Devil Goblins from Neptune, Interference - Book Two, Human Nature) or as near as possible without succumbing to a black hole, (PROSE: Interference - Book One) with 30,000 light-years between Gallifrey and the planet Earth, (PROSE: The Devil Goblins from Neptune) the Eighth Doctor mentioned that it was on "the other side of [the] galaxy" from Earth, 250 million light-years away. (TV: Doctor Who)

Also found within the galaxy were Draconia and the Ogron planet, the latter being located in what was believed to be an uninhabited sector until the 26th century, (TV: Frontier in Space) on the outer extremity of the galaxy (PROSE: The Romance of Crime) at galactic coordinates 0110011 by C2 (PROSE: Interference - Book One) or at 2349 to 6784. (TV: Frontier in Space)

According to the Doctor, the Sontarans of Sontar were native to Mutter's Spiral. (TV: The Two Doctors, The Sontaran Stratagem) Another account placed Sontar in the Metasaran Galaxy. (TV: The Last Sontaran)

The planet Mogar was located on the Perseus arm of the galaxy. (TV: Terror of the Vervoids)

According to Matron Cofelia, the Adipose resided "far across the galaxy" from Earth. (TV: Partners in Crime)

According to the Tenth Doctor, Hydropellica Hydroxi, the planet which the Gappa came from, was on the far side of the Milky Way. (PROSE: Snowglobe 7)

In the 40th century, Vega Station had grown to be among the largest commercial and residential space stations in Stellion's Whorl. (PROSE: Cybergeddon)

Early history
Awsok Tecteun claimed that the Division began on Gallifrey as a group to ensure the safety of their galaxy before their "horizons broadened" as the Gallifreyans' ability to travel grew. (TV: Survivors of the Flux)

The Doctor frequented Earth, a planet in Mutter's Spiral. (TV: An Unearthly Child, et al.) On one occasion, Earth was moved out of the galaxy to the Medusa Cascade by the Daleks. (TV: The Stolen Earth) The Second Doctor explained to his human companions Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot that "a whole galaxy to explore" motivated him to leave his home planet. On trial for breaking the Time Lords' non-interference policy, he cited the Daleks, Cybermen, Ice Warriors, Robot Yeti and Quarks as examples of "the evil of the galaxy" that he had fought whilst the Time Lords were content to observe. (TV: The War Games)

As the Sixth Doctor noted to Peri Brown, the long-standing war between the Sontarans and the Rutans was waged across the galaxy. (TV: The Two Doctors) The Rutans had at one point controlled the whole of the Mutter's Spiral before being driven to the far fringes of the galaxy by the Sontarans by 1902. (TV: Horror of Fang Rock)

The Dark Empire was a period of tyrannical galactic rule by a mysterious and reportedly immortal entity called Horath, who crushed the civilisations of all but the most primitive planets. Horath was ultimately defeated circa 1000 BC, but could not be killed, so his body and his consciousness were divided and they were hidden at opposite ends of the galaxy. (TV: Enemy of the Bane)

The War Lord's people intended to conquer the galaxy, a thousand inhabited worlds, and amassed an army of humans abducted from across the history of Earth up to the 20th century for this purpose. The War Chief, a Renegade Time Lord, allied with the War Lords but intended to take over as Supreme Galactic Ruler himself, bringing the galaxy under a new order, one United Galactic Empire. The War Chief offered the Doctor a chance to rule with him, claiming that they could bring peace to the galaxy. The Doctor rejected this and thwarted the War Lords' plot, summoning the Time Lords to return the abducted humans. He himself took the TARDIS to a planet on the outermost fringes of the galaxy in an attempt to evade the Time Lords, only to be intercepted and put on trial. (TV: The War Games)

Speaking on Earth in 1980, Fisher King recalled that the Time Lords were "cowardly, vain curators who suddenly remembered they had teeth and became the most warlike race in the galaxy." (TV: Before the Flood)

As the Tenth Doctor revealed to Rose Tyler, the Cybermen started on a world not unlike Earth before swarming across the galaxy. (TV: The Age of Steel) ArcHivist Hegelia suggested that the CyberNomads, a Cyber-subspecies which broke away from the CyberFaction of Planet 14 in Earth's solar system, had spent roughly two hundred years, from around 1990 to 2190, proliferating throughout Mutter's Spiral. (AUDIO: The Cyber Nomads)

As recalled by Leef Apple Glyn Slitheen-Blathereen, while some Slitheen faced justice on Raxacoricofallapatorius, others fled to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. During an ultimately failed attempt to use a matter compressor to turn Earth's carbon atmosphere into a diamond, a Slitheen predicted that this would make the Slitheen the richest family in the galaxy. (TV: The Gift)

The Uvodni homeworld was located in the Spiral Cluster of the Dragon Nebula, thirty four thousand light years "across the galaxy" from Earth. The Uvodni were part of a planetary alliance that fought the Malakh as part of "the Ghost Wars of the Horsehead Nebula", which was ended with an armistice by 1998. (TV: Warriors of Kudlak)

In 2009, Commander Kaagh acquired the consciousness of Horath in the Kaldeann Cluster on behalf of the Bane Kindred; by reuniting it with Horath, it would have allowed them to take over the galaxy. However, Kaagh joined forces with Mrs Wormwood, a rogue Bane, and the two plotted to become emperors of the galaxy together. Wormwood vowed that the galaxy would tremble when the Eye of Horath opened. Ultimately, however, Kaagh was betrayed by Wormwood, and so he threw her and himself into a portal containing Horath's body, which had briefly opened at Stonehenge on Earth. (TV: Enemy of the Bane)

Rise of Humanity
The Twelfth credited the moon crisis of 2049 for reigniting humanity's push for space, (TV: Kill the Moon) with the Tenth Doctor observing that the death of Adelaide Brooke in 2059, a fixed point in time, led to her granddaughter, Susie Fontana Brooke, taking humanity out into the galaxy. (TV: The Waters of Mars) Indeed, what became known as the Break-out began in the closing years of the 21st century. (PROSE: Prelude Deceit)

In the 22nd century, the Daleks successfully conquered and occupied the planet Earth only to be defeated by the First Doctor and human resistance fighters, earning both the Doctor and humanity the Daleks' long-standing enmity. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, TV: The Chase, PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) Gordon Lowery was aware that the Daleks had invaded Earth "a couple of times". (PROSE: Mission to the Unknown) Earth eventually flourished following the invasion, establishing its own empire. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)

The Galactic Cyberwars began in 2383 with an attack on the Earth Empire and, following a failed attack on Voga in 2483, finally ended in 2489 with the defeat of the Cybermen. (PROSE: The Cyber Files)

By the beginning of the 26th century, the frontiers of Human Space began to encroach on the territory of some of "the big galactic players". For the first half of the century, Earth Intelligence thought that the greatest threat was from the Draconian Empire, which was slightly bigger and a lot more established than Earth's. In truth, the unexplored sectors beyond Draconian space were home to war-like races that had ruled their vast empires for thousands of years. (PROSE: Beige Planet Mars)

In the 26th century, a new subspecies of Cyberman was proliferating throughout the galaxy, identified by ArcHivist Hegelia as CyberNeomorph, which she believed to have been created through a combination of Cyber-technology after a group of surviving CyberNomads found the planet Telos and awoke the CyberTelosians in their tombs. (PROSE: Killing Ground, AUDIO: The Ultimate Cybermen) In 2526, they made a failed attempt to prevent an interstellar conference assembling the military forces of many powerful planets against them. (TV: Earthshock) Hegelia suggested that an agreement was reached to join forces against the Cybermen, resulting in a Cyber-War beginning in the solar system with a battle between the main Cyber-Fleet and human forces which extended to other parts of the galaxy before the Cybermen were ultimately overcome. From the document Departure from Telos, Hegelia found an account of the Cybermen's attempt to leave Telos, which the ArcHivist believed was in anticipation of a significant attack on the planet by galactic forces. (AUDIO: The Ultimate Cybermen) This attempt ended in failure as Telos' Cyber-Control was destroyed along with seemingly all Cybermen on the planet. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen, AUDIO: The Ultimate Cybermen)

Also in the 26th century, the Earth and Draconian Empires spread throughout the galaxy in opposition to each other, resulting in the Draconian War. Though the conflict was ultimately resolved, the Daleks, with the assistance of and their Ogron servants, planned to reignite the conflict, which they intended to destroy both empires and thus open the way for them to conquer the galaxy. This plan, however, was thwarted by the Third Doctor. (TV: Frontier in Space) Nevertheless, the Daleks did launch an invasion of the galaxy, leading to the Second Dalek War. (TV: Planet of the Daleks, PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe, Dalek Combat Training Manual)

In the aftermath of the war, the long Rutan-Sontaran War reached a critical phase when the Rutan Host destroyed the Sontaran homeworld, Sontara. The Seventh Doctor helped the endangered Sontarans to preserve their species while making them promise to wipe all knowledge of humans from their racepool, thus sparing humanity from their "imperial ambitions" for a number of centuries. (COMIC: Pureblood) The outbreak of the Third Dalek War some time later only worsened the burden felt by the Earth Empire and their expansionist phase came to an end. Planets such as Mechanus were never colonised and the Mechonoids created to prepare these planets for colonisation were forgotten about. (PROSE: The Chase)

Following the Exxilon Gambit, the Daleks waged a full-scale invasion of the galaxy which was opposed by the Combined Galactic Resistance. (Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) In 4000, Gordon Lowery recalled the Movellan Wars as one of the last instances of Dalek activity in the galaxy, a thousand or more years before then. (PROSE: Mission to the Unknown)

In the half a millennium leading up to the year 4000, the Daleks, having fallen back from their ambitions to conquer Mutter's Spiral following the conflict with the Combined Galactic Resistance and the war with the Mechanoids, advanced towards the Outer Galaxies for new conquests. Whilst the limited observation technology of the Earth Empire observed the Dalek conquests of 70 planets in the Ninth Galactic System and 40 more in the constellation of Miros, both millions of light-years from their galaxy, later historians understood that these conquests were a mere fraction of extra-galactic Dalek gains. The Anti-Dalek Force reported that the Daleks were suspected to be signing non-aggression pacts with other powers in the "outer planets".

With Dalek gains in the Outer Galaxies consolidated by the dawn of the 40th century, the Dalek Supreme began the Daleks' master plan, which would take a century to complete. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) In the year 4000, the great powers of the Outer Galaxies, along with Mavic Chen, the Guardian of the Solar System, formed the Great Alliance with the Daleks in an attempt to invade the galaxy and obliterate Earth with the Time Destructor. The Daleks' treachery was revealed, and the surviving members of the Outer Galaxies fled to warn their planets and join forces, (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan) which lead into the Great War against the Daleks. (PROSE: The Evil of the Daleks)

According to one account, the failure of the 4000 invasion attempt led the Dalek Supreme, who escaped Kembel in a critical condition, to return to Skaro and order that Dalek forces retreat from "the human galaxy", preparing a new strategy as the Daleks expanded their empire across the Outer Galaxies. The Dalek Wars ended, for a time, though further conflicts awaited in the Dalek-Movellan War, the Imperial-Renegade Dalek Civil War and the Last Great Time War. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)

One of the Nine Gallifreys was first destroyed during the Battle of Mutter's Cluster. (PROSE: The Taking of Planet 5)

By the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire of the 42nd century, humanity had expanded beyond Mutter's Spiral throughout what they called the Tri-Galactic, (TV: Planet of the Ood) with spacecraft such as the SS Pentallian operating halfway across the universe according to the Tenth Doctor. (TV: 42) According to another account, humanity was confined to Mutter's Spiral until the discovery of the intergalactic drive in the 54th century. (AUDIO: The Star Men)

In the Dalek-Movellan War, the Movellan virus led to the Dalek Empire, which by that point had "dominated so much of Mutter's Spiral", disintegrating overnight, losing 83% of their forces with the survivors splitting into various factions which eventually led to the Imperial-Renegade Dalek Civil War. (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks)

In the 47th century, (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) Davros established himself as the Great Healer of Tranquil Repose, a facility containing deceased bodies awaiting revival on Necros. Whilst select Resting Ones were converted into Daleks, Davros saw that the "lesser intellects" became the source of a high protein concentrate which fed the galaxy as their part of it expanded, eliminating the famine which, until then, had been one of its major problems. Kara managed the factories which produced the protein products, ostensibly supporting Davros whilst employing Orcini as an assassin to attempt to kill Davros, claiming that Orcini's reputation was like a fanfare through the galaxy. Takis, who worked at Tranquil Repose, believed that the idea of the place did not work as the galaxy could barely support the people alive now. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks)

The Ninth Doctor told Rose Tyler that, by the 51st century, humanity would have spread out across "half the galaxy". (TV: The Doctor Dances)

The Dalek Empire of the Seriphia Galaxy invaded this galaxy twice, approximately 2500 years apart. (AUDIO: Invasion of the Daleks, The Exterminators) The first of these invasions resulted in the Second Great Dalek Occupation. (AUDIO: Return of the Daleks)

The Eighth Doctor recalled a saying in the Academy about how the beat of a butterfly's wings in Mettula Orionsis caused a time storm in the Mutter's Spiral. (AUDIO: Storm Warning)

The Eleventh Doctor granted a referee the ability to watch every football game in the galaxy. (COMIC: Bow-ties for Goal Posts)

In the 82nd century, the four major powers in Mutter's Spiral were the Federation of Worlds, referred to informally as the Galactic Federation, which was run by a President; the Dalek Empire, ruled by Davros; the Cybermen, ruled by a Cyber-Emperor; and the Draconian Empire. Another major power was Josiah W. Dogbolter's Intra-Venus, Inc., a company rich enough to own Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. The Skeletoids tore through the galaxy, decimating the Daleks and Cybermen and coming close to the Federation. They were stopped by a coalition of heroes including the Sixth Doctor and Kaon. (COMIC: Kane's Story, Abel's Story, The Warrior's Story, Frobisher's Story)

Alternate timelines
When Rassilon joined forces with the Cyberiad, the Cybermen launched a fleet of Cyber-Arks out from prehistoric Earth, seeding the developing Mutter's Spiral with Cyber-Technology. This created an alternate timeline where the Cyberiad became the galaxy's dominant force, upgrading or destroying their rival powers and even going on to fight in the Last Great Time War. This timeline was later undone when a remorseful Rassilon joined forces with the Twelfth Doctor. (COMIC: Supremacy of the Cybermen)

In an alternate timeline created when the Master used a conceptual bomb to destroy the Doctor's TARDIS, so that the First Doctor never left Gallifrey, the armies of the War Lords' spread across the Mutter's Spiral. (AUDIO: The Light at the End)

Parallel universes
In one universe, the Thalek armies had spread across half the galaxy by the time the Doctor left Gallifrey. (AUDIO: Auld Mortality)

In the Federation universe, Earth was part of the United Federation of Planets which co-existed with the Klingon Empire by the 24th century. When the Cybermen of the Cyber-web invaded this reality, the Eleventh Doctor showed Jean-Luc Picard an alternate timeline where the Cybermen had conquered the galaxy by 2533. (COMIC: Assimilation²)

Galactic trends
Oseidon had the highest radiation level in the galaxy. (TV: The Android Invasion)

Binary vascular systems were not common in sentient species. (PROSE: Tragedy Day)

Commander Kaagh, of the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet, described humans as "the runts of the galaxy". (TV: Enemy of the Bane) The Tenth Doctor claimed humans were the only species in the galaxy to invent edible ball bearings. (TV: Fear Her)

The Tenth Doctor claimed the Sontarans to be the "finest soldiers in the galaxy". (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem) Bea Nelson-Stanley recalled that her husband described the Sontarans as "the silliest race in the galaxy". (TV: Eye of the Gorgon)

A member of the Slitheen family boasted that they had officially the "best nostrils in the galaxy". (TV: Revenge of the Slitheen)

Sarah Jane Smith promoted the Viszeran Royal Fleet, which was due to pass through Earth's solar system, as the "most magnificent stellar light show this side of the galaxy". (TV: Eye of the Gorgon)

Mark Grantham believed that money was what made the galaxy go round. (TV: Warriors of Kudlak)

Sarah Jane noted that telekinetic energy fetched a huge price in some parts of the galaxy. She speculated that the Slitheen could have got the plans for the telekinetic energiser from the other side of the galaxy before building it on Earth. (TV: The Lost Boy)

Luke Smith claimed that Mr Smith, a Xylok, was the smartest life form in the galaxy. (TV: The Day of the Clown)

Clyde Langer, while under the influence of the Ancient Lights, observed that Aero was in conjunction with the galaxy. (TV: Secrets of the Stars)

Mr Smith observed that a Slitheen-Blathereen ship could travel halfway across the galaxy within a day. (TV: The Gift)

There were no metamorphic insectoids in the Galactic vector containing the Mutter's Spiral. (TV: The Unicorn and the Wasp)

Tivoli was the most conquered planet in this galaxy, leading to its inhabitants (like Gibbis) welcoming invasion and subjugation. (TV: The God Complex) Earth, however, was the most invaded planet, not only in the Mutter's Spiral but in four more galaxies. (PROSE: Borrowed Time)

Xaos was said to be the oldest planet in the galaxy. (COMIC: The Warrior's Story)

Miss Delphox promoted the Bank of Karabraxos as the "greatest bank in the galaxy." Indeed, the Twelfth Doctor noted it to be the most secure bank in the galaxy. (TV: Time Heist)

The Akoshemon system, and indeed its planets such as Akoshemon itself, were located right on the very edge of this galaxy, so much so that from Akoshemon's moon you could see the gap between this galaxy and its nearest one. (PROSE: Fear of the Dark)

The Twelfth Doctor told Bill Potts that he had came to Villengard for "the biggest database in the galaxy". (TV: Twice Upon a Time)

Planets and star systems
Mutter's Spiral had around 150 billion stars (AUDIO: The Apocalypse Element) and 100 billion habitable planets, (PROSE: Harvest of Time) six hundred and fifty million of which were Class-M planets orbiting main sequence G-class stars, according to statisticians. (PROSE: Sanctuary)

Divisions
Mutter's Spiral was divided into four quadrants. In the Third Quadrant there were at least 8,023 sectors, with Sector 8023 containing Earth. (TV: Logopolis) Another sector was the Kappa Galanga sector, which contained the Lasron solar region. (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks) There were several galactic arms, including the Perseus arm where Mogar was located, (TV: Terror of the Vervoids) a western arm (PROSE: Between the Wars: A Slow Night in Paradise) and a secondary and tertiary arm. (PROSE: Burning Heart)

Politics
There were several forms of galactic government. The Galactic Alliance was one governing body. (TV: From Raxacoricofallapatorius with Love) It was also under the dominion of the Shadow Proclamation. (TV: The Stolen Earth)

At one point in their history, the Rutans controlled the whole Mutter's Spiral; later, the Sontarans had driven them to the far fringes of the galaxy. (TV: Horror of Fang Rock)

Other references
The Fourth Doctor claimed that the Louvre was "one of the greatest art galleries in the whole galaxy". Romana II disputed this, citing the Academia Stellaris on Sirius 5, Solarian Pinacotheque at Strikian and the Braxiatel Collection. (TV: City of Death) Mockingly imitating Davros, Emperor of the Imperial Daleks, the Seventh Doctor cited conquering the galaxy amongst his goals. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)

Upon learning of, Ace asked the Doctor if he knew any nice and ordinary people, as opposed to "power-crazed nutters trying to take over the galaxy." Regarding his connection to the kitlings and the Cheetah Person, the Doctor believed that he was not trying to take of the galaxy "this time". (TV: Survival)

John Hart offered Jack Harkness "the glitter of the galaxy". (TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang)

While in Greece in 1500 BC, the Tenth Doctor told the Slitheen that he was a journalist working for the Mutter's Spiral Herald. (PROSE: The Slitheen Excursion)

Rani Chandra suggested that Sky Smith's parents were "scouring the galaxy" in search of her. (TV: Sky)

Information from invalid sources
A depiction of Mutter's Spiral was visible in the Doctor's Five Hundred Year Diary. (NOTVALID: Tom Baker stars in John Lloyd's lost Doctor Who adventure, The Doomsday Contract)

Espiral de Mutter Calea Lactee