Time sensitivity

Time sensitivity or time awareness, also known as witch-blood among the lesser species, was an ability possessed by individuals or species with time-active biodata that allowed them to naturally perceive and influence the ebb and flow of time. (PROSE: The Book of the War) With training, the ability could be tuned to build complicated temporal maps, tracing the histories of multiple people to triangulate intersections. (PROSE: Warring States) When partnered with a time channeler, a time sensitive could travel along timelines. (PROSE: The Winning Side, Peculiar Lives, et al)

Time sensitivity should have only appeared in members of the Great Houses. However, it appeared in many other species, inspiring theories that the hybrid biodata was introduced by a single ancestor or descendant. (PROSE: The Book of the War)

Among time-sensitive species are Tharils, Jagaroth, Xeraphin, and Time Lords. (AUDIO: Prisoners of Fate) The Tharils time-sensitive species were highly prized by humans for their ability to navigate timelines. Dwarf star alloy was the only substance that could hold time sensitives like Tharils (TV: Warriors' Gate) Zeo balance dwarf star alloy was the densest material in the universe, stopping anything from getting through (TV: Day of the Moon) Time Lords could detect time sensitivity in others easily. (AUDIO: 1963: Fanfare for the Common Men) The Unnoticed used time sensitives to alert them of the presence of time travellers or planets with time travel capability. (PROSE: The Book of the Still) Eve belonged to a time-sensitive species that was deemed a threat during the Last Great Time War and exterminated. (TV: The Mad Woman in the Attic)

Time sensitives could also manifest amongst human populations. (PROSE: The Cabinet of Light, Walking to Babylon, Camera Obscura, The Parliament of Rats; TV: Human Nature / The Family of Blood)

Aside from certain select organisations, humans did not even partially grasp the significance of the various temporal factions for much of their history. By approximately the 51st century, humans had some awareness of Time Lords, though representatives of that species, such as Sabalom Glitz tended to think of them as almost magical, at the same time not seeming to take them entirely seriously. (TV: The Mysterious Planet) The 51st century Time Agency has some knowledge of Time Lords and the Time War, with Time Agent Jack Harkness regarding it as "just a legend". (TV: The Parting of the Ways)

By contrast, five billion years later, Jabe, a member of another, Earth-derived species, the Forest of Cheem, seemed cognisant of the Time War and the loss created by it, in apparent contrast to the humans of that era. (TV: The End of the World) In the Humanian Era, Lassar of the Krillitane had knowledge of the Time Lords and their extinction (TV: School Reunion), as did the Sontarans (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem) and Rosanna Calvierri. (TV: The Vampires of Venice)

Most timeships were wary of having the "wild" biodata of non-Homeworlder time sensitives inside of them, but Compassion actually fed on it. For a time, she used an elaborate time-loop to repeatedly harvest from Cousin Octavia and Liu Hui Ying, both of whom had witchblood. (PROSE: Warring States)

Despite time sensitive individuals' ability to naturally communicate with the loa, Faction Paradox was cautious about initiating members with witch-blood, since it was far harder to sculpt their biodata to the Faction's requirements. However, Cousins Octavia (PROSE: The Book of the War) and Justine both possessed witchblood. (AUDIO: The Eleven Day Empire) In Mujun: The Ghost Kingdom, Awaremi recognised a similarity between her bloodline and Kodomo Kami's witch-blood. (PROSE: The Book of the War)