Martian (War of the Worlds)

The Martians were a cephalopod-like species who were adept conquerors from the planet Mars.

Most infamously, the race was known for their attempted invasion of Earth in the dawn of the 20th century, but for a multitude of reasons they were defeated.

According to some accounts, they were the same species as the Meercocks, (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme) while other accounts depicted the Meercocks as having had a different homeworld, more distant from Earth, (PROSE: Verdigris) and the octopoid Martians as having somewhat different abilities and weaknesses from the Meercocks'. (PROSE: The Book of the Enemy) Although one individual incorrectly believed the Martians were from an alternate timeline, (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme) by other accounts, the Martians' invasion of Earth had actually happened but was either covered up (AUDIO: Goodbye Piccadilly) or erased from time. (PROSE: The Book of the Enemy)

Another, even more distinct account acknowledged the Martian invasion using tripods, but indicated that the Martians who used tripods were the Ice Warriors, who invaded Earth on several occasions. (PROSE: The Dying Days)

Armour
When they first invaded Earth, it was remembered that the Martians used tripods. (AUDIO: Vince Cosmos: Glam Rock Detective)

Martians were able to disguise themselves as humans, but the disguises were not perfect as the Martians were still identifiable by their flashing silver eyes. (PROSE: The Ninnies on Putney Common, AUDIO: Vince Cosmos: Glam Rock Detective)

Weapons
The main offensive weapon in the Martians' arsenal was the ray gun, which they used alongside death machines during the invasion of Earth. (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme, AUDIO: Vince Cosmos: Glam Rock Detective)

Transportation
The Martians used cylinders as their main mode of transportation, (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme) also utilising teleportation technology (which left behind a green ichor when used). (AUDIO: Vince Cosmos: Glam Rock Detective)

Other
An elite force of the Martians, known as the Martian Time Agents, utilised time travel in order to carry out missions. (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme)

History
From the dawn of their history, the Martians held an ancient legend about a "certain Panda deity who visited them in a scarlet chariot that came from the stars...". As such, the Martians were panda-phobic. (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme)

The invasion of Earth
The first Martian invasion of Earth occurred in June, 1894, when a Martian cylinder landed in a cemetery near the Moulin Rouge. (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme)

They used strong-arm tactics — heat rays, and death machines, and trying to kill everyone. (AUDIO: Vince Cosmos: Glam Rock Detective)

Seven years later, their final invasions were thwarted, with help from Iris. (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme)

According to one account, the Martians were defeated by the Torchwood Institute, and H. G. Wells helped cover up the invasion by writing his novel, The War of the Worlds. (AUDIO: Goodbye Piccadilly)

According to another account, the defeat of the Martians took place during the reign of King Edward VII. The Martians then established an uneasy peace with Great Britain, though the British Empire were uneasy with allying with such recent would-be invaders, but it was generally thought slightly preferable to an alliance with the Germans. Mars' great scientists inspired a 1905 reorganisation of Russia's government into a paragon of rationality and enlightenment. Sherlock Holmes and Tom visited the Martian Embassy in Stepney.

However, the invasion and its aftermath was erased from history, along with Martian civilisation, by the action of The Book of the Enemy during the War in Heaven. After erasure from the timeline, its events were captured in the novel The War of the Worlds. (PROSE: The Book of the Enemy)

After the invasion
Despite their defeat, the Martians' presence was far from over.

In the early 1950s, some Martians disguised themselves as various Parisian existentialists, including Simone de Beauvoir, Jacques Brel, and Marlene Dietrich. Iris Wildthyme and Dodie Golightly encountered these Martians in the Café Flore. (PROSE: The Ninnies on Putney Common)

In the 1970s, the Martians used more surreptitious means. They disguised themselves as public figures, particularly in the entertainment industry, so they could take over the minds of the humans. Vince Cosmos fought them, by trying to make the humans aware of them through his music, sending them back to their homeworld, and — when necessary — killing them. In 1972, Vince discovered that his manager, Arthur Corn, was a Martian. He stole Corn's map, which showed the locations of every Martian soul on Earth. (AUDIO: Vince Cosmos: Glam Rock Detective)

By 1979, Vince Cosmos was no longer popular, and decided to return to his home planet. Iris Wildthyme went to 1976 to steal the map from him, and gave it to Mida Slike, so that MIAOW could defend Earth from the Martians in his place. (PROSE: Hang onto Yourself)

After humans settled and terraformed Mars, their fiction set on Mars became mundane, instead of imagining exotic Locals. Tripod Martians were among many fictional Martians smuggled onto the real Mars by Iris Wildthyme to start urban legends that would stimulate the human Martians' imaginations and keep the fictional worlds alive. (PROSE: Green Mars Blues)

In the Land of Fiction
When arrived at The Sisyphean Society within the Land of Fiction, and stole the controlling headband from Professor Moriarty, he imparted a gift upon the patrons of the society, total destruction by Martian tripods. (COMIC: Character Assassin)

Behind the scenes
The 1890s invasion by tripod Martians is obviously meant to be the one described in The War of the Worlds, and later stories outright confirm that this version of the Martians actually became the ones from the H.G. Wells story.