Meercock

The Meercocks (PROSE: Verdigris) or more frequently known as Martians (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme, et al.) were a cephalopod-type species that had tentacles, smelled like sulphur, and sat in giant metallic eggcups with three stilts. According to some accounts, they were the Martians documented in H. G. Wells' book The War of the Worlds, therefore originating on Mars, (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme) while according to other accounts they had a different, lost homeworld. (PROSE: Verdigris) Additionally, some accounts depicted H.G. Wells's Martians with somewhat different, albeit not dissimilar, abilities and habits compared to the Meercocks'. (PROSE: The Book of the Enemy, COMIC: Character Assassin)

Origins
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, they were panda-phobic. (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme)

The Valceans destroyed the Meercocks' original homeworld. Verdigris found the spacecraft with the last survivors in the 1970s. The ship was the size and shape of St Pancras railway station and had train-shaped shuttles to go to planetary surfaces. He convinced them to invade Earth by imitating fictional characters like Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. To aid in their invasion, they weakened Earth culture by introducing postmodernism.

After Verdigris' plot was stopped by the Third Doctor, Iris Wildthyme promised to help the Meercocks find a new home on Makorna, but he later doubted that that was where she took them; (PROSE: Verdigris) the Martians were identical to the Meercocks and possessed shapeshifting technology with similar quirks to that which Verdigris gave the Meercocks. These Martians may have simply existed in another account than that of the Meercock's. (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme, AUDIO: Vince Cosmos: Glam Rock Detective, The Ninnies on Putney Common)

Invasions of Earth
In what Simon described as an alternate universe, a 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)

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)

Technology
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)

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)

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)

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