Rutan

The Rutans, often simply called Rutans, were a race of amorphous green blobs who waged a millennia-long war with the Sontarans.
== Biology ==
In their natural forms, the Rutans were shaped somewhat like jellyfish, with a green glowing body and many light-green tendrils. They were amphibious and could cling to sheer, vertical surfaces. They had considerable mobility out of the water, despite their shape. Rutans could see, even without visible eyes, but their vision was limited. Rutans were formidable fighters, even when they did not have weapons. Rutans could generate lethal bioelectrical shocks to defend themselves and seemed to be able to absorb electrical energy directly for sustenance. (TV: Horror of Fang Rock)
== Culture ==
=== Military Tactics ===
Rutans were able to operate independently, but they did not see individuals as important and all individual desires were subsumed by the general desire to win the war with the "Sontaran rabble". They used shapeshifting technology to adapt to alien environments and infiltrate alien cultures; they were consummate spies. A Rutan usually killed specific individuals and then impersonated them. (TV: Horror of Fang Rock)
== Technology ==
The Rutan Host had unknown types of technology, though they were apparently less advanced than the Sontarans. Rutan spaceships were crystalline in structure and looked like glowing balls of fire. These ships could control the weather to a degree. Individual Rutans could also shapeshift into other forms, but they needed to know the form very well, usually after careful study and dissection. Rutan spacecraft included the Rutan mothership, (TV: Horror of Fang Rock) and the Rutan fighter. (TV: The Time Warrior)
== History ==
=== Early History ===
In the 13th century, (TV: The Sontaran Experiment) a squadron of Rutan fighters attacked the Sontaran commander Linx's ship while he was on a reconaissance mission, forcing him to perform an emergency landing on Earth. (TV: The Time Warrior)
=== 20th Century ===
Though the Rutans originally controlled most of the Mutter's Spiral, by the 1900s, they were starting to lose the war and were forced to retreat to more fortified locations. During this time period, a Rutan scout landed on the coast of England and took over the Fang Rock lighthouse while attempting to assess the planet's usefulness as a base to fight the Sontarans. All their actions were to advance the war, such as scouting out new planets to use as bases. Both the scout and its mothership were destroyed by the Fourth Doctor and Leela. (TV: Horror of Fang Rock)
In the late 20th century, Group Marshal Stike said that the war going badly for the Sontarans was "on the contrary". The Sixth Doctor stated that his money was "still on the Rutans". (TV: The Two Doctors)
=== 21st Century ===
In 2009, the Tenth Doctor suggested that the war was "not going so well" for the Sontarans as a motivator for their invasion of Earth, which General Staal denied. (TV: The Poison Sky)