Divine Intervention

Divine Intervention
Leader:	Robin Bright-Thompson
Notable members:	Rafaella Hicks, Aisha Akhtar
First appearance:	Divine Intervention
Appearances:	AUDIO: Dead Time, Twisted Folklore, Snow, What Just Happened?

In one version of history, Divine Intervention was the organisation responsible for the subjugation of Earth and the Earth Empire. It traded people's freedoms for complete control over human history. Though the organisation's ultimate aim was to "protect" humanity from its own mistakes, under leader Robin Bright-Thompson, Divine Intervention would be responsible for humanity's end, in a doomsday scenario which would be the culmination of their efforts. (AUDIO: What Just Happened?)

History

Beginnings

At first, Divine Intervention was an organisation on 21st century Earth that recruited people whom they believed could influence economics, politics and the media to make "drastic, positive social change" with the aim of creating a utopia.

In 2020, Robin Bright-Thompson and Helen Sinclair encountered Divine Intervention and Robin passed their entry test. Robin believed that they were just a marketing company, but Helen thought that they were more sinister. (AUDIO: Divine Intervention)

Rise to power

Divine Intervention had complete control over Earth by 2050. (AUDIO: The Long Way Round) In one possible future, by 2035, they held the world ransom, locking up "radical" individuals who would not do their bidding, and using threats on their lives to enforce "good behaviour", forcing prisoners' loved ones to perform atrocities, only to keep them alive. (AUDIO: Snow)

In the altered 2050 visited by the Eighth Doctor, Liv, Helen, Tania and Andy, Divine Intervention controlled the government. They were already being led by Robin, who disguised himself in a mask and called himself "the Doctor". (AUDIO: The Long Way Round) Over the centuries, Divine Intervention took control over other planets, drastically changing their histories, including Rarkelia (AUDIO: Twisted Folklore) and Judoonia. (AUDIO: Patience)

The Resistance was formed on Earth, and would spread in silence across the Earth Empire. They sought to dismantle this oppressive regime. Divine Intervention's faceless leader, known only as "the Doctor", became their primary target. However, no surviving member managed to pass on intelligence regarding his identity. (AUDIO: The Long Way Round, Twisted Folklore, What Just Happened?)

With Divine Intervention, Robin set himself up as dictator on Earth. He developed the technology which would massively prolong his own life, in a bootstrap paradox, wherein a younger Robin had been bioengineered with this gift on a future devastated Earth, during Robin's one trip on the TARDIS with the Eighth Doctor. (AUDIO: What Just Happened?) Here, Robin had been told he would be important to Divine Intervention's grand plans for Earth. (AUDIO: Dead Time) He later reasoned his way out of all responsibility for wiping out his own species, supposing that, since the Doctor told him he would be responsible, Robin's actions were pre-determined, and entirely the fault of the Eighth Doctor. (AUDIO: What Just Happened?)

Doomsday scenario

To keep his ranks in line, Robin developed a doomsday device. Likening this to nuclear war, Robin intended to employ this weapon only as a threat, to ensure the survival of the human race at all costs. However, during his long-awaited confrontation with the Eighth Doctor, in which the Resistance attempted to assassinate them both, Robin wiped out the Earth Empire to avert his own death. (AUDIO: What Just Happened?)