Lifeshroud

Lifeshrouds were an invention of Hana Fallomax’s papa in the Dark Times to protect their wearer against the judgement of the Kotturuh. His daughter continued to work on them, assisted by the Tenth Doctor.

The lifeshrouds worked by charging crystals from the Kotturuh’s home planet, Mordeela, which it as believed could reflect back the energy that they used to impose lifespans. The original lifeshroud, worn by Hana Fallomax, was made using crystals from a meteor that her father believed came from Mordeela. Unfortunately the crystals wore out over time and Fallomax had to constantly replace hers to ensure she didn’t succumb to the Kotturuh’s judgement. She used mining robots to obtain more crystals from Mordeela.

Fallomax dedicated herself to making the lifeshrouds work properly. She discovered Estinee, a girl naturally immune to death, imprisoned on Mordeela and rescued her. To fund her lifeshroud research Fallomax exploited Estinee’s undying ability and knowledge of the Kotturuh’s judgement, sending Estinee to demonstrate non-functional lifeshrouds (as they lacked crystals) by inflicting normally lethal wounds on herself and surviving. She performed this scam on worlds about to be judged. The Doctor witnessed such a demonstration on Andalia, leading to him becoming involved in the project. Word spread of the technology, leading to High Ambassador Chalskal commissioning Brian to test its efficacy by attacking Estinee on a Andalia.

The Doctor tracked down Fallomax and agreed to work with her on the lifeshrouds, with Chalskal demanding they do so on his flagship due to a coming Kotturuh attack on his world. Despite some days of work, the Doctor and Fallomax were only able to make the crystals last six hours before failing. These lifeshrouds were distributed to the Doctor’s mercenary army in preparation for attacking Mordeela whilst he concentrated on finding a way to reverse engineer the Kotturuh’s power instead. (PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead)