Kaleds were one of two humanoid races which originally inhabited the planet Skaro. They were the ancestors of the Dalek race.
Biology
The Kaleds could be distinguished from Thals by their dark hair and eyes. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
Internally, Kaleds also differed from both humans and Thals. Blood tests showed that humans and Gallifreyans were biologically very dissimilar to them. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) Kaleds had purplish tissue and their ribs were more widely spaced than those of humans. (TV: The Stolen Earth) They had thicker lungs than the Thals and they had a copper based blood which was greenish. The Kaled heart was grey. (AUDIO: Corruption)
Culture
During the Thousand Year War, the Kaleds lived under a totalitarian government in which the military was very powerful. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) They were led by the Supremo. (AUDIO: Purity) Beneath him were the Scientific Elite and the Military Elite, who lived in special bunkers. Most of the common people lived in the Kaled Dome. The Kaleds mutated by radiation and chemicals, the Mutos, were exiled into the wastelands. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) This caused many rumours about the wasteland. Children saw the area as a hive of cannibals and monsters. The military believed it was full of deserters. This was proven to be true when Davros and his team fled a Thal factory, and they were attacked by Mutos from the wastelands. (AUDIO: Purity)
The Kaleds believed that in all the "seven galaxies" only Skaro was capable of supporting complex life. Though they knew there were galaxies beyond the seven they'd studied, they either assumed that they would not contain intelligent life or that they were too far for intelligent life to travel. They were consequently surprised to find that the Doctor and his companions were not from Skaro. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
The Kaled God of war was a "horned beast" which was thought to have been inspired by the Beast. (TV: The Satan Pit) The Kaleds had a form of television, with Captain Croag and the Highland Rangers being a popular programme. Calcula also mentioned that they showed children footage of battles in classrooms to persuade children to join the military, which she thought was "too sanitised". (AUDIO: Corruption)
In the final days of the Thousand Year War, there were still several Kaled artists but they were shunned by the majority in the Kaled Dome. (AUDIO: The Lights of Skaro)
History
100 million years prior to the Thousand Year War, the Kaleds' evolution diverged from that of the Thals. (AUDIO: Corruption) One account states that both the Kaleds and the Thals were descended from humans transplanted from Earth to Skaro as an experiment by the Halldons. (PROSE: We are the Daleks!) Towards the end of the Thousand Year War, the life expectancy of Kaled females was 52, an age which Davros' mother Lady Calcula had long since surpassed by the time of her death. According to Davros, she was one of the oldest living Kaleds. (AUDIO: Corruption) By that time, few (if any) Kaleds had died of old age in ten generations. (AUDIO: Davros, Corruption)
Prior to or during the Thousand Year War, the Kaleds mastered alchemy. (AUDIO: The Lights of Skaro)
Originally, the Kaleds and the Thals lived together in peace. (AUDIO: Purity) Due to unknown circumstances, the Kaleds and Thals engaged in the Thousand Year War. Though they originally used advanced technology, by the end of the war their technology was more primitive. By the end of the conflict, both Thals and Kaleds sheltered in domed cities overlooking a wasteland brimming with sand and radiation.
Near the end of the war, Davros started to study the effects of radiation on the native life on Skaro. He concluded that the best result of these mutations would be the Daleks. In order to achieve this eventual outcome, he gave the means to destroy the Kaled city to the Thals. In "retaliation", Davros ordered the creation of the first Dalek army, which he sent to destroy the Thals. Though some Kaleds objected, Davros’ Daleks killed them as well. Eventually, the Daleks rebelled against Davros — killing his remaining Kaled followers and nearly the scientist himself — and were then trapped under the Kaled bunker for a thousand years by the Fourth Doctor. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) i like turtles