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The Renegade Daleks were a faction of Daleks opposed to Davros and his faction of Imperial Daleks during the Imperial-Renegade Dalek Civil War. The Renegade Daleks rejected Davros's right to govern the destiny of the Daleks, instead remained loyal to the Dalek Prime and to his war leader, (PROSE: War of the Daleks) the Black Supreme Dalek, based on the planet Skaro (TV: Revelation of the Daleks) which the Imperials would later, temporarily take over. (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!, TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
As well as fighting the Imperials for political reasons, the Renegades loathed the Imperials because, like the Imperials, they adhered to a xenophobic and racist ideology. Davros had altered his Daleks, physically fusing them into their shells and giving the mutants themselves bionics. The Renegades found this unacceptable and believed themselves superior which was proved when — despite being outnumbered — they defeated Imperial Daleks with ease during the battle at Foreman's yard, forcing the Imperials to call reinforcements in the form of the Special Weapons Dalek to swing the tide of the battle. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
By the Shoreditch Incident, the Renegade Daleks were fragmented, with certain factions not engaged in the conflict with the Imperium. The Supreme Dalek at the time hoped to rally them by killing the Seventh Doctor. (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks)
Appearance
In stark contrast to the radical white-and-gold livery of the Imperial Daleks, the Renegade Daleks' drones were Grey Daleks, who wore more traditional grey-and-black casings - albeit in a lighter shade of grey, with narrower base units and a white band running underneath the weapons platform's slats. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
Technology
While the Imperial Daleks could hover and fly, the Renegades could only hover a short distance off the ground. (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!)
While the Imperials utilised time corridor technology for travelling through time, the Renegades used a compact Time Controller device. The Renegade faction also utilised a mental link that slaved a young, imaginative mind to both the Dalek battle computer and the Black Dalek. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
The Special Weapons Dalek originally belonged to the Renegades, but later changed sides to the Imperials. (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!) The Renegades later created their own version of the Special Weapons Dalek. (PROSE: War of the Daleks)
History
Origins
As a political faction, the so-called "Renegade" Daleks were formed between the events that transpired on Necros (TV: Revelation of the Daleks) and the events in Shoreditch, (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) but the war may have begun with the events of Davros' cryogenic revival. The Supreme Dalek ordered the destruction of Davros and the Daleks that serve him, and him with it, sparking a rivalry between the existing forces of Daleks and the Daleks recently created by, and programmed to be loyal to, Davros. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks)
The War
A Renegade Dalek ship with three Renegades defeated the Prototype Imperial Daleks on Necros and took Davros back to Skaro to stand trial. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks)
En route to Skaro, the ship carrying Davros crashed on the planet Lethe. Davros was rescued. He set himself up as "Professor Vaso", altering the perceptions of the humans on the colony so they would not recognise him as the "Great Healer". He attempted to create a new machine, a Juggernaut based on a Mechanoid design.
Lethe's atmosphere prevented the Supreme Dalek retrieving Davros directly, but its forces intercepted the Sixth Doctor's TARDIS, forcing him to serve as an agent of the Daleks and stop Davros' researches and manipulations. The Doctor discovered two of Davros' Necros Daleks had survived the crash, but were destroyed following Davros' final gambit on the colony and the Supreme Dalek's intervention. (AUDIO: The Juggernauts)
The Shoreditch Incident
- Main article: Shoreditch Incident
The Renegades declared war on the Imperial Daleks who were led by Davros, posing as a Dalek Emperor. Despite their greater battle experience, the Renegades appeared to be losing the war; they were driven off Skaro, which the Imperials had completely occupied.
Learning that the Hand of Omega was hidden on 20th century Earth, the Renegades and Imperials travelled back through time to 1963, each seeking to claim the Hand for their own. Having discovered that the Imperials had established a Transmat device in the basement of Coal Hill School, Shoreditch, the Supreme Dalek captured and brainwashed a young girl, using her both as the main component of the Renegades' battle computer, and as an "inside agent" at the school. During this time, one of the Renegades came into conflict with a human military group, which in turn drew the attention of the Seventh Doctor, who helped them to destroy it. The Renegades had already made contact with some members of "The Association", and formed an alliance with them, due to their mutual ideas of fascism, and falsely promising to help them "cleanse" Britain of foreigners in return for their assistance.
Through the girl, the Renegade Daleks managed to locate the Hand of Omega and bring it back to their base. The Imperial Daleks followed, and attacked the Renegades. During the battle, the Renegades' human allies, learning that they had been deceived, stole the Time Controller and fled, followed by the girl. The Supreme Dalek was the only member of the Renegades to survive the battle, but, upon learning from the Doctor that Skaro had been destroyed, seemingly went mad, its sytems going out of control until it exploded in a blast of colours. As the Black Dalek disappeared into so much ash, the girl was released from its control. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
Success
However, as per the schemes of their ultimate leader the Dalek Prime, the Renegades had been deceiving Davros about their plans. The Dalek Prime explained to the Eighth Doctor that his forces had long ago reclaimed Skaro, and, upon resurrecting him, had altered Davros's memory so that he would believe his base of operations to be Skaro when it was actually a clone world, Antalin.
No Imperial Daleks, in the sense of Daleks constructed and programmed by the resurrected Davros, still lived. This allowed the Dalek Prime's Daleks to reclaim the name of "Imperial", but did not mean the Daleks of the Dalek City were at peace. Though not programmed to think so, the Dalek Prime knew there were many Daleks within the "original" population who might still be persuaded to follow Davros as a superior leader. Bringing Davros back to Skaro and holding a show trial for him, the Prime intentionally sparked the conflict before the Davros-loyal Daleks — whom he referred to as "Renegades" — were ready to stage their coup. Though Davros survived his execution, the "deviant" Prime-loyal Daleks were exterminated, leaving the rest a united front at the height of their power. (PROSE: War of the Daleks)
Legacy
By the time the Last Great Time War began, the Dalek Empire had discarded the model of Grey Dalek that had made up the rank of the Renegade army, instead favouring Bronze Daleks. (TV: Dalek) However, some Renegade Daleks survived to the post-War era, having been classed as insane and taken to the secluded Dalek Asylum. These insane Daleks died when the asylum was destroyed by the Parliament of the Daleks. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
One Dalek in a Renegade casing was present on the resurrected Skaro in the Dalek City, where it ironically waited upon a dying Davros as his bodyguard. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice) This Dalek was soon destroyed by the rejuvenated Daleks in the sewers. (TV: The Witch's Familiar)
Alternate Universe
In one timeline, the original Daleks simply abandoned Skaro and Davros rather than try to kill him. These Daleks, who went on to carve out an interstellar empire, were called Renegade Daleks by Davros. (AUDIO: Masters of War)
Behind the scenes
Renegade Daleks are absent in the Main Range release The Curse of Davros, making it the first piece of Doctor Who media to feature Imperial Daleks without the Renegade Daleks.