Gallifrey, the home planet of the Time Lords, had a long and storied history, up until its destruction.
Before the Time Lords
Early history
The Gallifreyans are an ancient species, being one of the first humanoid species to evolve in the universe. (NA: Lucifer Rising) One Time Lord stated that they had perfected the transmat beam when the Universe was less than half its present size. (DW: Genesis of the Daleks)
Gallifrey was once the centre of a vast empire. Even before the Sol system formed, the Gallifreyans were able to lead an interstellar war against the Racnoss Empire. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
The Pythian Order
In time, Gallifrey came under the rule of the Pythias, a matriarchal order of seers under whom the Gallifreyans fell under the sway of superstition and mysticism. It was under the reign of the last Pythia that the Time Scaphe, a TARDIS prototype, was developed. (DW: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible) The last Pythia was overthrown by the triumvirate of Rassilon, Omega, and the Other, cursing Gallifrey in her last breath with sterility. Rasslion instituted the creation of genetic looms to enable the Gallifreyan race to reproduce. The surviving members of the Pythian order fled to Karn, where they evolved into the Sisterhood. (NA: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible)
The early days of the Time Lords
The creation of the Time Lords
The Time Lords had six founders, consisting of Rassilon, Omega, the Other and a further three. (PDA: The Infinity Doctors)
- This might explain the cultural significance of hexagonal objects in later Time Lord society.
Following the overthrowal of Pythia, the Time Lords began the research of the of black holes. One of Rassilon's early attempts to create a black hole accidentally punched a hole through space into the Yssgaroth's Universe. The Yssgaroth escaped and caused mass destruction. The Time Lords, led by Kopyion Liall a Mahajetsu, tried to stop them, leading to the thousand year Eternal War. They were eventually able to push the Yssgaroth back into their own universe, while Kopyion Liall a Mahajetsu guarded the final opening. (NA: The Pit)
Later, Omega utilized a stellar manipulator named after him, the Hand of Omega, to detonate a star (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks) known as Qqaba and created a black hole from which the Time Lords drew the power they would require for time travel. Omega was himself cast through the black hole into an anti-matter universe and was presumed dead. (DW: The Three Doctors, DWM: Star Death, BFA: Omega)
Non-interference Policy
The Time Lords toyed with other sentient species, notably the Minyans, distorting their culture and history. This attempt at improvement eventually led to the destruction of Minyos. As a reaction to the Minyans destroying themselves by nuclear war, the Time Lords enacted a strict non-interference policy, charging themselves to observe and to study but never to act. (DW: Underworld, PDA: The Quantum Archangel)
Any infringement of the policy would meet with the strictest possible penalties. (DW: The War Games)
- In practice, the Time Lords would often break this rule, unofficially, especially under the auspices of the Celestial Intervention Agency.
The Reign of Rassilon
Rassilon retrieved the Eye of Harmony and stored it in a vault beneath the Time Lord capitol as a source of power.
- The Eye of Harmony was a different black hole than the one created by Omega.
Rassilon's reign saw the war with the Great Vampires (DW: State of Decay) and at end of the games in the Death Zone, blood sports where combatants from time and space fought for the amusement of onlookers. (DW: The Five Doctors) During the Millennium War 150 million years ago, Rassilon went against the non-interference policy and led the Time Lords against the Mad Mind of Bophemeral. (PDA: The Quantum Archangel)
One legend says that apart from his great achievements, the Time Lords, with good reason, rebelled against Rassilon and imprisoned him in the Dark Tower in the Death Zone. (DW: The Five Doctors)
Later history
Era of decadence
Centuries of isolation had induced a complacency among Time Lords which caused their technology and power to stagnate, even as other races became more powerful and dangerous.
During the Doctor's lifetime several crises occurred which brought to light the vulnerabilities of the once-omnipotent Time Lords. Testimony at the Doctor's malfeasance tribunal revealed the many marauding races which had emerged in the Universe after the Time Lords adopted their isolationist policy. (DW: The War Games)
The Time Lords were easily rendered helpless while Omega began to drain energy from Gallifrey, and were only saved by the intervention of the Doctor's first three incarnations. (DW: The Three Doctors) The ease with which the Master was able to alter records contained within the Archives and manipulate the Matrix was due largely to the fact that the technology behind the Matrix's APC Net had been surpassed on other worlds, such that on those worlds the technology would, according to the Doctor, be considered "prehistoric junk". (DW: The Deadly Assassin)
The Vardan invasion, itself a front for an invasion by the Sontarans, exposed chinks in Gallifrey's defences. (DW: The Invasion of Time) Later the High Council decided to move Earth in order to preserve secrets stolen from the Matrix. (DW: The Mysterious Planet)
These revelations caused a revolution to occur on Gallifrey. (DW: The Ultimate Foe)
Destruction of Gallifrey
The Time Lords finally met their end in the last Time War, as the Dalek Imperial fleet attacked their world. The Doctor succeeded in destroying the Daleks, - or so he believed at the time - but Gallifrey and the Time Lords were caught in the conflagration and were destroyed as well. The guilt and trauma resulting from this haunted the Doctor throughout his ninth incarnation. (DW: The End of the World, Dalek et al)
