The Forge
The Forge, also known as Department C4, was a black ops organization formed in the 20th century with the goal of of studying and experimenting with extraterrestrial material and technology as well as apply it to defend the interests of the United Kingdom. (BFA: Project: Lazarus) It is identifiable by the deliberately out-of-date callsign "For King And Country".
History
It is possible the Forge was operational in 1901, where the Chief Mate of the Lankester uses the phrase "King and Country" on radio while transporting a mermaid to an unknown buyer. (BFA: Cryptobiosis)
Its first major operations began in 1911. Having gained vampire DNA in South America by unknown circumstances, the Forge infected British soldiers with the DNA to create a super-soldier hybrid race to win the war. This operation, Project Twilight, was under the control of Dr William Abberton but went wrong when the vampires broke loose in October 1915. They slaughtered the guards and escaped into the community. The Forge remained operational and in 1917, it was running a secret project at Charnage Hospital to brainwash British soldiers into becoming more aggressive, with a possible side-effect of making several subjects time-sensitive. (BFA: No Man's Land)
From 1915 onwards, Project Twilight remained open as the Forge tracked down the vampires and exterminated them. Leading this operation was Abberton, having infected himself after being mortally wounded and now calling himself Nimrod. (BFA: Zagreus)
In the 1950s, Forge agent Dr Stone - her allegiance shown by the "King and Country" phrase - worked on Project Dionysus, an attempt to create a rift in spacetime. This was almost used by a race known as the Divergence to break through into our reality.
By 2001, the Forge's Deputy Director was Colonel Charles Crichton, formerly of UNIT. In this year, Nimrod tracked down the Twilight vampire ringleaders, Reggie Mead and Amelia Dooney, to the South-East London casino they used as a front operation. Alongside the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn Smythe, he destroyed the last creatures. In the process, casino worker Cassie Schofield (who Nimrod had been blackmailing to help him) was turned into a vampire herself. In 2002, Nimrod captured Cassie, heavily brainwashed her, and made her a Forge agent.
Between 2002 and 2004, the Forge carried out Project Valhalla, trying to scavenge alien technology from a crashed alien spaceship in Lapland. The mission turned into a disaster and the area had to be sterilised when the ship turned out to be a prison for a world-killing blood-formed entity known as Nyathoggoth. Following Vahalla, Nimrod replaced Crichton as Deputy Director of the Forge (and had Crichton assassinated). {Project Valhalla) The Forge also retrieved the Spear of Destiny from a private collection in Project Longinus.
The Forge encountered the Sixth Doctor again in late 2004, while aggressively acquiring a Huldran spacecraft, and finally initiated Project Lazarus: an attempt to replicate his regenerations. While the Doctor escaped, they had enough DNA information to create a clone of him; it was unable to regenerate, but had enough of the Doctor's attributes to be hired as a scientific advisor. When the Huldrans began attacking the Forge in retaliation, Nimrod had the clone brainwashed to believe he truly was the Doctor, had been stranded on Earth, and was assisting them to prevent the Huldrans destroying Earth. {{BFA: Project Lazarus)
As part of a long-term operation, an Australian Forge agent named James Clarke had been backing Katherine Chamber's Cyberman technology experiments since 1984. In September 2006, he successfully gained a useable product. {{BFA: The Gathering)
By 2007, the constant Huldran attacks and the arrival of the Seventh Doctor caused several key Forge members to begin questioning their work and the clone to realise the truth of his existence. While the Doctor solved the Huldran situation, the clone activated the Forge base's self destruct program.
The Forge's beta facility was brought online soon after, though its current operations and capabilities (Nimrod is the only known senior officer left alive) are unknown.
Overview
The Forge are a top-secret military organisation, unknown by the general public. Their central base was an underground facility in Dartmoor until its destruction in 2007; its new HQ is unknown. Most of its work is overseen by the Deputy-Director, who resides in Dartmoor, and they answer to a Director based in Whitehall.
UNIT is a rival branch, and viewed with amused contempt for its "philanthropic" role. In contrast, the Forge has close links to the regular army and ICIS.
There is a stigma attached to the Forge that once you have joined, there is no way out except death. This has proven true in all cases except Sergeant French.
Forge operatives have included:
- Nimrod — Senior Field Agent and eventually Deputy-Director. (Active)
- Charles Crichton — Former Deputy-Director; assassinated after leaving the job. (Deceased)
- Sergeant Frith — Security Chief; killed saving the Seventh Doctor. (Deceased)
- Doctor Edith Crumpton — the Forge's Chief Science Officer; executed by Nimrod after disobeying orders and trying to communicate with the Huldran. (Deceased)
- Corporal Aristedes — Sergeant Frith's right-hand woman. (Active)
- "The Sixth Doctor" — the Forge's scientific advisor; died activating the Dartmoor base's self destruct. (Deceased)
- Cassie Schofield — Codename Artemis; Field Agent, and Nimrod's intended replacement; died rebelling against Nimrod to save the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn. (Deceased)
- Sergeant French — Soldier; seconded to ICIS in The Coup. (Arrested)
- Lieutenant-Colonel Brook — agent during World War One, heading the Charnage project. (Deceased)
James Clarke - Australian deep-cover agent. (Active)
Notes
In the Doctor Who universe, the goals of the Forge appear to be similar to that of the Torchwood Institute and its unknown how the two organizations relate to one another. It should be stressed, however, that there have been no reference of the Forge among the episodes with the novels being the only source on the organization.
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