TL

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The TL dating system was how the Time Lords dated events in the Great Time Line. (PROSE: The Cyber Files [+]Loading...["The Cyber Files (novel)"]) The year 0 TL was the date of the Eye of Harmony's sealing. (PROSE: A Sourcebook for Field Agents [+]Loading...["A Sourcebook for Field Agents (novel)"])

Accounts relating to it seemed to hold that Gallifreyan history was roughly contemporaneous with humanity, with the Doctor's native era existing a number of centuries beyond the 21st century of Earth. This stood in contrast (PROSE: A Sourcebook for Field Agents [+]Loading...["A Sourcebook for Field Agents (novel)"]) to other accounts' depiction of Gallifreyan history as existing in the distant past relative to Earth. (PROSE: The Crystal Bucephalus [+]Loading...["The Crystal Bucephalus (novel)"], Goth Opera [+]Loading...["Goth Opera (novel)"], etc.)

Years in the TL dating system passed at the same rate as those on Earth; (PROSE: A Sourcebook for Field Agents [+]Loading...["A Sourcebook for Field Agents (novel)"]) indeed, in one state of reality, Gallifrey had the same length of day and year as Earth due to the planets being the same distance from the same type of sun. (PROSE: The Infinity Doctors [+]Loading...["The Infinity Doctors (novel)"])

Uses

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The dating system was used in various Celestial Intervention Agency documents, including The Dalek Problem, a historical analysis of the Daleks by Qualen. (PROSE: The Dalek Problem [+]Loading...["The Dalek Problem (novel)"])

By one account, the Second Doctor's TARDIS console displayed years in this dating system. (GAME: The Warrior's Code)

Known dates

Pre-Time Lord dates

1st millennium

2nd millennium

22nd millennium

44th millennium

45th millennium

  • 43,700-800 TL - The Cybermen slow down their expansionist activities, leading to the Time Lords on Mondas being recalled. (PROSE: "Timeline" [+]Part of The Cyber Files, Loading...{"namedep":"Timeline","1":"The Cyber Files (novel)"})

67th millennium

  • 66,300 TL - Two tribal cultures of the planet Skaro, the Kaleds and the Thals, first encountered one another and engage in war, devoting almost all of their scientific effort for the next 1,000 years toward the development of advanced weapons. (PROSE: The Dalek Problem [+]Loading...["The Dalek Problem (novel)"])

68th millennium

  • Circa 67,300 TL - The Kaled/Thal civil war, having escalated into the use of primitive, but effective, uranium fission devices, destroys most of the planet's habitations. Skarosian civilization is nearly destroyed, with the remnants of the two cultures reduced to a pre-atomic level of warfare through lack of nuclear hardware or the sophisticated means to manufacture it. The war continued with more conventional weapons, though the planet itself was so poisoned with radiation that uncontrolled and mostly lethal mutations were widespread among the first post-nuclear generation. (PROSE: The Dalek Problem [+]Loading...["The Dalek Problem (novel)"]) Also this year, the Anar invent primitive hyperdrive technology. (PROSE: "Sontarans" [+]Part of A Sourcebook for Field Agents, Loading...{"namedep":"Sontarans","1":"A Sourcebook for Field Agents (novel)"})
  • 67,328 TL - The creation of the Daleks, including the Deliavatsud Intervention, which leaves the Daleks sealed inside an underground bunker with Davros, the Daleks' attempt to kill him placing him in suspended animation. (PROSE: "Time Line of the Universe" [+]Part of A Sourcebook for Field Agents, Loading...{"namedep":"Time Line of the Universe","1":"A Sourcebook for Field Agents (novel)"}, The Dalek Problem [+]Loading...["The Dalek Problem (novel)"]) The Anar-Isari wars begin. (PROSE: "Time Line of the Universe" [+]Part of A Sourcebook for Field Agents, Loading...{"namedep":"Time Line of the Universe","1":"A Sourcebook for Field Agents (novel)"}) In the original timeline of Skaro, the Thals used a rocket bomb to attack the last Kaled city, leading to a series of events in which the Daleks emerged victorious and went on to eventually threaten Gallifrey itself and possibly conquer the universe. (PROSE: The Dalek Problem [+]Loading...["The Dalek Problem (novel)"])
  • 67,573 TL - Mondas makes contact with Telos, converting it into a planet of Cybermen. (PROSE: "Time Line of the Universe" [+]Part of A Sourcebook for Field Agents, Loading...{"namedep":"Time Line of the Universe","1":"A Sourcebook for Field Agents (novel)"}) Another source dates a slightly different version of this event to 21,180 TL. (PROSE: "Timeline" [+]Part of The Cyber Files, Loading...{"namedep":"Timeline","1":"The Cyber Files (novel)"})
  • 67,900 TL - The Daleks who were buried under-ground returned to the surface to recapture Skaro from the Thals, though Davros remained lost in a deeper vault in suspended animation. The remnants of Thal technological civilization were destroyed, and the survivors returned to a barbaric existence in the deep wilderness areas of the planet. In the next 1,500 years, the Daleks were able to recover their own Kaled-spawned technology to the levels that existed before the Kaled/Thal atomic war, using atomic technology to launch orbital spacecraft and explorations of the worlds of the Skaro system. (PROSE: The Dalek Problem [+]Loading...["The Dalek Problem (novel)"])
  • 68,500 TL - The development of hyperdrive leads to a major disagreement between two factions among the Daleks. The Expansionist Daleks decided to use the new hyperspace ships to expand their dominion to the stars. The Exterminator Daleks elected to remain on Skaro to continue hunting down their the Thals. The Exterminators became clumsy and careless, finding no real challenge in combating the scattered and disorganized Thal encampments. The Expansionists, however, were hardened by their life of conquest and became even more cunning and ruthless. (PROSE: The Dalek Problem [+]Loading...["The Dalek Problem (novel)"])

69th millennium

  • 68,633 TL - A Dalek expedition discovered valuable metal deposits on Temporal Nexus Point Tliir and conquered the planet, enslaving the native Twiil race. This dangerous situation was discovered by CIA operatives assigned to watch this Temporal Nexus Point and reported to the CIA in basetime 101,193 TL.
  • 68,639 TL - A Twiil colony world in the same solar system as Tliir counterattacked against the Daleks. Not expecting armed resistance from space, the Daleks were defeated. Time Lady Loribetcazistanopilain, having convinced the Council not to directly intervene against the Daleks, acts as adviser to the colonial forces. As a result, the Tliir were liberated in 68,641 TL after only six years of Dalek rule and a disastrous two-year war. (PROSE: The Dalek Problem [+]Loading...["The Dalek Problem (novel)"])

70th millennium

71st millennium

72nd millennium

73rd millennium

74th millennium

75th millennium

76th millennium

  • 75,008 TL - Styre's assessment of Earth. (PROSE: "Time Line of the Universe" [+]Part of A Sourcebook for Field Agents, Loading...{"namedep":"Time Line of the Universe","1":"A Sourcebook for Field Agents (novel)"})
  • Circa 75,100 TL - first contact occurs between the Daleks and the Movellan Empire, which immediate leads to the outbreak of the Dalek-Movellan War, thus distracting both from expanding elsewhere and disrupting other timelines. (PROSE: The Dalek Problem [+]Loading...["The Dalek Problem (novel)"])
  • 75,108 TL - The beginning of the Dalek-Movellan War. (PROSE: "Time Line of the Universe" [+]Part of A Sourcebook for Field Agents, Loading...{"namedep":"Time Line of the Universe","1":"A Sourcebook for Field Agents (novel)"})
  • 75,208 TL - A Dalek expedition returned to the site of the bunker where they began on the Skaro, in search of the buried crypt where Davros resided in suspended animation. A Movellan strike force arrived to stop their Dalek foes from obtaining aid from their creator. During the confrontation, human slaves being used for excavation staged a revolt against the Daleks. Once again, Movelian and Dalek forces got in each other's way and were both defeated. Davros was captured by the humans and returned to the human Federation for trial. The Dalek creator stood trial, after which he was imprisoned in suspended animation aboard a special space station. (PROSE: The Dalek Problem [+]Loading...["The Dalek Problem (novel)"])
  • 75,255 TL - The primary war fleet of the Daleks is contaminated and destroyed by a deadly virus developed by the Movellans. (PROSE: "Time Line of the Universe" [+]Part of A Sourcebook for Field Agents, Loading...{"namedep":"Time Line of the Universe","1":"A Sourcebook for Field Agents (novel)"}, The Dalek Problem [+]Loading...["The Dalek Problem (novel)"]) Scattered groups of uncontaminated Daieks fled to hidden outlying colonies and scrambled to avoid contamination, removing them, at least temporarily, as a galactic threat. The Movellans, now with hundreds of former Dalek worlds to loot, also ceased to be a threat to the timeline. The situation continued to be observed by vigilant CIA observers.
  • 75,299 TL - A desperate Dalek attempt to free Davros so he can find a cure for the Movellan virus failed and resulted in the apparent destruction of both Davros and the small Dalek assault force. The incident, however, pointed to the inescapable conclusion that the Dalek threat remained constant. The Time Lord Council begin gathering data on the Daleks that was cleverly siphoned off and reorganised by CIA operatives under the direction of the Office of Multihistorical Research. (PROSE: The Dalek Problem [+]Loading...["The Dalek Problem (novel)"])
  • 75,345 TL - After leaving the Doctor on Terminus, this was Nyssa's local timezone.(PROSE: "Interventionary Companions" [+]Part of A Sourcebook for Field Agents, Loading...{"namedep":"Interventionary Companions","1":"A Sourcebook for Field Agents (novel)"})

84th millennium

101st millennium

102nd millennium

Beyond the Gallifreyan Present

By accounts following the TL time scale, "Gallifreyan present" was an immoveable temporal barrier to TARDIS technology due to the principles of Absolute Time. (PROSE: "The Temporal Barrier And Absolute Time" [+]Part of A Sourcebook for Field Agents, Loading...{"namedep":"The Temporal Barrier And Absolute Time","1":"A Sourcebook for Field Agents (novel)"})

At a time when the Gallifreyan present was 101,208 TL, (PROSE: "Time Line of the Universe" [+]Part of A Sourcebook for Field Agents, Loading...{"namedep":"Time Line of the Universe","1":"A Sourcebook for Field Agents (novel)"}) the Fifth Doctor travelled to Frontios in the year 30,500 AD, (PROSE: "Time Line of Earth History" [+]Part of A Sourcebook for Field Agents, Loading...{"namedep":"Time Line of Earth History","1":"A Sourcebook for Field Agents (novel)"}) a date which would translate to 101,208 TL. (PROSE: "Time Line of the Universe" [+]Part of A Sourcebook for Field Agents, Loading...{"namedep":"Time Line of the Universe","1":"A Sourcebook for Field Agents (novel)"}) When he realized when he was, the Doctor remarked that this era was at the very edge of Gallifreyan knowledge, later saying that he'd be in serious trouble if the Time Lords found out he was there. (TV: Frontios [+]Loading...["Frontios (TV story)"], PROSE: Frontios [+]Loading...["Frontios (novelisation)"])

Known dates beyond this point were as follows:

Behind the scenes

Gallifrey's TL relates to Earth's BC/AD dating system using the following mathematic formulas

  • When TL is greater than or equal to 70,709: A.D. = TL — 70,708, TL = A.D. + 70,708
  • When TL is less than 70,709: B.C. = 70,709 — TL, TL = 70,709 — B.C.
  • This is explained by saying, "The year 100,000 TL is 29,292 A.D. (100,000 — 70,708 = 29,292). The year 70,708 TL is 1 B.C (70,709 — 70,708 = 1 B.C.), and the year —1,000 TL is 71,709 B.C. (70,709 — (71,000) = 71,709)." (REF: The Cybermen)
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