Origins of the Last Great Time War: Difference between revisions

It was through strenuous, long-term efforts that the Daleks harvested sufficient quantities of taranium to continue to use the time machines and proceed with the research, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Mutation of Time (novelisation)|The Mutation of Time]]'') creating a new, modified version of their timeship design. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') Taranium was also the vital component of the [[Time Destructor]], the Daleks' first time-based [[superweapon]] that was the center of the [[Black Dalek Leader]]'s [[Time Destructor Incident|master plan]] in the year [[4000]] to conquer Earth and its allies. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Daleks' Master Plan (TV story)|The Daleks' Master Plan]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Mutation of Time (novelisation)|The Mutation of Time]]'') The [[Celestial Intervention Agency]] believed that the Daleks had a long term plan that called for an attack Gallifrey sometime after the fall of the Earth. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dalek Problem (novel)|The Dalek Problem]]'') However, the First Doctor stole the [[taranium core]] to deactivate the Time Destructor, kicking off another chase throughout space and time. During this hunt, the Daleks encountered [[First Monk|an earlier version of the Monk]], whom they briefly allied with before he escaped from their grasp. Ultimately, the Doctor, after losing friends during the chase, turned the Time Destructor against the Daleks, annihilating all infrastructure in place for the planned invasion. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Daleks' Master Plan (TV story)|The Daleks' Master Plan]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Mutation of Time (novelisation)|The Mutation of Time]]'')

The Time Destructor was destroyed upon activation ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dalek Problem (novel)|The Dalek Problem]]'') when its taranium core was exhausted. The loss was a devastating blow for the Dalek Empire ([[TV]]: ''[[The Daleks' Master Plan (TV story)|The Daleks' Master Plan]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Mutation of Time (novelisation)|The Mutation of Time]]'') and kicked off the [[Great War (The Evil of the Daleks)|Great War]], which brought the Daleks to the brink of destruction. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Evil of the Daleks (novelisation)|The Evil of the Daleks]]'') During a [[Multi-Doctor Event]], the [[Second Doctor]] and his companions briefly caused an [[Harvesting of Urbinia|alternate timeline]] where the Time Destructor plot succeeded, though the Second Doctor quickly restored history to its proper course. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Daughter of the Gods (audio story)|Daughter of the Gods]]'') During the Time War, the Time Lords believed the Time Destructor Incident was proof that the Daleks were willing to do anything to ensure their total victory. Unwilling to let their foes re-create such a powerful and indiscriminate weapon, the Time Lords tried to locate any remaining taranium deposits to stop the development of new Time Destructors, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') only for both sides of the War to use Time Destructors as the conflict dragged on. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Natural Regression (short story)|Natural Regression]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Innocent (audio story)|The Innocent]]'')

Amid the Great War, the Daleks discovered a means of time travel that did not need taranium, although it was made possible only by accident due to [[human]] experiments in [[1866]] that the Daleks managed to exploit. Equipped with this power, the Emperor arranged for the capture of the Second Doctor in [[Operation Human Factor]], ordering him to use the TARDIS to spread the so-called "[[Dalek factor]]" throughout Earth's entire history. However, the Daleks were then distracted and heavily set back by a [[Dalek Civil War|civil war]] instigated by the Doctor, who had introduced a "[[human factor]]" into [[Humanised Dalek|a number of Daleks]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Evil of the Daleks (TV story)|The Evil of the Daleks]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Evil of the Daleks (novelisation)|The Evil of the Daleks]]'') While one account alluded to this being "the final end" of the Daleks ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The History of the Daleks (short story)|The History of the Daleks]]'') like the Doctor had hoped, the Daleks pushed back the rebels, eventually rebuilt their forces, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks (novelisation)|Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks]]'') and even adapted the human-established time travel into [[time corridor]] technology. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'')

As the Daleks' campaigns carried on, the Dalek Empire also came to develop [[chameleon circuit]]s and continued to use dimensional transcendentalism. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Apocalypse Element (audio story)|The Apocalypse Element]]'') Meanwhile, surviving humanised Daleks escaped Skaro and made their way to the planet [[Kyrol]], where they later met the [[Eighth Doctor]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Children of the Revolution (comic story)|Children of the Revolution]]'') Eager to exploit the Human Factor against the Daleks, the Time Lords began to search for these survivors during the Time War, sending out operatives to Kyrol upon hearing rumours of their presence. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') Even though the humanised Daleks had all met their end in a battle against the powerful being [[Kata-Phobus]], ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Children of the Revolution (comic story)|Children of the Revolution]]'') the War-era Time Lords, like the Daleks, were more than willing to alter history to secure an advantage. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Sphere of Influence (audio story)|Sphere of Influence]]'') Equipped with information from the Doctor's experiments that brought forth the "Human Factor", the Time Lords also began to research if a "[[Gallifreyan Factor]]" existed. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'')

{{Main|Spiridon campaign}}

{{Simplequote|The Time War is not the first attempt that the Daleks have made at instigating a large-scale assault on the universe.|A [[Dalek Combat Training Manual|Time Lord-produced manual]] from the Time War|Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)}}

Aided by an alliance with yet another renegade Time Lord, {{Delgado}}, ([[TV]]: ''[[Frontier in Space (TV story)|Frontier in Space]]'') after he arrived on [[Skaro]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Verdigris (novel)|Verdigris]]'') the Daleks were granted access to his knowledge of temporal mechanics. Further research was carried out by the [[Gold Dalek (Day of the Daleks)|Gold Dalek]], who specialised in time travel campaigns, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') resulting in them "discover[ing] the secret of time travel" and learning how to change history on a larger scale than was previously possible, ([[TV]]: ''[[Day of the Daleks (TV story)|Day of the Daleks]]'') though mastery of time travel still eluded them. ([[TV]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Prisoner of the Daleks (novel)|Prisoner of the Daleks]]'', et al.) The [[War Doctor]] once implied the Time War began as soon as the Daleks held temporal technology that they could use effectively against the Time Lords. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Innocent (audio story)|The Innocent]]'')

During his exile on Earth, the Doctor had often battled the Master, who allied with a number of alien conquerors in his efforts to take over the planet. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Dæmons (TV story)|The Dæmons]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'', et. al) After his many defeats, the Master finally left the Earth and made his way to Skaro. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Verdigris (novel)|Verdigris]]'') After his many other alliances with alien powers, the Master had decided to partner with the Daleks, who had grown so hateful of humanity and the Doctor that they were willing to hear his plan; meeting with the [[Dalek Council|Supreme Dalek Council]], he proposed ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') [[Operation Divide and Conquer]], which called for a series of false flag attacks against the [[Earth Empire|Earth]] and [[Draconian Empire|Draconian]] [[space empire]]s to turn the two great powers against each other, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Dalek Conquests (audio story)|The Dalek Conquests]]'') weakening them to the extent that they could be easily conquered by a sudden Dalek invasion.

The plan was primed to place the entire sector under Dalek control, but what the Master asked for in return, or if the Daleks even intended to honour their promise for whatever it was, remained unknown. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') Indeed, the alliance between the Daleks and the Master was uneasy, with both sides wanting to be the one who came out as a galactic ruler. ([[TV]]: ''[[Frontier in Space (TV story)|Frontier in Space]]'') Nonetheless, the Daleks were fascinated as the plan began to unfold just as the Master promised and began to consider further alliances, only for the Doctor to get involved; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') with the Time Lords having allowed him to continue his adventures throughout time and space, with Jo Grant at his side, after he put a stop to the [[First Omega Crisis]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The Three Doctors (TV story)|The Three Doctors]]'') the Doctor and Jo arrived in [[2540]], where they discovered the tensions between Earth and [[Draconia]] and found that the Master was behind the conflict. ([[TV]]: ''[[Frontier in Space (TV story)|Frontier in Space]]'')  

Receiving the Doctor's message, ([[TV]]: ''[[Frontier in Space (TV story)|Frontier in Space]]'') either the CIA ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Brief History of Time Lords (novel)|A Brief History of Time Lords]]'') or the [[High Council]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') specifically [[Castellan]] [[Terrynate]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Time Lord Letters (novel)|The Time Lord Letters]]'') made an unusual decision by directly helping the Doctor, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') albeit by doing the bare minimum; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Brief History of Time Lords (novel)|A Brief History of Time Lords]]'') they remotely guided the TARDIS to Spiridon, where the Doctor and Jo aided a group of Thals in neutralising [[Spiridon army|a Dalek army]] in place for the coming invasion by using an [[ice]] [[volcano]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Daleks (TV story)|Planet of the Daleks]]'') As the Time Lords learned in their initial intel of the Spiridon operation, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') the Daleks had also been experimenting on adapting the native [[Spiridon (species)|Spiridon's]] [[invisibility]] for their own kind, ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Daleks (TV story)|Planet of the Daleks]]'') only to abandon the operation when they were unable to overcome the [[light wave sickness]]. The Time Lords considered themselves fortunate for this chain of events. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'')

Nonetheless, the Daleks remained interested in invisibility technology up to the Time War, with [[Davros]] eventually managing to develop it for them. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Father of the Daleks (short story)|Father of the Daleks]]'') Reflecting on the Spiridon Incident, the War-era Time Lords were also surprised by the weakness the Daleks on the planet showed towards cold temperatures because they had seen Daleks operate in the cold of deep space, writing that it was a "possible operational inconsistency" within their foes. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') Whilst the [[Sixth Doctor]] once claimed that every [[Dalek mutant]] was weak to cold temperatures, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Ultimate Adventure (audio story)|The Ultimate Adventure]]'') many accounts showed that Daleks could operate in winter weather. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Dalek Occupation of Winter (audio story)|The Dalek Occupation of Winter]]'', et. al) To try to understand what happened, the Time Lords came up with several theories: they pondered whether Daleks needed training for low-temperature operations but admitted it was more likely the casings on Spiridon had been modified, either for suspended animation or the invisibility experiments. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'')

According to human historians, the Gold Dalek, using a primitive [[time tunnel]] from what it learned from the Master, had only launched its [[Time Paradox Incident|time travel-based invasion of Earth]] to redeem itself after the failure of its alliance with the Master and the Dalek loss on Spiridon, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') although the Gold Dalek had in fact not recongised the Third Doctor during the Earth invasion ([[TV]]: ''[[Day of the Daleks (TV story)|Day of the Daleks]]'') but did recongise the enemy of its kind during their alliance with the Master. ([[TV]]: ''[[Frontier in Space (TV story)|Frontier in Space]]'') With the Daleks seeking the avert the liberation of Earth at the hands of the First Doctor, the ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'' claimed the new invasion of Earth had occurred as soon as they had time travel equipment, further claiming that the Daleks began their [[Mechonoid Incident|chase throughout time]] against the First Doctor after the Earth had again been conquered. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'')

The human historians, meanwhile, claimed that the chase for the First Doctor was launched after the time travel-based invasion, claiming the [[Black Dalek Leader]] had been inspired by its fellow Supreme's operation. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') Both further claimed the [[Time Destructor Incident]] was launched sometime after the alliance with the Master and the Spiridon operation. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'', ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') The Daleks also held a grudge against the Master after he abandoned their alliance and blamed him for their defeats at the hands of the Doctor. Despite admitting that their "goals weren't perfectly aligned", [[The Master (The TV Movie)|the "Bruce" Master]] later claimed it was the Daleks who "threw away" the potential of their partnership, claiming they had not listened to him. He also alleged that he simply abandoned their strategies because they had began to fail and that the Doctor's victories were not his fault. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Vengeance (audio story)|Vengeance]]'')

In large part because of the Master's betrayal of their alliance against Earth and [[Draconia]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Runes of Fenric (short story)|The Runes of Fenric]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Vengeance (audio story)|Vengeance]]'') but also because of his subsequent failures in their next alliances, the renegade would later be [[The Master's trial (Doctor Who)|tried]] before the [[Dalek Emperor (The Novel of the Film)|Dalek Emperor]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Novel of the Film (novelisation)|The Novel of the Film]]'') and his whole [[Parliament of the Daleks|parliament]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Runes of Fenric (short story)|The Runes of Fenric]]'') Although the Time Lords claimed in the ''Dalek Combat Training Manual'' that the Daleks moved to put their former ally on trial right after their first doomed partnership, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') most accounts agreed the trial was held later in Dalek history, possibly with the approval of the Time Lords. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'', et. al) Overall, there many parts of Dalek history that appeared to contradict or disagree with one another, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Alien Bodies (novel)|Alien Bodies]]'', et. al) or were simply hard to fit within the overall timeline, with even the Time Lords being unable to establish a complete summary of Dalek history. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'')

[[Boy (Unnatural History)|A young member]] of [[Faction Paradox]] credited the Doctor for this, claiming that the Dalek's greatest foe had managed to trick "the Dalek Empire into tangling their timeline so bad that their history collapsed under the weight of the [[paradox]]es". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Unnatural History (novel)|Unnatural History]]'') Nonetheless, not even the [[Eighth Doctor]] could remember every detail of Dalek history due to its constantly changing nature, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Alien Bodies (novel)|Alien Bodies]]'') with the Daleks themselves also interfering with their own past. The Last Great Time War's temporal effects only made their history more confusing. It was known that the [[Dalek Wars]] were kicked off after the failure of the Master's plan, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') but fact that they were waged throughout much of the [[26th century]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Love and War (novel)|Love and War]]'', et al.) conflicted with accounts of the [[Age of Universal Peace]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Break-through! (short story)|Break-through!]]'') Indeed, after arriving in the Second Dalek War, the [[Tenth Doctor]] once remarked "Dalek history was confusing enough ''before'' the Time War". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Prisoner of the Daleks (novel)|Prisoner of the Daleks]]'')  

{{Main|Second Dalek War}}

{{Simplequote|IF THE DALEKS ARE TO ACHIEVE TOTAL UNIVERSAL DOMINATION AND TAKE OUR RIGHTFUL PLACE AS THE SUPREME BEINGS THEN WE MUST MASTER TIME TRAVEL. THAT THE TIME LORDS HAVE FAILED TO ACHIEVE THE SAME GOAL IS A SIGN OF THEIR WEAKNESS AND INFERIORITY. [...] MASTERY OF TIME WILL BEGIN WITH THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TIME LORDS AND CONTROL OF THE TIME VORTEX. AND IT WILL END IN THE COMPLETE SUBJUGATION OF THE HUMAN RACE!|[[Dalek X]] describes [[Dalek time-travel theory]] during the [[Second Dalek War]]|Prisoner of the Daleks (novel)}}

After the exposure of Operation Divide and Conquer and the Dalek loss on Spiridon, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Dalek Conquests (audio story)|The Dalek Conquests]]'') the [[Draconian]] and Earth empires declared hostilities against the Daleks, kicking off the [[Second Dalek War]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Love and War (novel)|Love and War]]'', ''[[Deceit (novel)|Deceit]]'') Despite the mass casualties the Daleks inflicted in the [[First Dalek Incursion]] alone, their enemies kept up the fight; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Prisoner of the Daleks (novel)|Prisoner of the Daleks]]'') the Time Lords believed that, if the Daleks had been able to launch their planned surprise attack, it was more than likely the universe's space-faring powers would have been wiped out. In large part because ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') the Time Lords had sent the Doctor to Spiridon to take out the Dalek army, ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Daleks (TV story)|Planet of the Daleks]]'') the universe instead stood a fighting chance. The war was nonetheless a major conflict for Earth and the Daleks, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Prisoner of the Daleks (novel)|Prisoner of the Daleks]]'', et. al) with the ''Dalek Combat Training Manual'' comparing it to the Time War by saying they were both large-scale Dalek attacks against the universe. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'')

Ongoing bombardment intended to breach the Threshold interfered with the [[Tenth Doctor]]'s TARDIS while in flight. It "slipped a [[time track]]" and landed the Doctor in the midst of the war, where he [[Mission to Arkheon|fell prisoner]] to Dalek X and was [[blackmail]]ed into cooperating with them. However, Dalek X's decision to use the Doctor's TARDIS as a control element in their experiments allowed the Doctor to escape captivity and [[Loss of the Exterminator|eradicate]] the Temporal Research Team. The disaster threw the [[Dalek Fleet]] into disarray and put an end to their attempts to win the war via time travel. [[Earth Command]] later [[Battle of Arkheon|attacked the Dalek base on Arkheon]] and the Doctor closed the Threshold, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Prisoner of the Daleks (novel)|Prisoner of the Daleks]]'') leading the war to "fizzle out". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Deceit (novel)|Deceit]]'')

Despite the defeat, the Second Dalek War had accelerated the Daleks' time travel research and demonstrated their growing confidence and capability of using mass manipulation of time as a [[weapon]] of war, effectively laying the groundwork for a future [[Time war|temporal conflict]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Out of Time (audio story)|Out of Time]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Prisoner of the Daleks (novel)|Prisoner of the Daleks]]'') Travel via time corridor became the Daleks primary means of time travel, but this method remained, in the words of the Seventh Doctor, "very crude and nasty". They coveted a system of time travel as sophisticated as that possessed by the Time Lords. ([[TV]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'') The [[Fourth Doctor]] feared what would happen if the Daleks managed to get a copy of the [[TARDIS Instruction Manual]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Pirate Planet (novelisation)|The Pirate Planet]]'') Beyond allowing travel between different temporal coordinates, Dalek time corridors could be used as [[magnetron]]s, latching onto a target in the Vortex and pulling it to one end of the corridor. One significant advance in Dalek time travel technology came through the [[Time Controller]] device, which was portable but needed time to charge. Another weakness was that it was easily disabled. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'')

In the [[27th century]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') the Dalek Wars continued through the [[Third Dalek War]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Secret Lives of Monsters (novel)|The Secret Lives of Monsters]]'') which was largely defined not by fighting but the outbreak of a great [[space plague]] that the Daleks engineered after their alliance with the Master. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') Deploying a team of Silver Daleks to the planet [[Exxilon]] to prevent the [[parrinium]] cure from falling into humanity's hands, the final action of the Third Dalek War came with the [[Exxilon Gambit]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Secret Lives of Monsters (novel)|The Secret Lives of Monsters]]'') which ended with the [[Third Doctor]], his companion [[Sarah Jane Smith]], the native [[Exxilon (species)|Exxilons]] and the [[Marine Space Corps]] stopping the Dalek plot, ([[TV]]: ''[[Death to the Daleks (TV story)|Death to the Daleks]]'') allowing the cure to be dispersed across the Earth Empire's territory. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'')

Although the Daleks launched a second mission to Exxilon when a new mutation of the space plague began to affect both them and humanity, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Dalek Protocol (audio story)|The Dalek Protocol]]'') the "Exxilon Incident" of the 27th century was amongst the events the Time Lords of the Time War reflected upon in the ''Dalek Combat Training Manual'', writing that they "now" knew the space plague had been of the Daleks' own making. During the incident, the Daleks had also immediately lost power to their weapons thanks to a beacon in the [[Great City of the Exxilons]]; fascinating at using similar technology as a defence, agents were sent to the more-technologically advanced past of Exxilon to learn how to construct such a device, although the Time Lords also saw that the Daleks on Exxilon had used [[telekinesis|telekinetic power]] to remain mobile, showing that Daleks could still be lethal in situations where they seemingly had no power. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'')

* If neither is possible, find some intrinsic flaw or weakness to exploit in the Daleks ([[TV]]: ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis of the Daleks]]'')

The exact identity of this messenger varied depending on the account. Many tellings held that he was a a Time Lord from the Fourth Doctor's own era, explaining why that was the incarnation chosen. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Device of Death (novel)|A Device of Death]]'', ''[[A Brief History of Time Lords (novel)|A Brief History of Time Lords]]'', et. al) One account held that the messenger was Lord [[Ferain]], who was the [[Director of Allegiance]] within Gallifrey's [[Celestial Intervention Agency]] and writer of ''[[An Alternative History of Skaro: The Daleks without Davros]]'', ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'') whereas another telling held the Time Lord who led the mission was the [[coordinator]] of the APC Net, [[Jelpax]], after his team foresaw the Dalek-controlled future. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Divided Loyalties (novel)|Divided Loyalties]]'') By one account, the Doctor believed the messenger to have been [[Lord Cardinal]] [[Brastall]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Device of Death (novel)|A Device of Death]]'') while a final account claimed [[Valyes]], a Time Lord from a future point in time when Gallifrey was threatened by Daleks, had been the messenger. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Ascension (audio story)|Ascension]]'') The CIA's own documents claimed the messenger had been [[Director]] [[Deliavatsud]], whose administration had failed to recongise the threat of the Daleks for 25,000 years.

Despite his initial reluctance to work for his people again, the Doctor quickly agreed to the mission upon learning it involved the Daleks and being told of the future his people had foreseen, ([[TV]]: ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis of the Daleks]]'') additionally realising he had little choice in the matter ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') because his people had already dropped him into the Thousand Year War with Sarah and Harry. Quickly becoming involved in the conflict between the Daleks' [[Kaled]] forefathers and their [[Thal]] enemies, the Doctor bore witness to the first [[Grey Dalek]]s being activated and even met [[Davros]], whom he failed to convince to change the mutants into a force for "good". Davros believed the Daleks were already going to help the universe by wiping out all "inferior" life forms. ([[TV]]: ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis of the Daleks]]'') The Time Lords had thus failed to realise that, by sending the Doctor to this time period, Davros would learn of life on other planets and be inspired to see the Daleks become masters of time itself. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'', ''[[A Brief History of Time Lords (novel)|A Brief History of Time Lords]]'')

Although there was dispute between accounts on whether the Daleks themselves learnt of alien life through this mission, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Lights of Skaro (audio story)|The Lights of Skaro]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') meeting the Doctor proved the existence of life beyond Skaro and the possibility of time travel to Davros himself. He was overjoyed to find these alien lifeforms believed his "children" were a great threat to their existence, thinking it proved that he was a genius and that the Daleks were indeed superior to all others. From this moment forward, Davros actively wanted his Daleks to advance beyond Skaro and believed that was an inevitably, ultimately wishing for them to control all space and time. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') After the early Daleks all but wiped out the Thals and destroyed [[Thal Dome|their home city]], the Doctor rallied an ultimately failed coup against Davros and was finally presented with a chance to wipe out the Daleks by destroying their incubation room, only to falter at the last second. ([[TV]]: ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis of the Daleks]]'')

With the rise of the Daleks no longer able to be altered, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') the Doctor and his companions left Skaro after watching the Daleks betray and gun-down their creator for his supposed inferiority, although he told Sarah and Harry of his hope that something good could emerge from the destruction the Daleks inflicted upon the universe. They also parted ways with the surviving Thals and [[Muto]]s, ([[TV]]: ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis of the Daleks]]'') who fell under the leadership of the Thal soldier [[Bettan]]. She went on to found the Thal tribe whose descendants the [[First Doctor]] encountered during his [[Thal-Dalek battle|first visit]] to Skaro. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The History of the Daleks (short story)|The History of the Daleks]]'') She also had some kind of involvement in the Time War and foresaw its "[[Fall of Gallifrey|final event]]". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Time War (short story)|Doctor Who and the Time War]]'') Meanwhile, the first Dalek Davros had created, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Evil of the Daleks (novelisation)|The Evil of the Daleks]]'') the [[Dalek Prime]], cemented its control over its race despite being locked underground for the time being. Whether or not the Doctor's thousand year delay actually altered Dalek history ([[TV]]: ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis of the Daleks]]'') was a matter for conflicting accounts;

At the most basic level, numerous significant events, such as their encounters with the Doctor, appeared to remain the same for the Daleks ([[TV]]: ''[[Asylum of the Daleks (TV story)|Asylum of the Daleks]]'', et. al) after the mission was cemented in history. ([[TV]]: ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis of the Daleks]]'') One account did claim the fallout of the Doctor's mission created a new version of Dalek history, with the Time Lords observing [[Alternate timeline|changes to the timeline]] resulting from the mission as the Doctor left Skaro. The [[Dalek Empire]] was significantly diminished, with thousands of worlds becoming free from Dalek rule, but the Time Lords had hoped for this number to reach millions. They considered the Doctor's mission a failure but quickly identified an opportunity to counterbalance the shortfall, diverting the Doctor to the weapons research facility of [[Deepcity]]. They predicted that the success of the Doctor's actions there would give rise to a race of synthetic [[robot]]s capable of bringing about the downfall of the Dalek Empire. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Device of Death (novel)|A Device of Death]]'')

Whilst datafiles in [[the Doctor's TARDIS]] vaguely stated that "some" considered the Doctor's mission the beginning of the Time War, ([[WC]]: ''[[Who Are The Daleks? (webcast)|Who Are The Daleks?]]'') the entirety of the Dalek race held this belief. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Eternity Cage (audio story)|The Eternity Cage]]'', et. al) Enraged by the Time Lords' actions, the Daleks decried it as an act of war and focused their "terrible and mighty capacity for vengeance" against Gallifrey ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') as soon as they learned of the mission. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Slyther of Shoreditch (short story)|The Slyther of Shoreditch]]'') The [[Dalek Time Strategist (The Shadow Vortex)|Dalek Time Strategist]] claimed the mission made it so, "from [the Daleks'] earliest beginnings," they sought time travel and time weaponry, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Eternity Cage (audio story)|The Eternity Cage]]'') with Davros indeed having realised that the Daleks would need to match the Time Lords' own equipment, reasoning that they could steal Gallifrey's own space-time vessels and weaponry if needed, before moving to conquer all of time and space. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'')

The War Doctor believed the Daleks never forgot the Time Lord mission to wipe them out; in effect, he believed he had started the War by failing to destroy the Daleks and that, by agreeing to work for the Time Lords during the mission, he had given the Daleks their target. The War Doctor, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Innocent (audio story)|The Innocent]]'') the Time Strategist, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Eternity Cage (audio story)|The Eternity Cage]]'') and [[Eternity Circle]] all stated the act the very beginning of the Time War during the conflict itself. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Engines of War (novel)|Engines of War]]'') Dalek historians felt that the Time War was "born from" the mission, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') while [[Boy (Heaven Sent)|one Gallifreyan author]] wrote that the CIA, by launching the mission, "may have managed" to "light the spark" of what would become the War. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Brief History of Time Lords (novel)|A Brief History of Time Lords]]'') During the fighting, the young Gallifreyan [[Rojan]] considered the incident to be an early event that helped lead to the War, leaving him to ponder whether the High Council had brought the War upon themselves. When he came to see the evil of the Daleks, however, he believed his people's actions against the exterminators to be justified. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Stranger (short story)|The Stranger]]'')

Qualen believed even the assassination of Davros during [[Davros's accident|the attack that left him crippled]] would only delay the evolution of the Daleks by "a few thousand years". He believed that the only true way to wipe out the Daleks before their rise would to be destroy both the Thals and Kaleds during their final battle, defending this proposed genocide by arguing it would save the many more lives the Daleks destroyed. However, he believed the Doctor's presence during the rise of the Daleks had forever closed off such option and would instead create a [[time loop]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dalek Problem (novel)|The Dalek Problem]]'') During the Time War, the Time Lords did make other attempts to "re-engineer" Dalek history, only for the Daleks to always survive and assert themselves into every possibility they brought about, as if the universe wanted the exterminators to be a part of history. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Engines of War (novel)|Engines of War]]'') The Eighth Doctor had previously noted the Daleks and their plots were vital parts of the [[Web of Time]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Neverland (audio story)|Neverland]]'')

When the [[Valeyard#The Time War|War Valeyard]] removed the Daleks from existence during the conflict, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The War Valeyard (audio story)|The War Valeyard]]'') the [[Dalek Time Strategist (The Shadow Vortex)|Dalek Time Strategist]] quickly managed to restore its race, leaving the Eighth Doctor to admit that "erasing" the Daleks "didn't stick". The Time Strategist took the Doctor's comment as proof that he admitted the Daleks were inevitable, which it believed rendered their ultimate victory "inescapable", but the Doctor maintained it was merely him looking for a compromise to try and stop the War. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Restoration of the Daleks (audio story)|Restoration of the Daleks]]'') The [[War Master]] did launch a successful effort through the [[Anti-Genesis codes]] to subvert Dalek history by replacing Davros as the creator of the [[Dalek (The Master's Dalek Plan)|Daleks]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[From the Flames (audio story)|From the Flames]]'') However, this timeline was then [[Aborted timeline|undone]] by the Master, the Dalek Time Strategist, and the [[Unbound Master|an alternative universe version of the Master]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[He Who Wins (audio story)|He Who Wins]]'')

{{Main|Dalek invasion of Ercos}}

{{Main|Dalek-Movellan War}}

Working with [[Shazar]], a half-[[Time Lord]], the Daleks took control of and captured the [[Fourth Doctor]]'s [[the Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]], which they replicated in anticipation of [[Dalek invasion (Return of the Daleks)|an invasion]] of [[Mutter's Spiral]], which would be followed by a campaign to become masters of time itself. Although Shazar attempted to fool the Time Lords into believing that the Doctor was the [[traitor]], the Doctor was able to interfere with the Daleks' plot, resulting in the fleet of new [[TARDIS]]es destroying themselves while Shazar was captured by the Time Lords. On the planet [[Jewel (planet)|Jewel]], Shazar was placed [[Shazar's trial|on trial]] and remained imprisoned ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Return of the Daleks (comic story)|Return of the Daleks]]'') all the way up to the [[First Auction in Heaven]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Going Once, Going Twice (short story)|Going Once, Going Twice]]'') The Time Lords later directed the Doctor to the [[Dalek invasion of Ercos|Dalek occupied]] planet [[Ercos]], where he prevented the Daleks from using the [[Dalek driller]] to destroy [[Earth]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Dalek Revenge (comic story)|The Dalek Revenge]]'')

As the war ground into a stalemate because of the Daleks' altercations to themselves, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') the Daleks returned to Skaro in an [[Movellan Incident|effort to rescue Davros]] for his organic insight, using a large number of slaves to dig up the buried [[Kaled Dome|Kaled bunker]]. In addition to a Movellan detachment arriving, the Daleks found themselves again opposed by the Doctor, who was joined by another Time Lord, his companion [[Romana II]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Destiny of the Daleks (TV story)|Destiny of the Daleks]]'') [[Romana I|Romana's prior incarnation]] had learned about the Daleks by reading up on them ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Pirate Planet (novelisation)|The Pirate Planet]]'') and knew that the Doctor had defeated them many times before. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Dalek Contract (audio story)|The Dalek Contract]]'') After encountering a projection of a Dalek in the [[Knowhere]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Pirate Planet (novelisation)|The Pirate Planet]]'') she had her first encounter with the Daleks in the [[Proxima System]], where the Doctor, [[K9 Mark II]], and her battled Daleks and the [[Black Guardian]]'s creation [[Cuthbert (The Sands of Life)|Cutherbert]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Dalek Contract (audio story)|The Dalek Contract]]'') During the incident on Skaro, however, Romana II nonetheless claimed she knew nothing about the Daleks.

Allying with the many beings the Daleks had enslaved, the Doctor and Romana managed to destroy the Dalek force and gave Davros over to the freed slaves, who planned to hand the scientist over to Earth security and [[Davros' trial (Destiny of the Daleks)|stand trial]] for "crimes against the whole of sentient creation". ([[TV]]: ''[[Destiny of the Daleks (TV story)|Destiny of the Daleks]]'') Later, the [[Tenth Doctor]], having found himself in pre-Time War Dalek history, prevented a Dalek operation that involved the rescue of Davros and time travel. However, much to Davros's glee, he inadvertently let it slip during one of his conversations that he had seen a devastating war caused by the Daleks. A viral attack created by Davros convinced the Movellans to begin work on a devastating [[Movellan virus|anti-Dalek virus]], ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Triumph of Davros (audio story)|The Triumph of Davros]]'') as the Daleks had returned to their organic origins after their stalemate. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') Indeed, reflecting on the incident on Skaro, the Time War-era Time Lords found Dalek victories after the Movellan war proved they had overcome their reliance on inorganic logic. They believed the "unprecedented" use of non-Dalek humanoid species within Dalek efforts was the reason for this advancement. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'')

=== To move against Gallifrey ===

{{Main|Duplicate Incident}}

Much of the Dalek Empire collapsed as a result of the devastating Movellan virus, which set the stage for the [[Imperial-Renegade Dalek Civil War]] through the start of factionalism amongst the now-separated sector commands. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (novelisation)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'') While the Daleks would eventually manage to recover, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Death and the Daleks (audio story)|Death and the Daleks]]'', et. al) the devastation was so great that the CIA hoped it had spelt the end of typical Dalek conquest for the time being, with [[Qualen]] claiming that the Daleks would be less likely to rely on planetary invasions against technological powerful cultures or attacks with overwhelming numbers. Indeed, the [[Qualen Commission]]'s research into the Daleks found that most Dalek expansion in the aftermath of the Movellan war was carried out through time travel incursions or deception. He credited this to their low numbers and status as being scattered, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dalek Problem (novel)|The Dalek Problem]]'') with the Daleks also finding that the growing factionalism in their ranks contributed to the failing conquests and wars. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Innocence (audio story)|Innocence]]'')

After being freed and agreeing to develop a cure, Davros also began to alter the minds of several [[Dalek drone]]s and [[Dalek Trooper]]s, ([[TV]]: ''[[Resurrection of the Daleks (TV story)|Resurrection of the Daleks]]'') intending to take full control of the Dalek Empire after his creations had betrayed him time and time again. At the same time, the Daleks believed themselves ready to strike against Gallifrey with their admittedly primitive time travel technology, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') launching the plot as [[revenge]] for the Time Lords' mission to destroy or alter their creation. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Dalek Conquests (audio story)|The Dalek Conquests]]'') In what the Time Lords remembered as the "[[Duplicate Incident]]" ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') launched to "destablise" Gallifrey, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') the Daleks decided to target the Doctor with a plan to create [[Dalek duplicate|duplicates]] of him and his companions, who would be ordered to return to Gallifrey and murder the [[High Council|High Council of the Time Lords]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Resurrection of the Daleks (TV story)|Resurrection of the Daleks]]'')

Theorising that the sudden extermination of Gallifrey's leadership would throw the planet into a panic they could easy exploit through an attack, the Daleks established a [[time corridor]] between [[London]] [[1984]] and their [[Dalek Battlecruiser|battlecruiser]] in the future, using the link to the past to create a force of duplicates with which they could capture the Doctor ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') and then invade the Earth. Using the time corridor, the Daleks entrapped the [[Fifth Doctor]], [[Tegan Jovanka]], and [[Vislor Turlough]] and started the duplication process upon capturing the Doctor, ([[TV]]: ''[[Resurrection of the Daleks (TV story)|Resurrection of the Daleks]]'') with the Doctor quickly realising that, just as he had been the Time Lords' unwilling agent who attacked the Daleks, he was now being forced to take on the same role for the exterminators. Nonetheless, the Dalek plot ended in failure; [[Fifth Doctor Dalek duplicate (Resurrection of the Daleks)|the Doctor's duplicate]] was never completed after he escaped with a freed duplicate ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') named [[Stien]]. As the Daleks loyal to the Supreme began to hunt down those converted to Davros's cause and exterminate the mercenaries, Stien moved to destroy the battlecruiser.

The destruction of the battlecruiser also destroyed the inactive duplicate of the Doctor, along with the duplicates of [[Tegan Jovanka (Dalek duplicate)|Tegan]] and [[Vislor Turlough (Dalek duplicate)|Turlough]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Resurrection of the Daleks (TV story)|Resurrection of the Daleks]]'') Ultimately, while the plot to [[assassination|assassinate]] the High Council failed, the Time Lords understood it was a direct response to their mission to alter the Daleks at their genesis. The Time War-era Gallifreyans deemed it to be "an early skirmish in what [would] eventually escalate into the Time War itself", ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') with [[human]] [[historian]]s agreeing. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') A [[Boy (Heaven Sent)|Time Lord historian]] judged it to be one of the many events that "inadvertently began" the War. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Brief History of Time Lords (novel)|A Brief History of Time Lords]]'') Upon reflecting on the duplicate plot, the War-era Time Lords ordered every [[transduction operative]] to preform numerous security checks on any [[time capsule]] that was en route to the homeworld, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') becoming well aware of the threat duplicates posed and how they could easily sneak onto Gallifrey if left unchecked. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Sphere of Influence (audio story)|Sphere of Influence]]'')

In fact, one of the ways the Daleks "[tested] the strength" of the Time Lords and threatened the High Council before the War officially began was another plot involving duplicates, but this mission was to replace members of the council with the Dalek servants. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Meet the Doctor (DWAN 2006 short story)|Meet the Doctor]]'') During the War, the Time Lords tried to re-create the Movellan virus due to how effective it had been against the xenophobic mutants, but the early tests of their new sample failed to actually harm the Daleks, teaching the Time Lords that their enemies had gained immunity to the infection; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') whilst Davros's plot to take control of the empire was exposed and he was forced to flee, ([[TV]]: ''[[Resurrection of the Daleks (TV story)|Resurrection of the Daleks]]'') he had managed to establish a cure for the virus that was transmitted to [[Dalek Supreme Command]], ending the threat of the Movellan virus. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Secret Lives of Monsters (short story)|The Secret Lives of Monsters]]'') The [[Thal]]s would manage to develop an even more efficient strand of the virus, but the capsule containing the sample ultimately never saw use. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Davros Mission (audio story)|The Davros Mission]]'')

The Imperials and Renegades heading to Earth in 1963 to claim the Hand of Omega ([[TV]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'') marked the next Dalek attempt to attack the Time Lords, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Dalek Conquests (audio story)|The Dalek Conquests]]'') although the Daleks themselves were mainly focused on destroying each other ([[TV]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'') instead of their wider goals for the Hand ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') during what came to be remembered as "the [[Shoreditch Incident]]" ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Who Killed Kennedy (novel)|Who Killed Kennedy]]'') or, to the Time Lords, the "Hand of Omega Incident". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') After recovering the Hand and ensuring it would destroy the Daleks instead of becoming their newest weapon, the Seventh Doctor and Ace, worked to keep the human [[Intrusion Counter-Measures Group]] out of harm's way while also playing both sides against each other to draw them to the compromised weapon. ([[TV]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'') It was later written in the ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'' that the Time Lords were complicit in the Doctor's actions, viewing it as a pre-emptive strike. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'')

However, while puppeteering events to his ends, the Doctor encountered a [[Time Lord messenger (Genesis of the Daleks)|Time Lord operative]] who had no idea what the Doctor was doing in the time zone. The Time Lord was in fact the same Gallifreyan who had given him the [[Genesis Incident|mission to alter Dalek history at their genesis]] long ago, with his department having taken a specific focus on the Daleks to try and ensure they did not develop the advanced time travel technology needed to wage their planned time war against Gallifrey. Meeting with the Doctor, the Time Lord warned the renegade of the brewing conflict and helped him take out an Imperial [[Slyther]], which was tracking the Hand of Omega but only managed to lock onto the scent of [[Brian Donlevy]] after the weapon hid its energy signature. After helping the Doctor kill the beast, the Time Lord promised the Slyther would be given a dignified treatment because it was merely a pawn of the Daleks. However, he made sure to warn the Doctor once more of the coming Time War, revealing that whatever he had planned for the Imperials and Renegades would merely be a skirmish compared to the brewing conflict. As he explained, the War was already spreading "its tendrils" through space and time in concerning ways that not even Gallifrey understood. He warned the Doctor that they were "destined" to soon meet again. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Slyther of Shoreditch (short story)|The Slyther of Shoreditch]]'')

With the Hand in his possession, Davros revealed to the Doctor his intentions to make his Daleks the new Lords of Time and turn their resulting power against Gallifrey, but the Doctor gloated him into activating the Hand. Thanks to his modifications, the Hand did not turn ([[TV]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'', ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') Skaro's second sun ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Stranger (short story)|The Stranger]]'') into a power source: instead, the star went [[supernova]]. [[Destruction of Skaro|The resulting blast]] destroyed the Dalek homeworld, ([[TV]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'') all Daleks on it, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Terror Firma (audio story)|Terror Firma]]'') and the rest of the [[Skaro system]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') The Hand then returned to 1963 and destroyed the [[Imperial Dalek mothership]] upon making contact with it, although Davros was able to flee in an [[escape pod]] just in time. With the Doctor then convincing the [[Black Dalek Leader]] to destroy itself, ([[TV]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (novelisation)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'') the incident seemed like it could be the permeant defeat of the Dalek race, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'') but the Doctor knew this was not the case. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (novelisation)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'')

Reflecting on these events during the War, the Time Lords found and began to investigate "several temporal anomalies" concerning the destruction and eventually rebirth of Skaro. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') Indeed, many different accounts existed surrounding whether or not Skaro was actually destroyed. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Whoniverse (novel)|The Whoniverse]]'', et. al) During the Time War, the [[Lehena (Dalek duplicate)|Dalek duplicate of Lehena]] claimed the Doctor had only destroyed "one version" of Skaro. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Shoreditch Intervention (audio story)|The Shoreditch Intervention]]'') Similarly, in the aftermath of the civil war, the [[Dalek Prime]] claimed it was not Skaro but the [[Terraforming|terraformed]] world of [[Antalin]] that exploded, but the [[Eighth Doctor]] and Davros both expressed doubts about this. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[War of the Daleks (novel)|War of the Daleks]]'') Indeed, another account of post-civil war Dalek history showed both the Eighth Doctor and Davros agreeing that Skaro, along with much of the Dalek race, was destroyed in the blast. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Terror Firma (audio story)|Terror Firma]]'') The [[Twelfth Doctor]] recalled Skaro really was destroyed by remembering his seventh incarnation tricking Davros into destroying his own home. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Twice Upon a Time (novelisation)|Twice Upon a Time]]'') In line with the idea that the real Skaro was lost, a number of accounts held that the planet needed to be restored in some way. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Restoration Empire (short story)|The Restoration Empire]]'', et. al)

=== Etra Prime incident ===

{{Main|Etra Prime incident}}

In [[Rassilon Era]] date 2776.2, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Neverland (audio story)|Neverland]]'') still in the early days of [[Romana II]]'s presidency, the [[Etra Prime incident]] began when Romana made a ceremonial visit to [[Etra Prime]], only for the planet, Romana, and the 299 other delegates from the [[Temporal Powers]] on Etra Prime to be removed from time and space by the [[Dalek Empire]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Apocalypse Element (audio story)|The Apocalypse Element]]'') One [[Boy (Heaven Sent)|Gallifreyan author]] felt that the Dalek capture of Romana could be seen as the event that inadvertently started the War. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Brief History of Time Lords (novel)|A Brief History of Time Lords]]'') For twenty years, the Daleks forced Romana and the others to work as slaves, mining what they called the "[[Apocalypse Element]]" on the missing planet. The Daleks assigned Romana the designation "Prisoner Unit 117", ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Apocalypse Element (audio story)|The Apocalypse Element]]'') a name that they would continue to refer to her with during the Time War. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Homecoming (audio story)|Homecoming]]'')

=== As parts of each other ===

Other accounts gave hints that the Last Great Time War could be a part of the War in Heaven or vice-versa; in the lead-up to the War in Heaven, [[Chris Cwej]] negotiated an alliance between the [[Great House]]s and the "race of machine people" whom the Houses had once tried to erase from history because the "[[All-High God]]s" were a common enemy to both; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dead Romance (novel)|Dead Romance]]'') the machine people agreed to play the part of the Enemy in [[lesser Homeworlds|several microscopic models of the War with far less scope and intensity]]. The only [[Nine Gallifreys|Homeworld]] to survive one of these Wars did so by abandoning [[loom]]s and returning to organic models of [[birth]], allowing it to enact the victimhood ritual of an entrenched last stand by crying out to future, "Won't someone think of the children!" — ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Prelude to a Prelude (short story)|A Prelude to a Prelude]]'') matching the circumstances on the last day of the Last Great Time War. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')

=== The War in Heaven as an aborted timeline ===

During the [[Faction Paradox invasion of Gallifrey]], the [[Eighth Doctor]] elected to destroy Romana III's Gallifrey to try to avert the existence of the War in Heaven, seemingly ending the conflict by essentially aborting the timeline in which the War occurred at the cost of Gallifrey, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Ancestor Cell (novel)|The Ancestor Cell]]'') although some accounts implied the planet he destroyed was not the original homeworld, which would make his actions for naught if true. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Story So Far... (short story)|The Story So Far...]]'', et. al) Nonetheless, the Doctor did find himself in the [[post-War universe]] after these actions. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Adventuress of Henrietta Street (novel)|The Adventuress of Henrietta Street]]'')

Yet other accounts, however, implied that Gallifrey somehow returned from its destruction in the War in Heaven, allowing the Last Great Time War to occur after this apparent Time Lord victory in the earlier time war. Before Gallifey's restoration, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Tomorrow Windows (novel)|The Tomorrow Windows]]'') the War in Heaven resulted in the Time Lords being nearly wiped from history save for [[Four surviving elementals|a few survivors]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Adventuress of Henrietta Street (novel)|The Adventuress of Henrietta Street]]'') so, though the Daleks were seen as being far less dangerous than the Enemy during the War itself, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Alien Bodies (novel)|Alien Bodies]]'') they began greatly growing in universal prominence in the [[post-War universe]], taking advantage of how the Time Lords were no longer present to quell advanced time travel development in the [[lesser species]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Gallifrey Chronicles (novel)|The Gallifrey Chronicles]]'')

Indeed, the [[War Doctor]] reflected that the Daleks and the Time Lords were on equal footing when it came to time travel power during their Time War, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Innocent (audio story)|The Innocent]]'') with the wider Time Lord military even fearing Dalek technology was more advanced than their own equipment. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') The [[Tomorrow Window]]s had given the Eighth Doctor a glimpse of a future in which the Time Lords were restored after the War in Heaven, but they also warned him of the Daleks, showing [[Grey Dalek|grey drones]] and a saucer sweeping over a ruined city. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Tomorrow Windows (novel)|The Tomorrow Windows]]'') Baron [[Amatsumara]] once claimed that "the true War" would begin when the War in Heaven ended, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Head of State (novel)|Head of State]]'') and the powerful [[Great Black Eye]] that watched over the post-War universe, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Adventuress of Henrietta Street (novel)|The Adventuress of Henrietta Street]]'', ''[[The Gallifrey Chronicles (novel)|The Gallifrey Chronicles]]'') waiting for a chance to strike, may have been the [[eyestalk]] of a Dalek. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Sometime Never... (novel)|Sometime Never...]]'')  

Long after the Time War had ended from his perspective and thinking himself its last survivor, the [[Tenth Doctor]] declared himself the [[Time Lord Victorious]] on [[Mars]], believing he was worthy of holding power over time as the supposed victor of the War. Instantly regretting his actions after the death of [[Captain]] [[Adelaide Brooke]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The Waters of Mars (TV story)|The Waters of Mars]]'') the Doctor found himself travelling back to the [[Dark Times]], where he encountered the [[Kotturuh]] species which had supposedly distributed [[mortality]] to the universe. Believing he could defeat death itself and rewrite history for the better, including possibly saving Gallifrey and preventing the [[Creation of the Daleks|evolution of the Daleks]], the Doctor poisoned the Kotturuh, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Knight, The Fool and The Dead (novel)|The Knight, The Fool and The Dead]]'') which caused fluctuations in time. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Guide to the Dark Times (short story)|The Guide to the Dark Times]]'')

As a result of these changes to history, the Daleks of the [[Restoration Empire]], which itself may have only existed because of the changes, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Restoration Empire (short story)|The Restoration Empire]]'') appeared as if they had no memory of the Last Great Time War. The Tenth Doctor once claimed the changes to history had "brought back" the Daleks, explaining how they were able to hunt post-War incarnations of the Doctor. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Defender of the Daleks (comic story)|Defender of the Daleks]]'') Once history was restored to its proper state after the crisis, however, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[All Flesh is Grass (novel)|All Flesh is Grass]]'') it was clear the Restoration Empire, at least after the changes to history were done, was a version of the Dalek Empire as it existed before the Time War, potentially being the Dalek faction that led the Daleks into the war with Gallifrey. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Exit Strategy (short story)|Exit Strategy]]'') During the Time War, the Time Lords were unable to figure out where members of the Restoration Empire fell within Dalek chronology and listed them as an anomaly. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'')

With that, the Emperor prepared to alter the course of Dalek history by moving its forces to respond. Concluding that history was being attacked and that the Daleks could be hurt by the changes, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Last Message (short story)|The Last Message]]'') the Emperor ordered its forces to [[Invasion of the Archive of Islos|invade]] the [[Archive of Islos]] ([[WC]]: ''[[The Archive of Islos (webcast)|The Archive of Islos]]'') to secure more information before acting. Still, the Emperor was hopeful the message had pointed the Daleks towards the temporal supremacy they had long sought. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Last Message (short story)|The Last Message]]'') However, the [[Islos]] invasion ended in failure; the [[Archivian]]s unleashed a being the Daleks dubbed "[[Slave of the Hond|the Entity]]" and were forced into retreat until its defeat in the [[Battle of Mechanus]]. ([[WC]]: ''[[The Archive of Islos (webcast)|The Archive of Islos]]'', ''[[The Sentinel of the Fifth Galaxy (webcast)|The Sentinel of the Fifth Galaxy]]'', ''[[The Deadly Ally (webcast)|The Deadly Ally]]'') Under the direction of the [[Dalek Prime Strategist]], the escalation of events nonetheless gave the Daleks to [[Mechanoid-Dalek battle|a chance]] to cripple the [[Mechanoid Empire]], which had risen to become one of their greatest rivals. ([[WC]]: ''[[Day of Reckoning (webcast)|Day of Reckoning]]'')

However, the secret masters of the Entity, a Dark Times species known as the [[Hond]], returned to the universe after its defeat. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Restoration Empire (short story)|The Restoration Empire]]'') Driven to wipe out all life in the cosmos because of their own pain, the Hond attacked the Daleks. Finding themselves losing this new war, the Dalek Prime Strategist suggested they forcefully recruit the Doctor. After they located the Tenth Doctor, who was at an earlier point in his personal timeline so had yet ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Defender of the Daleks (comic story)|Defender of the Daleks]]'') to poison the Kotturuh, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Knight, The Fool and The Dead (novel)|The Knight, The Fool and The Dead]]'') he was surprised the Daleks had no record of the Time War. Despite having captured him to serve as their savior, the Emperor was initially reluctant to let the Doctor check [[Skaro]]'s defenses, citing that he had spoken of a war between the Daleks and Time Lords. After the Doctor saved the Hond from their pain, thus ending their urge to kill, he escaped with the help of the [[Thirteenth Doctor]]. Nevertheless, the Prime Strategist suggested they recruit another incarnation of the Doctor, specifically considering the [[Eighth Doctor]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Defender of the Daleks (comic story)|Defender of the Daleks]]'')

During the Time War, the Time Lords' scrutiny of Dalek history brought forth a range of sources providing "recent intelligence" that indicated the Dalek Time Squad had somehow managed to enter the Dark Times, at the periphery of the [[temporal exclusion zone]] observed by most [[time sensitive]] races. Knowing that the Time Squad was ruthless even by Dalek standards and that they would use time itself as a weapon given their temporal position, they were included in a [[Dalek Combat Training Manual|guide]] to the Daleks written for the War, with images provided labeling members of the Restoration Empire. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek Combat Training Manual (novel)|Dalek Combat Training Manual]]'') Until that point, the Daleks had never managed to break into the Dark Times, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Mission to the Known (short story)|Mission to the Known]]'') with the Time War itself also failing to enter that period. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Secrets of Time Lord Victorious (short story)|Secrets of Time Lord Victorious]]'')

Eventually, the Daleks and Eighth Doctor, as well as the [[Ninth Doctor]] in a Vampire coffin ship, confronted the Tenth Doctor, who was in command of a mercenary fleet. The Tenth Doctor dismissed them as merely being a Kotturuh illusion before ordering his forces to [[Battle of Mordeela|attack]] [[Mordeela]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Knight, The Fool and The Dead (novel)|The Knight, The Fool and The Dead]]'') Despite destroying the Doctor's fleet save the [[HMS Donna|flagship]], the Daleks and Vampires were unable to save Mordeela. Believing they'd failed to restore history, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[All Flesh is Grass (novel)|All Flesh is Grass]]'') the Dalek Time Squad moved out to harvest genetic material from the beings of the Dark Times. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Mission to the Known (short story)|Mission to the Known]]'') While the Strategist was eager to continue this and use such genetic material for future plans, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Exit Strategy (short story)|Exit Strategy]]'') the [[Dalek Time Commander]] and [[Dalek Executioner (The Guide to the Dark Times)|Dalek Executioner]] ceased the operation after watching a recorded message from the Emperor about a secret contingency plan, the [[Ultimate End]], designed to take what the Emperor felt was the "maximum advantage" of their presence in the Dark Times. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[All Flesh is Grass (novel)|All Flesh is Grass]]'', ''[[Mission to the Known (short story)|Mission to the Known]]'')

At this time, the Emperor had also "foreseen" that the Time Lords would one day lead a union of all races against the Daleks and do so with the mission of wiping out the exterminators. The Emperor regarded this as an effort by the Time Lords to become the universe's "dominant creatures". In its recorded message, the Emperor screamed that such a plan would fail against the Daleks. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Mission to the Known (short story)|Mission to the Known]]'') Coming together to protect the planet, Gallifrey was defended by the combined efforts of the three Doctors and their Vampire allies. The Daleks' assault was finally stopped by the judgement of [[Inyit]] on undead hybrid Drones that the Squad had created. The Eighth Doctor subsequently forced the Squad's saucer into the [[Time Vortex]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[All Flesh is Grass (novel)|All Flesh is Grass]]'') and sabotaged the saucer such that it broke apart in the Vortex. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Mutually Assured Destruction (audio story)|Mutually Assured Destruction]]'') Blaming the Emperor's secret scheming, the Strategist declared to itself that the Daleks once more faced an uncertain future; the secrets of the Dark Times were cut off from the Daleks now that they were forced out of it and their saucer destroyed, the Doctor still lived, and Gallifrey survived. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Exit Strategy (short story)|Exit Strategy]]'')

When the Tenth Doctor agreed to cease his rewriting of history and to leave the Dark Times, the proper course of history, save the spread of mortality now being by natural means rather than by the Kotturuh, was restored, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[All Flesh is Grass (novel)|All Flesh is Grass]]'') including the Last Great Time War. ([[TV]]: ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]'', et al.) In fact, the Kotturuh crisis had only ensured the War would occur; the Prime Strategist reckoned that the Emperor would declare war on the Time Lords after the defeat of the Ultimate End, reasoning that the Emperor would blame the Time Lords for any permanent changes to history. The Stragetist deduced that this coming conflict would see the Emperor throw the entire Dalek race against the Time Lords, with time itself becoming both a battlefront and the source of weaponry. As it realised, time could be both the ultimate enemy to and the ultimate resource of the Daleks. Indeed, such a conflict would be the first time the Daleks and Time Lords properly clashed on such a scale; in scope, the inevitable war would far surpass the previous temporal weapons designed by the Daleks and the Time Lords' previous inference in Dalek chronology.

During his travels with [[Fitz Kreiner]] and [[Trix MacMillan]], the [[Eighth Doctor]] encountered evidence of a coming Time War on a planet corrupted by [[Time distortion|temporal distortion]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[We Can't Stop What's Coming (short story)|We Can't Stop What's Coming]]'') By a later period of the Eighth Doctor's life, the Time Lords began foreseeing the future Time War ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Deeptime Frontier (audio story)|Deeptime Frontier]]'', ''[[Fugitives (audio story)|Fugitives]]'', ''[[The Crucible of Souls (audio story)|The Crucible of Souls]]'') as tensions rose between them and the [[Dalek]]s. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[X and the Daleks (audio story)|X and the Daleks]]'', et al.) The Daleks began fighting the Time War before it was formally declared by the Time Lords. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Sins of the Father (audio story)|Sins of the Father]]'') According to ''[[The Secret Lives of Monsters]]'', the Daleks had declared war on the Time Lords when they first learned of their attempt to alter their creation, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Secret Lives of Monsters (novel)|The Secret Lives of Monsters]]'') with the [[Dalek Time Strategist (The Shadow Vortex)|Dalek Time Strategist]] claiming that the Daleks knew of the Time Lord mission "from [their] earliest beginnings". ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Eternity Cage (audio story)|The Eternity Cage]]'')

Motivated by glimpses of his peoples' future, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Fugitives (audio story)|Fugitives]]'') [[Kotris]] partnered with the [[Dalek Time Controller]] to erase Time Lords from history by infecting the Eighth Doctor's companion [[Molly O'Sullivan]] with [[retro-genitor particle]]s that would latch onto the Doctor's [[Gallifreyan]] [[DNA]] and undo its past. While this attack was erased from history when Straxus' past self was killed, the Time Controller swore it would find a new way to destroy the Time Lords, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[X and the Daleks (audio story)|X and the Daleks]]'') and these actions began a sequence of events leading to the creation of a singular consciousness known as [[the Eminence]] ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Eye of Darkness (audio story)|Eye of Darkness]]'', et al.) that, for a time, became a threat equal to, or possibly bigger than, the Daleks. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Eyes of the Master (audio story)|Eyes of the Master]]'')

One account implied the Master had been restored after being pulled from [[the Doctor's TARDIS]], leaving the ship damaged but giving the [[High Council]] their warrior. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Time War (short story)|Doctor Who and the Time War]]'') Indeed, the [[TARDIS|timeship]] [[Lolita]] once recalled that [[the War King]] ([[WC]]: ''[[Overture to 'Sabbath and the King' (webcast)|Overture to 'Sabbath and the King']]'') — a former [[renegade Time Lord|Time Lord renegade]] and friend to [[the Doctor]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'', ''[[The Taking of Planet 5 (novel)|The Taking of Planet 5]]'') who had once used the title of "master" ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Sabbath and the King (audio story)|Sabbath and the King]]'') was taken from her "sister" when the [[Great House]]s "wanted [him] back", though she claimed her sibling had willingly released him. ([[WC]]: ''[[Overture to 'Sabbath and the King' (webcast)|Overture to 'Sabbath and the King']]'')

According to another account, the Master's final demise was at the hands of the [[Ravenous]]; the CIA recruited three other incarnations of the Master — [[The Master (The TV Movie)|the "Bruce" Master]] from before the War, the [[War Master]] from the conflict, and [[Missy]], who existed in the post-War universe — to save their other self, resulting in the resurrection of their former incarnation, who regenerated into [[The Master (Dominion)|the "bald" Master]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Day of the Master (audio story)|Day of the Master]]'') Subsequently, the newly regenerated Master knew that the Time Lords had rescued him from his "predicament" and realised he was being "brought back into the fold" and for something they had foreseen. While at the time he was not quite sure what he was being "softened up for", ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Eyes of the Master (audio story)|Eyes of the Master]]'') he would later become aware of the fact that he was restored to life for the war against the Daleks. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Sound of Drums (TV story)|The Sound of Drums]]'')

It became clear that [[the Matrix]] was "always predicting doom and gloom". ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Deeptime Frontier (audio story)|Deeptime Frontier]]'') In response, [[Padrac]], a Time Lord on the [[High Council]], founded the [[Doom Coalition]] to prevent Gallifrey's future destruction by [[end of the universe|destroying]] the rest of the [[universe]] ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Crucible of Souls (audio story)|The Crucible of Souls]]'') with a [[Resonance Engine]]; ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Stop the Clock (audio story)|Stop the Clock]]'') he had foreseen through [[the Matrix]] that, if any other civilisation were to survive, Gallifrey was apparently destined to be wiped out. Not all these predictions concerned a war that Gallifrey would fight, with some suggesting collateral damage from battles between [[lesser species]] would be enough to destroy the homeworld of the Time Lords, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Crucible of Souls (audio story)|The Crucible of Souls]]'') but he also foresaw that a time war was indeed possible. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Songs of Love (audio story)|Songs of Love]]'') Around this time, the [[Renegade Time Lord]] [[the Eleven]] vocally underestimated the threat the Daleks posed, believing that the Time Lords were powerful enough to handle the exterminators. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Eleven (audio story)|The Eleven]]'')

Beyond planning for [[Caleera]], a Time Lady with incredible physic powers whom he had charmed years prior, to power the Resonance Engine to destroy the universe, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Stop the Clock (audio story)|Stop the Clock]]'') Padrac plotted to use the [[Crucible of Souls]], designed by the renegade Time Lord [[the Clocksmith]], to convert the [[life force]] left over from every destroyed civilisation to make the Time Lords truly immortal. After the Eight Doctor and his companions were seemingly defeated by being sucked out into [[no-time]], ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Crucible of Souls (audio story)|The Crucible of Souls]]'') Padrac prepared Caleera for her role as the Resonance Engine's power source, publicly revealed his plan to other officials, and launched a coup to become [[President of the High Council]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Songs of Love (audio story)|Songs of Love]]'')