Tardis

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Tardis

The Chancellery Guard, also known as the Citadel Guard, (GAME: "Player Characters" [+]Part of The Iytean Menace, J. Andrew Keith, The Doctor Who Role Playing Game (FASA, 1985).) the Chancery Guard, (COMIC: Ophiuchus [+]Richard Dinnick, The Many Lives of Doctor Who (Titan Publishing Group, 2018).) or the Chancellor's Guard, (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Invasion of Time [+]Terrance Dicks, adapted from The Invasion of Time (David Agnew (writer)), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1980).) was an Time Lord security organisation on Gallifrey and, in particular, the safety of the Lord President. (PROSE: A Brief History of Time Lords [+]Steve Tribe, BBC Books (2017).) It was described in The Book of the War as a "ceremonial honour-guard" (PROSE: "The First Message from the Enemy" [+]Part of The Book of the War, Lawrence Miles, et al., Faction Paradox novels (Mad Norwegian Press, 2002).) or "ceremonial guard" (PROSE: "The War King" [+]Part of The Book of the War, Lawrence Miles, et al., Faction Paradox novels (Mad Norwegian Press, 2002)., "Waves of the House Military" [+]Part of The Book of the War, Lawrence Miles, et al., Faction Paradox novels (Mad Norwegian Press, 2002)., etc.) which, until the War, was largely made up of "ceremonial 'comic opera' servitors" with little in the way of useful training or equipment. (PROSE: "House Ixion" [+]Part of The Book of the War, Lawrence Miles, et al., Faction Paradox novels (Mad Norwegian Press, 2002).)

Nature[]

Duties[]

In charge of security and law enforcement on Gallifrey, (TV: The Deadly Assassin [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 14 (BBC1, 1976)., etc.) as well as on Time Lord outposts such as Space Station Zenobia, (TV: The Ultimate Foe, AUDIO: Day of the Master) the Chancellery Guard were normally equipped with staser pistols (TV: The Deadly Assassin [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 14 (BBC1, 1976)., etc.) and were the only ones permitted to carry arms inside the Citadel. (TV: The Invasion of Time)

Structure[]

In overall charge of the Chancellery Guard was the Castellan, who often sat on the High Council. (TV: Arc of Infinity [+]Johnny Byrne, Doctor Who season 20 (BBC1, 1983).) The Fourth Doctor once referred to Castellan Kelner as a "jumped-up guard." (TV: The Invasion of Time [+]David Agnew, Doctor Who season 15 (BBC1, 1978).)

Reporting directly to the Castellan were the Chancellery Guard commanders. The commanders were recognisable by their ornate breastplates, gold-coloured or adorned helmets and uniform braiding. (TV: The Deadly Assassin [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 14 (BBC1, 1976).)

Directly below the commanders were the captains. (AUDIO: Panacea) There were also lieutenants (PROSE: Blood Harvest) and sergeants, with Commander Andred, impressed by K9's ability, noting that were K9 a member of the Chancellery Guard he would make him a sergeant. (TV: The Invasion of Time)

Equipment[]

Rank-and-file guards wore "chunky", red uniforms (PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Lawrence Miles, et al., Faction Paradox novels (Mad Norwegian Press, 2002)., TV: The Deadly Assassin [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 14 (BBC1, 1976).) complete with helmets, with a white cape. The uniform was accented in white striping and shoulder pads. The guards communicated through wristbands and carried stasers as their sidearm. (TV: The Deadly Assassin [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 14 (BBC1, 1976).) The boots and elbow pads that the Chancellery Guard wore changed from a copper colour in the Fourth Doctor's day (TV: The Deadly Assassin [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 14 (BBC1, 1976).) to silver by the time of the Second Omega Crisis. (TV: Arc of Infinity [+]Johnny Byrne, Doctor Who season 20 (BBC1, 1983).)

History[]

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The First Doctor and his granddaughter Susan Foreman were being pursued by the Chancellery Guard at the time of their departure from Gallifrey. (AUDIO: The Beginning)

Posing as a "Castellan Bond", rogue Time Agent Scott Thrower had his group of shapeshifting Gizou mercenaries disguise themselves as Chancellery Guards on Helion. (COMIC: Time Fraud) The Castellan advised and oversaw the attempted execution of the Fifth Doctor when his body was possessed by Omega. (TV: Arc of Infinity)

Over eighty years before the outbreak of the War in Heaven, the Renegade who would become the War King returned to the Homeworld, or at least a version thereof, with important information about the enemy. According to the "official memoir", he "infiltrated the presidential chambers, killed at least three members of the ceremonial guard and had the nominal ruler of the Homeworld completely at his mercy for up to fifteen minutes" after which he left of his own accord, leaving the President to ponder his words. (PROSE: "The War King" [+]Part of The Book of the War, Lawrence Miles, et al., Faction Paradox novels (Mad Norwegian Press, 2002).)

Early on in the War, because the breeding-engines were still being "primed" to produce custom-grown soldiers for the House Military, the First Wave of soldiers sent against the enemy's equally ill-equipped earliest forces was made up of soldiers recruited from "mostly ordinary members of the Great Houses – some of them taken from the servitor classes of the ceremonial guard – augmented by whatever weapons technologies happened to be available at the time". Most of them were wiped out at the battle on Drornid. (PROSE: "Waves of the House Military" [+]Part of The Book of the War, Lawrence Miles, et al., Faction Paradox novels (Mad Norwegian Press, 2002).)

During the Last Great Time War Chancellery Guard was dissolved by Rassilon shortly after he was resurrected and returned to the Presidency, with its members reassigned to existing agencies. Using the Drylands Precedent, Rassilon replaced the Guard with the Interior Defence Unit, a secret police led by Cardinal Mantus. (AUDIO: Havoc) Nonetheless, Chancellery Guards were again active (PROSE: Engines of War) towards the end of the War. (PROSE: The Whoniverse)

Members[]

Commanders[]

Commander Hilred had jurisdiction over Sector 7, which included the Communications Tower. Castellan Spandrell ordered him to disfigure the Decayed Master's body. However, the Master was alive and killed Hilred using his Tissue Compression Eliminator. (TV: The Deadly Assassin [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 14 (BBC1, 1976).)

Commander Andred helped defeat the Sontarans after they invaded Gallifrey. (TV: The Invasion of Time) He married Leela (TV: Arc of Infinity) and became castellan. (AUDIO: Lies)

A commander shot and killed Castellan Jerricho after he attempted to escape custody. (TV: The Five Doctors)

Commander Maxil was promoted to castellan after Andred's supposed death. (AUDIO: Lies, Imperiatrix) He sided with Pandora and Darkel in the civil war and, after their defeat, he was demoted back to the rank of commander. (AUDIO: Appropriation)

Leran was a commander. (PROSE: Blood Harvest)

Commander Raldeth helped repel the Daleks (AUDIO: The Apocalypse Element) and the Temporal Powers during their respective invasions of Gallifrey. (AUDIO: Appropriation) He was killed during the explosion of the Monan Host embassy caused by the Warpsmiths of Phaidon. (AUDIO: Enemy Lines)

Commander Jevon encountered Romana II after she returned to Gallifrey from the Axis. (AUDIO: Ascension)

Commander Lukas was an aide and bodyguard to Romana III in a timeline later averted by Braxiatel. He remained back in Omega's collapsing domain to allow Narvin, Ace and his President to escape. (AUDIO: Intervention Earth)

Commander Cadrin was tasked with security on a Time Lord way station. He was devoured by the Ravenous. (AUDIO: Day of the Master)

Captains[]

Captain Annos commanded Romana II's forces during the Gallifreyan Civil War. (AUDIO: Fractures, Warfare) After the war, he was made Acting Castellan. (AUDIO: Mindbomb)

Captain Janartis sided with Pandora in the civil war and was promoted to commander. He wanted to become castellan but, after losing the civil war, was exiled and became a pawn for Free Time after regenerating with the Dogma Virus. (AUDIO: Panacea)

A captain of the Chancellery Guard was killed by the Eleven in his escape from Gallifrey. The Eleven took some of the captain's possessions to assist him. (AUDIO: The Eleven)

Captain Solex was tasked with supplying the Technomancers with Time Lord corpses to be resurrected. (AUDIO: Legion of the Lost) He sacrificed himself to save the War Doctor. (AUDIO: A Thing of Guile)

Other members[]

One particular guard was among a number that attempted to prevent the First Doctor and Susan Foreman from leaving Gallifrey (AUDIO: The Beginning) after Lord Burner Braxiatel failed to carry out Pandad VII's burn edict. (AUDIO: Disassembled)

Solis was a member of Chancellor Goth's personal guard. He was hypnotised by the Decayed Master and killed by Castellan Spandrell (TV: The Deadly Assassin) and Coordinator Engin. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin)

Commander Hilred's team included a guard who was shot and killed by the Master and another that attended the Doctor's trial. (TV: The Deadly Assassin)

Commander Andred sent a guard to fetch a set of keys to get into the Fourth Doctor's TARDIS. He was shot by K9 Mark I.

Castellan Kelner assigned one guard to act as the Fourth Doctor's personal bodyguard. He was killed by Commander Andred. Kelner also sent a guard to kill Andred. (TV: The Invasion of Time)

Kelner's own son Volusa also served into the Citadel Guard as a "low-ranking officer" until his father's treachery was revealed. Though he'd had no part in his father's misdeeds, he felt compelled to resign in dishonour from the Guard, and was subsequently recruited by the Celestial Intervention Agency, where his Guard training which had taught him to quickly resort to violent solutions put him at odds with the more cerebral and compassionate ethos of long-term CIA operatives, such as Rollo. (GAME: "Player Characters" [+]Part of The Iytean Menace, J. Andrew Keith, The Doctor Who Role Playing Game (FASA, 1985).)

The guards that Commander Maxil led to arrest the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa included one who alerted him of the Doctor's presence in the Capitol and one who was pushed and knocked out by Nyssa. (TV: Arc of Infinity)

One guard was stationed outside of President Borusa's office and witnessed Castellan Jerricho's death. (TV: The Five Doctors)

Jomdek was a member of the Chancellery Guard by the time the Seventh Doctor visited the House of Lungbarrow. (PROSE: Lungbarrow)

Robersuun participated in the civil war (AUDIO: Fractures) and was charged with guarding Romana II after she was removed from power. (AUDIO: Mindbomb)

Tessno was part of the resistance against the Doom Coalition. She was shot and killed by the Eleven. (AUDIO: Stop the Clock)

Veklin was loyal to Cardinal Ollistra and spied on Padrac per her orders. (AUDIO: Songs of Love) She later fought in the Last Great Time War. (AUDIO: The Innocent, etc.)

During the Last Great Time War, the Castellan sent a guard to alert Karlax about an unauthorised TARDIS in the Panopticon. (PROSE: Engines of War)

Lintok tracked Leela through the Capitol per the War Doctor's request. (AUDIO: The Enigma Dimension)

Dionus and Susit were two members of the guard prior to the outbreak of the Cosmic War. Historian Olivia Kagg Waldermein deduced in her essay Love & War: A Meta-Historical Investigation of the Dawn of the Cosmic Revolution that Susit was tasked with capturing hostages from the Hyperspace Tyrants after they stole blueprints from the Space Lords of Fractallax. Susit and Dionus would later be appointed by the Third Felixian III to show around a group of visiting Hyperspace Tyrants, who claimed to be the adversary in the Cosmic War, but in reality were not. (PROSE: Love & War [+]Aristide Twain, adapted from The Diplomat (Aristide Twain), The Book of the Snowstorm (Dionus, Arcbeatle Press, 2023).)

Behind the scenes[]

In the TV series there is only ever one Castellan seen at a time, but in the Gallifrey audio series, each Chapter House appears to have at least one Castellan. The ones in the audio series are referred to as "chapter Castellans" whilst in Arc of Infinity, the Castellan is referred to as "the duty Castellan".

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