The "War Chief incident" (PROSE: CIA File Extracts) was an event where the Renegade Time Lord known as the War Chief leant his assistance to the War Lord's scheme to use bloody War Games to create an army of humans to conquer the galaxy and create a "United Galactic Empire". The War Games consisted of thousands of human soldiers abducted from various conflicts in the history of Earth and brainwashed to continue fighting so as to determine the best soldiers for the War Lord's army.
The scheme was uncovered by the Second Doctor who worked with the resistance to bring an end to the fighting. However, returning the humans to their own time was beyond the Doctor's power to do alone; this forced him to contact his homeworld, leading directly to his trial and exile on Earth. (TV: The War Games)
History[]
Origins of the plan[]
The War Games plan was made possible by a Renegade Time Lord who had defected from his homeworld. He brought knowledge of time-travel technology to a species of "Aliens" led by the War Lord, (TV: The War Games) known in some accounts as "War Lords" plural, (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus) who were seeking a way to create an army. Adopting the title of the War Chief, he created a fleet of SIDRATs, which were similar to TARDISes and indeed more easily-stirred, though they also had shorter lifespans. (TV: The War Games)
Some accounts suggested that this Time Lord was an incarnation of the Master; (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon, AUDIO: The Home Guard) indeed, prior to the incident itself, the Second Doctor encountered an early incarnation of the Master who was experimenting with hypnotising human soldiers, and claimed that it was a test-run for a grander plan. (AUDIO: The Home Guard)
In contrast, other accounts suggested that the War Chief was a distinct individual from the Master. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties, A Brief History of Time Lords, etc.) According to one such account, this Time Lord, called Magnus, was a contemporary and classmate of the Master and the Doctor. He had first become fascinated with the warlike "Aliens" during his academy days when he heard of their brief attempt to establish a diplomatic link with Gallifrey; it was thus the culmination of a childhood dream when an older Magnus left Gallifrey to seek them out and offer them what they had been denied. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties) Another account suggested that the War Chief had been a student and apprentice of the Master's during the Prydonian Academy Revolution. The Master subsequently helped him plan out the War Games scheme despite not getting personally involved; as such, after the plan's failure, the War Chief would conceive a lifelong hatred for the Master, believing that he had been used and discarded by him as a convenient scapegoat. (GAME: The Legions of Death)
The War Games[]
The War Lord, War Chief and Security Chief. (TV: The War Games)
Under the direction of the War Lord, the aliens used the SIDRATs abducted thousands of humans from war zones across Earth's history, including the ancient Greek and Roman eras, the Thirty Years' War, the English Civil War, the Crimean War, the American Civil War, the Boer Wars, the Russo-Japanese War, the Mexican Civil War and World War I. Using brainwashing techniques the aliens embarked on a War Game, keeping the humans fighting in zones on an alien planet which recreated their conflicts, separated from each other by time barriers. The aliens hoped to pit the survivors against each other and use them to conquer the galaxy once they had eliminated the weak and the cowards and were left with the hardier warriors.
The War Chief intended to doublecross his allies and eventually take control of their new "United Galactic Empire" for himself. The Security Chief suspected the War Chief of treachery and a rivalry developed between the two leaders in the War Lord's absence.
As the War Games raged, resistance groups emerged across the zones as some humans overcame the mental processing. The aliens' scientists were tasked with improving the process to prevent this.
The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe investigate the 1917 War Zone. (TV: The War Games)
The Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot arrived in the 1917 War Zone. Quickly discovering the alien technology possessed by General Smythe, they convinced Lieutenant Jeremy Carstairs and Lady Jennifer Buckingham that something was wrong and began working with the resistance. Eventually they brought the resistance together and managed to seize the War Room, forcing the War Chief to order a cessation to the fighting. The War Chief took advantage of the hijack to kill the Security Chief himself. Unable to return the humans home himself, the Doctor was forced to notify the Time Lords by Hypercube, ignoring the War Chief's protests. The War Chief attempted to flee but was cornered by the War Lord, who had been informed of his betrayal by the Security Chief, and shot by his guards.
The Time Lords saw to the return of all the abducted humans to their native times, (TV: The War Games) disrupting planets and societies such as the Ulk-Ra. (PROSE: War Crimes) The Time Lords also captured the War Lord and brought him to their homeworld for trial. Forcing their way through a forcefield the Time Lords had placed around the ship, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe attempted to flee in the TARDIS however the Time Lords broke down the defences and compelled the ship to bring the Doctor home. (TV: The War Games)
Trials of the Time Lords[]
The Second Doctor and his companions were brought to be witnesses in the trial of the War Lord. The War Lord refused to speak until the tribunal of three Time Lords compelled him to. They rejected his subsequent attempt to incriminate the Doctor, however proceedings were interruoted by three guards coming to the War Lord's rescue. They attempted to force the Doctor to take them away in his TARDIS, however he escaped and the Time Lords caught the War Lord and his associates in a forcefield. They pronounced a sentence of dematerialisation on the criminals, whilst also confining their homeworld in a forcefield.
The Doctor faces the judgement of his people. (TV: The War Games)
The Doctor was subsequently tried for his interference in the universe, as he'd feared when calling in the Time Lords. He conceded his guilt however argued that he'd fought many evils on his travels, citing the Quarks, Great Intelligence, Ice Warriors, Cybermen and Daleks as examples. Whilst the tribunal considered their verdict, Jamie and Zoe were allowed to see the Doctor and talked him into a final escape attempt. They were quickly caught and Jamie and Zoe were taken to be returned home, with their memories of their travels supressed except their first adventure with the Doctor. The tribunal accepted the Doctor's plea that he had a role fighting evil in the cosmos and sentenced him to a change of appearance and exile on Earth, (TV: The War Games) though one account claimed this was only the official account of the trial and the tribunal had actually sentenced him to death until the Celestial Intervention Agency interceded. (PROSE: World Game)
Aftermath[]
The Doctor's fate[]
Agents of the Time Lords enforce the Doctor's sentence. (COMIC: The Night Walkers)
Prior to the enforcement of his sentence, the Second Doctor was recruited by the Celestial Intervention Agency. (PROSE: World Game) He agreed to work as their agent, on the condition he could first verify the abducted humans had been returned home. He was allowed to travel to 1915 where he reunited with Lieutenant Carstairs and Lady Jennifer, whose memories of the War Games had been removed. (PROSE: Players) On a mission for the CIA, the Doctor encountered the reconstructed War Lord on Karn and stopped him exploiting the Sacred Flame. (PROSE: Save Yourself) Eventually the Doctor's sentence of exile to Earth was enforced, though he escaped changing his appearance. (COMIC: Action in Exile) Agents of the Time Lords caught up with him and forced the change of appearance, placing him aboard his TARDIS (COMIC: The Night Walkers) which transported him to 20th century Earth so his newly-regenerated third incarnation could begin his exile. (TV: Spearhead from Space)
The War Chief's fate[]
Though presumed dead, many accounts showed that the War Chief actually survived.
According to some accounts, the War Chief and the Master were one and the same. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon, AUDIO: The Home Guard, etc.) While the Doctor "wasn't so lucky", the Master managed to escape before the Time Lords could de-energise his TARDIS. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons) The Master became aware that the Doctor had "let himself get caught" by the Time Lords. Though he realised that this meant he could invade the wider universe unchallenged by the Doctor, the Master instead deliberately invaded Earth in order to confront his exiled enemy. (PROSE: The Secret Diary of the Master)
Another account of the War Chief's survival discounted the idea that he was the Master. Instead, in this telling, the War Chief escaped aboard one of his SIDRATs, where he regenerated into a new body who retained the moniker of "the War Chief". He vowed revenge on the Doctor, but also on the Master, blaming him for having used him as a proxy in the War Games incident then dropped him when the going got tough. This War Chief would subsequently plan out a new scheme based on hypnotising soldiers in Roman Britain, which was foiled by the Third Doctor. (GAME: The Legions of Death)
According to yet another account, the War Chief's body was dragged aboard one of the escaping War Lords' ship. He attempted to regenerate, but due to the severeness of his injuries and the lack of proper medical care, he could only manage an aborted regeneration; though alive, he was left as a deformed being who looked like two bodies fused together. After they realised he'd survived, he convinced the War Lords that his 'betrayal' of them was just a misunderstanding and worked to help them break through the barrier around their planet. They time-travelled to Nazi Germany, where the regenerated Time Lord adopted the alias of Felix Kriegslieter. Following a confrontation with the Seventh Doctor, the War Chief regenerated into a healthy body. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus)
Legacy[]
Rumours existed on Gallifrey that the Master had been implicated in the event which Rowellanuraven believed to be fanciful fabrications, much like the "obviously" false claim that Goth had been an associate of the Decayed Master. (PROSE: CIA File Extracts)
The speech the Doctor gave in his defence at his trial inspired some Time Lords, including Vorena, that Gallifrey should be more proactive in the cosmos. As Chancellor during the Fifth Doctor's presidency, Vorena attempted to supply him with a giant TARDIS to lead the Time Lords into the universe. He rejected her offer, having come to the belief the universe would be better without his people's interference. (AUDIO: Time in Office)
The Spy Master later recalled the forced regeneration the Time Lords had put the Doctor through, as he embarked on his own scheme to use the process to take the Doctor's body and identity. (TV: The Power of the Doctor)
Other realities[]
In a timeline where the Doctor never left Gallifrey due to a conceptual bomb erasing the TARDIS from existence, the War Lords' army conquered much of the galaxy. (AUDIO: The Light at the End)
In one naturally-occurring parallel universe, a similar event occurred resulting in the Time Lords sentencing the War Lord to dematerialisation. In this universe however the Doctor escaped the Time Lords and fled to Earth in the 21st century, jumping off a pylon to regenerate into a new incarnation to hide. (AUDIO: Exile)
