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The Renegade Daleks were a faction of Daleks that rejected Davros's right to govern their destiny, and instead remained loyal to the Dalek Prime and to his second-in-command, (PROSE: War of the Daleks) the Black Supreme Dalek during Imperial-Renegade Dalek Civil War, and were based on the planet Skaro (TV: Revelation of the Daleks) which the Imperials would later, temporarily take over. (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!, TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) One account described them as a "cult of Daleks located on Skaro" who were "loyal to Dalek Prime instead of Davros". (GAME: Worlds Apart [+]Doctor Who card games (Reality+, 2021).)

The Dalek Survival Guide identified the faction that would become the Renegades as Skaro-faction Daleks or Skaro faction. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide) Though identified as Renegade Daleks by Davros' Daleks, (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) the faction were the Imperial Daleks before Davros usurped the Dalek Prime's position as Emperor Dalek and ruler of Skaro. (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!) It was Davros who declared them renegades after they rejected his rise to power. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) In one account, once the Dalek Prime reclaimed Skaro following Davros' defeat, his faction became the Imperial Daleks once again. (PROSE: War of the Daleks)

Structure[]

As well as fighting the Imperials for political reasons, the Renegades loathed the Imperials because, like the Imperials, they adhered to a xenophobic and racist ideology. Davros had altered his Daleks, physically fusing them into their shells and giving the mutants themselves bionics. The Renegades found this unacceptable and believed themselves superior. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)

Veteral campaigners were amongst the ranks of the Renegades. By the Shoreditch Incident, the Renegade Daleks were fragmented, with certain factions not engaged in the conflict with the Imperium. The Supreme Dalek, by that time, hoped to rally them by killing the Seventh Doctor. (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks)

Appearance[]

Renegade Dalek Worlds Apart

A Renegade Dalek drone. (GAME: Worlds Apart [+]Doctor Who card games (Reality+, 2021).)

In stark contrast to the radical white-and-gold livery of the Imperial Daleks, the Renegade Daleks' drones were Grey Daleks, who wore more traditional grey-and-black casings - albeit in a lighter shade of grey (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) identified by the Time Lords as third of three grey types studied in the Dalek Combat Training Manual. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)

Save for the Black Supreme, they had in-built white and black mesh under the weapons platform's slats. The majority of the taskforce were taller with narrower base units and broader shoulders as per the imperials, although at least two followed the original Dalek shape. These were referred to as "veteral campaigners" (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks, PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks).

Technology[]

While the Imperial Daleks could hover and fly, the Renegades could only hover a short distance off the ground. (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!)

While the Imperials utilised time corridor technology for travelling through time, the Renegades used a compact Time Controller device. The Renegade faction also utilised a mental link that slaved a young, imaginative mind to both the Dalek battle computer and the Black Dalek. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)

The Special Weapons Dalek originally belonged to the Renegades, but later changed sides to the Imperials. (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!) The Renegades later created their own version of the Special Weapons Dalek. (PROSE: War of the Daleks)

History[]

Background[]

Daleks attack Necros

The Supreme's Daleks engage the first of the "gold sphere Daleks" on Necros. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks)

As a political faction, the so-called "Renegade" Daleks were formed between the events that transpired on Necros (TV: Revelation of the Daleks) and the events in Shoreditch, (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) but the war may have begun with the events of Davros' cryogenic revival. The Supreme Dalek ordered the destruction of Davros and the Daleks that serve him, and him with it, sparking a rivalry between the existing forces of Daleks and the Daleks recently created by, and programmed to be loyal to, Davros. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks)

A Dalek ship with several grey Daleks defeated the gold sphere Daleks on Necros and took Davros back to Skaro to stand trial. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks)

En route to Skaro, the ship carrying Davros crashed on the planet Lethe. Davros was rescued. He set himself up as "Professor Vaso", altering the perceptions of the humans on the colony so they would not recognise him as the "Great Healer". He attempted to create a new machine, a Juggernaut based on a Mechanoid design. Lethe's atmosphere prevented the Supreme Dalek retrieving Davros directly, but its forces intercepted the Sixth Doctor's TARDIS, forcing him to serve as an agent of the Daleks and stop Davros' researches and manipulations. The Doctor discovered two of Davros' Necros Daleks had survived the crash, but were destroyed following Davros' final gambit on the colony and the Supreme Dalek's intervention. (AUDIO: The Juggernauts)

War breaks out[]

Two differing accounts of the Imperial Daleks' genesis existed, one in which the definitive Imperial Daleks were an "all-new" race of Daleks like those on Necros, created by Davros from the frozen armies trapped on Spiridon, (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!) and another, conflicting one in which Davros was able to turn the better part of the Dalek Supreme's Daleks based on Skaro to his side. (AUDIO: The Davros Mission) Both these accounts had in common the idea of Davros and the Imperials taking over Skaro early on in the lead-up to the War, only for the Black Dalek Supreme to escape unscathed to regroup and build up what would become the Renegade faction. (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!, AUDIO: The Davros Mission)

No matter the case, Davros secured power over Skaro and set about modifying the Daleks. Many of the original Daleks were disgusted and abandoned their new emperor, returning to the service of the Supreme. Davros declared these traitors "Renegade Daleks", while those still loyal to the new Emperor remained "Imperial Daleks". (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) The Renegades declared war on the Imperial Daleks. Despite their greater battle experience, (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) the Renegades were losing the war; (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) they were driven off Skaro, which the Imperials had completely occupied.

The Shoreditch Incident[]

Main article: Shoreditch Incident
Renegade Dalek

A Renegade Dalek attacks. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)

Learning that the Hand of Omega was hidden on 20th century Earth, the Renegades and Imperials travelled back through time to 1963, each seeking to claim the Hand for their own. Having discovered that the Imperials had established a Transmat device in the basement of Coal Hill School, Shoreditch, the Supreme Dalek captured and brainwashed a young girl, using her both as the main component of the Renegades' battle computer, and as an "inside agent" at the school. During this time, one of the Renegades came into conflict with a human military group, which in turn drew the attention of the Seventh Doctor, who helped them to destroy it. The Renegades had already made contact with some members of "The Association", and formed an alliance with them, due to their mutual ideas of fascism, and falsely promising to help them "cleanse" Britain of foreigners in return for their assistance. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)

The Renegades unknowingly became involved in the Last Great Time War when Susan Foreman had been sent back to 1963 to also find the Hand. When Renegade Robomen confronted Susan and the Eighth Doctor, the Doctor bargained with the more technologically advanced Daleks from the Time War who overrode the Renegade command signal, leaving them to the civil war. (AUDIO: The Shoreditch Intervention)

Through the girl, the Renegade Daleks managed to locate the Hand of Omega and bring it back to their base. The Imperial Daleks followed, and attacked the Renegades. During the battle, the Renegades' human allies, learning that they had been deceived, stole the Time Controller and fled, followed by the girl. The Supreme Dalek was the only member of the Renegades to survive the battle, but, upon learning from the Doctor that Skaro had been destroyed, seemingly went mad, its systems going out of control until it exploded in a blast of colours. With the Black Dalek destroyed, the girl was released from its control. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)

Success[]

The Dalek Survival Guide believed that the Hand of Omega affair and the resultant destruction of Skaro resulted in the entire Imperial Dalek faction being wiped out, leaving only surviving Renegade Daleks. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide)

According to one account, as per the schemes of their ultimate leader the Dalek Prime, the Renegades had been deceiving Davros about their plans. The Dalek Prime explained to the Eighth Doctor that his forces had long ago reclaimed Skaro, and, upon resurrecting him, had altered Davros's memory so that he would believe his base of operations to be Skaro when it was actually a clone world, Antalin.

No Imperial Daleks, in the sense of Daleks constructed and programmed by the resurrected Davros, still lived. This allowed the Dalek Prime's Daleks to reclaim the name of "Imperial", but did not mean the Daleks of the Dalek City were at peace. Though not programmed to think so, the Dalek Prime knew there were many Daleks within the "original" population who might still be persuaded to follow Davros as a superior leader. Bringing Davros back to Skaro and holding a show trial for him, the Prime intentionally sparked the conflict before the Davros-loyal Daleks — whom he referred to as "Renegades" — were ready to stage their coup. Though Davros survived his execution, the "deviant" Prime-loyal Daleks were exterminated, leaving the rest a united front at the height of their power. (PROSE: War of the Daleks)

Defeat[]

Other accounts of the end of the war existed, such as those that said Skaro truly had been destroyed (PROSE: Twice Upon a Time) and those that said the Imperial Daleks were the faction that won. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) Under the leadership of the Emperor of the Restoration, who transformed the Imperial faction into the Restoration Empire, Skaro was restored (PROSE: The Restoration Empire) from its destruction from the Hand of Omega. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)

In their chronology of Dalek variants, the Time Lords they identified early Necros Daleks and the refined Imperial Daleks respectively as "Type VI" and "Type VII", following the grey Type IV Daleks and silver Type V Daleks and preceding the Type VIII Bronze Daleks, believed by the Time Lords to have been developed for the Time War. These Bronze Daleks sported gold sense globes (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) which were previously a distinguishing feature of the Necros Daleks. (PROSE: Revelation of the Daleks)

Legacy[]

During the Last Great Time War, the Time Lords investigated using the split in the Dalek hierarchy to their advantage, considering an alliance with a single Dalek faction. They were dismayed to learn from their tactical team that the Daleks were once more united and that there was no possibility of engineering division within their ranks. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)

By the time the Time War began, the Dalek Empire had discarded the model of Grey Dalek that had made up the rank of the Renegade army, instead favouring Bronze Daleks. (TV: Dalek) However, some Renegade Daleks survived to the post-War era, having been classed as insane and taken to the secluded Dalek Asylum. These insane Daleks died when the asylum was destroyed by the Parliament of the Daleks. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)

A damaged New Paradigm Supreme Dalek was found by historians in a renegade base on Thule, leading to speculation that the later faction had interfered in the Imperial-Renegade Civil War. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)

One Dalek in a Renegade casing was present on the resurrected Skaro in the Dalek City, where it ironically waited upon a dying Davros as his bodyguard. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice) This Dalek was soon destroyed by the rejuvenated Daleks in the sewers. (TV: The Witch's Familiar)

Parallel universes[]

In the Unbound Universe, the original batch of the Daleks created by Davros, functionally identical to their N-Space counterparts, attempted to murder their creator when they had no further use for him, eventually abandoning Skaro to establish a Dalek Empire, one that the Doctor fought against. Davros then proceeded to create a second batch of Daleks, ones that remained loyal to him, who came to refer to their predecessors as the Renegade Daleks. (AUDIO: Masters of War)

Behind the scenes[]

Props[]

Including the Supreme, a total of six repurposed props were used to depict the Renegade Daleks in Remembrance of the Daleks.[1]

Other matters[]

Footnotes[]

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