The War King was a renegade Time Lord who became their leader during the War in Heaven.
Biography
Early life
The future War King was one of four notable renegades born due to abnormalities in the breeding engines one generation before the War. Two of the other four were Grandfather Paradox and the Imperator.
At an early age, the future King left the Homeworld for unclear reasons. He was notorious for meddling in the affairs of lesser species for power, personal gratification, and casual amusement; he often hired, manipulated, and seduced the more mercenary or megalomaniac of the lesser species. He was dedicated to his own desires above all else.
Soon, his crimes filled two whole datacoils, and he was considered the second-most-wanted criminal among the Great Houses. They captured him a number of times, but he always eventually escaped, despite their attempts to imprison him. (PROSE: The Book of the War)
At one point, Judy Collins was his travelling cohort, and even after her departure and his rise to power he maintained a telepathic connection with her. (PROSE: Judy's War)
After becoming War King, he kept twelve white squares of a hypercube stacked neatly on his desk. The dismantled cube represented his only concession to sentimentality and his last remaining link to his unfortunate past. (PROSE: The Book of the War)
Return to the Homeworld
Before the War in Heaven, the future War King was captured and interrogated by agents of the enemy. He escaped, but the torture deeply affected him and made him realise how he cared for his people. He concluded that he would help them in any way he could. Common rumours said he took advantage of this opportunity to gain immunity for his past crimes and power over the Homeworld.
The renegade arrived on the Homeworld in his self-modified timeship, told the Great Houses what he had witnessed, and vowed to help them in any way they wished. However, the head of the Presidency refused to accept the enemy's existence, going so far as to warn that if the renegade were to ever return, he would be arrested for his earlier crimes against the Great Houses.
The renegade saw this banishment as a mere setback and began to devise ways for the Great Houses to combat the enemy. He spent over forty years creating plans for new weapons and devices. With the plans he had created, he returned to the Homeworld and turned himself in to the Presidency. He admitted to all of his offences and asked for an emergency meeting of the High Council to propose his plans. His message disturbed the ruling Houses enough for them to pardon him of his crimes, but the head of the Presidency remained obstinate.
Finally, the renegade returned to the Homeworld once more and, upon his capture, the head of the Presidency announced the Faraway Declaration. This ended in his defeat and the full rise to power of acting-President Umbaste. During Umbaste's reign, the future War King practically ran the government, preparing the Homeworld for the war to come. After Umbaste's apparent suicide, the ruling Houses appointed the renegade to be their War King. (PROSE: The Book of the War)
As War King
Two years after coming to power, the War King negotiated a pact with Compassion, creating a "second front" for the War. One evening when the King was at a banquet, Compassion materialised in the room, looking for "answers". After a lengthy conversation, Compassion told the King that when "House Lucia" emerged, the true threat to the Homeworld would be revealed. (PROSE: The Book of the War)
When the Doctor tried ending the Rutan-Sontaran War by bringing General Sontar to Gallifrey for negotiations, Sontar remarked that the Capitol had once been a fortress, pointing out its thick walls, buttresses, and battlements; this surprised the Doctor, since Sontar was clearly right, but such history was never taught on Gallifrey. (PROSE: The Infinity Doctors) The old, bearded Lord President during the War in Heaven recounted this conversation to Homunculette, saying he heard it from a friend of his. He condemned the Time Lords' past naiveté to the reality of the coming conflict, which indeed drove Gallifrey to turn its Capitol back into a fortress and to start breeding soldiers to be efficient killers, just like the old alien general. He then sent Homunculette to investigate the Elder Things. (PROSE: The Taking of Planet 5)
The War King later understood the true motive of Lolita, a sentient timeship, who had evolved from an old model timeship. (PROSE: Toy Story) Lolita planned to rewrite the Spiral Politic to suit her own ends. As a last resort, he allied with the last members of Faction Paradox against Lolita, but his alliances failed and Lolita consumed him. (AUDIO: Words from Nine Divinities)
Appearance
The War King had many scars from the days when he was a criminal in the eyes of the Great Houses. After gaining office, he decided to keep the scars to illustrate his suitability for the role. (PROSE: The Book of the War) He had a long, wispy white beard and thin wrinkled skin. He wore traditional Gallifreyan robes, albeit black instead of their usual colour. (PROSE: The Taking of Planet 5)
Behind the scenes
- The Taking of Planet 5 implies that, before becoming War King, the renegade was the Magistrate, who in The Infinity Doctors played a similar role to that which The Book of the War says the War King played under Umbaste's administration. Both the War King and the Magistrate are hinted to be, but never explicitly identified as, incarnations of the Master.
- The Book of the War also hints that the War King is an incarnation of the War Chief, who has been suggested to be an early incarnation of the Master by several sources.
