The Tales of Gallifrey

[brainsnaffler]

Hey everyone,

So, I've been thinking about a campaign set almost in ancient Gallifrey along the lines of the Tales of the Jedi comics.

My thought is to do a kind of re-telling on the Cult of Morbius, allowing a very good reason for one or more of the characters to be Time Lords. Here's what I have so far. If anyone can think of ways to improve the plot, by all means, please let me know :-)


Episode 1 – The Ides of Time
The Enemy: The Cult of Morbius
After a brief player introduction to Gallifreyan culture, a high ranking member of the High Council is found dead.

The group are soon involved in finding out the culprit, and through their investigation, learn about a sinister cult trying to destroy the order of Gallifrey. Unfortunately, they learn a little too late and are implicated in the death of the Lord President – probably discovering that it was Morbius as they are found standing over the body of the President.

Now hunted, the group evade the guards until they reveal Morbius for what he is. He reveals his plans, trying to reason and convince the High Council, but alas, they are repulsed by his actions. He manages to escape with his cult and vows revenge on the Time Lords.

The group are still implicated in the actions, and for their (presumable) dissatisfaction with the motions to strike Morbius from the Matrix. They are scheduled for exile, but a sympathetic Time Lord manages to free them and point them in the direction of a TARDIS.

Episode 2 – Excavation of the Daleks
Enemy: Daleks
On the run from the Time Lords, the PC(s) arrive in the modern world to find that a group have found a time device in old London and artefacts relating to the Ironsides. End up resurrecting them and having to stop them. This adventure is meant to introduce the rest of the companions. Remember that at this point in Gallifrey’s history, the Daleks are an unknown quantity, not gaining the power of time travel until the Chase.

Episode 3 – The Ion Mines
Enemy: Ion Wraiths
Find a futuristic mining group that’s searching for really expensive ionic rocks. Turns out the rocks are really something totally different and there removal is responsible for unleashing some dark shadow-like Ion Wraiths. The miners must decide if their profit is worth the lives of everyone on the station.

Episode 4 – Raiders of the Lighting
Enemy: Salvagers
Whilst leaving the ion mines, the TARDIS is struck by some temporal anomaly, brought on by the lightning storms surrounding the mines. It shifts the TARDIS sideways in time and messes it up. The group must find a way to get the TARDIS back on its feet and return to normal space. But, others seeing the crashed ship begin to have ideas of salvage.

Episode 5 – The Wrath of the Sycorax
Enemy: Sycorax
An invasion force of sycorax have come to earth in the dark ages. Many in Europe believe them to be a foreign race, similar to the barbaric tribes of old such as the Scythians. They are however a formidable foe and are relishing sweeping up the land with their raiding parties. It’s down to the PC’s to stop them!

Episode 6– Frigid Ice
Enemy: Ice Warriors
The Ice Warriors come up with a plan to invade planet earth and bring about another ice age

Episode 7–
Enemy: New Enemy
The group face a new enemy, possibly in the past


Episode 8 - Deep Impact
Enemy: Robot Ship
Land in present day earth. Everything’s normal until a single ship turns up in the Earths Atmosphere. Meet up with UNIT who insist on sending up a separate team of investigators. They loose contact and thus, agree to send the PC’s.

Go up there and discover that the ship is empty, but its summoning a huge meteor that is due to crash into earth.

Find it’s being drawn here by a signal and is designed to capture and hold the earth’s brightest minds so they can’t reverse the situation.

Torchwood guns could fire at it, but wouldn’t be able to stop the debris from smashing into earth with devastating consequences.

The mission is to find the tractor beams and stop them before the meteor reaches earth, and rescue the scientists / diplomats from the booby trapped ship.

In the end, find out that it was sent by the cult to dispose of the Earth because it seems to be a focal point of time lord intervention. Therefore, the humans are an enemy of Morbius. The group can trace the location of the ship to its origin point

Episode 9 - The Shadow Cabinet
Enemy: Faction Paradox
Tracing the ship back to the space where it came from, the group manage to get to an obvious enemy base, with people all acting cult like. They manage to infiltrate as conference meeting and discover that Morbius is planning to raise an army. He intends to send a signal to each army that has agreed to follow him in return for temporal abilities. The group may or may not stop him getting out the signal, but he manages to escape, living to continue his vow of vengeance. The shadowy powers at the conference are the Faction Paradox, and the Black guardian.

Episode 10– Temporal Dystopia
Enemy: The TARDIS
Although they’ve managed to escape, the group end up having more problems with the TARDIS that requires an adventure within it to fix them. This is probably the work of some diabolical faction paradox device that was fired upon them when they set off.

Episode 11– Temporal advantage
Enemy: Sontarans
Now the TARDIS is once more in control, the group manage to get to the signal that’s summoning armies. They get to a peace loving planet with no hostiles anywhere, but shortly after, they see invading Sontaran’s! There’s no sense or advantage to this, and so the group must help the survivors to take back their world and find out what’s going on. In the end, it turns out that the Sontaran’s DON’T particularly want to invade this planet, as it doesn’t hold any strategic value for them in their war with the Rutans, but it is advantageous because the Time Lords are wanting them to invade so they can have temporal powers that will assist them in crushing the Rutans. It turns out that the reports they have actually do show communication from within the citadel on Gallifrey, using a very secure line accessible only to members of the High Council.

Episode 12– The Battle for Time Part 1: Death Zone
Enemy: The Time Lords
From the information that the group got from the Sontarans, they have evidence of a traitor within the high council. The traitor revealed, they are all transported to the death zone and must fight their way out to the tower of Rassilon to get back to the council chamber and defeat the traitor. They are helped by the outlawed Sisters of the Sacred Flame, a female cult that once ruled Gallifrey. At the end of the episode, the traitorous Time lord is killed, and he regenerates into the current Morbius!

Episode 13– The Battle for Time Part 2: The Time Variable
Enemy: Morbius
Turns out, Morbius has broken the 1st law of time and pulled out himself from an earlier version of history and erased the memory of his image from the Matrix. The group end up going back on their own time streams to fight Morbius, and some timey wimey stuff happens. The group must stop it. In the end, it looks like Morbius is defeated – summons armies to attack gallifrey, but it’s the PC’s that stop him.

Morbius is sentenced to death and taken to Karn, where he is disintegrated and his ashes scattered to the 9 corners of the universe. The Sisterhood agree to live on Karn if they no longer bother the Time Lords

[Pertwee]

Morbius was President of the High Council at one point and it was his plans as president that led to his exile. For more information see the Time Traveller's Companion. I especially recommend that book if you haven't got it yet but plan to run a Gallifrey campaign.

[Marnal]

Here’s my notes on Morbius from the TV series, audios, novels, comics, and spin-off stories. Feel free to use [or ignore] whatever you want.

Depending on which source you go by, Morbius’ election to the position of Lord president of Gallifrey either occurred when the Doctor was…

The following timeline is based on the year that Morbius becomes Lord President of Gallifrey. Adjust to fit your personal opinion about when in Time Lord History that happens [there is no wrong answer!]

According to various sources, year zero could be….
Before the Doctor attended the Academy (possibly before his birth) when Borusa is in his first Incarnation.
OR
When the Doctor is 282 years old (aka shortly after the Doctor stopped attending the Academy)
OR
After the Doctor stole the TARDIS and left Gallifrey.


-500~ (Centuries before the Morbius Crisis)
Councilor Morbius beings plotting to take over the Universe.

-84?? (~900 years before the War / Probably before the War Lord Aliens were expelled)
Morbius recruits lesser species into House Dvora, which was Gallifrey’s first real contact with lesser species in over 10,000 years. The new “cousins” formed the Cult of Morbius and worshiped him as a god. The War Lord Aliens and the Gresaurus are among the off worlders who are allowed to attend the Academy. Given the name and their treatment by the Time Lords in War Games it is possible that the War Lord Aliens are also higher evolutionaries like the Time Lords.

-47.8 (515.8 years before Deadly Assassin / Matrix Date 5725.3 Matrix Date)
Morbius secretely beings forming the Cult of Morbius by recuiting millions of non-Gallifreyan Gaztak space pirates and mercenaries. He promises his mecenary followers eternal life. He tries to create an army to conquer the Universe.

-31? (~900 years before the War / the Morbius Crisis)
President Elect Morbius wants the Time Lords to interfere with the lesser species by reforming the Spiral Politic. He advocates repealing the Laws of Time and the recreating of History to suit the House of Dvora. Morbius was one of the Doctor’s heroes.

-11?~ (probably before Morbius was Exiled / 10-20 years before the final battle on Karn)
A Witch-Queen of the Pythia and a Sister of the Flame named Lady Peinforte becomes a renegade and attends Morbius' rallies. She share's his vision though they argue a lot. She becomes Morbius' mistress and lover. Morbius and Peinforte secretly have two children known as the Children of Contempt. Their son became known as Cardinal Grandier on Gallifrey, and Leofric DeSable elsewhere in the cosmos. His chosen title was the Chaplin of Spite. Their daughter was known as Madame Clacice Beauvier.

-10 (879 years before the War began / before Morbius becomes President?)
Patrexian Councilor Morbius secretly orders the creation of the Order of the Weal (aka the Order of the Good), which becomes the Time Lords first counter intelligence service. This ruthless group of rationalists wasn’t allied with any particular House or Chapter. Chatalaine Thessalia of the abandoned House of Ixion becomes its first Chatelaine director if the Order, and the Order was based at the House of Ixion. It is rumored that Morbius is romantically involved with Thessalia.

-10 (879 years before the War / 10 years before Morbius becomes President / almost 900 years before the 101-Project)
House Arpexia begins Catherion Imprimatur experiment (probably at the request of Morbius). They attempt to produce a sentient type of Casts called Babels. The Babels would be able to control the Casts without relying input from Gallifrey, making them an independent military force. The Babels were produced using the disused Loom of the House of Catherion, wich was purchased from its Chapter. The Order of the Weal probably has a hand in their creation.

+0 (468 years before Deadly Assassin/ 4 years before his execution / Before Morbius is exiled / 10 years after the Order of the Weal is created)
Morbius of the Patrexian Newblood House of Dvora is elected as the 400th Lord President of Gallifrey, becoming a Time Lord of the First Rank. Publicly Morbius claims that degeneracy and megalomania of the High Council is damaging the common good of Gallifreyan society. He also supports the idea that non-Prydonians should be allowed to become President. Morbius is the first politically ambitious Time Lord in memory and is quite popular with the Patrex and Arcal Chapters. His Chancellor is the Patrexian Saran and he has conspirators in the CIA. He takes enormous interest in the Spiral Politic. This is the beginning of the Imperator Era. Morbius is one of the Doctor’s heroes.

+0? (after becoming President)
Morbius removes some of Gallifrey's Validium from the Slaughterhouse. This appears to be the only weapon he removed. Morbius gives the Validium he stole to Lady Peinforte for safe keeping incase his war fails. Peinforte launches it into space aboard an asteroid rocket sled. The Validium is sent to Earth and crashes there in 1638 AD.

+0? (before being impeached / ~2960 AD??)
Believing that the outside universe is a danger to Gallifrey Morbius adopts a radical pro-intervension and pro-military stance. He long term goal is to create an army to conquer the Universe. Morbius continues to grow his cult of mercenaries. Morbius was still technically president while he was gathering his followers. The Cult is funded by resources stolen from the CIA. Their mission is to couquer the Mutter's Stellian Spiral.

+2.7 (after the creation of the Cult of Morbius/ Junior Cardinal Borusa is probably in his first incarnation )
The Order of the Weal, chaired by Junior Cardinal Borusa of the Prydon Chapter, devises a plan to expose Morbius' paranoia. They obtain confession of his conspirators in the CIA and present them to the High Council, which lead to President Morbius being unanimously impeached by the Emergency High Council. The Council also annulled all his decisions and laws from the point where his actions of High Treason began and institute a law preventing him from being President again.

+2.7 (after Morbius is impeached)
The emergency high council enacts a legislation that prevents any President who is impeached for High Treason against Gallifrey from ever holding office again. This is done to prevent the impeached President Morbius from running for election and becoming President. Its believed that he has enough support among the people to win an election.

+2.7 (the Doctor recognizes Morbius' face / before Morbius is executed / before The Infinity Doctors)
Upon his return to Gallifrey, Morbius is deposed and put on trial for High Treason. His sentence of vaporization is commuted because of his standing as a Time Lord of the first rank. Instead he is exiled to the planet Darkeen in the year 2966 AD. At this point Morbius still has the popular support of the Gallifrey even if the government has sided against him and several of his supporters leave Gallifrey with him.

+2.7?? (within 48 hours of Morbius being deposed)
The Prydonian Pandad III is made Acting President of Gallifrey for the duration of the Morbius Crisis.

+2.7? Borusa beings running Gallifrey from behind the scenes. He is also a Jurist. He believes that only in mathematics will one find truth. The Doctor beleived that his psionic professor (probably Borusa) was the only person who truely understood Artron Energy. He will write Rassilon the God. Despite this book most Time Lords don't even remember Rassilon's name (unlike Omega who is still remembered as a hero). The very idea of Gallifrey having a history is viewed as vulgar and primitive by the Time Lords. Rassilon will not be seen as a Time Lord messiah until after the events of The Deadly Assassin.

+2.8? (after forming the Cult)
Morbius’s army attacked several hundreds of civilizations in an attempt to bring order to the Universe. Over a dozen planets were destroyed by his army. The existence of the Time Lords becomes widely know because of Morbius’s actions. The High Council panics. The parts of history that Morbius interacted with remain linked with Gallifrey local time (in accordance with the Laws of Time).

+2.8 (the same year as Morbius is exiled)
The Time Lords are shocked and horrified by the actions of the Morbius Cult. The Matricians privately theorize that the Looms may be suffering from retro-shock caused by some future catastrophe. This retro-shock could be causing the rash of unstable Gallifreyans.

+3.7 (1 year before the execution / Before Borusa teaches the Doctor at the Academy / Possibly after the Doctor stole his TARDIS / After the Doctor left Gallifrey / after the Doctor is born / 2967 AD)
Warmonger Part 1: At the Doctor's (age 850) request the Time Lords form an Alliance to fight Morbius. The Doctor is named Supreme Coordinator of the Alliance against the Cult of Morbius. The Alliance is composed of Cybermen, Sontarans, Draconians, Humans from Martak, Martians and even some Ogrons. The Alliance is funded by the CIA. The Capitol Guard hasn't been involved in combat for generations.

+4.7 (After the Alliance against Morbius forms but right before the final battle / After Morbius and Peinforte are on Karn / 10-20 years after the Children of Contempt are born)
Peinfort leaves Karn with Clacice while the Chaplin of Spite steals Morbius’s escape ship and leaves Karn. Both of them will slowly prepare to become the champions of Time and the other Gods.

+4.7 (2 years after Morbius is exiled / 4 years after Morbius is elected president from Gallifrey's POV / before Infinity Doctors / 2968 AD / When the Doctor is 274 years old)
Warmonger Part 2: Morbius and his army try to capture Karn, but they are defeated by the Alliance and the Sisterhood of the Flame and the Time Lords. The civilization on Karn is devastated and most of the people living there move away. Many species came to witness Morbius's trial. One of Morbius's followers was Menhandri Solon, and he was a Terran doctor specializing in Micro-surgical techniques in tissue transplants. Morbius becomes the first Time Lord to be executed by his own people. Morbius was executed to show that the Time Lords followed a code of justice and to deter any lesser species from attacking Gallifrey. This is the first execution in Time Lord history. The vaporization is carried out on the planet Karn - scattering his body to the nine corners of the Universe. But Solon saved Morbius' brain from disintegration. The Sisterhood of the Flame begin crashing any ships that attempt to land on Karn. In the aftermath there is talk by Acting President Saran about creating a United Planet Organization to ensure peace in the Galaxy. The Morbius crisis becomes known as the Imperator Era by the Time Lords and becomes a major turning point as species all over the Universe now know of the Time Lords' existence. The four most famous renegades are Morbius, Grandfather Paradox, the Master and the Doctor.

+4.7?? (right after Morbius is Executed / probably takes a few years to arrange the inauguration / no more then 200 years before the next President)
Patrexian Saran is elected the President-Elect of Gallifrey.

?? (after meeting the Doctor / after the Morbius Crisis / 1638 AD)
Peinforte uses her mental powers to leave Karn and travel to Earth in 1638 AD. She kills 5 of the Sisterhood while escaping and steals some Elixir to ensure her immortality. Reverend Mother Maren asks the High Council to find and execute her. The High Council monitor the cosmos for her. If she attempts to leave Earth she will be detected, captured, and destroyed. Lady Peinforte fashions the stolen Validium into a statue that looks just like her and calls it Nemesis (meaning retribution). She becomes the Mistress of the Nemesis. The Nemesis tell her of many secrets from the Time of Chaos including secrets about the Doctor from that time such as the fact that the Doctor is the Other.

+4.7 These events cause the popularity of the intervention groups to rise. The CIA is the most influential (and oldest) of these groups. Having dealt with Morbius, the Order of the Weal now believes that the CIA is the greatest internal danger to Gallifrey. Despite the Morbius crisis, the Order of the Weal continued to revere Morbius.



1-2 years before Brain of Morbius
Iris Wildthyme enrolls in the Sisterhood of Karn.

?? (at least several years before TimeWyrm Exodus)
Dr Mehendri Solon begin selling a version of the Elixir under the name, "Dr Solon's Special Morbius Lotion. Guaranteed to Contain Genuine Elixir of Life. Manufactured Under License by the Sisterhood of Karn." The Sisterhood release only one pot of this salve every 100 years.

When the Doctor is 749 (takes place in a time considerably after the 20th Century / centuries after the first Diaspora)
Brain of Morbius: The CIA sends the Doctor to Karn to either deal with the shortage of Elixier or to deal with the potential resurrection of Morbius. Morbius's brain is discovered and presumed destroyed. By the end of this story there a 70 members of the Sisterhood of Karn.

When the Doctor is 749 (Immediately after Brain of Morbius)
High Priestess Ohica recovers Morbius' Brain and leads the Sisterhood to the Death Zone to help Morbius obtain immortality. Ohica and Morbius use the Time Scoop to bring seven of Iris's incarnations (some of them from the future) to the Death Zone and force them to fight several aliens (including Voord, Zarbi, and Mechanoids). Iris defeats Morbius and Ohica sends her to Makorna around the year 970 AD. While there she learned that the Doctor had been exiled to Sol III by the Time Lords. She uses Green Magic to create the Verdigris to "rescue" the Doctor.

When the Doctor is in his 5th incarnations and about 850 years old.
Warmonger: The Fifth Doctor spends 12 months dealing with Morbuis in his own relative past.

[brainsnaffler]

Ah, yes, Pertwee. I didn't say it in the first episode, but my aim was for the players to somehow be responsible for his rise to presidency, and thus when they revealed him as an assassin would instigate his impeachment.

However, all of that is moot now thanks to the fantastically detailed account of things from Marnal.

I'm very impressed! I had no idea Lady Peinforte was a sister of the flame, or involved with Morbius. The continuity does weirdly make sense though.

I guess my version of events would be woefully inadequate now, but still, as a less detailed, alternate history, it could work.

[Marnal]

Thank you for the kind words, but don't feel you NEED to alter your plot line because of what I dug up.

And [if you need it all to fit then] your PCs could easily be the members of the Order of the Weal who do bring down Morbius. The only real change you would have to make there is that Morbius is exiled rather then escapes.

And yes, Pertwee is right, any GM running a campaign with a focus on strong focus on Time Lord politics or Gallifrey will find his Time Travel Companion very useful. I'd also recommend my own site for supplementary details from the audios and novels www.meshyfish.com/~roo/
[after all, that's where I copy/pasted all that info from in the first place!]