Kotturuh crisis

The Kotturuh crisis was a conflict in the Dark Times when the Kotturuh began dispensing mortality to the species of the universe. (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times)

The crisis was escalated by the intervention of the Tenth Doctor. Travelling back in time to the Dark Times through the Time Fracture after declaring himself Time Lord Victorious, he attempted to rewrite history by stopping the Kotturuh. (PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead) This caused temporal fluctuations which altered timelines across the universe. (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times) As a result the crisis spread into the future, embroiling the Dalek Restoration Empire (PROSE: The Last Message) and multiple other incarnations of the Doctor. (COMIC: Defender of the Daleks) In particular, the Eighth and Ninth Doctors began working together to stop the rewriting of history. (COMIC: Monstrous Beauty, AUDIO: He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not)

The Kotturuh Spread
After a "millennia or two" of laying low in the Dark Times, according to River Song's estimation, the Kotturuh began spreading throughout the universe, distributing mortality to the species of the universe (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times) according to their "Design". (PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead) They started on the planet Birinji. (PROSE: The Dawn of the Kotturuh)

Species reacted to the Kotturuh in different ways. The Eternals fled, losing the ability to live their own lives in the process. The Daemons fought back and were rendered all but extinct. Some bargained with the Kotturuh; the Osiran Sutekh gained the gift of death for himself and the Great Vampires kept their immortality in return for adopting a lifestyle of feeding on other species. (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times) One species wiped out by the Kotturuh left a spaceship abandoned in space, loaded with art and a source of Huon energy as reminders of their lost civilisation. (COMIC: Tales of the Dark Times) witnessed a Kotturuh woman at work on the planet Alexis and attempted to influence her judgement on the Mogellans. (AUDIO: Lesser Evils) The Kotturuh visited Gallifrey and judged its people as having much to offer in the future. (PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead) The Gallifreyans called their new natural deaths "the Ultimate". (COMIC: Monstrous Beauty) The Kotturuh judged Destran however discovered a young girl, Estinee, who was inexplicably immune to their touch. They took her prisoner. (PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead)

The people of Eloii were rendered sterile and short-lived to enable a race that the Kotturuh preferred to colonise their world. Professor Fallomax survived with her father by fleeing into space. Together they built a prototype lifeshroud using crystals from a meteor believed to have come from the Kotturuh home planet, Mordeela. Her father eventually succumbed to the Kotturuh’s judgement and Fallomax dedicated herself to making more lifeshrouds to try to protect others against the Kotturuh,. The prototype was dependent on the Mordeela crystals, which could defuse the Kotturuh’s energies, however required regularly changing the crystals to fresh ones to work. She mined crystals from Mordeela using drones and discovered Estinee being held prisoner there and rescued her. Fallomax hoped to make the lifeshrouds work without burning through crystals so quickly, but was unable to achieve this. She exploited Estinee’s immunity to death to sell non-functional lifeshrouds on worlds about to be judged by the Kotturuh, using this scam to fund her research. (PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead)

Intervention of the Time Lord Victorious
In 2059, the Doctor rewrote history by saving Adelaide Brooke on Mars and declared himself Time Lord Victorious. (TV: The Waters of Mars) When he returned her home to Davies Street, the Time Fracture was created. (PROSE: What the TARDIS thought of "Time Lord Victorious") She was appalled by his dismissive attitude to her fellow survivors and self-proclaimed dominance over history and committed suicide to correct the timeline. Horrified by his actions, and a summons by Ood Sigma which he believed heralded his death, (TV: The Waters of Mars) the Doctor used the Time Fracture to flee into the Dark Times.

He arrived on the planet Andalia and witnessed Estinee demonstrating Fallomax's lifeshrouds. He saved her from Brian, who had been contracted by High Ambassador Chalskal to test the technology's efficacy by trying to kill Estinee. The Kotturuh arrived on Andalia and issued their judgement, to the Doctor's fury. They reclaimed Estinee and departed, however the Doctor and Brian followed them. On Mordeela, they encountered various remnants and saw Fallomax rescue Estinee via mining drone again. They fled back to the TARDIS where the Kotturuh confronted them, angry at the Doctor's meddling. They marked him with a upcoming date on Andalia. Refusing to be intimidated, the Doctor met Fallomax and agreed to help make the lifeshrouds work better. Brian’s employer also tracked them down and upon learning Estinee had overheard his world was due judgement in a few weeks he demanded they work on the lifeshrouds on his flagship.

After some weeks of work, the Doctor found the lifeshrouds couldn't be made to work for more than a couple of hours and began searching for a more permanent solution by reverse engineering the Kotturuh's power. During this time Brian discovered Chalskal actually wanted the lifeshrouds to arm his mercenary forces for a coup and hadn’t actually warned his people about the Kotturuh’s coming. After the Doctor and Chalskal decided to use the Ambassador as a test subject for their current lifeshroud prototype, which only lasted 6 hours before requiring new crystals, Brian manipulated him to give the Doctor control of the mercenary fleet, believing he was effectively going to war with the Kotturuh. Though uncomfortable at this turn of events, the Doctor nonetheless accepted it.

The Doctor realised he had a physical sample of the Kotturuh from their confrontation and decided to return to Andalia with Estinee and Fallomax to analyse the recent Kotturuh energies there. He devised a necrotic virus to attack the Kotturuh and came up with two solutions: one to impose a lifespan, and the other to wipe them out by limiting their lives to just fifteen minutes. He hoped to use this rewrite history for the better, perhaps even preventing the rise of the Daleks and Cybermen. The Kotturuh used their influence on Estinee to have her shift his TARDIS forward in time to their appointed date and to kill Fallomax. They confronted him outside the TARDIS and tried to make Estinee kill him, but she refused and used the gun to detonate her lifeshroud. The explosion broke the vial containing the Doctor's lesser solution but provoked him to unleash the greater one. The Kotturuh crumbled to dust before his eyes, now only able to live for fifteen minutes, as he declared himself Time Lord Victorious again. (PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead)

Rewriting of time
The Doctor's actions in the Dark Times caused significant fluctuations in time. (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times) Numerous planets' timelines were rewritten, including Atharna and Wrax. (AUDIO: He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not, The Enemy of My Enemy) The Dalek Restoration Empire no longer fought in the Last Great Time War. (COMIC: Defender of the Daleks)

Dalek conflicts
The Emperor of the Restoration received a message being sent across the universe by an ancient Dalek drone. He deduced that the drone was a survivor of a Time Squad that had yet to be sent back in time. From the message the Emperor learnt that history was under attack and that the Doctor was involved. To obtain more information, (PROSE: The Last Message) he led a fleet to claim the Archive of Islos.

After the Daleks threatened to destroy the Archive, the Archivians appeared to surrender; however, the Daleks found the building empty, and the Chief Archivian revealed that an entity from outside time and space had agreed to transport the Archive's contents and the people of Islos to safety in return for the Daleks. The Entity emerged from a portal (WC: The Archive of Islos) and attacked the Daleks, forcing them to retreat back to Skaro. There they called up more forces to fight the Entity but found their firepower ineffective, forcing them to evacuate their home planet. The Prime Strategist went to acquire reinforcements from the Sentinel of the Fifth Galaxy, who was caring for 10,000 dormant Daleks. However, the Entity arrived before him and took the Sentinel and dormant Daleks under its influence. After the Strategist refused its offer to become the new Emperor, the Entity's army attacked, fought by the Daleks led by the Executioner until the Strategist advised the Emperor to withdraw again. (WC: The Sentinel of the Fifth Galaxy)

With the Daleks being defeated by the Entity, the Strategist plotted to pit it against another enemy of the Daleks - the Mechanoids. Making it appear that the Daleks were nearly extinct, (WC: Day of Reckoning) he and the Emperor travelled to Mechanus claiming to seek the aid of the Mechanoids, The Emperor spoke with the Queen in her star chamber whilst the Strategist demanded to see a scientist. Eventually Mechanoid 2150 took the Strategist to inspect the orbital defences. The Silver Daleks escorting them grew impatient and began to fight the Mechanoids who destroyed them. Observing the skirmish, the Queen noted no reinforcements coming to their aid and wondered if the Emperor and Strategist were now the only Daleks left. The power was suddenly drained from the Mechanoid City, leaving the planet defenceless, and the Emperor revealed to the Queen that he’d deliberately led the Entity there. (WC: Planet of the Mechanoids) Whilst the Entity laid siege to the Mechanoids’ hasty defences, Mechanoid 2150 and the Strategist discovered a way to identify the Entity’s energy trace and sent parts of it back to its original dimension. As the Entity broke through the Mechanoids, the Queen abandoned the Emperor out in the open, resulting in him suffering numerous strikes. He was saved when Mechanoid 2150 and the Strategist managed to use the orbital array to send the entire Entity back to its dimension. Furious at the Daleks’ trick, the Queen ordered the wounded Emperor and Strategist to leave and declared that the Mechanoids would be coming for the Daleks. (WC: The Deadly Ally)

The Emperor and Strategist returned to Skaro and recalled other surviving Daleks there. When the Mechanoids arrived they were overwhelmed by the reinforcements, forcing the Queen and 2150 to retreat. They sought the Strategist who revealed his schemes and they tried to convince him to turn on the Emperor. He pretended to agree and they escorted him through the battle to another chamber, where he and 2150 planned to use the City’s beam projector to send the Emperor through a portal to the Entity’s dimension. At the last moment, the Strategy betrayed the Mechanoids and modified the beam to send the Mechanoids through the portal instead. The Emperor congratulated him on defeating two enemies of the Daleks, though reminded him that “superior beings” were harder to manipulate. As they inspected the battlefield the Entity briefly possessed a ruined Mechanoid and teased them that they didn’t know what was coming for them. (WC: Day of Reckoning)

The Daleks were attacked by the Hond, which had also been unleashed by their invasion of the Archive of Islos, (PROSE: The Restoration Empire) after a failed attempt to ally with them. With the Daleks losing, and Skaro itself in danger of falling, the Strategist suggested the recruitment of the Doctor to help them. (COMIC: Defender of the Daleks)

Saving the Daleks
At a point in his life long before he became the Time Lord Victorious, the Tenth Doctor was brought to Skaro to help the Restoration Empire resolve the coming attack on Skaro by the Hond. Though disturbed at the Restoration Empire's existence and their lack of knowledge about the Time War, the Doctor agreed to help them stop the Hond, which he believed should have been extinct. Working with the Strategist he investigated the Vault of Obscenities and discovered a way to pacify the Hond. This method succeeded just as the Hond approached Skaro's defences; then, the Daleks turned on the Doctor. He escaped with the aid of the Thirteenth Doctor. The Strategist defended this failure to the Emperor and suggested the Daleks make use of other Doctors. (COMIC: Defender of the Daleks)

The Emperor created a Time Squad to investigate the temporal fluctuations and return them to the Daleks' advantage. The Squad included the Strategist, Executioner, a Scientist and time sensitive Silver Daleks. It was led by the Time Commander. (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times) The Emperor also pre-recorded a message for the Commander and Executioner in the event of them failing to correct history. (PROSE: All Flesh is Grass)

The Eighth Doctor's involvement
In the Doctor's eighth incarnation, he began noticing fractures in time. After learning about the exhibits at the Verbier Museum of the Impossible, he warned the curator, Anke Von Grisel, that they meant "dark times [were] coming". (PROSE: Canaries)

Upon travelling to Atharna, he discovered that the ocean world was now inexplicably a desert. Finding Brian and Felicity wounded, he helped them get to the nearest town, Moslin. Despite his desire to investigate the change to time, the Doctor became embroiled in Brian's contract against Felicity and her wife, eventually agreeing to take the assassin off-world if he abandoned the contract. However, as they boarded the TARDIS, it was pulled away by the Daleks, causing Brian to fall into the Time Vortex. (AUDIO: He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not) After a "little nudge" by the Tenth Doctor's TARDIS, (PROSE: What the TARDIS thought of "Time Lord Victorious") Brian ended up in the Dark Times, where he helped the Time Lord Victorious. (PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead)

Captured by the Daleks, (AUDIO: He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not) the Doctor was brought before the Time Commander. He was told about the Time Squad's mission and agreed to help their investigation. They travelled to Wrax to analyse the planet's altered timeline, though the Daleks were also interested in the Devolver, a superweapon on the planet. While the Strategist and the Doctor explored the Wraxians' gallery of artefacts from civilisations they'd defeated, the Commander, Scientist, and Executioner met the Wraxian President. After tempting them with offers of an alliance and a demonstration of the Devolver, she trapped the three leaders with the intention of using the Devolver against them. The Commander ordered the Silver Daleks to invade Wrax to stop her; however, the Strategist convinced him to let the Doctor negotiate. The Doctor agreed with the President that the Daleks would withdraw in return for the Devolver's dismantling, and in exchange the Doctor would tell the Daleks his theory regarding the source of the alterations. Secretly, the Commander sent the Executioner back to Wrax to use the Devolver against the Wraxians. (AUDIO: The Enemy of My Enemy) The Devolver was left abandoned until being discovered by, who created a smaller version that he could wield as a weapon. (AUDIO: Master Thief)

The Doctor told the Daleks the source of the alterations was in the Dark Times and connected his TARDIS to their timeship's engines so they could travel back there. (AUDIO: The Enemy of My Enemy) In the Dark Times, the Doctor and Time Squad eventually located the source of the alterations and travelled to Mordeela. (PROSE: All Flesh is Grass)

The Ninth Doctor's involvement
Arriving in the Dark Times, the Ninth Doctor and Rose were caught up in the Eternal War between Gallifrey and the Great Vampires. They were captured by Gallifreyan forces commanded by Rassilon and escaped during an attack of Curcubites. Rose was abducted by a primordial class Vampire, forcing the Doctor to turn back and aid the Gallifreyans. He conspired to steal Rassilon's spaceship with a Gallifreyan scientist. Androkan, who had despaired at what Gallifrey had become after the War and the Ultimate and deduced the Doctor came from their future.

They followed the Curcubites to a Coffin Ship, unware Rassilon was tracking them, and infiltrated it. They found it run by Vampires who had been turned and enslaved by the Three Mad Sisters, who obeyed the Great One. After they were captured, Androkan was killed by Friar Grystock, an acolyte of the Sisters, who took the Doctor before them and revealed Rose had been turned by them. The Doctor held off the Vampiric Rose’s attacks and managed to send her to sleep when Gallifreyan forces began attacking the Coffin Ship. The Sisters died during the attack and the Doctor convinced a Vampire guard commander, Drogann, to seize the chance for freedom. Using a synth-blood the Doctor and Androkan had developed Drogann freed the slaves from addiction whilst the Doctor sent out Rassilon’s ship to distract the Gallifreyans so the Coffin Ship could escape. The Doctor used the synth-blood to cure Rose however she passed out, needing some time to recover. He found a “nice moon” for Rose to recover on and left her in the care of Centia. (COMIC: Monstrous Beauty) Whilst she recovered, the Doctor stayed with the Free Undead as they searched for a planet to settle on. He felt something was wrong and investigating this lead the Undead to Mordeela. (PROSE: All Flesh is Grass)

Battle of Mordeela
The Time Lord Victorious, having adopted Time Lord robes, returned to his mercenary fleet which he'd ordered to approach Mordeela. He intended to seal it off so no-one else could use the Kotturuh's power source. As they arrived, Kotturuh ships transmitted to the Doctor, begging him to show mercy as they died. He refused and prepared to order his ships to attack Mordeela. A Dalek saucer led by the Eighth Doctor and a Vampire Coffin Ship commanded by the Ninth Doctor arrived in front of his fleet. The two Doctors begged their future self to halt his attack, but he dismissed them as a Kotturuh trick and ordered his fleet to fire. (PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead) This resulted in Mordeela exploding, to the past Doctors’ horror.

The Daleks fired on the fleet and sent out Dalek Drones, destroying many of the ships, whilst the Coffin Ship fired ineffectively at the fleet. Brian used ancient weaponry collared from numerous powers to strike back, forcing the Daleks back, and to shield the fleet. The Undead sent out the Bloodsmen, which were able to bypass the shields Brian had created. Eventually all of the Victis Fleet except the Tenth Doctor’s ship had been destroyed or fled, but he was able to deploy his weapon to seal the gateway at Mordeela before escaping. (PROSE: All Flesh is Grass)

Further adventures in the Dark Times
The Tenth Doctor, still wearing the Time Lord robes, fled alone to a desert planet where he was feasted on by ghosts, who convinced him he’d saved a species. Brian, who considered the Tenth Doctor the only person he had who was close to a friend, tracked him down and destroyed the ghosts, releasing the Doctor from their influence. (COMIC: Tales of the Dark Times) The Doctor and Brian travelled together to Magnox, where the Doctor intended to ask the Minds of Magnox a question. (AUDIO: The Minds of Magnox)

The Dalek Time Squad embarked on two competing schemes; the Strategist and Scientist began experiments on the unique life forms of the Dark Times, hoping to create a more efficient form of Dalek called the “Symbiont”, whilst the Time Commander and Executioner implemented the Emperor’s contingency plan by targeting pre-Time Lord Gallifrey. The Time Commander also dispatched scout ships to kill the surviving Kotturuh, fearing their judgement on the Daleks. The Eighth Doctor found himself as little more than a prisoner, as the Daleks only needed him to ensure their eventual escape from the Dark Times. (PROSE: All Flesh is Grass)

The Dalek Time Squad harvested Velosia under the pretence of saving their best and brightest from the oncoming Kotturuh. Once they left the planet, the Daleks killed them, leaving the Velosians to face the Kotturuh’s judgement without their best minds.

Working with the Time Squad, the Eighth Doctor discovered the abandoned spaceship left as a memorial. The Daleks attempted to absorb the Huon energy, forcing him to help them again when it went wrong.

Travelling with the Vampires, the Ninth Doctor visited Parvanna accompanied by Ikalla. They were hunted by an invisible creature, which the Doctor held off by setting a sonic stake alight, until being picked up by their ship. (COMIC: Tales of the Dark Times)

The Daleks targeted the Vampires for the Symbiont. The Squad attacked the Ninth Doctor’s Coffin Ship, however the Eighth Doctor forewarned the Undead allowing them to escape whilst he fled with his future self in his TARDIS. (PROSE: All Flesh is Grass) Together the Eighth and Ninth Doctors went in search of the Time Lord Victorious, travelling to Hoolan. There they discovered a malfunctioning time machine, whose pilot had attempted to witness the Big Bang, linking the Dark Times to the future. They repaired it and sent her home. (COMIC: Tales of the Dark Times)

They eventually tracked him to Entranxis and arrived as he was meeting the Death Brokers to acquire new weapons for his ship, which he’d christened the HMS Donna. Dalek scouts also targeted Entranxis to capture Ikalla, who the Brokers had captured from the fleeing Undead. In the ensuing pursuit, the Ninth Doctor escaped with Ikalla whilst the other Doctors fled to the Donna. A Kotturuh ship approached Entranxis as the Donna escaped, however was destroyed by the Daleks before they could judge the planet. The Daleks deployed missiles to set Entranxis’ atmosphere alight. Afterwards the Ninth Doctor met his other selves on the Donna but was angered at their lack of compassion for the dying Kotturuh, so set out with Ikalla to help the Kotturuh. (PROSE: All Flesh is Grass)

The Ninth Doctor returned to Rose. When she finally awoke, she noticed his battered appearance. Together they returned to his TARDIS and left the Dark Times. (COMIC: Monstrous Beauty)

The Time Fracture
The Time Fracture, which the Doctor’s actions had created, (PROSE: What the TARDIS thought of “Time Lord Victorious”) was observed in 2020 at a former UNIT Black Site. Various aliens began to manifest through it and arrive in London, including a Dalek, a Cyberman and a Time Lord. The former UNIT personnel were able to intercept them but the Fracture kept growing. Eventually, the Doctor sent a list of names of hundreds of individuals who could help resolve the Fracture and save the universe to the former UNIT site. Kate Stewart broke every security protocol they had to broadcast to the individuals to ask them to join Operation Time Fracture. (WC: 14681 UNIT Field Log, 14682 UNIT Field Log, 14683 UNIT Field Log, 14684 UNIT Field Log)

Return of a forgotten Faction
As result of the Doctor’s actions in the crisis, numerous artefacts from erased timelines began to surface. They were collected by Anke Von Grisel at her Verbier Museum of the Impossible. The Eighth Doctor had tried to warn her in the midst of the crisis and numerous other incarnations, including the Twelfth and Thirteenth Doctors, continued to call her to warn her about the exhibits and asking to take them away, which she refused. Whilst in the company of Daleks, the Eleventh Doctor called Anke and asked to study the exhibits which he believed were symptoms of a problem with time. Anke regarded this as a repeat of the other Doctors’ prior telephone requests to take her exhibits away, so she hung up the phone. Eventually the Curator called Anke on Christmas Day to confess that her exhibits existed because of him and were evidence of a time that he was arrogant and thought he could change things. In doing so, he feared he’d "opened a door" and "let something in". As he spoke on the phone, the two cultist masks in her collection came to life: (PROSE: Canaries) Siblings Different and Same, the last remnants of a forgotten Time War faction. (PROSE: The Paradox Moon)

The Thirteenth Doctor helped the Shadow Proclamation investigate the anomalous moon that appeared in their orbit. She discovered that it was a trap constructed by Siblings Different and Same, who were seeking revenge on the Doctor for ending the Time War. However, the Siblings' makeshift TARDIS backfired, and the Doctor took Different as a companion. (PROSE: The Paradox Moon)

Behind the scenes
The Kotturuh crisis and its repercussions drove the plot of the Time Lord Victorious multimedia project.