Shift (Head of State)

The Shift was an agent sent by either the Great Houses or their enemy to monitor changes in the history of Earth during the War in Heaven. While investigating a change in Earth's timelines, it was wiped from history by Lolita and turned into a Shift. It tried to manipulate Dave Lawson into preventing Lola Denison from becoming Vice President of the United States, but Lawson instead assassinated President Matt Nelson.

Before being turned into a Shift, it was present during the war which The Thousand and Second Night described as a conflict between the angels and the djinn, although the Shift had been neither a djinn nor an angel. In the story, it gave Allah the idea of hiding the cauldron of creation from the djinn by putting it inside the world. The Shift noted that the story wasn't quite correct, as the person it was speaking to hadn't been God. (PROSE: Head of State)

Behind the scenes

 * The Shift's speech patterns were intended to resemble those of the Doctor; the Shift's comments in the discussion of the Eternal War can be seen as a reference to the Other.