Eternal War

The Eternal War, also called the War in Heaven, was a protracted and bloody conflict fought against the Great Vampires early in the history of the Time Lords.

History
Because the story of the Eternal War was never recorded in the Matrix, there were varying accounts of its start. (PROSE: The Pit)

According to a transmission which Samantha Jones received on Anathema (and which may have been influenced by Faction Paradox propaganda), the war began when Rassilon first opened a black hole in an attempt to draw power from other planes of existence. The black hole reached through to an inhabited plane, and monsters with great leathery wings and bat-like heads swarmed through the opening. (PROSE: Interference)

According to The Book of the War, the Yssgaroth escaped into Spiral Politic during the anchoring of the thread. They destroyed the machinery responsible for the anchoring, creating the caldera. (PROSE: The Book of the War)

According to The Thousand and Second Night, the djinn survived the destruction of their world "before the first time"; the "cauldron of creation" also survived from this "world before the world", and Allah filled it with an infinite black emptiness in which he could dissolve the current world and create a new one. Iblis, the leader of the djinn, wanted Allah's power for himself, so he convinced the djinn to help him steal the cauldron and bring it from Jannat to Jahannam. Allah formed his angels into five great tribes and many smaller tribes and sent them to defend the cauldron. (PROSE: Head of State)

Whatever the cause, the ferocity and resilience of the Vampires made their defeat very difficult, even for the Time Lords. (TV: State of Decay) They drank the angels' blood and feasted on their power. (PROSE: Head of State) Conventional weapons were virtually useless. Rassilon ordered the construction of bowships to exploit the Vampires' vulnerability to being impaled through the heart. (TV: State of Decay) Led by Kopyion Liall a Mahajetsu, the Time Lords pushed the Yssgaroth back into their own universe over a thousand years, though billions of people were killed and whole star systems were destroyed. (PROSE: The Pit) Eventually, all but one — the swarm leader — were found and destroyed. (PROSE: Interference)

The node points in the metastructure of history that were outlets to the Yssgaroth's universe were blocked and reinforced by forced-matter shells disguised as planets — unless someone attempted to drill to the planet's core. (PROSE: The Book of the War) These planets included the Althosian system (PROSE: The Pit) and Earth. (PROSE: Interference, Head of State) The djinn could not reach the cauldron hidden within the Earth, so they mixed with human women and created the Mal'akh, who lay in wait until the angels returned to take the cauldron back to Jannat. (PROSE: Head of State) Iphigenia was also located on a universal ley line as protection against the Great Vampires. (PROSE: So Vile a Sin)

The Fourth Doctor ended the war by killing the King Vampire, who had fled into E-Space. (TV: State of Decay)

Legacy
The war became a legend throughout the universe, with few exact details known. (TV: State of Decay) Vampire legends existed in many cultures, including Earth. (PROSE: Goth Opera, PROSE: Vampire Science) Vampires were viewed as extremely scary by Gallifreyans. (PROSE: World Game)

Every Type 40 time vessel included a message from Rassilon saying that it was a Time Lord's solemn duty to lay down his life to kill the King Vampire. The war caused such widespread loss of life that the Time Lords rejected the use of violence forever. (TV: State of Decay)

General Mirraflex, the founder of House Mirraflex, achieved notability during the war. (PROSE: The Book of the War)

Rassilon rose to power during the war. (PROSE: The Pit) One of his titles was "Conqueror of the Yssgaroth", (AUDIO: Zagreus) and his throne was made of the bones of giant bats. (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet)