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) This caused the crisis to spread into the future, embroiling the Dalek Restoration Empire (PROSE: The Last Message) and two other incarnations of the Doctor who 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) They started on the planet Birinji. (PROSE: The Dawn of the Kotturuh) They did so according to their “Design”. (PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead)

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) The Master 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)

Professor Fallomax began working on lifeshrouds to try to protect against the Kotturuh, using a prototype to survive their judgement on her people. She mined crystals from their home planet of Mordeela using drones and discovered Estinee being held prisoner there due to her natural immunity to them. She rescued Estinee in the hopes of using her to finalise the lifeshrouds, but was unable to make them work on anyone else. Her work was sponsored by Chalskal, who portrayed himself as a High Ambassador. In truth he was a low-level politician who hoped to use the lifeshrouds as armour on his mercenary army so he could launch a coup. (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 the “Time Lord Victorious“. (TV: The Waters of Mars) When he returned her home to Davies Street, a 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 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 her lifeshroud work. After some weeks of work, the Doctor found they couldn’t work indefinitely except on Estinee and began searching for a more permanent solution by reverse engineering the Kotturuh’s power. During this time Brian discovered Chalskal’s true position and 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, she refused and used the gun to detonate her lifeshroud. The explosion broke the vial containing the Doctor’s lesser solution, however he was enranged enough to unleash the other one. The Kotturuh crumbled to dust before his eyes, now only able to live for fifteen minutes, as he declared himself the Time Lord Victorious again. (PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead)

Rewriting of Time
The Doctor’s actions in the Dark Times caused 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 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 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. Needing more information, he thought of the Archive of Islos as a place to find it. (PROSE: The Last Message)

The Emperor personally led a Dalek fleet to invade Islos to claim the Archive, accompanied by the Prime Strategist and the Executioner. The Archivians appeared to surrender after the Daleks threatened to destroy the Archive however upon entering the building the Daleks found it empty. The Chief Archivian revealed they’d made a deal with an Entity from outside time and space which had transported the Archive’s contents and the people of Islos to safety, in return for the Daleks. The Entitiy 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 Daleks withdrew and the Strategist went to acquire reinforcements from the Sentinel of the Fifth Galaxy. The Entity arrived before him by virtue of its abilities from being outside of time and took the Sentinel under its influence, which it passed on to the 10,000 dormant Daleks the Strategist ordered it to awaken. It offered to make the Strategist the new Emperor, claiming it would be satisfied with a change of leadership in the Daleks, but he refused. The Entity’s army fought the Daleks led by the Executioner until the Strategist advised the Emperor to withdraw again. (WC: The Sentinel of the Fifth Galaxy)

Eventually the Daleks reclaimed Skaro however found themselves under attack by the Hond (COMIC: Defender of the Daleks) who had also been unleashed by their invasion of the Archive of Islos. (PROSE: The Restoration Empire) With Skaro in danger of falling, the Strategist suggested the Daleks recruit the Doctor. The Tenth Doctor, at a point in his life long before he became the Time Lord Victorious, was brought to Skaro. Though disturbed at this Dalek 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 was deployed as the Hond approached Skaro‘s defences and was successful, so the Daleks turned on the Doctor. He escaped, with the aid of his future self. 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 Eighth Doctor’s involvement
In his eighth incarnation, the Doctor began noticing fractures in time. After learning about her exhibits, he rang Anke, curator of the Verbier Museum of the Impossible, and warned her they meant that “dark times [were] coming“ but she hung up. (PROSE: Canaries)

He travelled to Atharna however discovered the ocean world was now inexplicably a desert. There he found Brian and Felicity wounded and helped them to 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 his 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 would help the Time Lord Victorious. (PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead)

The Doctor was captured by the Daleks (AUDIO: He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not) and 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 superweapon on the planet. Whilst the Strategist and the Doctor explored the Wraxians’ gallery, filled with artefacts from civilisations they’d defeated, the Commander, Scientist and Executioner met the Wraxian President. She agreed to consider an alliance and demonstrated their superweapon, the Devolver. She betrayed the Daleks however, trapping the three leaders and intending to use 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. The Daleks agreed as the Doctor revealed he had a theory on the source of the alterations, which he’d only tell them once they’d left Wrax, however 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 the Master, 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)

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 coffinship commanded by the Ninth Doctor arrived on front of his fleet. The two Doctors begged their future self to halt his attack, however he dismissed them as a Kotturuh trick and ordered his fleet to fire. (PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead)

Behind the scenes
The Kotturuh crisis was the main conflict of the Time Lord Victorious multimedia project.