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rassilon-imprimatur · 7 years

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The Caldera, Rassilon’s Star, and Ancient Gallifrey

So I’m an idiot and have, for far too long, been making the assumption that the Eye of Harmony, as seen in The Deadly Assassin and literally everything else, is the Homeworld’s caldera from The Book of the War. I’m not alone in this, granted, but it’s come to my attention that the two are not the same thing.

This has also led me to assume that “the anchoring of the thread” was a result of Omega’s detonation of Qqaba, but that’s not actually true either. I’ve got the full list of relevant entries (Anchoring of the Thread, the Caldera, and Yssgaroth) from The Book of the War and lots of thoughts below the cut.

The anchoring of the thread is an idea that is obviously an extension of Lawrence Miles’ assertion in his debut novel Christmas on a Rational Planet that the structure and rationality of the universe is a Time Lord invention. The way the universe exists, or the way we (as a Lesser Species) perceive it is because the Great Houses have literally sewn their laws, beliefs, and ideals into the fabric of creation. The expansion of the idea in The Book of the War, and therefore the entirety of the Faction mythos, is that the Houses give the universe a structure, and that structure becomes History-with-a-capitol-H.

The early universe was effectively structureless, but the Great Houses seem to have known that this state of affairs wouldn't last. Given enough time it would inevitably begin to develop a definite framework, as new cultures emerged across the span of the continuum and new species began to impose their own versions of meaning on the continuual strata. The ever-nervous academicians of the Homeworld knew they wouldn't be alone much longer, and most likely feared how other intelligences might influence the shape of the future: in theory the coming generations of species could be so different that a collision between them and the Houses would be as catastrophic as a collision of different forms of matter. Already, early deep-time explorations performed by the Houses' pioneers had shown that there were things at work in the formative future, things which simply couldn't be classified or even monitored by the Houses' own technology. Attempts had occasionally been made to avert the existence of such things, often using the most violent and primitive of the early time-technologies.

But the Houses' grand solution was to create the structure of the future for themselves. They were to stitch their biologies into the substance of creation at the most fundamental level, root themselves (or at least their culture) into the continuum, build a framework through which sentient life - their kind of sentient life - could understand, monitor and manipulate time in the outside universe. The bonding would make them virtually indestructible, as a society if not individually: the price would be infertility and cultural stasis. For the universe to remain constant the Houses would have to remain constant as well, and indeed the entire noosphere-core of the Homeworld would have to exist outside the main body of time. Or at least, outside the meta-structure of history which they were about to create.

Now, as with other parts of TBotW, it’s sometimes a game to figure out what elements of the Dr. Who mythos have been run through the Faction-grinder, and I always just assumed that the anchoring of the thread was an extension of, say, Omega’s sacrifice in “Star-Death.”

I flaunt Alan Moore’s Black Sun trilogy as more valid than I probably should, but “Star Death” is the only real account of the detonation of Qqaba, the creation (presumably) of the Eye of Harmony, and it’s so fucking canon.

However, it’s clear that the destruction of Qqaba has nothing to do with creating History or imposing structure on the universe. It’s just giving the Gallifreyans the power needed to “control” Time.

The account of the anchoring in The Book is actually quite clear that this is before the Great Houses are “the Lords of Time,” and that the anchoring of the thread, unlike the creation of the Eye of Harmony which took place in space, was stationed on Gallifrey itself:

The machinery required for the operation ended up comprising the largest structure ever built on the Homeworld. Later accounts describe it as a whole, as one "device", though it's doubtful it was designed or constructed that way. The first exploratory vessels, the Houses' proto-timeships, had already begun attaching themselves to strategic points in the formative future. They'd become anchors, holding the structure of history in place, and the machineries erected on the Homeworld could only have been centralised versions of the same technology. But there was a ceremony, without doubt, one great symbolic moment when the mechanisms locked into place and all the fragments of history were connected. Lore holds that elite representatives gathered in the centre of the machine-heart to perform the bonding for all their Houses, while field agents in their vessels took their places at the other ends of the "threads". From this point on the Houses would be the ultimate surveyors, watchers of the outside universe who defined the nature of time simply by observing it, the Homeworld becoming a single, all-seeing eye set apart from the rest of history.

They no doubt saw all of this as a kind of Faustian pact, and they must have realised even then exactly how much of themselves they were giving up in order to do it. But they couldn't have known that even though their meta-structure of history would prevent the creation of rival biological forms, it would also let things far, far worse enter the continuum.

On that day, the day of the anchoring of the thread, the Yssgaroth were let into the universe. The first attack came as a primal manifestation, destroying the site of the machinery and most probably everyone involved in the process, leaving an enormous crater - the caldera - at the centre of the newborn version of history. The first War in Heaven had begun.

Once the war against the Yssgaroth had been concluded, the site of the caldera became one of the cornerstones of House culture. With the possible exception of the ceremonial armour worn by Faction Paradox, it remains the only tangible reminder that the Yssgaroth ever existed, or at least the only one which the Houses will acknowledge. Today, in the era of the second (and somewhat more subtle) War, it's proved to be prime target of the enemy and a more fundamental part of the Houses' existence than they'd ever imagined.

So, if Qqaba becoming the Eye of Harmony was a space-hosted event, leading to Omega’s tragic fate, unleashing the powers that would turn the Gallifreyans into Time Lords, and kickstarting the Black Sun War (as well as providing directional units for timeships), the anchoring of the thread, which takes place on the Homeworld, with prototype-timeships providing anchors into the potential future, the entire site being destroyed by a facet of the Yssgaroth, cannot be the same event.

Which, actually, makes everything make a lot more sense.

We’ve seen (and indeed, The Book of the War continues to assert) that, even in the “structureless Dark Time of the universe,” the time of “blood and magic,” there was still chronology, and there was Time, both normal Time and Deep Time, to travel in. A Gallifrey under Pythian rule had been creating and testing Time Scaphes (proto-timeships!), and the Pythia could see the future. The structure of History as created by the Great Houses is not the same thing as Time.

Which is why the Houses still needed a means to become “Lords” of Time, even after structuring the Universe to their liking.

Here’s The Book of the War’s full description of the Homeworld’s caldera:

The caldera can safely be thought of as the absolute, unequivocal dead centre of history. It is, after all, the site where history literally began, where the technology of the Great Houses locked together the framework of the Spiral Politic during the anchoring of the thread with the Homeworld as its core and its centre of regulation. It was also the site of the first attack by the Yssgaroth, and for those reasons alone the caldera occupies a place of prime importance in the consciousness of the Houses, but more crucially still it's the point where all lines of historical influence meet.

In itself the caldera wouldn't appear to be a remarkable site. Though now covered over, at first glance it would seem to be little more than an absence, where the Yssgaroth incursion ate away all local matter and the Houses later surrounded the area with defences and utilities of their own devising. But its position is key. Anything exerting an influence on the site of the caldera will, by definition, affect the rest of history. It's the focal point not just of time but of the Houses' culture: as the Protocols of the Great Houses are worked into the very nature of history, coded into every one of the "threads" which criss-cross the Spiral Politic, then more than any other location the caldera is the centre-point of all that the Houses know and all that the Houses are. Theoretically, from here everything about the Houses - their past, their future, their collective memory, even their language - could be manipulated. The Houses themselves have never risked any significant experimentation, but during the War Era at least one abortive attempt was made to introduce foreign matter to this empty space at the heart of the oldest civilisation. That the site might be vulnerable is a constant worry to the ruling Houses, something which may have been a factor in the decision to construct the Nine Homeworlds shortly before the War began.

But as much as it may seem an achilles' heel, the caldera has also proved a positive boon. At least in theory, if the caldera is attached to every other point in history then data can be drawn along the "threads" directly from any locale which needs to be monitored, a useful tool when attempting to predict the effects of any manipulation of causality. To an extent it can even be used as an all-purpose communications network, though this is dubious as data being passed along the threads would run the risk of re-writing the continuum as it passed through countless other points across history.

And even more importantly, the caldera would seem to play a role in the construction of the timeships. The timeships are so complex in nature that it's impossible for one to be constructed without access to the kind of high-order non-linear manipulation of which only the ships are capable: each ship therefore collaborates in its own construction. Though the Houses' retro-engineering techniques are too complicated to explain in full, it would appear that these manipulations are only possible at the caldera site, in a specially-constructed null-zone connected to the crater's space but designed to cause as little disruption to the area as possible. Indeed, although "caldera" is the name for the physical crater itself the location is more often referred to on the Homeworld as a kind of "womb". Even apart from the overall security risk, then, the concentration of equipment and timeships makes the caldera one of the most heavily defended locations known to exist.

Yeah. I’m silly.

At first glance, The Book of the War’s description of the Yssgaroth entering the universe from the caldera site on Gallifrey seems to contradict both Interference and The Pit, as both works make clear that the Yssgaroth/Great Vampires emerged from holes in space and time punched all over the universe by Gallifrey. While many often criticize the latter novel for being a poorly written book, it still created the Yssgaroth (and I believe already made the implication that the Great Vampires were one of many facets, but I may need to reread). The former, Interference, also presents information through Faction Paradox propoganda in which (in text) Rassilon is played by Brian Blessed.

But... then there’s The Book of the War’s full entry on the Yssgaroth:

In later years forced-matter shells were to be constructed around these weak regions, making them indistinguishable from conventional, banal planets, but initially the young Houses had no idea what they might have let loose. It's known that only one of the Yssgaroth (and again, it has to be remembered, it's possible that the Yssgaroth is just one mass capable of splitting itself up into smaller forms) managed to tear its way into the continuum, on the Homeworld itself, at the site now occupied by the caldera. But the beings referred to in old House lore as the "servants" of the Yssgaroth - small fragments of its mass, or the genuine gigantic, misshapen occupants of the Yssgaroth universe? - began to swarm into the structure of history even as that history was being born.

AHHA!

The Yssgaroth that emerges on Gallifrey, destroying the House members conducting the anchoring of the thread, is the King Vampire, while its servants swarm into History through the holes in creation blown in space by Rassilon and Omega, a la Interference.

So, here’s the timeline:

In the time of the Pythia, the Dark Time, the universe was structureless, and the future an uncertain fog, but there was still Time to travel in. Gallifrey was one of the Fledgling Empires, and was conducting time travel experiments with proto-timeships (Cat’s Cradle: Time’s Crucible).

Elements of modern Time Lord society were already in place: the Houses produced the true “meat” of society and the aristocracy, the Court of Principles (a proto-High Council) commanded the Academia (what on earth could that be...). By the fall of the Pythia, Rassilon and his ilk had swayed many in the Court of Principles to their way of thinking (Cat’s Cradle: Time’s Crucible).

Rassilon and the NeoTechnologists overthrow the Pythia, and begin to lead Gallifrey into an age of science. The Pythian curse of sterility is supposedly cast at this point (Cat’s Cradle: Time’s Crucible).

Rassilon is not yet the power he would be, and, while a major player with the NeoTechnologists, was still considered simply a young engineer and architect. He, Omega, and the other began stellar experiments in order to improve time travel and give the Great Houses tremendous powers. Meanwhile, the Great Houses proceeded to begin preparations for the anchoring the the thread, while Rassilon and Omega were blowing up starts and conducting experiments on black holes. The two events overlapped, and when the Yssgaroth “King” emerged from the caldera site on the Homeworld, the rest of the Yssgaroth swarm emerged from the various holes left by Rassilon and Omega (The Anchoring of the Thread/The Caldera/Yssgaroth, Interference).

The Eternal War (the Vampire War from State of Decay) wages a thousand years. Rassilon uses the war to gain more power and prominence, and while the likes of General Kopyion Liall a Mahajetsu are off fighting the Yssgaroth, Rassilon, Omega, the other (and presumably the other three) establish their order, and abolish religion on Gallifrey once and for all (The Pit, Interference).

The Eternal War ends with only one Yssgaroth survivor (State of Decay), and all the entry points are covered by “planet” shells (The Pit, Interference, Yssgaroth).

The structure of History sticks. The caldera site, a mere crater but the entire center/centre of History, is covered.

Rassilon and Omega continue their experiments, and Omega leads a fleet of Starbreakers to the star Qqaba. The experiment is sabatoged by Fenris the Hellbringer, but Rassilon “saves the day” while Omega is destroyed. The experiment is deemed a success, and Rassilon even takes Fenris’ time travel directional unit to improve the timeships (the modern “TARDIS” not existing yet) (Star Death).

The experiment of Qqaba gives the Gallifreyans the power of Time (The Infinity Doctors). Rassilon later retrieves the singulairity from Qqaba’s black hole, creating the Eye of Harmony which becomes the center of all Gallifrey’s power.

So, in the end, I’m an idiot, I love Faction Paradox, “canon” is stronger for this.

#Doctor Who #Faction Paradox #The caldera #The Eye of Harmony #Yssgaroth #Rassilon #The Book of the Ceasefires

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