THE EYE OF HARMONY
The Center of the Web of Time
"The Web of Time could not exist until Rassilon built the Eye of Harmony,
the hitching post of Chronology, that which does not flux nor wither nor change its state."
the hitching post of Chronology, that which does not flux nor wither nor change its state."
- The Doctor
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Click on paragraphs to see color coding for sources
EYE OF HARMONY
Rassilon's Star, the Caldera, the Time-Sun, the Eye of Time, the Black Hole of Rassilon
The Eye of Harmony was originally a rotating
Population III star
named Qqaba. Such stars were created from the monoblock matter from the Terminus Time Station. Rassilon and Omega used the Hand of Omega to turn
this star into the Universe's first Black Hole.
Using Amaranths,
trans-dimensional physics,
and Stasis-Halos,
Rassilon brought the nucleus of the
universe's first Black Hole to Gallifrey.
The Eye was stabilized in an eternally dynamic equation against the mass of the planet Gallifrey.
It would likely take the modern Time Lords over a century to rediscover the secrets of Rassilon and rebuild the Eye
of Harmony. While Rassilon orginally considered calling it Rassilon’s Star, this masterpiece of spatial engineering
became known as the Eye of Harmony because it sits outside History and watches the rest of the Universe. Because all of history revolves around it, this black star was often known as the Time-Sun.
The Eye makes up the largest structure on Gallifrey - so large that it needs its own fold in space micro-universe to contain it. This chamber is known as the Caldera and it is located in the Panoptican Vaults far beneath the Panopticon assembly hall in the Capitol. The name Panopticon is derived from the Eye's ability to observer and 'see' all of space and time.
The Eye makes up the largest structure on Gallifrey - so large that it needs its own fold in space micro-universe to contain it. This chamber is known as the Caldera and it is located in the Panoptican Vaults far beneath the Panopticon assembly hall in the Capitol. The name Panopticon is derived from the Eye's ability to observer and 'see' all of space and time.
Rassilon also created the ebonite rod known as the Rod of Rassilon (sometimes
translated as
"Great Key") which allows a Time Lord access to the Eye's
power mast.
The rod is also isomorphic, and can only be used those who have descended from the Looms programmed by Rassilon.
The Staff of Office holds a white point star diamond. Ebonite is the the only material that can control the energy
flow of the Eye of Harmony.
The crystaline
Control
Obelisk
of Rassilon
(or power mast) is the access system for the Eye of Harmony.
This transportable mast gives one complete access to all the power of the Eye of Harmony,
but even short term exposure can be damaging if one is not wearing the Sash of Rassilon.
The Caldera itself can be reached via the Vaults found beneath the Capitol. The Security Codes needed to enter the Caldera
change every micro-span. If a lesser species was to enter the Caldera they would be killed.
Indeed, due to density of strands in the Web of Time
it is unhealthy for even a Time Lord to stand too close to the Eye
unless they wear the Sash of Rassilon.
Within the Event-Horizon of the black hole is singularity and a universe of antimatter. All the known physical laws
cease to exist here and anyone with a high enough
reality quotient and willpower can have god-like powers. Outside the Event-Horizon of the spinning
star is an area called the Ergosphere. In this area energy that escapes the singularity’s gravity is accelerated
and amplified to almost infinite levels. Rassilon surrounded the Ergosphere with an iron sphere 10 kilometers in diameter.
Iron was used because a ridged material is necessary to prevent waves of gravitational energy from causing malfunctions
in nearby systems.
This sphere was mirrored on the inside. Rassilon allowed a light beam to enter the sphere. This light was amplified
by the singularity’s Ergosphere, reflected off the mirrored sphere, was amplified again, and so on. Each time
the light beam gained energy. A small hole at the top of the sphere releases the amplified light beam. Using
Rassilon's discovery that
E = MC cubed in the
exo-space time continuum the Eye produced
near infinite amounts of energy.
Using trans-dimensional physics
Rassilon surrounded the Eye with a transduction barrier. This
shifted the Eye slightly into the future
turning it inside out through the 5th dimension.
This process is known as singularity eversion and
it
is done so that the near infinite power of the light beam emerges in a
slow controllable osmotic stream.
Without the Singularity Eversion the eye
would turn into an exploding quasar.
After being converted into Artron Energy, the power is ready for use. Artron energy is measured in units called Omegas.
This near magical use of super-radiant scattering allows
the Eye of Harmony to provide energy for all of Gallifrey’s needs (including time travel).
A 'fragment' (more of a hyper-dimensional protrubance) of the Eye of Harmony is used as the seed to create a copy of the Eye in every TARDIS.
Significant temporal paradoxes associated with Inner Time can cause fluctuations in the artron power output of the Eye of Harmony, enough to endanger TARDIS travel. It doesn’t take much of a weakness of the power output of the Eye to disable almost all of Gallifrey’s defenses (including the Validium). Even the transduction barrier would begin to fail. The Eye of Harmony can be drained remotely with a stellar manipulator. But the manipulator would need to be in continual operation to disable all of Gallifrey’s time travel facilities. The destabilization of the Eye of Harmony would cause Gallifrey to turn into antimatter, creating a quasar that would destroy a hundred worlds.
Significant temporal paradoxes associated with Inner Time can cause fluctuations in the artron power output of the Eye of Harmony, enough to endanger TARDIS travel. It doesn’t take much of a weakness of the power output of the Eye to disable almost all of Gallifrey’s defenses (including the Validium). Even the transduction barrier would begin to fail. The Eye of Harmony can be drained remotely with a stellar manipulator. But the manipulator would need to be in continual operation to disable all of Gallifrey’s time travel facilities. The destabilization of the Eye of Harmony would cause Gallifrey to turn into antimatter, creating a quasar that would destroy a hundred worlds.
Rassilon created the Greater Key of Rassilon (not to be confused with the Rod of Rassilon).
The Key
gives one unlimited access to all the energy of the Eye of Harmony, provides the one who holds it with an infinite amount
of artron energy to use the Power
of Creation and
could be used to rampage though all the different parallel universes.
When the Greater Key of Rassilon is used with the Rod, the Sash, and the
Matrix
Crown,
the user has direct access to the sum total of Time Lord Power.
Like all of the ancient artifacts, the Key is made of pure non-atomic matter (ie its not made of atoms but instead perfectly
flat planes)
designed to deliberately resist analysis.
The Greater Key of Rassilon is so powerful that
the operating system
became sentient and it developed a conscience
with an unknowable intelligence. This intelligence can read people’s intentions and actions like a book and can
choose protectors.
For most of the Rassilon Era the Greater Key is kept hidden from the Lord President. The Key appears to have the ability
to wipe the memories of its users (as per the wisdom of Rassilon)
and it is likely that when a Time Lord ceases to be Chancellor all memory of the Great Key is taken from them.
Officially the Greater Key is lost and most Time Lords believe that is is only a legend.
Using the full energy of the Eye of Harmony, the Key can power a
planetary defense time weapon known as the
D-Mat Gun (aka the D-mat Gun). The D-Mat gun is the ultimate Omnicalculator and
was forbidden from the moment it was created.
The Greater Key links this quantum computer to the Eye of Harmony
and uses a beam of zed neutrinos to carry the temporal inversion wave to the target.
When a target is “hit” by a D-Mat gun its entire time-stream (and biodata if sentient) is recorded
and then
all of history is rewritten so that the only difference between this Universe, and the previous one is the total absence
of the target. Objects hit with the D-Mat gun become never-objects existing only in the gun’s perfect
memory.
Effectively, the D-Mat Gun deletes things from history and makes that deletion a fixed point with an Relative Temporal
Distortion of over 2. The historical shock-waves of removing a key person from history can have massive effects on the
web of time.
Obviously, using the D-Mat Gun violates the First Law of Time.
This gun can destroy an entire galaxy
and thus is sometimes
known as a Galaxy Eater.
During the Time War, the term 'D-mat' will be attached to numerous lesser pieces er of temporal weaponry
- to the point where
the Time Lords began referring to the original Greater Key weapon as the Moment
to distinguish it from the lesser propagadistic weapons.
Through the power of the Greater Key,
the Moment can
time lock entire sectors,
create time fissures into and out of time locks
and different parallel universes, and break several other of the Laws of Time.
Depending on the size of the target, firing the weapon can create a temporal shock-wave with a radius of up to 600 meters.
If the user deletes something from history that was key to justifying why the D-Mat gun was constructed in the first
place they user will be knocked out for 1-6 hours and the gun will be removed from history as well. But the Great Key
will remain. The user will likely suffer a fair amount of memory loss over the entire incident.
Through the Greater Key,
the Moment became so powerful that the operating system became sentient and it developed a conscience and an intelligence.
This interface has trouble telling the difference between the past and future.
Through the Greater Key,
it can even influence their protector's subconscious actions,
coordinating the events of their whole life to achieve its desired ends.
This weapon was created to be used only during the Last Great Time War in Heaven. However, officially, use of the D-Mat gun is forbidden from the moment of its creation, and instructions for its construction are one of the most well hidden files within the Matrix. Some Time Lords considered the Moment to be the most dangerous weapon in the Universe. Fortunately the Moment rarely allowed itself to be used.
This weapon was created to be used only during the Last Great Time War in Heaven. However, officially, use of the D-Mat gun is forbidden from the moment of its creation, and instructions for its construction are one of the most well hidden files within the Matrix. Some Time Lords considered the Moment to be the most dangerous weapon in the Universe. Fortunately the Moment rarely allowed itself to be used.
THE SPACE-TIME VORTEX - the Astral Vortex, the Fifth Dimension, the Bifrost
The Space-Time Vortex (also known as the Fifth Dimension)
is the foundation for the first four dimensions (length, width, height, and time). The Vortex was brought into being by the Time Lords using a loophole
of temporal physics.
The key to this multi-dimension was the mathematical understanding of the Idea of Living Matter. This
might refer to the idea that History itself can be seen to be a living
thing, or possibly the fact that observation by living sapient brains
are required to collapse the wave forms to crystalize reality. Working with the wisest of the Techno-Magi,
Rassilon discovered the secret of temporal fission. Rassilon set the Eye of Harmony an eternal dynamic equation balanced against
the mass of Gallifrey. To accomplish this, Rassilon had to find and assemble the Key to Time, for only the Key has the abilities equivalent to the Eye that Rassilon wished to construct. With the creation the Eye of Harmony Rassilon and the Other 'formatted' what had been known as the Astral Vortex at
the moment of Event 1 - creating what would now be now be known
the Space-Time Vortex. This act was an predestined event, as earlier Gallifreyan researchers and other higher evolutionaries, had been accessing the Astral Vortex since the beginning
of time. The
fact that the Time Lords had already been using the Vortex before they
created it was seen as proof that Time Lord culture is the literal
center of the Universe. The construction of the Vortex was a feat only
achievable by Level 11 science and technology, but Rassilon will
kept much of this secret. The rest of the Time Lords remained a Level
10 society.
Unlike the first four dimensions, the fifth dimension is collapsed and folded into a spiral whose surface is the size of an atom. This vast ever shifting trans-dimensional time spiral functions as the axis of the Vortex. It encompasses the universe and serves as a foundation for all points in space and time. All matter, energy, and even darkness are blended into this spiral. Different parts of this infinite strand of energy directly map to different areas of space and time in normal space. The Eye serves as an anchor for the Web of Time (the continuity and causality of the Universe) and it probably sits at the exact center of the Vortex. This Vortex Core can be accessed with the Spiral Chamber. The tightest coils of the time spiral are in the future, and the widest loops are the past. The tighest coils of the time spiral, found a the end of the Humanian Era, can destroy even a TARDIS. Some stretches of the Vortex, known as oceans, are barren because the corresponding area of Normal Space is empty. Beneath the surface of the Vortex is the substrate where hyperspace and shuntspace (both used by various space powers to travel faster then light) can be found as well as lifeless depths of the darker strata. Not all of these areas of the Vortex have been charted by the Time Lords. When plotted out in three dimensions by Time Lord scanners, the Vortex is usually depicted as a glittering blue void with gold highlights (But it can look like any of the opening sequences of Doctor Who).
The Fifth Dimension nature of the Vortex means that it intesects the first four dimensions of Normal Space though interstital space at an angle determined by non-Euclidean geometry. Thus this interstital vortex encompasses all universes. Though the forces of the interstital vortex are such that most who who try to access these other universes will be torn apart down to the molecular level. By containing these universes the vortex limits the creation of new alternate timelines and parallel universes.
The Vortex is filled with a background radiation of artron energy generated by every sapient in history. Their observation and perception helped crystallize the Web of Time by collapsing the quantum probability waveform. Because of this etheric mental energy, it is sometimes known as the Astral Vortex. The collective illusion it forms functions as the universe's subconscious, making the vortex a dimension of pure thought with a complexity that borders on sentience - in fact the Faction Paradox believe that it is sapient and refer to it the Loa).
The interaction and merging of the timelines of all the worlds of the cosmos create the time winds. The time winds are such that they would destroy any normal matter by aging it until complete structural breakdown occurred. Some have described them as a ‘constant storm of rage and power.' A planet with a G-type atmosphere would only be habitable for a few hours before the time winds started tearing the world apart. While most unprotected humanoids (or Daleks) would die in seconds if immersed in the Vortex, some Time Lords can use their symbiotic nuclei to survive in the Vortex with a technique called Vortex-Walking. There is no air pressure within the Vortex.
The creation of the Vortex made it possible for the Time Lords (and any other species) to travel in time and space by moving out of Minkowski Space and integrating into the Fifth Dimension. Here laws of the first 4 dimension are overturned by interacting with the Vortex and are rewritten by the primal forces of the Universe. A TARDIS generates a wormhole to traverse the Vortex. A TARDIS be a danger to the Vortex. A mortally wounded TARDIS could rip a hole in the vortex as it traveled and the destruction of a fleet of 1700 timeships could rupture the Web of Time permanently. Using the Vortex to journey through space and/or time leaves the traveler lightly irradiated with artron energy. The first such exposure permanently links a Time Lord’s symbiotic nuclei to the Vortex.
But even with a symbiotic nuclei Vortex travel isn't entirely safe. There are freak surges and discharges of time spillage called time spikes that come from and go nowhere. Other dangers include quantum mirages, substrate diversions in the Vortex, and crossing the Time Spiral boundary. It is also possible (but very rare) for a TARDIS to become trapped in a fractional dimension between the Vortex and N-Space. If a TARDIS was to be trapped between a vortex rupture and a subspace infarction it would break up. The Mandragora Helix inhabits one of the uncharted areas of the Space/Time Vortex. The Helix is a spiral of pure energy radiating outwards in ways the Time Lords don't fully understand. This energy is sentient and has a relationship to the position of the stars.
The helix is not the only life form to make the Vortex its home. There are many chronovores and other creatures that can be found there including Eternals, Pantophagens, Reapers, Time Roaches, Time Vortex leeches, the Vormatoda, Vortex Dwellers, Vortex Wraith, Vortisaurs, and some of the Great Old Ones, most notably the Guardians of Time.
THE WEB OF ALL-TIME
The Web of Universal History, Time, Causal Nexus, the Great Time Line
The
Observer Theory states that for the changing of history to make any
sense there must be an outside observer who watchs all of history and
sees this change. Thus it was, that fearing that other races might
create forms of meaning and causality that would be hostile to
Gallifreyan society, the Time Lords decided to anchor all of causality
to fit their observations. The Universal
Web of History,
was created by anchoring History itself to the Eye of Harmony. The Eye of Harmony is that observer which watches all changes to History.
At
the moment that the Web was anchored, the High Council stood before
Omega's Black Star as it was transformed into the Eye of Harmony. At the same relative time
other Time Lords in Proto-Time Travel Capsules waited at the extreme
boundaries of what would become the Noosphere. This anchored the biology of the
Great Houses of Gallifrey to History itself. The Eye created a Universe of positive time by locking down the Web of All-Time within the Space-Time Vortex. This web is this structure that all future races used to build their own histories on. This linear universe becomes known as the Primary Timeline (or the Great Time Line) and is anchored to Gallifreyan Absolute Time. The Web isn't just a sequence of events, it is also made up of how future generations receive and perceive the history those events created.
While the Time Lords view the Great Time Line of History (aka the Web of Time) as high-order mathematical structures, these processes are complex enough to be regard as living beings. Indeed the theory that led to their comprehension of the Vortex is know as the Idea of Living Matter. Indeed some Time Lords (and all members of Faction Paradox) view history itself as a sentient being or beings (sometimes called Loa). The Web is even capable of affecting the minds of a Time Lord. It should also be noted that the creation of the Web of Time also create Anti-Time, the opposite of the positive time. This timeless shadow of the Web of Time is just as destructive to causality and continuity as anti-matter is to matter. The theory of Anti-Time was viewed by the Time Lords as mere superstition for millions of years.
The Eye (and thus all of Gallifrey) sits at the center of the Web of Time and anchors all of its threads. It serves as an anchor for the continuity and causality of the Universe. Because all of history revolves around it, this pivotal black star was often known as the Time-Sun. The Time Sun probably sits at the exact center of the Vortex (aka the Vortex Core). By stabilizing the temporal geometry of the Universe the Eye was in turn stabilized in an eternally dynamic equation against the mass of Gallifrey. Due to density of strands in the Web of Time, it is unhealthy for even a Time Lord to stand too close to the Eye.
The Eye mapped out every inch of the Spiral Politic and define the rational laws upon which it functions. The closer a world of events was to Gallifrey (and its Eye) the more pivitol and ‘fixed’ its role in cosmological history the event is. The further away, the more in flux that world of events are. Some areas of the Web have fault lines. These weak points can allow entities like the Gaurdians to influance Normal Space. In mapping out the cosmos the Time Lords rationalized it and created a permanent version of space-time. In conjunction with the Web of Time, the Eye of Harmony was used to define the physical and temporal laws of space and time. All of this is probably accomplished using the Skasas Paradigm (aka the God Maker or the Universal Theory) which unlocks how the Universe works, giving the user complete control of the basic building blocks of the universe (time, space, matter).There is speculation that whatever is written in Worshipful and Ancient Law might become the laws of science throughout the noosphere of the Time Lords, and that this might be the master control mechanism for this system.
The Intuitive Revolution led to Rassilon gaining the power to destroyed Irrationality and Magic - not only after the revolution, but, retroactively, before the revolution. Cacophony (irrationality and magic personified) was banished from the Universe. Lokic fields cancel out almost all of the odic energies of the Universe. This might have caused the destruction of flying horses, dragons, unicorns, faeries, slithy toves, bread-and-butterflies and other illogical creatures. Psionics are the only quasi-magical phenomenon that survives. The psionic network created by telepathic beings across the cosmos was carefully monitored by the Time Lords to serve as an early warning system in case the ancient and more powerful magic from before the anchoring manifested again. The Eye might have even been used to influence the evolution of species throughout the cosmos so that most resembled the Gallifreyans.
The Eye of Harmony gained its name because it sits outside History and watches the rest of the Universe. The Gallifreyan Noosphere (the range of understanding and data that is defined by a culture's physical, perceptive or comprehensive capabilities) extends to the observational and broadcast limits of the Eye of Harmony. Specially loomed Mappers charted out the Noosphere, defining the Epoch of Mass Time Travel (EMTT), often known as the Spiral Politic. Time Lord Way-Stations are located at various points in space and generally have several Time Lords assigned to them. Using a temporal chamber, the structure of the whole planet of Gallifrey became a bio-system in which the biodata of the Gallifreyans acts as a planet sized receiver and processor of the data from matrix facets and deep-time telescopes that collect information from the rest of the universe. Vortiscopes examine the vortex and locate that coordinates of any space time dislocations where someone has changed history. The Eye can easily detect and locate any attempt to 'freeze' time anywhere in the Universe.
The data from matrix facets can be processed at a rate of billions of years every nano-second and be projected on a trans-temporal event viewer known as the Relativity Map. Using the Relativity Map, the Time Lords can (within the limits of the Laws of Time) observe almost any event in time and space. Beyond these limits they can predict almost any event. The higher-order mathematical structures of History can be predicted by powerful computers and then be presented in an infinity chamber. The infinity chamber in the Citadel is capable of decrypting the universe and predicting the course of history.
The Gallifreyan Noosphere reaches from around 3,500 years after Event 0 (the Big Bang) to the frontier of time, at the time of the story Frontios (10,000,000 AD, when the last Gallifrey is destroyed in the Time War) The noosphere of the Gallifreyans also covers most of Space , all the way out to the asteroid Hindmost. It should be noted that there are areas within the Spiral Politic that the Time Lords can’t observe or penetrate. It is possible that some other power, with their own Eye, sits in distant future beyond the Time Lord Noosphere.
The Time Lords' ability to manipulate the weak nuclear force, the gravity force, and the time force, allows the Eye of Harmony to actually alter the Web of Time. The time force is another force in addition to electro-magnetic, weak/strong nuclear and gravity forces. The time force is known to be many times more powerful then gravity. While the flow of time is controlled by the Mouri of the Temple of Atropos, the time force behaves in a predictable way. But without their guidance, the time force becomes a wild swarm of temporal particles that destroys anything it comes in contact with. It should be noted that the Time Lord's control of the weak nuclear force only extends to the limits of this cluster of Galaxies (the Noosphere of Time Lord understanding is much larger).
Great Houses of Gallifrey to History itself. The Eye created a Universe of positive time by locking down the Web of All-Time within the Space-Time Vortex. This web is this structure that all future races used to build their own histories on. This linear universe becomes known as the Primary Timeline (or the Great Time Line) and is anchored to Gallifreyan Absolute Time. The Web isn't just a sequence of events, it is also made up of how future generations receive and perceive the history those events created.
While the Time Lords view the Great Time Line of History (aka the Web of Time) as high-order mathematical structures, these processes are complex enough to be regard as living beings. Indeed the theory that led to their comprehension of the Vortex is know as the Idea of Living Matter. Indeed some Time Lords (and all members of Faction Paradox) view history itself as a sentient being or beings (sometimes called Loa). The Web is even capable of affecting the minds of a Time Lord. It should also be noted that the creation of the Web of Time also create Anti-Time, the opposite of the positive time. This timeless shadow of the Web of Time is just as destructive to causality and continuity as anti-matter is to matter. The theory of Anti-Time was viewed by the Time Lords as mere superstition for millions of years.
The Eye (and thus all of Gallifrey) sits at the center of the Web of Time and anchors all of its threads. It serves as an anchor for the continuity and causality of the Universe. Because all of history revolves around it, this pivotal black star was often known as the Time-Sun. The Time Sun probably sits at the exact center of the Vortex (aka the Vortex Core). By stabilizing the temporal geometry of the Universe the Eye was in turn stabilized in an eternally dynamic equation against the mass of Gallifrey. Due to density of strands in the Web of Time, it is unhealthy for even a Time Lord to stand too close to the Eye.
The Eye mapped out every inch of the Spiral Politic and define the rational laws upon which it functions. The closer a world of events was to Gallifrey (and its Eye) the more pivitol and ‘fixed’ its role in cosmological history the event is. The further away, the more in flux that world of events are. Some areas of the Web have fault lines. These weak points can allow entities like the Gaurdians to influance Normal Space. In mapping out the cosmos the Time Lords rationalized it and created a permanent version of space-time. In conjunction with the Web of Time, the Eye of Harmony was used to define the physical and temporal laws of space and time. All of this is probably accomplished using the Skasas Paradigm (aka the God Maker or the Universal Theory) which unlocks how the Universe works, giving the user complete control of the basic building blocks of the universe (time, space, matter).There is speculation that whatever is written in Worshipful and Ancient Law might become the laws of science throughout the noosphere of the Time Lords, and that this might be the master control mechanism for this system.
The Intuitive Revolution led to Rassilon gaining the power to destroyed Irrationality and Magic - not only after the revolution, but, retroactively, before the revolution. Cacophony (irrationality and magic personified) was banished from the Universe. Lokic fields cancel out almost all of the odic energies of the Universe. This might have caused the destruction of flying horses, dragons, unicorns, faeries, slithy toves, bread-and-butterflies and other illogical creatures. Psionics are the only quasi-magical phenomenon that survives. The psionic network created by telepathic beings across the cosmos was carefully monitored by the Time Lords to serve as an early warning system in case the ancient and more powerful magic from before the anchoring manifested again. The Eye might have even been used to influence the evolution of species throughout the cosmos so that most resembled the Gallifreyans.
The Eye of Harmony gained its name because it sits outside History and watches the rest of the Universe. The Gallifreyan Noosphere (the range of understanding and data that is defined by a culture's physical, perceptive or comprehensive capabilities) extends to the observational and broadcast limits of the Eye of Harmony. Specially loomed Mappers charted out the Noosphere, defining the Epoch of Mass Time Travel (EMTT), often known as the Spiral Politic. Time Lord Way-Stations are located at various points in space and generally have several Time Lords assigned to them. Using a temporal chamber, the structure of the whole planet of Gallifrey became a bio-system in which the biodata of the Gallifreyans acts as a planet sized receiver and processor of the data from matrix facets and deep-time telescopes that collect information from the rest of the universe. Vortiscopes examine the vortex and locate that coordinates of any space time dislocations where someone has changed history. The Eye can easily detect and locate any attempt to 'freeze' time anywhere in the Universe.
The data from matrix facets can be processed at a rate of billions of years every nano-second and be projected on a trans-temporal event viewer known as the Relativity Map. Using the Relativity Map, the Time Lords can (within the limits of the Laws of Time) observe almost any event in time and space. Beyond these limits they can predict almost any event. The higher-order mathematical structures of History can be predicted by powerful computers and then be presented in an infinity chamber. The infinity chamber in the Citadel is capable of decrypting the universe and predicting the course of history.
The Gallifreyan Noosphere reaches from around 3,500 years after Event 0 (the Big Bang) to the frontier of time, at the time of the story Frontios (10,000,000 AD, when the last Gallifrey is destroyed in the Time War) The noosphere of the Gallifreyans also covers most of Space , all the way out to the asteroid Hindmost. It should be noted that there are areas within the Spiral Politic that the Time Lords can’t observe or penetrate. It is possible that some other power, with their own Eye, sits in distant future beyond the Time Lord Noosphere.
The Time Lords' ability to manipulate the weak nuclear force, the gravity force, and the time force, allows the Eye of Harmony to actually alter the Web of Time. The time force is another force in addition to electro-magnetic, weak/strong nuclear and gravity forces. The time force is known to be many times more powerful then gravity. While the flow of time is controlled by the Mouri of the Temple of Atropos, the time force behaves in a predictable way. But without their guidance, the time force becomes a wild swarm of temporal particles that destroys anything it comes in contact with. It should be noted that the Time Lord's control of the weak nuclear force only extends to the limits of this cluster of Galaxies (the Noosphere of Time Lord understanding is much larger).
The Rassilon Imprimatur biologically links a Time Lord to the Web of Time, making them part of the foundation of the first
four dimensions. These dimensions are an integral part of Time Lord biology and culture. Because of this, the
Time Lords keep history largely unchanging merely by existing. Indeed they are so intertwined with the universe that
they are a part of the Laws of Time and Space.
Every Time Lord possesses a quantum of Artron Energy (the psionic energy of perception itself) which gives them a
unique artron energy signature.
This is significantly more life-energy than a human has, and gave the Time Lords maximum observer criticality in comparison to other species.
Only Time Lords (or beings with similarly artron charged biodata) are capable of making significant changes to History.
Thus, from a four dimensional point of view, only Time Lords truly have free will.
Unfortunately
in order to keep the Web of Time stable it is necessary for the Time Lords to be steady and unchanging.
This is why
all Time Lords are instilled with an ideal of service towards Time. To ensure stability,
cultural change and natural reproduction are forbidden on Gallifrey. The very idea of the Gallifreyans having a history
of their own is viewed as vulgar and primitive.
It is unhealthy for even a Time Lord to stand too close to the Eye due to density of strands in the Web of Time
in that area.
Since the its reach is defined by the broadcast limits of the Eye or Harmony, the Gallifreyan Noosphere sets an effective temporal barrier limit for legal TARDIS travel. There are about 100 billion G type (Earth-like) worlds within the space-time travel range of the TARDIS. In practice most Gallifreyan Capsules are unable to make it to the edge of knows space without being specially engineered. A similar limit exists on traveling forward in time. Outside the Noosphere the laws of physics are in a state of flux and still forming. Time works differently after the point when the universe ceases to expand and begins to collapse and even the TARDIS instruments have difficulty pinpointing the current date. Very few timeships have every left the EMTT and entered the Deep Time beyond, and even fewer have returned to speak of it.
The Universe can compensate for some changes to History. Flux
points in the web are events which have yet to have their wave form
fully 'crystalized.' Changes to these events do create tiny time
fissures. But these fissures are quickly closed without damaging the
Web of Time, thanks to the corrective push of the time force. If history is changed by saving one person's life it will generally lead to someone else dying to balance things. People
whose lives have no meaningful affect on History are known as
Future-Proof. The Time Lords have tachyon mirrors and time dams to help
control and redirected
the flow of the probability wave that results from changes to history.
This allows the Time Lords to damp down the chaotic butterfly effects
of
changes. This influance only extends to the limits of their noosphere. Because of this most primitive forms of time travel aren't capable of making major changes to History. It should be noted that changing how history is perceived in the present can be just as damaging to the Web of Time as
changing the actual events themselves.
While small changes have only short term affects on the space-time continuum, large changes, or changes that occur at temporal nexus points, will create timelines that achieve 'escape velocity'. These time fissures threaten to 'fold Time in on itself,' cutting the Universe's remaining lifespan in half. In most cases, such events take one or two centuries of relative time to fully form, giving the CIA time to locate the coordinates of the space time dislocation with their vortiscopes and prepare a planned response.However, If the Nexus Point is already time locked as a fixed point in time and then history is changed at that point, then time would immediately freeze and collapse as reality began to die.
If another species causes a temporal distortion in the Web that creates an aberrant Timeline then an Interventionist (usualy a CIA agent) is sent to prevent the species from causing further damage and correcting history. The Doctor believes that countless millions of world have been saved from death by the Time Lords' policing.
If that Time Lord doesn't return then the Time Lords (again, probably the CIA) has that Time Lord's personal timeline effectively shut down by removing that world's timeline from history (apparently to be replaced by one where the temporal damage never happened in the first place). This prevents the missing Time Lord from being used to damage the rest of the Web. The aborted timelines are attached, in a spoke like pattern, to the Axis. The Axis is sealed off from space and time within the no where of inter-dimensional space. It has also shifted a few seconds out of phase with normal time.The Daleks consider the Axis to be the Time lords greatest secret. An Overseer from the Grand Presidium of the sideways dimension of Guardus supervises the Axis. The consciousness of this Overseer stabilizes the structure. The Communications Tower in the Capitol the standard method of contacting the Overseer and even the Coordinator of the CIA is unlikely to have actually visited the Axis. Each of these truncated aborted timelines is trapped in a giant loop using a Hysteresis Generator. There are portals which allow access to the truncated timelines. While most of the timelines in the Axis are created by the Time Lord meddling, some are produced by other species. Shortly before the Time War there were million truncated timeline stored in the Axis and 1000 versions of Gallifrey. But by the end of the Time War over 100 billion alternate versions of history will have been created. The propecies of ancient Gallifrey foretold that the Web of Time would be unravelled by the Hybrid standing in the ruins of Gallifrey.
The
Events Library is used by the Matrix Lords to exercise and control the power of the Time
Force. The branches of the Events Library are hidden throughout the
universe, and they literally archive the events of those regions. Combined with power of the Eye and the Matrix of Time, the Events Library functions as a time manipulator. When
wars or other events began to get out of hand, the Librarian of that
branch (identified only by a number, just like other members of the CIA)
can re-combine the events to create a new outcome. This allows the
Events Library to limit and deescalate conflicts by re-writing history. All such alterations are, of course, a violation of the Laws of Time. For
this reason, the existence of the Library is kept secret even from even
the Lord President of Gallifrey. The Librarians report directly
to Rassilon's mind inside the Matrix.
Only the Key to Time surpasses the Prime Eye of Harmony in its ability to influence the Vortex and the Web of Time.
THE TRANSDUCTION BARRIERS
The Transduction Barriers are a
10 dimensional
defense field that
are
designed to expel anything foreign to Gallifrey's time zone. These Barriers are regarded as one of the greatest achievements of Time Lord science. Rassilon
and Jelen
created the first few Transduction Barriers, and the Disciples of Omega spent the next 40,000 years completeing the rest of the barriers. The machinery that controls them is installed in the engineering sections of level 30 of the Citadel, right below
the Panopticon. This machinery used
delta circuitry, delta condensers, and
probably quasitronics, appears as old, primitive technology as a joke on Rassilon’s part. The controls for the transduction barriers are protected so no TARDIS can materialize near them. The defense fields are configured into 5 factors (or barriers) that can be raised or
lowered to various degrees, independently. If Gallifrey was every to be attacked a Red Alert would be declared and the Transduction Barrier would be raised to Factor 5.
The first transduction barrier is also known as the Quantum Force-Field. It protects against more conventional threats and stops ships from landing or even kamikaze runs. Anything that touches a transduction barrier will be torn apart on a sub-atomic level. While holes can be opened in it, it is impossible to completely disable without vaporizing Gallifrey and many of the surounding star systems.
The next barrier was the gap between the Outer Space of the Universe and the Inner Time of Gallifrey. In order to be connected to all points in space and time the second Transduction Barrier shifts the planet and the rest of Gallifreyan space outside of the space-time continuum and into its own Microuniverse of Inner Time. Because of this barrier, when one is on the planet Gallifrey one is "outside" of the Universe. Despite being located in Inner Time, the planet is still liked via a real-time analogue to its former location in the Web of Time. This analogue time moves at a slightly slower speed then the rest of the Universe. And it gradually gets slower. By President Romana's time it runs at about 0.03% slower then the rest of the Universe.This created a conceptual barrier as history itself disconnects between these two sides of the barrier. The universe is conditioned to believe passage through the barrier is impossible. In actual fact it can't prevent the landing of a space ship, but the crew will not be able to believe that such a landing is possible.
The third barrier reflected incoming forces by countering them with and equal and opposite concept. This barrier prevents atomic sized infiltrations, teleporters, weapons fire, and illicit frequencies. Any ship that tried would find itself diverted around the planet in a manner similar to gravitational lensing. It does allow sunlight and gravity to reach the surface, giving the sky a pearly orange color, but it can be polarized to block all light from the suns. The transduction barriers should be able to protect Gallifrey from the gravitational effects of a black hole suddenly appearing less than a light-year away.
The fourth barrier of Stubborn Philosophy uses Attacks of Ignorance. The Eye of Harmony refuses to see the attacker, removing the enemy from the Web of Time itself. Without observation by an Eye (or some other complex space-time event), the target will begin to degenerate into meaningless chaos. Repeated exposures to this unrealness will convince almost any attacker to give up.
Little is known about the fifth transduction barrier. It might be composed of nigh impenetrable sky-trenches. Just one of these trenches could resist almost any attack by almost any temporal power. Up until the Battle of Arcadia, nothing in the Universe had ever overcome more then one sky trench.
One must have a Time Warrant issued before you are allowed to leave Gallifrey. With the approval of Traffic Control, a split second gap is created to allow a TARDIS to pass through the barriers. When a Timeship passes through the Transduction Barriers the effect is visible from Gallifrey’s surface. A TARDIS with High Council Protocol privileges can pass through the lower level transductions without the approval of Traffic Control. If a TARDIS has been de-registered then the transduction barriers might not be able to stop its departure from Gallifrey.
Amber Alerts are invoked when an unauthorized TT capsule is approaching Gallifrey. If enough Transduction Barriers are lowered into place, then no TARDIS will be able to arrive on Gallifrey. It is possible for a TARDIS to leave Gallifrey when the Barriers are in this configuration, but its crew will have to jettison 90% of interior mass to achieve the nessecary energy. Even then, the escape will burn out all non-telepathic circuits (including the Recall Circuit). A less drastic option exists for any TARDIS carrying the Lord President, whose Rassilon Imprimatur and Presidential Code allow him to pass through the transduction barriers at will. It is possible to configure the the controls to trap a TARDIS inside the barriers. A TARDIS in such a position will find it will require all of its power just to transmit a short range distress call to Gallifrey.
While it is thought that even an alliance of galactic superpowers would be unable to break through the transduction barrier, there are some limitations this defense. For example if the barriers were struck by a thousand worlds traveling at 50 times the speed of light, Gallifrey would be destroyed. Transduction barriers can also be breached by modifying temporal shielding to created a state of Folded-Temporal Grace. It allows one to fold oneself into alternate, but very similar, timelines and time states. This can be used to flip oneself past a transduction barrier. The strength of the Transduction Barriers can be reduced by the effect of temporal storms or nearby time rift activity. Charging the transduction barriers will isolate the Matrix from all users. The Time Lords also use Transduction Barriers in other locations such as TARDIS Neural Construction Docks to prevent the Capsules from escaping. A localized transduction barriers can be used to shield a Time Lord from the Matrix.
The first transduction barrier is also known as the Quantum Force-Field. It protects against more conventional threats and stops ships from landing or even kamikaze runs. Anything that touches a transduction barrier will be torn apart on a sub-atomic level. While holes can be opened in it, it is impossible to completely disable without vaporizing Gallifrey and many of the surounding star systems.
The next barrier was the gap between the Outer Space of the Universe and the Inner Time of Gallifrey. In order to be connected to all points in space and time the second Transduction Barrier shifts the planet and the rest of Gallifreyan space outside of the space-time continuum and into its own Microuniverse of Inner Time. Because of this barrier, when one is on the planet Gallifrey one is "outside" of the Universe. Despite being located in Inner Time, the planet is still liked via a real-time analogue to its former location in the Web of Time. This analogue time moves at a slightly slower speed then the rest of the Universe. And it gradually gets slower. By President Romana's time it runs at about 0.03% slower then the rest of the Universe.This created a conceptual barrier as history itself disconnects between these two sides of the barrier. The universe is conditioned to believe passage through the barrier is impossible. In actual fact it can't prevent the landing of a space ship, but the crew will not be able to believe that such a landing is possible.
The third barrier reflected incoming forces by countering them with and equal and opposite concept. This barrier prevents atomic sized infiltrations, teleporters, weapons fire, and illicit frequencies. Any ship that tried would find itself diverted around the planet in a manner similar to gravitational lensing. It does allow sunlight and gravity to reach the surface, giving the sky a pearly orange color, but it can be polarized to block all light from the suns. The transduction barriers should be able to protect Gallifrey from the gravitational effects of a black hole suddenly appearing less than a light-year away.
The fourth barrier of Stubborn Philosophy uses Attacks of Ignorance. The Eye of Harmony refuses to see the attacker, removing the enemy from the Web of Time itself. Without observation by an Eye (or some other complex space-time event), the target will begin to degenerate into meaningless chaos. Repeated exposures to this unrealness will convince almost any attacker to give up.
Little is known about the fifth transduction barrier. It might be composed of nigh impenetrable sky-trenches. Just one of these trenches could resist almost any attack by almost any temporal power. Up until the Battle of Arcadia, nothing in the Universe had ever overcome more then one sky trench.
One must have a Time Warrant issued before you are allowed to leave Gallifrey. With the approval of Traffic Control, a split second gap is created to allow a TARDIS to pass through the barriers. When a Timeship passes through the Transduction Barriers the effect is visible from Gallifrey’s surface. A TARDIS with High Council Protocol privileges can pass through the lower level transductions without the approval of Traffic Control. If a TARDIS has been de-registered then the transduction barriers might not be able to stop its departure from Gallifrey.
Amber Alerts are invoked when an unauthorized TT capsule is approaching Gallifrey. If enough Transduction Barriers are lowered into place, then no TARDIS will be able to arrive on Gallifrey. It is possible for a TARDIS to leave Gallifrey when the Barriers are in this configuration, but its crew will have to jettison 90% of interior mass to achieve the nessecary energy. Even then, the escape will burn out all non-telepathic circuits (including the Recall Circuit). A less drastic option exists for any TARDIS carrying the Lord President, whose Rassilon Imprimatur and Presidential Code allow him to pass through the transduction barriers at will. It is possible to configure the the controls to trap a TARDIS inside the barriers. A TARDIS in such a position will find it will require all of its power just to transmit a short range distress call to Gallifrey.
While it is thought that even an alliance of galactic superpowers would be unable to break through the transduction barrier, there are some limitations this defense. For example if the barriers were struck by a thousand worlds traveling at 50 times the speed of light, Gallifrey would be destroyed. Transduction barriers can also be breached by modifying temporal shielding to created a state of Folded-Temporal Grace. It allows one to fold oneself into alternate, but very similar, timelines and time states. This can be used to flip oneself past a transduction barrier. The strength of the Transduction Barriers can be reduced by the effect of temporal storms or nearby time rift activity. Charging the transduction barriers will isolate the Matrix from all users. The Time Lords also use Transduction Barriers in other locations such as TARDIS Neural Construction Docks to prevent the Capsules from escaping. A localized transduction barriers can be used to shield a Time Lord from the Matrix.
The technology of the Transduction Barriers include
powerful Temporal Baffels, Backtime Field Buffers, which create powerful temporal locks. These systems prevent anyone
from using a time machine to reach Gallifrey's past.
With the addition of the Governing Circuits built into
all their time travel technology,
it is
virtually impossible to travel into Gallifrey's past.
Though impossible to travel into the past, it is possible to collect and transport objects from the past into the present.
THE MATRIX OF TIME
The Central Space-Time Amplified Panatropic Computations Matrix
The APC Net (Amplified Panatropic Computer Network)
is the essance of Gallifrey and its culture.
The fact that both Gallifrey's network, and the Matrix are panotropic computation networks has caused some confusion. But the Central Matrix of Time is only a small part of Gallifrey's planet wide APC Net. This APC Net acts as a repository of all the knowledge and history of Gallifrey. While
the APC Net is covers the world of Gallifrey, the Matrix of Time is
located in its own micro-universes.
The
biodata of the whole of the planet of Gallifrey acts as a planet sized
receiver and processor of data from the rest of the universe. Every second, more data concerning the constantly evolving Web of Time is collected. Inside the Citadel's Temporal Scanning HQ Time Lords use the time chart and infinity chambers in the Hall of the Matrix to
map out every inch of the History of the Universe. The Temporal
Scanning Service is responsible for collecting tempographs and
monitoring the outside Universe. It is overseen by a sub-committee of
the High Council made up of three of the highest ranking and most well respected
Time Lords - one of which is a representative of the CIA. In
addition to this, the experiances of all Time Lord minds (living and
dead) as well as the input from sensors fitted into newer TARDlSes, and data from Time Space Visualizers provide even more data.
Recorders within the Matrix catagorize this new data as it is received from the matrix facets and file it in the Archive Banks. The Chief Archivist works in the Archive tower and is probably responsible for overseeing the addition of new data. Everything in the libraries of Gallifrey has a name. If something has not been named then the Time Lords give it one. The more primitive information in the Matrix was archived in Phase 1 and 2. The more advanced and recent information was kept in a master file composed of Phases 3, 4, 5 and 6.
Recorders within the Matrix catagorize this new data as it is received from the matrix facets and file it in the Archive Banks. The Chief Archivist works in the Archive tower and is probably responsible for overseeing the addition of new data. Everything in the libraries of Gallifrey has a name. If something has not been named then the Time Lords give it one. The more primitive information in the Matrix was archived in Phase 1 and 2. The more advanced and recent information was kept in a master file composed of Phases 3, 4, 5 and 6.
The Archive Banks are known as the
Cloisters. The Matrix Cloisters are located in their own micro-universes, outside of Time and
History. This vast extra-dimensional panotropic computer network was created using warp matrix engineering. Access
to the extra-dimensional Cloisters is found deep beneath the Capitol (probably beneath the Archive Tower). The Cloisters take the form of an endless crypt-like labyrinth of stone tunnels
and walls covered in cables.
The Matrix's memory system is a living organic library, made up of stone
circuit boards and fiber optic cables supporting matrix data slices. These slices hold the eleven dimensional self referential lattices of trillions upon trillions of neural electro-chemical cells in a continuous matrix. The neural mechanics of this communal, eternal brain, can processes data faster than the speed of Time. There
is also a Sub-Matrix which handles the basic functions of Capitol, like
transductions. The automatic diagnostic tools in the Matrix regularly
delete any glitches. The Matrix requires
maintenance (such as the replacement of a transductor) approximately
once every 1000 years and is overseen and maintained by the Co-ordinator of the
Matrix (later known as the Keeper of the Matrix) from the APC Records Control room (in the Archive Tower).
The Matrix provides the Time Lords with vast (but not entirely complete) amounts of information about the Universe. It even contains information from before the creation of the galaxy. These
minds of long dead Time Lords guide the Time Lords in their philosophic
inquiries and assist the President and the CIA on planning
interventions with in Normal Space. Their
reliance on the Matrix is such, that the Time Lords have become known
for abandoning and 'running' from anything they can't understand.
While Dalek Pathweb has a greater database of actual facts, the Matrix is the largest possibility engine ever built. Using the information at its deposal, the Matrix can make intuitive leaps that even the most advanced computers were incapable of making. Using algorithms and predicted probability curves it can make general predictions a few billion years into the future. Some events can be prophesied with a great deal of accuracy. Using the Time Chart in Temporal Control Room the Matrix can make timeline projections that show any anomalous divergences from the Primary Time Line. The Co-ordinator and his subordinate Matricians use the Matrix to record these predictions about future events. Access to the predictions is limited to members of the High Council. Another of the Matrix's purposes is to monitor all
events in the Capitol and predict future developments within the
Capitol. Serious threats will trigger the ringing of the Citadel's
Cloister Bells.
All Time Lords and Academy Students are guaranteed partial access to the APC Net and, through it, limited access to the Matrix. But only the Lord President and the Keeper of the Matrix have complete access to Matrix of Time. The
Matrix Safeguards automatically wipe any irrelevant info that a user
stumbles across. Every time someone accesses the Matrix they leave a
unique genetic artron transponder imprint. This brain scan is archived
and is illegal to delete.
The President achieves his full viewing rights
through the use of the Matrix Crown (aka the Matrix Diadem, Circlet of Rassilon, Coronet, or Crown of Rassilon.
The Sash of Rassilon that is worn by the President alters his biodata to allow easier access to the Matrix. Even with the sash, each use of the Crown causes psychosomatic feedback that is mentally draining for a President. This presidential bio-code gives the President automatic access the Matrix Diadem and the Matrix Doors.
It is also why the Matrix has never rejected a President. The
minds of deceased Presidents protect the darkest secrets of the Time
Lords and even with the Crown a Lord President will have to overcome
their psychic barriers to access this information. The
President also has the authority to isolate Master Control of the
Matrix (which prevents anyone from accessing it) by charging the
transduction field.
Unlike the Matrix Crown, this Key of Rassilon (not to be confused with the Great Key or the Rod of Rassilon), gives someone the ability to re-write and alter pre-existing information stored in the Matrix. Because of this, the Key of Rassilon is supposed to be kept in Co-ordinator's possession at all times. Like all of the ancient artifacts, the Key of Rassilon is made of pure non-atomic matter (ie its not made of atoms but instead perfectly flat planes) designed to deliberately resist analysis. The artifacts of Rassilon are powerful and have an unknowable intelligence. They can read people’s intentions and actions like a book and can choose protectors. They can even influence their protector's subconscious actions.
Unlike the Matrix Crown, this Key of Rassilon (not to be confused with the Great Key or the Rod of Rassilon), gives someone the ability to re-write and alter pre-existing information stored in the Matrix. Because of this, the Key of Rassilon is supposed to be kept in Co-ordinator's possession at all times. Like all of the ancient artifacts, the Key of Rassilon is made of pure non-atomic matter (ie its not made of atoms but instead perfectly flat planes) designed to deliberately resist analysis. The artifacts of Rassilon are powerful and have an unknowable intelligence. They can read people’s intentions and actions like a book and can choose protectors. They can even influence their protector's subconscious actions.
Mind linkages can be used to immerse a Gallifreyan into the five-dimensional episodic interface of the panoptric network. Mentally they leave real space-time and enter the astral plain. But,
because of the exhaustion of psychosomatic feedback, and the risk of
death if the subject was suddenly disconnected, such linkages are
rarely used. The Lord President is an exception to this, but he has worn the Sash of Rassilon, and spends years training for such contact. Instead, physical immersion in the Matrix can be accomplished using one of the eight doors using the Key of Rassilon. These
doors use an astaneaus beam of light evolved from thydostanic
kinesectoral energy to shift the user out of Time and rationality and
into the Matrix's thought space.
Once there, their physical bodies are vulnerable to whatever events they encounter in the thought space.
The Doors often function as portals to display information within the Matrix. The Great Chamber of the Matrix holds the First Door to the Matrix. It is located on level 31 of the Citadel, just down the hall from the Panoptican.
One of these portals to the Matrix is located mounted above the
debating table in the Great Hall of Time where the Inner Council meets.
Most of the other access doors to the Matrix
are located in the Archive Tower. However, the Key of Rassilon (see below) allows the legendary Seventh Door is to be summoned to any wall. The Eighth Door of the Matrix functions in a similar way to the Seventh, but can only be summoned to locations associated with a current (or former) Lord President, such as the Panoptican, the Presidential Palace, or the President's TARDIS / Time Station. Lord Presidents who physically enter the Matrix dreamscape can leave through any of the other “Doors” to the Matrix.
A TARDIS equipped with a modern Surveillance System (even older ones generally carry this update) uses its symbiotic nuclei as a Matrix Link to relay continual up-to-the-minute data-streams from TARDIS to the Matrix. Not only can the Matrix can see in real-time through the scanner of any TARDIS that is linked with it, using the Matrix’s processing abilities, the
data-streams can be used to render visual and audio images for events
occurring anywhere within its collection field (at least several miles)
even if the event in question was deep underground. TARDISes consider the data received from the Matrix to be akin to mother’s milk. Normally
these Link can not be disconnect without disabling the entire TARDIS
but some, exceptionally brilliant Time Lord renegades have managed
found a way.
It should be noted, that
if a Time Lord has the Key of Rassilon they can interface their TARDIS
with the Matrix's thought space. This would allow the Time Lord to have access to both the Matrix, but all of the data-streams from functional TARDISes. Though
it is not commonly known, it is possible for a genius in mathematics
and excitonic circuitry to copy the Key can be copied. Using one such copy the Master secretly created an access point in the Vaults beneath the Citadel.
Every
Gallifreyan has a Bio-Data Extract (aka biog-data extract, or D-E)
sample removed and stored by Coordinator of the Matrix and viewable
only by the Coordinator, the Castellan, and members of the High
Council.
Time Lord D-Es can only be accessed by the High Council or the Castellan and all accesses are logged.
There are millions of Time Lord extracts stored in the Archival Office. The cap of each extract is color coded by chapter.
All Time Lord minds are continually connected to the Matrix on a basic level via the Reflex Link found in their brains. The Reflex Link might be used to allow the Intelligentsia to access the full Power of Creation. Through the Matrix this Reflex Link connects every Time Lord to the Time Lord Intelligentsia and allows the Matrix to constantly record the experiences of all Time Lords wherever they may be. Images from their brain's electrical impulses can be created on a visual display unit. The Matrix also allows Time Lords to telepathically contact each other even across space and time.
All Time Lord minds are continually connected to the Matrix on a basic level via the Reflex Link found in their brains. The Reflex Link might be used to allow the Intelligentsia to access the full Power of Creation. Through the Matrix this Reflex Link connects every Time Lord to the Time Lord Intelligentsia and allows the Matrix to constantly record the experiences of all Time Lords wherever they may be. Images from their brain's electrical impulses can be created on a visual display unit. The Matrix also allows Time Lords to telepathically contact each other even across space and time.
Legally
the consciousness of all deceased Gallifreyans must be interned in the Amplified Panatropic Computations Network (sometimes known as the Remembrance Garden) of the Matrix.
To this end the dying Gallifreyan will be placed in
a Gallifreyan Sarcophagus which will keep the subject in a state of hibernation
until the body can be moved to the Capitol. Even
in cases where a Gallifreyan is expected to recover, his mind might be
stored inside the Matrix while his body undergoes dangerous treatments.
At
the moment of their death, the Reflex link allows a Time Lord's mind to
be copied into the Matrix's APC Net (even if they aren't on Gallifrey
at the time). Electrical scans of the brain pattern are made at the moment of death (or no more then an hour afterwards) creating a virtual re-creation of their mind known as a mind scan. The first intelligence to be stored in the APC Net was the Rassilon's.
In
theory, all Time Lords who ever lived are stored in the Matrix upon
death but localized transduction barriers can be used to shield a Time
Lord from the Matrix.
Time Lords who exiled have their reflex link disabled. This prevents them from contacting other Time Lords across space and time
as well as requiring their mind (usually with the body) be physically returned to Gallifrey in
order to be uploaded to the Matrix. The subject's pattern can be held in a Gallifreyan cinerary urn, or a
trained Gallifreyan can use 'Soul Catching' to hold the dying 'mind' inside their own.
For these reasons only vanishingly small number of Time Lords are not represented inside the Matrix. For millennia the Matrix has stored the memories and the personality of hundreds of Time Lords. As of the beginning of the Time War, a total of 153,846 Time Lord minds have been uploaded into the Matrix. Once in the APC Net, a Gallifreyan mind lives on forever. There is a slight difference between the virtual re-creations of the dead and the actual virtual construct of a living mind that is interfaced with Matrix. These virtual constructs can also be downloaded into a TARDIS. Once in the TARDIS systems the living data can communicate with people within the TARDIS. A Metebelis crystal can even be used to extract a consciousness from the Matrix and insert it back into is original body (presuming the body still lives).
For these reasons only vanishingly small number of Time Lords are not represented inside the Matrix. For millennia the Matrix has stored the memories and the personality of hundreds of Time Lords. As of the beginning of the Time War, a total of 153,846 Time Lord minds have been uploaded into the Matrix. Once in the APC Net, a Gallifreyan mind lives on forever. There is a slight difference between the virtual re-creations of the dead and the actual virtual construct of a living mind that is interfaced with Matrix. These virtual constructs can also be downloaded into a TARDIS. Once in the TARDIS systems the living data can communicate with people within the TARDIS. A Metebelis crystal can even be used to extract a consciousness from the Matrix and insert it back into is original body (presuming the body still lives).
When
the Matrix was first constructed the dark sides of all the deceased
Time Lords began to join together. These minds longed for life again
and the resentment and jealousy became so bad in threatened all of Time
Lord society. So the Gallifreyan engineers psycho-surgically removed
these evil impulses and imprisoned them in the Dark Matrix. The Dark
Matrix was located beneath the Citadel in its own APC Net. The
engineers created filters that sanitized every new Gallifreyan who died
and filed the dark design of their mind in the Dark Matrix. Every evil,
twisted, and forbidden thought is stored here – rotting away. Because
of her massive desire for power the Time Lady Pandora (aka the
Imperiatrix) came to rule over this partition and the Dark Matrix is
sometimes known as the Pandora Partition. While it can still be
accessed by the Keeper of the Matrix using the Key of Rassilon, by the
time of the Doctor the Dark Matrix is considered to be a legend.
Some
of the deceased Time Lord minds serve as Cloister Wraiths (aka Sliders) who
provide physical security for the Matrix by patroling the Cloisters in
physical avatars. Physical intruders are
'filed' by being permanently disabled and entangled in fiber optic cables which
integrate them into the Matrix. The Wraiths also act as a virtual firewall. Any mind which enters the Matrix (whether through one of the doors, or via a mind
linkage) is likely to be attacked by the minds of several deceased
Presidents, unless they carry the Key or the Crown.
This panatropic network is also equipped with inoculation programs which trigger the moment any intruding mind is located. Combined with the other security systems, this makes the Cloisters the
most dangerous place on the planet. When the Wraiths become active the
Cloister bells will ring and be heard across the Capitol.
Should
Gallifrey be destroyed or even retro-annulled the Matrix would continue
to survive within its own dimension for 50-60 years. In
addition, the Matrix has a back up of all its records called the Secure
Information Dump, which is located in the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth is
the framework beneath normal time - the foundations of History itself.
All information is stored on printed books. Their are miles of
corridors with each section being allocated to a single Chapterhouse.
Many sections have around 100,000 books. The Labyrinth also includes
books written by aliens that were "collected" by the Time Lords. Since
the records are located outside of normal time it will remain protected
and unchanged even if History is changed. The Labyrinth is maintained
by the Minotaur, who is a function or extension of the Labyrinth. This
library is connected to every Gallifreyan outpost however a ticket is
need to check out a book. The Matrix
can restarted using archival back-up data, but it will delete
everything since the last time the back-up was updated. To ensure that
the people of Gallifrey are not physically and mentally re-set to the
time of the last back-up, it is necessary to withhold the archival
biodata extracts from the re-start. Otherwise, everyone will be in a
Matrix induced coma for over half and hour while their biodata is
rewritten to conform to their status at the time of the back-up was
made.
Before the events of the Invasion of Time most information about the Matrix was kept secret.
It would appear that, before the events of The Deadly Assassin, only
the Inner Council knew much about the Matrix and its capabilities.
Legend said that no one had ever entered the Cloisters alone and returned. Because
all dead Gallifreyans have their mind stored in the Matrix the people
of Gallifrey often feel that the dead have a greater effect on their
life then the living, and some
Gallifreyans believe the Matrix secretly controls the Time Lords. There
are even rumors that the Matrix always existed and created the
Gallifreyans just so that it would have a point of origin. The Mother
of all TARDISes always existed and created the Gallifreyans just so it
would have a point of origin. She believes that she controls the Time
Lords. Officially the President and the Keeper of the Matrix are the only Matrix Lords on Gallifrey, but in reality some
deceased Time Lords, and representatives of other species, serve as
Matrix Lords inside a Sub-Matrix under the command of Rassilon.
The Kardashev Scale
Time Lords use the Kardashev Scale to rate various species
and worlds.
It should be noted that many Type 3 Civilizations have enough power and resources to pose a small amount of risk to
some Type 4 Civilizations.
Almost
every society will hit the following technological breakthroughs: Fire, bronze, gunpowder, steam, hydrocarbon energy,
electricity, antibiotics, atomic energy, elementary space travel, nuclear fusion, quantum space travel.
LESSER SPECIES
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Type 0: Civilization has yet to conquer their own world.
- Level 1 Society: Primitive – Stone Age
- Level 2 Society: Metalworking – Bronze Age to Middle Ages
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Type 1: Civilization controls all the resources of their planet.
- Level 3 Society: Renaissance – 15th to 17th Centuries
- Level 4 Society: Industrial – 18th to 20th Centuries
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Type 2: Civilization has control of their star system.
- Level 5 /2 Society: Space Faring – Late 20th to Early 21st Century
- Level 6 Society: Star Faring – Late 21st to 30th Century
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Type 3: Civilization has control over a complete galaxy.
- Level 7 Society: Advanced Interstellar – 30th to 50th Century
- Level 8 Society: Time Aware – 51st Century and beyond
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Type 4: Civilization has control over the fundamental forces of the entire Universe.
- Level 9 Society: Time Active – Daleks, the People
- Level 10 /12/A Society: Time Lords
- Level 11 /B Society: Transcendental Beings (Sub-Guardians) - Rassilon, the Great Old Ones, the Eternals, Post-Humanity
- Level 12 /C Society: The Council of Guardians
THE LAWS OF TIME
The Protocols of the Great Houses
Rassilon created the Laws of Time during the Time of Legend
and insured that they were hard wired into the structure of the Web of Time when the Eye of Harmony was first created.
A
Time Lord Historian (from sometime after the Master’s destruction of
Gallifrey) suspected that all the scientific Laws of Time had existed
before the Time of Legend, and that Rassilon was lying about having
created them. These Laws are based on
Mason and
Aaron Blinovitch's early work in Temporal Physics.
Time Lords consider the preservation of History to be far more important than the preservation of life.
The Time Lords consider their Constitution to be the Mother of Democracy.
This Constitution was assembled over centuries out of numerous pieces of legislation, resulting in over 15,000
Laws of Time being passed.
The Time Lords teach these Laws as Scientific Laws and most
(including almost all the Oldbloods) believe them to be such.
It is technically possible for these Laws to be overturned or revoked, but to do so would destroy Time Lord culture
and power.
While the Time Lords learn these laws by rote,
in the modern era only the most skilled of Time Lord legal experts fully understand all of the Laws of Time.
A few Time Lords realize that the Laws of Time will let you get away with virtually anything if you do it subtly enough.
The more obscure warnings and ancient pieces of political manipulation are often ignored.
The Kingmaker is the Keeper of the Laws of Time.
THE LAWS OF TIME AND THE RULES GOVERNING TIME LORDS
From the Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey
The Laws of Time give the Time Lords the divine purpose of serving Time itself by maintaining the continuity/history of the fabric of the space-time continuum and the causality of the Universe. They claim that this service is their right because they were first humanoid culture to naturally evolve and pledge themselves to providing justice to all species. To this end, all non-approved time travel by other species is strictly prohibited. The Time Lords prevent time tampering, and forbid time subversion - there are no exceptions. The first three rules are know as the Major Laws of Time but there are over 15,000 Laws of Time in all. Repeated violation of the Major Laws could cause Time to fold in on itself.
-
The first law of times states that no being shall
interfere with, their own timeline, by
distorting History as he knows it. You can't alter the Past.
Creating such a paradox could upset the stability of the Universe.
This is the most important Law of the Time Lords.
This is a moral as well as legal law.
This is sometimes called the burden of the Time Lord.
-
No being shall interact with his own personal history or causal nexus by traversing their time streams.
- No being shall murder their past self. This is the ultimate violation of the Laws of Time.
- No being may come into contact with his past self. When different versions of the same person meet, the time streams are put out of sync. When a sapient being touches his younger self it shorts out the time differential, causing a release of temporal energy. This is known as the Blinovitch Limitation Effect. The resulting time differential explosion destroys/changes history in that localized time zone. The temporal disturbances caused when this occurs require tremendous amounts of temporal energy to repair. Even if there is no physical contact, violations will destroy the timestreams if the incarnations are kept together for too long (especially if there is a threat to the future history of the younger incarnation). The Blinovitch Limitation effect will generally make it impossible for the younger versions to retain their memories of the encounter. The younger version of the time traveler will often be unaware that there are any gaps in his memory until he encounters the events again in his future. Time Lords used to be shielded to the Blinovitch Limitation Effect but the Time Lords removed this shield to stop violations of the First Law of Time. Interaction while still in the same incarnation is knows as a Type 3 Blinovitch Crossover. Because of a Time Lord's increased reality quotient, interaction while still in the same incarnation causes the most severe of paradoxes.
- No Gallifreyan shall meet another Time Lord whose incarnations is out of sync with their own time-stream. This prevents damage to space time.
- Investing vast sums money in the past and collecting the profit in the future is a minor violation of the first law of time.
-
Sending
notes to your past self to give them advice (even if you remember
receiving the note) is forbidden. Violators will have to face the
Grey Council.
*Note: Interacting with a person who knows your future isn't technically breaking the law as long as you don’t take advantage of the person’s knowledge. Limited communications with another Time Lord out of sequence is also not specifically prohibited.
-
(Also known as the Doctrine of Non-Intervention or the "Golden Rule") No being on Gallifrey or
on any other planet shall interfere with the Web of Time (intergalactic history), as it is currently known, this includes not violating established and predicted quantal events.
Effectively, any event that one learns about one's future becomes a Fixed Point in Time and must not be altered.
Observation
from within the micro-universe of a TT Capsule or Gallifrey is all that is permitted.
The Law states that leaving a TARDIS is only permissible when the disembarkations procedures are followed. Under
most circumstances this includes wearing an Environmental Isolation Suit to avoid contamination.
- No time traveler shall interfere with the timeline of a fixed Temporal Nexus Point. The History of any person or planet, as it recorded or predicted in the Matrix, can not be chronoformed (the deliberate rewriting/distorting of history) to alter its destiny. This is defined as changing any part of the Web of Time by not less then fifty-three millistates. (This is also covered under Timeline Interference Resolution 861.) Shifting the orbit of a temporal nexus point is an example of a Class 1 Intervention.
- All Time Lords shall follow a Doctrine of Non-Interference with Time Unaware races. A Time Lord setting himself up as the god of a lesser species is an example of a Class 2 Intervention.
- All Time Lords shall work to prevent Time Aware Races from acquiring Gallifreyan Technology or the secrets of temporal science. No alien shall be allowed to spy on Time Lord activities. Also known as the Golden Rule, this is one of their most serious laws. The Time Lords show no mercy to its violators. There are articles of emergency power that govern possible alien activity on Gallifrey. These articles allow the investigation of even the Lord President.
- All Time Lords shall work to prevent Time Active Races from damaging the Web of Time. Disturbances of 0.4 or higher on the Bocca Scale must be prevented. Any request by a species to develop time active weaponry will be automatically turned down. Counter-intervention to restore the Web of Time is permissible, but only with the approval of the High Council.
- It is forbidden for Gallifreyans and Lesser Species to interbreed (this was recinded during the Time War). Time Lords are forbidden to fall in love or developing other strong affections for lesser species.
- Time Lords are forbidden from visiting newly formed worlds because their morpho-genetic field can distort the world’s field and imprint on the life that will evolve there.
-
Article 7 states that a Time Lord who destroys an entire species forfeits his remaining lives - and thus his
title of Time Lord.
*Note: Article 7 was created not to preserve life but to prevent the massive damage to History that genocide would cause. For this reason, Article 7 is not generally appled to Lesser Species. - All Time Lords are pledged to prevent alien aggression by Time Active Races, but only when such aggression is deemed to threaten the indigenous population of a particular time zone. This includes preventing the Reapers from destroying an entire world because of a temporal paradox. One of the responsibilities of a Time Lord is to investigate any distress call broadcast from inside the Time Vortex.
-
No being shall interact with his own personal history or causal nexus by traversing their time streams.
-
The Second Law of time is sometimes summarized as: do nothing and all will be well, the
Second Law states thats no
being shall participate in the creation of a Temporal Paradox.
-
No Time Lord shall use the Power of Creation.
- No Time Lords shall use the Power on a scale that would corrupt Time.
- Nothing shall be unhappening from History. Use of an Omnicalculator (such as the Moment, a D-Mat gun or the Oubliette of Eternity) is forbidden by the Laws of Time.
- No being shall create us a TARDIS to create a Vortex Crisis
- No being shall create a Grandfather Paradox
- No being shall cause a Dimensional Paradox by transporting sentient beings from one version of History to another.
- No being shall cause a Dimensional Paradox by transporting objects from a non-existant timeline to the primary timeline.
- Time looping planets is forbidden.
- Setting up an TARDIS Emergency Mechanism to bring someone back to life is forbidden (and a more serious violation of the Law then owning a TARDIS after retirement).
-
No Time Lord shall use the Power of Creation.
-
The Third Law of Time is often known as the Law of Relative Time or the Protocols of Linearity.
They state that No Time Lord shall travel into Gallifrey's past.
These protocols are not physical laws per say, but rather engineered by powerful Temporal Baffels, Backtime Field
Buffers,
and Governing Circuits built into
all their time travel technology.
This prevents anyone from traveling into Gallifrey’s past,
and keep the Time Lords in sync with Gallifrey Mean Time.
For these reasons, it is
virtually impossible to travel into Gallifrey's past. Attempting
to do so runs the risk of destroying the TARDIS. And even if it
survives, the ship probably won’t be able to make any further
space-time jumps. The natural linear flow of time helps to
ensure that a Time Lord's personal time is always synchronized with Gallifrey’s time. It also ensures that
the
Time Lords who encounter each other outside of Gallifrey always meet each other in a linear progression along their
relative time-streams.
This is because the minor nexus points of interaction create a Relative Causal Nexus between them.
A side effect of this law is that other time zones observed by a traveling Time Lord becomes linked with that Time
Lord's personal Causal Nexus.
* It should be noted that in Lungbarrow the Doctor took a 3 day side trip from events and returned minutes later. This might be a power all Lord Presidents have. Robert Scarrit will also do this during the war but he has to keep it a secret to avoid punishment. - The Fourth Law of time states that No Time Lord shall travel into Gallifrey’s future. To do so would be a theoretical absurdity. Such travel is prevented by Gallifrey's Absolute Temporal Barriers.
- Whilst there are any number of Futures beyond the Time Lord Time Parameters (defined by their noosphere) none maybe deliberately shaped by a Time Lord. Travel beyond the Time Parameters is forbidden. Travel to the end of recorded time is explicitly forbidden (both due to psychological affect of watching the heat death of the universe and to avoid the temptation of studying the next universe). The Time Parameters reach from around 3,500 years after Event 0 (the Big Bang) to 10,000,000 AD and cover most of Space. Time Lords are cautioned to try to avoid visiting parallel universes.
-
Unauthorized use of a TARDIS carries a mandatory Death Penalty
(meaning they only take one life)
and often exile.
A Time Lord must have a Time Warrant issued before they are allowed to leave Gallifrey. A Fetch Squad responsible
for returning stolen TARDIS which have been taken by wreck-riders.
- It is forbidden to allow non-Time Lords into a TARDIS.
- After retiring, a Time Lord is not permitted to own a TARDIS.
-
The 7th Law of Time is also known as the
Protocols of Observation:
No Time Lord shall interact with his own future.
The protocols can even make it difficult for time travelers who are part of a Lord's Causal Nexus from learning about
the future of that Lord.
- No being may come into contact with his future self.
-
No time traveler shall ever, under any circumstances, visit the site of his own grave.
*Note: It is impossible for a being to see his own future in his own biodata. An attempt to do so will cause the observation to collapse, making the knowledge useless. Losing one's virginity makes it much more difficult (if not impossible) for Gallifreyan technology to read ancestral memories from the subjects biodata.
- It is forbidden to harvest Kontron Crystals from within time rifts or corridors. This is because Kontron Crystals have absorbed time itself and can be used to damage the Web of Time.
-
No Time Lord shall use time travel for their personal convenience.
*Note: This law of time isn't really enforced and most renegades view it as a trivial. By the Last Great Time War it will be possible to violate these minor Laws of Time as long as the the proper flexi-time forms are filled out after the violation.- No use of Short-Hops to shorten his personal perception of time. (the Blinovitch Limitation Effect helps prevent violations of this law).
-
No use of Temporal Orbits or “Vortex Drifting” to elongating his
personal perception of time. It is forbidden to use time travel to live
the same day twice. No using time travel to win at the lottery.
1-6. various etiquettes. - No use of Post-Destination: Such as sending Allohistorical Lures into the past of a culture to ensure that its activities in the present conform to a desired outcome.
?? Slavery is illegal on Gallifrey. Ownership of the scavenging Coffin-Loaders is universally forbidden.
?? The Gallifreyan Freedom of Information Act: When this law was passed (sometime after the Doctor's trial on Date Index 309906) it forced the government to reveal previously secret and classified information, including many CIA operations.
?? The Dimensional Ethics Committee has banned all research into allowing the Time Lords to ascende to Higher Dimensions by evolving into non-corporeal beings.
?? It is forbidden for Time Lords to attempt to extend their lives beyond their alotted number of regenerations.
?? Gallifrey has Inheritance Laws and Temporal Taxation.
?? Jurisprudence Priamus states that any decision affecting the Houses of Gallifrey must be approved by electoral consent.
?? There are articles of emergency power that govern possible alien activity on Gallifrey. These articles allow the investigation of even the Lord President. Any alien coming to live on Gallifrey has to apply for Gallifreyan Residency. To be approved they must pass certain health and background checks as well as a test on knowledge of Gallifreyan culture. If the application is rejected, the alien’s memories of Time Lord interactions are forcibly blocked and then they are returned to their home time zone. The only legal way to avoid this is to marry a Gallifreyan, or serve as an ambassador for their homeworld. Aliens are not allowed to serve on the High Council.
?? The Drylands Precedent: This ancient law stated that if the people of Gallifrey rebelled against the High Council the Lord President had the power to create a militia to restore order.
?? Time Lords are forbidden from consuming exotic alien food.
?? Article 17. No Time Lord shall be barred from offering himself as a candidate during a Presidential Election.
?? Elections must be held within 48 hours if a President dies without naming a successor
*Note: Inaugurations usually take years to organized.
Article 28 Oblique 12, Clause 3. Upon a vote of no confidence being a leveled against a president, that president in his or her current regeneration shall be obliged to stand down from office and legislative power shall past temporarily to the incumbent of the Vice-Presidency, to the incumbent of the Chancellorship, or jointly to the members of the High Council in that hierarchical order - which ever is deemed appropriate until an election is called.
*Amendment made by Emergency High Council Session: A President who has been impeached for high treason against Gallifrey can not every stand for office.
XCIII. 2. After a journey of 400 years and 12 parsecs a Time Lord is allowed 50 years of rest.