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Dalek frontal view

Daleks

(Alternate take)


Power Level:
Game system: DC Heroes Role-Playing Game
  • As you may have noticed we currently have no less than three entries about the Daleks, because Daleks are IMPORTANT BUSINESS, and our dedicated Whovians are offering their best interpretation of the (very rich and occasionally contradictory) material.

Overview

The Daleks are an extremely advanced and powerful alien race bent on universal conquest and domination, utterly without pity, compassion or remorse. Their ultimate goal is to purge the Universe of all non-Dalek life. It is believed by other beings that they have no capacity for emotions other than anger and hate, but small traces of others such as fear do occasionally surface.

While encased in its armoured shell a Dalek has the appearance of a truncated cone (vaguely resembling a giant salt or pepper shaker) approximately 5 feet tall. It sees with a single mechanical eye mounted on a stalk which protrudes from a rotating dome comprising the top of the casing. It grips objects or beings with a telescoping manipulator arm (distinctly resembling a long sink plunger) which can generate a powerful suction vacuum or a strong magnetic field and can also plug into and interface with other technology.

It fights with a gun arm (somewhat resembling the framework of a paint roller) containing a directed energy weapon (or “death ray”) with a variable output which can stun, paralyse or kill virtually any lifeform and, at higher settings, destroy vehicles and buildings. The lower half of the casing is studded with hemispherical protrusions.

The arms are modular and can be detached and replaced with other types of arm under special circumstances, for example by replacing the manipulator with a mechanical claw or the gun with a flamethrower or a projectile weapon.

The mutant creature inside the mechanical casing is a repulsive multi-tentacled octopoid with only one eye and with the contours of its huge brain clearly visible beneath its flesh. Its colouration has been seen to vary from greenish-brown in earlier appearances to a pale orangey-brown in later ones.

If it is forced to leave its shell the Dalek is virtually helpless in close combat under most circumstances, but if it can manage to creep up on a human or humanoid being unawares and wrap its tentacles around their neck it can attempt to strangle them.

The distinctive harsh, grating voice of a Dalek is electronically synthesized: the Dalek creature is apparently unable to make much more than squeaking sounds while out of its casing.

Dalek society is one of extreme scientific and technological advancement. The Third Doctor once stated that “it was their inventive genius that made them one of the greatest powers in the universe”. But their reliance on logic and machinery is also a strategic weakness which they reluctantly acknowledge.

When necessary the Daleks make use of slaves or mercenaries from other species as agents or tools to compensate for these shortcomings.


Dalek Rank

Daleks have an intensely militaristic social structure characterized by strict adherence to hierarchy. For much of their history this was reflected in differing colour schemes for Daleks of differing rank.

Ordinary Dalek soldiers and technicians had silver-grey casings studded with blue hemispheres: they could be considered equivalent to enlisted men and non-commissioned officers in a human army. Daleks with more important functions such as spacecraft commanders and research scientists had red casings with blue hemispheres: they could be considered equivalent to low-ranking or mid-ranking commissioned officers.

Daleks with very important functions such as the commanders of entire task forces had black casings with gold hemispheres: they could be considered equivalent to high-ranking commissioned officers such as generals and admirals.

During the era of the First and Second Dalek Civil Wars the supporters of Davros all had white casings with gold hemispheres, regardless of rank. The supporters of the Dalek Supreme still used the old colour schemes.

During the era of the Time War and its aftermath nearly all Daleks had bronze casings with gold hemispheres, regardless of rank. The only exceptions were those of the very highest rank, who had casings that were completely black.

It remains a mystery as to precisely how Daleks with the same colour scheme could tell one another apart in order to be able to know which of them outranked the others.

(The colour schemes described above should be considered a theoretical rough guide only: there was considerable variation in practice.)


History

The history of the Daleks is inextricably linked with that of their creator, Davros, who was originally a military scientist on the planet Skaro, on the other side of this Galaxy.

Around fifteen hundred years ago his people, the fascistic Kaleds, became locked in a total war with their enemies, the Thals, which would last for a thousand years and devastate the planet with sustained nuclear, chemical and biological warfare. Davros was born in the final decades of this war.

A scientific prodigy from his childhood onwards, he was valued so highly by his superiors that when his laboratory was struck by an atomic artillery shell and he was maimed so severely that he would henceforth require total artificial life-support to survive, they authorized the necessary allocation of desperately scarce resources even though the normal fate of any other such casualty would have been immediate euthanasia.

Kept sedated while he was connected to an array of life-support machinery, including optical and auditory sensors to replace his destroyed eyes and ears, he was then allowed to awaken for the first time since his maiming in an otherwise unoccupied room, with a mirror in front of him and an off-switch for his life-support within easy reach of his one remaining hand.

Davros chose to live. He soon designed a far more efficient life-support system which could be built into a mobile unit about the size of a motorized wheelchair. Once constructed around him to his specifications, this restored some of his mobility.

He also designed improved optical and auditory sensors which could be surgically implanted directly into his skull. Once this was done, these actually gave him sensory perception far superior to that which he had previously possessed.

By the time he was first encountered by the Fourth Doctor, in around the year 1500 A.D. by Earth reckoning, Davros had steadily risen in status over the course of fifty years to become the Chief Scientist of the Kaleds, heading the Elite Scientific Division. He had determined that contamination from the nuclear and biological weapons used during the war was mutating the Kaled race and had artificially accelerated the process to examine the ultimate evolutionary end product.

The mutations were weak and crippled: little more than brains with tentacular appendages, with no hope of survival on their own. His solution was to remove their capacity for all emotions that constituted weaknesses — a category in which he grouped such emotions as compassion, mercy and kindness — and place the mutants in tank-like Mark III Travel Machines that were partly based on the design of his own prosthetic mobile life-support system.

He later named these creatures Daleks, an anagram of Kaleds.

Davros quickly became obsessed with his creations, declaring them to be the ultimate form of life, superior to all others. To prevent his own people from shutting down the Dalek project when they began to have doubts about the wisdom of it, he betrayed them to their destruction at the hands of the Thals.

The Daleks then attacked the Thals while they were euphorically celebrating a victory they had waited a thousand years for and almost exterminated them. But at the very moment when Davros at last seemed to be triumphant over all his enemies, the Daleks themselves turned on him and demanded that he serve them rather than being served by them. When he refused they seemingly killed him.

Davros was not dead. He had long been careful to guard against the possibility of assassination and one of the measures he had taken was to design an experimental force-field generator which was built into his life-support system and would, in theory, protect him from attacks made with energy weapons.

When he was blasted by the guns of the Daleks, the generator functioned as designed up to a point before overloading and burning out. Most of the force of the blasts was stopped and Davros sustained only comparatively minor damage, but this was still enough to make it necessary for his life-support system to automatically place him into a state of suspended animation while he healed.

A subsequent malfunction meant that he was not awakened when he should have been, causing him to remain dormant for the next three thousand years.

While Davros slept, the Daleks multiplied and eventually became divided into two factions. One was content to rule Skaro unopposed, while the other was more ambitious and intended to expand into space. The latter constructed a space fleet and left Skaro, embarking on a program of conquering other worlds.

The expansionists did not attempt to maintain contact with the stay-at-homes and the two branches of the Dalek race pursued separate destinies thereafter. All the while, the Daleks remained unaware that a small group of Thals had also survived in a distant part of Skaro.

Around 1820, an off-course and damaged expansionist Dalek ship made a forced landing on the planet Vulcan, which in the Doctor Who Universe orbits our Sun closer in than Mercury. [The story this occurred in was written at a time when some astronomers wrongly believed there might actually be such a planet.] Unable to take off again, the Dalek crew placed themselves in suspended animation to await a rescue that never came.

In the 20th Century, the First Doctor was inadvertently responsible for wiping out the stay-at-home Daleks on Skaro, but no word of their fate reached the expansionist Daleks out in space at the time. The surviving group of Thals subsequently began studying the Dalek technology and attempting to master its basic principles.

In the 2010s, humanity established an international colony on the planet Vulcan. The colonists discovered the Dalek spacecraft that had crashed there two hundred years before and awakened its crew from suspended animation. The Second Doctor destroyed the Daleks before they could multiply themselves into an army and conquer first Vulcan, then Earth. The colony was apparently abandoned soon afterwards, because it was never mentioned again.

In the 2150s, a Dalek task force operating at the extreme limits of its range bypassed the colony worlds which humanity had established in other planetary systems by that time and attacked Earth using biological warfare, wiping out most of its inhabitants. The few survivors became slaves, labouring on a grandiose Dalek project to convert the Earth into a planet-sized mobile fortress to be used in conquering the Galaxy.

The First Doctor sabotaged the project and led the overthrow of the Daleks in the 2060s. Because of the logistical difficulties involved in mounting another such expedition when the colony worlds would by then have been alert to and armed against the threat they posed, the Daleks did not attempt to re-conquer Earth at that time.

Earth was left to recover from the Dalek occupation as best it could for at least a generation before the colonies made any effort to step in and help. Eventually it was rebuilt along much the same lines as before, being rapidly repopulated by people re-immigrating from the colonies.

In the 26th Century, the Dalek Empire fought a genocidal total war against the Human and Draconian Empires which culminated in its near-destruction. Left confined to a small core territory, the few surviving expansionist Daleks belatedly sought to renew contact with the stay-at-homes on Skaro, only to find that they had been extinct for centuries and that the planet had been under the control of the Thals ever since.

By this time, the Thals had developed space travel and learned of the continuing Dalek threat from space. Knowing that they could not hope to defend their homeworld from a determined Dalek effort at reconquest, the Thals had already completed the evacuation of Skaro and colonized a new world far away. The expansionist Daleks reoccupied the planet themselves unopposed, but did not discover that Davros was still alive.

Flying Daleks

Around the beginning of the 27th Century, the Daleks attempted to avenge their defeat by unleashing biological warfare on the rest of the Galaxy but were thwarted by the Third Doctor.

Around the beginning of the 32nd Century, the Daleks began sending out long-range expeditions to other Galaxies. One Galaxy was eventually completely conquered by them, becoming the new focus of most of their operations. They later took the final logical step of transferring their capital there and leaving most of their remaining territory in this Galaxy occupied only by a minimal garrison force. Skaro was considered of such little value that it was abandoned completely.

Around the beginning of the 40th century, the Daleks renewed their interest in the Galaxy of their origin. They again reoccupied Skaro, but again did not discover that Davros was still alive. Also around this time, the Daleks first began to master the basic principles of time travel. Their expertise in this field would subsequently increase greatly over time.

At the beginning of the 41st Century, the Daleks forged an alliance with a number of other totalitarian regimes ruling neighbouring Galaxies to invade and conquer this Galaxy. They secretly planned to turn on their allies once their forces were committed and attack them from the rear, destroying them and conquering their Galaxies as well as this one.

The Daleks were also being aided by human traitors within the Galactic Federation that controlled most of this Galaxy. Their master plan was foiled by the First Doctor and the Daleks were deserted by their allies after their intended treachery was exposed. In sheer frustration, the Daleks alone subsequently launched an all-out frontal attack on this Galaxy regardless. Once again they were eventually beaten and forced to retreat. Skaro was once again abandoned.

In the 44th and 45th Centuries, the Daleks became locked in a stalemated war with a race of humanoid androids called the Movellans. Somehow they eventually came up with the idea that studying the original research of their creator might help them to improve their capabilities enough to give them victory. They returned to Skaro yet again to excavate the ruins of his laboratory.

The Fourth Doctor learned of this and set out to find and destroy anything that might benefit them before they could get to it. In the process he ended up becoming the one to finally discover Davros himself still alive in suspended animation and revive him at last after three thousand years. He managed to destroy the Dalek expeditionary force that was searching for Davros and liberate a group of human slave labourers the Daleks had brought with them, who returned to Earth taking the captive Davros with them.

On Earth, Davros was put on trial for crimes against all intelligent life and convicted on all counts. His sentence was to be placed back into suspended animation aboard a military space station, perhaps with the intention of preserving his unmatched knowledge of the Daleks so that he could be compelled to devise weapons to be used against them in the event of another intergalactic war.

The Daleks eventually lost their war with the Movellans when the kind of biological warfare they had frequently used against others was turned against them, in the form of a genetically-engineered virus which almost exterminated them. The few survivors found it necessary to augment their meagre forces with cloned human slave-soldiers and with the few interstellar mercenaries for hire they could find who would even be prepared to work for them. They eventually reoccupied Skaro yet again.

Ninety years after Davros had been placed back into suspended animation, the space station where he was kept was attacked and captured by a force of slave-soldiers and mercenaries led by a mere handful of Daleks. Davros was awakened once again and given the task of finding an antidote to the Movellan virus. He quickly began pursuing his own agenda, managing to mind-control some of the Daleks and some of their slave-soldiers to make them loyal to him.

The rest retained their former loyalties and before long a shooting war erupted between the two factions. Rather than risk waiting to see if his supporters would eventually prevail, Davros released the virus to wipe out all of the Daleks once the last of the slave-soldiers on both sides had been killed.

He then seemingly succumbed to the virus himself before he could make his escape, having failed to realize that his own physiology was close enough to that of the Daleks for the virus to affect him.

Somehow Davros managed to recover from the virus and make his way to a remote part of the Galaxy where no-one had ever heard of him or the Daleks. He evidently spent some time thoroughly familiarizing himself with the science and technology of the 46th Century, which was far more advanced in many ways than what he had known on Skaro four thousand years earlier.

Eventually he somehow gained control of a vast funeral centre called Tranquil Repose, which was the chief industry on the quiet backwater planet of Necros. Tranquil Repose did not only offer conventional funeral services: it also preserved terminally ill people in cryogenic suspension until medical science could discover cures for their conditions. Davros began secretly reviving selected people in the latter category whose conditions he himself could devise cures for and then genetically re-engineering them to turn them into new Daleks under his control.

When a mass famine swept much of the Galaxy, Davros was able to augment his resources by secretly reprocessing fresh corpses into a synthetic food, the export of which greatly enriched Necros and himself. His operations there were brought to an abrupt and unexpected end when the original Daleks learned of his whereabouts and sent a small force which destroyed his new Daleks and captured him.

Brought back to Skaro, Davros somehow managed to win many of the original Daleks over to his cause and led them in attempting to depose the long-lived Dalek Supreme[2] who had ruled them for most of their history. The First Dalek Civil War was the result.

Styling himself the Dalek Emperor, Davros devised biological and technological upgrades for his supporters which gave them an important edge, enabling them to take control of Skaro and drive the Dalek Supreme and its supporters into exile off-planet. The two factions were eventually duped by the manipulative Seventh Doctor into fighting for possession of an ancient Time Lord artifact of great power known as the Hand of Omega, which proved in the event to have been booby-trapped and destroyed Skaro by turning its sun into a supernova.

Since the supporters of Davros were in control of Skaro at the time, they were the faction who were wiped out along with it. Davros himself was aboard his command ship at the time and barely managed to eject from it in an escape pod before it too was destroyed by the Hand. The pod was left drifting in space and Davros had to place himself back into suspended animation yet again to await rescue, which in the event did not come for several decades.

[2] The Dalek Supreme was confusingly renamed the Dalek Prime in some of the novelizations of the TV stories and original novels, for no obvious reason.

While Davros slept yet again, the Dalek Supreme and its surviving supporters occupied a nearby planet named Antalin and used xenoforming technology to remake it into a near-perfect replica of Skaro. The Daleks subsequently rewrote their official histories to claim that it had actually been Antalin that had been destroyed by the Hand of Omega and that Antalin was actually Skaro.

Vintage Daleks in London

Eventually Davros was found and awakened yet again by the Daleks. The Dalek Supreme deliberately allowed him to begin seeking to win Daleks over to his cause once again, in order to allow those who were discontent with its own rule to expose themselves so that they could then be destroyed. The Second Dalek Civil War was the result.

It ended in victory for the supporters of the Dalek Supreme and upon its conclusion Davros was seemingly executed. In fact he had secretly been kept alive just in case the Daleks should ever have any future use for him and was placed back into suspended animation yet again. Once he was safely out of the way the Dalek Supreme hypocritically emulated him by adopting the title of Dalek Emperor for itself.

This era also saw the Daleks once again engaged in attempting to conquer territory in this Galaxy. Humans, Draconians and the Thals were prominent amongst the races resisting them with vigour. These efforts on the part of the Daleks were also eventually thwarted by their enemies. This was the furthest point into the future at which the Thals were known to still survive.

Around beginning of the 51st Century, the Daleks experimented with restoring the capacity for emotions such as compassion to a group of Dalek test subjects, intending merely to better understand how these emotions worked in order to better exploit the weaknesses of their enemies. In the event, the test subjects soon came to regard themselves as a new breed of Dalek and refused to remain subject to the old breed.

The Third Dalek Civil War was the result. It claimed the life of the Dalek Emperor before ultimately ending in victory for the old breed, with the new breed apparently being exterminated. A new Dalek Emperor eventually replaced the old one.

At some point, the Dalek High Council authorized the creation of a small, elite and secretive order of high-ranking strategists and scientists referred to as the Cult of Skaro, who were the only Daleks permitted to cultivate individuality, creativity and “thinking outside the box” among themselves in order to be able to think as their enemies thought and thereby facilitate their destruction. The Cult had access to specialized and experimental technologies not generally available to the majority of Daleks.

An unknown length of time into the future, the Daleks ultimately challenged the Time Lords of Gallifrey themselves for universal domination and the two races fought the cataclysmic Time War, in which the Eighth Doctor played a key role.

Early on in the war Davros was awakened yet again and pressed into the service of the Daleks, but he was unable to make much difference and was then seemingly killed when his ship was destroyed in battle. The final outcome of the conflict was the mutual annihilation of both sides.

The second recorded Dalek Emperor and a small retinue escaped destruction by fleeing into the distant future. They emerged 198,000 years from now, at a time when the Fourth [Great and Bountiful] Human Empire was at its height.

They attempted to subvert the Empire to their own purposes by genetically re-engineering cells extracted from many abducted humans to create new Daleks, but were eventually exposed and destroyed 200 years later thanks to the efforts of the Ninth Doctor and his companions.

Another force of Daleks escaped destruction by fleeing into another dimension and eventually re-emerged into this dimension in the past. They made failed attempts to conquer Earth in 2006 and then again in 1930 before all but one of them were destroyed thanks to the efforts of the Tenth Doctor and his companions.

The sole remaining Dalek finally risked everything on one last desperate gamble: to attempt to go back in time to the height of the Time War and rescue Davros from the destruction of his ship. Against incredible odds, it somehow succeeded. Davros then went on to grow an entire army of new Daleks from genetically-altered cells originally extracted from his own remaining body tissue.

In the event, these Daleks proved to be no more prepared to remain subject to Davros than their predecessors had been, once again reducing him to the status of a privileged slave. They ultimately embarked on the most ruthless and ambitious project any Daleks had ever undertaken: to travel back in time to 2008 and then destroy the entire multiverse except for a small pocket of spacetime under their direct control.

They were thwarted and seemingly all destroyed due to the efforts of the Tenth Doctor and his companions and Davros was seemingly killed in the process when fire engulfed his laboratory. Whether or not this was truly the end of them and of him at last is open to question.


Personality

Daleks have little or no individual personality, ostensibly no emotions other than anger and hatred and a strict command structure, conditioned to obey orders from superiors without question or hesitation. Dalek speech is characterised by repeated phrases and by orders given to themselves and to others.

Dalek vocal inflection suggests perpetual anger, sometimes verging on hysteria. In terms of their behavior, Daleks are extremely aggressive and seem driven by an instinct to attack. This instinct is so strong that Daleks have been seen fighting the urge to kill or even attacking when unarmed.

The fundamental feature of Dalek culture and psychology is an unquestioned belief in the superiority of the Dalek race and a hatred of all others. Their default directive is to destroy all non-Dalek lifeforms. Other species are either to be exterminated immediately or enslaved if currently useful and then exterminated later once no longer so.

This superiority complex is the basis of Dalek ruthlessness and lack of compassion. It is almost impossible to negotiate or reason with a Dalek under most circumstances: this single-mindedness makes them extremely dangerous and never to be underestimated. They can occasionally be talked into sparing the lives of beings who claim to have information they want or to be able to give them something else of value to them — but only in the short term.

Eventually their all-encompassing hatred comes to the fore again and they decree the extermination of these beings too. This hatred seems on occasion to manifest itself in a sadistic streak which is at odds with strict adherence to logic, to the point where despite their extremely advanced science Daleks are as likely to use violent means for problem solving as technological ones.

At times they appear to have deliberately rejected more efficient technological options for accomplishing their goals in favour of using slave labour for gruelling manual work, because of the satisfaction they derived from the suffering this caused the slaves.

The Daleks have long hated the Doctor in particular because of all the defeats he’s had a hand in inflicting on them. In the aftermath of the Time War, the few Daleks who still remained appeared to fear him as well.


Quotes

“Ex-ter-mi-nate ! Ex-ter-mi-nate !”

“I obey !”

“My vision is impaired ! I cannot see !”

“Stairs !? Oh, curse it !” (Yes, this quote is just a joke.)


DC Universe History

Many millennia ago, one of the Psions’ asteroid-based laboratories produced a variant Psion race whose outer appearance and emotional range was more mammalian than that of their progenitors (As noted in “Genesis of the Daleks” and “The Stolen Earth”, the Kaleds were superficially similar to humans but had a much different internal structure).

These highly intelligent and ambitious Neo-Psions rebelled against their creators and took over their laboratory, adapting it for spaceflight and fleeing the Vega system. Unaware that the Psions were restricted to the Vega System by an edict of the Guardiand of the Universe (a fact which was concealed from them by the Psions to avoid loss of face before their newly-created subjects), the Neo-Psions pushed the engines of their makeshift vessel to their limits in order to quickly get as far away as possible.

They managed to reach the other side of the Galaxy before the strain crippled their ship.

Lacking the resources to repair their vessel and having minimal remaining flight range, the Neo-Psions landed the vessel on the first habitable world they could find, the planet Skaro. To escape the notice of any pursuing Psions, the Neo-Psions buried the vessel deep underground and made it their policy to conceal their true origins from their descendants.

They thus hoped to be dismissed as yet another primitive humanoid culture among many in the galaxy if the Psions passed by their world. This was not a perfect process. It took many generations for all knowledge of their true origins to finally be suppressed, while the underlying fear that had originally motivated the deception still continued to express itself as a cultural tendency toward xenophobia.

Over time, the neo-Psions diverged over time into two separate societies known as the Kaleds and the Thals, with the Kaleds retaining more of the old tradition of xenophobia and the Thals less. 1,500 years ago, the increasing hostility between the two factions culminated in the Thousand Year War. 500 years ago, excavations for an underground research center to house the projects of the Kaled Scientific Elite accidentally uncovered the buried Psion laboratory-ship.

Davros rediscovered the true origins of his people but concealed them on the principle that knowledge is power. His later genetic experiments were partially inspired by the records of those performed by the Psions in the creation of his species, with his ultimate creations being in many ways a reversion back to typical Psion traits: the callous intellect and limited emotional range of the Daleks were innate aspects of standard Psion physiology, while it is likewise no coincidence that the mutated appearance of Davros himself in the wake of his maiming bears some resemblance to that of his Psion forebears.

The Daleks even repudiated their humanoid forebears as a lesser alien species, an unwitting historical parallel to a tradition on the part of the Psions of removing the vestigial tails of infants at birth in rejection of their own “savage” origins.

After the Thousand Year War ended with the extermination of the Kaleds and seemingly of the Thals as well, the Daleks began a methodical expansion into space. Their initial efforts were battled by the Green Lantern Corps. As these initial encounters with the GLC took place when their Power Rings were still vulnerable to yellow, the Daleks created special contingents of gold-plated Dalek shells as a counter-measure. This was enough of a wide-spread practice at the time that some gold-plated components came to be seen even on Daleks not intended to fight the Corps.

When the Daleks first encountered the Manhunter androids, the two groups immediately developed a particularly vicious mutual enmity for reasons neither species was consciously aware of. As agents of the Oans who had originally confined the Psions to Vega, the Manhunters had residual elements of their programming “instinctively” driving them to contain the Psion-derived Daleks. In turn, the Daleks were compelled by subconscious Psion racial memories to see the Manhunters as an extreme threat. This would have serious consequences for both groups later in galactic history (see further below for details).

The Daleks attempted to use the temporal wakes of various universal time-altering incidents in the 20th Century such as the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Zero Hour, and the Infinite Crisis as camouflage for their initial attacks in the Last Great Time War. The losses of various planets inflicted during that war were mistaken by most to have been casualties of those aforementioned incidents.

Only a few temporal studies experts in the DCU are even aware that the Last Great Time War took place. Because Earth had a central place in in those time shifts, the Daleks who survived the Great War further exploited the residual temporal disturbances as a means to hide from detection, which is why their subsequent re-emergences all took place near that planet.

In the 30th and 31st Centuries, the Daleks (who at that time are actually ancestors of the distant-future Daleks who triggered the Last Great Time War) are a nuisance to the United Planets and occasional foes of the Legion of Super Heroes. Like numerous other threats, the Daleks would periodically emerge from the “hostile and unexplored” quadrant of the Galaxy outside of UP space.

However, they are not as much of a threat as they were in previous times or would be again later, since they were still recovering from the Dalek Wars of the 26th Century and being harried by the Khunds and the Dark Circle on either side of their domain.

When the Daleks began recruiting human traitors to betray this Galaxy to them around the beginning of the 41st Century, the leader of the conspiracy was none other than the undying Vandal Savage.

Around the beginning of the 44th Century, a splinter group of the Manhunters would focus solely on combating the expanding Dalek menace. This faction eschewed their standard design, using the same resources to instead produce much greater numbers of less powerful android forms. For the same reason, the standard Manhunter power baton was reduced to a simple power pack for the bodies in question.

This Manhunter faction called themselves the Movellans after their primary factory world and their war with the Daleks would eventually spread across the galaxy in a stalemate that lasted for centuries. This stalemate finally ended in the 46th Century when the Movellans created a genetically-engineered virus that specifically targeted Dalek physiology, though the Daleks would eventually recover from this defeat as they had all of their previous ones.


Marvel Universe History

The Celestials visited Skaro a million years ago and created analogues of the Eternals and Deviants. These never existed in large numbers and eventually dwindled into extinction, but before that there was some interbreeding with the ordinary population of Skaro.

The descendants of those who interbred with the Eternal-analogues became the Thals, who inherited greater genetic stability which enabled their gene pool to eventually stabilize back into a humanoid template following the mutations caused by the Thousand-Year War.

The descendants of those who interbred with the Deviant-analogues became the Kaleds, who inherited greater genetic instability which led to the mutations caused by the War altering their gene pool almost beyond recognition until it eventually stabilized into a radically non-humanoid template, resulting in the Daleks.

During the Dalek Wars of the 26th Century the Rigellian Empire would have been a key ally of the Humans and Draconians against the Daleks. The Kree, Skrull and Shi’ar Empires are too far away for it to seem very likely that they’d feel threatened enough to get involved.

All three of the aforementioned extragalactic empires might eventually end up being found amongst the totalitarian regimes conspiring with the Daleks against the expanding empire of Kang the Conqueror at the beginning of the 41st Century.


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Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG Print Friendly

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Typical Dalek (Early History)

Dex: 01 Str: 00 Bod: 01 Motivation: Exterminate Enemies/Obey Orders
Int: 05 Wil: 08 Min: 06 Occupation: Conqueror, Exterminator
Inf: 03 Aur: 03 Spi: 04 Resources {or Wealth}: 015
Init: 011 HP: 015

Powers:
Shrinking: 05, Extra Limb (x4): 01, Mind Over Matter: 04, Enhanced Initiative: 02, Iron Will: 09, Recall: 20

Bonuses and Limitations:

  • Shrinking: Power Always On. APs figured in Characteristics
  • Extra Limb: Power Always On.
  • Iron Will: Iron Will is only effective against emotional manipulation-based attacks, except those involving anger and hate. A Dalek which has its Iron Will Neutralized will begin to be affected by a CIF (Claustrophobia).

Skills:
Charisma (Interrogation, Intimidation): 05, Detective (Clue Analysis, Counterfeit Recognition, Identification Systems): 07, Gadgetry: 10, Medicine (Bionics, Brainwashing, Forensic, Surgery): 08, Military Science (Cryptography, Demolition, ECM, Tracking): 05, Scientist (inc. Computers): 10, Thief (Stealth): 03, Thief (Locks and Safes, Security Systems): 10, Vehicles (Air Vehicles, Land Vehicles, Space Craft, Time Machines, Water Vehicles): 07, Weaponry (Blasters, Heavy Weapons): 08

Advantages:
Genius, Iron Nerves, Scholar (Various), Military Rank (Variable)

Connections:
All other Daleks (High)

Drawbacks:
Strange Appearance, SPR (Mute), Misc.: A Dalek has no emotions except anger and hate and no capacity for intuition. It can sometimes be confounded by illogical or impulsive behavior on the part of its opponents., Misc.: A Dalek believes that it is inherently superior to all other lifeforms. This often causes it to underestimate the capabilities of its opponents, SIH (of all other lifeforms), SIA (to obeying orders from superiors without question), SIF (of sensory deprivation)

Equipment:

  • ANTI-GRAVITY DISC [BODY 06, Air Walking: 05]. This is a floating platform reminiscent of a small flying saucer which can transport a single Dalek at moderate speed.
  • DALEK ARMORED SHELL (Early Model) [/DEX/ 02 /STR/ 02 /BODY/ (Hardened) 09, INT 02, Scientist (Research): 12, Sealed Systems: 12, Attraction/Repulsion: 05, Energy Blast: 08, Paralysis: 08, Flame Project: 08, Running: 02, Swimming: 02, Telescopic Vision: 04, Microscopic Vision: 04, Extended Hearing: 04, Interface: 03, Radio Communication: 10, Recall: 20, Misc.: The Shell incorporates a voice synthesizer which allows the Dalek to speak, Drawbacks – Loss Vulnerability (lack of broadcast power transmissions beamed to it from a Dalek spacecraft or fixed base, all Attributes, Skills and Powers), Attack Vulnerability (The eyestalk of the Shell can be targeted with a Trick Shot. If successful this deprives the Dalek of all Vision Powers and leaves it blind, which will activate its CIF (of sensory deprivation).), Misc.: The Shell can only move over a flat surface. Rugged terrain and stairs represent insurmountable obstacles for it., Misc.: The Dalek mutant cannot use its Extra Limb Power whilst inside the Shell. Bonuses & Limitations:
    • Scientist (Research): Only usable to scan electronic data through Interface.
    • Attraction/Repulsion: Power Limited to Attraction Only.
    • Energy Blast: No Range — Range of 2 APs only. Lethal.
    • Paralysis: No Range — Range of 2 APs only. Only usable against living beings.
    • Flame Project: No Range — Range of 2 APs only.
    • Running: Requires a flat surface to move over.
    • Interface: Requires Physical Connection
    • Radio Communication: Video Capability. Encrypted.]

Typical Dalek (Later History)

Dex: 01 Str: 01 Bod: 02 Motivation: Exterminate Enemies/Obey Orders
Int: 05 Wil: 08 Min: 06 Occupation: Conqueror
Inf: 03 Aur: 03 Spi: 04 Resources {or Wealth}: 015
Init: 011 HP: 015

Powers:
Shrinking: 04, Extra Limb (x4): 01, Enhanced Initiative: 02, Mind Over Matter: 04, Iron Will: 09, Recall: 20

Bonuses and Limitations:

  • Shrinking: Power Always On. APs figured in Characteristics.
  • Extra Limb: Power Always On.
  • Iron Will: Iron Will is only effective against emotional manipulation-based attacks, except those involving anger and hate. A Dalek which has its Iron Will Neutralized will begin to be affected by a CIF (Claustrophobia).

Skills:
Charisma (Interrogation, Intimidation): 05, Detective (Clue Analysis, Counterfeit Recognition, Identification Systems): 07, Gadgetry: 10, Medicine (Bionics, Brainwashing, Forensic, Surgery): 08, Military Science (Cryptography, Demolition, ECM, Tracking): 05, Scientist (incl. Computers): 10, Thief (Stealth): 03, Thief (Locks and Safes, Security Systems): 10, Vehicles (Air Vehicles, Land Vehicles, Space Craft, Time Machines, Water Vehicles): 07, Weaponry (Blasters, Heavy Weapons): 08

Advantages:
Genius, Iron Nerves, Scholar (Various), Military Rank (Variable)

Connections:
All other Daleks (High)

Drawbacks:
Strange Appearance, SPR (Mute), Misc.: A Dalek has no emotions except hate and no capacity for intuition. It can sometimes be confounded by illogical or impulsive behavior on the part of its opponents., Misc.: A Dalek believes that it is inherently superior to all other lifeforms. This often causes it to underestimate the capabilities of its opponents, SIH (of all other lifeforms), SIA (to obeying orders from superiors without question), SIF (of sensory deprivation), MIF (of the Ninth and later incarnations of the Doctor)

Equipment:
DALEK ARMORED SHELL (Later Model)
[/DEX/ 02 /STR/ 04 /BODY/ (Hardened) 09 INT 02, Scientist (Research): 50, Sealed Systems: 12, Attraction/Repulsion: 05, Magnetic Control: 01, Energy Absorption [1]: 05, Energy Absorption [2]: 18, Vampirism: 07, Regeneration: 05, Force Field: 00, Power Reserve (Regeneration, Force Field): 08, Energy Blast: 08, Paralysis: 08, Lightning: 08, Heat Beam: 08, Running: 02, Swimming: 02, Flight: 05, Telescopic Vision: 04, Microscopic Vision: 04, Ultra Vision: 03, Thermal Vision: 03, Extended Hearing: 04, Interface: 12, Radio Communication: 10, Recall: 30, Bomb: 15. Misc. Adv.: The Shell can make Recovery Checks so long as it still has the use of its Regeneration Power ; Misc. Adv.: The Shell incorporates a voice synthesizer which allows the Dalek to speak. Drawbacks – Attack Vulnerability (The eyestalk of the Shell can be targeted with a Trick Shot. If successful this deprives the Dalek of all Vision Powers and leaves it blind, which will activate its CIF (of sensory deprivation).), LossVulnerability (Energy Depletion [see below]), Misc.: The Dalek mutant cannot use its Extra Limb Power whilst inside the Shell. Bonuses & Limitations:

  • Scientist (Research): Only usable to scan electronic data through Interface.
  • Attraction/Repulsion: Power Limited to Attraction Only.
  • Energy Absorption [1]: No Range — Range of Touch only. Cannot Be Used To Defend Against Attacks. Only works on chronal energies (such as the chronal energy signature of a time traveller). Absorbed Energy Adds To Power Reserve.
  • Energy Absorption [2]: No Range — Range of Touch only. Cannot Be Used To Defend Against Attacks. Absorbed Energy Adds To Power Reserve.
  • Vampirism: No Range — Range of Touch only. Lethal. RAPs Gained Fuel Regeneration Or Power Reserve.
  • Regeneration: Can Be Fueled By Vampirism Or Power Reserve.
  • Force Field: Can Attack Through Field. Field Operates at only half APs against Dalek weaponry.
  • Energy Blast: No Range — Range of 2 APs only. Lethal.
  • Paralysis: No Range — Range of 2 APs only. Only usable against living beings.
  • Lightning: No Range — Range of 2 APs only.
  • Heat Beam: No Range — Range of 0 APs only.
  • Running: Requires a flat surface to move over.
  • Thermal Vision: Imaging Bonus.
  • Interface: Requires Physical Connection
  • Radio Communication: Video Capability. Encrypted.
  • Bomb: No Range — Range of 1 AP only. Only Usable To Self-Destruct.]

Energy Depletion

When a Dalek Armored Shell loses all access to any kind of energy source for a time, its functions begin to shut down.

The first to go offline are Power Reserve, Force Field, Energy Blast, Paralysis, Lightning, Heat Beam, Flight and Bomb, after 13 APs of time without energy. Then DEX, STR, INT, Scientist (Research), Sealed Systems, Attraction/Repulsion, Magnetic Control, Regeneration, Running, Swimming, Ultra Vision, Thermal Vision, Interface, Radio Communication and Recall follow, after 16 APs of time without energy.

The only functions the Shell still retains after this point are Energy Absorption and Vampirism. Thereafter a Dalek will be unable to use any of its lost functions unless and until it has an opportunity to use Energy Absorption or Vampirism to fuel Regeneration. After Regeneration has repaired any damage suffered to BODY, the Shell can begin to replenish its other Attributes and Powers.

Every RAP gained with Energy Absorption or Vampirism will enable it to replenish 1 AP of a chosen Attribute or Power as the Dalek sees fit, but it can never recover higher-level functions until all of its previous-level functions are fully recovered. Thus, APs must first go to replenish BODY, then to the other Attributes (DEX, STR and INT) and low-level Powers (Running and Swimming) so that the Dalek can regain its mobility and go in search of suitable sources of energy.

After that the medium-level functions (Attraction/Repulsion, Magnetic Control, Telescopic Vision, Microscopic Vision, Ultra Vision, Thermal Vision, Extended Hearing, Interface, Radio Communication and Recall) can be recovered, then finally the high-level ones (Regeneration, Force Field, Power Reserve, Energy Blast, Paralysis, Lightning, Heat Beam, Flight and Bomb).


Cyberdaleks

During the period when Davros and the Dalek Supreme were disputing the leadership of the Dalek race, Davros experimented with grafting large bionic pincers onto Dalek mutants which conferred Claws: 02 upon them as a Seriously Marginal Power, giving them some close combat capability even if their Shells were disabled or destroyed.

The Shells used in this period had Air Walking: 01 as a Seriously Marginal Power.

By Hominid71 (But around 75% based on v1.92 by Kal-El el Vigilante.)

Source of Character: Doctor Who

Helper(s): Wikipedia, Roy Cowan

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