Name:
Skaro City Dalek
Affiliation:
Biological Type:
Skaro City Daleks (Dalek Survival Guide) or Type I Daleks, (Dalek Combat Training Manual) were the slat-less Dalek drones originally encountered on Skaro in the Dalek City by the First Doctor. (The Daleks) They used casings referred to as Mark II Travel Machines by Davros (The History of the Daleks) and Dalek War Machines by Yarvelling. (Genesis of Evil)
In “version of history B”, another model of casing was used for the Skaro City Daleks. (Dalek Survival Guide, Dr. Who and the Daleks)
HIERARCHY
Initially the only type of Dalek casings, the Dalek War Machines as created by Yarvelling were soon established as the casing of the basic Dalek drones. As new Daleks were made, the originals became subordinate to the Golden Emperor, (Genesis of Evil) Black Daleks, (Duel of the Daleks) and Red Daleks. (Eve of War)
A typical job on Skaro for Daleks in such casings would be a worker in the inventions factories. For example, the scientist Zeg (who notably had a name) originally had a standard Dalek War Machine for a casing, although he later improved it by turning its material into metalert. This made it effectively invincible as well as colouring it bright red.
Two Daleks of this type that had been biologically modified challenged the Emperor for the position: Zeg (Duel of the Daleks) and the One in a Million Dalek. (Shadow of Humanity) Both failed and were destroyed for their treachery.
The Daleks who lived in the Dalek City at the time of the Thal-Dalek battle were a uniform silver and blue, subordinate to the pure black Dalek Supreme. (Return to Skaro) The ones who lived in the city during the Hybrid Incident were under the command of a red and gold Dalek Supreme, a design from the later days of the Dalek Empire. (The Magician’s Apprentice)
CHARACTERISTICS
The casings of the Skaro City Daleks were silver with their base unit sporting sense globes coloured blue, (The Daleks) which the Time Lords associated with The Daleks’ “early period”, describing them as “low-frequency”. (Dalek Combat Training Manual)
HISTORY
By one account, the “Mark II Travel Machines” were the initial Dalek designs by Davros following his life-support chair, the Mark I Travel Machine. (The History of the Daleks) An account of the event similarly depicted the Mark I Travel Machine as being based on Davros’ life support system. (Guilt) However, another account stated Davros had made a new chair after seeing the fear an early Dalek struck in Ravon. (Davros Genesis) The design was ultimately finalised with the Mark III Travel Machines, (Genesis of the Daleks) with the Time Lords understanding that Davros had abandoned his first two prototypes. (Dalek Combat Training Manual)
In contrast to accounts involving Davros, another account of the creation of the Daleks claimed that the first Dalek War Machine was presented by Yarvelling to minister Zolfian at a War Council meeting. The latter ordered mass production of the machines, believing them to be the perfect weapon to destroy any surviving Thals after the explosion of their neutron bomb. (Genesis of Evil) According to the myths concerning these events retold by some of the peoples who had been conquered by The Daleks, Yarvelling’s War Machines had initially been designed as autonomous robots that could thus safely travel through irradiated areas. (Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) One account suggested that the humanoid Daleks, descended from the Kaleds, had found and copied Davros’s stockpile of Mark II Travel Machines, rather than inventing them themselves. (The History of the Daleks)
As the bombs were accidentally exploded prematurely, the Humanoid Dalek race mutated from the radiation and were forced into the casings of the War Machines as protection. (Genesis of Evil, The History of the Daleks) Though accounts disagreed on whether the Dalek City’s building and, therefore, the Thal-Dalek battle, could predate the emergence of the Dalek Prime, they agreed that this “first Dalek”, (Genesis of Evil) who was actually not one of the new mutations but one of Davros’s Mark III Travel Machine-using Daleks, eventually arose at last from the bunker where he had been sealed a thousand years prior by the Fourth Doctor. The Dalek Prime viewed the new mutations and empty casings as an opportunity to quickly grow his forces, with the Davros-created Daleks remaining the inner circle while the new, Mark II-using Daleks would be used as expendable fodder in the early space conquests of the Dalek Empire. (The History of the Daleks)