Since the return of a small rogue band of Time Lords, Gallifreyans, Karnians and outsiders; the beat of four has once more been heard through the vortex... though incredibly diminished. For while they had a home - and a people - they had little hope... for the galaxy had turned against them. Many that once feared or distrusted the Time Lords have united with the new Dalek Empire and its fleet of 10,000 strong ships. While they could never - in theory - touch the Hand of Time... there was little future of the Time Lords beyond survival...
Until Now
A New GallifreyUpon the slopes of mount perdition - sunk into a continent-wide crater - sits the upper-dome of the new Temporal Citadel. Completely shielding the lower levels, hydroponics-farms and various homes within the former-station itself. The Slopes of perdition - ancient site of the Prydonian Academy - now serve as a staging ground that Romana, Rose and John Tyler (along with their fragile alliance with the CIA) now hope to use to restore the Time Lords to their former power.
Unfortunately, while much has been gained, the planet itself is little more than a reminder of what is lost. No cities, time lords or higher creatures have been returned. The system of Gallifrey and its various moons (such as Karn) have been restored yes; but not as they were before the Time War. This Gallifrey - its two suns and various moons - is the Gallifrey of old. Upon these slopes and hills walked such as Rassilon when the Time Lords were young and powerless... ancient beasts such as the Gargantosaurs roam through forests filled with Flubbles. Tafelshrews and Rovies dash through fields of purple grain that the now-independent-again Outsiders have begun to farm.
Still more chaos has been sewn with the remnants of the Sisterhood of Karn. Upon learning of the CIA's attempts to force Romana into 'conscripting' Karnians as well as Outsiders into Time Lord service (and fearing a repeat of their treatment during the Time War) the Sisters broke from their alliance with the Hand of Time and resettled Karn - returning to their worship of the sacred flame and severing contacts with Gallifrey at large. Furthermore Romana has clamped down on the process of transforming Gallifreyans into Time Lords - as President and Head of the Council she alone has the authority to overrule the CIA on this mater - and has refused all debate on the subject as late. However SOME good has come of the planets return. Uniting the Outsider Clans (Gallifreyans and Time Lords who have returned to their pre-technological ways) Leela, her numerous children and the Outsiders have started to settle the areas around the Citadel and begun to re-plant the fields of Gallifrey and map the lands.
For while they may have a city... they will need the produce of the fields to have a world.
For all of the chaos and hope now gained little has changed. The Hand of Time has a planet - they have a people - but they still lack unity. They are protected by the power of the twins suns and the mass-driver engines at the heart of the Temporal Citadel which generate a perfectly functional transduction barrier around the whole system. Yet for all this they are still a dying species... Romana has said it herself in recent speeches (using her newly regenerated and somewhat 'rougher' vernacular) 'we need to start having babies' - much to the chagrin of MOST of the CIA who desire a return to the old ways of looms and the watching of time streams.
For himself, through all of this, the Doctor remains detached from this latest 'incarnation' of his home world. To the Doctor NOTHING has changed - no matter what Romana and Leela may think (leading to a somewhat strained relationship between them) as far as the Doctor is concerned he is still the last. Still the only 'survivor' of the Time War. To him this isn't the Gallifrey they lost... this is just a picture of the Gallifrey from a history book - a reminder... for him... a painful reminder. His family is still dead, his friends are still gone... even the sky itself is not the same and there is nothing he can do about it.
Despite Meta's two attempts to track him down the Doctor remains distance and - as always - detached from Gallifrey at large... leaving it up to Meta and Rose themselves to decide whether to leave Romana to her unstable place in the presidency... or to find 'home' among the Gallifreyan populace.
