With
Epsilon incarcerated in Shada for the time being – though don’t
expect her to stay there for long – I really needed a new chief
villain, and I had the thought of making it a female villain, much like
the Rani served as an alternative to The Master. But I wanted somebody
other than Rani, with a deeper background. And I also wanted, at the same
time, to address that issue raised in the 2007 series – the Untempered
Schism. It has become a bit of a recurring theme throughout the different
story arcs, of course. It is mentioned in the New Lords of Time stories,
Winter Solstice and Christopher Remembers as the way Gallifreyan children
were selected to be Time Lords, and it comes up several times in the Marion
and Kristoph stories – and may well come up again. I wanted to examine
what happens to those for whom it goes wrong. And Savang as a child whose
mind was turned by exposure to the Schism was ideal.
I also introduced the Sisterhood of Karn, a sect of women who practice Time Lord ‘magic’ outside of the law of the Time Lords. Now, the Sisterhood, of course, were first mentioned in the Tom Baker story, Brain of Morbeus, along with another cast out Time Lord Renegade, Morbeus. There, they were a sinister cult on a very strange planet. But it was never stated that it was Karn, and other evidence has pointed to Karn being a planet in Gallifrey’s system.
The names of the
six planets can be found on the internet in various places, along with
descriptions of what they are like. But I decided to do my own version.
Polafrey’s fantastic double rings, the strange orbit of The Fibster,
and the Eye of Rassilon were my own inventions, as well as the topography
of Karn. The wildlife on the plain below, and the
Children being kidnapped is a tricky subject, so I made very sure that Garrick wasn’t missing for very long. At least not missing on his own. Chrístõ is soon kidnapped as well, along with his old acquaintance, Paracell Hext, and an even older acquaintance, Malika Dúccesci. With Chrístõ and Hext pretty good friends now – even sharing a risqué joke about dating each other – Dúccesci becomes the Time Lord we love to hate instead. And possibly he may turn up again at a later date.
Chrístõ’s
relationship with his half brother is a tender one here, and a better
one than it used to be. He looks after the child in lieu of his mother.
Of course, he could do nothing else. Garrick needs him and he is not so
cruel as to push him away. But it has been mentioned more than once that
there is a gulf between them as adults. Obviously that comes later. 
Meanwhile Savang has a nasty trick up her sleeve. She wants to kill the heirs to the four houses represented by Chrístõ, Garrick, Hext and Dúccesci and replace them with female homunculi who would have their DNA. It is a plan only a madwoman would come up with, and Savang is mad.
Humphrey is the hero of the hour, rescuing them all, which is a snub to Dúccesci. But meanwhile, Savang has escaped to cause mischief another day.
Incidentally, the song playing on Chrístõ’s CD player as he landed on Karn was originally Moondance by Van Morrison. It was changed to How High The Moon by Ella Fitzgerald after Van Morrison and his record company complained to U-Tube about the Doctor Who fan vids featured on our Real Doctor Who Fans website. I decided anyone that mean-spirited didn’t deserve to be played in the TARDIS.
