 |
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
(Christopher Bulis) |
|
 Name: Gramling
Format: Book
Time of Origin: Avalon, the kingdom
of Elbyn, approximately 30th century.
Appearances: "The
Sorcerer's Apprentice"
Doctors: First
Doctor
Companions: Susan, Barbara
Wright and Ian
Chesterton
History: Gramling is a very distinctive foe in
The Doctor’s history, as he was essentially a sorcerer,
although the origin of his powers was technically technological
rather than natural magic. Born on the distant planet Elbyon,
Gramling was a descendant of a human crew who crash-landed on
the planet centuries in the past, the ship being disabled by
the nanotechnological units that had been created by the alien
race who previously inhabited the planet. The nanites were capable
of granting the wishes and obeying the will of anyone who could
control them, but since they were never designed for humans to
use, it required a significant amount of effort for humans to
use the nanites, while other technology wouldn’t work on
the planet as the nanites destroyed all machinery to prevent
the resulting electromagnetic energy interfering with their own
systems. The alien race who had once lived on Elbyon had exhausted
most of the system’s power when changing a nearby star
into a nebula, the race regressing back to a more primitive society
known as the celphie as the nanite system repaired itself before
the humans arrived.
Although
the world that resulted as the crew learned how to use the nanites
to manipulate their environment originally created Gods based
on the unconscious belief of the colonists, the subsequent conflict
between the ‘Gods’ forced the colony leader to use
Merlin’s Helm - a ‘master control’ for the
system - to erase all knowledge of what had happened. The resulting
society that developed after this disaster was based on Earth
mythology and magic - the celphie simply becoming part of the
minor creatures that inhabited this world, such as winged monkeys
and dragons -, their mythology telling them that Merlin’s ‘skyboat’ brought
Arthur to rest on Avalon eight centuries ago. Eight centuries
after the original crash, Gramling was born, going on to become
a powerful ‘sorcerer’, although he keenly sought
more power for himself. Unwilling to take direct action until
he was ready, Gramling instead manipulated his former apprentice
Dhal to do all of his work for him. By influence Dhal’s
mind so that Dhal would carry out his plans, Dhal killing the
Wizard Royal’s apprentice and badly injuring the Wizard
Royal himself, Gramling was able to remain among the court and
direct the resistance against Dhal to further his own agenda.
 |
| The First Doctor |
|
Matters proceeded under Gramling’s control
until the arrival of the First
Doctor and his companions, who
were brought to the castle after they helped to rescue a knight
from a dragon (The TARDIS’s automatic defences prevented
them from entering the ship as the nanites they had been exposed
to would have destroyed it). Although The Doctor refused to believe
in magic even after Gramling’s demonstrations, focusing
instead on the anomaly of the nebula, he was left with no choice
but to get involved in the world’s affairs after Susan was captured in a raid by Dhal’s forces to learn more about
the new arrivals. Agreeing to help Gramling and his ‘allies’ against
Dhal, The Doctor and Ian
joined a quest to recover Merlin’s
Helm based on information Gramling had allegedly recently discovered
- now regarded as a powerful artefact that was meant to grant
the wearer access to unlimited magic for the short time before
the power burnt out their minds -, while Barbara
remained at
the castle to research Avalon’s history.
Although
they encountered a crashed lander from an Earth fleet
that had been sent to investigate recent disappearances
in this sector of space - confirming their temporal location
for The Doctor -, it wasn’t until they found the
Helm at the remnants of the ship that brought the humans
to Avalon that The Doctor learned that the expedition
had come here looking for a weapon supposedly capable
of destroying a star to aid the collapsing Earth empire.
Meanwhile, Barbara was lured out of the castle by a glamour
cast by Dhal - fortunately after she’d carried
out most of her research, noting such details as Avalon’s
lack of religion or there being no reference to Merlin’s
Helm in the library -, but Susan was able to escape Dhal’s
fortress by using magic to create a rope-ladder, while
Barbara discovered and revived Anni Glassfeather, a powerful
witch who had been placed in an enchanted sleep to stop
her interfering with Gramling’s plans. Having used
a microscope salvaged from the wreckage of the ship to
deduce the presence of the nanites while the expedition
leader’s journal filled in the rest of the pieces
of the puzzle, The Doctor accepted training from Odolye
the leprechaun so that he could learn how to use magic
- his ring with the blue stone serving as his ‘wand’ -
for the now-inevitable duel that awaited them.
With Dhal’s fortress destroyed when the Earth fleet
in orbit fired upon him while he was distracted leading the pursuit
to recapture the escaped Susan and Melissa, his plans moved into
the final stage as The Doctor and Gramling’s expedition
returned to the castle with Merlin’s Helm, Gramling preparing
a ritual that would allow him to control its power. Although
Dhal believed that he had been controlling Gramling all along,
Gramling’s true intentions were revealed when he switched
minds with Dhal after donning the Helm, intending to use the
bodies of the other available magic-users to eliminate his rivals
and achieve ultimate power. Just as Dhal died, however, The Doctor,
Odoyle and Glassfeather attacked Gramling with all their available
magic, the sheer force of the attack drawing Gramling’s
attention away from the Earth forces long enough for Ian to return
the Helm to the celphie - The Doctor having deduced their true
nature as the only race not originating from Earth mythology
-, The Doctor finally destroying Gramling with a concentrated
blast of magic. With the celphie now restored to a sense of self,
they destroyed the nanobot network, ending Avalon’s magic
and their own existences, restoring peace to their old world
and giving them the rest they had sought. With the world now
safe and free to develop on its own limitations, The Doctor and
his companions departed, the Earth fleet agreeing to help Avalon
make diplomatic contact with Earth and survive the loss of their
magic after being humbled by the celphies’ sacrifice.
|
|
