The New Dalek Paradigm is the current predominant faction of Daleks in Doctor Who. This breed of Dalek was spawned by a special Progenitor device that contained the purest form of Dalek DNA.
Creation[]
During the Last Great Time War, the Daleks had created numerous Progenitor devices and seeded them on the various planets they had conquered. These devices contained pure Dalek DNA and were designed to create a Dalek population once a planet's indigenous population had been exterminated. However, over time, all but one of the Progenitors was lost. The last Progenitor was recovered by a group of three Daleks, survivors of Davros' short-lived New Dalek Empire, who then travelled to Earth in 1941.
The Daleks were unable to use the Progenitor on their own as it did not recognise them as Dalek since they had been created from Davros' DNA. However, it had been programmed to recognise the Time Lord known as "the Doctor" as the enemy of all Daleks. If they could somehow acquire the Doctor's testimony that they were indeed Daleks, the Progenitor would accept this as proof and would begin functioning.
To accomplish this, the three Daleks created an android called Professor Edwin Bracewell in London. While one Dalek remained in Earth's orbit with the Progenitor, the other two feigned to be Bracewell's simple robots, called "Ironsides". They eventually tricked Winston Churchill into calling the Eleventh Doctor. After arriving, the Doctor became so confused and frustrated that, in a fit of anger, he struck an "Ironside" repeatedly, addressed them as "Daleks", and briefly recounted his violent history with them. The Daleks transmitted this testimony to the Progenitor, which recognised the Doctor, and duly accepted the command to activate. Shortly afterward, the first five individuals of the New Dalek Paradigm were created. The first action of the New Paradigm Daleks was to disintegrate their three "unclean" forebears, who willingly offered themselves for extermination. The New Paradigm then escaped with the Progenitor through a time corridor to the future and successfully created a new empire, while the Doctor and Amy Pond remained on Earth to defuse the Oblivion Continuum bomb inside the android Bracewell.
After escaping from 1941, the New Dalek Paradigm returned to the ancient Dalek homeworld of Skaro. There, they used the Progenitor to repopulate and rebuild, setting the foundation for their new empire which would expand throughout the galaxies.
Characteristics[]
One of the most distinguishing aspects of the Daleks of the New Paradigm was the introduction of a significantly different variation on the Dalek casing: Much larger and bulkier than any other version, the colour-coded casings introduced by the New Dalek Paradigm mostly retained the traditional structure, but deviated drastically from the standard proportions: The "skirt" and base sections were significantly larger and broader, while the midsection did away with the shoulder slats in favour of two smooth, sloped bands vaguely reminiscent of the design first encountered by the Doctor in his first incarnation. Said midsection was coloured grey, as were the neck, base and sensor globes (with the exception being the Eternal Dalek, whose globes were coloured black).
Additionally, the Dalek eyestalk of the new officer class seemed to contain an organic, bloodshot eyeball. The most drastic changes, however, were the replacing of the grating in the "neck" region with four tapered discs, the replacement of the rear sensor globes with a broad, protruding compartment that gave the new designs a hunchbacked appearance in comparison to previous and subsequent designs. These larger casings initially served as the sole design, though they were ultimately reserved for officer classes when the more-traditional bronze designs returned to ubiquity as the most common variety.
Regardless of these superficial changes, however, the nature of the New Paradigm Daleks remained utterly unchanged from the standard Dalek mindset: Utterly convinced of their own superiority, and consumed by hatred for all non-Dalek life, their ruthless obsession with racial purity even extended to the annihilation of fellow Daleks whom they deemed "impure" - as was the case with the three Ironside survivors: Despite having been responsible for the birth of the Paradigm, the new, pure Daleks recognized that the trio had been created from impure DNA, and obliterated their predecessors seconds after they had served their purpose. The older Daleks offered no resistance, as they too believed that their impurity rendered them unworthy of life.
Hierarchy[]
These Daleks were colour-coded according to rank and position: the Supreme Dalek was white, the Eternal Dalek was yellow, Strategist Daleks were blue, Scientist Daleks were orange, while Drone Daleks were red.
While the new Drone Dalek design was mass-produced initially, the Daleks ultimately went back to using the bronze-coloured Time War models as the shells for their basic drones, leading to the red models being promoted to a drone officer rank and thus having reduced production. These bronze drones were sometimes sent on missions where they operated without the leadership or presence (although still under the instructions) of New Paradigm commanders.
The position of ultimate leader varied. During the New Dalek Paradigm's first encounter with the Doctor, there were only five Daleks, each one the first example of their rank, making the Supreme, as the name implies, the supreme. However, as the Daleks started their campaign of empire-building, at least two Dalek Emperors were known to have ruled the New Dalek Paradigm at some point. Later on, a Parliament of the Daleks was established, and the Supreme Dalek was subordinate to the Dalek Prime Minister.