The guys covered it I guess, but Davros was the Doctor Who character who took the brutalized by war and mutated by radiation, chemical weapons, etc Kaleds and turned them into the cyborg villians Daleks. (Kaled spelt backwards.) My avatar is an image of the character. The war took place on the planet Skaro and was against the Thals. Only if they could have settled things with paintball instead.
That Hanes book is pretty awesome, but I expect better from them than generic labels like "death ray". :-)