Mar 18, 2011 15:09
Character: Romanadvoratrelundar II
Series/Fandom: Doctor Who
Deviance: 1
Age: They actually don't say, but she is a good few centuries younger than the Doctor and Master. I figured though around the 6-700s.
Gender: Female.
Species: Gallifreyan; Time Lord.
Canon Used: The Original Television Series serials, various novels and the "Gallifrey" Audios.
Appearance: The version seen of this Time Lady is portrayed by Lalla Ward: blond hair that false over her shoulders, a small face always seen with a warm expression. Much like her previous regeneration she has a taste for fashion, often times changing her outfits from trip to trip. But upon her appointment as Madame President her typical garb was the robes of a Gallifreyan; long sleeves that belled out, hiding her hands, her dress trailing against the ground and a high collar of gold that seemed to blossom on either side of her head as well as behind.
Psychology: During her days in the Academy, Romana kept to herself. Instead of giving into the taunting and teasing of her fellow classmates the young girl spent her years burying her nose in books, ears attentive to the lectures of her tutors and eyes focused on her future. She did not give a damn about what was said about her behind her back - Romana knew that giving in to such childish behavior would only hold her back. Nothing could keep her from accomplishing her one goal in the Academy: to graduate with the very best grades possible in order to prove herself to everyone around her. That competitive nature continued through-out her mission with the Doctor shortly after her graduation. Tolerating his bohemian attitude she felt superior to the older Time Lord. Again she had to prove herself to another just to get the respect she deserved.
It was not until her first regeneration did she begin to take a lighter viewpoint in life. Perhaps the Doctor's own ways rubbed off on her just a bit, but with the same wit and clever tongue Romana started to take the universe's little quirks in stride. Instead of resorting to books for guidance she asked questions. She would follow the Doctor and listen to his advice. Not always heeding it, but still she would at least hear him out. Always eager and always ready to run the life of traveling became one that she never wanted to let go of. And to have both of her hearts broken when the mentor she had grown so fond of was going to be bringing her back home to Gallifrey, she could not help but feel a little betrayed. In this she was being childish but to go back to being kept in buildings when the whole universe was just waiting to be explored was simply cruel in her mind.
This naivety, however, was one that would fade from this woman's personality in time. Between her time remaining in E-Space and taking up the role of Lady President of Gallifrey, Romana grew up. Those times spent traveling without a care in the worlds was a thing of the past. And that life was further buried in the deepest parts of her mind when the disaster of Etra Prime came. During those twenty years spent in captivity with the Daleks holding her prisoner, something inside of her died. Every day she lived out in the cell, every hour she was forced to work for those terrible creatures, that young woman of life was crushed beneath the weight of reality.
Here's the thing though.
Romana had endured the hardships of Dalek torture and ridicule of her fellow Time Lords within the Council. They questioned her methods, argued her sentiments and downright insulted her to her face. But it was like the days of the Academy all over again: she didn't care. She refused to give into their words and held her head high. Whenever she doubted or questioned herself she would hid it with a smile and a clever word or seven. Very few people knew the real Romanadvoratrelundar, fewer still becoming close enough for her to call them a 'friend'. Friendship was a luxury when it came to a world of corrupted politics. But she was the one who, in the end, would make the decisions that needed to be done but everyone else was too scared or weak to follow through with.
Romana, used to being scorned by others, could take being hated. Being despised and glared at. She could ignore their words and keep going in her path of a better world for her people. All she wanted was what was best for her home, her race. Even if everyone despised her, she would make the decisions that were needed. They weren't always right, but still, it had to be done.
Other Skills/Abilities: As a Time Lord, it goes without saying that shares the same abilities as the Doctor and the Master: the first being regeneration. In the original television series Romana regenerates at the beginning of season seventeen, taking on the appearance of the Princess of Atrios.
Another subject is being able to sense the presence of other Time Lords, as well as telepathic abilities though this is not displayed much during the season. Now one of her biggest strengths is her intelligence. Having graduated from the Academy with a triple first there is no doubting just how smart she is. But even more important than this, she is unimaginably patient with the Doctor. Yes, they are equally stubborn, but she is still able to tolerate his mind wandering about not to mention his rather large ego. And anyone who can do that is certainly gifted.
The most important fact to point out, though, is that she was elected as the President of Gallifrey. With her voice to command and argue it was no surprise that was able to work without the council controlling her every action. She was a woman of her own mind, not willing to be puppet ed by anyone, ever.
Other Weaknesses: Even when one takes into consideration that a Time Lord can regenerate, it doesn't mean they are immortal or impervious to injury or pain. Romana still possess quite a few scars from her imprisonment of the Daleks that she keeps as a reminder that she is still, in a sense, mortal. She is fast on her feet but she can be injured. They heal at a faster pace than say a human due to Time Lord biology. And with two hearts, she can still function if only one is beating but it's a terribly painful strain on the body - both hearts are needed in order to maintain her health.
History: Like any other Gallifreyan child, at the age of eight Romana was taken into the Academy where she was trained and taught the ways of the Time Lord. It is explained that she was in the top percentage of her class, not to mention a triple first - the highest rank possible in the educational stature upon graduation. During her time at the Academy though she was not well-liked or accepted by her classmates. Earning such nicknames as "Ice Queen", it was no wonder that the young woman kept to her studies. The only others she could possibly confide in with the Tutors and even then there was only one she found herself trusting: Tutor Braxiatel.
What she was not aware of was that Braxiatel was keeping a particular eye on her due to the discovery of what was resting within her DNA: an ancient Time Lord from history long since past by the name of Pandora, the first and only Imperiatrix to have ruled Gallifrey, was lying dormant inside the girl. In fact, her DNA had been manipulated by Pandora, creating for her the perfect body to host the Imperiatrix. This plan was temporarily thwarted by Braxiatel though. When he had discovered that Romana had, in fact, started communicating with Pandora, both he and another one of him from a different point in time set into place a mind block to keep Pandora from taking over Romana. Because of this procedure it was necessary for him to have her remain on Gallifrey so that he may watch her to ensure that the entity within her would break free.
Unfortunately, the White Guardian had other plans.
The White Guardian had selected her to accompany The Doctor in the quest find the pieces to the Key to Time and assemble them in order to restore order to the universe. From "The Ribos Operation" all the way through to "The Armageddon Factor", she traveled with him as the most sensible one of the two though far too often she was kidnapped and held hostage to be used as bait to lure the Doctor into some sort of a trap, or even being mistaken as some alien princess on another planet.
When the finally assembled Key to Time was taken apart to avoid being taken hold by the Black Guardian, Romana was prepared to begin their search once more the pieces. At this she had decided it was time to regenerate her form - which was rather unnatural seeing as a Time Lord would only regenerate if they were on the verge of death. After countless tries she finally settled upon the form of the Princess Astra. It isn't until later is it told that her reason for regenerating was because of the Black Guardian torturing her when he had originally captured her. Because of the torture, it had broken the mind block set into place by Braxiatel which allowed her to remember Pandora and what had happened. By choosing to regenerate, essentially killing that self of her, she was able to lock Pandora away yet again, at the cost of the same memories she had lost before.
Over time before her new position she traveled through the far reaches of time and space with the Doctor and K9 - for them it all started on Skaro, the challenges of the Daleks and Davros signifying their first new times together. Time spent in Paris, the troublesome yet eventful time distortion that created memorable times for them to look back on. From "The Creature from the pit" all the way till her departure with K9 at "Warrior's Gate", never once could she call a single moment of her travels dull and tedious. Everything she did with the Doctor she treasured deeply.
Upon her return from E-Space and to Gallifrey, she was voted into office for the position of presidency of Gallifrey. While surprised by this she accepted the responsibility. Having no memory of Braxiatel from her days at the Academy this Time Lady was somewhat startled by his offering to be her adviser, not to mention he was the one to push for her appointment as President. And not even one week into the job she was called away to handle an urgent matter along with Castellan Spandrell that happened to coincide (and essentially crash) the wedding of Bernice Summerfield and Jason Kane in "Happy Endings". Apparently there is no difference in calamity between her life as a traveler and her life as as the president of a pompous race who tends to monopolize the usage of time travel.
And then not even one week later she had gone missing for two decades without warning in "The Apocalypse Element". It was in those years that she was held captive by the Daleks at Etra Prime, forced to be their slave to complete tasks they themselves were incapable of. The young, inspiring Time Lady that used to travel died little by little each day she was spent locked up in the shadowed prison and constantly on the verge of starving to death. It was not until a former Monan engineer named Vrint and herself were assigned to remove parts from a captured vessel was she able to escape and run right into the Sixth incarnation of The Doctor and his companion Evelyn.
Though it was mostly from her own viewpoint, she had been influenced by The Doctor's own distaste for how things were ran, she worked to change the system to make even a marginal bit better. During her years on Gallifrey she spent it making changes for what she believed to be the better. At one point she had gained the company and trust of Leela, another once-companion of The Doctor. Though this is not shown during the television series it is revealed during the Gallifrey audio series as well as the novel "Lungbarrow", which reveals that it was Romana herself that instructed The Doctor to fulfill the task of bringing the remains of The Master back after his trial and execution. In all her years back home running the government, everything had come to a brief pause when the Doctor did return in his eighth regeneration to take her and K9 away back to Cambridge on Earth for some time to visit Professor Chronotis.
Things begin to take a turn for major change in her life in the events of "Neverland" and "Zagreus". By the end of it all she is forced to banish her only real friend, The Doctor, from that reality and time. It wouldn't be until the starting of the Time War would she see him again all those years later. But because of this, it leads right into the audios concerning her home planet, Gallifrey.
Times are changing and as President she has taken it upon herself to change the old ways for a better future for their people which included opening the Academy to any and all races wishing to be taught there. With Leela as her bodyguard and Braxiatel as her adviser, she was constantly slammed with political disasters and nightmares of her own past. At the start of it all is the terrorist organization Free Time, who are hellbent on the destruction of the Time Lords themselves. Facing an inquiry by the CIA as well as a hearing lead by Inquisitor Darkel, Romana pulls through with her head still on her shoulders but with many an enemy made.
The disaster involving Pandora was one that still haunts her - the ancient being having been locked away in her mind by Braxiatel had been finally let free and had manipulated her body, using it to kill Leela's husband, Andred, before taking on a physical manifestation of her original incarnation. It wasn't long before a civil war broke out on Gallifrey. A civil war that wrecked havoc and nearly tore it apart. The organization Free Time took advantage of this to unleash a virus they had devised only known as the Dogma Virus. It was much like the T-Virus known on Earth except it took affect once a Time Lord started their regeneration. Soon the only ones left were Romana, Leela, Narvin and Braxiatel who were facing the decision that would change the course of Gallifrey and their people: use the cure created from the original virus and live without having the ability to ever regenerate again, or use the recovered Matrix to create a brand new Gallifrey after everyone has been killed.
She had been saved from making this decision however by Braxiatel bringing the small group of survivors to a single location known as the Axis. The Axis is a spot in time and space where all the varying time lines are collected from having been removed from the established continuity by Time Lords. It is there that they have the idea of looking for an alternative Gallifrey to find a solution to save their own Gallifrey. And should they be unsuccessful, then at least they could find a new alternative world to call home.
Canon Point: The beginning of "Gallifrey: Reborn".
Reality Description: Gallifrey is a majestic red-orange planet located in the constellation of Kasterborous. A world found beneath twin suns the shining glory of the Citadel rests within the glass dome. And within the Citadel is the Capitol, including the Academy and Presidential Palace. It is here that Romana lives though she is not one to sit still very well. Her days of adventuring have come to an end but still it is not beyond her to visit other worlds every now and again.