Player Info:
Name: Paul
Age: 35
Contact: (plurk, AIM, DW, email, etc)
http://www.plurk.com/ExacerangutanPlayer Journal: exacerangutan.dreamwidth.org
Character Info:
Full Name: Perhaps only two people know. ...well. Two, or fourteen, depending how you count,br>
Called By: The Doctor
Age: 1094?1105?, if he's not lying
Canon: Doctor WhoHistory:Long and convoluted. I'll run through the more important points with the greatest influence on his Eleventh incarnation, but there are a lot more details
here.
The Doctor has been through several lives, and an improbably long string of adventures. As a Gallifreyan child of high social standing, The Doctor was exposed to a spacetime fault called the Untempered Schism: an opening from normal space-time to the Time Vortex, a higher-dimensional, transcendental feature of the cosmos through which time travel is possible. By his own description, he was one of those inspired by the Schism to
run, and as a (relative) youth, he "borrowed" an already-obsolete Type 40 Mark 1 TARDIS time machine and fled in defiance of the (usually) rigid Time Lord policy of noninterference.
Over the next several centuries, The Doctor encountered (and frequently rescued) countless different species in various times and places across the expanse of the universe, although he developed a special fondness for the human race of Earth, and particularly gravitated time and time again to 20th century England; as a result, he has saved Earth and its people many, many times, in between bouts of saving other worlds and civilizations, or simply running off on adventures (and usually finding enough trouble to have to save
someone from
something). In the course of those adventures, he has even "died" a number of times--being a Time Lord, he can naturally regenerate up to twelve times, if mortally wounded. He has also been in varying degrees of trouble with the Time Lords, from a period of banishment to Earth, to performing special missions for them.
However, in the last several centuries of his life, he was dragged into the Time War--a universe-decimating conflict between his people, the Time Lords, and his greatest nemeses (although it's frankly a pretty long list), the Daleks. The Time War ended with The Doctor condemning both the Daleks and his own people for the viciousness of the war and the incredible collateral damage involved, and (to the best of his knowledge) destroying both irrevocably. Since the end of the war, he has continued--perhaps even intensified--his previous pursuits of running around having adventures and trying (with wildly varying degrees of success) to save everyone from everything.
Since his latest regeneration, he has with the help of his companions saved the Earth twice, liberated a Space Whale, destroyed an army of Weeping Angels and an invasion force of space-fish, faced off against a psychic construct of his own darkest inclinations, prevented an invasion of the Earth's surface by the slumbering Silurians, prevented a TARDIS-knockoff from burning through the population of the Earth in search of a suitable pilot, befriended Vincent van Gogh, rescued entirety of existence from oblivion by re-triggering the Big Bang, used Lance Armstrong's foot to overturn the secret domination of Earth by aliens no one knew about, helped pirates fend off a mermaid attack, defeated a TARDIS-eating sentient planetoid, discovered one of his companions was actually a Flesh duplicate, and then led a small army in an
almost bloodless rescue mission against a heavily fortified space station.
He also faced off against an artificially created and brainwashed Time Lord, a nearly-omnipotent little boy, and a faith-eating prisoner in space, after which he dropped his companions off at home and went off on what he describes as a "bit of a farewell tour" before going to his predestined death at Lake Silencio--although he managed to skirt around a Fixed Point in Time by faking his demise to the eyes of all observers (except one whom he sort of married-ish). Since then, he has helped a family cope with (and, ultimately, avoid) a loss just before Christmas, and gone on some adventures (or dates, but he won't call them dates) with River Song.
Personality:Perhaps the most profound influences on the Doctor's Eleventh incarnation (at least, the eleventh he acknowledges) were the Time War, and the final moments of his prior incarnation. While the experiences of the Time War--and particularly The Doctor's decision to end the war at the cost of his homeworld--left indelible emotional scars and some strains of deep darkness within him, his particuarly traumatic regeneration into the Eleventh Doctor was characterized by an overwhelming dread of his own impending end. The result has been described as "The Man who Forgets," although this is something of a misnomer. He has explicitly stated that as much as he would
like to forget and has even
tried to, he
never does, and this can often be seen quite plainly in his reactions.
However, he might better be called "The Man who Lies" (his own "Rule One," at least one version of it, is "The Doctor Lies"),
particularly to himself. What might be mistaken for forgetting his past is, on closer inspection, a symptom of stubbornly not facing it, because much of it is simply too painful, and because--born from the Tenth Doctor's intense fear of his own ending--he rejects all trappings of transience and mortality. It's said more than once by the Doctor and those close to him that he hates endings, and he fosters an air of childlike absurdity and enthusiasm for life, although at times it becomes clear that this is partly a facade: underneath the shell of the "madman with a box" who rejects conventionality with every breath is a very old, very tired man with overwhelming burdens of guilt and anger.
At the core, however, what defines The Doctor in all his incarnations is a tremendous capacity for compassion. He has said that his chosen name, The Doctor, represents a promise: "Never cowardly or cruel. Never give up, never give in." He also exhibits an exceptional and unique intellect, outstanding even among the Time Lords. He was essentially the Time Lord equivalent of the Hollywood trope of the Genius Slacker Kid: although quite a poor academic by Time Lord standards, he tends to come at problems from unusual angles and with a tendency to throwing together solutions from whatever's at hand. He avoids violence and explicit weaponry whenever possible, although he can be pushed to it in extreme circumstances (and makes exceptions for sufficiently nasty creatures like the Daleks, having seen many times the cost of too much hesitation).
As much as he tries to be chaste (particularly in comparison to his previous incarnation), the Doctor has a tendency to pick up pretty young ladies as companions; however, he has flatly rejected the insinuation that his intentions are anything but the most innocent and even paternal. He proudly describes himself as "Gandalf in Space" when accused of being a regular guy. Even so, he is intensely vain verging on narcissistic, and tends to show off at every turn and revel in the attention and adoration.
Three Interesting Character Facts:1) The Doctor tears out the last page of any book he reads, so he doesn't have to see it end.
2) The Doctor
hates wine although he sometimes tries drinking it anyway, and tends to be an extremely picky eater in general.
3) Only one other person alive in the Doctor's universe is absolutely confirmed to actually know his name.
Powers: (mutations, magic, inhuman abilities, etc)
Regeneration: As a Time Lord, The Doctor has some inherent quantity of "Regeneration Energy." This most famously manifests when a Time Lord's body is near death, rebuilding the body into a new form which (ideally) is adapted to compensate for whatever led to the Time Lord's mortal injuries, and Time Lords are born with enough energy for twelve such regenerations. The Doctor, being a poor student for a Time Lord, has exhibited very little control over his own Regeneration Energy, whereas other Time Lords have shown varying degrees of control over the form of their regenerations. However, The Doctor is pretty much at the end of his regeneration energy; although he calls himself the Eleventh Doctor, he had one regeneration with whom he refuses to associate, and one regeneration was used by his Tenth incarnation without actually changing. It has been shown that Time Lords can transfer regeneration energy to heal others--but this has only been used on other Time Lords, and may not work on anyone else. Within 15 hours of regeneration, there is often a great quantity of excess regeneration energy, which can be unleashed with significant force when triggered, although as with most aspects of regeneration, this can be unpredictable. Unless something restores the Doctor's regeneration energy--or reboots his regeneration cycle--he won't be able to regenerate. He may have enough energy left to share, but this may have unspecified consequences for him, as the regeneration process is implied to be the reason a Time Lord ages much, much slower than a human.
Telepathy: In a manner similar to Star Trek Vulcans, Time Lords are depicated as being low-level telepaths, which is
probably how Time Lords are able to sense one another's nature, unless it is somehow suppressed. The Doctor in particular has exchanged knowledge telepathically (at least with humans, horses, and cats), sensed the presence of other Time Lords' telepathic residue, blocked off a person's memories of him as well as inserting a hypnotic suggestion to shut down if the memories began to surface. He also seems to be more aware of telepathic effects like perception filters that most people don't notice affecting them.
Time Lord Physiology: Most notably, Time Lords have two hearts; more than ones, The Doctor has taken advantage of this when someone mistakes him for a human and tries to kill him by direct cardiac arrest. Occasionally it has been suggested that Time Lords are significantly stronger and more durable than humans, although the limits of this have never been explored in any great detail, and given The Doctor's typically light build, he is probably still within the limits of human physical ability--just well beyond what a human of similar build would exhibit.
Special Skills: (hacking, archery, cooking, writing - things a human could do)
The Doctor's breadth of skills has been lampshaded a number of times throughout the series, a product of his age, his intelligence, and his habit of constantly moving on to new interests. He especially excels at the sciences and has a nearly-magical aptitude for producing workable (if not entirely reasonable) gizmos in a sort of MacGyver In Space manner, going as far as building a makeshift TARDIS from spare parts. The Doctor has been seen to hack all kinds of systems in improbable ways, has exhibited an impressive amateur skill at soccer, can use an array of military weapons (although he avoids ever employing them as anything but impromptu tools). His "Science Hacking" talents have also been used for medical purposes, and he has claimed to actually be a literal medical doctor, among other things.
The Doctor's most exceptional skill is that of flying the TARDIS on his own; although he has been criticized for not doing so very
well, this seems to mostly be on account of a number of bad habits he has deliberately cultivated in order to make the experience more exciting.
Anything else?:Although he doesn't specialize in bizarre handheld widgets as much as his previous incarnation, the Eleventh Doctor continues using the classic Sonic Screwdriver device, albeit with a new casing. The functionality of the device has continued to expand over the centuries with new capabilities and "apps" added on a regular basis. The device has shown in recent years used to override various electronic systems, to locally heat objects, to project sonic force to deflect knives, as well as opposing even fairly powerful sonic effects, as well as wide-spectrum scanning and signal transmission. The two main obstacles to use of the Sonic Screwdriver are wood ("it doesn't
do wood"), and "deadlocked" systems specially designed to block access from such devices. It's implied, however, that the Sonic technically
could affect wood, except that the organic structure is so complicated it would take years or centuries to perform the necessary analysis, and multiple sonic devices can sometimes overpower a deadlocked system. Outside of these limitations, the Sonic is used for all sorts of things, however, and is often used in new, one-off (and often not entirely clear) ways, including such oddities as a "mend barbed wire" setting. The interface is telepathic ("point and think"), although the Doctor is in the habit of looking at the device after scanning with it, despite the lack of an actual screen. In OOC terms, the Sonic is a Magic Tool That Does Things, and as I genuinely don't want to be a pest with it, its effects are always negotiable!
Eleven makes pretty frequent use of a piece of Psychic Paper. Although the main purpose is to falsify documentation by projecting an image of what the user wants, it can also pick up telepathic messages from other people. Like all perception filters and other telepathic technology, the psychic paper has limitations. Some exceptionally intelligent beings can see through the illusion to the blank paper underneath, and it's possible to train someone to pick out giveaways such as fractal patterns on close inspection. Also, the paper can only show something the user can actually imagine; a lie outpacing ones own imagination results in random nonsense patterns, squiggly lines, etcetera. However, being akin to perception filter technology, it seems able to fill in the gaps in the viewer's expectations, without the user needing to know the details of what the real documentation
should look like.
To avoid butting heads with Joe, the Eleventh Doctor will be arriving without his own TARDIS, probably as a result of River Song "borrowing" it and/or sticking him with a vortex manipulator (to a TARDIS like a moped to a high-performance luxury sedan), which might be a good hook for his arrival on the Station. Obviously, if it's a problematic item, the vortex manipulator could be damaged until such time as a storyline calls for it.
Action Tag Sample:Hello-oo!
[The Doctor smiles cheerfully into the camera which he's apparently propped up in the mess hall. He's dipping something breaded in... is that custard?]
Your food replicators are real beauties, I have to say, although I was frankly alarmed to discover they didn't do
proper food, but
not to worry.
[He smiles around--goodness, is that a fish stick?--dipped in custard, as he takes a bite, continuing with his mouth half full, eyes twinkling.]
As you can see, I've made
repairs.
Third Person Prose Sample:
Link to test drive! Started out going for Action Tag, but we sort of popped over to 3PP anyway, oh well.
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