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An idiots guide to...BIGENERATION~

(under the cut- very long you have been warned)

Okay so firstly, what is regeneration and how does it work. Well before we even get yo that we have to discuss how Gallifreyan blood works (now this is just a theory, but I have done lots of research over the years). So main components of Gallifreyan blood are T-cells, these are the immune system and can asexually reproduce and often specialise (differentiate) into cells very similar to phagocytes and Lymphocytes in humans, which are then used to fight infections; next there is blood cells, biconcave and basically the same as human red blood cells, but not red as the 'hemoglobin' is an orange compound designed to take in oxygen from a different atmosphere to Earths, however that chemical works the same and carries blood the same; next is lindos cells, these are the platelets of the Gallifreyan system and when an injury occurs they clot the blood and work of healing the area, this bloot clotting can also cause the same issues as in humans, with strokes or hypoxia, but still do the job for both external and internal issues; next is something unlike humans, atron carrier cells. These cells carry artron energy which reacts with the enzymes on the surface of the lindos cells to speed up healing.

They are not natural to the body and are placed there when the time lord recieves "rassilon's imprinteur". These cells do not die because the atron they contain keeps them alive, they are modified blood cells with a different compound for storing atron energy. They are made specially for a specific time lord when they graduate, they combine a marrow extract of stem cells with the chemical so they differentiate in certain conditions, causing "imprinteur" cells to specialise. Then the marrow is transferred back into the host body and the cells are rarely rejected. Then everytime the Timelord(TL) is exposed to the vortex or a rift, their atron cells are replenished.

Regeneration however, is caused when a large scale clotting of Lindos cells occurs on a large injury. When this happens loads of the imprinteur cells get stuck behind them and react rapidly, this influx of energy causes artron radiation to damage the DNA, and when the lindos cells repair the damage they repair the damage to the new DNA print, causing a new body. This can go wrong and cause structural changes to the brain, resulting in new personality, limb differences or missing/malformed internal organs.

After regeneration a person's lindos cells are very low, but after an hour the cell count would've doubled in the body's rapid attempt to make enough. This large influx of cells will stay alive for two weeks, creating an "elastic stage" of regeneration where any damage caused after the first hour and before the end of the first two weeks, will repair itself even quicker, albeit at large cost to the already deprived energy and caloric biome of the body. This means limbs that are severed can regrow, not ones however that are not already there, unless the stump is cut off. Please do wait at least a day before acting on the elastic stage otherwise your poor TL will be very exhausted.

So now we've got that out of the way, it's time to discuss Bigeneration. Lindos enzymes are catalysts, which means they react with artron energy causing the increased healing effect, however like other catalysts they have an optimum PH and an optimum temperature. Most importantly, more energy creates a faster reaction, but too high a temperature (please please please try to keep your TLs at 14.6°c) causes the enzyme to denature or at low temperatures, work slower. They also can only be used once, but considering every Lindos cell carries and excretes roughly 5 microlitres of enzyme when its working and about 300,000 work on an area of 1 cm³, there are always enough.

The Doctor Bigenerated because of the Galvanic radiation, which is what also killed him. Galvanic and artron radiation work in tangent with each other, meaning he had more energy to regenerate with. This caused his cells to undergo mitosis faster, raising his already high Lindos (we can assume this because otherwise no Bigeneration could've occurred and it has been documented that they have an abnormally high count. See: sixth doctor regenerating from small head injury due to internal clotting and high lindos cell count causing fast regen), and more artron energy carrier cells to be produced. This would've accelerated regeneration and given enough energy for two separate bodies to be created.

In the Rani's case however, she was exposed to the unfiltered radiation of space. Her bigeneration doesn't exactly make sense from the same point of view as the Doctor's does, but when you factor in the fact that the flux left a lot of background radiation around, including artron energy. In the deep of space its also very likely there could be an undocumented vortex rift nearby that could've also 'supercharged' her atron cells. However in those deep space temperatures, her enzymes would've been damaged severely*, preventing regeneration until she was dethawed. There she would've had enough time to replenish her lindos count (atron surplus would increase the rate of this).

This acceleration of both factors would've caused a Bigeneration in both these two subjects, however whilst it is very unlikely and there has only ever been one case (See:Pandora and Romana) documented, with these factors it is possible.

-Rani has three brain stems like all timelords, so stayed alive by keeping one thawed

Extras:

-* urm my friend corrected me on my enzyme knowledge so here u go

- the penetrative ability of artron is very contradictory. A lot of sources claim it isn't very penetrative hence the separation of vortex and original dimension (can be stopped by 5-10 metres of air), however some say more penetrative than galvanic due to the existence of rifts. This is important when investigating the source of the Rani's artron energy to regenerate as likely she used up the majority of it she had keeping warm in space. Without this energy she could've regenerated so I have considered it to be as penetrative as gamma radiation, hence its need for the imprinteur cells to be contained.

- the brain has more capillaries than other areas of the body. Capillaries have a thin lumen and narrow tube. This means they are more suceptable to bursting and clotting. Hence six's rapid regeneration and mental confusion.

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Oh by the way Old High Gallifreyan canonically sounds like music, if you all care about that sort of thing. It sounds like a song of gibberish words. It sounds like a nursery rhyme

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People have no idea the amount of notes I take during seminars which have for sol purpose to help me build a doctor who headcanon.

For exemple: did you know that medieval germanic runes were mainly not used for communication but to show people's social rank? Only rich people knew how to write and read runes. So it's why there is tool from this era that have been found with just their name carved into it. Like a knife with "knife" written on it. And because of this there were also people who tried to pass as richer than they were and were carving fake runes on stuff.

Anyway, all of this to say that in my mind, it's how circular gallifreyan works. It's why they write on everything. They're showing their social status by carving "chair" on all of their chairs. And then there is Rassilon, who writes his name on everything, which is like a whole other level of ego.

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One Dress a Day Challenge

August: Fantasy & Sci-fi

Doctor Who ("The Deadly Assassin," season 14) / Llewellyn Rees as the President

Doctor Who ("Arc of Infinity," season 20) / Leonard Sachs as President Borusa

Here we have two variations on the same basic costume, the robes of the President of Gallifrey. The original design (with the white cap) was by James Acheson for "The Deadly Assassin." The elaborate shoulderpiece/standing collar became instantly iconic. Since this costume is seen on a particularly ceremonial occasion, it also includes the golden Sash of Rassilon and the mirror-backed gloves.

The version used in "Arc of Infinity" (with the gold cap) was designed by Dee Robson. This version includes the roundels with the infinity symbol which are seen on everyone except the president in the earlier episode.

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https://www.facebook.com/share/r/15Dcw7cDJy/

I absolutely need to know why the oldest military tartan is Patrex AF

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Free png and source files for everything* on FYG

I'm obviously not active in the Gallifreyan community anymore and I'm not going to be doing anything with these files. So I figured I may as well make them all public for people to use however they want.

Commercial Use

While I am happy for you to use these files for what ever you want even if it's commercial please note that aside from my own Clockwork there are many files here that contain Sherman's/Sirkles and Doctor's Cot.

For Clockwork do what ever you want but credit to either fyeahgallifreyan or @timelordnicky is appreciated.

Sherman's is also free to use for any reason. To quote their own website: "The BBC has ultimate say over whether you're allowed to call it "Gallifreyan," but this writing system is free for all to use. Credit to Loren Sherman and/or a link to this page is appreciated."

The creator of Doctor's Cot statement on commercial use can be found here.

What is a .dpp file and how do I open it?

These are the original files from DrawPlus (the predecessor to Affinity Designer). They are vector files so you can easily edit and move things around if you want to. Full versions of DrawPlus are no longer legally available but the free version can be downloaded here. When I tried it it did ask to register but it worked with the Legacy Registration Key 881887. If you are still struggling to open a .dpp file you can message me on my personal blog @timelordnicky.

Will you proof read something for me?

Sorry, my Gallifreyan is very rusty at this point. I'm sure if you asked on the Gallifreyan reddit or discord another member of the community would be happy to help you.

*that I could find whilst sorting through my old hard drives

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An overview of expanded universe concepts referenced in Zagreus

The audio story Zagreus, as Big Finish's fiftieth main range story and their story for the fortieth anniversary of Doctor Who has a lot of continuity nods. What makes it special (and fun for me) is how many of those continuity nods are to other places in the expanded universe. I think this is really cool, and have tracked down a lot of information as to how moments in Zagreus relate to other parts of the EU.

A lot of this comes down to the stories co-authors: Garry Russell and Alan Barns. Both had been heavily involved in Big Finish to date, and both had experience writing whorniverse works outside of it as well. Russell had been a writer for both Virgin Books and BBC Books, and Barns had just finished being head writer for the Doctor Who Magazine comic a few years prior.

Since we're all listening to Zagreus, I decided it would be fun to compile a list of continuity moments that I could present to you all. Some of these are deliberate shout outs. Others might not be. I'm going to be focusing on Expanded Universe references here, as I'm assuming a general familiarity with classic who (and, honestly, the classic who references aren't the fun ones). In any case, listen to Zagreus and then enjoy this.

Part One - Wonderland

1) Okay, first of all. The Zagreus poem didn't actually originate in Zagreus or Neverland. The Sixth Doctor happily sings the first verse in Project: Twilight, which was a Big Finish audio story released almost a year before Neverland (and over two years before Zagreus).

2) The other thing to talk about up-front is that everyone is played by companion actors. Everyone who had played a companion for Big Finish thusfar appears as a different role here. Also, Anneke Wills, who had yet to reprise her role as Polly on Big Finish, plays a role here. In addition to the tv companions, this includes:

Caroline Morris, who played Fifth Doctor companion Erimem

Maggie Stables, who played Sixth Doctor companion Evelyn Smythe

Robert Jezek, who played Sixth Doctor companion Frobisher the shapeshifting penguin (he's originally from the Doctor Who Magazine comics)

Lisa Bowerman, who played Seventh Doctor companion Bernice Summerfield (she is originally from the Virgin New Adventures books)

Stephen Fewell, who played Bernice's husband Jason Kane (he is originally from the Virgin New Adventures books)

Conrad Westmaas, who would play Eighth Doctor companion C'rizz starting two stories later in The Creed of the Kromon (which was already in production when Zagreus was recorded)

aaaaaaaaaand the odd one out is Stephen Perring, who played a one-off villain in a recent Eighth Doctor audio and would play a recurring Eighth Doctor villain starting in The Creed of the Kromon

3) Charley Pollard met the Brigadier before in the Big Finish audio story Minuet in Hell. Not much to report on this one, but that's why she recognizes him.

4) That mysterious voice Zagreus hears early on in the story is John Pertwee, from recordings made before his death. Pertwee had agreed to take part in a fan film called Devious (set between The War Games and Spearhead From Space), and Pertwee's lines from it were repurposed here with his family's permission. (This is probably why the audio quality with him is as bad as it is). The fan film itself would lay dormant until 2018, when parts of it began releasing onto YouTube. You can see all currently released parts here.

5) At one point, the Doctor references checking up on the Oracle on KS-159. KS-159 is the formal name for the asteroid that houses the Braxiatel Collection, and the Oracle is a future-predicting... thing that exists on the Collection. This is established in the Virgin Book Tears of the Oracle and Big Finish book Life During Wartime, both part of the Bernice Summerfield Series.

6) Shortly afterwords, the Doctor mentions that someone once blamed him for the death of JFK. This might be a reference to the Virgin Book Who Killed Kennedy, where the Master tries to prevent the assassination in order to destabilize Earth's history. This one might also be a coincidence.

7) At one point we get the following exchange:

The Doctor: I can see things, in my mind's eye. I can see me. Thousands of mes, doing different things in different places but all at once. Alternative realities, or maybe this is an alternative, and one of those others is real. You're part of me, can't you see what I'm seeing? Zagreus: Always. The Doctor: Look there. I see myself on the planet Oblivion, facing a race called the Horde. And there, look! A tiny reality where Gallifrey isn't a planet but a timeless diamond drifting through the stars. I can see a universe where the Time Lords have terrible mind powers and another where they have ceased to exist - time wound backwards to eliminate their every trace. A planet, Earth, where the Nestenes very nearly destroyed everything and another Earth upon which I have plucked out one of my own hearts. But which is real and which are the alternatives? Zagreus: There is no alternative. The Doctor: You mean no one knows which reality is the real one? Zagreus: They are all real and primary to their inhabitants. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter. Who is there to care? They all exist. Occasionally sharing moments and eras, the rest of the time, self-contained and unaware. But all are destined to end together, and soon. The Doctor: I'm scared. Zagreus: Good. You should be.

So the gist of this exchange is, honestly, why I made the post. Pretty much every alternate universe the Doctor sees is a different Expanded Universe project done during the wilderness era. In order:

The Doctor faced off the Horde on Oblivion in the Doctor Who Magazine comic titled, well, Oblivion

The "timeless diamond" thing is (I think) a reference to the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures books - specifically, that description is reminiscent of Timeless and Sometime Never...

The universe where Time Lords have terrible mind powers is probably intended to be the webcast Death Comes to Time (which is kinda notable as it was published after the tv movie but features the Seventh Doctor permadying), but it could theoretically also reference the Doctor Who Magazine comic Star Death

The universe where the Time Lords have been wound out of time would probably be the BBC Eighth Doctor books again - this (possibly) happens about halfway through the series.

Earth being almost destroyed by Nestenes is, I think, a reference to Auton Trilogy - three hour-long home video releases produced by BBV.

The Doctor plucking out one of his hearts is definitely the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures - this is a somewhat inaccurate recounting of events that happened in The Adventuress of Henrietta Street.

So the general thrust of this exchange is to separate the different ongoing Doctor Who projects into distinct, equally valid alternate realities that had an overlap in the form of the tv era. I'm sure the impetus behind this was to avoid having the BBC books, DWM comics, Big Finish, or anyone else let continuity get in the way of taking the Eighth Doctor in whatever direction they wanted.

8) While looking for Charley, Zagreus says, "Yssgaorth curse you girl!" Yssgaorth is the name that the Virgin book The Pit and Faction Paradox book The Book of the War gave to the Great Vampires whom the Time Lords had a massive war with in their early history. A little bit more on that later.

9) While in the Schrodinger's Cat-Box, the Doctor lights an everlasting match. These were presented as an invention of the Doctor's in the first ever novelization, Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks (it's novelizing The Daleks), and have sporadically appeared in random places in the Expanded Universe ever since.

10) At one point, Dr. Stone tells that Captain McDonnell that he should do something, "For King and Country!" That exact phrase is commonly used by The Forge, a creation of Big Finish that had prominently appeared thusfar in the audios Project: Twilight and Project: Lazarus. Think Torchwood, but with less governmental oversight and being run by a vampire. The implication is that both Dr. Stone and Captain McDonnell work for The Forge, with Project: Dionysus being one of their projects. That phrase is the only strong clue, but Dr. Stone's behavior does generally line up with what we've seen elsewhere from the Forge.

Part 2 - Heartland

11) Ouida speculates that Rassilon was behind Omega's death. The concept that Rassilon was in some way behind Omega's death was kicked around a bit and given a lot more prominence in the audio story Omega.

All that being said, the Doctor Who Magazine comic Star Death shows the actual event and has Rassilon be innocent in the event, with Omega's ship being sabotaged by an enemy from Gallifrey's future. Star Death is not being intentionally referenced here but I still wanted to bring that up for sake of thoroughness

12) Cassandra referring to science being against the ways of her Sisterhood and the references to Rassilon outlawing the Sisterhood's religion draws pretty heavily on the plot thread running through the Virgin Books (most prominently Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible, Christmas on a Rational Planet and Lungbarrow) which established that Rassilon fought a magic vs science war against a woman named Pythia and her forces. Rassilon won the war and established science as the dominant force in the universe. Pythia killed herself and her followers left (or were exiled, depending on who you ask) Gallifrey to become the Sisterhood of Karn as seen in The Brain of Morbius. According to Gary Russell, in earlier drafts the Great Mother was intended to be Pythia, but they changed it in order to not tie themselves too far into the Virgin continuity.

13) The concept of a Commitee of Three being an investigative group of Time Lords comes from the Virgin book Blood Harvest. This notably implies that Tepesh, Ouida, and Aratra were either vampires under deep cover for them to have been granted such an important position or (what I consider more likely) they were targeted and turned after having gotten that role.

14) While the concept of Rassilon leading a war against the vampires was established on tv, it had been expanded on by both the Virgin Books, BBC Books, and Faction Paradox (Time's Crucible, The Pit, Goth Opera, Damaged Goods, Interference, and The Book of the War), giving a good deal more scope and backdrop to Tepesh's interactions with Rassilon and the Time Lord/vampire war that Tepesh and the Great Mother allude to.

That being said, Tepesh's account as the Vampires being essentially Rassilon's victims after Rassilon had fought the sisterhood and established time travel does contradict with pretty much everything above (the general timeline is that the Time Lords accidentally unleashed the vampires into the universe with their time travel experiments, before the "death" of Omega or the war against Pythia). I personally suspect that Tepesh's bloodline was from a vampiric colony founded in the universe by the vampire lords and then abandoned, which Rassilon hunted down later. (Perhaps the colony founded by the vampire deserters from the Doctor Who Magazine comic Monstrous Beauty?)

15) The concept of the Time Lord's symbiotic nuclei (aka the Rassilon Imprimatur) first came up in the tv story The Two Doctors, but basically no information was actually given about it there. It being tied to regeneration comes from the Virgin Book Love and War. The concept that Rassilon engineered regeneration popped had popped up before in a few Virgin books, including The Cystal Bucephalus (where it was attributed to the Time Lords having triple-helix DNA, which Rassilon engineered) and Lungbarrow (where it was stated that only Time Lords that were Loomed could regenerate).

Speaking of which, the books Goth Opera (Virgin) and The Book of the War (Faction Paradox) proposed as in-universe speculation that the powers of regeneration were stolen from the vampires. Interesting in light of Tepesh's claims, huh?

(oh and if you're wondering if/how this all works with the Timeless child stuff, I have good news for you. Check out my essay here that addresses that question).

16) Tepesh at one point mentions Rassilon letting "Omega and Vandekirian go to their deaths". Vandekirian was Omega's assistant aboard the starship Eurydice (and it was the Eurydice that fell into the newly created black hole) according to the Big Finish audio story Omega. In the speculations that Rassilon caused Omega's death, the story goes that he convinced Vandekirian to sabotage the Eurydice.

17) The concept of humans colonizing an abandoned/destroyed Gallifrey dates back to the Virgin book The Crystal Bucephalus. A later Faction Paradox story The Story So Far (available to read for free online here) would imply that Winkle's Wonderland was built on one of the many cloneworlds of Gallifrey created during the War in Heaven (Faction Paradox's equivalent to the Time War).

18) Romana mentions a vortisaur race in her fanfic - the Big Finish audio Storm Warning introduced vortisuars as a pterodactyl-like thing that live in the Time Vortex. She also mentions "Theta's" professor being named Luvis - Luvis was established as the name of the teacher of Omega in the audio story Omega. In-universe, this is probably a coincidence, but out of universe, given that Omega was only released a few months before Zagreus, I doubt it.

19) The Gallifreyan Watchtower (that's where Brax contacts Romana from) was established as a thing in the Doctor Who Magazine comic The Final Chapter. It's basically a central hub for Gallifrey's security systems.

20) Given how this is the Gallifrey Relisten, the appearance of Braxiatel probably doesn't come as a surprise, but for the time this was a deep a cut as any of the rest of the things I've gone on about here. First of all, this is actually the first appearance of Brax when he is actually on Gallifrey. The dude originated from the Virgin books: Theatre of War introduced him as the head of the Braxiatel Collection (an art and artifact collection) with The Empire of Glass establishing Braxiatel as something of a Gallifrey-sanctioned interventionist and the Doctor's brother. He appeared once more in Happy Endings in what amounts to a little bit more than a cameo. After that, he became a regular in the Bernice Summerfield series after Virgin lost the license to publish Doctor Who, and he was one of the few parts of the Virgin Bernice Summerfield series to follow the series when it switched to Big Finish. This, however, is his first appearance in a Doctor Who story proper since 1996. (And as an additional fun fact he wasn't even in the original plan; they were apparently hoping to have Matthew Waterhouse - who played Adric - play a "bored Castellan" here.)

21) Romana being Lord President of the Time Lords was a thing in the Big Finish audios The Apocalypse Element and Neverland, but it was set up properly in the Virgin Books. Blood Harvest was the book where Romana returned to Gallifrey from E-Space. In Goth Opera (Blood Harvest's immediate follow-up), Romana gets offered a seat on the High Council. The book Happy Endings shows she has ascended to presidency, and The Apocalypse Element picks up from there.

I will say Romana reminding K-9 of "the mirror that finally brought us back home" in the third act does contradict the Virgin Books' explanation for Romana's return. K-9 explicitly did not return with Romana in Blood Harvest however, so perhaps that was how he returned to Gallifrey (this, once again, is speculation).

Romana II's presidency had been explored more in-depth in the book Lungbarrow, but Lungbarrow featured Romana and Leela already knowing each other and being friends. If one is to assume Zagreus and Lungbarrow are in the same continuity, then Lungbarrow would have to take place after Zagreus (I have an upcoming post that'll dig into all of this a little more thoroughly).

Part 3 - Wasteland

22) I know we already saw this in Neverland, but I'm trying to be comprehensive here. Rassilon's mind existing as a guiding force for the Time Lords within the Matrix is a concept that originated from the Doctor Who Magazine comic story The Tides of Time (which, by the way, actually predates Rassilon's appearance onscreen in The Five Doctors). This was a concept that the DWM had revisited more recently with the story The Final Chapter, and I suspect Rassilon's appearance in Neverland stemmed from that.

Slight tangent, but The Final Chapter and Neverland were both written by Alan Barnes (who was one of Zagreus's cowriters) and he has stated that Neverland evolved out of concepts cut from The Final Chapter. If you are inclined to track down old Doctor Who Magazine comics online, I encourage you to check The Final Chapter out - it is a very different look at Gallifrey than Neverland and Zagreus, but it does share a lot of lifeblood with them.

Rassilon still existing in the Matrix also came up in the BBC books The Eight Doctors and Unnatural History, btw, although in their case it feels a lot more likely that they are drawing on The Five Doctors.

23) Romana has met the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Doctors before in Goth Opera (Virgin book), The Apocalypse Element (Big Finish audio), and Blood Harvest (Virgin Book) respectively - hence, it makes sense for her to recognize Townsend, Tepesh, and Winkle on sight.

24) The Doctor referencing Polidori and Mary was part of a running reference to an unseen adventure with Mary Shelly Big Finish was doing with its Eighth Doctor audios ever since their first, Storm Warning. We would finally see that adventure proper when Big Finish released The Company of Friends in 2009.

25) Charley mentions that the Doctor has claimed to know Rasputin. The two of them met in the Third Doctor BBC book The Wages of Sin.

26) Charley mentions that the Doctor has escaped Colditz Castle - this is a reference to the Seventh Doctor Big Finish audio Colditz.

27) Romana recognizes the (image of the) Brigadier. This is because Romana, then in her first incarnation, met in the Brigadier in the BBC book Heart of TARDIS.

28) The concept that Rassilon created a "single, unchangeable history" (as stated by Winkle/the Doctor) through the Eye of Harmony was introduced in the Virgin book Christmas on a Rational Planet. This moment was shown in the Doctor Who Magazine comic The Final Chapter, and Faction Paradox's The Book of the War would name that moment the "Anchoring of the Thread."

29) The concept of a species opposed to the Time Lords who could create an alternate web of time - as Rassilon describes the Divergence - draws some pretty interesting parallels with the Enemy from the BBC books and Faction Paradox. The concept is that the Enemy are a mysterious (and still unnamed) force that in the future will challenge the Time Lords to an endless war over who gets to decide history. One of the few facts that has been explicitly stated about the Enemy (in Faction Paradox's The Book of the War) is that the Enemy has the power to create and maintain a web of time just like Gallifrey did.

30) Rassilon talks about breaking the laws of time in order to manipulate the Eighth Doctor - while it's brought to an extreme here, Rassilon did basically that in the BBC books The Eight Doctors and Unnatural History, which can totally be treated as him setting up for the events of Neverland in retrospect

31) When rattling off places on Earth the Doctor has been to, one of the places mentioned is the canals of Venice - the site of the Big Finish audio story The Stones of Venice, starring Eight and Charley.

32) The Doctor mentions people having seen a "Grey lady" in the Tardis engine rooms. The Grey Lady - who was very much another avatar of the Tardis - showed up in the Doctor Who Magazine comic story A Life of Matter and Death.

33) The Doctor openly states that he expects Romana to be dragged down by the presidency - specifically telling her to "enjoy her corruption." A more militaristic third incarnation of Romana was an antagonist to the Eighth Doctor in the BBC books The Shadows of Avalon and The Ancestor Cell (and, btw, if you take both the BBC books and Big Finish in the same continuity, both of those almost certainly take place before Zagreus for the Eighth Doctor, so he's seen the end results of Romana's corruption).

34) The bit at the end where the Doctor starts reading a book is a call-back to Storm Warning, Big Finish's first Eighth Doctor audio, which opened with him reading that same book but then getting interrupted by the plot.

35) And, finally, when this was being recorded, plans were already underway to continue Romana and Leela's story in a new audio series titled Gallifrey, which would end up being (in my opinion) the centerpiece of Big Finish's The Worlds of Doctor Who lines of stories. You might have heard of it.

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Here are all the Time Lord anatomical drawings I have so far.

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⚕️ Gallifreyan Basic Life Support: CPR

Most Gallifreyans have two hearts, so they need a slightly different CPR approach than humans. Here's how to do effective CPR on a Gallifreyan in cardiac arrest.

BIGGER - Google Drive: PDF / Image JPG / Image PNG

This guide is for use on Gallifreyans and Time Lords only. Always seek your human advice from human health providers.

✨ What is Basic Life Support?

Basic Life Support (BLS) for Gallifreyans involves maintaining airway, breathing, and circulation in a patient experiencing cardiac arrest. Due to their unique physiology—including dual hearts with a natural delayed rhythm (thud-thud...thud-thud, not together)—Gallifreyans require a different approach than humans.

This guide focuses on techniques tailored to Gallifreyan physiology, including both standard and enhanced methods of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and how to adjust care depending on your resources.

🚩Why Are There Two Versions?

There are two established CPR strategies for Gallifreyans:

D-CPR (Dual CPR) is the original standard, widely accepted and effective.

SD-CPR (Sequential Dual CPR) is a proposed improvement that more accurately aligns with the natural delay in Gallifreyan cardiac rhythm, reducing the risk of arrhythmias and improving circulation.

Both methods are valid; SD-CPR offers a more refined, physiology-aligned approach, especially when two rescuers are available, but for those not confident or on their own, D-CPR is an effective alternative.

⚠️ Pre-CPR Checks

Before initiating CPR, complete the following:

Secure the Scene: Ensure safety from environmental hazards (e.g. Daleks, electrical risks).

Initial Response: Tap the shoulder and ask, "Can you hear me? How are you feeling?"

Check for Help: Recruit bystanders, preferably those with alien medical knowledge. Direct others to clear the area or contact specialist aid.

Assess for Cardiac Arrest: ⤷ Check both hearts: Place hands on either side of the chest. ⤷ Listen and feel for normal breathing. ⤷ If both hearts are still and the patient is not breathing, begin CPR immediately.

💓 Dual Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (D-CPR)

The standard method for Gallifreyan CPR.

Single Rescuer:

Perform 5 compressions over the right heart (patient's right side). Depth: 5–6 cm.

Switch to 5 compressions over the left heart.

Give 2 rescue breaths.

Repeat cycle: 5 right, 5 left, 2 breaths.

Continue until signs of life or help arrives.

Two Rescuers:

Rescuer 1: 5 compressions on right heart.

Rescuer 2: 5 compressions on left heart.

Administer 2 rescue breaths after the full cycle.

Continue rotating if fatigued.

⚖️ Sequential Dual CPR (SD-CPR)

A proposed improvement on D-CPR, aligning compressions with the natural delayed rhythm of Gallifreyan hearts.

Single Rescuer:

Straddle the chest or kneel beside.

Perform 2 compressions on the patient's right heart, immediately followed by 2 on the left, maintaining the natural delay.

Continue alternating compressions to a depth of 5–6 cm.

After 20 total compressions (10 each), give 2 rescue breaths.

Two Rescuers:

Rescuer 1: Compresses right heart 2 times.

Rescuer 2: Begins left-heart compressions half a second later, 2 times.

Continue this staggered rhythm for 10 compressions per heart.

Administer 2 rescue breaths.

Notes:

Timing matters more than force: use appropriate pressure and timing.

SD-CPR is best with two trained rescuers.

💥 Sequential Precordial Thump (SPT)

Use when only one heart has stopped.

Identify the functioning heart's rhythm.

Deliver a firm, sharp thump over the non-functioning heart, timed immediately after the beat of the working heart.

Follow with a back thump directly aligned with the heart from behind.

Use only up to five times to avoid injury.

👶 Paediatric Notes

Use 2 fingers for compressions on each heart in infants.

For bigger children, use one hand per heart.

Be aware Gallifreyan children may only have one heart.

🔍 Continuous Monitoring

During CPR:

Monitor for recovery signs in either heart.

If one heart restarts, but the other doesn't, apply a Sequential Precordial Thump.

Watch for synchronous rhythms.

Switch rescuers if fatigued.

📉 Post-Resuscitation Care

Once both hearts are functioning:

Perform a GASS assessment.

Consider ABCDE review.

Monitor for: ⤷ Neurological symptoms (e.g. confusion, psionic instability). ⤷ Cardiac irregularities. ⤷ Metabolic distress.

Arrange medical evaluation urgently.

📌 Key Takeaways

Gallifreyans require heart-specific CPR.

SD-CPR improves outcomes by matching the natural dual rhythm.

Always check for double cardiac arrest, not just breathing.

Use SPT only if one heart is affected.

Monitor both physical and psionic signs throughout.

Medical Guides These are all practical guides to assessing and treating a Gallifreyan in an emergency or medical setting.

⚕️💕Gallifreyan CPR

⚕️👽Gallifreyan Assessment Scoring System (GASS)

⚕️👽ABCDE Assessment

⚕️⚠️Sepsis Emergency Response (SER)

⚕️⚠️Severe Trauma Protocol

⚕️🌡️Gallifreyan Pyrexia

⚕️🔮Psionic Emergency Pathways

⚕️✨Post-Regeneration Management

⚕️🩸Interpreting Gallifreyan Bloodwork

⚕️👶Gallifreyan Paediatric Emergencies

Any orange text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →📢Announcements |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts → Features:⭐Guest Posts | 🍜Chomp Chomp with Myishu →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴

[somehow-back-on-gallifrey]

🌌The Universe, the Menti Celesti, and the Gallifreyan Devil

Gallifreyans, being an ancient people, have long debated the mysteries of the cosmos. Where did the universe come from? Are gods real? Can everything be reduced to science?

Here's what Gallifreyan mythology, philosophy, and a whole lot of deeply questionable religious texts have to say on the subject.

🪐How the Universe Began

Like most civilisations, the ancient Gallifreyans have/had theories about how everything began.

The universe was born from a self-aware singularity, sometimes called Eru or Azathoth.

This entity split into ten dimensions at the moment of the Big Bang. (Why ten? No one knows. Some say the universe actually has eleven dimensions, but apparently, even the Creator wasn't great at maths.)

Time itself was poured into the void o the empty universe by the Mother Goddess, using something called the Aurora Temporalis (a.k.a. the Anvils of Heaven). This suggests that Time is a very fancy liquid, which raises more questions than it answers.

The seconds of time were then created by the Temporal Phoenix, a cosmic bird that was imprisoned in a time loop by the Philesians.

🤷 Or "Look, it Just Happened"

The more scientifically inclined Gallifreyans believe that time is a mathematical structure so complex that it became sentient by accident.

This would explain why causality occasionally behaves like an unsupervised child with a flamethrower.

🕊️ The Menti Celesti: Gallifrey's Gods (or Just Very Pushy Eternals)

The ancient Gallifreyans did worship gods—though they were less "divine cosmic overlords" and more "powerful entities that ignored prayers unless they were in the mood."

The Main Pantheon

Time – The youngest and most unpredictable. Ancient Gallifreyans worshipped her, but many modern Gallifreyans dislike her intensely. She wanders around in a grey shawl, holding an amphora filled with the dust of time, which she continuously pours to ensure time flows. She is represented by a shifting grey colour.

Death – Enjoys making deals. Represented by the colour white and a red circular symbol known as a Regenerative Circle. Old Gallifreyan tales state that when Death was born, drunken gods gave her name to someone else. She was annoyed by this, and now spends her time removing every mortal's name.

Pain – Oldest of the gods. Absolutely terrible at parties. Represented by the colours of red and black.

Fate (Osuda) – The hallowed hand of destiny, which means no one really likes her.

Life – Rarely mentioned. Possibly retired.

Hope – Existentially suspicious.

Light – Very much not talked about.

Gallifreyans, being deeply bureaucratic, eventually stopped worshipping them because they objected to the mass celebration of Eternals, which they saw as technically just worshipping another species.

Most of the Menti Celesti abandoned the universe before the War in Heaven, except for Death, who stuck around because she had nothing better to do.

😈 Gallifrey's Devil and the Nature of Evil

Gallifreyans don't really do "sin," but they do worry about entropy, time paradoxes, and apocalyptic horrors that eat civilisations like crisps.

Their myths speak of Valdemar, a dark god who was so terrible that the ancient Old Ones spent centuries fighting him.

The battle against Valdemar is considered the sixth greatest mystery of the Universe, because after winning, all the Old Ones promptly vanished and no one knows why.

🙈The Devil Theory: Can You Get Rid of Evil?

Ancient Gallifreyans believed that if all evil was destroyed, the good people who remained would eventually become evil themselves—because without opposition, even the best ideas can turn tyrannical.

This led to the grim conclusion that evil must always exist, which is a convenient excuse for not dealing with any major moral dilemmas.

Many modern Time Lords consider the concepts of good and evil to be outdated, redundant, or incomprehensible., which slightly contradicts the Great Moral Dialectic (see below).

🏛️ The Legacy of Belief

Though many Gallifreyans abandoned their gods long ago, a few rituals and superstitions persist:

📜 The Ratio 1:812 – The key to quantum string theory. Some believe it proves the gods exist; others believe it proves they never did. (Classic Gallifreyan argument structure.)

🏡 Shrines in Homes – Ancient Gallifreyans kept alcoves for offerings to the Menti Celesti, some still have them.

🌊 The Whispers of the Dead – Some believed that the souls of the dead ended up in the Sea of Life and that you could hear them whispering in the waves.

👍The Great Moral Dialectic – Some Gallifreyans believe in the Great Moral Dialectic, which is the rationale that as the physical Universe gets bigger, the moral Universe will lean more towards goodness.

🐍 The Crevasse of Memories That Will Be – A deep fissure used by the Pythia for prophecy. It contained snakes.

🚫 The Omniscate – A protective symbol often placed on powerful objects and rooms. Allegedly wards off evil, or at least makes people feel better about using dangerous technology.

🕰️ The Loa – Some Time Lords refer to history as a sentient being or beings they call the Loa.

🏫 So …

Gallifreyans don't worship gods anymore, but they do acknowledge their existence in an irritated, skeptical way. They've got a few ideas about the Universe, life, and everything, but as usual it's a hot mess.

(Assembled from ROOG + TARDIS Wiki)

Whoniverse Facts for Friday by GIL

Any orange text is educated guesswork or theoretical.

More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →📢Announcements |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts → Features: ⭐Guest Posts | 🍜Chomp Chomp with Myishu →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜MasterpostIf you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴

[somehow-back-on-gallifrey]

What are some of the best ways to get a Tardis to like you?

How do you get a TARDIS to like You?

So, you've found yourself standing in front of a TARDIS, and you want it to like you, huh? Here are some tips on how to make that beautiful time machine fall head over heels for you.

💙 Understand That Every TARDIS Is an Individual

No two TARDISes are the same. Each one has their own quirks, preferences, and personality. Some might enjoy a bit of bants, while others might appreciate quiet. Treating a TARDIS as an individual—not just a tool or transport—is step one in earning their trust.

��� Keep It Clean and Maintained

TARDISes might be alive, but they still have mechanical components. Show your TARDIS you care by keeping things clean and well-maintained. A deep clean of their console room, some polish on the struts, and regular diagnostics on their systems go a long way.

🤝 Spend Time With Them

If you're the pilot, make time for your TARDIS. Engage with them. Wander through their halls. Show genuine interest in their quirks and features. A TARDIS is deeply connected to their pilot, and they appreciate pilots who value that bond.

If you're a passenger, the best thing you can do is be kind to the pilot. A TARDIS can be fiercely protective of its pilot, and nothing will sour your relationship faster than badmouthing their Time Lord.

🎁 Show a Little Gratitude

TARDISes go through a lot for their crew—hurtling through time and space, dodging paradoxes, and occasionally shielding you from annihilation. Saying thank you, even in small ways, matters.

⚡ Don't Hurt or Abandon Them

We stress again - TARDISes are living beings. They feel neglect and abandonment deeply. If you're lucky enough to bond with one, take care of them. Regularly update their systems, don't overload their engines unnecessarily, and never leave them stranded or unpiloted for too long if you can help it. If you have to, be sure to have a darn good reason.

🏫 So ...

Treat a TARDIS with care, respect, and kindness—like any living creature. Show them you value their individuality, keep them well-maintained, and always respect the bond they share with its pilot. A happy TARDIS is a loyal TARDIS, and who wouldn't want a time machine that actually likes them?

Related:

🤔|🛸🧬The Life Cycle of a TARDIS: How TARDISes are born, grow, and die.

💬|🛸👽Could a Time Lord and a TARDIS be in a relationship?: Potential relationships twixt Time Lord and TARDIS and the intimacy of the symbiotic connection.

💬|🛸👽What happens to a TARDIS when its bonded Time Lord passes away?: Examining mourning and ‘oh well’ tendencies in TARDISes.

Hope that helped! 😃

Any purple text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →😆Jokes |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired😴

[somehow-back-on-gallifrey]

I’ve missed drawing you, romana!!!!

[somehow-back-on-gallifrey]

Random headcanon I came up with early this morning, because I’ve been thinking about Gallifreyan language recently:

The reason why so many Time Lord things are decorated with circular Gallifreyan, often too impractically to actually be read (eg. on the Moment), is because it’s a cultural touchstone that remains from pre-/early-Pythian Gallifrey’s use of magical runes and sigils.

Presumably it was more typically Old High Gallifreyan used in that time (though The Timeless Children does seemingly confirm circular Gallifreyan existed at least as far back as Rassilon's time, if not earlier), however. Twelve describes it as ‘the language of the Pythia’ in The Lost Magic, and as Eleven says in The Time of Angels:

ELEVEN: There were days, there were many days, these words could burn stars and raise up empires, and topple gods.

This is obviously very reminescent of the Carrionites' (themselves from the Dark Times too) "word-based science" from The Shakespeare Code:

MARTHA: What did you do? TEN: I named her. The power of a name. That's old magic. MARTHA: But there's no such thing as magic. TEN: Well, it's just a different sort of science. You lot, you chose mathematics. Given the right string of numbers, the right equation, you can split the atom. Carrionites use words instead.

In other words, while they probably weren't actually intended as such and may have their own specific meaning, whether they be poetry, namesakes, histories, instructions, whatever... these are basically protective wards:

[ID: Five screenshots of Circular Gallifreyan in New Who.

1. Rassilon's Inner High Council meeting in The End of Time Part 2. The table and headrests are inscribed with circular Gallifreyan.

2. The Moment in Day of the Doctor. Gallifreyan writing bends round the edges of the wooden frame.

3. The 'whirligig' rotar in Eleven's second TARDIS, inscribed with individual Gallifreyan symbols.

4. Set photo of the glowing Gallifreyan writing on the steps of Thirteen's TARDIS.

5. Tecteun's laboratory in The Timeless Children. Circular Gallifreyan lines the light above her, and a door in the background.]

As a side note - if they actually are kind-of intended as a form of protection, perhaps this is why we were only introduced to Circular Gallifreyan in New Who, despite it seemingly existing through Gallifreyan history. Because it was retroactively inserted into Gallifreyan culture as a form of defense during the War in Heaven / Last Great Time War?

Regardless, this also opens up questions how many other Time Lord traditions are holdovers from the Dark Times.

For example, who's to say that the renegade naming tradition didn't begin as a form of protection from hexes - either from hostile forces in the pre-anchoring universe, or from oppressive magic-users back on the homeworld? This may also be connected to the change in Gallifreyan name format before and after the Intuitive Revelation (eg. ancestral -sti and -sor names), though shifting power structures, gender roles etc. presumably played a role too.

Heck, is this one reason why Gallifrey's own name has changed over its history? From Jewel to Gallifrey in Rassilon's time to try and protect it from vengeful Pythian curses. From Gallifrey to just 'the Homeworld' in the War to protect it from new rituals of alternative histories and paradox?

[somehow-back-on-gallifrey]

Ace is having a clear go at Brax and that is my favorite thing

Bringing back this series of Big Finish Gallifrey series stickers I designed, because they haven't seen daylight in a while.

[somehow-back-on-gallifrey]

I'd say nothing can escape my Whims bu the truth is I was useless for the better part of 3 days until I tried my hand at the Shining World of the Seven Systems

[somehow-back-on-gallifrey]

What are some of the best ways to get a Tardis to like you?

How do you get a TARDIS to like You?

So, you've found yourself standing in front of a TARDIS, and you want it to like you, huh? Here are some tips on how to make that beautiful time machine fall head over heels for you.

💙 Understand That Every TARDIS Is an Individual

No two TARDISes are the same. Each one has their own quirks, preferences, and personality. Some might enjoy a bit of bants, while others might appreciate quiet. Treating a TARDIS as an individual—not just a tool or transport—is step one in earning their trust.

🧽 Keep It Clean and Maintained

TARDISes might be alive, but they still have mechanical components. Show your TARDIS you care by keeping things clean and well-maintained. A deep clean of their console room, some polish on the struts, and regular diagnostics on their systems go a long way.

🤝 Spend Time With Them

If you're the pilot, make time for your TARDIS. Engage with them. Wander through their halls. Show genuine interest in their quirks and features. A TARDIS is deeply connected to their pilot, and they appreciate pilots who value that bond.

If you're a passenger, the best thing you can do is be kind to the pilot. A TARDIS can be fiercely protective of its pilot, and nothing will sour your relationship faster than badmouthing their Time Lord.

🎁 Show a Little Gratitude

TARDISes go through a lot for their crew—hurtling through time and space, dodging paradoxes, and occasionally shielding you from annihilation. Saying thank you, even in small ways, matters.

⚡ Don't Hurt or Abandon Them

We stress again - TARDISes are living beings. They feel neglect and abandonment deeply. If you're lucky enough to bond with one, take care of them. Regularly update their systems, don't overload their engines unnecessarily, and never leave them stranded or unpiloted for too long if you can help it. If you have to, be sure to have a darn good reason.

🏫 So ...

Treat a TARDIS with care, respect, and kindness—like any living creature. Show them you value their individuality, keep them well-maintained, and always respect the bond they share with its pilot. A happy TARDIS is a loyal TARDIS, and who wouldn't want a time machine that actually likes them?

Related:

🤔|🛸🧬The Life Cycle of a TARDIS: How TARDISes are born, grow, and die.

💬|🛸👽Could a Time Lord and a TARDIS be in a relationship?: Potential relationships twixt Time Lord and TARDIS and the intimacy of the symbiotic connection.

💬|🛸👽What happens to a TARDIS when its bonded Time Lord passes away?: Examining mourning and ‘oh well’ tendencies in TARDISes.

Hope that helped! 😃

Any purple text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →😆Jokes |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired😴