Time Lord
This article deals with Time Lord as it relates to NationStates. For more general information, see the Wikipedia article on this subject. The Time Lords are a race of humanoids, originating on the planet Gallifrey. The female members of this group, like Cecinia, are sometimes called Time Ladies. Time Lords are so called because they are able to travel in and manipulate time through technology, to a degree more advanced than any other civilisation. A Time Lord time machine is known as a TARDIS.
Overview
The Time Lords are normally considered one of the oldest and most technologically powerful races in the universe. The small number of beings more powerful than the Time Lords includes the (now extinct) Osirians and higher powers of the universe such as Mephet'ran. The power actually exerted by the Time Lords is limited by their policy of non-interference with the universe and sometimes by intense internecine division.
Physical Characteristics
Time Lords appear human, but differ from them in many respects. Time Lords are extremely long-lived, routinely counting their ages in terms of centuries. Time Lords also have the ability to regenerate their bodies when their current body has become too old or is mortally wounded. This process results in their body undergoing a transformation, gaining a new physical form and a somewhat different personality. Regenerations can be traumatic events, and have been known to fail. A Time Lord can regenerate twelve times before dying (thirteen incarnations in all). The ability to regenerate may be linked to what is known as the "Rassilon Imprimatur", the symbiotic nuclei of a Time Lord that bonds him or her to a TARDIS, and allows his or her body to withstand the molecular stresses of time travel.
Other physiological differences from humans include two hearts (which normally beat at 170 beats a minute) and a "respiratory bypass system" that allows them to survive strangulation or even extended exposure to a vacuum. If severely injured, Time Lords can go into a healing coma which lowers their body temperature to below freezing. Time Lords can also communicate by telepathy, and some may develop clairvoyancy. They have additional time-related senses which allow them to perceive shifts and jumps in time, as well as more accurately perceive the passage of time than humans.
Culture and Society
The Time Lord homeworld, Gallifrey, is an Earth-like planet in the "constellation" of Kasterborous. Its capital city is also called Gallifrey, and contains the Capitol, the seat of Time Lord government. At the centre of the Capitol is the Panopticon, beneath which is the Eye of Harmony. Outside the Capitol lie wastelands where the "Outsiders", Gallifreyans who have shunned life in the cities, live in less technological tribal communities.
The Time Lords are, in general, an aloof people, with their society full of pomp and ceremony. Certain regenade Time Lords have characterised their own people as a stagnant and corrupt society, a state caused by ten million years of absolute power. Since perfecting the science of time travel, they have withdrawn, bound by the moral complexity of interfering in the natural flow of history.
Time Lords belong to various colleges or chapters, such as the Patrexes, Arcalian, Dromeian, Cerulean and the Prydonian chapters, which have ceremonial and political significance. Each chapter also has its own colours; for instance, the Prydonians wear scarlet and orange, the Arcalians wear green and the Patrexeans wear heliotrope. The colleges of the Academy are led by the Cardinals. Ushers, who provide security and assistance at official Time Lord functions, may belong to any chapter, and wear all-gold uniforms.
The executive political leadership is split between the Lord President, who keeps the ceremonial relics of the Time Lords, and the Chancellor, who appears to be the administrative leader of the Cardinals and who acts as a check on the power of the Lord President. The President is an elected position and on Presidential Resignation Day, the outgoing President usually names his successor, who is then also usually confirmed in a non-contested "election". The office of President is usually ceremonial only in nature, although there have been times when it has exercised absolute authority. The constitutional mechanism, if indeed it exists, by which such a transition occurs, is unclear.
The President and Chancellor also sit on the Time Lord High Council, akin to a legislative body, composed variously of Councillors and more senior Cardinals. Also on the High Council is the Castellan of the Chancellory Guard, in charge of the security of the Citadel, whom the Doctor has referred to as the leader of a trumped-up palace guard. According to the constitution, if while in emergency session the other members of the High Council are in unanimous agreement, even the President's orders can be overruled.
Technology
The Time Lord penchant for ceremony extends to their technology, with various artefacts given weighty names like the Hand of Omega, the Eye of Harmony or the Key of Rassilon. Paradoxically, although the Time Lords are a scientifically and technologically advanced race, the civilisation is so old that key pieces of their technology became shrouded in legend and myth.
