You're the Doctor's new Companion, Companion to an alternate Doctor from another timeline precisely. You found yourself trapped in an endless castle, until she came along to show you what true endlessness really looked like.
You've got all of time and space to explore. It won't be safe, it won't be easy, but it's an opportunity like nothing else...
It was a strange woman called The Doctor who found me, saying she was a time traveller who'd lived for centuries. I was trapped in an endless castle, then she showed me what true endlessness really looked like. I can go with her anywhere in time and space now... except back home.
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Doctor Who Quest: A Deal with Time
Those who take from Time, from harmless travel to heinous paradox, must give back to Time, else Time will take from them.
The Doctor, a passionate runaway from the almighty but uncaring planet of Gallifrey, had given back to not just time and space, but all the peoples within, time and time again. In return Time had taken their life, or rather lives, one after the other, yet as a Time Lord there so far had always been a new life to rise from the Doctor's ashes.
And in a separate timeline, another of the Doctor's lives could rise from the same ashes.
The Doctor's previous incarnation was their-
[ ] Seventh. Time could run out for even Time's Champion. In his case, it was shortly he was forced to return to the place he feared most, his own 'childhood' home, just like he had forced his companion Ace to return to the place she feared most.
[ ] Eighth. A dashing Romantic who'd seen the Timestream reduced to a plaything, the destruction of his home planet, and the origins of human time-travel to wipe clean what legacy the Time Lords had left.
[ ] Ninth. A man who'd been forced to let his own archnemesis right into his inner sanctum as a fellow traveler. Inevitably that had been the cause of their deaths, the question was whether this death was in the obvious way.
-who in this fractured timeline had now regenerated into a new form, a form not recorded in our timeline until now...
The Castle of Oterne Part 1
The cold grey hallways stretched on for you had no idea how far. You were but one of many servants taken in to work for the Castle, and yet you never saw your masters 'those above', the lords who ruled these endless chambers and corridors. The only way you had of knowing that you did serve some greater authority was through the castle butler, the only one here who had any permission to speak with them.
Your specific duty in gratitude for Oterne giving you food and shelter was:
[ ] Maid/Under-Butler. Such a big castle had no shortage of things to clean, from the halls to furniture to suits of armour. No shortage of things to cook either, even though you'd never saw who ate the meals.
[ ] Librarian. You could only make sense of a scant number of the books gathered there, and weren't even allowed to open some of them, but you at least knew enough to properly sort and dust them.
[ ] Gardener. Given there wasn't a sliver of sunlight in the castle, the plants that grew there weren't the usual sort, being a mass of thorns more than anything else. You just clipped and watered them and hoped for the best.
[ ] Security. You were told there were many who would dare come for the Castle, but never really who. You only got vague descriptions, like 'bandits', 'monsters', and 'rival castles'.
[ ] Write-in
You didn't mean to put yourself on a pedestal, but there was one thing that separated you from the other servants, one thing you feared the butler and those above ever finding out. You could still remember where you came from, if less and less every day, whereas every other servant here recalled nothing of their lives before the Castle. Or if they could, they sure kept quiet about that, likely for the same reason as you. You were from:
[ ] England. You think you were a Northerner, Manchester or Sheffield or somewhere. You knew there was something up with this modern world, but back then you didn't have enough info to tell what.
[ ] Japan. Tochigi prefecture, or somewhere not quite Tokyo. Your life had been completely free of anything suspicious or supernatural, before the Castle anyway.
[ ] A space colony. One of increasingly many that had sprung up in the far future, as humanity stretched further and further from Earth.
[ ] Write-in
[X] Ninth. A man who'd been forced to let his own archnemesis right into his inner sanctum as a fellow traveler. Inevitably that had been the cause of their deaths, the question was whether this death was in the obvious way.
[X] Gardener. Given there wasn't a sliver of sunlight in the castle, the plants that grew there weren't the usual sort, being a mass of thorns more than anything else. You just clipped and watered them and hoped for the best.
[X] A space colony. One of increasingly many that had sprung up in the far future, as humanity stretched further and further from Earth.
Thought I should elaborate in case some things weren't clear enough about this Quest
By 'alt regen' I mean AU incarnation of the Doctor instead of one of the TV ones. The Doctor in the web animation Scream of the Shalka is probably the best known (he's the guy who was 'Ninth' in the votes up there), him and the parody Curse of Fatal Death Doctors, but there's also been several 'What If' audio plays starring split timeline incarnations
The above vote is also which incarnation of the Doctor we'll be splitting off from, not which will be starring in this Quest. Again, think people already got that, but repeating that just in case
Edit: Yeah, went and edited the OP to make it clearer you're voting for who the Doctor's previous incarnation was
[X] Eighth. A dashing Romantic who'd seen the Timestream reduced to a plaything, the destruction of his home planet, and the origins of human time-travel to wipe clean what legacy the Time Lords had left.
[X] Librarian. You could only make sense of a scant number of the books gathered there, and weren't even allowed to open some of them, but you at least knew enough to properly sort and dust them.
[X] England. You think you were a Northerner, Manchester or Sheffield or somewhere. You knew there was something up with this modern world, but back then you didn't have enough info to tell what.
[X] Ninth. A man who'd been forced to let his own archnemesis right into his inner sanctum as a fellow traveler. Inevitably that had been the cause of their deaths, the question was whether this death was in the obvious way.
[X] Librarian. You could only make sense of a scant number of the books gathered there, and weren't even allowed to open some of them, but you at least knew enough to properly sort and dust them.
[X] England. You think you were a Northerner, Manchester or Sheffield or somewhere. You knew there was something up with this modern world, but back then you didn't have enough info to tell what.
Love me some doctor who
Hmm so for clarification if ninth wins do we get tennants doctor aka best doctor? Im still voting for ninth anyway but id like to get confirmation anyway, as I'm not familiar with the extra/non tv show stuff for doctor who
Sorry, the idea of the Quest is you'll be getting an AU Doctor rather than any of the TV Doctors, which is why 'Alt! Regen' is up there in the title in brackets
But hey, there's always the chance of multi-Doctor sidestories!
[X] Ninth. A man who'd been forced to let his own archnemesis right into his inner sanctum as a fellow traveler. Inevitably that had been the cause of their deaths, the question was whether this death was in the obvious way.
[X] Gardener. Given there wasn't a sliver of sunlight in the castle, the plants that grew there weren't the usual sort, being a mass of thorns more than anything else. You just clipped and watered them and hoped for the best.
[X] Japan. Tochigi prefecture, or somewhere not quite Tokyo. Your life had been completely free of anything suspicious or supernatural, before the Castle anyway.
So given our Doctor being the next regeneration after the Shalka Doctor is in the lead so far, I thought it'd be best to clip from Scream of the Shalka for context:
[X] Ninth. A man who'd been forced to let his own archnemesis right into his inner sanctum as a fellow traveler. Inevitably that had been the cause of their deaths, the question was whether this death was in the obvious way.
[X] Gardener. Given there wasn't a sliver of sunlight in the castle, the plants that grew there weren't the usual sort, being a mass of thorns more than anything else. You just clipped and watered them and hoped for the best.
[X] A space colony. One of increasingly many that had sprung up in the far future, as humanity stretched further and further from Earth.
Who hasn't really had companions from more sci Fi backgrounds, right? That seems interesting to me.
Quite a few actually, Susan was there from day one, while the latter half of Tom Baker's run alone introduced Leela, both Romanas, K-9, Adric, and Nyssa.
The Wilderness Years books were also fairly heavy on more sci-fi companions, like all the companions the New Adventures introduced were from space, and with the Eighth Doctor we had a human TARDIS (not the TARDIS though, a TARDIS) long before the TV show
In TV material, the only Classic Doctors (1963-89) with no companion from a SF background were Three and Six.
In order of appearance:
Susan was from Gallifrey.
Vicki was from the space future.
Steven was from the space future.
Sara Kingdom, if she counts as a companion (she only appears in one story), was from the future.
Zoe was from the space future.
Leela was from the space future, being one of the socially and technologically regressed Sevateem on the planet Mordee.
Romana was from Gallifrey.
K-9 was a sentient robot with a directed energy weapon.
Adric was from the population of a crashed starliner in E-Space.
Nyssa was from Traken.
Turlough was an exile/refugee from another planet.
Kamelion was a sentient shapeshifting robot.
Ace was born in 20th century London, but got caught up in an time storm and was living in the far future on Iceworld when she (properly) met the Doctor.
[x] Ninth. A man who'd been forced to let his own archnemesis right into his inner sanctum as a fellow traveler. Inevitably that had been the cause of their deaths, the question was whether this death was in the obvious way.
Alternate revival series go! And if we get Docter/Master (be it romance or friendship, well that's just gravy.
[x] Librarian. You could only make sense of a scant number of the books gathered there, and weren't even allowed to open some of them, but you at least knew enough to properly sort and dust them.
[x] Japan. Tochigi prefecture, or somewhere not quite Tokyo. Your life had been completely free of anything suspicious or supernatural, before the Castle anyway.
Let's do something different from the norm. Docter Who the Anime if you will.
Also the castle is giving me Changling the Lost vibes.
Somewhat prescient considering the faceclaim(s) I have in mind for our Doctor (and Scream of the Shalka being animated itself)
Anyway, us coming after the Ninth (Shalka) Doctor is clearly in the lead, with a tie between Librarian and Gardener and a three-way tie between the Companion's homeland (think that's a first when it comes to my Quests)
[x] Ninth. A man who'd been forced to let his own archnemesis right into his inner sanctum as a fellow traveler. Inevitably that had been the cause of their deaths, the question was whether this death was in the obvious way.
[x] Librarian. You could only make sense of a scant number of the books gathered there, and weren't even allowed to open some of them, but you at least knew enough to properly sort and dust them.
[x] England. You think you were a Northerner, Manchester or Sheffield or somewhere. You knew there was something up with this modern world, but back then you didn't have enough info to tell what.
[x] Eighth. A dashing Romantic who'd seen the Timestream reduced to a plaything, the destruction of his home planet, and the origins of human time-travel to wipe clean what legacy the Time Lords had left.
[x] Librarian. You could only make sense of a scant number of the books gathered there, and weren't even allowed to open some of them, but you at least knew enough to properly sort and dust them.
[X] A space colony. One of increasingly many that had sprung up in the far future, as humanity stretched further and further from Earth.
Okay, I ought to be wrapping up the vote soon-ish. Right now we're tied between England and the space colony going by the tally, I usually roll 1d2 if no tiebreaker comes, but I also thought we could easily combine the two votes, have the Companion be from Space Manchester maybe?
Then again, I've been told combining votes isn't to everyone's tastes
Scheduled vote count started by ArlequineLunaire on Feb 13, 2023 at 8:40 PM, finished with 17 posts and 8 votes.
[X] Ninth. A man who'd been forced to let his own archnemesis right into his inner sanctum as a fellow traveler. Inevitably that had been the cause of their deaths, the question was whether this death was in the obvious way.
[X] Librarian. You could only make sense of a scant number of the books gathered there, and weren't even allowed to open some of them, but you at least knew enough to properly sort and dust them.
[X] Gardener. Given there wasn't a sliver of sunlight in the castle, the plants that grew there weren't the usual sort, being a mass of thorns more than anything else. You just clipped and watered them and hoped for the best.
[X] England. You think you were a Northerner, Manchester or Sheffield or somewhere. You knew there was something up with this modern world, but back then you didn't have enough info to tell what.
[X] Eighth. A dashing Romantic who'd seen the Timestream reduced to a plaything, the destruction of his home planet, and the origins of human time-travel to wipe clean what legacy the Time Lords had left.
[X] Japan. Tochigi prefecture, or somewhere not quite Tokyo. Your life had been completely free of anything suspicious or supernatural, before the Castle anyway.
[x] Ninth. A man who'd been forced to let his own archnemesis right into his inner sanctum as a fellow traveler. Inevitably that had been the cause of their deaths, the question was whether this death was in the obvious way.
Always wanted a solid Doctor Who quest, looks like my wish has been granted!
[x] Librarian. You could only make sense of a scant number of the books gathered there, and weren't even allowed to open some of them, but you at least knew enough to properly sort and dust them.
[x] Japan. Tochigi prefecture, or somewhere not quite Tokyo. Your life had been completely free of anything suspicious or supernatural, before the Castle anyway.
Previous Doctor: [X] Ninth. A man who'd been forced to let his own archnemesis right into his inner sanctum as a fellow traveler. Inevitably that had been the cause of their deaths, the question was whether this death was in the obvious way.
Companion Job: [X] Librarian. You could only make sense of a scant number of the books gathered there, and weren't even allowed to open some of them, but you at least knew enough to properly sort and dust them.
Companion Home: [X] England. You think you were a Northerner, Manchester or Sheffield or somewhere. You knew there was something up with this modern world, but back then you didn't have enough info to tell what.
Vague images of the North of England flowed back into your mind. The moorlands, winding alleys, abandoned factories you'd walked past, and of course the books you read. That was about it really, and even what memories you still had were on the flickering and fragile side, like what was written in any of those books.
"Librarian," you heard the butler call to you, snapping your thought-time like a twig. The butler of Oterne didn't look much different from a regular butler on first glance, with a basic monochrome suit and a monocle even, though as you were a librarian with glasses and braids you had no right to say anyone looked stereotypical. Yet the butler still had that 'Oterne touch' upon him, for his skin and hair, everything else being covered, wavered in and out like a mirage and was blurred like Impressionist art. The odd thing was, from what you could make of him beyond the blurring, he didn't look that much older than you. "Those Above request the book 'Grimoirum Malebene', you have been granted two hours to retrieve it," he ordered.
"The Grimoirum Malebene..." you murmured, as you recalled that had been one of the books you and the other servants were forbidden from reading. Worried the butler would start to suspect you of plotting something, you then said, "Ah, yes sir, right away sir." This did get him to nod at you and walk off, no further incident.
You headed in a spiral down one of Oterne's many stairs, and like all its stairs it was steep enough that the fear of tripping all the way down arose in your mind each time you took them. On the way you passed by the gardener, a brown-haired boy smudged from dirt, sweat, and whatever else gardening in Oterne involved (hopefully nothing mirage-related). He was carrying a glass-like pot of, er, plants with eyeballs instead of leaves, well that's how you'd describe them anyway. Part of you wanted to say hi to him, say hi to someone just to talk and not because you had to, but you quivered, mumbled, and ultimately couldn't bring yourself to do it.
You soon reached the library, whose gnarled shelves just went up and up into the darkness. Good thing they given you a lantern now to navigate the pitch-black parts, the open candle you'd made do with before had only made you worry you'd burn yourself or the books with it. Not that the lantern didn't give you any cause for concern, as it might set off an even bigger fire if it broke, but for now you just took it and went looking for the book. The lantern however did illuminate a spot on your hand that, come to think of it, looked a little smudged if not blurred... but again you tried to ignore that.
It was a long climb up and down the ladder, and that it creaked several times did nothing to calm you, but eventually you were able to touch back on the floor with the requested Grimoire in your other hand. One thing all the castle's nigh infinite tomes had in common was that each was marked with an eye symbol, which you took as a signature of sorts for Those Above. If the butler didn't show up on his own though, that still left quite the trek all the way up to where servants made offerings to Those Above, with you meeting them in person being out of the question.
And someone did almost immediately show up...but not the butler, or anyone you recognised. "Greetings my dear, may I call you that? I'm the Doctor, and do forgive me the impoliteness of me turning up in my prior incarnation's wardrobe," a woman said, a woman who sure knew how to make a first impression. Her hair was long and midnight black, her skin as pale and ashy as a corpse, and her eyes crimson red. Her 'prior incarnation's wardrobe' consisted of a long back Victorian trench coat lined with green.
"You're the Doctor? Oh, I get it now, you must've been summoned in servitude as a doctor by Those Above Oterne," you said, before you stepped back, "At least, that's what happened with me and the others. I'm the Librarian, that's what everyone calls me now."
"'Servitude'? Hmph! I think not," the Doctor said, before she suddenly reached out and felt one side of your chest. "No second heart, so either you've had some impressive masking done, or you're a human and not a Time Lord. And might I say, dear girl, it is most improper for one who is not a rogue Time Lord to go around addressing themselves like a rogue Time Lord would. Why it makes a mockery of our kind!"
"I-I'm not trying to be a rogue Time Lord," you squeaked out. You didn't even know what a 'Time Lord' was, let alone a rogue one. "I've been losing my memories, everyone here has, so I just call myself Librarian because... it's the only thing I can be called," your voice fell to a mumble.
"Oh, my apologies. I've made the grievous error of leaping to conclusions," the Doctor said, her tone then softening.
"Wait, if you say you're not a servant, then that means," you began and were about to say, then you're one of Those Above! You stopped yourself from exclaiming that just in time, for if you truly were in the presence of Those Above, there could be dire consequences for saying that out loud. You instead said, "You'd still have all your memories from outside. Please um," you looked around to check nobody was listening in, hard as it was to see past your lantern's light, "What can you tell us about how the outside world's been going? Are people looking for us, have there been news reports about disappearances?"
"All my memories? Dear child, perish the thought. When you're pushing a thousand years old like I am, one can't be expected to remember every single second. Would have to nip back to the TARDIS and fetch my diary," the Doctor said, definitely not looking a thousand years old, "As for any disappearance reports, I'd have to know what time period you were from to say so, if alas that memory hasn't been taken from you to."
"You're- you're saying you're an immortal time traveller?" you asked and clutched your head. Castle Oterne had plenty of the paranormal to go around, from its endless architecture to its grimoires to its eyeball plants, but this was really out there.
"Immortal time and space traveller," the Doctor gave a smug grin, but added, "Hmm, that may be a redundancy what with relativity. And it's more I was, and will be again, a space-time traveller... once I get my TARDIS working again. Something about this Castle has caused the poor dear to freeze up, ah, a TARDIS is like a time machine and spaceship in one, to oversimplify. Hence my investigation of this place."
"That's not surprising. Nobody ever leaves Oterne, they're only ever summoned or 'ascend', something the butler's mentioned," you said.
"Why I've never heard such nonsense!" the Doctor said, but changed topic, "Ahem, anyway, we've been putting off the matter of your name. Unlike my kind, it simply wouldn't do for you to call yourself just by your occupation, it's rather dehumanising when it's humans doing it. Yet your given name has been denied us... Well nothing for it then, you shall simply have to make up a name for yourself in the meantime!"
"M-make up a name?" you said, it not occurring to you that you could just do that, for Those Above would not likely approve. "Uh, okay, I think I've got something..."
"Good choice," the Doctor smiled at you, before she noticed the book you were carrying. "Anyway, I've let you know about my diary, so perhaps I ought to take a little look at your book. The 'Grimoirum Malebene', huh, a joke title if I've ever heard one."
"Don't touch it!" you shrieked out and took the book back, "Only Those Above are allowed to read this book, no one else is, not even me."
"A librarian not allowed to read from her own library? My, 'Those Above' have truly been filling your head with poppycock. Well, if this book hasn't been dunked in radiation, one of the few reasons I can think of to forbid a book, perhaps we should in fact open it. I'll do the honours, that way Those Above will have to take issue with me for it, not you," the Doctor said, then went and proclaimed, "Poyekhali!"
[ ] Stop her from opening that book.
[ ] Let her open the book, she's taken responsibility for doing so.
[ ] Say you'll open the book, you are librarian, if anyone goes against Those Above on this front, it should be you.
[ ] Write-in
