Roman

***Romanadvoratrelundar*** — known in short during various incarnations as ***Romana***, ***Roman***, and ***Ro*** — was a Time Lord who traveled with the Doctor a long time ago.

## Background

*Romana's history prior to their appearance in* The Game of Rassilon *can be found on the TARDIS Data Core.*
### As Roman

#### "The Plan"

Roman traveled briefly with the Previous Doctor, and was present with him when they arrived on Skaro to meet the Doctor and knit the Web of Time back together. Seemingly freshly-regenerated, Roman was still picking out his outfit when both Doctors arrived at the TARDIS, the Previous Doctor fatally wounded. As the Previous Doctor readied himself to regenerate, our Doctor explained "the plan" to Roman. Following this, Roman and the Doctor (along with her companions, Travis and Carrie) left the TARDIS to allow the Previous Doctor to regenerate. Roman stayed behind, knowing the Time Lords would soon arrive to collect him. (*Recursion of the Daleks*)

After the Previous Doctor regenerated, Roman began tracking her location. (*The Cost of Progress*, *Where Angels Fear to Trek*). Roman sent a message to the Doctor via her Psychic Paper to meet her at Meat Base Alpha (*Lethargica*). Revealing his identity, Roman alluded to "the plan", explaining that they are in "the running stage" of the plan. Roman helped the Doctor, Millie and Travis escape from the Time Lords, killing Maxil in the process, forcing him to regenerate. (*The Handheld War*)

Shortly after this, Roman encountered Carrie on the planet Nebulax IX, the result of his future self installing Emergency Program R into the Doctor's TARDIS - this took Carrie and the TARDIS to the nearest temporal version of Roman. Together, Roman and Carrie went in search of a medical kit to resuscitate an unconscious Travis, braving their Human Festival to recover it. Upon returning to the TARDIS, Travis immediately woke up and gave Roman the temporal coordinates to rescue Millie from the sinking Pacific Missile Facility. (*Both Ends Burning*)

Roman rescued Millie and took her to Disneyland on opening day in 1955, but was himself captured by the Time Lords. He gave her a Time Ring that sent her to Colony 47. (*Roman Holiday*)

Roman was later found inside Reyla's TARDIS deep within the time vortex. Rassilon and the Time Lords had sent the Doctor and Travis - with a liaison, Coydan - in to rescue him so he could reveal the location of the Reaper Cortex, but he actually revealed that there was no such thing and he'd made it up to toy with Rassilon. Roman shot Coydan, forcing him to regenerate. (*Active Decay*)

Roman, now much older after spending centuries in the vortex, lived in the Doctor's TARDIS for a time, occasionally serving as the Doctor's "man in the chair" from the TARDIS console. (*The Russian Worm*, *Family*)

#### Death

The Doctor, Travis and Roman encountered the Master on the planet Nark. The Master's memory had been wiped by Susan, a woman claiming to be the Master's granddaughter. Susan ultimately revealed herself to be the Reaper Cortex, chastizing Roman by saying "Never give time a good idea."

When the Time Lords attacked and the Master's memory was restored, Coydan sought revenge and shot Roman, killing him. Roman gave Travis an envelope containing the temporal coordinates for his past self to rescue Millie before his body dissolved and his mind sent to the Matrix. The Doctor donned Roman's coat as a mark of affection. (*Family*)

#### Resurrection and Regeneration

Upon returning to Gallifrey to stop Rassilon and the Keeper from activating the Perfector and destroying reality, they found Roman inside the Matrix. Roman was able to help the Doctor, Travis and Carrie stop Rassilon and the Keeper, who was revealed to be a version of Travis from a parallel timeline who had partnered with the Wire. This proved fatal to Roman, and he would later regenerate.

### A new Romana

Sometime later, after the Doctorate Program was established on Gallifrey, with Time Lords being actively trained to head out into space and time to right wrongs. Roman, having regenerated since stopping Rassilon and now once again a woman going by Romana, stepped into a TARDIS with the rehabilitated parallel Travis, apparently serving as his mentor.

### Ro, and The Civil Time War

At some point either before or during the events of the Civil Time War, Romana regenerated again into a new incarnation, calling themself Ro. As the Civil Time War raged, Ro made a choice mirroring that of a previous incarnation and sealed Gallifrey into its own universe, protecting it with a time lock that prevented anyone from accessing it. Ro's final fate during the Civil Time War is ultimately unknown.

## Non-canonical appearances

In the non-canonical live show *Time Squared*, Roman travels with the Eleventh Doctor and Donna Noble to an unspecified New Year's Eve between 2020 and 2029 where they encounter and defeat an alliance of the Doctor's enemies.

## Appearance

### As Roman

Roman is described as having dark, messy hair, round glasses, and wears "funereal blacks" with a colorful vest on top. He is later and more frequently seen wearing a pink frock coat similar to a style worn by a previous incarnation from time to time. Later, in his aged state, his hair was graying, and he used a cane to support himself.

His voice is likened by the other players to a mix between Peter Cushing's Doctor and British actor Matt Berry, while Michael Nixon has stated the voice is intended to be a blend of Berry and Fourth Doctor actor Tom Baker. Upon meeting people he knows he tends to ask "How're things?"

## Behind the Scenes

* The character's description bears a superficial resemblance to the Master, and also matches that of Michael Nixon. This was an intentional misdirect during the first half of season 1.
* Prior to *The Handheld War*, each of Roman's appearances occurred during the epilogue to a serial. This includes *Lethargica*, where he summoned the Doctor for coffee via the Psychic Paper.
* His trait of asking "How're things?" is shared by Rowan Atkinson's "Fatal Death Doctor" who asked the Daleks the same question.
* Roman is, to date, the only character from the podcast to appear in a Gallifrey One live show.