BORUSA

Perhaps more than any other being in the history of the cosmos, Borusa typifies the old adage that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Borusa was one of the most high-ranking and well-respected members of the Prydonian Chapter.  His background was in jurisprudence, and it was almost natural that he entered politics.  He rose to become Cardinal of the Prydonians, the most elevated rank within the Chapter.  As such, he was automatically a member of the High Council of the Time Lords.

At the same time, he also taught at the Prydon Academy.  Among his pupils there was the Doctor; though contemporaries of the Doctor at the Academy, the Master and the rani did not attend Borusa's classes as neither had any use for the law.  The Doctor's intelligence impressed Borusa, but he did not fully approve of the young Time Lord.  "You will never amount to anything in the galaxy, Doctor," he informed his former pupil on a number of occasions, "while you retain your propensity for vulgar facetiousness."

Despite his love for the law, Borusa saw it merely as a tool to help order society.   He was inclined to adjust the truth somewhat, to create what he preferred people to think, rather than to reflect what actually happened--a common failing in the Time Lords.   "If heroes don't exist," he observed at one point, "it is necessary to invent them.  Good for public morale."  This belief that he ultimately knew what was best for others would eventually lead to his downfall.

He was peripherally involved in the Master's attempts to repower his regenerations on Gallifrey.  He observed and commented on the Doctor's fight with the Master, and helped the Doctor in his bid for the Presidency of the Time Lords.  When the Doctor left Gallifrey at the end of the affair of The Deadly Assassin, the Doctor was elected President by default--the only other candidate, Goth, was dead.  Since the Doctor did not serve, then Borusa, as head of the High Council, was appointed Chancellor.

Strictly speaking, this was an illegal move, since only the President can appoint a Chancellor, but in the absence of the Doctor, there was little else to do.  The Doctor returned hastily to Gallifrey, however, and claimed his right to become President.   Borusa had no option but to comply, although he had initial reservations about the fitness of the Doctor for the post.  He quickly realized, however, that the Doctor was playing a very dangerous double game with some alien force, and aided him without appearing to be on his side.  As a result, he was actively involved in dispelling both the Vardan and Sontaran attempts to invade and conquer Gallifrey.  As soon as the Doctor had succeeded in ridding the Matrix of the invaders, he once again left Gallifrey.  This time, however, he place Borusa firmly in place as President.

Borusa regenerated shortly afterwards, and the changes in his personality began to exert their toll.  His new drive was no longer for knowledge but power.  He became convinced--correctly--that  the Council mostly consisted of ineffectual sheep, and so he engineered the election of officials who were not competent in their positions, allowing him to consolidatge power into his own hands.  Previously, the post of the President had been mostly ceremonial.  Borusa, in his dual role as President and leader of the Council, began to strengthen the powers of the President.

When Omega made his second attack on Gallifrey, Borusa was more than willing to slay the Doctor in an attempt to delay Omega.  Though he professed to be torn about the issue, he was reluctant in word only--he rushed the execution orders through very swiftly.   As it happened, the Doctor managed to survive, but this was immaterial to Borusa.   He still continued his quest to rule Gallifrey with an iron grip.

He once again regenerated before his next and final encounter with the Doctor.   How long he spent ruling the Time Lords can only be guessed at.  Certainly, when he encountered the Fifth Doctor, both of them acknowledged that it was a long reign.   Considering the fact that Borusa led a very sedentary life, and that at such a leisurely pace each regeneration could last about a thousand years, he was almost certainly in control for several millennia.  He became increasingly reluctant to relinquish the reins of power and to allow another person to take over from him.   Instead, he bent his mind towards achieving true immortality, and becoming President of the Time Lords for all eternity.

Through his study of the information stored in the Matrix he discovered that the Black Scrolls of Rassilon, containing hidden knowledge, still existed.  So, too, did the Time Scoop, a device once used in the dark past and long supposed to have been dismantled.   Borusa tracked down both, and found that the control room for the Time Scoop was a hidden chamber off the Conference Room for the Inner Council--clearly another of Rassilon's jokes at the expense of others.  The room was accessed by a musical key, played on the Harp of Rassilon.

Within the room, Borusa found the controls for the Time Scoop, along with the Coronet of Rassilon--a device that accentuated the will of the wearer, bringing other people under his mental control.  Using the Time Scoop, Borusa reactivated the Death Zone and began to populate it.  Once the setting of gladiatorial combats in the pre-Rassilon era, the Death Zone surrounded the Dark Tower, the Tomb of Rassilon.  Within the Tomb was a force field generator that prevented direct access to it.  It was essential that the force field be closed down, and to Borusa's now warped mind, the obvious person to do this was the Doctor.

It was obvious that the Doctor would never work willingly for Borusa in this quest, so the President began draining power from the Eye of Harmony, and he snatched four of the five incarnations of the Doctor then existing out of time and placed them within the Death Zone.  To hide his true aims, he also transported several of the Doctor's companions there, and a number of his old foes.  Knowing that it would be apparent that whoever was performing all of these illegal actions had to be a high-ranking Time Lord, Borusa then subverted one of the Chancellory Guard captains, and framed the Castellan for the deeds.

It was a sign of how far from his lofty ideals Borusa had fallen that he would even consider the framing and murder of an honourable and efficient Time Lord.  Without a qualm, he had the Castellan executed in order to cover his own tracks and to give him more time.  Finally, however, the Doctor managed to breach the Dark Tower and switch off the force field.  Borusa then entered the Tomb to claim his prize of immortaility from Rassilon himself.

What Borusa's corrupted mind had overlooked was the truth--this was no more than a trap laid down countless ages before by Rassilon.  It was Rassilon's plan to ferret out and remove forever all would-be despots, and Borusa had followed a carefully-laid trail right into a trap.  When he claimed the gift of immortality, Rassilon granted to him the immortality of becoming living stone.  Borusa now had his prize, the curse of immortality--his mind trapped forever within an immobile body.

Original Borusa	2nd Borusa	Last Borusa