Vansell
Vansell (full name Vansellostophossius) was Coordinator of the Celestial Intervention Agency. He was a determined person who did his utmost to keep Gallifrey in its position of power, and to maintain the Web of Time.
Biography
The First Doctor knew him at the Prydonian Academy. He called Vansell by the nickname of "Nosebung". (AUDIO: Neverland) Vansell belonged to the Deca, a clique of young Time Lords and Ladies which included the Doctor and the Master. Like Ushas and Rallon, Vansell did well for himself and received his Rassilon Imprimatur before the Doctor. Vansell had already joined the CIA despite his youth and followed their orders to watch the Doctor closely. He contacted the CIA about the Doctor's departure from Gallifrey with Rallon and Millennia, leading to his expulsion from the Academy for his crime. The Doctor was angry about Vansell's betryal, and lectured him on the true meaning of friendship. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties)
Angered because he believed the Sixth Doctor had let the Nestene Consciousness escape destruction by the Time Lords, he set up his trial on Space Station Zenobia (PROSE: Synthespians™)
He accompanied the Lord President of Gallifrey to the planet Archetryx for the Archetryx Convention — a gathering to discuss the use of time travel capabilities of other races, such as the Monan Host and Andromedans — but he had another motive there, which the Doctor disliked, of looking and taking any advancements that the other temporal powers had applied to their time machines, and having the CIA adapt them to Gallifreyan TARDISes. During the attack from the Daleks, he helped to defend Archetryx and was surprised that the Vagoyans helped. He escaped with the Lord President, leaving the Doctor, Evelyn Smythe and Lady President Romana II fighting the Daleks when Etra Prime collided. When the Daleks approached Gallifreyan space, disguised as Monan time vessels, he allowed the transduction barrier to be lowered, which enabled the Daleks to invade Gallifrey. He helped the Doctor defeat the Daleks and stop them from destroying the universe with the Apocalypse Element. He was angry that the Doctor erased most of the security system's retina scans and replaced it with only Evelyn's, but he came round when he realised when it meant the Daleks no longer had a reason to kill so many Time Lords. (AUDIO: The Apocalypse Element)
Vansell led a Gallifreyan Time Station on an expedition into the world of anti-time to find what he believed to be the body of the Time Lords' revered founder, Rassilon. He was possessed by anti-time energy, and attempted a coup over Madam President Romana. With her help, Vansell overcame the anti-time influence and trapped a group of Neverpeople (along with himself) inside the Time Station's temporal reactors. He and the Neverpeople were vapourized by the temporal energy of the reactors. (AUDIO: Neverland)
He was succeeded as coordinator of the CIA by Narvin. (AUDIO: Weapon of Choice)
Alternative timelines
In an alternative timeline, he attempted to warn the Doctor not to enable the Knights of Velyshaa to conquer Gallifrey. When that failed, he attempted to kill him. (AUDIO: The Sirens of Time)
In another alternative timeline in which it was standard policy for the Time Lords to sell their temporal technology to the highest bidder and regenerations could be extracted and sold, Vansell was a servant at the House of Heartshaven, the ancestral home of Lady Romana. However, he was secretly in the employ of her son Antonin. (AUDIO: Reborn)
In another alternative timeline in which the Time Lords regularly altered history through the Temporal Intervention Agency, Vansell served as Castellan under Lady President Romana. (AUDIO: Disassembled)
In another alternative timeline in which Rassilon failed to finish the Eye of Harmony before his death, Vansell served as Coordinator of the CIA under Lady President Romana. (AUDIO: Forever)
Behind the scenes
- Vansell is the only character created by Big Finish to have been depicted meeting the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and the Eighth Doctors.
