Gallifreyan - Tumblr Posts

Never be cruel, never cowardly

WIP — first gallifreyan script

Never cruel, never cowardly, never give up, never give in and always be kind!

This is a test mask-like object. Bubble crown? Not really sure what to call it. 

I like the design with the intersecting circles, but I’m really not sure about the form factor. I was trying to rethink masks-for-people-who-wear-glasses, and the idea of a really minimal piece sprung to mind. I like the aesthetic this piece ended up with, but I kind of suspect it’s crossed some invisible boundary and left mask territory. Since it doesn’t even really try to cover the face anymore. So I’m not sure it’s something that anyone would buy.

Anyway, I’m actually curious what people think about this. Let me know maybe?

GALLIFREYAN IS THEIR LOVE LANGUAGE

Gallifreyan, the last language of the Time Lords, able to burn stars and rise up empires and topple gods. But it was never just that. It's the first language he ever spoke, the language of his childhood, the language he taught his children and granddaughter. It's the language that brings him home. But his home is long gone and when Gallifrey fell, the language was lost with it.

What had meant family became the reminder of his loneliness. But he never stopped using it. He used it as a reminder of what he had lost, as a reminder not to let anyone else have to make the decision he made that day.

Gallifreyan means so much to the Doctor... And all the companions have sensed that at some point.

Rose used to stare at Nine writing on sticky notes, delicate tracings of all she didn't know about him, perfect circles and lines that fascinated her. She never dared to ask, though. When Jack joined them, not knowing the Doctor was the last of his kind, he had no problem doing it.

"What are you writing?" He asked peering over his shoulder. "Oh, Doctor, do you have a secret code you use to look enigmatic?" Smiling as he said it. "Is it even a real language or are you just using it to impress us?" It had just been their normal banter, he hadn't meant to hurt him.

The Doctor had turned serious for a moment, trying to make clear that Gallifreyan wasn't banter material-

"It's the language of my people." He answered simply. "Now," he added, a smile on his face and changing his tone completely while pressing buttons in the TARDIS controls, "who wants to go to the beach?"

Jack was confused, wanting to ask, but Rose took his arm, signaling for him to let it go.

"You're finally taking me somewhere I can get a proper tan." Rose said smiling to the Doctor, letting go of Jack's arm.

Jack understood Rose and went back to his normal harmless quips.

"Only if he's able to land the TARDIS in a real beach without an emergency crisis going on this time."

The Doctor had seen the interaction between Jack and Rose and he silently thanked her for it. He decided at that moment that if Rose ever asked, he would answer. The image of him teaching her how to read Gallifreyan even crossed his mind for a brief second.

"Oh, Jack, I'm going to land this TARDIS in the most beautiful beach you've ever seen.

And he did.

They never talked again about Gallifreyan with the Doctor, but the beauty of the circles always Intrigued them. They used to joke about what they thought was written on the sticky notes when Doctor wasn't there and that led to them trying to figure out how to read it, which circles where words and which ones where letters, failing every time to decipher it.

Rose understood it when she was Bad Wolf but it all faded away too quickly for her to remember it afterwards. Then, Jack was left behind and Rose stopped trying to figure it out. Ten would have taught her, but she never asked. Tentoo taught her without her needing to say anything.

Jack never stopped trying to understand it. Using the Torchwood files they had about Gallifreyan just like Martha used UNIT's. Working together and knowing what some of the messages said they made some progress at recognizing patterns but not enough to translate other messages.

Donna didn't give Gallifreyan a long thought while she was travelling with the Doctor. Just a Martian language. Sometimes Wilfred finds her doodling perfectly organized circles and lines when she is distracted. He hates not being able to tell her about the Doctor when she gets angry at herself after realizing she is doodling nonsense again.

When Ten met River she told him his name in perfect Gallifreyan. He thought he should have had to really love and trust her not only to tell her his name but to teach her Gallifreyan to the point of speaking it daily, judging by the accent. What he didn't know was that River had born with the ability to talk Gallifreyan, she was, after all, the daughter of the TARDIS.

Jack and River came across each other a couple of times, forming a close friendship over the years. Their love for the Doctor made them create a special bond. At that point Jack had lost all hope in learning Gallifreyan; his adventures with the Doctor had happened centuries ago and understanding sticky notes around the TARDIS had no sense anymore. He had given up the thought of travelling with him again. When River offered to teach him anyway his face lit up with a smile.

Eleven hid his past inside himself, so when the TARDIS redecorated he made sure not to have Gallifreyan anywhere visible. Amy learnt about it when River used it to contact the Doctor but she was more interested in the adventure so she never thought to ask. That's what Eleven loved about her. (Because Army didn't ask, neither did Rory.)

When they got trapped by the angels in Manhattan, Amy's way to cope with loosing the Doctor was listening to the stories her daughter told her. She started to get interested in the little things she hadn't been able to appreciate with the adrenaline of the moment, trying to hold on to anything that reminded her of that moment of her life. When River understood it, she taught Amy to read and write Gallifreyan. Soon, the Pond's house started filling with messages: reminders and recipes written in a language only Amy, Rory and their two children could understand and a letter from Amy for only her Raggedy Man to read once he was ready.

When Eleven met Clara he fell for her, every time. He redecorated the TARDIS for her to ask about Gallifreyan, ready to share that part of his life with her. Clara was like Amy, though, always invested in the adventure, slowly falling for the Doctor. But when he changed, she changed too. Twelve eventually accepted Clara was never going to ask, so he started to write in English in the blackboards of the TARDIS for her to understand what he wrote but still leaving the Gallifreyan in the console's decoration. He adapted to her but he quietly hopped she would do the same one day.

Clara was forced to learn Gallifreyan in order to fly the TARDIS. Me taught her. She had learnt it many years before from her old friend, the Face of Boe.

The first time River spoke Gallifreyan in front of the Doctor was during their night in Darillium. She called him anidiot. She had gotten used to insulting people in Gallifreyan and switching languages was an instinct. River saw the Doctor cry for the first time that day. She hugged him in the floor while the Doctor told her about his kids and his marvelous granddaughter, all in the language of his people. At that moment she had thought that she had reminded him of everyone he had lost when she spoke Gallifreyan. Now, however, she understands the Doctor was thinking about how he was going to lose the only person he had left with whom he could speak it.

When the Doctor let Missy into the TARDIS with Bill, she made a comment about him having the names of his companions as decoration in the console. It took the Doctor a second to realize that Missy understood Gallifreyan, he had been guarding the vault for years and he had never spoken to Missy in their native language.

"We don't speak Gallifreyan." The Doctor mentioned once they were alone in the vault.

"Always so observant, Doctor" Missy rolled her eyes.

The only time he spoke Gallifreyan with Missy was when he was trying to convince her and the Master to stay and fight with him against the cybermen. The next time they saw each other, O spoke in Gallifreyan ("I did say the spy... master."), Thirteen didn't give him the privilege of answering in Gallifreyan.

In the year 2023 a giant graffiti of circles appears in London. It says "You are not alone". Yaz wrote it. She doesn't know Gallifreyan but she asked Jack to translate that sentence after one of her Companions Meetings.

The Doctor knows about the graffiti but she doesn't know who wrote it. She doesn't know that almost all her companions know Gallifreyan. She thinks it's something from her future, not realizing she has already Inspired so many people, not realizing that her companions can sense how much Gallifreyan means to her. Not realizing that Gallifreyan is their love language.

"Traitors don't get to grieve"

Buffy Summers to Gwen Cooper (and the rest of the team) in Lines by @wordsformurder.

(no I'm not done translating quotes from her fic into circular Gallifreyan, shut up, it's my current obsession)

The only thing I'm telling you about the context is the Buffy is Jack's second in command, if you've watched Torchwood you can figure out the rest (and if not, go watch it now, we need more people on this fandom)

Twice because I wanted to see how the same quote would look like if I organized the words differently

(also I'm still working in my translation of the proverb on Fifteen's sonic screwdriver, but exams have been a bitch and I don't think I'll have it before the Christmas episode)

So I did finish it for Christmas!

My take on "The sharpness of the tongue defeats the sharpness of the warrior":

(which is, for those who don't know, the proverb they tried -and failed- to write on 15's sonic screwdriver)

re: spoken Gallifreyan sounds like song

i think that while the Ood's language is very melodic and choral, Gallifreyan is much closer to sounding like early, untuned vocal synthesizers. or maybe Kikuo's tuning style.

Kikuo's tuning is very warbly and scratchy, while also running the gambit between being incredibly clear and sounding like it's been run through a VCR. that's what i think verbal Gallifreyan would sound like, tone-wise

meanwhile the telepathic element is picked up by non-telepathic species as instruments. it's like how when presented with something maddeningly impossible, the brain's first reaction is to try and find something it knows that it can compare it to. it doesn't really sound like instruments, but it's either instruments or spontaneous combustion!

the Doctor's thoughts normally sound like a steel pan drum, but sometimes it sounds more like a hand shaker. likewise the Master's sound similar to a hydraulophone. they both used to have more, but since Gallifrey's destruction, the constant hum of Gallifreyan in their heads has disappeared. plus, the Master can't think much over the Drums

granted, they aren't really just thoughts either. they're everything that can't be said in the three-dimensional world.

you beans ever think about the similarities between time lords/gallifreyans and the trill?

After watching the first two interactions of the 12th Doctor & Missy I was thinking about something.

Missy drastically changed all of her pronouns and referred to herself as "Time Lady" & "Mistress".

From the 13th Doctor & Missy we know that Gallifreyans can change genders while regenerating. That brings several ideas...

1. Gallifreyans with a gender they like most. Like, someone who was a women 5 regenerations and then became a man and is extremely bickery about it.

2. Non binary Gallifreyans. Before the regeneration, 9 said he could have no head, or 2 heads. That means there were cases of not just changing genders, but species. So what about Gallifreyans changing into "humans" with no genitalia? Like, is it a Time Lady or a Time Lord? Wrong! It's a Time Maniac!

3. No gender related... Basically nothing on Gallifrey is gender related. Except maybe clothes and interests (cue to Missy saying slaying a Dalek is Time Ladies golf). Because at any point anyone can die and change genders. How are you not gonna let a lady inside a men pub when she was the one to establish it? Before she died of heart failure.

4. Marriage will be 100% built on love. I mean, how can you marry someone when you know they can change any minute? Only if you love them so much you don't care.

5. Not about genders. Age restriction. How would it work?? Do they also have a not drinking before x years? Do they have elderly homes for people on their 12th life? If one life lasts about 1000 - 1500 years (11th Doctor spent 800 years alone after the Ponds accident, and then about 300 years on Trenzalore.), people can live up to 18000 years!

6. Conservative Gallifreyans. In Japan we already have problems with the aging nation and a lot of rules benefitting the old, now think if the old generation loves to 18000 years.

7. Child birth. If their pregnancy is like ours , 9 months, and let's say about a child a year... Gallifrey would be over populated.

Update: I have checked "looms". First off, oof. Second, that brings even more questions.

You may add more

designed a cover for the album "Heavy City" by the Gallifreyan metal/punk band "TARDIS THEFT"

SFTH: Gallifreyan version

this took way longer than it should have, but i tried to imagine what gallifreyan culture would look like. i bet they like comedy shows. and i'd already designed this one group's name in sherman's circular. so here's a poster for an improv comedy group from gallifrey

(they're called shoot from the hip in real life, go check them out)

Does the Doctor speak in Gallifreyan to everyone and the TARDIS translates it? Like does he speak in Gallifreyan to his companions and they just don't know because the TARDIS translates it to English?