this reblog chain is getting long, but as you can probably tell, I have thought about this at length. there's more.
I do want to stress that many time lords can pick up the things koschei do, and also that he is by no means a singularity. his telepathic condition is rare but not unknown. the unusual thing is largely that he did not get the usual training as a child, which would have let him fit in better. you know who I like to think of as having a similar condition? susan.
other gallifreyans can subtly tell that koschei's telepathy is stronger than theirs, even when he's shielding his mind. this unnerves them. if you were to tell the average time lord that koschei became the master, it would not be a surprise to them. they would undoubtedly start talking about how he always seemed off and wrong and sinister. is this based on actual bad things he did? in part, perhaps*, but it's also because of a prejudice against his aura (aura sounds funny here. I can't think of another word).
I guess this is self-indulgent, but koschei has the ability to make the mind skim over him, to ignore his presence. as a child, he did this automatically because he was aware of how others feared him. he has this obsession with fitting in, with being unnoticed and unimportant. this does change in some fundamental ways as koschei becomes the master, but also I do headcanon the master to be a sort of persona. koschei can be outgoing in disguise, so can the master—but the trick with the master is that their behaviour is a disguise all the way down. to help you visualise what it feels like for people skimming over him, it's something like when you've passed through the same environment so many times that you ignore the things you're familiar with. koschei is part of the scenery. the difference is that if you try to focus on him, your eyes will repeatedly try to look away.
another thing, more related to the master this time. hypnotism works best when you don't acknowledge what's happening, when it's subtle. the master is showing off when he does that whole "you will obey me" shtick. their telepathic abilities are so well honed that it is hard to resist for many people even when it's obvious. of course, this can lead to the master failing at hypnotism, but overall it's a brag that works**.
* two things here. 1) I don't think most time lords know koschei became the master for various reasons (one being the whole magnus/koschei confusion. many time lords assume they were either the same person or that magnus became the master). 2) koschei did do bad things. but for the most part, this was hidden from the general academy population. so, although you certainly could see the beginnings of the master in him if you knew him personally, a regular time lord would mostly remember how his presence made them uncomfortable.
**okay. another headcanon branch. I ascribe to the headcanon that the master could not hear the drums as a child & in early incarnations, but that as they grew older, the drums became audible and louder. I currently like to think they become really obvious when the master becomes crispy. anyway. the drums interfere with the master's hypnotism and telepathic abilities.
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