Kamelion (species)

The Kamelions were a race of shapeshifting androids used as tools of invasion. They appeared as gleaming silver humanoids.

Different accounts stated that the Kamelions were either created by the Gelsandorans (PROSE: The Ultimate Treasure) as decoys and weapons of war during their invasion of Xeriphas, (PROSE: The Crystal Bucephalus) or by the Kamille on Mekalion as servants through which they could experience the physical plane after transferring their minds to the Locus. (AUDIO: The Kamelion Empire)

The Kamelions were created from structure mathematics via Block Transfer Computations, (PROSE: The Crystal Bucephalus) a complex mass of artificial neurons, controlled by simple concentration and psychokinetics, meaning they could change their appearance and form at will. (TV: The King's Demons) They could even apply the same transformative energies to other individuals, one Kamelion appearing to turn people to stone in the guise of Medusa. (PROSE: Mark of the Medusa) Kamelions could change their mass via a pseudo-metabolic extension into the fifth dimension, where they stored or drew on mass to suit varied body forms, (PROSE: The Ultimate Treasure) allowing them to take non-humanoid forms such as a Gubbage Cone with many tendrils and a fifty-foot tall version of their standard body. Their hands could also change into weapons. (PROSE: The Crystal Bucephalus)

In spite of their capabilities, however, Kamelions were still susceptible to water damage, (AUDIO: Devil in the Mist) and ultimately differed to the strongest will around them, resulting in no fixed loyalty. (TV: The King's Demons)

Kamelion was part of the invasion force sent to Xeriphas to wipe out the Xeraphin; either the Gelsandorans left the planet and Kamelion, not knowing why his masters had left him, shut down his consciousness, (PROSE: The Crystal Bucephalus) or the command signal from Mekalion stopped transmitting and he entered a dormant state. (AUDIO: The Kamelion Empire) After which he was found by the Master and later became a companion of the Fifth Doctor. (TV: The King's Demons)

Behind the scenes
As related in The Doctor Who Role Playing Game: The Master, it was in 2185 AD (72,893 TL) that the Master kidnapped freedom fighter David Campbell and substituted a "Kamelion-type robot" in his place in an attempt to warp the history of Earth. In response, the Celestial Intervention Agency arranged to have two incarnations of the Doctor drawn out of the time stream to meet the threat. The two Doctors were able to combine their mental force to overcome The Master's psionic control of the robot, after which the Master escaped into Earth's 20th century.