Ophiuchus was a Time Lord healer whose work allowed their people to overcome the regeneration cycle's limit of thirteen lives.
Biography
The Doctor knew Ophiuchus as a noble healer and the head of his order and he was surprised when he had heard Ophiuchus had been labelled a renegade for his unorthodox research into regeneration.
Seeking to help those whose lives ended prematurely, Ophiuchus used a metamorphic symbiosis regenerator to tap into his regenerative energy.
Upon learning of Ophiuchus' work, the High Council of Gallifrey declared him a renegade. Claiming Ophiuchus to have committed "terrible crimes" such as vivisection as a means to extend the life of Gallifreyan criminals, the High Council sent the Chancellery Guard to kill him.
At some point, Ophiuchus had lost sight in his right eye, and there was a scar across his cheek. Believing that the Council would take his research for their own purposes, Ophiuchus eluded his pursuers by taking refuge in the Cloisters beneath the Capitol, fully aware the High Council would misuse his research if they caught him, in an area hidden by a simple holographic projection.
Fortunately for Ophiuchus, he was confronted by the Fifth Doctor, accompanied by companions Nyssa, Tegan and Turlough before the Chancellery guard could find him and carry out the High Council's orders.
The Doctor was scornful of Ophiuchus' work; he was concerned the Time Lords would use it to resurrect the long dead such as Omega, and he was also worried those like the Master would receive a new regeneration cycle.
But what the Doctor was really against was Ophiuchus was researching ways of giving his people new regeneration cycles when they should be savouring each moment of the lives they already had.
During the debate between the two Time Lords, Ophiuchus suddenly groaned in pain and it soon became apparent that Ophiuchus was dying, and he requested that the Doctor give him the "little push" needed to save him. Ophiuchus revealed that, by channelling the energy in the containment chamber through his body, it would use his biometrics as a blueprint and duplicate his regenerative energy signature.
Convinced by Nyssa and Tegan when they realised he was not a monster like the Master, the Doctor complied and saved Ophiuchus' life, allowing him to regenerate into a female form. Placing his trust in Ophiuchus' character, the Doctor advised her to leave Gallifrey while he would claim to the High Council that she was destroyed by her experiments. Leaving in her TARDIS, Ophiuchus suggested that her gift could help the Doctor one day. (COMIC: Ophiuchus)
Legacy
Ophiuchus' prediction regarding the Doctor would come to pass at the conclusion of the Siege of Trenzalore, when Clara Oswald convinced the Time Lords to enable the Eleventh Doctor, who was on the brink of dying of old age with his regenerations expended, escape his death on the planet Trenzalore by granting him a second regeneration cycle, resulting in him regenerating to the Twelfth Doctor and beyond. (TV: The Time of the Doctor, COMIC: The Many Lives of Doctor Who)