About the hometown incident...

"Or will you treat me as my hometown did, and chase me away with pitchforks and clubs...?"

We don't know when exactly this occurred, but the assumption is that it would be when Dottore was a kid due to it happening in his hometown. Something he doesn't talk about at all.

And I have to ask...if you're just a kid and this happens... isn't a name change inevitable? It's like the only way to defend yourself against being chased again. Since changing his appearance as a boy is pretty limited. The name "Zandik" being an eternal reminder of why he can't use his original name? He can't use the real name of a heretic, so he named himself heretic.

It may have raised some eyebrows but he was still able to study in the Akademiya for a while.