Great House

The Great Houses of Gallifrey were the sentient homes of the Time Lords. They were sometimes called Chapter Houses.

Appearance
Each house was sentient, and very much alive. They were grown from seeds, and can become extremely massive. The interior of the Houses looked like a forest in which the tree trunks grow so close together as to be solid walls. The heart of a House was the Loom which birthed the Family. Houses were grown out of proportion to Time Lords, purposefully being much larger than Time Lords. This was done because Time Lords were Loomed fully-grown, if not fully mature, and therefore the over-sized furniture would make them feel small by comparison.

Personality
Houses were aware of all that occurs within them, and although it could only speak within the mind of the Housekeeper, the House is fully capable of interacting with anyone who is inside it. The House could interact by opening and closing doors, shifting interior walls (to a limited degree), and by shifting on its foundation. More personal interaction with the Family is achieved though the actions of the furniture and servants known as Drudges.

A House was capable of emotions and could become sickly, which is why the role of the Housekeeper was so important. Each Family took care who was picked to fill this role as the mood of a House can have a great effect on the Family, and it is the Housekeepers’ responsibility to keep the House happy and healthy. In extreme cases, a House can take over a Housekeeper and use her voice to speak to others.

Furniture
The furniture and Drudges were part of the House, though they seem to have some limited awareness of their own which was not immediately accessible by the House. As an example, when the Doctor in his own House of Lungbarrow hid from a Drudge by ducking into an alcove, a chair was already present in the alcove, and the Doctor warned it not to creak or make noise which would give away their hiding spot. All the furniture, in addition to being oversized, was also all wooden and carved in animal motifs, which perhaps give them more mobility. (NA: Lungbarrow)

Known Great Houses

 * House Arpexia
 * House of Blyledge
 * House Catherion
 * House Dvora
 * House Ixion
 * House Lineacrux
 * House Lolita
 * House of Lungbarrow
 * House Mirraflex
 * House of Oakdown
 * House of Redlooms
 * House Tracolix
 * House Xianthellipse

Behind the Scenes

 * To avoid using the term Time Lords for copyright reasons, Lawrence Miles used the term "Great Houses" as a stand-in for the Time Lords in the Faction Paradox novel The Book of the War.