Great House

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

Appearance
Each house is sentient, and very much alive. They are grown from seeds, and can become extremely massive. The interior of the Houses looks like a forest in which the tree trunks grow so close together as to be solid walls. The heart of a House is the Loom which births the Family. Houses are grown out of proportion to Time Lords, purposefully being much larger than Time Lords are, (with all interior furniture and the Drudge servants being giant-sized compared to the Time Lords.)  This is done because Time Lords are Loomed fully-grown (but not fully-matured) and therefore the over-sized furniture makes them feel small by comparison.

Personality
The House is aware of all that occurs within it, and although it can only speak within the mind of the Housekeeper, the House is fully capable of interacting with anyone who is inside it. The House can 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 (Drudges).

A House is capable of emotions and can become sickly, which is why the role of the Housekeeper is so important. Each Family takes care who is 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 are part of the House, though they seem to have some limited awareness of their own which is not immediately accessible by the House. (This is demonstrated in (NA: Lungbarrow) when the Doctor hides from a Drudge by ducking into an alcove. A chair is already present in the alcove, and the Doctor warns it not to creak or make noise which would give away their hiding spot.)  All the furniture, in addition to being oversized, is also all wooden and carved in animal motifs, which perhaps give them more mobility.

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.