Great House

A Great House was a bloodline or Family of Time Lords. Each House used its own Looms to create new members. The collective term "Great Houses" was often used as a word for Time Lord society and culture.

Description
Members of a Great House were laterally rather than directly related, so they addressed each other as cousins. Each House was allowed to have a specific number of members, whose full names often included the name of their Great House. The full names of Quences, Andred, (PROSE: Lungbarrow) Ruthven, (PROSE: The Book of the War) Romana, (TV: The Ribos Operation) Ruath, (PROSE: Goth Opera) Thoth, (AUDIO: Body Politic) and Goralschai, as well as all the members of House Meddhoran, included the name of their Great House. (PROSE: Against Nature) If a Great House was ashamed of one of its members, they could undergo Elective Semantectomy to remove that member's name from history. (PROSE: Weapons Grade Snake Oil)

Time Lords of Newblood Houses were loomed with a second heart (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet) and had better rebirth-control than older Houses; (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet, The Book of the War) for this reason, they viewed regeneration as trivial and never played Eighth Man Bound at the Academy. (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet) Newblood Houses were more likely to produce interventionists, and some even viewed time-active cultures as not being lesser species; for these reasons, they were often regarded by Oldbloods as smug and ambitious upstarts. Despite its long lineage, House Dvora came to be seen as one of the first Newblood Houses after it produced the Imperator; however, it was far more stable than the eccentric Newbloods that would spring up during the War in Heaven. (PROSE: The Book of the War)

Each Great House had a chapterhouse with which it shared an essential tie; if the chapterhouse fell into neglect, the House itself would unravel. Chatelaines from other Houses were often assigned to maintain chapterhouses whose Great Houses had fallen into obscurity. (PROSE: The Book of the War)

"The bloodlines of the Houseworld are more like a wave of some fundamental universal force than a family tree."

- The Great Houses and Us

History
Rassilon founded the Great Houses to stabilise the population of Gallifrey after they stopped being able to reproduce biologically. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible)

After the Time Lords' war against the Great Vampires, many Great Houses were infected with and corrupted by the vampiric taint. (PROSE: Blood Harvest)

A group of ruling Houses called Chapters played major roles in politics surrounding the Presidency. (TV: The Deadly Assassin, PROSE: The Book of the War) Most Great Houses were affiliated with one of these Chapters. (PROSE: Lungbarrow) During the War in Heaven, many of the ruling bloodlines developed Newblood sub-lines dedicated to exploring particular genetic philosophies, usually including experiments with biodiversity or the lesser species. (PROSE: The Book of the War)

Known Great Houses

 * House Arpexia (PROSE: The Book of the War)
 * House of Blyledge (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible)
 * House of Brightshore (PROSE: Divided Loyalties)
 * House Catherion (PROSE: The Book of the War)
 * House of Deeptree (AUDIO: Lies)
 * House Dvora (PROSE: The Book of the War)
 * House of Everston (AUDIO: Panacea)
 * House of Fordfarding (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible)
 * House of Heartshaven (AUDIO: Panacea)
 * House Ixion (PROSE: The Book of the War)
 * House of Jade Dreamers (AUDIO: Zagreus)
 * House of Jurisprudence (AUDIO: Insurgency)
 * House Lineacrux (PROSE: The Book of the War)
 * House Lolita (PROSE: The Book of the War)
 * House of Lungbarrow (PROSE: Lungbarrow)
 * House Medhorran (PROSE: Against Nature)
 * House Mirraflex (PROSE: The Book of the War)
 * House of Oakdown (PROSE: Divided Loyalties)
 * House Paradox (PROSE: Alien Bodies)
 * House of Rassilon (AUDIO: Desperate Measures)
 * House of Redlooms (PROSE: Lungbarrow)
 * House of Stillhaven (PROSE: Divided Loyalties)
 * House of Seven Gables (PROSE: The Book of the War)
 * Shadow House (AUDIO: Trial of the Valeyard)
 * House Tracolix (AUDIO: The Eleven Day Empire)
 * House Urquineath (PROSE: Weapons Grade Snake Oil)
 * House Xianthellipse (PROSE: The Book of the War)
 * House of Wetrix (AUDIO: The Conscript)