Glossary

The central backdrop to almost all Faction Paradox stories. The War is fought between the Great Houses and their Enemy. From the perspective of those involved, there is a time before the War, there is a time in which the War is being fought, and there is a time after the War. From the perspective of everyone else in the cosmos, the War is fought in every era of history, and always has been. To a certain extent, the pre-War, War-time, and post-War universes may indeed be seen as different universes in themselves, seeing as how the entirety of history is changed by the War.

The aristocratic society which created the laws of nature, imposing order on the universe. Stagnant, sterile, and stifling are all accurate adjectives to describe them (with "sterile" being true both literally and figuratively: members of the Great Houses reproducing asexually through devices called breeding engines). Often seen as "Gods" among those they consider "lesser species", humanity included, due to their tremendous level of control over the cosmos. Their society is organized around , as the name suggests, Houses, based around the bloodlines of their members. At any given point in time six of the Great Houses are considered the Ruling Houses and hold positions of political power. Despite these six Houses changing regularly, changes in who exactly was in power rarely made any real difference, society remaining almost entirely stagnant until War-time. For the whole of their society's history, the Great Houses position as stewards of the cosmos has never truly been challenged, until the emergence of the Enemy and the beginning of the War. Since the War began, the society of the Great Houses has become unprecedently creative, for better and for worse. Also sometimes known as "the Watchmakers" or "the Sun Builders".

The world on which the Great Houses' society is centered. The Homeworld is positioned directly at the center of history, and from there the Great Houses keep an eye on the entire structure of history. The Homeworld is sometimes referred to instead as "the Houseworld" by people other than the members of the Great Houses, who don't want to dignify their concept of superiority.

The Enemy is the Great Houses' opponent in the War. Beyond that, very little is known, and even less is clear. The Enemy has often been described as being more "process" than "army", but it probably has at least one actual identity. The important thing is that, regardless of what or who exactly it is, the Enemy provides a threat to the Great Houses' dominance over the universe - and that scares them.

Often referred to as just "the Faction", Faction Paradox is an iconoclastic third party in the War. Faction Paradox originated on the Homeworld as House Paradox, one of the many Great Houses, founded by Grandfather Paradox. House Paradox openly mocked the conventions of the Homeworld, fetishizing death as a response to the Great Houses' pretension of immortality and referring to each other with familial names like "Cousin" and "Grandfather , which was taboo due to the Great Houses' sterility. Later, House Paradox split from the Homeworld and became Faction Paradox, recruiting members from the so-called "lesser species". The Faction doesn't have much of an actual agenda, simply trying to survive, gain influence in the Spiral Politic, and mock the Great Houses.

Essentially, everybody except for the Great Houses. Some more forward-thinking members of the Great Houses consider time-active species to be outside of the umbrella of the lesser species, though. Humanity in particular seems to hold special significance in the Spiral Politic, being frequently recruited to serve as agents of all of the major War powers, but whether this is genuine significance or simply coincidence is unknown.

The original sin of the Homeworld. Once, the cosmos was shapeless, chaotic and without laws of any kind, including the laws of physics and time. In the Anchoring of the Thread, the Great Houses imposed order and rationality on the universe, structuring it into what it is now and resulting in the mass extermination of any incompatible forms of life.

The universe, as far as the Homeworld is concerned. Actually refers to the structure which was imposed on the universe by the Homeworld in the Anchoring of the Thread, and certain events, areas, and entities manage to exist outside of the structure of the Spiral Politic.

The laws of time established in the Anchoring. Chief among them is that the Homeworld's past can never interact with the Homeworld's present or future. For example, if a member of the Great Houses were to leave the Homeworld for five years, when she returns she will inevitably find that five years have passed on the Homeworld. The Enemy also abides by the Protocols, but whether it is incapable of breaking them or if it chooses not to due to the consequences of non-linearity is unknown.

The armed forces of the Homeworld. They existed in nine different waves, although the sixth wave is generally agreed upon to have never existed.

Often described as "time DNA", this description isn't quite correct, but it isn't far off either. Biodata is the inherent property of all living things (and many nonliving things) which consists of their connection to everything they encounter and their place in the cosmos. Manipulating an individual's biodata can change their entire personal history.

The vessels with which members of the Great Houses travel through time. Timeships manipulate their passengers' biodata to bring them to a different time and place. Not merely vehicles, the Timeships are historical processes in-and-of themselves, and they all possess a unique, non-linear consciousness. Timeships can disguise themselves as nearly anything, typically being bigger on the inside than on the outside. The most common form for a Timeship to take is that of a person, appearing as companions to the Watchmakers. Some believe the Timeships to have their own agenda, separate from (and possible even antagonistic to) the Homeworld's own.

Formerly part of the Homeworld's society, the Celestis were originally a group of mavericks, bordering on renegades to Homeworld society, who frequently intervened in the history of the cosmos and flouted the Protocols of Linearity. When the Homeworld became aware of the coming War, the Celestis retroactively removed themselves from history, out of fear that if they didn't do it on their own terms, the Enemy would. The Celestis now exist outside of the universe in a realm known as Mictlan, existing as purely conceptual beings, requiring members of the lesser species to think of them in order to continue to exist. They now appear to humans as demons and deities, offering Faustian pacts to mortals in order to maintain influence over the cosmos. While they often appear intimidating, at their core the Celestis are driven by fear, and are ultimately the most pathetic of all the parties of the War.

The spirits of the natural world, often evoked by the Faction. The Loa are created and empowered by belief. The exact nature of the Loa varies depending on who you ask - the Great Houses tend to view them as complex temporal equations, Faction Paradox often sees them as shapes appearing in the pattern of time, and ordinary humans often see them as simply powerful spirits. Whatever the case, the Loa are undoubtedly powerful, and are the Faction's main source of their abilities.

The result of Faction Paradox experimentation on human colonies in the 26th century, the Remote are humans who have enhanced awareness of the processes of time. First created as the Faction's personal military, the Remote often use salvaged and scavenged technology from the War powers. Initially, the experiment of creating the Remote was successful because the colonists' obsession with media and celebrities gave an opening for the Faction's particular brand of loa -oriented magic. Later, other groups were used to create Remote colonies, notably including 19th-century Native American tribes. One of the most significant aspects of the Remote are that they are exempt from the Protocols of Linearity.

The Faction's base of operations, the Eleven-Day Empire is a city which exists outside of the normal structure of the Spiral Politic. In particular, it was established as a result of a deal Faction Paradox made with the English government, in which the Faction was given the eleven days that were "lost" when England switched from the Julian to Gregorian calendar, going from the 3rd of September to the 13th of September. As such, the Eleven-Day Empire is London, but a London that is inherently temporally unstable, with a mismatch of elements from various eras of London's history.

One of the few things that can truly be said to exist outside of the Spiral Politic, the City of the Saved is a city the size of a solar system that exists in the temporal space between this universe and the next one. In the City, every human that ever existed, from the earliest Neanderthals to post-human cyborgs, is resurrected and made immune to physical harm. A sort-of secular heaven and a dubious utopia, the City was created by parties as of yet unknown...