Week One: The Core Entries

Maybe we should draw up a terminology translation thread as we go? It'd be a good resource for official and fan writers.
 
I'll try to make these fresh notes for as many entries as possible and update this post accordingly by the end of the week.

Casualties of War
Introduction
50 War years, (definitive war years as measured by the major powers).
Millions of local conventional years between the War's first and last intersections.
By the 50 year there are millions dead and uncountable, (by their nature) retro dead.
Survivors are physically and mnentally changed not wounded.
An accurate timeline would be confusingly impossible. it's more of a shape, (... no I'm not typing it and nieither should you).
It's suggested that as a result of the war everyone will be a child of the Timelords oer the enemy. (To me the Faction or children of the Timelords, they were a House and it's memebrs exist as they do due to the anchoring).

The Great Houses
Static, aristocrats, voyeuristic disinterested academics. "Dusty senators afraid of change", School Reunion.
The universe's central power.
No genetic status at all, the use of the term, "bloodline" is seen as another example of their aberance to tradition aversion to change, (though it's more like how we still call roads, "carriageways").
The war forced them to fully acknowledge and emberace the universe's and their own physical nature, (they previously disgusted of/hated it) and commit various hurried nervous genocides.

The House Military
Gallifrey is more of a focal point for casuality then an actual place. (It does have a linked physical conventional universe ideologue).
Releatively new concept.
Overt and guerrilla warfare training.
Internal time active defences as standard.
Seen by the lesser species as, "angrier" gods.
No mention of the War Council. Presumeably the, "Nine Divinities" one is just the High Council renamed, but was split off at some point or is a wholey new organisation on Rassilon's Chapterless Gallifrey 6 acting as a permanent command group as seen in, "Day of the Doctor".

Faction Paradox
Only House to have left on masse.
Breaks the Protocols because they can and to defy/annoy the Timelords.
The first to fully embrace the concepts of change, the, "vulgar" physical nature of the universe, and ecruited humans while still a House all considered the epitome of bad taste.
Post exile it slowly became a criminal/terrorist organisation and a deliberate irratation for the Timelords.
Acts covertly against whomever they want.
Hopes the Timelords and the enemy wipe each other out.

The Celestis
Exists on the sidelines of the War due to their nature.
Terrified, indignant, and sudden aware of their morality they took a self centred, "precaution".
Ghost like, impotent, and self obcessed.
Imaginary domain.
Terrorise and intimidate those tricked into their service.
Loathed annd demonised by the Timelords.

The Remote
The Faction's most major Wartime, "offspring" but now idependent.
Obsessed with: Icons, totems, signs, symbols, and relics. Their beliefs could have an Pagan Roman style omens like dimension?
Genetically human but exposed to Faction techniques and technology.
Scavenges whatever higher tech they can find.
Seen as barbarians.
An unpredictable army with freudian armour and consider their weapons to be holy relics.
The most reckless.
The Timelords consider them a dangerous nuisance.

The Lesser Species
Any species not connected with either the Timelords or the enemy.
The Book is humancentric.
Humanity is important because of posthumanity's sects time active capabilities, the bloodlines have no partucular significance.
The War has intersected human history several times, first diplomatic contact in 1752.
The City of the Saved is humanity's backup file.

The enemy
Theres always been a buried fear that a new enemy might emerge. Maybe linked to the Timelord's subconscious fear?
Caught the Timelord's unprepared.
Could have a far more devestating impact on history then the Yssgaroth.
Partly due to the Timelord's lack of understanding.
Not a species or faction but an all consuming process? The process of opposing the Timelords?
The Book explains the how and why. Not directly but it does describe itself as a puzzle box.
The enemy may have a quick and convenient title.

Spiral Politic
Causality map.
Charts: Historical importance, Timelord influence, and relationship with history in all four dimensions. Only 3 are physically displayed, Cerebro like observation room similar to those seen in some comics?
Emphasisies that the Timelords merely imposed a structure on time not create it or every event that happens.
Gallifrey's removal/replacement from the centre as the central node would be a enemy victory by default.
The enemy's early troops were as ill prepared as the Timelord's. Maybe the reps weren't all co-ordinated yet or the enemy proper wasn't ready/recovering from the failed attack on Gallifrey?
The Leathen campaign was the most drawn out conflict in the first 50 years lasting at least 1 year in Wartime.
Kaiwar is the Faction homeworld that later gets destroyed?
Pirated Timelord technology. *Insert anti piracy advert parody line here*
The Remote is a wildcard nuisance. Maybe the combination of the Second Wave crusade's removals, Jullia reed transmission, and the New Gods Project just keeps them in check.
The Frontier in Time is due to the presence of several capable time active cultures in the later universe not enemy action, they might merely use it.
Attempt to make Zo la Domini into a more stable Earth like bridgehead?
How does the Doctor show up on the maps? Similiar to the Remote?
No humans or posthumans seem or are considered to have a large presence on the map.
The battlefield is effectively finite.


The Great Houses
The Great Houses= Timelords.
A metaculture.
Individual timelords act as anchors for history?
One of the first ones.
Effectively changed the universe's settings to themselves. The scientific laws that define our unirse are extensions of them.
Going to war with them is logically unthinkable but possible.
The anchoring was chronoforming history to isolate themselves.
The anchoring had biological effects.
The Timelords dislike thinking about biology. Aversion to their own flesh, (cited as an equal reason as fear for their non interference). Hate the concept? Their physical bodies just be hold overs their don't have the will or creativity to leave.
.T.T. capsules are biodata processors. They modify the crew's biodata not physically travel through time.
Likes to the seen and thought of as god like ethereal beings in humanoid form.
All pre War Timelords seemed sterile and physically shriveled, even the young seem old, (see, "Deadly Assassin").
Forced to abandon biological reproduction around the time of the anchoring. As a result of it and or Pthyia's curse?
Looms weave together biodata and base matter aswell as being slightly prescient.
Egotistical due to actually being the guardians of eternity.
Theoretical immortality caused cultural stasis, see themselves as too advanced for progress.
No interest in high culture as it's beyond their understanding.
The status quo is coded into every cell.
No interest in their own past.
Known to intercede in the outside universe on humanitarian grounds out of procedure and to prevent damage to causality.
Prevents damage to causality by covert interference in lesser time active species. Some see this as second hand defence.
The War has overturned much of pre War, "embodiment of neutrality" Timelord society, it has become more aggressive and pro active but still as rigid and formal.
"The number of Houses producing offspring has increased drastically along with the breeding engines's rate of production". Wombs and Looms?
Wiped out whole cultures, societies infiltrated and steered, and can isolate entire structural sections of history.
"A new war in heaven": The Second War in Heaven.


The House Military
The 1st wave was illprepeared because casts were previously used and it consisted of the ceremonial Chancellory Guard and Chapter Constabularies which existed out of tradition rather then need.
The Timelords had prescient, "flashes" of the War beforehand, though probably vague.
The invasions during the 4th Doctor's time made the majority open to change for survival's sake and reintroduced the concept political capital.
Not an truely unified force but the Timelord's have always officially acted as one, (there were no such thing as politician factions to abuse them and when the war broke out it was understood and accepted that all Timelords would be involved.
Currently described as a collection of houses both surviving pre War interventionists and new bred during the war. Could be considered a new race given military regen.

Miltiary regen
Intended to make the body more suitable for the next mission and harder to kill all together.
Initial changes just enchanced the existing humanoid form, (eg: Better stamina and radiation resistance) but after that soldiers become more and more like living war machines, (limbless blast proof unit laced with time sensitive tripwire nerve endings) which effects their pysche, (which is dictated by the shape of bot the boduy and the tools it can use). Only: first and second wave veterans, spies, elite go betweens, and the very lucky remain humanoid.
Ceremonial forced regn missions became standard from the third wave onwards.
Military regen is probably quicker then normal regeneration but does it use up a conventional regeneration or not? If so are soldiers regularly given new cycles?
Regen bodies differ vastly between units but united by beuing combat hardened and intrinsically hostile to opponents.
One of Stategist Entarodora's, "less formal" regen bodies visually closely resembles a classic series green Kaled mutant, (though is probably not green). Maybe edited NuWho Dalek mutants can be used for fanart?
Military regen is difficult to accept as it requires death which from the third wave onwards one became a ceremonial standard.
The mental side effects of both military regen and being permanently stationed in the outside universe has resulted in what could be considered a class like struggle which cannot be politically resolved but centuries away from, triggering an union dispute or revolution.
The newbloods and other military houses seem themselves as the, "working class" who truely and actively uphold the protocols and traditions although they interpret them differently. As a result of military regen is resentment of the still humanoid, (typically oldblood) political houses, (upper class) and their go betweens, (middle class) aswell as increased: paranoia, greater tendency to mistrust, and a heightened sense of self.
The High Council has tried to deal with this with both rigid discipline which backfired and reassurances of the non humanoid form taking many regenrations/that soldiers, "simply should just not die" which made the schism worse.


The Celestis 
Consists of Gallifrey ?'s .C.I.A. and other interventionalist groups.
Described as embodiements of self interest taken to perverse extremes with a deluded pathological nature seeing themselves as, "Lords" while everyone else, (even the enemy?) see them as so monstrously corrupt their forms are always distinctly sickly.
They rely on the perceptions of those who encounter them their disgust causes further corruption to their forms but they don't care as they see themselves as being above not dependent on the material universe sitting on their thrones in Mictlan's towers and fortresses watching the universe like the bored gods they pretend to be.
Self describes their corrupted bloodline as, "the Celestial House" but members came from many of the Houses and they no longer have a biological link to Gallifrey.
Seen by the Timelords as vile parasitic traitors who abandoned them in their hour greatest need but the Celestis arrogantly regard themselves as being realistic. Largely dreaded by the rest of the universe.
Developed from a grouping of politicians of the more active and ruthless internationalist groups that appeared leading up to the war that saw themselves as: the elite of the elite, above the laws, the most pragmatic, the most cunning, and the most able to act like gods. Who believed they had the right to both routinely interfere in the outside universe and remake time's structure for the Timelord's, (mainly their) ends. While the Houses officially disagreed with the drastic ideology they used various methods, (subterfuge, manipulation, conspiracy, and assassination) to amass a large amount of power during the last pre War centuries enacting several retro genocides during this their, "Golden Age".
Left Gallifrey and causality because of their ambition to be seen and act like gods, (they ruthlessly demanded it Pre War) and at first couldn't accept an equally as, "divine" enemy but quickly decided that it was better to take the easy way out as they couldn't accept the risk of being removed from existence/causality.
To avoid this they carefully removed themselves from existence/causality using the principle that would later be used to create conceptual entities, leaving their memetic mass, (ie: The meaning, importance, and ability to comprehend), (maybe what Grandfather Paradox did himself) enabling both them to continue existing and hold court regardless of what happened. Maybe the War power thats has come closet to actual immortality, (so the enemy isn't imortal?).
No record of their pre War existence or removal method exists beyond memories of individuals and an interventionalist dominanted academy.
Created, "Mictlan" an idea non world, "located" on the universe's outer skin where the exist as a network of concepts/ideas that can noticeably manifest in various mythological forms sculpted out of the lesser species's ideas designed to prove their own superiority. Whether they named it after the Aztec Underworld on purpose or at all is unknown, it could be the other way round.
Recruits the servants necessary to sustain Mictlan and carry out their selfish whims in the universe, (Investigators) by appearing before mnembrs of lesser species and offering them a Faustian bargain, whatever they want in exchange for taking the Mark of Indenture, (a memetic link) though which they are downloaded into Mictlan and become a perpetual servant.
They have no real direct effect on the war due to still being to afraid but some started to interfere and take sides
occasionally helping the Timelords and giving the enemy with conceptual beings and the technology for their creation, (Alien Bodies mentions that the Shift was already marked by the enemy and that the Celestis favoured the enemy as, "the High Council hasn't had any new creative ideas for centuries").
The House Military has codes of conduct that didtacte that soldiers destroy any Celestis they find.
They rarely leave Mictlan.
Investigators in battle form are for idale opponents
The similarity to Rassilon's, "End of time Ascendancy" plan suggests that it was originally conceved by the Matrix Lords, (in the .A.P.C. net led by Matrix Rassilon) who are know to have controlled Gallifrey through at least the .C.I.A., (see, "The Gallifrey Chronicles" textbook by Jon Peel). Maybe Rassilon later saw the Celstis as a proof of concept?
The .C.I.A. humaniod .T.T. capsule adaption research facility in Big Finish's, "Unregenerate" used faustian bargains.
Basically imagine if the .K.G.B. made itself into a less powerful version of the Ori from Stargate that used faustian bargains.


Lesser Species
Oldblood definition= Any other species.
Newblood definition= Non time active cultures, (the number of which increased any War fallout).
The Protocols state that all stable timetrave methods require biodata manipulation effectively requiring a species to alter their most basic genetics and memetics essentially becoming another species.
The Timelords set the operating parameters of history according to their then vested interests.
Many inhabited worlds have stories of god like beimgs are deeo rooted acknowledgements that such majestic being pulled themselves ut of and above raw matter biology. Explains how certain cultures describe the First War in Heaven.
The Timelords have a patchy understanding of many lesser species and feel compelled to stop them gaining high order time technology.
"Tempus Incognitia", areas of spacetime that the Timelords cannot travel or visit, largerly in Posthuman space during War Time resulting their present being intertwined with Gallfrey's increasing their sense of importance.
he odd assertion of proud superiority by some of the almost time aware posthuman sects over the greater species, (at least the Timelords) because they see their open to timetravel biology, (utterly alterable and mutable, "temporarily active" biodata) as meaning they have lost their genuine identity, (and thus damned and insubstantial) by having no fixed: place in space-time, timeline, or destiny.
Certain posthuman individuals have made alliances with War powers and consider themselves full time participants, (eg: The former War Godess Immaculata Formosii made an alliance with the enemy).


Yssgaroth
Primal beastial monsters that had no motive beyond generating pain and the glorification of despair, capable of turning an entire planet into a playground of casual torture, labatories of cruelty in which people's bodies were ripped apart until a still aware nervous system remained. These fallen worlds were retro anulled after the war against the protocols, (as much about quickly tidying things up as it was being merciful).
Unsure whether there were many or just one that could split itself up.
Defeated for repelled?
May come from an alter-matter state so alien it's stuctures and protocols are inimical to ours.
Maybe not a species but side effects of two continuual strata, symptoms of a timeline already ripping chunks out of it's own flesh. Lesser species percieved these hostile anti structures perceived as projections of the observer's internal horror. Debated as survivors describe them as having a definite will to live.
Known manifested forms: 1.A stem of blooded thorns pulling the flesh from entire worlds. 2.A bleeding eyeless lamb on a divine throne. 3.A never ending skin of desperate hungry all devouring faces. 4.A muscled, winged, leathery and constantly screaming old testament abomination, (ie: The Great Vampires).
The anchoring was done to protect themselves from random effects from the outside universe and is, (maybe partially) the reason they were unleashed.
Only one entered the universe through the Caldera while their, "servants", (smaller fragments or gigantic spiral Yssgaroth misshapen Spiral Yssgaroth creatures) swarmed into history's stucture as it was being formed spilling horror on an unimaginable scale into the continuum irreversibly tainting it with biomatter that hybridise and corrupt beings into being malformed and predatory, (eg: the Mal'akh on Earth).
History's vulnerable foam structure node points were significantly weakened were covered with forced matter shells that resemble planets sealing the universe off from that unknown.
Most humaniod inhabited worlds have stories of the First War in Heaven as a result of the spiral politic's structure not race memories.
Unlike the Yssgaroth the enemy is: civilised, cultured, and intelligent to have agenda beyond destruction.


What we learn about the enemy
1.Maybe connected to the Timelord's long buried fear that another enemy may emerge.
2.Could have a far more devestating impact on history then the Yssgaroth.
3.Partly due to the Timelord's lack of understanding.
4.Not a species or faction but an all consuming process.
5.It's, "how" and, "why" are somehow explained in the Book.
6.The enemy may have a quick and convenient title.
7.Their first and possibly second waves were as unprepared as the Timelords's.
8.The Froniter in Time is not due to enemy action.
9.They may find the Celestis disgusting like everyone else.
10.Is not as close to actual immortality as the Celestis.
11.Recieved and use Celestis conceptual being creating and marking technology.
12.They have an alliance with former posthuman War Godess Immaculata Formosii.
13.The enemy is: civilised, cultured, and intelligent enough to have agenda beyond destruction.

One thing that always stewed on my mind was do the Remote have agency, or as they are are always subject to the signals are they effectly the lesser species equivalent of the rustling sound that comes as the wind blows through the leaves - the wind is the signal, rhe leaves are the receivers and the remote are the sound.

I've read this book twice now, and I am just realizing that the first section is called "Causalities of War" and not "Casualties of War"

And here I thought they were going for something like "all of these people are already dead"

You learn something new on every re-read! 😅

Very neat idea! (And thank you for introducing me to THiTO the other day!)

I agree that the Spiral Politic mapping is described in such a way that it almost demands visual representation. I'd love to see depictions of "shooting star worlds" etc, maybe even just along the lines of these vector animations of the Book of Revelation. A map of the Spiral Politic with worlds, and even important individuals, able to shift or shoot across it – this is the sort of thing which I think would be invaluable in a FP-themed RPG.

I think the N-Form from Damaged Goods was created as a response to the Yssgaroth (which turned up in “the Pit”). 

The Grandfather's first-ever mention was as “the voodoo priest of the House of Lungbarrow” in Christmas on a Rational Planet! And this is restated in Crimes Against History, which features Lungbarrow explicitly.

Quite how the Grandfather fits into the Plattian family tree is an interesting question; he is of the War King's, and thus Theta Sigma's, generation, but I definitely don't think he's any one of the Cousins we know about from Lungbarrow itself.

Me, I have a guess, though I don't know whether either man ever intended it. Much is made in Lungbarrow of the forty-five Cousins quota that Lungbarrow must adhere to. What if, just maybe, Dr Who only exists because the Grandfather erased himself from history — because his erasure left a vacant 45th spot into which the Other's biodata-ghost was able to slip unnoticed?