Hubbry Logo
Faction ParadoxFaction ParadoxMain
Open search
Faction Paradox
Community hub
Faction Paradox
logo
7 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Faction Paradox
Faction Paradox
Faction Paradox
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

Faction Paradox[1] is a series of novels, audio stories, short story anthologies, and comics set in and around a "War in Heaven", a history-spanning conflict between godlike "Great Houses" and their mysterious enemy. The series is named after a group originally created by author Lawrence Miles for BBC Books' Doctor Who novels.

Overviews

[edit]

Originally a subplot in the Eighth Doctor Adventures, the War involves several characters and concepts evolved from the original Doctor Who set-up. In several cases, the Faction Paradox series still features these groups, albeit with names changed for reasons both literary (most of the groups or items mentioned are described from different perspectives) and legal (the Faction and the Enemy are Miles's creations, but other elements are not – thus the Great Houses are the Faction Paradox range's equivalent to Doctor Who's Time Lords).[2] Faction Paradox themselves are not the enemy in this War, and play a neutral part, willing to act against both sides in their own interests. Miles has described them as "a ritualistic time-travelling guerrilla organisation".

The semi-mythical founder of Faction Paradox is Grandfather Paradox, named after the grandfather paradox of time travel theory. Originally a member of the Great Houses himself, the Grandfather created a new group after he became frustrated with the ways of the Great Houses. Faction Paradox therefore takes a good deal of pleasure in irritating the Great Houses, and many of their traditions and rituals are aligned in direct opposition to the way the Great Houses do things. Their time machines are bigger on the inside, in much the same way as TARDISes are, and the familial titles its members use (e.g. "Father", "Cousin") reference family units which the Great Houses lost when they became sterile.

Faction Paradox also take a perverse pride in causing time paradoxes (something that is against the laws of the Great Houses) and achieving impossible or absurd effects for their own sake. For instance, they typically wear ritual skull masks which are in fact the skulls of vampirised members of the Great Houses who, in the Great Houses' version of history, never existed. Their stronghold on Earth exists in a version of London, within what they call "The Eleven-Day Empire", bought from the British government in 1752. In that year, the British Empire first adopted the Gregorian calendar, and in so doing had to correct their dating scheme by 11 days (2 September 1752 being followed by 14 September 1752). Faction Paradox claimed the missing 11 days as their base (building on the illogicity that only the numbering scheme changed and no days were actually "missing").

One method of recruitment utilised by the Faction involves infecting others with the Paradox biodata virus, which warps the mind of the infected subject to share the Faction's perspective. A key storyline in the Eighth Doctor's adventures at this time involves the Faction manipulating the Doctor into changing his own history so that the Third Doctor not only regenerates "ahead of schedule" on the planet Dust, but also in a manner that allows him to be infected by a Paradox virus while his system is weakened by his regeneration. While the virus would still be too weak to affect the Doctor immediately, it would gain greater influence on him until the time of his eighth incarnation, at which point the Doctor would be converted to a Faction agent. Fortunately, the TARDIS was aware of this divergence from the timeline and took the infected timeline into itself, thus essentially preserving the timeline where the Doctor wasn't infected even as the timeline where the Doctor becomes a Faction agent still had the potential to exist.

Stories

[edit]

Doctor Who (BBC Books)

[edit]

After a brief mention of Grandfather Paradox in the Virgin New Adventures novel Christmas on a Rational Planet, Faction Paradox and the War in Heaven made their debut in BBC Books' Eighth Doctor novels.

The most relevant books to the Faction Paradox universe are:

  • Alien Bodies (Lawrence Miles, 1997)
  • Unnatural History (Kate Orman and Jon Blum, 1999)
  • Interference: Book One (Shock Tactic) (Lawrence Miles, 1999) - Featuring the Eighth and Third Doctors, Sam, Fitz, Sarah Jane, and K-9, this book shows Sam dealing with matters in her own life while also being an unwitting part, along with the Doctor, of a million-year old year conspiracy with universe-wide effects, and which draws in the Doctor not once, but twice, at different points in time
  • Interference: Book Two (The Hour of the Geek) (Lawrence Miles, 1999) - Continuing the story of the previous book, the Doctor finds himself dealing with his enemy across time and space, getting caught between the results of cause and effect coming together. The book also marks Sam's departure, the introduction of new companion Compassion, and culminates in an alternate regeneration for the Third Doctor.
  • The Blue Angel (Paul Magrs, 1999)- Featuring the Eighth Doctor, Fitz, Compassion and Iris Wildthyme, the author described the novel as social realist.[3]
  • The Taking of Planet 5 (Simon Bucher Jones and Mark Clapham, 1999) - Featuring the Eighth Doctor, Fitz and Compassion, it is partly a sequel to the television serial Image of the Fendahl. It features references to many elements from the Cthulhu Mythos stories of H. P. Lovecraft, in particular the Elder Things and their ancient Antarctic city from At the Mountains of Madness.
  • The Shadows of Avalon (Paul Cornell, 2000)
  • The Adventuress of Henrietta Street (Lawrence Miles, 2001)

Several other Doctor Who novels featured or referenced Faction Paradox, most notably The Ancestor Cell (written by Stephen Cole and Peter Anghelides in 2000), The Quantum Archangel (written by Craig Hinton in 2001), and The Gallifrey Chronicles (written by Lance Parkin in 2005), but were contradicted or otherwise ignored in the Faction Paradox series.

Faction Paradox (BBV)

[edit]

A series of full-cast audio dramas dubbed The Faction Paradox Protocols was produced by BBV between 2001 and 2004. All were written by Lawrence Miles. These stories centred on two Cousins of the Faction, Justine and Eliza. (Justine had previously featured in the BBC novel Alien Bodies, and Eliza appeared in Dead Romance as "Christine Summerfield".) The first two stories were set in the Eleven-Day Empire; the second two in 18th century London; and the last two were split between Justine's pre-Faction past and the Great Houses' prison facility. Although there were six releases and an ongoing story, each pair (usually released close together) formed a two-part story. In order they were:

  • The Eleven-Day Empire (2001)
  • The Shadow Play (2001)
  • Sabbath Dei (2003)
  • In the Year of the Cat (2003)
  • Movers (2003)
  • A Labyrinth of Histories (2004)

June 2021 saw the return to BBV of the series as audio downloads[1] Also, a 5-minute video crossover with BBV's P.R.O.B.E. series was released.[4] Lawrence Miles said of these productions, 'I no longer have full control over the copyright, but I strongly recommend that you don't buy any Faction Paradox material from BBV.'[5]

  • Daylight Savings (video crossover with P.R.O.B.E., James Hornby, 2021)
  • Eternal Escape (James Hornby, 2021)
  • Dionus's War
    • Call Me Ishmael (J.T. Mulholland, 2021)
    • The Healer's Sin (J.T. Mulholland, 2021)
    • Me & My Ghost (Bill Baggs, 2021)
  • Sabbath and the King (Aristide Twain, 2021)
  • The Confession of Brother Signet (Michael Gilroy-Sinclair, 2021)
  • Hellscape
    • Lucifer (Trevor Spencer, 2022)
    • Lucifer's Sleep (Trevor Spencer, 2022)
    • Babylon's Own Personal Hell (Trevor Spencer, 2022)
    • Brother's Keeper (Trevor Spencer, 2022)
    • Unwanted Guest (Trevor Spencer, 2022)
    • Lilith Fades (Trevor Spencer, 2022)

On August 28 2023, BBV Productions continued, as promised, the Hellscape series as a Faction Paradox spin off with the first half of the audio series's second season (titled The Lilium Saga) and a free episode (episode 5) of the video series Hellscape: MorningStar.[6][7]

Faction Paradox (Mad Norwegian Press)

[edit]

In 2002 Mad Norwegian Press published a multi-author faux-encyclopedia to the first 50 years of the War in Heaven, edited by Faction Paradox creator Lawrence Miles, as a companion to the BBV audios. After the success of The Book of the War, Mad Norwegian began publishing a Faction Paradox series of novels set in the same universe. These novels roam the ongoing War in Heaven; despite the series' name, the Faction and its members are not the focus, sometimes featuring only as minor characters, and sometimes not appearing at all. The books also featured characters from the Doctor Who novels, including Chris Cwej and Compassion.

Mad Norwegian also republished the Virgin New Adventures novel Dead Romance as part of their Faction Paradox line in 2003.

Faction Paradox (Image Comics)

[edit]
Cover of the first comics issue

In 2003, the first two issues of a Faction Paradox comic were produced by Mad Norwegian and published by Image Comics. The series was subsequently cancelled. The comic was written by Lawrence Miles with art from Jim Calafiore and inks by Peter Palmiotti.[8] It was set after the events of the War in Heaven, though due to its short run it did not give much detail on the post-War universe.[9] It tied into events described in The Faction Paradox Protocols, The Book of the War, and The Adventuress of Henrietta Street.

Faction Paradox (Magic Bullet)

[edit]

In 2004, Magic Bullet Productions, known for their Kaldor City audio dramas, obtained the license to produce further Faction Paradox audios, dubbed The True History of Faction Paradox. The narrative of this series continued from The Faction Paradox Protocols, although the first CD was also written to be accessible to newcomers. Like the BBV audios, these stories focused on Cousin Justine and Cousin Eliza, but the characters were recast.

The dramas in the series, released between 2005 and 2009, have featured guest stars including Julian Glover, Peter Miles, Philip Madoc and Gabriel Woolf. Woolf plays the ancient Egyptian god Sutekh, whom he had previously played in the 1975 Doctor Who story Pyramids of Mars. The six titles are:

  • Coming To Dust[10]
  • The Ship of a Billion Years[11]
  • Body Politic[12]
  • Words from Nine Divinities[13]
  • Ozymandias[14]
  • The Judgment of Sutekh[15]

Faction Paradox (Random Static)

[edit]

In 2007, New Zealand-based publisher Random Static announced they would be publishing further Faction Paradox novels. What turned out to be the sole title of the new range was published in January 2008. The cover art, by Emma Weakley, won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Artwork in 2009.[16]

Faction Paradox (Obverse Books)

[edit]

In June 2010, Obverse Books acquired a license to produce collections of Faction Paradox short stories and longer fiction.

Faction Hollywood

[edit]

In 2019, Obverse Books published a first story featuring Faction Hollywood, a group introduced by Jonathan Dennis in The Book of the War.

  • Hyponormalisation: A Faction Hollywood Production (Jonathan Dennis, as part of An Obverse Sextet, 2019)

Worlds of the Spiral Politic

[edit]
  • The Boulevard: Volume 1 (ed Stuart Douglas, 2022)
  • Inward Collapse (Lawrence Burton, 2023)
  • The Boulevard: Volume 2 (ed Stuart Douglas, 2024)

The City of the Saved

[edit]

In 2012, Obverse Books launched a series of anthologies set in the City of the Saved, a setting first introduced and explored in the Faction Paradox series.

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Faction Paradox

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Faction Paradox is a created by British author Lawrence Miles, focusing on a renegade time-traveling that employs ritualistic sabotage and generation to undermine temporal order. The Faction, depicted as a criminal syndicate of ritualists and subterfugers adorned with voodoo aesthetics and skull masks, originated as antagonists in Miles's 1997 Doctor Who novel Alien Bodies, where they emerged as a splinter group from the Great Houses, a godlike controlling time. Subsequent appearances in Miles's 1999 two-part novel Interference expanded their role, portraying them as opponents in the cosmic against an unnamed enemy, using time technology to alter history and erase rivals. The franchise became independent from after Miles acquired the rights, evolving into a standalone series that chronicles the Faction's activities over decades of the interstellar conflict, including the creation of living timeships and battles across the Spiral Politic—a term for the structured flow of history from antiquity to humanity's potential downfall. Key publications include the inaugural novel The Book of the War (2002), an encyclopedic account of the War's early phases published by Mad Norwegian Press, followed by additional novels and anthologies from the same publisher and later Obverse Books, which released works like Against Nature (2013) and The Book of the Peace (2017). The series also encompasses audio dramas produced by , beginning with The Eleven Day Empire (2001) and revived in 2021 with new standalone stories, as well as a brief run by in 2003, scripted by Miles and illustrated by Jim Calafiore.

Overview and History

Overview

Faction Paradox is a franchise encompassing novels, audio dramas, anthologies, and , centered on the "," a vast, history-spanning conflict between the godlike Great Houses and an enigmatic Enemy. The series delves into core themes of time manipulation, ritualistic cults, paradoxes, and waged by subversive elements against transcendent powers. At its heart lies the titular , depicted as a time-travelling collective of ritualists, saboteurs, and subterfuge artists—essentially a criminal cult employing voodoo-inspired practices to destabilize temporal order. The franchise originated as a spin-off from the Expanded Universe, where it was first introduced by author Lawrence Miles in the 1997 BBC Books novel Alien Bodies. Although initially tied to Doctor Who's lore, Faction Paradox has since evolved into a standalone entity, operating in an alternate timeline distinct from the parent series while retaining subtle interconnections. Publication began with its 1997 debut in Doctor Who prose, expanding into audio dramas via BBV Productions starting in 2001 with The Eleven Day Empire. Independent novels followed in 2002 with Mad Norwegian Press's The Book of the War, marking the franchise's shift to self-contained storytelling, and continued through the 2000s with titles like This Town Will Never Let Us Go (2003). From 2012 onward, Obverse Books has driven multimedia growth, releasing anthologies such as Tales of the City (2012) and More Tales of the City (2013), alongside The Book of the Peace (2018) and further prose up to 2024, solidifying its evolution across formats.

Creation and Development

Faction Paradox debuted as a shadowy subplot in Lawrence Miles' 1997 Doctor Who novel Alien Bodies, the eighth installment in series, where the group was introduced as a time-sensitive intervening in a high-stakes auction of alien technology. Miles, the creator, envisioned the Faction as antagonists challenging the established hierarchy, laying the groundwork for a broader mythology that questioned the foundations of in the universe. Due to BBC licensing restrictions that prohibited extensive use of Doctor Who intellectual property in external productions, Miles expanded Faction Paradox into an independent franchise, establishing its core mythology independently of the parent series while retaining thematic ties to the Expanded Universe. Key early developments included BBV Productions' launch of the audio drama series The Faction Paradox Protocols in 2001, scripted entirely by Miles and featuring full-cast performances that explored the group's rituals and the escalating War in Heaven. This was followed in 2002 by Mad Norwegian Press' publication of the debut novel The Book of the War, a collaborative encyclopedia-style work edited by Miles that formalized the franchise's lore through fragmented entries on battles, artifacts, and factions. Subsequent growth faced challenges from disputes, as noted by Miles in when he publicly stated he no longer held full control over the , resulting in fragmented rights and production across multiple outlets. Recent expansions up to 2024 have emphasized fan-driven continuity, including Obverse Books' anthology series such as (2012), (2013), and The Boulevard: Volume Two (2024), which broaden the universe through short stories by various authors. BBV continued its audio contributions with the Hellscape series, which had prior ties to Faction Paradox elements, though later installments like The Lilium Saga (2023) shifted focus to conflicts without explicit Faction branding. In 2025, Obverse Books released a second paperback edition of A Romance in Twelve Acts, further extending the franchise's availability. The franchise's influence extends to Doctor Who lore, where the War in Heaven provided a seminal later echoed in the televised Last Great Time War, fostering schisms in the by enabling parallel, non-canonical continuities that diverge from official continuity.

Fictional Universe

The War in Heaven

The War in Heaven represents the foundational conflict within the Faction Paradox fictional universe, portrayed as a sprawling, multidimensional battle spanning eons and realities between the Great Houses and a shadowy, unnamed . The Great Houses are depicted as ancient, immortal entities possessing advanced time-manipulation capabilities, functioning as an aloof aristocratic elite that meticulously governs the flow of history to maintain order across the cosmos. This war, introduced in Lawrence Miles' novel Alien Bodies (, 1997), escalates into a struggle where itself is at stake, with combatants employing temporal incursions to rewrite events and eliminate adversaries before they arise. The origins of the War in Heaven are shrouded in antiquity, suggested to stem from primordial tensions among time-active civilizations, though exact catalysts remain deliberately obscure to emphasize the conflict's mythic scale. As detailed in The Book of the War (Mad Norwegian Press, 2002), the war permeates and reshapes timelines, intersecting with in subtle yet profound ways—such as anomalous events or cultural shifts—without overt intervention, evoking a biblical clash among higher powers that reverberates through lower realities. The Great Houses seek to preserve their dominion over structured , while the Enemy, described as an inscrutable and equally potent force, poses an existential threat by disrupting the established order of events. Central to the lore are concepts like the Spiral Politic, a conceptual framework representing the Houses' meticulously curated timeline from the dawn of to humanity's eventual decline, serving as both a map and a battlefield for the war's maneuvers. Mictlan emerges as a significant construct, a self-contained mini-universe or shadow realm inhabited by the Celestis—transcended beings who have shed physical forms to observe and influence the conflict from beyond conventional reality. The Enemy's identity is intentionally ambiguous, with implications in Miles' works pointing toward origins in post-human evolutions or splintered future timelines that reject the Houses' control. The War in Heaven's repercussions extend far beyond the primary combatants, engendering widespread paradoxes, splintered historical narratives, and the emergence of opportunistic lesser powers that exploit the . This cosmic upheaval fragments the universe's coherence, allowing groups like the Faction Paradox to arise as actors amid the turmoil.

The Faction Paradox

The is a renegade, ritualistic cult founded by the time entity known as Grandfather Paradox, who established it as a splinter group breaking away from the Great Houses during the early stages of the . This criminal-terrorist organization operates as neutral saboteurs, employing guerrilla tactics to create temporal paradoxes that disrupt the authority and plans of the Great Houses while avoiding direct allegiance to either side in the conflict. Described as time-travelling voodoo terrorists, the thrives on subterfuge and chaos, positioning itself as a wildcard force that exploits the war's disruptions for its own subversive ends. Central to the Faction's ideology is an embrace of , , and family lineage—concepts deliberately rejected by the immortal, sterile Great Houses in their aspiration to godhood—serving as a to the Houses' rationalist detachment. This anti-authoritarian philosophy promotes anarchic interference, viewing time itself as a weapon to manipulate and , thereby introducing its principles to "collaterals" like humans . reinforces this familial obsession through viruses, biological agents that rewrite an individual's personal and timeline to integrate them into the Faction's structure, effectively adopting them into its lineage. The maintains a loose, modeled on , with members holding titles such as for initiates, or for mid-level operatives, and Grandfather or Grandmother for high-ranking leaders, emphasizing ritualistic bonds over rigid command. Their methods draw heavily from voodoo-inspired practices, including seances, shadow-weaving, and the donning of elaborate skull masks fashioned from the "vampirised" remains of defeated members to invoke power and anonymity. These rituals enable time sabotage and generation, allowing the Faction to forge temporary alliances with war outcasts and perpetuate its identity as a dedicated to undermining cosmic order. In the broader context of the War, the Faction's role as neutral agents involves calculated disruptions, such as erasing opponents from the or breaking power deadlocks through paradoxical interventions, all while operating from the Eleven-Day Empire as their concealed base.

Key Locations and Artifacts

The Eleven-Day Empire serves as the central, extradimensional headquarters for Faction Paradox, conceptualized as a non-corporeal realm derived from the eleven days excised from the British calendar during the 1752 adoption of the Gregorian system. This "lost" period was mythically acquired by the Faction through a pact with historical authorities, transforming it into a sanctuary unbound by conventional , where members conduct rituals and plan temporal interventions. In contrast to the Great Houses' Loom technology, which artificially weaves biodata strands from ancestral patterns to generate new members without biological reproduction, Faction Paradox employs direct manipulation of —treating personal timelines as malleable "time DNA" to recruit and alter individuals through viral infections or ritual edits. This approach rejects the Houses' sterile, engineered lineage in favor of chaotic, paradox-infused heritage that incorporates diverse species and histories. Key artifacts wielded by Faction members include shadow weapons, known as sombras que corta ("shadows that cut"), formed by ritually bonding a physical object—such as a blade or firearm—with the bearer's shadow during initiation, rendering it a metaphysical tool capable of slicing through temporal barriers and . Initiation into the Faction involves elaborate rituals centered on , where candidates etch permanent marks symbolizing their embrace of , followed by donning a ceremonial mask carved from a or skull, often divided into detachable sections for ritualistic unveiling. These ceremonies culminate in the binding of the shadow weapon, stripping the chosen object of its material form to leave only its conceptual "shadow" as a weapon. The "family silver" refers to a collection of inherited paradox tools and relics passed down through the Faction's pseudo-familial structure, embodying their voodoo-inspired arsenal of time-altering devices.

Characters

Founders and Leaders

Grandfather Paradox serves as the founder of Faction Paradox, originating as a future incarnation of the Doctor who diverged from conventional history by betraying the Great Houses during the . By intentionally enacting the grandfather paradox—traveling back in time to assassinate his own grandfather—he generated irreconcilable temporal contradictions that challenged the Houses' dominion over history. This act led to his execution by the Houses, yet he was subsequently resurrected through self-sustaining time loops that preserved his existence across multiple timelines, enabling him to orchestrate the cult's formation as a direct counterforce to the established order. Early leaders were pivotal in the Faction's nascent rituals and the establishment of its foundational stronghold, the Eleven-Day Empire. Drawing from esoteric traditions, these leaders facilitated the initial ceremonial practices that infused the group with paradoxical energies, helping to recruit and initiate members into its voodoo-inspired framework. They collaborated in manifesting the Eleven-Day Empire—a derived from the 11 missing days excised from the 1752 British calendar—providing a secure, extradimensional base from which the cult could operate independently of the Houses' influence. These founders profoundly molded Faction Paradox's core doctrine, instituting a rigid familial that reimagined organizational structure as an extended family unit, with titles such as "cousins" for initiates, "godparents" for mentors, and "grandfathers" for supreme authorities. This paradigm, rooted in Paradox's own temporal fragmentation and the leaders' ritual innovations, fostered a of absolute allegiance through shared paradoxes and , distinguishing the Faction from the more bureaucratic Great Houses and enabling its guerrilla tactics in the .

Notable Members and Allies

Justine, a young recruited from nineteenth-century , plays a key role in early missions during the . Her initiation into involved representing the Faction at an auction for the Doctor's corpse. She later became the bearer of Grandfather Paradox's shadow, underscoring her importance within the group. Eliza, a recruit created in 1970 and Justine's partner, exemplifies the Faction's practice of integrating lesser species into its ranks. As a , she participates in covert operations alongside Justine, leveraging her knowledge of human history to navigate temporal disruptions and support the Faction's efforts against the Great Houses. Godfather Morlock, a senior member, acts as Justine's mentor and oversees recruitment and operations from the Eleven-Day , guiding new Cousins through the War's challenges. Among other notable members, operates as a Faction-aligned pirate captain in the eighteenth century, blending with ritualistic time manipulation while serving the group's interests in human historical eras. Chris Cwej, who evolves into a dedicated agent, contributes to the Faction's strategies through his background as a thirtieth-century , aiding in the War's complex maneuvers. , a Type 102 with Faction origins, acts as a vital ally, providing transportation and tactical support in the form of a living timeship engineered for the conflict. The maintains loose ties to the , occasionally intersecting with his timeline through -altered histories that rewrite personal and collective pasts to advance their agenda. These connections highlight the Faction's broader network of external allies, contrasted against ongoing enmities with forces like the , where manipulation creates divergent realities and paradoxical loyalties.

Publications

Prose Works

The prose works featuring Faction Paradox originated within the ' series, where the faction was introduced as antagonists to the . Alien Bodies (1997), written by Lawrence Miles, debuted the Faction as a ritualistic, time-sensitive involved in an of forbidden , thereby establishing their opposition to temporal order and hinting at the impending . This novel embedded the Faction deeply into continuity by linking their activities to the Doctor's timeline. Interference (1999), also by Miles, expanded on these elements through a two-part story involving the Doctor, the Faction, and interdimensional threats, further defining the 's manipulative tactics and philosophical stance against rational time governance. The Adventuress of Henrietta Street (2001), again by Miles, delved into the Faction's historical roots during the , portraying their infiltration of society and early rituals, which solidified their role as disruptors of linear history within the Who canon. These BBC titles collectively introduced core concepts like the War in Heaven while creating tensions with established Doctor Who lore due to the Faction's retroactive influences on Time Lord history. Mad Norwegian Press launched a dedicated Faction Paradox imprint in 2002, shifting focus to standalone narratives outside direct Doctor Who ties. The Book of the War (2002), edited by Lawrence Miles with contributions from over ten authors including Mags L. Halliday and Lawrence Burton, adopts an encyclopedic format to chronicle the first fifty years of the War in Heaven, detailing battles, technologies, and factions through fragmented entries that build the universe's mythology. This anthology-style work emphasized non-linear storytelling and conceptual depth over plot-driven adventure, establishing the War as a cosmic conflict reshaping reality. A reprint of Dead Romance (original 1999, Faction edition 2003) by Miles followed, centering on time agent Chris Cwej and engineered being Compassion in a tale of lost love and temporal displacement, which retrofitted elements into the Faction's lore and explored themes of human frailty amid god-like interventions. These Mad Norwegian publications prioritized the Faction's independent cosmology, often contradicting BBC canon by amplifying the War's scale and the cult's anarchic ethos. Subsequent publishers like Random Static and Obverse Books extended the prose through anthologies and novels, fostering side narratives and thematic expansions. Random Static's Newtons Sleep (2008) by Daniel O'Mahony presented a dream-infused story of Faction agents navigating a post-War reality warped by ideological clashes, adding layers to the cult's psychological warfare tactics. Obverse Books, acquiring the license in 2010, produced A Romance in Twelve Parts (2011), edited by Stuart Douglas with stories by authors including Jay Eales and Ian Potter, which used romance as a metaphor for paradoxical entanglements in Faction operations across timelines. Obverse's ongoing Worlds of the Spiral Politic series, launched in 2022 and focusing on specific settings within the Faction universe, includes anthologies such as The Boulevard Volume One (2022, edited by Ian Potter) and Volume Two (2024, edited by the same), set in a vast Faction prison dimension and featuring tales by multiple writers that explore incarceration, rebellion, and splinter realities, thereby enriching peripheral lore without resolving core War contradictions. The series also encompasses novels like Rose-Coloured Crosshairs (2025) by Blair Bidmead. Collectively, these prose works cement Faction Paradox's mythology as one of ritualistic defiance and temporal chaos, with deliberate inconsistencies from the BBC era highlighting the series' postmodern approach to continuity.

Audio Dramas

The audio dramas of Faction Paradox began with ' The Faction Paradox Protocols, a series of six full-cast stories released between 2001 and 2004, all written by series creator Lawrence Miles. These early releases, such as The Eleven-Day Empire (2001), which introduces the Faction's ritualistic infiltration of the Homeworld's bureaucracy, and Dei (2003), exploring the rogue time agent Sabbath's entanglement with Faction schemes, emphasized dense, paradoxical narratives delivered through layered voice performances and atmospheric soundscapes that evoked the disorienting rituals central to the Faction's ethos. The production's ritualistic , featuring echoing chants and temporal distortions, heightened the sense of unreality in the , allowing listeners to experience the Faction's manipulative interventions without visual aids. In 2004, Magic Bullet Productions acquired the license and launched The True History of Faction Paradox, a six-story series running from 2005 to 2009, also penned by Miles, which adopted a more experimental structure to delve into fragmented timelines of the . Key entries include Coming to Dust (2005), a tale of Osirian gods clashing with Faction agents in 18th-century , and The Ship of a Billion Years (2006), spanning vast epochs to examine the War's ripple effects through non-linear vignettes. These dramas prioritized immersive auditory perspectives, with sublime sound engineering creating believable, multi-layered environments that underscored themes of and personal betrayal amid cosmic stakes, making the series accessible yet richly expansive for newcomers. The voice acting excelled in conveying paradoxes, using overlapping dialogues and subtle sonic cues to mimic the Faction's reality-bending rituals. Following Magic Bullet's conclusion in 2009 due to licensing shifts back to BBV, the audio medium continued to highlight Faction Paradox's emphasis on vocal dynamism for exploring temporal anomalies and ceremonial intrigue, often expanding on prose origins in brief narrative echoes. BBV's recent output includes standalone stories like Eternal Escape (2021, written by James Hornby), depicting a soldier's futile bid to flee the War's horrors through a nightmarish time loop, and Sabbath and the King (2021, by Aristide Twain), which reintroduces the King in Time's betrayal amid wartime politics, both leveraging stark sound effects to amplify isolation and deception. The 2022 Hellscape series (created by Trevor Spencer), comprising six episodes such as Lucifer's Sleep and Babylon's Own Personal Hell, marked BBV's return to serialized audio, blending lore with infernal mythologies in a ritual-heavy that probes the War's descent into chaos, distinguished by its gritty, echo-laden audio design evoking hellish voids. This was followed in 2023 by The Lilium Saga (various writers), a continuation released in acts that furthers the Hellscape arc with Lilith's disappearance driving machinations, maintaining the franchise's focus on voice-driven expansions of the War's underbelly through experimental, paradox-infused storytelling.

Comics and Other Media

The comic series was published by in association with Mad Norwegian Press, launching as a bimonthly title in August 2003. Written by Lawrence Miles, with pencils by Jim Calafiore and inks by Peter Palmiotti, the series explored the ongoing through the lens of the Faction's chaotic interventions in history. Only two issues were released before cancellation, leaving an intended multi-issue arc unresolved; these comics emphasized visual representations of temporal paradoxes, such as fractured timelines and ritualistic distortions, distinguishing them from prose formats. Obverse Books expanded the Faction Paradox universe with the City of the Saved anthology series, beginning in 2012 and set in a post-War haven where every human who ever lived is resurrected in an immense, end-of-time metropolis. Edited primarily by Philip Purser-Hallard, who originated the concept, the anthologies feature contributions from various authors and delve into the City's intricate politics, historical resurrections, and existential threats, often diverging from direct involvement to explore broader Spiral Politic elements. Key volumes include Tales of the City (2012), More Tales of the City (2013), Tales of the Great Detectives (2014), Furthest Tales of the City (2015), and later entries like Vanishing Tales of the City (2019), which highlight non- themes such as detective intrigue and vanishing identities among the revived populace. Random Static contributed to Faction Paradox media through online short stories released in 2008 as tie-ins to their publications, accessible via their website as part of the Spiral Politic online archive. These pieces, including "The Return of the King" by Daniel O'Mahony, provided supplementary narratives to the 2008 novel Newtons Sleep, focusing on fragmented Faction lore without forming a formal collection. In , Obverse Books released Hyponormalisation: A Hollywood Production as part of their anniversary series, a meta-narrative that satirizes Hollywood's influence within the Faction's reality-bending schemes. Authored anonymously in-universe, it blends tropes with temporal manipulation, underscoring the Faction's penchant for cultural subversion in non-traditional formats.

References

  1. https://www.cbr.com/lawrence-miles-faction-paradox-debuts-at-image-this-august/
  2. https://www.amazon.com/Faction-Paradox-This-Town-Never/dp/0972595929
  3. https://www.madnorwegian.com/158/books/faction-paradox-the-book-of-the-war-softcover/
  4. https://obversebooks.co.uk/product/faction-paradox-the-novels/
  5. https://obversebooks.co.uk/product/faction-paradox-the-book-of-the-peace/
  6. https://bbvproductions.co.uk/products/faction-paradox
  7. https://h2g2.com/approved_entry/A20074556
  8. https://obversebooks.co.uk/product-category/factionparadox/
  9. https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/books/author/lawrence_miles.shtml
  10. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/71528354
  11. https://www.madnorwegian.com/163/books/faction-paradox-this-town-will-never-let-us-go-softcover/
  12. https://factionparadox.fandom.com/wiki/Tales_of_the_City_%28anthology%29
  13. https://www.eruditorumpress.com/blog/rip-this-world-apart-for-just-one-cell-alien-bodies
  14. https://twitter.com/The_Beasthouse/status/1401654193312706562
  15. https://bbvproductions.co.uk/products/hellscape-the-lilium-saga-acts-i-iii-audio-downloads
  16. http://www.timelash.com/tardis/list.php?Faction-Paradox-novels
  17. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/FactionParadox
  18. https://www.ninthart.co.uk/articles/739
  19. https://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Who-Bodies-Lawrence-Miles/dp/0563405775
  20. https://www.pagefillers.com/dwrg/bookwar.htm
  21. https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/books/ancestorcell/
  22. https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Justine
  23. https://tardis.wiki/wiki/Eliza
  24. https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/faction-paradox-sabbath-dei/id579862076
  25. http://www.pagefillers.com/dwrg/henrietta.htm
  26. https://www.madnorwegian.com/192/books/dead-romance-faction-paradox-tie-in/
  27. https://randomstatic.net/product/newtons-sleep/
  28. https://obversebooks.co.uk/product/faction-paradox-a-romance-in-12-parts/
  29. https://obversebooks.co.uk/product/worlds-of-the-spiral-politic-rose-coloured-crosshairs/
  30. https://www.kaldorcity.com/reviews/fpreview.html
  31. https://bbvproductions.co.uk/products/faction-paradox-10-eternal-escape-audio-download
  32. https://bbvproductions.co.uk/products/faction-paradox-08-sabbath-and-the-king-audio-download
  33. https://bbvproductions.co.uk/products/faction-paradox-hellscape-6-audio-bundle-downloads
  34. https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=474611
  35. https://readaboutcomics.com/2003/08/13/faction-paradox-1/
  36. https://obversebooks.co.uk/product/of-the-city-of-the-saved-philip-purser-hallard/
  37. https://obversebooks.co.uk/product/vanishing-tales-of-the-city/
  38. https://factionparadox.fandom.com/wiki/The_Return_of_the_King_%28short_story%29
  39. https://obversebooks.co.uk/product/hyponormalisation/
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.