Star Chamber

Star Chamber
Location:	Houses of Parliament
First appearance:	The Adventuress of Henrietta Street
Appearances:	PROSE: The Book of the War

You may be looking for their meeting-place.

The Star Chamber was an English court and secret society closely affiliated with the Service, the Grand Families, and the Order of the Garter.

History

After the Grand Families founded the Order of the Garter in 1348, they created the Star Chamber, a court that consisted of judges and privy councillors who were unbound by common law or juries. The secret goal of the Chamber was to punish errant Order members and dispose of agents who had been infected by the Mal'akh. This gave the court an inquisition-like reputation, and after King Charles I began using it to enforce his unpopular political and religious policies, the Chamber was officially abolished in 1641.

However, rather than ending operations, the Chamber merely moved into secret. (PROSE: The Book of the War) It became another name for the inner circle of five spymasters that had led the Service since its creation by Francis Walsingham and John Dee in the late 16th century. (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street, COMIC: Bêtes Noires & Dark Horses) This Council of the Star Chamber met in a star-shaped chamber beneath Parliament to orchestrate their agenda. (COMIC: Bêtes Noires & Dark Horses)

In the 17th century, one of the Five Masters was Alex Bendo, who was erased by the continuity needle and replaced by John Wilmot. Later, as part of a plot orchestrated by the babel, Jeovus Unus Sanctus became Master and unsuccessfully invited Nate Silver to become the unofficial "Master of Masters" and lead the world to become the Republic of Heaven. (PROSE: Newtons Sleep)

In 1752, a Godfather of Faction Paradox signed the Gregorian Compact with Britain under the watchful eye of the Service. The Star Chamber interpreted their armour as a sign that they were the Mal'akh, starting a pointless crusade against the Faction. This crusade culminated in the 1834 Clockwork Ouroboros affair that caused the burning of Parliament. By that time, the Star Chamber was a physical location within Parliament instead of just a group, and this location was destroyed with Parliament. The Star Chamber's successor organisations never approached its effectiveness, possibly due to intervention by the Great Houses using ghost clusters. (PROSE: The Book of the War)

Alternate timeline

In an alternate timeline created by the Oracle, Alan Turing was the inventor of the Turing Shroud, which served as a schematic of an early computer. He was arrested on charges of sexual deviancy by the Star Chamber, which still existed in the 20th century in that timeline. When the Eighth Doctor confronted them, he learned that they justified their actions by preventing change and the development of advanced technology and weapons that could threaten the world and a decent way of life. The fact that they genuinely believed their philosophy confirmed for the Doctor that they had been manipulated by this timeline's version of Sabbath, who acted as the Oracle's agent. (PROSE: The Domino Effect)

External links

• Star Chamber at the Faction Paradox wiki