The Spirits
Faction Paradox's witchcraft and alter-time rituals called upon putative entities within the structure of history which they often referred to as loa, borrowing a term from Haitian voodoo, (PROSE: "Loa" [+]Part of The Book of the War, Loading...{"namedep":"Loa","1":"The Book of the War (novel)"}, etc.) but also as "the spirits" or "the Spirits". (AUDIO: The Eleven Day Empire [+]Loading...["The Eleven Day Empire (audio story)"], etc.)
Notably, the Faction also experimented with broader definitions of the term "loa" which also included prominent figures within a given cultural consciousness. However, this was an experimental framing, distinct from the traditional Faction use of spirits, and ultimately abandoned when its intended outcome, the Remote shock-troops, proved underwhelming. (PROSE: "Definitions" [+]Part of Interference - Book One, Loading...{"namedep":"Definitions","1":"Interference - Book One (novel)"}, "Loa" [+]Part of The Book of the War, Loading...{"namedep":"Loa","1":"The Book of the War (novel)"})
Nature
The Gallifreyan Great Houses' conventional view was that the laws and processes of time were mere mathematical equations. (PROSE: The Ancestor Cell [+]Loading...["The Ancestor Cell (novel)"], "Loa" [+]Part of The Book of the War, Loading...{"namedep":"Loa","1":"The Book of the War (novel)"}, Weapons Grade Snake Oil [+]Loading...["Weapons Grade Snake Oil (novel)"]) To the Faction, however, they were best understood as sentient beings who could be bargained with. (PROSE: "Loa" [+]Part of The Book of the War, Loading...{"namedep":"Loa","1":"The Book of the War (novel)"})
To the Faction, the processes of time aren’t formulae or theoretical concepts. The processes of time are entities. Time is occupied, even guarded, by loa which have no tangible presence in the universe but which can protect, beguile, curse and possess anybody who tries to cross their boundaries. (…) Even if the Houses claim that the processes of time are mere phenomena, those phenomena are so complex that there's no reason they shouldn't have a will of their own, taking on a form of sentience just as any complex system might do.
Cousin Eliza once stressed to Cousin Justine that the talk of "spirits" in Faction ritualism referred to a group of specific entities on whom one could call, "like a genie in a bottle or something", as opposed to someone's soul. (AUDIO: The Eleven Day Empire [+]Loading...["The Eleven Day Empire (audio story)"])
How literally the Faction took its belief in the sentience of these spirits was a matter of some debate. (PROSE: "Loa" [+]Part of The Book of the War, Loading...{"namedep":"Loa","1":"The Book of the War (novel)"}) One source gave their view as substantially metaphorical: if one defined history as an ever-changing pattern, then, just as shapes can be seen in clouds in the sky, the loa could be seen in time. (PROSE: Weapons Grade Snake Oil [+]Loading...["Weapons Grade Snake Oil (novel)"]) Also to the credit of the hypothesis that the loa were a metaphor was the fact that some Faction elders, such as Godparent Morlock, had been known to "invent loa out of thin air whenever necessary".
However, The Book of the War tilted towards acknowledging the existence of these entities, reasoning that withGodfathers "duty-bound to research alter-time", there may be "little difference between them devising a new loa and a less exotic scientist creating a new chemical formula". (PROSE: "Loa" [+]Part of The Book of the War, Loading...{"namedep":"Loa","1":"The Book of the War (novel)"}) Indeed, many accounts documented powerful beings known as the Guardians, who were distinct from the Time Lords, guarded "the equilibrium of time itself", (TV: The Ribos Operation [+]Loading...["The Ribos Operation (TV story)"]) and found taking on physical forms to be a stifling imposition. (AUDIO: The Destroyer of Delights [+]Loading...["The Destroyer of Delights (audio story)"])
Indeed, if history could be viewed from the correct angle, how does anybody know that there wouldn’t appear to be 'organisms' encoded in its mass? If that's even remotely true, and history evolves, then it'd certainly explain how the Houses can now be at War even though they specifically designed history to make War impossible.
Place in Faction Paradox culture
Godmother Kumo wrote on the Faction's practices of loa evocation for The Book of the Truce, comparing stage-hypnosis to the Faction's use of ritual to appease, communicate, and bargain with the loa: as long as the volunteer was playing along (whether for fun, to avoid embarrassment, out of a sense of duty, or due to genuine hypnosis), the task would be performed, and the desired action would indeed result. (PROSE: Weapons Grade Snake Oil [+]Loading...["Weapons Grade Snake Oil (novel)"])
Due to her highly Christian upbringing, Cousin Justine sometimes found it difficult to remember that the Spirits should be talked to rather than prayed to. (AUDIO: The Eleven Day Empire [+]Loading...["The Eleven Day Empire (audio story)"])
Specific instances
Particular loa protected the Eleven-Day Empire, (AUDIO: The Eleven Day Empire [+]Loading...["The Eleven Day Empire (audio story)"]) with The Book of the War suggesting that they were initially among the loa which arose around the "real" London. (PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Loading...["The Book of the War (novel)"])
Father Christèmas created a loa to protect Bankside by conducting an elaborate ritual involving the Chance Coteries. (PROSE: Weapons Grade Snake Oil [+]Loading...["Weapons Grade Snake Oil (novel)"])
Godfather Avatar was himself a loa and was capable of riding a human psyche. (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved... [+]Loading...["Of the City of the Saved... (novel)"])
Conflation with Swimmers
Certain Swimmers, such as Spinning Jenny, Baron Samedi, and Maman Brigitte, were considered loa by Elizabeth Howkins and Cousin Isabella. These Swimmers were said to contain every soul they have ever devoured inside, slaved to the Loa's will. One such Swimmer, Spinning Jenny, was created by a magic ritual and the sacrifice of humans. (PROSE: Spinning Jenny [+]Loading...["Spinning Jenny (novel)"]) The Book of the War, on the other hand, discussed Swimmers and loa separately and in quite different terms. (PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Loading...["The Book of the War (novel)"])
