User:Najawin/Transmat:FP
Weaving in and out of various levels of fiction in the Doctor Who Universe, Faction Paradox explores high concept science fiction on the fringes of an unspeakable Time War. Our main focus is on the eponymous Faction Paradox, a time traveling criminal syndicate, who use magic and ritual in place of technology.
Faction Paradox draws heavy inspiration from fantasy literature as well as more traditional science fiction. One aspect where this plays out is the importance of names. You'll recognize many concepts from standard Doctor Who fiction in the series, occasionally with the same name, but often with new ones. The world of Faction Paradox is in many ways a dark reflection of the Doctor Who you've come to know.
While never showing up in the audiovisual medium, Faction Paradox has made the jump between many different forms of entertainment. There's the ongoing novel series, along with the associated anthologies, the audio dramas, and the short lived comic series.
No, not that Time War. Not that one either. The other one. Taking place between the Great Houses that watch over history, sterile, static, unchanging, and their nameless, faceless, Enemy - an enemy that to name would be to underestimate. In the margins, scribbling away and defacing any nearby solar system, is Faction Paradox, the black sheep of the Great Houses of history, kicked out, and recruiting from the lesser races as a result.
Originally developed by Lawrence Miles for Alien Bodies in the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures series, the War in Heaven and Faction Paradox were originally explored in the mainline Doctor Who novels before Miles decided he was more interested in the world surrounding The Doctor than he was in The Doctor himself, taking his work and creating a spinoff. Since then it's moved between a variety of publishers before settling at Obverse Books, which also produces Iris Wildthyme, as well as The Black Archive series of non-fiction critical monographs.
One of the great things about Faction Paradox is that while it has a reputation for being inhospitable, it's actually deeply accessible. Practically any Faction Paradox story can be your introduction, with the possible exception of the audios. If you insist on getting the full context, you can start with Alien Bodies, but this is by no means essential.
