Family Matters

> *"Put a bunch of secret-hoarding Time Lords in a secluded spaceship, and the theatrics practically generate themselves."*
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**Family Matters** is the third serial of Thieves and TARDISes. It features the introduction of noted Tumblr sexywoman, Irving Braxiatel.

### Summary

#### Part One

> *Team TARDIS are trapped in a Prydonian storage station set to be destroyed within a manner of hours - and with the Doctor out of commission, it's up to them to find the would-be murderer amongst a cast of deeply suspicious Time Lords.*
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#### Part Two

> *The team heads deeper. What’s wrong with Nic? What’s up with the Professor? And will Cousin Theseus get punched cleanly in the face by a very angry Verity? At least one of these questions will definitely be answered in the second ring.*
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#### Part Three

> *Nic Loses It. An old (new?) friend reveals herself. The gang gets even more stabby than usual.*
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#### Part Four

> *Dissent, Caryo, and Leela finally find out what’s at the centre of the Esoterica. Verity faces a unique personal dilemma.*
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### NPCs

* The Doctor
* Ylemamiramassius
* Keldred/Clare Owers
* Cordelia Caralis
* Nic
* Irving Braxiatel
* Cousin Theseus
* The Custodian
* Ariadne

### Continuity

* Brax mentions the Previous Doctor's fondness for 'monochromatic knitwear'.
* Leela suggests Janis thorns as a potential solution.
* The Doctor explains regeneration to her companions.
* Cordelia tells Leela that 'last [she'd] heard, Rassilon sent [her] into a warzone, and nobody had heard of [her] since', referencing events that presumably occurred after the conclusion of Gallifrey: Time War. She also mentions that Rassilon is (currently) dead, and Narvin hasn't been Coordinator of the CIA for 'centuries'.
	+ The current CIA coordinator is Ashyadivinizi.
* In the Lungbarrow vault, there is a painting of the Miles Richardson incarnation of Brax standing with his daughter, Maggie.
* Brax mentions that the Doctor faked their own death over a missed temporal physics exam, back at the Academy.
* Leela moves several family photo albums and diaries from the Lungbarrow vault to the Doctor's TARDIS.
	+ In the Heartshaven vault, she takes Romana's datapad, and acquires Roman's coat.
* Cousin Justine and *Alien Bodies* are referenced while discussing the practicalities of forcible biodata extraction.
* Verity gains the 'Vortex' trait after connecting with Theseus's bone shrine - giving her a +2 to rolls involving travelling in the Time Vortex.
* The Doctor had previously assumed that Brax died in the Time War after being eaten by clowns.
* Dissent keeps Cousin Theseus's skull mask, as well as a Bop-It that had improbably been included in the 'Dangerous' section of the Esoterica. Caryo steals a potted plant (which they gift to the Doctor) as well as a broken Time Ring from the 'Strange' section.
* Of the nine vaults belonging to various Prydonian houses in the second ring of the Esoterica, Bluewood, Blyledge, Brightshore, Heartshaven, Stillhaven and Lungbarrow are canonical. 'Dooclare' is a reference to a House name suggested for the first Doctor and Susan in an early pitch for 'Dr Who', while Miralaviniax and Primirax just don't exist anywhere in the Doctor Who universe.

### Trivia

* Dissent is cosplaying Herlock Sholmes from the Ace Attorney series all through this serial.
* House Miralaviniax, whose vault is located in the second ring, is a refence to the Amnesty arc of the Adventure Zone.
* Although it was never actually revealed in the actual story because nobody bothered to ask, Ylem *is* in fact a partially converted Dalek puppet.

The NPCs. Art by Kitty.Art by Kitty.Complete map of the Esoterica.The Temporal Blade. Art by Dyonisia.Verity and Braxiatel. Art by ivq.