You know, for all the past memes of Ceruleans being plant-touchers etc, it's actually really interesting that they're the one chapter that, for most of the timeline, isn't named after a specific ruling chapterhouse but instead with a generic "colour" name. This presumably comes from the whole "Green Party" metaphor idea.
Meanwhile during the War in Heaven, not only is there explicitly a sixth ruling house now that temporarily rose to power in the chapter (I personally guess either Tracolix or Xianthellipse but YMMV - which ever one it isn't is probably Patrex), but now other chapters, in so much as we hear about them, are referred to with similar colour-based names. This comes from A Labyrinth of Histories, where Dvora is mentioned to be part of the "Scarlet Chapterhouse", despite now ruling what used to be the Prydonian chapter.
I assume the latter is due to the new instability of the chapters. Over millions of years of absolute power, Houses Prydon, Scendeles, Arcal, Patrex and Dromei had become synonymous with their chapters until the shakeup of the War. With the chapterhouses suddenly changing constantly, there's no point in referring to the chapters by their ruling house regimes. Instead they are simply referred to by colour, presumably the original constitutional names for the chapters, in the same way as there are Gold and Bronze Ushers.
This would seem to suggest that there is no "House Cerulean", but instead that the chapter has always been like this.
So, what does this imply about the Cerulean Chapter, which seemingly never developed a consistent ruling house?
Originally I thought this might have been due to some sort of internal directly-democratic system where no one House is allowed power over the chapter. This would seem fitting given the chapter's politics. However, the War-time naming of the chapters and the introduction of a sixth ruling house implies there's no special rule to this chapter in particular.
Now however... I think it implies there might have been many ruling houses over the chapter's history, but none were ever able to hold on to power for very long or had any accomplishments that distinguished them from all the other houses that attempted to lead the chapter. This is presuambly part of the reason why the chapter never gained much power, as they were too internally unstable to get anything done long-term.
In other words - the reason why the 'progressive' Cerulean chapter never managed to change much on Gallifrey, leaving its society stagnant and conservative?
Basically comes down to... leftist infighting.
Suddenly that metaphor is a little bit less silly isn't it?
