As it happens, the business of bugs, as they called them, arises from the subject matter covered in Forest. The waning strength of belief in tradition, driven by print and an assault of pseudo-intellectualism, meant that the barrier between worlds eroded, rapidly. The harassment of both noble and preacher led the commoner to question what had once seemed obvious, mostly because the old ways were all too frequently parcelled up with heresy and sedition.

Opportunity knocked for supernatural entities and genuine practitioners of magick to make their mark and recover ground lost through centuries of passive resistance generated by a wall of incomprehensible faith. The mortal population had no way to know or understand the repercussions, seeing the resurgence of the shades and Fae as a result of witchcraft, rather than the result of fading traditions. The problem is self-reinforcing but close up it’s impossible to see the wood from the trees.

In all honesty, even the likes of Dee couldn’t see the full extent of the threat and how much ground has been lost up to the middle of the century after Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of All Saints’ Church and the Pope’s excommunication of King Henry VIII more than a decade later. The chaos that ensued cut whatever solidarity of faith had existed in Europe up to that point—though, to be clear, it was the relative detachment of the Church that was key, not the Church itself, in established the bulwark against the other worlds.

The defences of our world crumbled and the shade (and shades) of other worlds crept in.

Every day during August, I’ll be writing something new on The Dee Sanction and aim to connect the word prompt of the day with the development of the game. Check out the concept, the list and the graphics over at AUTOCRATIK.

During the 16th century, the rich got richer as the poor became poorer still; driven in some measure by the private holding of common land, the rural population were forced to seek employment rather than having the option to grab some scrubland and fend for themselves.

Religion fragmented, becoming a tool of politics more often than not. Both the Anglican and Lutheran perspectives in Europe had their impact on the Church of Rome and the power of the Pope. The weakening of the Church had a rolling impact across the whole of Europe throughout the period and beyond.

And deforestation became a thing. As populations flourished and urban centres expanded, the demand for wood in construction and for fuel skyrocketed. Even as coal gathered popularity, wood remained a necessity and shortages became a thing. Protests about deforestation across Britain increased.

Now, that’s all very real—the unreal challenge arises from the forests as home to the Fae, notably the more bestial sorts, like goblins and boggarts, who occupy the woodlands as a source of food and refuge. Most higher Fae simply use the woods as a means to access their otherworldly homes, but even they rail against the destruction.

In this period, the old traditions fade and humanity begins to forget the ways of their ancestors, pressured by modernity and the threat of heresy. What was wisdom became witchcraft. Hierarchy generated pressure downward on the masses to conform to new wave thinking, the upper echelons acquiring knowledge from books published in English and the infancy of science. The century generated both structure and rebellion, and in the midst of it, the old traditions became dangerous. In turn, that weakening of antiquities wisdom allows the entities of the supernatural to gather strength—oddly, the monopoly of the Church in Europe had had a positive effect on keeping otherworldly entities in check and now that force was fading.

The time is ripe for the supernatural to flourish; enter Safety Lies in Fear during the 40s/50s and The Dee Sanction from the 50s onward, following the travels and travails of John Dee’s career.

Every day during August, I’ll be writing something new on The Dee Sanction and aim to connect the word prompt of the day with the development of the game. Check out the concept, the list and the graphics over at AUTOCRATIK.