Fabre Demonstrating The Effects Of Cordyceps Infection To His Students. This Particular Strain Only Affects

Fabre demonstrating the effects of cordyceps infection to his students. This particular strain only affects aphids, otherwise he’d be wearing heavier protection.

Public Transport and the Tortured Souls of the Damned

Have you ever been sat on the Underground, or Metro, and noticed that the car’s windows create an infinity mirror, with your reflection repeated on forever into the dark? Be careful not to stare to long or too hard, lest you see your reflection staring back. 

The modern mass transit system has many drawbacks; smelly passengers, other people’s music and the chance that a daemon may chose your body as its vessel to escape the mirror realm. We can all do our part to minimise these inconveniences and make every journey a pleasant one! So remember, keep your luggage in sight, be mindful of your fellow passengers, and look away if your reflection starts to reach out towards you.  

Good luck, safe travels and remember never to take directions from a Duegar, Wisp or Flibbertigibbet.

The words “mother told me never to pick up strange swords” squirmed just behind his teeth, but the jeers of the other boys clamped his jaw shut ever tighter around that sensible advice. It was a dagger, not a sword, embedded hilt-deep in the roughly snapped-off stump of a lightning-struck tree, at the center of the black and twisted heart, but such distinctions seemed unlikely to help in the event of a quest. He was afraid to be called a coward, somewhat more afraid of a four-on-one fight if he refused, and still more afraid of what came after one closed their hand around a weapon of unusual provenance–something on which his mother had failed to elaborate.

Witchcraft and the Industrial Revolution

In the cataclysmic change of the Industrial Revolution people were torn from the land they had worked and lived on for generations and swept into the great new metropolises forming across Britain. This torrent of humanity carried the witches along with it, forcing them from their rural parishes into the narrow valleys of terraced houses and the looming shadow of the factory stacks. Magic that had been tied to trees and stones and mountain streams had to find new roots. Hedge witches that had practiced their craft for thousands of years had to find new rituals. 

As with all change, some rose while others fell. The Rooted Gods of the forests and hills were forgotten and passed into a deep reverie. The more humanlike of the Fae, however, found new pleasures, new pastures and new hunting grounds in the sprawling townships of England. Magics that had lured unwary travellers from a woodland path worked just as well on late night revellers and unwatched children in a crowded street. 

Some witches were quick to find their place in the new world. In the 1890s the Southwick sisters discovered that weather magics and smog were a potent combination and conjured clouds of smoke and ash to cover acts of theft and grand larceny. Similarly, at the turn of the century the sorcerer James Heath found that the water spirits still answered his call from London’s pipes as well as from natural streams, and caused a lot more damage when asked to overflow their banks. 

People move, places change, but life goes on. Old magics are forgotten and new ones created. The spirits of the wild places might be in decline, but a new breed of urban Fae will rise to take their place. The only thing that is constant is change. 

Lophiiform Faerie - Bestiary Entry

The Faerie’s illicium form is that of a beautiful human, with flawless skin, sparkling eyes, and long supple limbs. This glamour acts as a lure - concealing the Faerie’s true form until the prey is too close to escape. At close quarters the glamour dissolves and the trap is sprung. 

The sparkling eyes are revealed to be fixed and compound, the angles of that perfect face are composed of keratinous plates, and the enticing whispers descend into a dry hiss. As the prey is engulfed by the Faerie’s many limbs they realise that the lithe form they glimpsed in the shadows is nothing but markings on a pulsating thorax. Then the needle toothed jaws open impossibly wide and the hunt is over. 

Apotropaic Magic and Interior Design

Two Tree Top Tip

There’s nothing better than plants for cheering up a room or bringing a bit of life to a gloomy urban space. Why not try putting a Rowan tree and Holly bush by your doors and windows? They’ll bring a bit of vibrancy to the room, clean the air and prevent malign occult forces from entering your abode.