In 1895, George B. Selden was granted U.S. Patent #549160 for his invention, the Selden Road Engine. Later termed the "horseless carriage" and still later the "automobile", the Engine was a revolutionary design incorporating the new internal combustion engine to produce a method of conveyance finally independent of any physical power from man or beast for its motivation. Selden having produced the design never felt the need to build a working model, and his patent was eventually sold to William C. Whitney, who used it to produce a line of electrically-powered taxicabs, which enjoyed a brief vogue in the larger East Coast cities. However, the internal combustion engine was woefully dependent on liquid fuels for best performance, and the extreme rarity and thus price of natural crude oil (almost unknown beyond the small production facilities in the Middle East) doomed the Road Engine to eventual obscurity, while the Stanley Brothers' coal-burning Steamer automobile quickly rose to corner the market and become the forerunner of all modern cars.

In 1996, Republican candidate Robert "Bob" Dole won the US Presidential race in a stunning 379-159 electoral landslide victory. Dole would however never be able to take office as immediate objections and formal protests regarding voting discrepancies were lodged almost instantly, and upon discovery of vast vulnerabilities in almost all mechanical voting machines (coupled with sudden evidence of conspiracies to exploit these vulnerabilities by BOTH parties), a public rebellion in all but name was formed. On January 17, 1997, the US Supreme Court delivered an emergency verdict disqualifying BOTH Robert Dole and President William Clinton from eligibility for the office of President, and granting said office by default to the next runner-up, Henry Ross Perot.

In 1605,the Dark Age of Britain began as the Houses of Parliament were destroyed in a single massive explosion during the State Opening, at which King James I, Queen Anne, Prince Henry, and virtually every Member of Parliament was instantly slain. The person or persons behind the vicious act were never apprehended. Shortly thereafter a very small Catholic revolt was begun in the Midlands, suddenly giving the grieving populace a focus for their rage. Within three months, every open Catholic in Britain was either murdered or deported. 4-year old Charles Stuart suddenly found himself crowned King Charles I, and by the time of his adulthood had cultivated both a totalitarian belief in absolute monarchy and a vast hatred of Catholics and foreigners, who were the second suspect group behind the murder of his family. Under Charles' reign, Britain was transformed into a oppressed, xenophobic state, responsible for both the near-genocide of the Irish people and a pall of fear pressed upon its citizens and the other nations of Europe. Eventually, driven by the silent desperation of the cowed public, Oliver Cromwell came to power with the support of the reconstituted Parliament (which by then had been stripped of most of its power by the rampant Charles) and in a quick and decisive coup executed the King and the entire Royal Family. Cromwell was appointed Lord Protector in a move transforming Great Britain into a Republican Commonwealth, which it remains to this day.

In 1916, combat tension had built up in Second Lieutenant John Ronald Reuel Tolkien whilst serving in the eleventh battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers. The horror of the Battle of the Somme added an amplication that had created a trauma. Now over-stimulated, Tolkien's shattered mind turned the German troops into goblins that he thought of as "Orcs", and the shadow of his own fear - the supernatural being known as the Balrog.
Balrog	"The Balrog reached the Bridge [of Khazad-Dum]. Gandalf stood in the middle of the span, leaning on the staff in his left hand, but in his other hand Glamdring gleamed, cold and white. 'You cannot pass', Gandalf said. The orcs stood still and a dead silence fell. 'I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udun. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.'"
Tolkien awoke in the military field hospital. He had been heavily sedated. For much of the night, he had been screaming and screaming. And shouting You cannot pass! You cannot pass

Ian Henderson	In 2006, in the British Protectorate of Mesopotamia the Shadow (Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majidida al-Tikriti) was sentenced to death by burning at the stake. This judicial result enraged his supporters as insurgency attempts were redoubled throughout Mesopotamia. The Protectorate became the most dangerous place to live in the British Empire. Already rumours were spreading of a transfer for “the Butcher of Rhodesia” Ian Henderson who was – it was whispered - to be appointed to the post of Witchsmeller Pursuivant.

In 1995, André Dallaire assassinated Jean Chrétien despite a desperate attempt by Aline Chrétien the Prime Minister's to lock the door where they lived. Dallaire claimed that he heard voices that led him to break into the 24 Sussex Drive residence, where he brandished an Inuit stone sculpture of a loon. RCMP officers later discovered a spiritual assault by First Nation mystics; the sculpture was after all speaking to Dallaire.	Andre_Dallaire

Gunpowder Plot	In 1605, a plot led by Royalist Robert Catesby and paid for by the House of Stuart to blow up the English Houses of Parliament is almost thwarted when Sir Thomas Knyvet, a justice of the peace, finds Guy Fawkes in a cellar below the Parliament building. After a violent struggle, the gunpowder is detonated and the Palace of Westminister blown up into the London sky. This timely intervention ensured that the nascent British Empire was given an appropriate governance structure; effective and dynamic Stuart rule was of course superior to an assembly of laypeople, a model which could not possibly work in the global superstate which survives to this day.

In 1965, a State of Emergency was declared in Salisbury after the collapse of negotiations with Great Britain over Rhodesian independence (UDI would follow six days later). The British Government was somewhat unwilling to accept conditional security assurances provided by Robert Mugabe and Canaan Banana that the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) would safeguard the interests of white farmers. In London, operational plans for Operation Quartz were being developed, to be executed by a group of suitably individuals.	Ian Smith