At its heart, the Stratagematist element posits that reality itself is a constructed narrative, meticulously curated by unseen forces—often, but not exclusively, those inhabiting the interstitial spaces between time and space. Think of it as a layered simulation, constantly being tweaked and adjusted by entities whose motivations are beyond human comprehension. The term "Stratagematist" arises from the belief that these entities are not merely observing, but actively shaping events, employing complex, and often bewildering, strategic maneuvers. Many early adherents, figures like Professor Silas Blackwood (a man rumored to have spent years documenting the movement of subterranean fungi) believed that the Cape’s vast, unexplored veld was a central locus for these manipulations.
Blackwood’s journals, recovered from a damp cellar beneath what was once the Jameson Hotel, are filled with meticulously drawn diagrams depicting ‘resonance patterns’ and ‘chronal echoes.’ He hypothesized that the ‘slime’—a substance he described as ‘viscous temporality’—was the medium through which these strategic influences propagated. The slime, he theorized, was not merely a physical substance, but a conceptual one, a representation of the underlying structure of time itself. It was, in essence, the subconscious of the universe.
The “Africanderism” component isn’t a political ideology as such, but a deeply ingrained worldview—a particular way of interpreting the strategic manipulations through a lens of perceived colonial responsibility and a romanticized understanding of the Cape’s history. Early proponents, many of whom were deeply invested in the preservation of Afrikaner culture, interpreted the ‘slime’ as a manifestation of the ‘spirit of the land’—a vengeful, protective force reacting to what they perceived as the encroaching influence of British civilization.
This isn’t to suggest a straightforward embrace of white supremacy, but rather a conviction that the strategic manipulations were aligned with a desire to maintain a certain cultural and geographical identity. The idea of the Cape as a ‘sacred space,’ imbued with a potent, almost sentient energy, became central to the movement. Scholars argue that the fascination with the veld’s ‘slime’ was, in part, a projection of colonial anxieties—a desire to find agency and control within a landscape that was both beautiful and profoundly unsettling.
The concept of "viscous temporality" was often invoked to explain the seemingly inexplicable events that plagued the Cape Colony – strange animal behavior, unexplained disappearances, and the unsettling feeling of being watched. These were, according to the Stratagematists, not random occurrences, but carefully orchestrated demonstrations of the ‘slime’s’ influence.