Sexuality

• Queer romances are illegal. They are grounds for scandal or blackmail. Actual prosecutions only occur because of political motives.
• Some of the written relationships can be optionally played as queer romances, these should be clandestine.
• There is a lot of homoerotic poetry and eroticism of young adult men around. This is normal and unremarkable.

The game will include some pre-written connections which can be played as queer romances based on how the players want to approach them. 

Homosexual relationships and sex would taboo in public, and technically illegal. They are a sin… but so is taking mistresses, having affairs, usury, coveting your neighbor’s ox, ass or wife. How you deal with sin is a question of your personal theology. One person might argue that everybody sins daily, and a good confession will wash it away. Another might argue that sin is a permanent stain on their immortal soul for which they’ll answer to God.

Being caught in a homosexual relationship at court is good grounds for threats, scandal and blackmail. It’s possible somebody could try and get the King to prosecute you for it. However, Henry is only really interested in prosecuting people with a lot of money or his political enemies.

Contemporary records of prosecution for homosexual sex at the time are politically motivated. Our guess is they’re also fabricated to add some flair to other charges. Parliament passed An acte for the punishment for the vice of buggerie in 1533. This moved the matter of any non-procreative or non-consensual sex into the realm of civil law rather than Canon (church) law. This to decrease the Church’s power rather than persecute sexual minorities. The King used the act to persecute the Catholic church by prosecuting nuns and monks. No consensual adult relations were prosecuted under this act until the reign of James I (which is interesting given what we understand about James I’s sexuality).

There is a lot of  male/male homoerotic imagery at the Tudor court. Eroticism of young adult men is very socially acceptable. A great deal of homoromantic poetry is written and collected, especially among the nobility.