The Freehold

History Of Adelaide

Pre-Colonial

Changeling numbers are small never larger than a single motley in one area often living on the edges of mortal tribes, sometimes as pariahs. Lord Sages of the Unknown Reaches are common due

the often close presence of other supernaturals.

Colonial Times

1830 - Edward Gibbon Wakefield proposes a new system for a free colony in New Holland.
1834- South Australian Association is founded. King William IV signs letters of Patent.
1836 –First colonists sail to the colony site, including Changelings hoping for a better life. Colonel William Light plans Adelaide & North Adelaide following strict instructions. His plans include the Parklands as a kill zone. He contracts Tuberculous is & dies in 1839, never seeing his city completed.New colonists acknowledge Native claims to the land they have, but begin to steal it anyway.
1838 –The Freehold of Heart & Hearth is founded. They focus on helping new colonists adapt to life as well as working with Aboriginal Changelings to help them keepsome of their traditional camping grounds. German Lutheran refugees migrate in large numbers to South Australia thanks to a £8000donation.
1840 – Crop failures as well as the Government upholding their promising to provide public sector employment for any colonist who can’t find private work causes the colony to go bankrupt. British parliament approves a £155, 000 loan later made a gift to bail out the colony.The first municipal authority in Australia, the Corporation of Adelaide is founded.
1842 – Copper discovered in Kapunda, later in Burra. Mining plans are put in place.
1844 - A new influx of colonists begins.Mortal Irish immigrants fleeing the Potato famine include Changeling Motleys. Women dominate the new arrivals. Unscrupulous Freehold members take advantage, turning many of these women into prostitutes.The King’s refusal to stop them disgusts German Changelings, who break away & form the Freehold of Der Weg des Ritters in Klemzig, using their connections to the Lutherans to try to rescue & rehabilitate the ‘unfortunates’.
1846 – The Freehold of Red Land forms in Gawler. The Autumn Court quickly dominates due to suspected Fae influence in the new mining towns. Eventually joined by native Lord Sages they discover Vampire influence instead. Plans begin on how to potentially deal with them, including a hedge beast breeding program.
1851 - Discovery of gold in Victoria leads to labour shortages as people flock to the gold fields.
1856 – The colony becomes self governing.
1857 – The Botanic Gardens open on North Terrace. New varieties of Goblinfruit develop in the overlapping hedge.
1863 – Gas begins to be supplied to the city, leading to gas lighting in 1867 Adrian Smith, an aggressive Fire Elemental takes control of the Freehold of Heart & Hearth.
1865 – Bank of Adelaide is founded. The city enjoys its most intense period of economic prosperity & many new buildings are constructed.
1870 - Tensions rise between The Freeholds of Heart & Hearth & Der Weg des Ritters over control of the Botanic Gardens hedge, & valuable Goblinfruit. Envoys from the Red Land step in & negotiate a truce.
1873 –The truce is broken, both Freeholds claim the other is to blame. War erupts in the Hedge with refugees from both Freeholds petitioning for entry into the Red Land. The Directional Courts arrive with a boom in Chinese immigrants. Refusing to take sides in the war, King Adrian Smith bans them from joining his Freehold.
1879 –The war finally ends when West Courtiers rescue members of both Freeholds considered MIA from Loyalists who’d been using the war as cover for their actions. An alliance is made to band together to take out the Loyalists & the Rulers swear lifelong pledges to prevent further war.
1880 –Telephones are introduced to Adelaide. Racial tensions mean Chinese residents are accused of running opium dens. Directional Courtiers are still refused entry into Heart & hearth. The University of Adelaide is the first in Australia to accept female students.
1881 – Art Gallery of South Australia opens. The Spring Court claims responsibility.
1883 - Adelaide Zoo opens. The night before opening a pair of lions vanishes from their locked cages. The matter is kept quiet to prevent panic. Several more pairs of predatory animals go missing in the first few months of the zoo’s existence. Cleaner James Whitmore is arrested on suspicion but vanishes from custody, never to be seen again. The animals are never found.
1891 – Free education is introduced. Members of Der Weg Des Ritters claim responsibility. Successive years of drought cause another recession, it eventually ends & growth becomes slow, but steady for decades.
1894 - Women’s Suffrage is passed in parliament.
1899 - 1531 South Australian Soldiers are sent to fight in the Boer War.
1900 – Electricity is introduced to Adelaide.

Federation

1901 – Commonwealth of Australia is established, Adelaide becomes the state capitol. The Immigration Restriction Act, otherwise known as the White Australia policy is passed. New immigrant numbers significantly drop, with nobody from outside Britain being accepted. Few Changelings are capable of passing the required tests & most don’t even try. New escapees become the only fresh blood in South Australia. The Freeholds begin to shrink as old members die or are lost.
1909 – Electric tram services begin. Traveling becomes easier between Freeholds, but interactions remain uneasy. The knowledge they can’t replace their numbers hits home & everyone is determined it will be Their Freehold to survive. Each Freehold isolates itself more than before.
1914 – WWI begins, ending in 1918. 28000 South Australian soldiers are sent to fight. Propaganda vilifying Germans is widespread & people are actively encouraged not to employ anyone of German descent. A concentration camp is opened on Torrens Island; all 300 prisoners are South Australian.
1915 – Der Weg Des Ritters members sneak into Torrens Island & get out photos & reports of the abuse inflicted on prisoners. Amidst public horror the camp is closed & the prisoners moved to camps in NSW. The Freehold chooses to stay close to their people & follow, none return to South Australia.
1918 – A postwar boom begins, with the first skyscrapers appearing.
1929 – Wall Street crash followed by drought brings the Great Depression into South Australia. Winter Court sees a massive rise in converts.
1933 - Winter takes control of Heart & Hearth.
1939 - WWII begins. 70,000 soldiers are sent to fight in Europe & Asia.
1941 – Red Land, now only a large motley of aging Summer & Autumn Courtiers become increasingly paranoid about invasion. They increase their program to breed an army of hedge beasts.
1943 - Red Land’s menagerie breaks loose, slaughtering the Changelings & escaping into the Hedge. Investigators searching the hollow discover insane plans including sending the beasts to Asia to fight the Japanese.
1945 – Munitions factories from the war start being converted to make electrical goods. South Australia experiences a post war boom. People are encouraged to have children so as to increase the population. The process to end the White Australia policies begins. The Spring Court’s numbers increase. A Motley of war veteran’s taken in Asia join the Directional Courts.
1953 –Mab, a Darkling in the Spring Court takes control of the Freehold.
1956 – Rumors of a great beast spread through the Hedge.
1958 – The beast was discovered to be a Great golden lion with a mane of fire. He begins to hunt Changelings, preferring to chat to his food. If someone can have a good enough conversation he lets them live, with only a scar.
1960 – First Adelaide & Fringe Festivals are held. Changelings are heavily involved in the organization of the events.
1962 – Australia joins the Vietnam War.
1965 – Mortals begin to suffer nightmares as a Fae ravages dreams. Dream poison starts to spread through the city. Queen Mab leads the Oneirophysics to stop the spread of the poison & finally battle the Fae in Dreams. Only one other Changeling survives the conflict, but loses his sanity.
1970 – The Peace movement grows massively & begins to seriously affect social change. Many activists are influenced by Asian ideas, particularly Beatles & John Lennon fans. More Changelings join the Directional Courts.
1973 – With Three Directional Court motleys around Adelaide, they begin discussions on forming their own freehold. Mab is growing increasingly powerful & unstable, speaking of calls to come home & take her place
1974 – Mab finally reaches a breaking point mid spring. She makes the transition from Changeling to Fae & in a single night decimates her Freehold. The only survivors are those out of easy reach. Only one Corpse is found. The Directional Court s make an offer to the survivors; join a new Freehold, one with no relationship to Heart & Hearth.

Rebuild

1975 – During Chinese New Year the Freehold of Hidden Treasures is founded. The city & suburbs are divided into Directions, with the Seasonal Courtiers fitting in where they can.
1977 – The Demon’s Gate is discovered in Tee Tree Gully.
1980 – A motley attempting to take control of Mab’s castle in the Hedge vanish during spring. Further attempts to reclaim the castle fail, with the Freehold Rulers finally banning further attempts.
1985 – Adelaide Casino opens.
1987 - Australian Submarine Corporation founded & awarded the contract to make the Collins class submarines. Construction of a site begins on the Port River.
1995 – Bridge Burners set a bushfire which burns 300 hectares & threatens homes in Rapid Bay.
1998 – The Demon’s Gate is finally destroyed.
2000 – A New Demon’s Gate is discovered at Tea Tree Plaza in Modbury.
2002 – Founding members of the Freehold retire. Some begin a long pilgrimage around the world.
2007 – World Police & Fire games happen in Adelaide. Changelings who didn’t keep their natures secret vanish or are killed during the games.

Character Creation Guideline

(NOTE: This section will be removed once the game commences, this points will be required for characters)

You were a human, exceptional in some way. Eventually through trickery, or force you were taken by Loyalists to The Others. (How did this happen?)
In The Realm of the Gentry reality overcame your ability to comprehend it and you would have lost yourself to The Beautiful Madness if you weren't able to hold onto *something* from the real world. (What do you remember? What kept you sane and brought you back?)
You were able to escape, the details are lost to you but you remember the tear of your soul on the thorns, the overwhelming desire to return to your special *something*. (How did you escape?)
You were found by creatures like you, like your master. They carried you away, locked you up, interrogated you, bound you in pledges and eventually let you go. (How did this affect you?)
You found your way into a Motley for safety and to stop the suspicious stares. Bound into another Pledge in the process and more duties. (Which Motley did you join? Why?)
Finally you find the autonomy to search for your special *something* and now you have something you need to keep secret and safe, even from your Motley. For the other Lost would use it to control you if they could. Everyone has a weakness. (What is your Secret and Weakness?)
And as time progressed you made a name for yourself, stories spread. (What rumours circulate about you?)

Court Positions

The Seasonal Monarchs

Members of the Court

Character	Court	Seeming	Est.	Position	Player
Balthazar	Court	Seeming	Est.	Position	Brenden Hrycek
Blaze	Winter	Elemental	Est.	Position	Simon Macrow
Cynthia Sleight	Court	Darkling	Est.	Position	Nicole
Frost	Court	Fairest	Est	Position	Oscar Clark
Hajime	Winter	Wizened	Est.	Position	Damien Hunter
Judex	West	Ogre	Est.	Position	Damien Hunter
Merci	Court	Beast	Est.	Position	Tamara Moldovan
Michael Black	Court	Seeming	Est.	Position	Josh Hill
Mr Masari	Autumn	Wizened	Est.	Position	Griff Bartel
Jane Marple	Winter	Fairest	Est.	Winter Queen	Eva Cavallaro
Octavian	East	Darkling	Est.	Position	Andrew Watson
Wolfie	Court	Beast	Est.	Position	Simon Macrow
Zimrith	Court	Seeming	Est.	Position	Steven Toune
Character	Court	Seeming	Est.	Position	Player
Character	Court	Seeming	Est.	Position	Player
Character	Court	Seeming	Est.	Position	Player
Character	Court	Seeming	Est.	Position	Player
Character	Court	Seeming	Est.	Position	Player