Shadow History

Overview

For the majority of it's existence, the Quincunx Corporation has existed as an underground group of supernatural hunters and diplomats charged by the government with the task of mediating disputes between the courts. For a great deal of this time, it was a secretive government department known as the Royal Antipodean Monitoring Agency, and then the Royal Australian Paranormal Detection Agency. The group performed it's job admirably over the course of a century, and as a result of this, the history of the supernatural in Sydney is well hidden. Only a few incidents remain in the public eye with otherworldly or paranormal explanations, and most of these have been rationalised in the mainstream. Those few scholars who have managed to piece together some of the strange happenings of the city refer to the pattern as a "Shadow History".

Different scholars and conspiracists have different ideas about which events in the city's history have mundane explanations, and which events are the result of paranormal effects. It can be certain to say that the vast majority of history in the city of Sydney is the result of normal human interaction, politics and natural effects. Though many conspiracy theorists would like to persuade people that many parts of history are the work of supernatural beings, and many other events of hiostory have impacted on the paranormal world at least as much as they impacted on the surface world seen by the masses.

Courtly Intrigues

Sydney is not so much a city of layers, but more a swirling maelstrom of cultures, races and divisions. The supernatural groups present in the city are neither responsible for this nor are they immune to it's effects. It could be easy to suggest that a specific court works as the secretive manipulators of one biker gang, while another court manipulates a second gang. It would then be easy to follow that when these two biker gangs wage war on one another then the courts must be at odds, but this is rarely the case.

The great courts of supernatural beings wage wars on a far grander scale across the world, their emissaries and agents within a city are merely footsoldiers. It would be just as likely for members of separate courts to belong to a single biker gang, or for members of the same court to belong to three or four different gangs. Gang wars are typically the result of mundane agendas, supernatural gang members get caught up in the crossfire just as easily as mundane members.

This isn't to say it doesn't happen though.

The intrigues of the supernatural swirl through all aspects of society, from the drug deals on the streets, through to the political maneuvering of parliament and the corporate machinations that influence the livelihood of the entire city. None are immune to the effects of the supernatural, but it is very rare for the courts to get sloppy. Their influences might make an impact in the back pages of a paper, and if they do appear on the front page, then their plots will weave through dozens of mundane agents, with a hundred scape goats and fall-guys before any supernatural intervention has even been noticed.

Rogue Activities

Those supernatural beings who don't known about their heritage (the orphans), and those who deliberatly rebel against the courts (the rogues), are a different matter. Many of these beings use their powers for personal gain, and quite a few get power hungry when they realise the potential of their abilities compared to the regular people around them.

The courts take great efforts to adopt the orphans into their ranks and neutralise the rogues, but there are always events that manage to reach the media. In modern nights, these events often fall to the Quincunx Corporation. Part time security guards for the masses, part time heroes, and part time clean-up crew.

Accuracy

Many of the events listed on this page are significant in the annals of the Quincunx Corporation, though the exact nature of these incidents can be hard to fully uncover. Some of these events were definitely linked to the paranormal in some way, but at least as many were simply mundane events that may have simply gotten out of control, or received high media coverage despite an attempted cover up.

Other events may not be found in regular historical documents for the city, only being revealed through the courts as having some kind of supernatural impact. Like everything about Quincunx, many assume the whole thing is a hoax, and mundane reasons can be found for all the events on this list.

Chronology

1880 - 1890

1885: Establishment of the Royal Antipodean Monitoring Association
1887: First dealings with the courts of Ochre and Rose

1890 - 1900

1891: Court of Jade make presence first felt among Chinese immigrants who arrived due to the gold rush.

1900 - 1910

1910 - 1920

1914: Sydney Markets established at Haymarket
1916: Taronga Zoo opens
1918: World War 1

1920 - 1930

1923: Change of Name to the Royal Australian Paranormal Detection Agency

1930 - 1940

1932: Great Depression
1932: Sydney Harbour Bridge opened on 19 March 1932. It was opened by Jack Lang (1875-1975) who was Premier of New South Wales in 1925-27 and 1930-1932. (Although a man called Captain de Groot cut the tape before the Premier could).
1934: The Anzac War Memorial in Sydney was designed by Bruce Dellit (1898-1942). It was built in 1934. The sculptor of the monument was Raynor Hoff (1894-1937).
1935: In 1935 a tiger shark was caught and placed in Coogee Aquarium in Sydney. On Anzac Day, 25 April 1935 it regurgitated a human arm. The arm had a tattoo of two boxers and police were able to obtain fingerprints. The arm belonged to a 40 year old man named James Smith a former boxer. When examined it was clear the arm had been cut with a knife not bitten off by a shark. There was a theory that Smith's body was put in a trunk and dumped at sea. His arm would not fit so it was cut off with a sharp knife and tied to the trunk. However it came loose and a shark swallowed it. At any rate the rest of the body was never found.
1939: World War 2

1940 - 1950

1941: First contact with the Pyote Court as high numbers of Amercian soliders come into Sydney to help with the defences against the Japanese.
1942: On 31 May 1942 three Japanese midget submarines entered Sydney Harbour. One of them fired a torpedo which hit HMAS Kuttabul, killing 19 Australians and 2 Britons.
1944: The Court of Jade makes it's presence felt in the region with the Cowra breakout. 5th August
1947: Dealing with European immigrants and the heavy arrival of the Court of Blood.
1949: Founding of the Snowy Mountain Scheme and influx of European immigrants.

1950 - 1960

1953: Testing of nuclear weapons at Woomera

1960 - 1970

1963: Dealing with Asian immigrants and the reinforcements to the Courts of Jade and Chrysanthemum.

1970 - 1980

1972: Indian arrival of the Court of Sapphire
1972: End of White Australia Policy
1973: Sydney Opera House was opened in 1973 by Queen Elizabeth II.
1975: Sydney Markets move to Flemington (while retaining their Haymarket location).
1977: Founding of Sydney Festival.
1978: The First Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

1980 - 1990

1981: Sydney Tower was built in 1981.
1983: Higher degree of Asian immigration than british for first time in history
1984: Milperra Massacre
1988: Bicentennial
1988: The Chinese Garden of Friendship opened in 1988.
1988: Sydney Market's at Haymarket close for 5 years.

1990 - 2000

1992: Sydney Harbour Tunnel was built in 1992.
1992: Sydney Jewish Museum opened in 1992.
1993: Sydney Market's reopen at Haymarket.
1997: Star City casino complex opened in 1997.
1998: Government funding draws to an end
1999: Privatisation of Quincunx
New Years Eve 2000: The Fracture

2000 +

2000: Sydney Olympics
2004: Development of the Television Show
2008: Television Show appears in Prime Time on free-to-air TV

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