New Orleans (cWOD)

New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. It houses more than 500,000 people in the city itself, with around 1.2 million in the greater area.

Overview
It is said that this city has a mood and atmosphere much similar to certain novels available to the popular culture. At night, the vampires are the undisputed masters of the domain. They fight their Jyhad here with the same cruel relentlessness as anywhere else. And in spite of all political, economic and social shortcomings, the city endures, as deathless as the numerous kindred who call it home. The history of New Orleans stretches back to a far earlier date than the actual founding of the city by Jean Baptiste le Moyne at the banks of the Mississippi in 1718.

It began during the Third Punic War, when a Roman tribune by the name of Gaius Marcellus was fatally wounded at the age of 23. A Ventrue embraced him, and Gaius soon realized that there were greater things at stake in this war than the concearns of mere mortals. For several decades, the neonate stayed by the side of his sire and excelled at the tasks he was given, but the meaninglessness of the Jyhad and his sire's role in it eventually made him leave Rome.

During the centuries Gaius spent on French soil, he never forgot the tales he told his first childe, Doran, about the glory of Carthage. In the early 18th century Doran left Europe for the New World and settled down in Louisiana as the area's only vampire at the time; he was ill-prepared for the arrival of another one of his kind in that territory and maybe would not have even noticed it, but the newcomer, Simon de Cosa, did not keep a low profile for long.

They clashed several times, and early on in their struggle, Doran made Jean Baptiste le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, the territory's young governor, his ghoul. Thereupon, Simon de Cosa assisted in the governor's dismissal from office. After that, nothing was heard from the Spaniard until 1718, and de Bienville formally founded the city of New Orleans.

Simon continued his war on Doran for the next 40 years. He showed no sumpathy whatsoever for Doran's visions and ceaselessly tried to oust his rival. In 1743 he came very close to bringing his plans to a syccessful end, when Doran lost his influence over de Bienville. De Cosa was of the opinion Doran would be at severe disadvantage without his pet ghoul and made his movetogether with a small gang of followers - in vain. Again in 1755, after Doran reached an agreement of truce with the local werewolves, Simon managed to chase the Ventrue from the city, that came under Spanish rule.

When the French colonists rebelled, Count Alexander O'Reilly arrived from Europe, killed a number of Doran's retainers and brought the revolt to an end. Nevertheless, Simon could still not destroy the Ventrue. The latter returned and remained as Prince of the city until 1955, when he was finally destroyed and replaced by Marcel Guilbeau. In 1960 race riots erupted throughout the city as whites tried to hinder the enforcement of desegregation laws (the current prince blamed mages, but specially the younger kindred of New Orleans still hold Guilbeau responsible).

According to prince Guilbeau, the infamous "New Orleans Fairground Blaze" in 1993 can be traced back to the local mages as well.

Trivia

 * According to Encyclopaedia Vampirica, New Orleans from the Classic World of Darkness is much more populous than the actual city of.