New Orleans (WOD)

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.

Gothic-Punk New Orleans is much more populous than the actual city of. Supernaturals often live much closer together than elsewhere, with fruitful instances of cooperation between vampires, mages and werewolves being possible in the past.

Vampire: The Masquerade
The earliest vampire in New Orleans was Doran, an idealistic Ventrue who dreamt of rebuilding Carthage and create a place where mortals and vampires could openly coexist. He was challenged by Simon de Cosa, a Spanish Brujah, who wanted to claim the city for himself. The Brujah did not care about rebuilding Carthage and was eventually defeated by an alliance between Doran and the local Lupines against him. Conflicts continued, with Elders from Europe supporting both combatants for their goals. In most cases, however, their plans were cut short by the intervention of mortal politics or the arrival of supernatural forces with their own agenda. Doran, untypical for a vampire, engaged in diplomacy with these forces, aiding mages against a rival group of technomancers. Plagues, however, depopulated the city constantly, leaving the Kindred to fight for healthy vessels and forced many to leave the city behind. Doran worked to make sure that his domain would be an attractive destination and invited several influential vampires. When these learned of Doran’s plan for a new Carthage, they withdrew their support and Doran met Final Death under mysterious circumstances in 1955. Marcel Guilbeau became the new prince, blaming Doran’s death on the Gangrel.

To the undead, New Orleans is a city like themselves, unchanging and nocturnal. The Kindred mainly flock to the French Quarter, as it seen as the centre of high culture. Vampires of all Clans can be found within New Orleans, with the sole exception of the Followers of Set. The Setites instead have a hidden temple at Lake Pontchartrain, within a nearly abandoned hotel. Doran saw the Serpents as a threat to his rule, and Guilbeau followed his predecessors vision. Several Kindred are just tourists who come for events like Mardi Gras. Most of these visitors are Brujah, Caitiff and Toreador. Since New Orleans lacks an extensive sewer system, most Nosferatu in the area have either relocated to neighbouring cities or found alternatives to their usual warrens. The local Tremere chantry is mainly headed by outcasts within the Clan, with few Elders wanting to send promising apprentices into territory known to be contested by mages. When he was still Justicar, Xaviar held regular conclaves within the city, at the Elysium at Jackson Square. There are eleven additional Elysia spread across the city, with one of them, the New Orleans Fairground, having recently come under attack by rivaling mages in 1993.

New Orleans withstood the Sabbat crusade at the begin of the turn of the century. Unfortunately, Hurricane Katrina destroyed multiple of the local Kindred, among them Prince Guilbeau and much of his brood. The rogue Tremere Antonio Calbullarshi has declared himself Prince, but most see him as a fraud. A the same time, a growing movement of wangateurs, consisting of Samedi, Harbingers of Skulls, Setites and their African counterparts, the Children of Damballah, grows within the city. The group openly practices Necromancy and seek to remake New Orleans into a capital for Voodoo practitioners.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse
The territory of New Orleans used to be in lands under the protection of the Uktena, with some Mokolé living in the nearby bayous. The Uktena used to have a Caern in the area that has now been overbuilt by the expanding city. A semi-official treaty ensures an uneasy coexistence with the local leeches, but has become strained since the Uktena are no closer to regaining their Caern than they were before. The Uktena are assured the control over all territories east of Inner Harbor Navigation Canal and east of the Intercoastal waterway. Glass Walkers and Bone Gnawers have taken up living in the city instead.

A Black Spiral Dancer Hive lies hidden in the Cajun Country, which is rumoured to house several wyrmish monsters that were once kept at bay by the Uktena. Pentex has set up a base with the intent of polluting the Mississippi. DNA used to have facility in the city, but it was destroyed recently when its captured subjects freed itself.

Mage: The Ascension
The Traditions and the Technocrats have a long history in New Orleans. In 1814, the local Traditions under the leadership of the Ecstatic Esau Grymes established an alliance with the Camarilla to drive out the Technocracy. This could not stop the technomancers, who returned in the 1920s under the leadership of the Syndicate, with the intention of taking the occult resources of the city for themselves. Today, Iteration X and the Syndicate are the most present of the Conventions and dominate both Tradition mages and vampires with their presence and their goal to control the state of Lousiana.

The local Traditions recruit themselves mainly from Euthanatoi, Choristers and Ecstatiscs, although the Hollow Ones also have a healthy presence. They control two chantries which argue about rights to harvest the local Quintessence. The modern Bata'a were founded in the slave quarter of New Orleans. The local Verbena circle works in close cooperation with the Bata'a, and has a much stronger focus on the spirit world than other circles. This has aided them in understanding and navigating the Avatar Storm.

Wraith: The Oblivion
The Necropolis of New Orleans was founded by a group of Heretics, but soon grew to encompass wraiths of several origins, including Spanish, French and English explorers, as well as the wraiths of the Mirrorlands. Different Heretic circles clashed over control over the Necropolis, until the Hierarchy arrived with several wraiths that were unhappy about the Heretics and their rigid rule. A vengeful wraith named Mariline is known to haunt the old Redlight District, hunting vampires who were responsible for her death.

Changeling: The Dreaming
New Orleans is part of Kingdom of Willows of Concordia, and the capital of the Duchy of the Delta Crescent. It is under the control of the Unseelie Duchess Lisette Levay of House Balor, who styles herself as the “Voodoo Queen”. She holds court in a freehold called the “Spirit Hall” south of the city, within the swamp. Most Changelings flock to the French Quarter, drawn by its museums and historical buildings. Pooka are present in the Audobon Park and the Zoo, while Sidhe and Satyrs often can be found in the Garden District. The local alligators are under the protection of a Seelie pooka named René, who acts as a tour guide for tourists in the Mississippi delta. Pooka flock to the city during Mardi Gras from all over Concordia. During this time, the pooka try to outdo each other by playing the best prank. The recently returned Noble House Beaumayn has made New Orleans into their center of activity, where the leaders of the House reside.

Due to the high presence of Cold Iron for some reason, the local Changelings suspect that New Orleans acts as the headquarters for an active group of Dauntain. Levay also holds contact to several other unsavoury supernatural forces, like Black Spiral Dancers and the Followers of Set.

Hunter: The Reckoning
New Orleans contains one of the oldest Cenacula of the Society of Leopold in the New World. The Order of St. Joan researches rumors of a “Werewolf threat”, but is also aware that the city must house vampires. N.S.T.O.F is a local police unit that hunts vampires. Unknown to many, the head of the unit, Robert Carter, is a ghoul who uses the group to hunt down unwanted vampires in order to gain access to vitae. An Imbued, Earl Deams, is monitoring the force for corruption, with his extensive photographic records of the local supernatural scene remaining in a suburban storage facility east of New Orleans.