Post-Katrina New Orlean's and Louisiana's Kindreds

Hi! I start to run "True Blood"-like Vampire-Changing Breeds crossover game set in little, fictional tiny town (population of 473) in the middle of swamps of Louisiana, Peu d'Espoir ( Little Hope, but maybe you have other ideas on this name??? ), with nearest part of reserve and traditional oil refinery. As I'm mainly Mage ST and not as good grounded in Vampire setting, maybe you have some ideas or advices on how would like Louisiana's Kindred society looked after Hurricane? What other city could become the temporal "state capitol" for Vampires? How would look like now situation with rebuilt of New Orlean itself? I have the Requiem corebook as main source, but can look in New Orleans city book on occasions for this.

Also, maybe you could show me good inspirations for nowdays Louisiana life? Movies, TV shows, maybe some e-books?

Couple things that might help.

New Orleans is the largest city in the state followed by Baton Rouge, then Sheverport (at the other end of the state). BR is the city that most of the N.O vampires would have moved to.

Other then that, North LA is Very different then the southener end of the state, in look and feel.

And minor things to avoid when running in agame in LA. There are NO basements (New Orleans is below sea level, why the tombs and crypts in the city are above ground. They are not swamps in LA, they are Bayous,)

Well, one, it's frickin' hot.  For most of the year.  The only nice months are November and April.

When not hot, it's cold.  Not snowy, but cold nonetheless.

473 population is too small for an oil refinery.  Oil is money.  The people working their will want to buy things and they'll be shops, dinners etc. to support their income needs.

It's better to have a shut down refinery and a town of mostly abandoned buildings.

I don't know, but I'm picturing a town with the majority are African Americans whereas the town in run by a white minority.  I see a high crime rate, drugs and gangs.  I see a rapidly growing minority of Hispanics that's causing racial tensions with the Blacks.

Thank you for your posts, guys! They help me a lot.

What is, real, difference between swamp and bayou? I readed wiki articles but can't imagined them...

Unholy Pilgrim:

473 population is too small for an oil refinery.  Oil is money.  The people working their will want to buy things and they'll be shops, dinners etc. to support their income needs.

It's better to have a shut down refinery and a town of mostly abandoned buildings.

I wanted to incorporate conflict between reserve amd refinery, Man and Nature. Maybe old shatted refinery, now, after Katrina, the ex-land owning family want to reopen it, for any costs?

Unholy Pilgrim:

I don't know, but I'm picturing a town with the majority are African Americans whereas the town in run by a white minority.  I see a high crime rate, drugs and gangs.  I see a rapidly growing minority of Hispanics that's causing racial tensions with the Blacks.

Well, I see Afro-Amercians as major population, but not gangs in classical meaning. It's little town, the only "gang" would be only one, so no need for this, only "party company" that sell drugs and try to drink they pointless lives.

WyrdHamster:

What is, real, difference between swamp and bayou?

Nothing major, bayou is nicer, though.

WyrdHamster:

I start to run "True Blood"-like Vampire-Changing Breeds crossover game set in little, fictional tiny town (population of 473) in the middle of swamps of Louisiana, Peu d'Espoir ( Little Hope, but maybe you have other ideas on this name??? ), with nearest part of reserve and traditional oil refinery.

473 IS too small for a refinery.  I'd go with the abandoned idea, the haunted thing will work if its abandoned, but not if you still intent it to be in use.  Living across the Missouri from a refinery, the population of Mandan, ND is nearly 50k and it would be much larger if Bismarck wasn't here right beside it (together we're just over 100K).

WyrdHamster:

maybe you have some ideas or advices on how would like Louisiana's Kindred society looked after Hurricane? What other city could become the temporal "state capitol" for Vampires? How would look like now situation with rebuilt of New Orlean itself?

Only the seriously die hard Kindred, or the Nosferatu, would have stayed THROUGH the Hurricane and immediate aftermath, and they'd be in the best position to take over New Orleans before everyone else started coming back.  Baton Rouge would be the first place everyone else would flee to, like someone else mentioned, and I personally believe that it would STILL be chaotic in Kindred society as New Orleans rebuilds.

In a town for 473, though, there wouldn't be a "society" to speak of.  One Kindred is going to have a hard time surviving on 473 people without being noticed, much less more than one. 

Just thought I'd pipe in.

WyrdHamster, just to give you a heads up if you didn't know, there are a series of letters in the Mekhet Clanbook which discuss what New Orleans is like for Kindred after Katrina went through. So, I'd suggest taking a look at that book for some ideas.

LimeFlavored:

473 IS too small for a refinery.  I'd go with the abandoned idea, the haunted thing will work if its abandoned, but not if you still intent it to be in use.  Living across the Missouri from a refinery, the population of Mandan, ND is nearly 50k and it would be much larger if Bismarck wasn't here right beside it (together we're just over 100K).

I wanted to preserve the "small community" feel of True Bloods Bon Temps town. Also, the Marshs Refinery in Innsmouth didn't needed the thousands of people working for it. Or the refinery from the Swamp-Thing movie. Or maybe there weren't refineries, only some stations that just get the oil from ground. I remember I watched some rather new movie with this, and there was community like that - small, and all were working in oil industry, but don't remember what was it - maybe it was new Swamp-Thing remake?

Edit: I remembered - it's Man-Thing movie, from 2005. I will rewatch it once more and say what was this facility that give the town work and all.

LimeFlavored:

In a town for 473, though, there wouldn't be a "society" to speak of.  One Kindred is going to have a hard time surviving on 473 people without being noticed, much less more than one. 

Yes, I understand that, but this one Kindred would be my girlfriend character. And she will be turned by other vampire. The vampire that need to comes from some point. And I think how would here life in town be affected by other Vampires, from all the state, sooner or later. So I need to have Kindred general society in Louisiana to throw in, from time to time, some vampire plots in to game.

            A Swamp is a like a flooded forest.  The water is usually fairly shallow usually no more than a 6 feet in most places unless there have been heavy rains or flooding.  The water is murky almost black due to mud and silt and vegetation.  Swamps usually have a lot of plant life and swamps usually are where you'll find cypress trees.  The majority of actual swamps are found in the deep southern part of L.A. and often you'll find dead swamps the further south you go where salt water from the gulf has turned the fresh water swamp into brackish water killing off most of the plant life, resulting in a rather creepy looking forest of dead trees.  such as http://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/index.cfm?event=site.image.thumbnail&id=4361&viewfile=f&divid=BU

           A Bayou is a lot like a canal or creek.  Most of southern Louisiana is riddled with them.  they vary in size from narrow at less than 20 feet to more than 100 feet.  the water is usually stagnant unless there is a heavy rain or flooding...though more often damn jackasses in boats kicking up a wake.  http://photos.igougo.com/images/p104626-North_America-Louisianas_Bayou_Teche.jpg  this is a good example of a fairly wide bayou, due note though that few bayou are so nice looking. 

Some common cultural aspects of Southern Louisiana are quite colorful and others are quite disturbing. 

1.  Mardi gras- When most people think of Mardi Gras they think of New Orleans.  While yes parties are big during Mardi Gras most towns other than New Orleans have turned parades into family affairs, not to say people don't drink and get crazy.
2.  Drinking-  Where else in the U.S. are there drive-thru daiquiri shops and you can get around the no open alcohol containers by putting scotch tape over the lid.  Underage drinking and Alcoholism is a major problem and doesn't really get addressed much in  L.A.  Many kids start drinking as young as 10 and keep it up most of their lives.  Drunk driving happens a lot despite efforts to curb this by law enforcement.  Also if you go into a Wal-mart in Louisiana you can actually find an alcohol section better stocked than most liquor stores.
3.  Weather-  As stated in a previous post there are only 2 really nice months.  Louisiana is damned humid all the time.  90% humidity in the southern part is pretty normal.  Rain happen most of the year,afternood thunderstorm in summer are particularly common, and severe storms are common, even none hurricane related ones.  The humidity and wind mean the in winter even when its in the 40's the wind chill can make it feel 20 degrees colder, but here is the fun part once the sun is up it feels hot again.  Its not uncommon for it to get below freezing at night and then warm up to the 70's during the day.
4.  Cajuns-  Most cajun accents are shit....yes the guy faking his accent in trueblood is shit as well.  The closest I've heard to an accurate Cajun accent is farmer brown from of all things 'Waterboy'. 
5.  Oilfield-  In much a L.A. if you don't work in an oil related business then your money comes from people who do. 
6.  city/town design-  Because much of Louisiana is riddled with waterways you'll find many smaller towns and cities are built around these, such as a road follwing a bayou with occasional bridge to cross it with another road on the other side also running parallel to the bayou as well.  Also bridges are everywhere.  Draw bridges, suspension bridges, elevated highways(many of which go over swamps for many miles), and others. 

Thank you Goh313, you helped me a lot with understanding the difference between swamps and bayous and with many little things in setting ( for example, bar and liquor store are must be in L.A. town ).

As to refinery, I probably go with hundred years old one, now closed. There are legends about haunting of original owner, that I will use in game to make great horror with twist in old, closed refinery that need to be rebuilt now. ;]

I want to place Peu d'Espoir on south of Louisiana, in middle of swamps ( especially after re-watching Man-Thing yesterday), but not being "New Orleans" suburbs. I also want some national park in near - could some one point me a good parish for this? Or maybe I would need to make myself one?

Some other ideas or advices?

something most people don't realize about new orleans is its actually a pretty small place having a pop. of around 300,000.  puny by city standards.  What it is though is a center of commerce and entertainment.  In many ways its like Branson, M.O.  or Las Vegas small permanent population but a lot of tourist and workers from elsewhere.  So the most people who work in New Orleans live in the satellite towns around it.  Such as Chalmette, Metaire, and even Slidell north of the lake as seen here

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&q=new+orleans&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=New+Orleans,+LA&gl=us&ei=VQG9SpyPDcGX8Abq65CSDg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1

As for National parks... well there are plenty of protected habitats but since most areas are swamp, marsh, or just plain wet you don't see many parks in the normal sense of the word.  For what you're looking for I'd suggest just about anywhere south of I-10 from Lake Charles to New Orleans.  You can pretty much pick a spot and drop your town anywhere. 

Goh313:

something most people don't realize about new orleans is its actually a pretty small place having a pop. of around 300,000.  puny by city standards. 

Wow. it's even smaller than my home city, Lublin!

Goh313:

well there are plenty of protected habitats but since most areas are swamp, marsh, or just plain wet you don't see many parks in the normal sense of the word.

I have a question - does swamps are protected, in general sense. I ask, because one of my players want to play Park Ranger, and I really like her to go to search things on swamps. Even more, I want to place refinery on borders of swaps, so the oil could be metaphorical "blood" of ecosystem.

I made first try to place the Peu d'Espoir. Here is Google Map:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=105945336322369769793.0004746acfc4f845bb161

Does is nearby have more swamps than bayous?

        I almost forgot.  Another important cultural aspect of L.A. is corruption.  Political corruption has been a constant in Louisiana since it came into being.  Just look up any of the Governors in the last century.  Small town corruption as well.  All levels of government are on the take.  How else do you think the federal government drops billions into fixing New Orleans and it still isn't done and they still want more. 

        On a personal side note despite the great loss cause by Katrina New Orleans was not hit the hardest by it.  The Gulf Coast of Mississippi was basically wiped out completely and they recovered in less than 2 years without all the whining and complaining about FEMA 

       Also ghost stories and scary shit abound throughout.  In Terrebonne Parish where I'm from there are such colorful places as Devil Swamp, the Hanging Trees(a Plantation where legend has it the owner went mad and hung all his slaves from tree as such http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Orton_Plantation_driveway.jpg ), and haunted houses, cursed apartments, oh and don't let hollywood fool you most don't see voodoo as all that scary.  You're more likely to find old catholic customs or superstitions on display rather than a voodoo doll.  Those that go crazy over hexes and curses are usually off to begin with ...or maybe they're the real thing? 

       On a final note I'll leave you with a little history.  In New Orleans there was a country club where only those who were wealthy and of good bloodlines could become members.  One newly wealthy member of New Orleans society wanted to join but was refused and told that maybe his grandchildren could join.  Angry with there refusal of his membership he stated that he would buy the club and turn it into a cemetary and sure enough with a few years he did.  Which just goes to show that money talks and bullshit walks.

Park rangers are unlikely.  A better option is a wildlife and game official, which would put her in charge of going after poachers and illegal fishing activities and anyone damaging the swamps. 

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=105945336322369769793.0004746acfc4f845bb161
 
you'll get a better idea of what you have if you switch the map to satellite view.  Pretty much any green is potentially swamp and open water is bayou or canals or lakes. Overall though looks like a pretty good spot for what you wanted.

Ukrainian huh, My best friend use to date a girl from Moldova that went to our college in Southern LA.

Once again, thanks for all your help, Goh.

I'm not afraid to make game more "evil voodoo" kind like, because it's fun, eve if not realistic.

Goh313:

A better option is a wildlife and game official, which would put her in charge of going after poachers and illegal fishing activities and anyone damaging the swamps.

Do you mean the this agency agent? They are exactly what I have in my mind, I just didn't know how they are correctly called.

Thank for the tip with Satellite view, I forget about one. Now I could put some places on the map...

As to my nationality - I'm Polish, not Ukrainian, but from the East part of country, 100 km from Ukrainian border. ;]

Returning to main topic - as my fictional town is only 40km from Baton Rouge, I need to flesh out it a bit. From what I read on wiki about city, it's industrial and economical capital, with very criminal and voilent profil ( both 8 in voilent and property scale ). As this, I can see it a Invictus ( money and economics ties ) city, with mostly Gangrel population ( violent outbreaks Masquared the hunts and closeness of swamps ), contrasted with Lancea Sanctum New Orleans, under more "civilized" rulings.

As my player will be Deava, I think that her Father will be Deava Invictus that lived in New Orleans to Katrina. After the Hurricane, he moved to Invictus contorled Baton Rouge, with most of other refugee Kindred. But "wild" rules of the city make him to much uncomrfatable, and now he wants to move to other place, little, quite now. This, and his lust for power over Mortals. And maybe some mistake made to King, Prince of Baton Rouge ( see Damnation City, page 95 ) who just kicked him off. None the less, the Father of PC would want to have something for him only, and as I plan her to be the sister of refinery owner, she would be perfect target for "catching". This, nad maybe some romantic affection between both of them. What do you think about it?