Campaign of the Month: October 2017
Blood & Bourbon
Beyond the City
“Why in sweet Jesus’ green earth would you want to leave New Orleans? Have you seen what’s out there?”
“I mean beyond white-washed suburbia, beyond the parish line. It’s thousands of square miles of sweltering, gator-infested bayous; malarial canals; treacherous sand-spits; willow-islands with Loup-Garoux; huge inland bays poisoned by oil spills, and flooded woods where mosquito swarms hover around your head like a helmet and you slap your arms until they’re slick with a black-red paste.”
“Travel an hour north, west, or south from the Quarter, and one wrong turn off the interstate, and it’s like you punched through a dimensional hole and dropped back down into the redneck, coon-ass, inbred peckerwood south that you thought had been eaten up by the developers of sunbelt suburbs and forever banished by the moral sanity of the modern century. It’s a shrinkin’ place, sure, but the locals cling to every inch with a spittin’ mad tenacity.”
“Yep, the rural parishes of Louisiana are the place to go if you don’t fit anywhere else—provided you’re white, speak English with a Dixie dialect, and love guns, football, and the ignorant bigotry of the Lost Cause. Otherwise, you best stay in the City.”
Buford T. Boggs, itinerant blues musician and former inhabitant of St. Tammany parish
Although a larger domain puts a greater strain on the ability of any one Kindred to administrate efficiently, Augusto Vidal has never been one to shy away from a challenge, especially when the payoff is increased power and authority. The entirety of the Greater New Orleans area is nominally under his sway, and he aggressively pursues any substantive threats to his hegemony in the outlying areas. Given the area’s demographic and political concentration, such threats have been few and far between in the past, but whenever and wherever they’ve reared their ugly heads, he and his agents have handled the matter without delay or mercy.
As a rule, Prince Vidal’s domain is generally accepted to include all the territory east to Lake Borgne, north to Lake Pontchartrain, west to the suburb of Kenner (where the airport is), and south nearly as far as Lafitte. For all practical purposes, however, Vidal concentrates his efforts on New Orleans’ immediate surrounds, including the important suburbs of Algiers, Metairie, Gentilly, Westwego, Gretna, Harvey and Marrero. This is not to say that he doesn’t claim praxis over the rest, but merely that he can and does assign feeding and domain rights to the aforementioned territories on a fairly regular basis, and thus watches them closely.
Greater New Orleans (Vidal’s Praxis)
Orleans Parish
Much of this area falls within the Eastern New Orleans region. Its overall character is decidedly suburban, resembling the archetypal postwar American suburb much more than the compactly-built environment found in the city’s historic core.
Lakefront Airport
(8 miles NW from NOLA)
The former major commercial airport in New Orleans until 1946, when it was eclipsed by the newly-constructed Louis Armstrong Airport. It is now primarily used for chartered flights.
Little Woods
(10 miles NE from NOLA, pop. 3,899)
Unincorporated community on the shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain.
Michoud
(16 miles NE from NOLA, pop. uncounted)
Unincorporated community within Eastern New Orleans. Home to a NASA manufacturing facility.
Bayou Savage National Refuge
(19 miles NE from NOLA)
23,000-acre region of fresh and brackish marshes located within the city limits of New Orleans. It is the largest urban wildlife refuge in the United States.
Village de L’Est
(27 miles E from NOLA, pop. 8,008)
New Orleans’ “Little Vietnam,” settled by refugees arriving 1975. The community has established itself as a dining and commercial hub.
Jefferson Parish
The following locales are found on a straight drive west of New Orleans:
Metairie
(6 miles W from NOLA, pop. 138,000)
Unincorporated suburb that would be Louisiana’s fourth largest city, behind Shreveport, if incorporated. Next to New Orleans it’s cleaner (in most areas), less noisy, and better maintained. The average household income is higher, at around $60,000, and it’s much whiter than New Orleans at 60% Caucasian and 10% African-American. Residents admit they’re sacrificing some culture to live there, in that second lines and porch concerts don’t happen in their immediate neighborhoods. Metairie is identical to most other bedroom communities nationwide. On the other hand, locals are considerably safer and they don’t have to deal with as much local government idiocy. It’s considered a better environment for raising a family, with all that entails—there’s nothing really good about living in Metairie, but nothing really bad either.
Harahan
(10 miles W from NOLA, pop. 9,277)
Small town originally settled as a sugar cane plantation in 1741. It remained in the hands of the Passat family until 1924. Today it primarily serves as a bedroom community for New Orleans.
Kenner
(13 miles W from NOLA, pop. 66,000)
Largest incorporated city and second-largest community (behind Metairie) in Jefferson Parish. Kenner was founded in 1855 by Minor Kenner on land that consisted of three plantation properties that had been purchased by the Kenner family. A portion of north Kenner is called “Little Honduras” due to the number of Hispanic residents in the area (who compose some 30% of the city). Several of its sites of interest include the Ochsner Medical Center, Treasure Chest Casino, its Honduran, Indian, and Arabic food, and the Louis Armstrong Airport. Many New Orleans residents like to dunk on Kenner for its lack of culture as a soulless suburb, and say that it’s “like Metairie without the charm.” (Those residents also consider Metairie entirely lacking in charm.) It’s also notable for being the home of New Orleans real estate mogul and mega-slumlord Rishu “Rich” Pavaghi, who’s entirely bought the local politicos. As one resident remarked about Kenner, “We got the lake, a casino, and crooked politicians. If you squint a little, you’ll think it’s the Quarter.”
Louis Armstrong International Airport
(14 miles W from NOLA)
Largest airport servicing the New Orleans metro area.
The following locales are south of the Mississippi and connected to New Orleans by two bridges.
Gretna
(5 miles S from NOLA, pop. 17,000)
Parish seat of Jefferson Parish, located just south of Algiers. Its history can be traced to a plantation established by Jean-Charles de Pradel by 1750. Gretna was settled in 1836, originally as Mechanikham, growing with a station on the Mississippi River for the railroads, with a ferry across the River to New Orleans. The food and spice company Zatarain’s, founded in 1889 in New Orleans, has been located in Gretna since 1963. The city received considerable press coverage when, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, people who attempted to escape from New Orleans by walking over the Crescent City Connection bridge were turned back at gunpoint by police.
Terrytown
(5 miles SE from NOLA, pop. 25,278)
Suburb south of Algiers, founded after a series of home constructions in 1960.
Westwego
(10 miles SW from NOLA, pop. 8,534)
Former fishing village so named because it was a major crossing point on the Mississippi River during the great westward movement of the late 19th century. When travelers were asked their destination, they would often reply “west we go”. The town was originally a sugar plantation known as Seven Oaks in the 18th century.
Mosca’s
(16 miles SW from NOLA)
Creole-Italian restaurant established in 1946, widely considered one of New Orleans’ best dinng spots. The first chef was said to be Al Capone’s personal cook and the Mafia still maintains ties to the restaurant.
Grand Isle
(107 miles S from NOLA, pop. 1,361)
Barrier island along the Gulf Coast known for its beaches, trails, and campsites. It’s a popular vacation spot from New Orleans and a number of residents own beach houses on the island. Made semi-famous in Kate Chopin’s 1899 novel The Awakening.
Greater New Orleans (Beyond Vidal’s Praxis)
Plaquemines Parish
Barataria Bay
(39 miles S of NOLA, pop. 0)
Barataria Bay was used in the early 19th century as the base of the pirates, privateers, and smugglers led by Jean Lafitte. They were referred to as the Baratarians. Hurricane Betsy and the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill have cleared the area of inhabitants, but local rumors continue to persist of buried treasure left by the legendary pirate.
Venice
(76 miles SE from NOLA, pop. 202)
St. Bernard Parish
Chalmette
(9 miles E from NOLA, pop. 17,119, previously 32,069)
Saint Malo
(29 miles E from NOLA, pop. 0)
Saint Malo was the first Filipino settlement in the United States, founded in 1763 by deserters from Spanish ships during the Manila Galleon trade. It was destroyed by the New Orleans Hurricane of 1915.
Fort Proctor
(33 miles SE from NOLA)
Castle-like fort built to protect New Orleans in the 1850s.
St. Charles Parish
Destrehan
(24 miles W from NOLA, pop. 11,535)
St. Tammany Parish
Full article: St. Tammany Parish
Abita Springs
(43 miles N from NOLA, pop. 2,365)
Tangipahoa Parish
Ponchatoula
(51 miles NW from NOLA, pop. 5,180)
Hammond
(57 miles NW from NOLA, pop. 20,019)
Amite City
(74 miles NW from NOLA, pop. 4,110)
Washington Parish
Full article: Washington Parish
Plantation Country
In Plantation Country, where the Mississippi River winds its way to the Gulf and football enthusiasm registers on the Ritcher scale, visitors can travel back to the 19th century with a simple car drive. Along the locally famous River Road and in the Felicianas, antebellum mansions recall an age when wealthy planters ruled, and legions of slaves toiled along the river’s fertile grounds to deliver enormous wealth into their masters’ hands. Today many of the plantations, featuring Greek Revival, Italianate and Victorian homes, remain open to the public as museums. Beyond mint juleps and live oaks of River Road, Plantation Country also offers a view of modern Louisiana. Performing arts venues, golf courses and casinos, outdoor sports and shoppers’ getaways all cater to the same tourists who patronize the plantations.
East Baton Rouge Parish
Baton Rouge
(80 miles NW from NOLA, pop. 229,000, urban pop. 594,309, Kindred pop. 26)
Capitol of Louisiana and the state’s second-largest city. Ruled by Marcel Guilbeau from the 1930s until Hurricane Katrina and his coup at the hands of his Nosferatu seneschal, Lawrence Meeks. The city remains unfriendly towards Ventrue, but has proven a magnet for Nosferatu. It’s all-too rare that a sewer rat winds up as prince.
St. James Parish
Lutcher
(46 miles W from NOLA, pop. 3,735)
St. John the Baptist
LaPlace
(29 miles miles W from NOLA, pop. 32,134)
Whitney Plantation
(35 miles W from NOLA)
Historic 1752 plantation acquired by the Whitney family in 1867. In the World of Darkness, the plantation was never opened to the public as slavery museum. It is still privately owned by the Whitneys and used by them as a vacation house. They have occasionally allowed it to be used as a film location.
Evergreen Plantation
(45 miles W from NOLA)
Historic 1790 plantation that actually continues to produce sugarcane today. The workers are now Hispanic rather than African-American, but little has otherwise changed. It is not the same Evergreen Planation that Antoine Savoy owns in the French Quarter.
Plantation of Raoul-Baptiste Ghiberti
West Feliciana Parish
Louisiana State Penitentiary
(136 miles NW from NOLA, pop. 8,100)
Largest maximum-security prison in the United States of America and one of the largest prisons in the world. It’s nicknamed the Farm due to its history as a cotton plantation and the fact that its inmates, many of whom are serving life sentences, continue to work on its fields under the supervision of horse-riding corrections officers. At 18,000 acres, the prison is larger than Manhattan Island. Its resident 6,300 prisoners and 1,800 staff include corrections officers, janitors, maintenance, and wardens, who themselves make up 200-some families with more than 250 children, all of whom live on the grounds. The prison includes recreational centers, swimming pools, parks, a fire station, an elementary school, an airstrip, and even a golf course (built and maintained by inmate labor and unavailable for inmate use).
Cajun Country
Calcasieu Parish
Chateau de Bon Reve
(217 miles W from NOLA)
Lake Charles
(205 miles W from NOLA, pop. 74,000, urban pop. 143,440)
Iberia Parish
New Iberia
(133 miles W from NOLA, pop. 30,000)
Lafourche Parish
Thibodaux
(56 miles SW from NOLA, pop. 14,567)
Lafayette Parish
Lafayette
(135 miles from NOLA, pop. 126,066, urban pop. 252,720, Kindred pop. 9)
The third-largest city in Louisiana, behind NOLA and Baton Rouge, Lafayette is the heartland of Cajun culture and home to a thriving arts scene. The city’s Invictus prince, Avoyelles Desormeaux, is a grandchilde of Pearl Chastain and maintains cordial relations with her kin in the Big Easy. Lafayette is very much a “small town” for the Damned and thought to contain no more than a dozen Kindred, at least half of whom are childer and grandchilder of Prince Desormeaux. No primogen holds court, for clans besides the Toreador are simply too few. Gangrel are the city’s next-most common Kindred. The Giovannini are also thought to have an interest in muscling in on the local petroleum industry.
Terrebonne Parish
Houma
(54 miles SW from NOLA, pop. 33,393, urban pop. 144,875)
Bayou Cane
(59 miles SW from NOLA, pop. 17,046)
Uriah Travers’ Shack
Crossroads
The Crossroads is where the cultures of north and south Louisiana collide. The result is a region known for pork-filled tamales, impressive Creole architecture and annual powwows. Musical icons and political heavyweights alike have called the Crossroads home. Civil War battles were fought in the region and, before that, Spanish traders travelled through on their route to Mexico along El Camino Real de los Tejas, noe park of a National Historic Trail.
Avoyelles Parish
Tunica-Biloxi Indian Reservation
(163 miles NW from NOLA, pop. 648)
Concordia Parish
Ferriday
(181 miles NW from NOLA, pop. 3,511)
Plantation of John Harley Matheson
Natchitoches Parish
Cane River Creole National Historical Park
(250 miles NW from NOLA)
Cane River National Heritage Area
(258 miles NW from NOLA)
Natchitoches
(258 miles NW from NOLA, pop. 18,323)
Rapides Parish
Alexandria
(202 miles NW from NOLA, pop. 48,000)
Winn Parish
Winnfield
(250 miles NW from NOLA, pop. 4,840)
Sportsman’s Paradise
Bossier Parish
Bossier City
(309 miles NW from NOLA, pop. 66,333)
Caddo Parish
Shreveport
(326 miles NW from NOLA, pop. 200,327, urban pop. 298,317, Kindrd pop. unknown)
Ouachita Parish
Monroe
(282 miles NW from NOLA, pop. 49,000)
Beyond Louisiana
Alabama
Mobile
(145 miles E from NOLA, pop. 194,899, urban pop. 326,183, Kindred pop. 13)
Montgomery
(309 miles NE from NOLA, pop. 201,332, urban pop. 263,907, Kindred pop. 12)
Birmingham
(343 miles NE from NOLA, pop. 212,113, urban pop. 749,495, Kindred pop. 18)
Huntsville
(442 miles NE from NOLA, pop. 186,254, urban pop. 286,692, Kindred pop. 12)
Florida
Jacksonville
(548 miles from NOLA, pop. 842,583, urban pop. 1,065,219, Kindred pop. 52)
Orlando
(640 miles from NOLA, pop. 255,483, urban pop. 1,510,516, Kindred pop. 28)
Miami
(866 miles from NOLA, pop. 417,650, urban pop. 5,502,379, Kindred pop. 76)
Georgia
Atlanta
(469 miles NE from NOLA, pop. 447,841, urban pop. 4,515,419, Kindred pop. 97)
Augusta
(612 miles NE from NOLA, pop. 195,844, urban pop. 386,787, Kindred pop. 13)
Savannah
(642 miles NE from NOLA, pop. 142,772, urban pop. 260,677, Kindred pop. 10)
Mississippi
Gulfport
(78 miles E from NOLA, pop. 71,012, urban pop. 208,948, Kindred pop. 6)
Jackson
(186 miles N from NOLA, pop. 172,638, urban pop. 351,478, Kindred pop. 12)
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians
(229 miles N from NOLA)
Nanih Waiya
(249 miles N from NOLA)
Texas
It’s a 5-hour drive from Houston to New Orleans, but in terms of culture, it’s a million miles away. Once the invisible border between Louisiana and Texas is crossed, the accent isn’t the only thing that changes: gumbo becomes steak and zydeco becomes country music. While both cities may belong to the Camarilla, the local Kindred have traditionally had few dealings with one another. The physical distance, cultural differences, and perils of travel were too great. A notable exception to this rule came during Hurricane Katrina, when many of the Big Easy’s Kindred fled the city like drowning rats.
Coushatta Indian Reservation
(203 miles west from NOLA, pop. 400)
Houston
(347 miles west from NOLA, pop. 2,196,000, urban pop. 4,944,332, Kindred pop. 108)
Louisiana Cities by Population
• Baton Rouge (80 miles from NOLA, pop. 229,000, Kindred pop. 26)
• Shreveport (326 miles NW from NOLA, pop. 200,000, Kindred pop. unknown)
• Metairie (6 miles from NOLA, pop. 138,000)
• Lafayette (135 miles from NOLA, pop. 124,000, Kindred pop. 9)
• Lake Charles (205 miles from NOLA, pop. 74,000)
• Bossier City (309 miles NW from NOLA, pop. 66,000)
• Kenner (13 miles W from NOLA, pop. 66,000)
• Monroe (282 miles NW from NOLA, pop. 49,000)
• Alexandria (202 miles NW from NOLA, pop. 48,000)
• Houma (54 miles from NOLA, pop. 34,000)
• Slidell (32 miles NE from NOLA, pop 27,000, Kindred pop. 3)
• Hammond (57 miles from NOLA, pop. 20,000)
• Natchitoches (258 miles from NOLA, pop. 18,323)
• Gretna (5 miles S from NOLA, pop. 17,000)
• Winnfield (250 miles from NOLA, pop. 5,749)
• Lutcher (46 miles W from NOLA, pop. 3,735)
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by:
False_Epiphany