“Beware those who walk without a clan,
for they will be our undoing.
Pity them!
Adopt the orphans where you can.
But watch them.
In them is the bad seed of their sire.”
The Book of Nod

New Orleans sees more Caitiff than it would like to. Many of the city’s clanless are “Carnival Embraces” sired during Mardi Gras, Southern Decadence, and the city’s other festivals. More than one Caitiff can tell a sob story about a comely stranger who showed them the wildest night of their life (or the most terrifying, or both), turned them into a monster, and then disappeared amidst the beads and booze.

The lucky ones get taken in by pitying Kindred or sires responsible enough to stick around. The unlucky ones run into Caitlin Meadows, or else get dragged before to Perdido House by Vidal’s other agents and executed to warn others against committing Carnival Embraces. Besides these unfortunates, many Caitiff are nomads, drifters, and outcasts from other cities. They’re either there to enjoy the city’s famous party scenes or hoping to escape persecution from somewhere else.

If Prince Vidal had his way, there would not be any Caitiff in New Orleans. Unfortunately for him, he only mostly does. While the clanless get a poor reception in parishes under Sanctified or Invictus regents, Antoine Savoy is all-too happy to welcome Caitiff into the French Quarter. He doesn’t give them the best territory, and they’re usually the first to perish in clashes with Vidal’s and the Baron’s people, but they’re otherwise decently treated and invited to his revels at the Evergreen so long as they behave themselves. The clanless have also been able to make a home among the Anarchs in Mid-City, though they endure semi-regular harassment by Vidal’s people. The Baron will accept Caitiff among his followers and treats them even better than Savoy does, but only long as they share his faith. Ones who don’t find the Baron as uncaring of their plight as any Sanctified or Invictus elder.

Historically, the Caitiff were the lowest of the low in New Orleans. That all changed in the ‘90s when thin-bloods started to show up. Now they’re the second-lowest: there’s more than one clan-blooded neonate who’s remarked, “At least they’re real vampires." While Vidal doesn’t abhor them any less, he treats thin-bloods worse and considers their persecution a higher priority. A few clanless, such as Desirae Wells, have even managed to become accepted presences at Elysium. While they will never be truly welcome, that goes for everywhere else too.