Campaign of the Month: October 2017
Blood & Bourbon
The Families
“Blood will always tell, but often it tells too much.”
Don Marquis
Jocelyn: “God, I don’t even know. Her family looks, is, so screwed up.”
Caroline: “They all are.”
Jocelyn: “All of her family, or all families period?”
Caroline: “Show me a family that doesn’t have dirty secrets and I’ll show you their magic underwear and copies of the Book of Mormon."
Jocelyn Baker to Caroline Malveaux-Devillers
“I looked up my family tree and found out I was the sap.”
Rodney Dangerfield
Blood tells. The Camarilla ascribes profound significance to a vampire’s undead ancestry, but one’s mortal bloodline can prove equally consequential. Family matters a great deal in the South: many of New Orleans’ residents take fierce pride in having genealogies they can trace back hundreds of years. Living matriarchs and patriarchs of mortal clans can pursue plots and vendettas with origins no less historied (or bloody) than any vampire’s.
All Kindred come from mortal families. All Kindred have (or once had) parents, spouses, siblings, or children they’ve either left behind, watch from afar, or struggle to maintain relationships with. Balancing the Masquerade against commitments to a human family can be no easy feat. Kindred often keep their mortal relationships secret from all but their most trusted allies, as unscrupulous vampires will exploit these connections for the weaknesses they are. Many vampires discard their birth names and adopt pseudonyms to better conceal their origins and protect their families.
The Kindred may be dead, but family ties never die. Surprising twists to the Jyhad can result from the influence of a vampire’s living relatives.
GM’s Note: Families are listed by order of how many wiki-posted blurbs their members have. Characters within each generation are organized by order of oldest to youngest. Some families may be much larger than their position on the list indicates: they just haven’t had blurbs posted for all of their members. Likewise, many of the NPCs on the other mortals pages have families. They just aren’t posted here if their relatives don’t have blurbs.
Like with anything else on the wiki, facts not established in the posted adventure logs are still subject to change. Players are free and encouraged to alter the names, histories, and familial relations of NPCs to suit the needs of their PCs. For instance, do you want NPC X to be your PC’s significant other, but they’re in a relationship with NPC Y? No problem, we can turn NPC Y into NPC X’s ex-partner instead.
On a final note, the Devillers, Flores, and Malveaux families are the families of several PCs in active play (Caroline, Celia, Caroline again, and Victoria respectively) and have featured prominently in those PCs’ stories. To avoid overlap and tread new ground with new characters, the GM asks that new players have their PCs come from different families (i.e., to not be biological or adopted relatives), and to avoid goals such as “destroy or take over [inset one of those families]” that leave few alternatives to the other player than PvP.
If any NPCs from the above families interest you, however, it is okay to have them as friends, spouses, boy/girlfriends, work associates, rivals, etc. If anything, it’s encouraged! Those NPCs have lives and relationships beyond their PC family members, and it often enriches the chronicle to explore different sides of characters through their relationships with different PCs.
11+-Entry Families
The Boggs
An incestuous redneck cannibal clan who’ve struck it rich through aerospace and defense manufacturing. They’ve come to dominate St. Tammany Parish under the watchful eye of their undead patriarch, Cletus Lee Boggs.
Full article: The Boggs Clan.
The Malveauxes
Louisiana’s richest family and a ruthlessly ambitious political dynasty who’ve clawed, scraped, and backstabbed their way to the top of the Pelican State’s politics. The family’s ranks have included senators, CEOs, archbishops, Supreme Court justices, and more. In the eyes of many, they’re as good as royalty.
Full article: The Malveaux Family.
10-Entry Families
The Flores
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• 1. |
Charles Flores
Born: 1944
Deceased: 1997 (age 53)
Sphere: Corporate
Status: Flores Realty Group •••
Father of Maxen Flores. Founded the real estate firm inherited by his son and also served in the state senate. He and his wife died in a car accident that resulted from drunk driving after a party. They left everything in their will to Maxen, which his siblings Jason and Mary were chagrined to discover.
Maxen Flores
Born: 1972
Sphere: Politics
Status: Louisiana State Senate ••••
Majority leader for the state senate in Baton Rouge since 2012, and successor in that office to Nathaniel Malveaux following the now-national senator’s election. Maxen doesn’t believe in doing anything by half-measures: when his hairline started to recede, he simply shaved his pate bald. He’s known for his “tough guy” image and being a devout CrossFit enthusiast and college star quarterback who turned down a chance to play professionally for the NFL, though he remains a diehard football fan and rarely misses a game. He’s also known for his vicious temper and dislike of his counterpart Noelle Cherry, who he’s made public remarks about that were widely seen as misogynistic. Outside of his duties as majority leader, he represents Senate District 9, which includes Riverbend and the suburb of Metairie. Maxen personally lives in Audubon Place and spends much of his time in Baton Rouge, but regularly commutes back to New Orleans. Ex-husband of Diana Flores and father of five children by her.
Diana Flores
(née Underwood)
Born: 1973
Sphere: Academia
Status: McGehee School for Girls •••
Dance teacher at the McGehee School for Girls since 2003. Given McGehee’s reputation as the “West Point for Southern belles,” Mrs. Flores’ class is understandably very popular with the student body—especially when grading is participation-based and makes for an easy “A” in the academically rigorous school. Diana was a ballerina for 15 years before she went into teaching, but retired in 2003 after a car accident maimed her leg and left her in semi-chronic pain. Ex-wife of Maxen Flores, the state senate’s majority leader (she kept his name after their divorce), and mother of six children. Lives with her three grandchildren Lucy, Ethan, and Abigail, her adopted daughter Emily Rosure, and two cats. Loves to bake and cook. Currently single and looking to meet a man.
Emily Rosure
Born: 1988
Sphere: Health
Status: Tulane Medical Center •
Fourth-year medical student at Tulane School of Medicine who intends to become an ER doctor. Bright and hardworking but born into poverty, Emily never knew her father and wound up in Texas’ foster system after her mom lost custody in a DUI and disappeared from her life. She credits her 2008 adoption by Celia Flores and Diana Flores into their family as the chief reason she isn’t still working as a waitress (or Tulane’s records department and dreaming of someday becoming a doctor). Long-term girlfriend of Robert “Robby” Grant, with whom she enjoys playing World of Shadow. Works as a part-time massage therapist at Flawless Spa, owned by Celia. Lives with Diana and her granddaughter Lucy, and is regarded by the child as one of her three mothers.
Celia Flores
Born: 1989
Sphere: Industry
Status: Flawless Spa •••
Eldest daughter of Maxen and Diana Flores, Celia’s dropping out of Tulane University (where she had been a dance major) and subsequent birth of her daughter, Lucy, is the subject of some scandal in certain circles. Celia was able to obtain her esthetics license from New Orleans-based John Jay Academy and opened up her own business in the French Quarter in 2010: Flawless Spa. It began as a day spa and has swiftly become more of a medical spa once Celia opted to pursue a degree in the medical field. Despite her lack of a “real” education, the girl is doing quite well for herself and has quite a large social media following as well as a very successful business.
Isabel Flores
Born: 1991
Deceased: 2016 (25 years old)
Sphere: Church
Middle daughter of Maxen and Diana Flores. Isabel achieved notoriety in 2009 after a video circulated which depicated her having sex with her father. The video was debunked as fake after several more tapes were released showing her father’s political colleagues engaged in coitus with their own daughters (all of whom looked suspiciously like the same actress), but the damage was done. Isabel left New Orleans in a cloud of shame to attend Liberty University in Virginia. After graduating, she went overseas to do missionary work in South Sudan. She met her premature death there three years later. Her daughter by a Sudanese man was adopted by her mother Diana.
David Flores
Born: 1993
Sphere: Academia
Older son of Maxen and Diana Flores. Recently returned from college at Liberty University in Virginia, he’s enrolled at Tulane Law School pursuant to following his father’s career into politics. Interns for his father’s congressional office when not attending school. While David strives to be the model son, he’s suffered from anxiety disorder since childhood that his father always believed he needed to “get over” and dreads nothing more than a panic attack hitting him at an inconvenient moment.
Sophia Flores
Born: 1994
Sphere: Academia
Youngest daughter of Maxen and Diana Flores. Currently living out of state as a college student at Liberty University.
Logan Flores
Born: 1997
Sphere: Academia
Younger son of Maxen and Diana Flores. Currently attending college at Tulane University. With his older brother “beating him” into entering politics through the time-honored path of law, as well as attending a more respectable college in Maxen’s eyes (Logan’s application to Liberty University was rejected), he’s hoped to win his father’s approval by commissioning in the Army through its ROTC program. So far his efforts seem to be only partly working: while Maxen considers his younger son’s intended career path an estimable one, he has expressed disappointment that Logan didn’t get into West Point if he was “really serious” about the idea of serving his country, and has chided him for not deciding that was something he wanted to do in high school. Frustrated, Logan has struggled to keep up with coursework, and the physical fights he’s gotten into with other students might eventually get him booted from the ROTC even with his father’s influence.
Lucy Flores
Born: 2010
Sphere: Academia
The daughter of a 20-year-old Celia Flores by an unknown father, Lucy’s birth was a subject of some scandal for the Flores family they’ve endeavored to keep under wraps. Lucy has primarily been raised by her single grandmother Diana with frequent help from Emily Rosure and calls all three of them “Mommy” interchangeably. As of 2016, she is a first grader at the McGehee School for Girls and has recently started ballet lessons at her grandmother’s behest.
The Pavaghis
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• 1. Rishu “Rich” Pavaghi (b. 1948) + Bhuvaneshwari “Shwari” Pavaghi (b. 1950) |
Rishu “Rich” Pavaghi
Born: 1948
Sphere: Industry
Status: Pavaghi Holdings •••••
Real estate developer and mega-slumlord whose destruction of historic French Quarter properties has made him one of the most hated people in New Orleans.
Bhuvaneshwari “Shwari” Pavaghi
Born: 1950
Sphere: High Society
Status: Pavaghi Holdings ••••
The wife of Rich Pavaghi, Bhuvaneshwari (Shwari outside her family) married her husband in India when she was 12 and he was 14 as part of a traditional child marriage. She followed him to the United States and has been the picture of a dutiful trophy wife, giving him many sons and retaining her good looks well into her 60s (with the help of frequent botox treatments and weekly spa visits). The Pavaghis have long since become rich and what Shwari now craves more than anything else is respect. When her son Fred became governor, Shwari couldn’t have been happier. She moved in with him to the governor’s mansion in Baton Rouge and inserted herself into as many social, political, and media functions as possible while hemming out her daughter-in-law, to the point that many people joked she was Louisiana’s real first lady. Shwari fought tooth and nail to get her son reelected in 2012 despite the embezzlement allegations and was bitterly disappointed by his loss. She’s since moved back to her husband’s home in Kenner and remains active in high society circles. She has a prominent if unofficial hand in the family’s business empire and constantly pushes her children and grandchildren towards more respectable-seeming real estate transactions than being slumlords. Formerly a devout believer in homeopathy, astrology, and assorted forms of Eastern woo, she turned against them after coming to the United States and now dislikes them intensely, but practices regular yoga.
Rajendra “Raj” Pavaghi
Born: 1966
Sphere: Corporate
Status: Pavaghi Holdings ••••
The oldest son of the Pavaghi family, Raj is his father’s heir apparent and endeavors to present a sleeker, more tasteful face for the family in the 21st century. He’s been at the forefront of the Pavaghis’ latest, higher-end real estate projects (such as the development of the Giani Building) and is seemingly more interested in gentrifying poor neighborhoods than being a slumlord in them. How much this represents a shift in ethos from his father versus a PR exercise is unclear; he and Rich work together closely and haven’t had any known disputes. Still, he was his respect-craving mother’s favorite son until Fred got elected governor, and is probably her favorite again now.
Walter Pavaghi-Rodriguez
Born: 1971
Sphere: Industry
Status: Pavaghi Holdings ••••
Rich Pavaghi has many children. Although Walter was born the second-oldest, he never managed to stand out from the rest, and watched for years as his siblings overtook him in the family business (or in Fred’s case, embarked on a successful political career). They were always the ones to close the bigger deals, develop the most properties, and bring in the most money. Frustrated, Walter moved to Houston in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, only to realize there was a lucrative real estate market in the vastly larger and faster-growing city (which didn’t even have any zoning laws, to boot). He could repeat his father’s business tactics here in a “land of opportunity” all without worrying about competition from his brothers. So far the idea seems to have paid off: Walter has solidly established the Pavaghi real estate empire in Houston and pleased his father. In a true chip off his old man’s block, he’s also derided as a slum lord and “vulture developer” by many locals, who dislike him intensely, even if fewer of their complaints revolve around destruction of historic properties in the much younger city. Walter appears blase to such resentment but periodically moves between homes in Texas and Louisiana, as he has a laundry list of complaints about everything from the food to the people in the former. His name comes from a Houston native he married, had one child with, and divorced several years later. The Rodriguezes have deep roots in the city, so he continues to append her surname to his own “for their son’s sake” and to sound more native. He’s also changed his given name to Walter from his birth name of Wafeeq (he was born in India before his parents immigrated).
Frederick “Fred” Pavaghi
Born: 1973
Sphere: Politics
Status: Pavaghi Holdings •••
Rich’s third-eldest son and one-term ex-governor of Louisiana from 2009 through 2013, infamous for the blatancy of his corruption even by the Pelican State’s (low) standards.
Chunder Pavaghi
Born: 1975
Sphere: Industry
Status: Pavaghi Holdings ••••
Rich’s fourth-eldest son and perhaps the truest chip off his old man’s block. Where Raj presents a more respectable face for the family, Walter has his Houston startup, Fred went into politics, and Ran handles IT work, Chunder’s role in the family business is simple: he’s a slumlord, and one of the most notorious in all of New Orleans. Housing conditions in one of his buildings were so terrible that the tenants unanimously agreed to stop paying rent. Chunder retaliated (in a series of brazenly illegal moves) by cutting the power and phone lines, changing locks, boarding up windows, and sawing holes in unit floors from below while tenants were still inside. When they called the police, Chunder bribed the NOPD to soak tenants’ beds, clothes, and belongings in ammonia. This story is but one of many (and not even the worst) that tenants in his properties have traded about New Orleans’ “slumlords’ slumlord.” Chunder, though, is utterly without shame or scruples, and openly boasts to work associates about how much his tenants despise him. He’s considered the crassest and seediest of the Pavaghi brothers, but none of them deny: he squeezes his properties for every cent they are worth, and often far more than they are worth. He may well be the family’s biggest earner.
Ishita Pavaghi
Born: 1977
Sphere: Legal
For all the wealth associated with the Pavaghi name, not all of that wealth is shared equally amongst its scions. Though Walter had once been looked down on for failing to be as successful as his younger siblings, the real embarrassment came when their younger sibling, Ishita, failed out of Xavier and ran off with her decades-older professor. Three years later she was back with two babies on her hip and no husband in sight. She quietly returned to life under her father’s rule, re-enrolled in college, and managed to earn a degree while nannies and her mother took care of her babies for her. She now works as a paralegal for Rich’s de facto in-house legal department.
Ranjeet Pavaghi
Born: 1980
Sphere: Industry
Slovenly gaming recluse, lackadaisical IT manager, and owner of Dr. Sheen Sanitation Services, LLC.
Charles “Chuck” Pavaghi
Born: 1989
Sphere: Legal
Chuck is a grandson to Rishu “Rich” Pavaghi who recently passed the bar and works as a nominally independently practicing attorney who specializes in property law. In reality, he does virtually all of his work for his grandfather’s maze of LLCs, which are also nominally independent of one another and lack the in-house legal department he’s part of in all but name. Outside of the job, Chuck is young, handsome, and part of the first generation in his family to be born into wealth. He enjoys few things more than spending it through extravagant dusk to dawn partying in the French Quarter, but has had to curb these proclivities somewhat since graduating from law school. Indeed, he has increasingly turned his eye towards advancing his position among his many, many relatives, and is always on the lookout for opportunities—all for his family’s benefit, naturally. He is currently dating the almost decade-younger Sarah Whitney, who he met in the hospital while she was undergoing physical therapy.
Zahira Pavaghi
Born: 1997
Sphere: Academia
The older of Ishita’s two children, Zahira was rebellious from a young age and had no intention of “falling back in” with the family that, in her mind, forced her mother into a career and a life she didn’t want with a stepfather who wasn’t particularly interested in her. Rather than go the traditional route of law or real estate, Zahira threw herself into the creative arts. After graduating high school she took an internship at Bloom Couture under Dahlia Rose Flores, who has taken the wayward Pavaghi under her wing to teach her the ins and outs of the fashion industry. So far she has been exceedingly happy with her new position, and rumor is that she’ll be displaying her own line soon beneath the Bloom Couture name.
8-Entry Families
The Devillers
A French family of philanthropists who came to New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina to assist with disaster relief efforts. They’ve since put down roots and become fixtures in high society circles, where they remain involved in many philanthropic endeavors. The eight-large family is further notable their near-identical appearances, being all-female, and their matriarch’s joking claim that “men don’t run in our genes.”
Full article: The Devillers Family.
6-Entry Families
The Andrews
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• 1. |
Doris Andrews
Born: 1932
Deceased: 1955 (age 23)
Eldest of the five Andrews girls. Died from complications related to the delivery of her son Douglas, who was raised by his grandparents. Doris had the child out of wedlock with an unknown partner, something that was very scandalous and shameful for the family at the time.
Judy Caldwell
(née Andrews)
Born: 1936
Deceased: 2008 (age 72)
Second-eldest of the five Andrews girls. Started a family with her husband in Little Rock, Arkansas, and spent her life as a homemaker.
Beverly Collins
(née Andrews)
Born: 1939
Third-eldest of the five Andrews girls. Former homemaker who now lives in a retirement community in Charleston, South Carolina. Her husband, who she had a number of children and grandchildren with, died in 2014.
Payton T. Underwood
(née Andrews)
Born: 1947
Sphere: Legal
Fifth-eldest and youngest of the five Andrews girls. Associate judge for the Criminal District Court of Orleans Parish. Payton was born the youngest daughter to a family with four other girls, prompting her exasperated father (who’d long wanted a son to follow in his footsteps as a judge) to declare that “she’d have to do.” Almost seventy years later, Payton has a reputation as a severe judge who dislikes waste and has little tolerance for disrespect. She is known to impose “creative” sentences on clients for whom a $200 fee or several more days in jail would be a slap on the wrist. She gets along well with the police, who appreciate her “tough on crime” attitude. Her last election was the final one for which she was eligible to run (due to her age), and she looks forward to spending her remaining years playing with her grandchildren, gardening in her old family home in the Lower Garden District, and maybe doing some part-time private practice on the side.
Douglas Andrews
Born: 1955
Sphere: Corporate
Status: New Orleans Chamber of Commerce •••
Finance director for the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce. Proud of his family’s heritage, which he can trace back to the Antebellum, although the Underwoods have long since fallen out of their plantation-era wealth (thanks to the Civil War) and are now “merely” upper-middle-class. Sometime participant in a local Civil War reenactment group.
Natalie Andrews
Born: 1992
Sphere: Academia
The only daughter of an established and influential family with a history that goes back to the 19th century, Natalie is a senior at Tulane and regular attendee at the New Orleans Dance Academy. Lithe, graceful, and with a poetry to her motion that makes her a treat to watch, her instructors all believe she has great potential. Classically trained since she was seven, Natalie, now 23, dreams of making it big in New York City, but her family have resisted at every turn. For them, her dancing is a hobby, something to round her out as a person and a prospect. It’s been a mark of pride for them, but little more, with the expectation that once she finishes college at Tulane she’ll relegate it to a hobby. Naturally quiet and reserved, she remains too timid to go against their wishes for now, however much the prospect of putting her dreams on hold hurts her.
The Borges
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• 1. |
Martin Borges
Born: 1958
Sphere: Politics
Status: Mayor •••••
The current mayor of New Orleans, Martin Borges is thoroughly a man of the system and casually corrupt in that relaxed way only Louisiana politicians can be. His administration has largely been defined by continuance of the status quo without any particular reforms, executive actions, or legislative accomplishments of note—besides lining the pockets of the city’s business community, assorted special interests, and the Borges family. Martin himself is a man of considerable sexual appetites with a penchant for “slumming it.” He’s not even sure how many children he’s fathered outside of those with his three wives.
Janessa Borges
Born: 1972
Sphere: High Society
Martin Borges went through several wives before finding one who could stick. Janessa is everything he’s wanted from a spouse and mayoral first lady: poised but demure, articulate but soft-spoken, comely into her middle years and never without a smile, there’s been several jokes that he must have ordered her from a barbie doll catalog. Although knowledge of her husband’s sexual history is commonplace, Janessa acts completely oblivious to it. Most people think there’s no way she doesn’t know, but her act is so good they wonder if it’s even an act. She has several children by Martin, but is equally warm to ones from prior marriages (and from outside his marriages) who’ve obtained his favor. Exceptionally God-fearing, she’s frequently seen quietly praying and is never without a rosary.
Cassidy Borges
Born: 1989
Sphere: Legal, Politics
Status: Law firm ••, Louisiana House of Representatives ••
When Cassidy was in high school, she said her life plan was Oxford College, Yale Law, and eventually president of the United States—the first black and female one. A decade later, she “merely” serves on the Louisiana House of Representatives while also working as an attorney. Still, she’s ambitious, and plans to eventually run for mayor—with the backing of her father Martin, the current mayor. She’s widely thought to be his favorite child and is a frequent sight by his side in public. She’s also one of his illegitimate children and comes on her mother’s side from a family of Vodouisants who claim to trace their heritage all the way back to slaves in Haiti. She’s never said that she believes in the faith, but she’s been known to threaten to curse people who annoy her.
Babyboy Borges
Born: 1992
Sphere: Police
One of Martin Borges’ byblows with a waitress, Babyboy’s mother was determined to raise him herself until oxygen deprivation from complications during his birth resulted in brain damage. Feeling unable to care for the developmentally disabled child, she pleaded with the Borges to take him in. In a rare act of pity, Martin’s then-wife Helen accepted; she said it was the Christian thing to do. (In truth, she didn’t see the “crack whore-named retard child” as a competitor to her own children, and thought he would be a reminder for Martin to at least use condoms.) Babyboy was raised in comfort, but despite his father’s best efforts, college was out of the question: Babyboy has a tested IQ of 79 and barely passed high school with copious help from tutors and his family name. Martin landed him a job at the NOPD, and following his own mayoral election, requested that his son be assigned to the cushy gig of his protective detail. In truth, Officer Borges is poorly suited to work as a bodyguard—he’s a big man, but suffers from poor reflexes, even worse situational awareness, and mild seizures. He’s alternately disliked and pitied by his fellow detail members, who regard “Officer Baby” as dead weight at best and an impediment to their jobs at worst. He’s frequently mocked for his name, inside the NOPD and out.
Harmony Parks
Born: 1993
Sphere: Corporate
Personal assistant to Cécilia Devillers. True to her name, Harmony is a demure and pleasantly agreeable young woman who’s good at anticipating her employer’s every want, though she maintains that Cecilia is a very easy boss to work for who’d probably be happy with any PA—and would make any PA happy to work for her. Born to poverty as one of many illegitimate children of Martin Borges, Harmony’s mother never got any child support from New Orleans’ now-mayor, but did get her daughter into a decent college through a reference letter (“the one thing he was ever good for”). Harmony feels she’s worked hard to get where she is and desperately doesn’t want to go back to her old life.
Janelle Borges
Born: 2000
Sphere: High Society
College student who’s attending Tulane studying fashion design, but is better known as a budding influencer who reviews clothes and makeup. Highly active on Instagram, MeVid, and TikTok. Somewhat lazy and wants a bigger following than she has, but doesn’t want to put in the work and would rather go clubbing in the Quarter. Her father uses interns on his mayoral staff to edit her videos and write many of her social media posts (so that she doesn’t have to). She got into Tulane through his connections and after he bribed/threatened an exam proctor to let her cheat on the SAT.
The Crawfords
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• 1. Leah Crawford (b. 1964) + (unknown father) |
Leah Crawford
Born: 1964
Sphere: Health
Status: Tulane Medical Center •••
Diligent, professional, hard-working, and no-nonsense, Leah has been a trauma surgeon for several decades, working out of the Tulane Medical Center ER. In those years she’s dealt with everything from stabbings to gunshot wounds to overdoses, straight on down the line to “faultless” injuries such as car accidents and falls. She’s also calmly dealt with unruly gangbangers, personal stalkers, and belligerent police officers with ice water in her veins and a .38 in her glove box. Born in the worst neighborhoods of Chicago, Leah first traveled to New Orleans for school and never looked back, carrying with her a commitment to breaking free of the cycle of poverty and a making something of herself. For several years following her residency she worked with prospective med students coming out of Tulane, but in the last couple of years has grown too busy and largely laid that aside. 5’1" and petite, with short bushy hair and matching too-wide eyes. Speaks English, Russian, and French. Mother to five children.
Saffron Meadows
(née Crawford)
Born: 1979
Sphere: Politics
Status: City Council •••
City councilwoman holding one of the at-large seats. Strong ties to police and fire unions and has pushed hard in investigating claims that departments are mismanaging funds at the highest level. Lifelong Democrat and mother of three born and raised in New Orleans who likes to brag she’s never left the city limits once in her life.
Chloe Beaumont
Born: 1989
Sphere: High Society
Jazz singer at the Spotted Cat club in Faubourg Marigny.
Joseph Beaumont
Born: 1989
Sphere: Industry
The prodigal son and only (adult) non-college attendee in the family. Decided to “take a year off” and travel abroad after high school and did that for almost ten years before he finally ran out of money. All his time traveling and making friends has left him with a silver tongue that serves him well at LegalWings, where he’s what he refers to as an intake specialist. He walks the defendants through the process of bail and gets them to sign on the dotted line for as high a percentage as he can get. Anything over 10% he gets a bonus on.
Penelope “Penny” Freeman-Crawford
Born: 1992
Sphere: High Society
Artist and recent Tulane graduate who sells her work at Frenchmen Art Market. Waitresses part-time at Commander’s Palace. One-time romantic interest of Alice Guillot. She uses her self-given nickaname of Penny ironically: as in, she knows her own value, and chooses to use the name Penny as a statement to the world about labels.
Ashley Crawford
Born: 2008
Sphere: Academia
Leah’s youngest daughter, conceived well into middle age after Joseph decided to “take a year off” against his mother’s wishes. He always thought she’d intended to replace him with another son and was endlessly amused when she produced yet another daughter. Fourth grader at the McGehee School for Girls and interested in becoming a veterinarian.
The Dolans
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• 1. (Ida’s parents) |
Ida Dolan
Born: 1926
Sphere: Hospitality
Miss Ida, as she’s colloquially known by locals, is the ever-fiery and indelible matriarch of the Dolan family. She and her many descendants and other relatives own Commander’s Palace and an empire of other dining establishments throughout New Orleans and beyond. Miss Ida herself is a short, stoutly-built woman who started working in the restaurant business as a teenager in the 1950s. Many of the proteges she’s mentored have gone to become nationally and even internationally acclaimed celebrity chefs. Now over ninety years old, Ida is largely retired from the day to day running of her family’s businesses, but can often be found enjoying lunches and dinners at Commander’s Palace (she is always welcome at the employees-only “family meals”) with her pet dogs.
Patrick Dolan
Born: 1960
Sphere: Hospitality
Owner and operator of Mid-City Lanes, a purgatory-themed bowling alley called “the Gutter” by its regulars and naysayers.
Mallory D. Landry
Born: 1959
Sphere: Police
Deputy Superintendent of the Management Services Bureau (MSB), which provides NOPD administrative and support services, including budgetary, record-keeping, recruitment, training, and facility and fleet services. Civil appointee in the wake of corruption allegations following Hurricane Rita.
Benjamin Dolan
Born: 1986
Sphere: Industry
Patrick had high hopes for his firstborn. He thought that he’d introduce him early on to the cooking life, that he could train the boy’s palate and create a master chef that would make his Aunt Ida proud of the new generation of Dolans. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Benjamin was a sad case in the kitchen. He oversalted. He undergarnished. He couldn’t follow a recipe to save his life. Worse, he liked his steaks well done. “Kill it twice, why don’tcha” his dad would grumble at him. He never had a chance at being a chef like the rest of his family. Fortunately his mother provided another alternative: law enforcement. She got her boy a spot in the police academy and he excelled during training. After graduation he was assigned to the 6th District, but his commander must have had it out for him because he spent almost all his time in the poor, high-crime area of Central City. He started using a little too much force for the police to consistently cover up, and a fairly high-profile beatdown and shooting saw him removed from the force. A week later he was picked up by LegalWings, where he now works as a recovery agent and all-around muscle for Regina Dufresne.
Arthur “The Commander” Dolan
Born: 1988
Sphere: Hospitality
Sous chef at Commander’s Palace.
Emily Ida Dolan
Born: 2003
Sphere: Academia
Daughter of Arthur Dolan. Chess prodigy.
The Dufresnes
|
• 1. Leonard Dufresne (b. 1941) + |
Arnold Hughes
Born: 1945
Deceased: 1996 (age 51)
Sphere: Industry
Arnold grew up in the Lower Ninth, a poor black kid who learned early on that he needed a hook as quick as his wit if he wanted to survive. He was in high school when the city finally pushed for desegregation—not that a bastard from the slums would get a fair shot even if he did go to a fancy white school—and the only thing it did for him was make his trek to school that much longer when the city shuffled students around to get with the times. After graduating he started working as a mechanic with his buddy Tuck, but Billion Dollar Betsy swept in a few years later and destroyed the majority of the Lower Ninth, the shop along with it. His was one of the 164,000 homes destroyed; rather than throw in the towel he salvaged what he could of his waterlogged possessions. It was during this salvage job that he found a pair of looters filching things from his elderly neighbor’s house, and rather than sit idly by Arnold put a stop to it. Good thing, too: turned out they were “persons of interest” and his “arrest” got him a hefty bounty hunter’s payout that went a long way to making his life a little bit easier. After that it was an easy swap from one job to another, and Arnold made a name for himself when he tracked down all sorts of “storm skippers” that thought the hurricane made for a good excuse to get the hell out and never come back. Twenty years later he met Regina, had a handful of kids, and started teaching them the basics of his job so they could follow in his footsteps. They were ten when he took Reggie with him on a case and lost his life to a meth lab explosion.
Regina Dufresne
Born: 1962
Sphere: Industry
Owner of Legalwings Bailbonds, New Orlean’s premiere bail bond company. She started the business in the mid 80s and has steadily climbed to the top, forcing her competitors out of business or simply absorbing them into her company. Now known as NOLA’s Bail Bond Queen, Regina employs a few dozen people in various offices around the city. All three of her sons work for her in various roles. She’s a hard woman with a no-nonsense, no bullshit attitude who hasn’t been slowed down by her advancing age or the death of her boys’ dad.
Randall “Randy” Dufresne
Born: 1986
Sphere: Industry
Randall grew up with the same stories that his older brothers did. He learned how to con, how to read a situation, how to lie through his teeth. He was less interested in academics than Rusty and never quite as good a shot as Reggie, but Randy brought something to the group that the others lacked: an innate sense of danger. Maybe it was a sixth sense, maybe it was a guardian angel, but Randy always seemed to know when the going was about to get tough. Reggie might be able to read a man as well as any card shark, and Rusty might be able to dig up all sorts of dirty laundry, but no matter how deep the shit they were in Randy would find a way out. He knew the city and the outlying areas as well as he knew just how to touch a woman to make her cream her panties; he knew which streets were speed-traps, which cops could be bribed to look the other way, which clients were likely to cause trouble and which would simply roll over. Maybe that’s why he fell in with Jade when he did—because, despite the warning bells going off in his head, she was simply too captivating a woman to walk away from. And when she offered him immortality in exchange for service, well, he was the first of his brothers to jump in feet first. He’s a driver by trade, both for his “babe” and for his family, and he’s the son his mother turns to when she thinks someone might have crossed the border, or when she needs something a little sensitive moved. After all, when you deal with as many criminals as they do, you’re bound to get caught up in something fun sooner or later.
Reginald “Reggie” Dufresne
Born: 1986
Sphere: Industry
If Arnold Hughes could clone himself the result would be Reggie Dufresne. Of all the brothers, Reggie was closest to their father, eager to learn everything that he had to teach and soaking it all up like an earnest little sponge at his feet. He was the first to get his concealed permit, first to learn how to wield a blade just as well as he did a gun, and the first to lose his virginity. Cindy Maltz. He was an early teenager trying to pass as an adult, and Cindy proved the perfect mark for him, never mind that she was 18 and he was 13. Their dalliance gave him a boost of confidence that never left, a self-assured smugness that some might even consider arrogance. But hey, when you look as good as Reggie does, what’s not to be confident about? Reggie served as his mother’s chief bounty hunter and all around muscle as soon as he was old enough to take the test. He’s the guy she sends when she needs to make sure shit gets done right, and he’s one of the few that she uses for her own personal protection if she’s making a public appearance. He runs a con as well as any smooth-talker, too, and knows all the bolt-holes and tricks that their clients like to pull when they get jumpy.
Russel “Rusty” Dufresne
Born: 1986
Sphere: Industry
His “little brothers” might consider Rusty the odd man out in their trio, but Rusty has something that the other two don’t: brains. While Reggie and Randy were content to learn at their parent’s feet bout bounty hunting and tracking down marks, Rusty was busy learning how to prepare for the future. He knew that life wouldn’t always be like it was then, so when the Internet, cell phones, and computers started becoming a big thing he threw himself into them like a dollar bill in a stripper’s thong. Everyone has a digital footprint, he says, and he’s happy to find it for his mom and siblings to stretch their business even further. He’s in charge of the website, the emails, and all the rest of the digital content that the company needs. More than that, though, he dual-majored in Business and Criminal Justice. He said he didn’t need the official education for tech because “they’re not going to teach the things you really need to know”. He’s less interested in the “macho” field work that his two brothers use to butter their bread, but makes sure to keep himself in shape for the days he gets the urge to put someone’s head through a wall.
The Jonases & Kanes
|
• 1. Unknown father + mother |
Earl Kane
Born: Unknown
Deceased: 1992
Sphere: Police
Emil’s father. Former police detective killed in the line of duty.
Paul Jonas
Born: 1960
Sphere: Legal
A partner at the Los Angeles-based law firm of Simmons, Jonas, Kennedy, & Morton, Paul grew up in Baton Rouge and attended law school at Tulane in New Orleans before going to work for the FBI. (His son Justin remains eternally disappointed by the fact he wasn’t a “real” FBI agent: he merely did legal work for the Bureau.) Paul met his wife Lucille after her husband was murdered in a gang shooting and moved out to Los Angeles with her to pursue a better life. Both of them would likely say they’ve obtained that: private practice pays better than the FBI ever did, and they have three well-behaved boys all on track to enter good careers of their own. Paul has no particular desire to ever come back to Louisiana. He has never smoked, gotten drunk, or gotten high in his life, and enjoys golf, stamp collecting, and taking pictures of mailboxes. Most of his associates find him a thoroughly boring man.
Lucille Jonas
Born: 1966
Deceased: 2012 (46 years old)
Sphere: Corporate
Status: Clemonte Etiquette •••
Senior etiquette instructor at Clemonte Etiquette, a Los Angeles-based etiquette consultation company. She has vigilantly severed all ties to her former life in New Orleans. She disappeared in 2007 and was declared dead in absentia in 2012.
Emil Kane
Born: 1986
Deceased: 2015 (age 29)
Jewish occultist and computer programmer turned police officer.
Benjamin “Ben” Jonas
Born: 1993
Sphere: Corporate
Emil’s middle half-brother. Quiet and introverted but smart as a whip, he works at a genetics lab in Los Angeles.
Justin Jonas
Born: 1994
Sphere: Transportation
Emil’s younger half-brother, though most people presume he’s the oldest or at least middle brother: he’s taller and louder than both of his siblings. Spurned college to work aboard a ship freighter and see the world, much to his mother’s diapproval.
The Kellys
|
• 1. Joseph Kelly (b. 1926) + Dorothy Kelly (née Lawless) (b. 1931) |
Joseph H. Kelly
Born: 1926
Sphere: Politics
Status: U.S. Senate ••••• •
The senior senator from Louisiana, Kelly was elected to his current office in 1968 and has been a fixture in national politics for generations. A “former” member of the Ku Klux Klan and strong ally of Senator Strom Thurmond before his death, Kelly has survived every challenge thrown at him at the state level with a ruthless combination of alleged voter suppression and election fraud. He claims to have renounced his racist views, but still commonly gaffes with offensive comments which he claims are cultural. He actually disdains many lower-class whites as well, particularly the less “gentlemanly” parts of the white power movement such as the Aryan Nation. Kelly’s election machine in the state is second to none, and as a result he wields vast power politically throughout. A graduate of the Citadel, he remains surprisingly spry for his age. Former Blue Dog Democrat who switched political parties following the GOP takeover in 2010.
Edward Kelly
Born: 1957
Sphere: Politics
Status: Louisiana Secretary of State ••••
Louisiana’s secretary of state and eldest son of Joseph H. Kelly, Edward considers himself somewhat old to be where he now is. He’s long harbored ambitions of becoming senator or governor, but the stars have never quite seemed to align; he lost a primary bid for the latter office some years back, Nathaniel Malveaux scooped up the open Senate seat in 2012, and his father shows no signs of slowing down with age or planning to retire. At this point, he’s thought to be waiting (with increasing impatience) for the old man to hurry up and die. Like his father, he’s a former conservative Democrat who switched political parties following the GOP wave election in 2010. Worked as a lobbyist, state senator, and member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission before being elected to his current office.
Rosalyn Kelly
(née Dyer)
Born: 1959
Sphere: Corporate
Status: Whitney Hancock Bank ••••
An executive at Whitney Hancock Bank and Dyer Financial, Rosalyn grew up in the shadow of her uncle’s takeover of the Dyer family and has never been able to take its wealth for granted: John made clear he hated his siblings and was willing to cut off their children if they displeased him. Rosalyn’s spent much of her life earning the old man’s favor, and has been the most successful of her generation to do so. She was a driving force behind the 1996 sale of Dyer Financial to Whitney Hancock and has led an active career on both financial institutions. She’s worth over $100 million, but that’s only a pittance next to her uncle’s $3.1 billion fortune—which, to her chagrin, he’s refused to name her (or anyone) the principle heir to. Marrying Bob Kelly was supposed to be a step towards that by tying the Dyer line to a political dynasty, but it clearly hasn’t been enough for John. Rosalyn’s marriage has also soured over the years, as she’s grown increasingly irked by her husband’s lack of drive and would-be spendthrift ways. She regards the prenuptial agreement she made him sign as one of the wisest decisions of her life, as it’s given her control over their marriage—Bob can’t bear to live without her money. She’s carried on discreet affairs with other men he’s seen little alternative but to accept (the news would also damage his career more than hers), and which has only made her lose even more respect for him. Outside of work, she spends much of her time devising new schemes to inherit her aged uncle’s wealth or at least discredit his other would-be heirs. Friends with Thalia Ocampo.
Robert “Bob” Kelly
Born: 1965
Sphere: Politics
Status: U.S. House of Representatives ••••
Congressional representative for Louisiana’s 6th district, which includes Baton Rouge and the westernmost shores of Lake Pontchartrain. Everything has always gone Bob Kelly’s way. Born the younger son of Senator Joseph H. Kelly, he’s notable for being one of the few congresspeople not to hold a degree: he tried college for several years (at three different colleges) and found it “just wasn’t for me.” His father hooked him up with a job as a legislative aide, and promotions at Senator Kelly’s congressional office steadily followed before he met his wife Rosalyn, a niece of billionaire John Dyer. With her uncle’s financial backing, and his father’s name recognition and election machine, Bob cruised to an easy victory. He’s cruised to an easier one every year since and will have his seat for as long as he likes in the R+17 district. Although the Kelly family is old money, Joseph clinging on to life into his 90s means Bob hadn’t been able to inherit wealth. He spent his youth as a man of only moderate affluence—until he married into the Dyers. He owes most of his present $100+ million net worth to his wife and seemingly loves her money at least as much as her. Regular international flights on a private jet, extravagant dinners at Michelin star D.C. restaurants, multiple luxury homes, and more are all fixtures of his lavish lifestyle. Tabloids say the only reason escorts aren’t on that list too is the prenuptial agreement he signed with his wife. Father to three children by her, none of whom he’s raised in his congressional district.
Gabriella Kelly
Born: 1992
Sphere: High Society
By the time she was a teenager Gabriella was a self-identified bulldyke who went by “Gabe” instead of one of the more feminine versions of her name. She grew up in a conservative household and spent her teenage and young adult years raging against the machine and the patriarchy and everything that her grandfather and her parents stood for. She liked loud music, punk bands, and had more color on her skin and metal in her face than a modern art exhibit. At least until she turned nineteen. After that she settled down; she found Jesus, let her hair grow beyond the buzz cut, underwent expensive laser treatments to remove the tattoos, and took all the piercings out. There’s a rumor she had gastric bypass—how else could she have lost the weight so quickly?—but Gabriella hasn’t bothered to confirm or deny. She’s been busy with her husband and children since they married in 2013 and appears to be content as his trophy wife, leaving her days of hard drugs and loud parties behind her. She can often be found strolling through the park with her children in their stroller, and everyone agrees that she keeps one of the prettiest gardens in New Orleans.
Susannah Kelly
Born: 1998
Sphere: Academia
Granddaughter of Senator Joseph Kelly. Susannah is part of the popular crowd at McGehee and running for president student government alongside her best friend Sarah Whitney. Amelie Savard thought she seemed like “the queen of the school” after seeing how favorably some of her teachers treated her. Susannah was seemingly friendly during the two’s shared Ballroom Dance class, but always found an excuse never to take Amelie as a dancing partner.
The Matrangas
|
• 1. Salustrio “Silver Penny Sal” Matranga (b. 1956) + Giorgina “Gina” “The Dragon” Matranga (née Carolla) (b. 1959) |
Salustio “Silver Penny Sal” Matranga
Born: 1956
Sphere: Underworld
Status: Mafia ••••
Position: Consigliere
Consigliere of the New Orleans Mafia. Great-grandson of Charles Matranga, the father of the Matranga crime family, Black Hand, from which the New Orleans Mafia sprung. Currently enjoying the hospitality of the Orleans Parish Prison. Has been there for more than a year as his trial keeps going sideways, seesawing back and forth for the DA and Sal.
Giorgina “Gina, the Dragon” Matranga
Born: 1959
Sphere: Underworld
Status: Mafia •
Sal’s wife and frequent visitor to him at OPP. Nicknamed “the Dragon” for her intimidating presence. Jointly raising her granddaughter with her daughter Selena. Has cancer (again) but keeps smoking.
Guilo “Black-Match” Matranga
Born: 1983
Deceased: 2016 (age 32)
Sphere: Underworld
Status: Mafia •••
Position: Caporegime
Sal’s older son. Newly appointed capo in the family business. Previously served in the Afghanistan War as a demolitions expert. His soldiers joke, darkly, that “if some fellas gots a ‘short-fuse’, Guilo’s gots a ‘no-fuse’.” Deceased as of 2016 in mob-related violence.
Selena “Mona Smiles” Matranga
Born: 1989
Sphere: Underworld
Status: Mafia •
Sal’s older daughter. Pregnant out of wedlock by an unknown father and jointly raising her child with her mother Gina. Club singer. Although she doesn’t do as many drugs as her middle brother, she has a reputation for alcohol abuse and promiscuity. For a while, there weren’t many mobsters brave enough to hook up with her, thanks to her father’s position in the mob, but that’s changed since his seemingly indefinite pre-trial lockup in OPP.
Frankie “Two-Shakes” Matranga
Born: 1992
Sphere: Underworld
Status: Mafia •
Sal’s younger son. Junkie artist. He’s sought to work directly for the mob a few times, but his father and older brother Guilo have always kept him out until he can “sober up,” which they doubt will be happening anytime soon. He’s a sporadic attendee of Donald O’Keele’s NA meetings.
Maria Matranga
Born: 1997
Sphere: Academia
Younger daughter of Silver Penny Sal, consigliere for the New Orleans Mafia. Freshman and biology major who intends to go to med school. Girlfriend to Jacob “Jake” Kingsley and platonic friend to Alice Guillot, who she walked home with over the Companion App after the latter got out from a recent evening class.
The St. Georges
|
• 1. Mary St. George (b. 1950) |
Mary St. George
Born: 1950
Sphere: Church
Retired former social worker, foster mother of six (now grown) children, and now decade-long active volunteer working with the homeless or impoverished at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church, Mary is a lifelong Catholic firm in her faith and sound in her principle. She works to take down, store, and organize information on the local homeless and under served for the purpose of tracking aid that the church provides, in addition to overseeing many of the outreach and aid programs, most of which are staffed by local college students. A kindly and exceptionally patient woman, Mary never married, but instead raised half a dozen wards of the state, seeing five of them off to college and successful careers. Nonetheless, she’s haunted by Jason St. George, her one great failure, and wonders how she could have gone so wrong. Her continued service is in part an attempt to make amends for failing the young man. Short and plump, with a head of short iron gray hair, she has a matronly air about her and is fairly discerning in her ability to read people. Hosts four of her six children (the exceptions being Jason and Rebecca) every Sunday night for dinner.
Maria St. George
Born: 1979
Sphere: Legal
The oldest of the St. George siblings, Maria is a married court stenographer with one small child, a disabled (wheelchair-bound) husband who now works as an accountant, and a deep hatred for the criminal justice system. Views the system as unjust, having seen enough cases, but careful to keep her head down and just do her job to provide for her family. Petite 5’3" Latina with a small frame, dark eyes, and darker hair that she typically wears braided behind her. Husband was an enlisted Marine who was injured in a helicopter crash in Iraq, and though his injury strained their marriage for a time, they’ve emerged stronger for it. Very close to her mother, who helps watch her daughter Karla (Karlita) during the day when they are both at work. Fiercely Catholic, even though her husband’s faith has lapsed.
Julius St. George
Born: 1982
Sphere: Police
Massive, athletic, with skin carved out of obsidian and a shaved pallet, Julius looks like a professional athlete or a back-alley nightmare. In truth, Julius is neither, serving on the City of New Orleans SWAT Team as a breacher, having recently joined the team after a three-year stint as a beat cop in the rough Ninth Ward. Not married, but dating a fellow (white) officer on the NOPD, Julius joined the force driven by a fierce sense of right and wrong instilled by his foster mother, and though he is deeply disturbed by some of the excesses of the force, he believes he can do the most good where he is. That is to say where God placed him, because as with most of the St. Georges, Julius is a devout Catholic who manages to get most Sundays off for both church and the family’s regular Sunday meal (which he has not yet brought his girlfriend too). Not particularly well-liked on the force among many of the black officers for his lack of corruption, and by many of the white officers because he’s black (and legitimately scares many of them). Spends most of his free time working out, eating incessantly (he knows all the best spots in the city), and working with local inner city youth groups, especially for under-served black youth.
George St. George
Born: 1984
Sphere: Industry
Unfortunate name aside, George St. George is just as successful as his foster siblings. He was lucky enough to be brought into Mary St. George’s home before he ever had a chance to lose sight of who he was within the state’s foster care, and never went through the rebellious teenage phase where he told her ”you’re not my real mom.” A devout Catholic, George joins his family every Sunday for their dinner and had even considered seminary school, though it appears that God had other plans for him. He now works as a financial analyst at LegalWings Bail Bonds, which sounds a little more involved than it is: mostly he goes through people’s belongings to appraise them in case clients default on their bonds or try to flee. He has a strong head for numbers and knowing what things are worth. Unmarried but looking, and recently ended a two-year relationship for “religious differences” after he discreetly fed his girlfriend a pill that would make her miscarry following a positive pregnancy test. Protests outside of abortion clinics in his spare time.
Sylvia St. George
Born: 1989
Leslie “Kristina Winters” St. George
Born: 1989
Sphere: High Society
The red-haired, fair-skinned, long-legged St. George. Leslie went to college for marketing, but found on her return to New Orleans that she had a far more marketable option: her looks. Though she’d never let her family find out, her “marketing” career over the last four years has mostly consisted of working for Christina Roberts as a high-class escort. Of course, employees of Ms. Roberts have to be intelligent enough to carry a conversation, sophisticated enough to conduct themselves at high society functions, and discreet enough to keep themselves and their clients out of the tabloids, and in these categories Leslie has excelled. A straight-A student in college fluent in three languages, including French and Spanish, she has adapted well to working among society’s upper crust and become one of Roberts’ more trusted employees. Close to her mother and still visits her on Sundays for brunch, usually spending the afternoon volunteering with her at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church before the family’s regular Sunday night meal. Works in her job under the name “Kristina Winters”, with only her boss and a handful of others knowing her real name.
Jason St. George
Born: 1990
Sphere: Street
Convicted pedophile, mugger, drug addict, and now drifter on the streets, Jason had every opportunity to succeed despite the troubled childhood he came from. Mary St. George adopted him when he was young and brought him into a loving household with brothers and sisters who embraced him as their own. Unfortunately for Jason, he turned from that path. Always slightly off, his future went completely off the rails when he was arrested after molesting a two-year-old girl in a Walmart bathroom. Subsequent raids on his college dorm room found a stash of explicitly violent child pornography. Jason subsequently spent more than four years in prison related to those charges even after pleading them down. He was caught in the system after his release and forced into chemical castration. It took less than three months after that for him to fail off the grid entirely, violating his parole and becoming just another junkie drifter on the city’s mean streets. He has remained there since early 2015, subsisting through a combination of begging and violence. White, nearly 6’0" tall, with ratty black hair and a scraggly beard.
5-Entry Families
The Abernathys
|
• 1. Thomas “Doc Tom” Abernathy (b. 1930) + |
Thomas “Doc Tom” Abernathy
Born: 1930
Sphere: Occult
A child of the Depression, Doc Tom has lived through the want of that time, the corruption of the Long legacy, and the turmoil of the Civil Rights Movement. His attention was never on these things, though, but on devotion to his gods. Raised by a family which had been faithful to the loa since before they came over from West Africa, his ashe (power) was noted shortly after birth, and he was raised to be a bokor and faithful servant of Les Invisibles. However, the state of the world around him has not spared him its mark. He’s suffered the indignities of poverty and racism enough that his opinion of his fellow man is decidedly cynical, causing him to turn even more fully to the more perfect beings he claims to commune with. He is not a houngan and does not lead congregations, which is just how his neighbors prefer it: they find him an insufferably crotchety and abrasive old man who is all-too happy to voice his caustic discontent over whatever (and whoever) is currently on his mind. His surliness has yet to get him in trouble, however, at least within his own neighborhood in Central City: many of the residents still fear and respect Vodoun, and recognize a “man with power” as one not to be trifled with.
James Abernathy
Born: 1961
Deceased: 1992
Tom’s and Theresa’s only child. Tom has spoken little of his son, who went missing years ago and is presumed (as well as legally declared) deceased.
Abigail “Abi Lee” Abel
Born: 1962
Former attorney who gave up a promising legal career to become, in her father Harrison’s words, “an itinerant weed-smoking hippie.” Never mind the fact he used to be one himself; he doesn’t like to tell people about how his daughter fell in with a bad crowd, did a lot of drugs, and made a lot of poor decisions, including having two children out of wedlock and possibly joining a cult. Eventually, the drugs and her life choices caught up with her. She was commited to a mental institution following a nervous breakdown after the father of her children went missing.
Carnell Abernathy
Born: 1988
Sphere: Street
Street kid and gangbanger who used a combination of financial aid and drug profits to obtain degrees in business and pre-law. Subsequently returned to the underworld with the goal of becoming more than just muscle; now runs the BloodHound Gangstaz, one of the Big Easy’s largest gangs. Equally at home wearing Armani or gang colors, he can shift flawlessly from perfect English to street slang.
Nylea Abernathy
Born: 1988
Sphere: Academia
Anthropology doctoral student at Tuale University and knowledge-obsessed monster hunter.
The Montobons
|
• 1. |
Walter Montobon
Born: 1959
Deceased: 2010 (age 51)
Sphere: Corporate
Status: Manufacturing company •••
The former patriarch of the Montobon family, Walter presided over the decline of a once-great manufacturing empire due to outsourcing, deindustrialization, and New Orleans’ declining economic relevance. He tried for years to keep the family business afloat and took out a large amount of debt. The Great Recession proved an apparent knockout blow to his ambitions and he committed suicide with a firearm in his office.
Joann Montobon
(née Lake)
Born: 1961
Sphere: High Society
The current matriarch of the Montobon family, though largely uninvolved in the family’s business activities next to her son Joseph. Proud of him, but wants him to settle down with a girl and start producing grandchildren. Her own father ran a failed bid for mayor back in the day and she likes the thought of one of her yet-unborn grandsons going into public service.
Joseph Montobon
Born: 1987
Sphere: Corporate
Status: Assorted businesses •••
Heir to the Montobon fortune, Joseph is young, ambitious, and confident that he can restore a once-vast manufacturing empire gutted by NAFTA. A one-time suitor to Savannah Malveaux, the two drifted apart after their college years as they became increasingly embroiled in their family’s businesses. Joseph is as much a slave to his job as Savannah is, and recent rumors connect him to the city’s Mafia just as many of his business ventures are beginning to show signs of life. Whether that’s only a coincidence, or rumors spread by jealous rivals, none can say for certain. What is certain is that Joseph’s star, and the Montobons’, is on the rise for the first time in a generation.
Hailey Montobon
Born: 1992
Sphere: Corporate
The middle Montobon child. Lives in Houston and works for an energy company there.
Layla Montobon
Born: 2000
Sphere: Academia
The youngest Montobon child. Current (as of 2016) high schooler at the McGehee School for Girls, whose tuition is partly paid by her brother.
The Underwoods
|
• 1. |
Payton T. Underwood
(née Andrews)
Born: 1947
Sphere: Legal
Associate judge for the Criminal District Court of Orleans Parish. Payton was born the youngest daughter to a family with four other girls, prompting her exasperated father (who’d long wanted a son to follow in his footsteps as a judge) to declare that “she’d have to do.” Almost seventy years later, Payton has a reputation as a severe judge who dislikes waste and has little tolerance for disrespect. She is known to impose “creative” sentences on clients for whom a $200 fee or several more days in jail would be a slap on the wrist. She gets along well with the police, who appreciate her “tough on crime” attitude. Her last election was the final one for which she was eligible to run (due to her age), and she looks forward to spending her remaining years playing with her grandchildren, gardening in her old family home in the Lower Garden District, and maybe doing some part-time private practice on the side.
Timothy Underwood
Born: 1947
Deceased: 1998 (age 51)
Sphere: Health
Status: Charity Hospital •••
Former heart surgeon at the now-closed Charity Hospital and former husband to Payton T. Underwood. His surviving family have many fond memories of him as a warm and loving man who spoiled his children rotten, although Payton always considered him too soft and indulgent of others whims’—including his own. He died at age 51 from heart disease brought about by smoking and obesity.
Stanton Underwood
Born: 1972
Sphere: Corporate
Status: Engineering company •••
Engineer who lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Lifelong bachelor who never married or had children, but has a long-term girlfriend. Brother to Prudence Bellamy and Diana Flores. On relatively good terms with all members of his family, but living out of state means they don’t see him often.
Diana Flores
(née Underwood)
Born: 1973
Sphere: Academia
Dance teacher at the McGehee School for Girls since 2003. Given McGehee’s reputation as the “West Point for Southern belles,” Mrs. Flores’ class is understandably very popular with the student body—especially when grading is participation-based and makes for an easy “A” in the academically rigorous school. Diana was a ballerina for 15 years before she went into teaching, but retired in 2003 after a car accident maimed her leg and left her in semi-chronic pain. Ex-wife of Maxen Flores, the state senate’s majority leader (she kept his name after their divorce), and mother of seven children. Lives with her granddaughter Lucy Flores, her adopted daughter Emily Rosure, and two cats. Loves to bake and cook.
Prudence Bellamy
(née Underwood)
Born: 1975
Sphere: Corporate
Status: New Orleans & Company •••
Executive at New Orleans & Company, a marketing organization that promotes tourism in New Orleans. She and her husband Norland have an unhappy marriage and have long since fallen out of love, but since they’re Catholics, they won’t divorce and continue to live in the same house essentially as roommates.
4-Entry Families
The Broussards
|
• 1. |
Hippolyte “Big Mon of Monteleone” Broussard
Born: 1956
Sphere: Industry
Towering, thick-bodied ex-cop who somewhat famously works as a shoe-shiner outside the unequivocally famous Hotel Monteleone and Carousel Bar. Less remembered for serving almost a decade at the Farm after being first convicted of brutally assaulting Vera Malveaux and later exonerated when the true perpetrator was discovered.
Keshaun Broussard
Born: 1996
Sphere: Street
19-year-old currently serving in Orleans Parish Prison for setting a neighbor’s dog on fire. Like his younger brother Batiste, Keshaun grew up breaking, tagging, and running around with a cut-krewe. Unlike his brother, Keshaun was never that good with a blade and was lucky to lose only a few fingers before his fifteenth birthday. He likely would have lost a lot more if he hadn’t spent most of his adolescence in juvenile detention centers for vandalism, truancy, possession charges, and myriad other probation violations. Shortly after his last release, he and some other petty gangbangers began shaking down disabled neighbors for their social security checks. Yet, after mouthing off to one of his elderly victims, Keshaun was mauled by the woman’s pit-bull (his compatriots of course bolted and abandoned him). In retaliation, Keshaun returned the next day with a super-soaker filled with lighter fuel, hosed down the dog through its chain-linked fence, and then threw lit-matches at it. Livid, the dog’s owner violated the usual creed of never calling the cops. Keshaun might have dodged the police, but he decided to come back the next day and shake down the old lady for her social security check just as the cops arrived to take her statement.
Latoya and La’trice Broussard
Born: 2005
Sphere: Street
10-year-old twin daughters and local Double Dutch block queens. The inseparable pair acts as regular lookouts for their family and neighbors, alerting them to approaching police, social workers, and rival gangs with different skipping rhymes. When not jumping ropes or practicing new braids on each other and their shared doll, the girls torment their immediate and extended family with generally harmless pranks such as placing clear plastic wrap across toilet bowls, replacing Oreo icing with toothpaste, and stuffing cream cheese into deodorant sticks. In the past, the miscreants particularly enjoyed using their identical features to trick teachers and strangers. However, such schemes became impossible after a rival cut-thug slashed Latoya across the face, severing her left ear and leaving her permanently scarred. Far less visible is the spiritual wound they share: the twins were once triplets, but their sister Latifah drowned in Katrina’s floodwaters. Although only a few months old during the time of their sister’s death, the twins speak of her often as if she was alive. Most simply attribute such talk as referring to the girls’ doll, who is also named Latifah.
Jaquann “Jelly-Belly” Broussard
Born: 2011
Sphere: Street
6-year-old, 98-lb autistic son whose morbid obesity and odd mannerisms make him a frequent joke among his kin and neighbors. His classmates previously teased him with similar abandon until he sat on one of his tormentors and would have asphyxiated him if Jaquann hadn’t been pried off by two teachers. Due to the incident and Jaquann’s repeated theft of his classmates’ lunches, the corpulent kindergartener was expelled. Since then, Jaquann has been ‘home-schooled’, which in reality means he has been left to fend for himself during the day, gorging on potato chips, peanut butter, or whatever else he can find with his pudgy fingers. His aunt tried locking the fridge, but Jaquann bypassed the lock by breaking the door’s hinges. To say that the obese child has interests other than binging on food and TV would be nice, but sadly fraudulent.
The Cardonas
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• 1. Marcello “Boxcars” Cardona (b. 1952) + (Marcello’s wife) |
Marcello “Boxcars” Cardona
Born: 1952
Sphere: Underworld
Status: Mafia •
Position: Soldato
Father of Vinny and Luciano, former leg-breaker and goon for the Mafia. Great-grandson of Bastiano Incardona, one of the “Infamous 11” hung by the jailhouse mob in 1891. Now “retired” and not part of any crew, he spends a lot of his time, and an increasing amount of his money, losing bets at Harrah’s.
Mariella “Marie” Sheffield
Born: 1968
Sphere: Industry
Distantly related to the Cardona family (yes, that family, the one with alleged ties to the Mafia), Martha wasn’t close enough to the main family tree “to get caught up in all that nonsense.” She was one of Regina’s first employees and has been at LegalWings since her early twenties. Now almost 50, Marie works directly for Regina as her personal assistant. She makes the calls, schedules the meetings, and otherwise handles the day-to-day affairs of the Bail Bond Queen. Other employees describe her as a human pitbull: she’s fiercely protective of Regina’s time and runs the office with ruthless efficiency. Outside of work she’s as charming as any southern belle and has a fondness for pecan pie. She’s married to a contractor and has three kids, the oldest of whom is already making noise about becoming a bounty hunter when he grows up.
Luciano “Lucky" Cardona
Born: 1980
Spheres: Legal, Underworld
Status: Law Firm •••, Mafia ••
Certified public accountant and attorney specializing in corporate law. Alleged ties to New Orleans Mafia. Twin brother of Vincenzo “Vinny” Cardona and son of Marcello.
Vincenzo “Vinny” Cardona
Born: 1980
Sphere: Police
White collar crime detective and racino addict. Former jockey and bantamweight boxer. Twin brother of “Lucky” Luciano.
The Delacroixes
|
• 1. (Milod’s and Ameline’s parents) |
Philémon Delacroix
Born: 1961
Sphere: Academia
Status: Tulane University •••
Bayou-born environmental activist and associate professor of economics. Specializes in ecological economics and social accounting. On non-speaking terms with his son Emmett Delacroix.
Tanya Delacroix
(née Landreneau)
Born: 1955
Sphere: Academia
Status: Tulane University •••
Former civil rights activist and sociology professor at Tulane University. On non-speaking terms with her son Emmett Delacroix.
Eveline “Lena” Merinelli
(née Delacroix)
Born: 1981
Sphere: Health
Former pediatrician at Children’s Hospital New Orleans. Older sister to Emmett Delacroix. Recently sent to prison as an accessory to her brother’s murder, resulting in the suspension of her medical license.
Emmett “Em” Delacroix
Born: 1991
Deceased: 2016
Scam artist executed by the state of Louisiana for various crimes in 2016.
The Dufrenes, Exposes, & Wilkinsons
|
• 1. |
Ayido “Mama Wedo” Dufrene
Born: 1961
Deceased: 2015
Sphere: Occult
Mambo of Ayedo, though her approach to serving the loa with “both hands” (i.e., light and dark magic) was decidedly more bokor-like. Mother to Corey “Da Chief” Expose and Ronald “Ryulo” Expose. Recently deceased.
Amos Dufrene Wilkinson
Born: 1977
Sphere: Health
Status: Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office ••••
Coroner of Orleans Parish. First-term official and the first African-American to hold the office as well. He is also an assistant professor at Tulane Medical School, specifically of pathology and psychiatry. He helps run, or at least sits on the boards for several homeless shelters in the city. As coroner, he is in charge of all mental health institutionalization, sexual abuse investigation, and autopsies.
Corey “Da Chief” Expose
Born: 1979
Sphere: Street
Leader of the Cut-Throat-City Snake Gang with his younger brother Ronald “Ryulo” Expose, a major drug ring in CTC (i.e., Cross the Canal, aka Cut-Throat-City) in the lower Ninth Ward. Currently serving in the Farm, i.e., the Louisiana State Penitentiary. They, and seven of their crew, got busted in a major racketeering charge and drug dealing sting. Fancied himself a bokor, but he was a bad one in both ways.
Ronald “Ryulo” Expose
Born: 1982
Sphere: Street
Younger brother to Corey Expose, also leading member in the Cut-Throat City Snake Gang. Currently serving in the Farm.
The Flynns
|
• 1. John Michael Flynn (b. 1952) + Charity Flynn (née Newcome) (b. 1958) |
John Michael Flynn 
Born: 1952
Sphere: Bureaucracy
Status: AT&T ••
Pole climber for AT&T for 26 years who was eligible for retirement in 2015, John is a fiercely blue color working Catholic who wonders where he went so wrong as a parent and refuses to leave his job, lest he be left with nothing. With his son in a drug addict in prison and his daughter a “degenerate homosexual whore,” Michael has fallen into his work, his hobbies and light beers by the dozen to avoid facing the “failure” of his life. Those hobbies include protesting at abortion clinics and attending sporting events. Even his wife Charity rarely seems to interact with him, leaving him to his hobbies.
Charity Flynn
(née Newcome)
Born: 1958
Sphere: Academia
A sheltered long-time kindergarten teacher at Martin Behrman Elementary School and mother to Becca Flynn, Charity Flynn is caught between her faith and her family. Charity is a devout Catholic and the life choices of her children weigh heavily upon her. She recently began meeting with her daughter for lunch in an attempt to reconcile Becca’s life choices and sinful ways with the love of Jesus Christ. She occasionally protests outside of abortion clinics with her husband, though she has grown increasingly estranged from him as he’s fallen further into apathy. She secretly pays her daughter’s phone bill.
Rebecca “Becca” Flynn
Born: 1991
Sphere: Academia
Tulane Law senior struggling to keep her head afloat financially. Born to working-class parents, Becca’s rebellious youth (and coming out) estranged her from her deeply religious parents and stuck her out on her own. She’s made her way working mostly service-industry jobs and occasionally moonlighting as an escort, but more recently has worked in the Corner Club as a bartender. She supplements her income by keeping an eye on Westley Malveaux when he visits the club (which is often), but desperately wants to just finish her degree and get a “real” job. Secretly visits with her mother every other week, and tries to visit her brother Malcolm at least once a month. Wants to go into criminal law as a defense attorney, and contends he got a raw deal.
Malcolm Flynn
Born: 1994
Sphere: Street
College dropout, drug addict, and now convicted felon, Malcolm Flynn’s religious upbringing seems to have done little to affect the course of his life. Despite promising grades in high school, Malcolm ran wild at LSU and eventually fell in with the wrong crowd. Partying led to drug use, which led to harder drugs, and finally landed him on the crack pipe. After that, nothing else mattered. Popped for breaking and entering a year ago after he broke into his parents’ home to steal his mother’s jewelry and sentenced to eighteen months. His father testified against him, and neither he nor his mother have visited him in prison, though his sister has.
The Garrisons
|
• 1. |
Henry Garrison
Born: 1959
Sphere: Legal
District attorney of New Orleans and former federal prosecutor. Henry and his father Robert (also a federal prosecutor) devoted their careers to taking down organized crime and specifically the Italian Mafia. Henry felt they were closer than ever to that goal by the turn of the millennium, but 9/11 resulted in domestic terrorism becoming the new priority of the day for law enforcement and allowed the Mob to make a comeback. Henry has been trying to reverse that ever since and was responsible for busting Silver Penny Sal, the current consigliere, but still has a long way to go. Henry was very close to his son Stephen, who he groomed to enter public service like his relatives before him, and was devastated by the young man’s 2012 death in a car crash. Henry divorced his wife Andrea years ago and has little in his life besides work and his surviving daughter Danielle. His peers find him a largely humorless and all-business man. He had a reputation in his younger days for being a conspiracy nut (specifically, the theory that Kennedy’s assassination was a government conspiracy involving help from the New Orleans Mafia), but has since tried to live it down.
Andrea Chambers
(née Burgess)
Born: 1960
Sphere: Academia
Ex-wife of Henry Garrison and mother to Stephen and Danielle. She and her former husband divorced in 1998. She has since remarried and moved to Nashville, where she works as an associate provost at Vanderbilt University. Stephen and Danielle spent summers with her, but got along poorly with their stepfather.
Stephen Garrison
Born: 1986
Deceased: 2012 (age 26)
Sphere: Legal
Stephen Garrison grew up as the proverbial golden child. He was the firstborn son to Henry Garrison, the city’s current D.A., and knew from a young age that he wanted to follow in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps as a public prosecutor to eradicate the Mafia from the city. As an Eagle Scout and captain of his school’s debate team, which he led to nationals, Henry had very high hopes for his son. Stephen attended college at Tulane, clerked for Judge Carson Malveaux, and had only just earned his J.D. when he died in a car accident. His father never recovered.
Danielle “Dani” Garrison
Born: 1993
Sphere: Legal
Dani has always been second best. Born six years after her older brother Stephen, he was groomed to carry on the family legacy of public service (his and Dani’s father and grandfather were both federal prosecutors, and their father is now the D.A.), while Dani struggled to find her own place in the world. She did worse than her brother at everything from grades to extracurriculars: he was the golden child who could do no wrong and she grew up in his proverbial shadow. Following Stephen’s death in a car crash, Dani opted to carry on the family legacy in his place and has one year left at Tulane Law. She currently clerks for Judge Boner at the Criminal District Court in Mid-City, but remains despondent over the fact she will never be as good a lawyer as her brother.
The Glasses & Haileys
|
• 1. (Martin’s + Betty’s parents) |
Martin Glass
Born: 1952
Sphere: Bureaucracy
Status: Louisiana Fire Marshals •••
Former NOFD firefighter before an injury forced him to accept a lateral promotion at the fire marshal’s office, where he worked initially as an inspector before climbing the ranks to district chief. He retired after Katrina when early-onset Alzheimer’s disease began stealing his mind at only 53 years old.
Jasmine Hailey
Born: 1963
Sphere: Media
Status: Ask Jasmine •
Late night host of “Ask Jasmine”, a radio advice show in which she “helps” people with their “problems.” Sultry voice, but in truth closer to fifty and showing her age badly. Jasmine studied psychology in undergrad thirty years ago, but found that more ridiculous ‘Dr. Phil’ methods made for better ratings, and it’s questionable how much she manages to help anyone. Particularly enjoys advising women to leave their husbands or boyfriends. She herself has been divorced three times.
Malcolm Glass
Born: 1992
Deceased: 2002 (age 10)
Sphere: Academia
Twin brother to Milo Glass. Disappeared in 2002 and presumed (as well as legally declared) deceased.
Milo Glass
Born: 1992
Deceased: 2016 (age 24)
Sphere: Media
Status: Times-Picayune •
Paranoid hacktivist, content analyst at the Times-Picayune, and sometime cyberterrorist. Disappeared in 2016 and presumed (though not yet legally declared) deceased.
The Hammonds
|
• 1. |
Gregory Hammond
Born: 1968
Deceased: 2017 (49 years old)
Sphere: Corporate
Status: Whitney Hancock Bank ••
Gregory Hammond was an accountant at Whitney Hancock Bank. He grew up middle-class, raised middle-class children, and expected them to lead middle-class lives. Harold was a man of principle: church every Sunday, work hard, and listen to your elders. “Dreams are for dreamers. Hammonds work,” he said, whenever his daughters talked about becoming an astronaut, or a movie star, or a doctor.
Holly’s decline of her acceptance to NYU—the first time in his life when he felt that dreams and reality could touch—broke the man, and he developed a bad drinking habit. What was once “cheap shit for blackies” became his best friend, and nights with Hennessey became more common than nights with his wife.
Upon learning of Hayley’s career in adult films, the remaining pieces of Harold’s fractured life shattered. The man was no longer a man anymore. His daughter’s choices had made him a failed father. His drinking had made him a failed husband. His choice had made him a failure in God’s eyes. Not an hour after learning Hayley’s choice, he purchased a Century P64 with the cash in his wallet, and painted the town red like he’d not done his entire life. Or, at least a small section of the nearby wall.
Hope Hammond
(née Vaughan)
Born: 1972
Hope is a star crashed to earth. She dreamed of the glitz and glam of a life with the rich and famous. She cared nothing for power, or a career, or becoming anything other than the arm-candy of those who had it all, and to be the mother of children who would be something. Her dreams were shattered when the condom broke with her short-term boyfriend, Gregory, and the two were forced to marry (more by his decision than her parents, though they agreed).
Nine months later, shattered dreams became murky nightmares when they were surprised by a second baby girl. Two times the pain. Two times the work. Two times the mediocrity.
Yet, she came to love the girls. It took years—well into their preschool days—for Hope to accept that her dreams would never see the light of day again, but once she had, she realized that dreams could be born anew in the hearts of children. She signed her girls up for dance lessons. Singing lessons. Etiquette lessons. Acting lessons. Anything she could to force the life she never had into her two, beloved girls.
So many birthdays later, her hair now graying—dyed back blonde, of course—her dreams had again been marred by disappointment. Holly chose not to pursue a career that—while not her cup of tea—would bring her closer to people who matter. Hayley chose to become a whore.
Ironic. She felt nothing but pity for the daughter who had fulfilled her dream in becoming an actor.
Gregory’s death broke her as much as Hayley’s choice broke him. She’s become largely agoraphobic. When groceries are delivered, paid for by the state on her disability, she has the deliverer leave them in an entryway, only opening the second door once she’s heard the truck pull away. She has minimal contact with Holly, who calls—sometimes—to ensure her mother is still alive. She calls Hayley on holidays, because that’s what good mothers do, but fills any silence with passive-aggressive thoughts on changing to a more palatable career in acting. Hope hasn’t seen her daughters in over a year.
Hayley Hammond
Born: 1999
Sphere: Industry
Faux-redhead identical twin to Holly, and C-list porn actress. Hayley likes to think she’s twice as smart as her sister, but Holly says if she tried to prove it, her brain would liquefy in the attempt. Her mother has commented, “YOU should have been the waitress, SHE should have been the doctor, and NEITHER of you should be in PORN!”
Hayley is known for ill-received films such as Mafia Munch 4: The Search for Pink Pearls, Creole Holes (in which she played a colored woman), and Midnight Meat Train 2: The Cooler Car (which was a brief stint into more mainstream acting, despite the unfortunate name).
Holly has offered her sister other work numerous times, but she has declined every, single offer.
Holly Hammond
Born: 1999
Sphere: Industry
Identical twin to Hayley, and career waitress/bartender. Holly is as as blonde as they come, with none of the stereotypes. Sharp as a knife and wielding a wit to make even the most pointed comedian stammer, she came to be known as “the fun one” at McLaren’s pub. She started her career in the restaurant business at the tail end of high school, working part time both for fun and for some spare spending money. Much to her parents’ disappointment, she decided to stay in New Orleans, shirking college and a bright career for her dead-end-to-all-but-her job, her friends, and “the nightlife.” She was soon kicked out of the house, only 18 years old. “You can do better than this,” said her father.
Holly signed a lease for a crappy apartment the next day and became McLaren’s most loyal server. No matter how many double shifts, no matter how late the finish and how early the start, no matter how many ripped bags of child vomit and spilled milkshakes, Holly never uttered a complaint. Jimmy—who had no taste for silly rules—managed to sweet talk an opening into bartending classes despite her age, opening up yet new doors.
When asked about it, she says she looks young for her age, which she declares as “a youthful twenty-three.”
Holly spent several years serving at McLaren’s before she needed a change of pace, and a change of scenery, taking a position at the Curious Cat under Victoria Wolf as a full-time bartender and sometimes-server. During the interview, Victoria asked her why she chose to give up her position at McLaren’s when she’d likely have been made management in the next year or two.
The answer was: “This place seems fun as hell! I’m not learning anything anymore there, anyway.”
Hayley has offered her sister other work numerous times, but she has declined every, single offer.
The Landrys
|
• 1. (Raymond Sr.‘s and Mallory’s parents) |
Raymond “Big Ray” Landry, Sr.
Born: 1956
Sphere: Media
Retired journalist, an old newshound muckraker, who used to work for the local Times-Picayune. Covered crime and politics and anything else hot he could find. Frequent patron of the bowling alley owned by his brother-in-law, Patrick Dolan. Heads a local bowling league team, the Limbo Kings.
Madison Raine
Born: 1946
Sphere: Industry
A lot of people say that the salon industry is a young woman’s game. They see the glitz and glam of the women who work all around the world at salons—nevermind the fact that men are a very real part of the industry—and assumes that most of them are young, vibrant, and spry. Maybe Madison never heard those “rules,” or maybe Madison just doesn’t care about the rules, because at almost seventy-years-old she’s still going strong. She looks old enough to be someone’s grandmother but lacks the telltale wrinkles and still has a spring in her step, and she credits her good looks and savvy fashion sense to her time in the industry. Madison said she fell into the skincare business after a long career working in the correctional field, when she noticed the general lack of health and pallor among the inmates. She got her start in Hollywood in the mid ‘80s when she was already 40-years-old and names a number of old movie stars among her clients. She credits her time there with the name change from ”Betty Landry” to ”Madison Raine,” which just felt more elegant. She claims to have worked on such figures as former president Ronald Reagan and the Queen of England. Madison “retired” at 60 and moved to NOLA to be closer to her remaining family, then decided to come out of retirement and took a job at Flawless. She still likes to wear a bold red lip when she’s out and about and pairs it with large glasses, dangling costume jewelry, and a fire-cracker personality.
Mallory D. Landry
Born: 1959
Sphere: Police
Deputy Superintendent of the Management Services Bureau (MSB), which provides NOPD administrative and support services, including budgetary, record-keeping, recruitment, training, and facility and fleet services. Civil appointee in the wake of corruption allegations following Hurricane Rita. Wife of Patrick Dolan. Younger sister and paternal aunt to Raymond Landry, Sr. and Jr., respectively.
Patrick Dolan
Born: 1962
Sphere: Hospitality
Owner and operator of Mid-City Lanes, a purgatory-themed bowling alley called “the Gutter” by its regulars and naysayers.
Raymond “Slim Ray” Landry, Jr.
Born: 1985
Sphere: Media
Son of the Times-Picayune journalist “Big Ray”, “Slim Ray” followed his father’s footsteps but in a modern recast. He graduated summa cum laude from Stanford in Computer Science, then returned to the Big Easy to work his way up to becoming the head data content analyst of NOLA.com. Less publicly known is that he’s also a gray hat, or at least past one. As a far more mundane recreation, he’s part of his father’s bowling league team, the Limbo Kings.
The McGinnes & Prices
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• 1. Cassidy McGinnes (b. 1988) + Damien Price (b. 1981) |
Damien Price
Born: 1981
Sphere: Street
Father of Collin McGinnes, currently serving time in Angola for domestic violence and drug possession. Knows that his son has “the Gift” and would exploit that talent to his own ends. Up for parole.
Cassidy McGinnes
Born: 1988
Sphere: Hospitality
Regan’s older sister and lead singer, electric fiddler, and tin whistler for celtic-punk band St. John’s Banshees. Works as a part-time waitress at several Mid-City pubs and taverns, including the Bulldog. She has a 6-year-old son named Collin whose father, Damien Price, is at Angola for domestic violence and drug possession. Cassidy has an on and off again romantic relationship with fellow bandmate, Darcy Quillen.
Caroline Malveaux-Devillers heard Cassidy and the other Banshees playing at the Rock-n-Bowl during her altercation with the Eight-Nine-Six Anarch krewe.
Regan McGinnes
Born: 1990
Sphere: Transportation
Tulane drop-out and tattoo-enthusiast who works in the CBD, Mid-City, and surrounding areas as a bike courier. Descendent of Irish-American portage-laborers and sometime-patron of Danny’s. Sings and plays the electric banjo for the St. John’s Banshees, an all-girl, celtic punk band that has marginal (at best) popularity in the Mid-City and local campuses. Fellow band-Entrys include her sister, Cassidy McGinnes, and Darcy Quillen.
Colin McGinnes
Born: 2009
Sphere: Occult
Six-year-old biracial son of Cassidy McGinnes and Damien Price. Unbeknownst to his mother and other caretakers, he has nascent precognitive abilities that have not escaped the notice of watchful powers.
The Merinellis
|
• 1. Daniel “Dan” Merinelli (b. 1976, d. 2015?) + Eveline “Lena” Merinelli (née Delacroix) (b. 1981) |
Daniel “Dan” Merinelli
Born: 1976
Sphere: Corporate
Status: Aerospace company •••
Aerospace engineer, husband to Eveline Merinelli, and brother-in-law to Emmett Delacroix. He is facing some amount of financial hardship after his wife’s arrest, conviction as an accessory to Emmett’s murders, and subsequent job loss.
Eveline “Lena” Merinelli
(née Delacroix)
Born: 1981
Sphere: Health
Former pediatrician at Children’s Hospital New Orleans. Recently sent to prison as an accessory to her brother Emmett’s murders, resulting in the suspension of her medical license.
Maya Merinelli
Born: 2006
Deceased: 2015?
Older daughter of Daniel and Lena Merinelli, and nephew to Emmett Delacroix. Possibly deceased as a result of the Merinelli family’s lives being used as collateral for Emmett’s debt to the Dixie Mafia.
Noah Merinelli
Born: 2008
Deceased: 2015?
Younger son of Daniel and Lena Merinelli, and nephew to Emmett Delacroix. Possibly deceased as a result of the Merinelli family’s lives being used as collateral for Emmett’s debt to the Dixie Mafia.
The Rabinowitzes
|
• 1. Simon Rabinowitz (b. 1964) + Deborah Cohen (b. 1966) |
Simon Rabinowitz
Born: 1964
Sphere: Academia
Father of the Rabinowitzes. Schoolteacher at a public charter school.
Autumn Rabinowitz
Born: 1991
Sphere: Media
Recent college graduate and director of media relations for the law firm Monument Law.
Jeffrey Rabinowitz
Born: 2003
Sphere: Academia
Middle child and only son of the family. Sometimes “tries” to make cookies with his younger sister Stephanie, usually to the result of eating the dough.
Stephanie “Stef” Rabinowitz
Born: 2006
Sphere: Academia
Youngest child and daughter of the family. Has diabetes and sometimes “tries” to make cookies with her older brother Jeffrey, usually to the result of eating the dough.
The Whitneys
|
• 1. |
Lyman B. Whitney
Born: 1949
Sphere: Corporate
Status: Whitney Hancock Bank ••••
Former chairman and CEO of Whitney National Bank (and descendant of the principal founder of the eponymous bank back in 1883). Publicly, he retired from his position after the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, when his company almost went bankrupt. Privately, he was forced out by the board because he was going slowly but steadily mad. Currently lives in the clock tower-turned-penthouse atop the main branch of ‘his’ bank on St. Charles Avenue in the CBD. Has a psychotic obsession with clocks and time, including his penchant for collecting pictures of people’s watches and for tracking the specific day, hour, minute, and second of every birth and death in NOLA. Thus far, Whitney’s family and board members appease Lyman’s lunacies in hopes of keeping his otherwise scandalous madness a secret.
Warren Whitney III
Born: 1972
Sphere: High Society
Indolent financial magnate and son of Lyman Whitney. Raised to be the presumptive chairman and CEO, he was ousted by John Harston who led a merger with its now-parent company, Hancock Holding Company in 2010. Although Warren holds a major portion of the bank’s shares and remains absurdly wealthy, he has little say in its governance and rarely attends board meetings. Instead, he whiles away his time as one of NOLA’s notorious playboys hosting decadent soirees aboard his ludicrously large pleasure yacht, the Saturnalia. Less well-known is his private passion and peccadillo of directing and producing faux snuff films.
Rebecca Whitney
Born: 1986
Deceased: 2004 (age 18)
Sphere: Academia
The daughter of then-Whitney Bank CEO Lyman Whitney and sister of Warren Whitney, Rebecca was described by Diana Flores as “her year’s brightest star” in 2004’s graduating class. A Wellesley-bound debutante who was beloved by many, Rebecca was killed by a student drunk driver on the same night she was crowned prom queen. The tragedy was devastating to McGehee’s community, whose administration debated abolishing coed proms altogether, but “settled” for hiring a full-time school psychologist to counsel grieving students and faculty. Rebecca’s parents subsequently established the Rebecca M. Whitney Foundation in her name to provide scholarships and ISAs to promising students. Though Rebecca’s peers have long since graduated, many of her teachers remember her fondly (if sadly).
Sarah Whitney
Born: 1998
Sphere: Academia
Daughter of Warren Whitney, granddaughter of Lyman B. Whitney, and sole heiress to her family’s name and fortune. Sarah grew up in the shadow of her aunt Rebecca’s premature death (caused by a drunk driver during her aunt’s senior year prom), which affected her father and especially grandfather deeply. She is a junior at McGehee and very popular there, but prefers to play the social beta and let her best friend Susannah Kelly claim more spotlight than she does (and who she ran for vice president of the student government alongside). She’s lived on her own since she earned her driver’s license in an apartment paid for by her family, which even her privileged peers are jealous of.
3-Entry Families
The Abels
|
• 1. Harrison Abel (b. 1943) + |
Harrison Abel
Born: 1943
Sphere: Academia
Status: Tulane University ••••
The dean of Tulane Law School, Harrison Abel is the former hippie anti-war protester who stubbornly refuses to resign or die despite the terminal cancer and three months to live diagnosis he’s battled for the last eight months. A brilliant legal mind and fierce liberal, Harrison’s great shame is that his son refused to follow in his footsteps and instead became another mindless cog in the United States’ war machine. He decried greed throughout his life and spent most of his years teaching, living relatively modestly. This has come back to haunt him in his old age as his treatment costs have eaten away at his meager savings and forced hifm, without his knowledge, to rely on his son’s “ill-gotten” wealth. Despite his terrible physical state, Harrison retains a wry sense of humor, and though the chemo sucks at his strength he continues to carry out his duties as best he can.
Abigail “Abi Lee” Abel
Born: 1962
Former attorney who gave up a promising legal career to become, in her father Harrison’s words, “an itinerant weed-smoking hippie.” Never mind the fact he used to be one himself; he doesn’t like to tell people about how his daughter fell in with a bad crowd, did a lot of drugs, and made a lot of poor decisions, including having two children out of wedlock and possibly joining a cult. Eventually, the drugs and her life choices caught up with her. She was commited to a mental institution following a nervous breakdown after the father of her children went missing.
Bradley Abel
Born: 1972
Sphere: Military
Former special forces adrenaline junkie who fought in Desert Storm as an enlistee but left the service during the ‘90s in pursuit of adventure, becoming a mercenary for hire who fought on four continents. Bradley returned home to New Orleans to help care for his cancer-stricken father after his mother died. His relationship with his father is toxic, with the former hippie viewing his son as a war criminal, but Bradley’s twisted sense of duty has kept him at the old man’s side throughout the chemotherapy treatments. How long he—and his finances—can sustain such abuse is less clear. Presently unemployed, he’s itching for action, and sometimes even walks down the streets of bad neighborhoods hoping to get mugged.
The Abels & Garcias
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• 1. Raul Garcia (b. 1964) + Paola Garcia (née Ballesteros) (b. 1968) |
Jake Abel
Born: 1987
Sphere: Industry
Iraq veteran and purple heart recipient who left the service trying to start over. Mild-PTSD, which bothers him more because of his mild reaction than its actual effects. Now works for O’Malley as a carpenter, though he’s uncomfortable with his boss’ racism and “hero” treatment of him as a former vet. Tries to play down his military service. Has a pregnant girlfriend at Tulane (Natalia Garcia). Fiercely pro-life, and trying to carve out a future for them both. Had an absent father and grew up extremely poor, doesn’t want his child to go through the same.
Valeria Garcia
Born: 1990
Sphere: Politics
Executive assistant to city councilwoman Thalia Ocampo, Valeria is a semi-recent college graduate who’s also attending law school and hopes to go into politics herself someday as a policymaker. Her Colombian immigrant parents couldn’t be prouder. Often remarked upon for her good looks, and not above using them to advance her career.
Natalia Garcia
Born: 1997
Sphere: Academia
Daughter of Colombian immigrants and first generation in her family to attend college. Junior on a scholarship with dreams of pursuing her MD. Seven months pregnant at present with the child of Jake Abel, but is determined not to let it get in the way of her dreams. From a large Latino family that embraced her pregnancy and Jake as their new son, despite his fears. Slight frame that makes her pregnancy all the more obvious.
The Ardoins & Marrons
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Ardoin Family Tree |
Pamela Ardoin
Born: 1960
Sphere: Health
Status: Tulane Medical Center ••
A senior nurse who has worked at Tulane Medical Center for almost three decades. Loathes cops and has a love-hate relationship with addicts due to her son Bertram’s substance abuse and resultant legal problems. Despite her age, her thick body and stout frame have caused some patients to mistake her for an orderly. Married to Jerry Marron, Jr. in 2010 but retained her maiden name, due to being “Too old a dog to come to a new name.” Though she helps him take care of his Alzheimer’s-afflicted uncle Martin, one of the surest ways for Jerry’s adult children to rouse her ire is by treating her like an on-duty nurse (unintentionally or otherwise).
Jerry Marron, Jr. 
Born: 1961
Sphere: Bureaucracy
Status: Louisiana Fire Marshals ••••
New Orleans’ district chief fire marshal and husband to Pamela Ardoin. Gossip and the gospel-truth agree that Jerry inherited his position from his uncle, Martin Glass. His uncle served as a NOFD firefighter before an injury forced him to accept a lateral promotion at the fire marshal’s office, where he worked initially as an inspector before climbing the ranks to district chief. During that time, Jerry Junior became an inspector with his sole qualification being his pedigree. Later, when Martin Glass stepped down, Jerry Junior took his place–at least in name. In truth, the current district chief is confounded by NOLA’s prolix bureaucracy, and his understanding of his own district’s role in that web is only a little better. Indeed, Jerry Junior used to simply rely on his uncle, coming to him whenever there was a problem he couldn’t easily solve (which covered most of the district’s operations), and obediently doing whatever his uncle told him to do.
So divesting his authority, Jerry has spent his days on ocean fishing tours, hosting blue-collar neighborhood broils at his heavily expanded Bywater residence, and buying presents for his seven grandkids. Yet, since Katrina, Alzheimer’s disease has been inexorably stealing his uncle’s mind, which has left the current district chief to rely upon increasingly erratic, faulty advice. After such literally demented counsel caused not one, but two front-page fiascos, Jerry has begun to lean upon his secretaries and two district captains to effectively do his job. More than anything, Jerry is afraid his employees and the greater public will learn just how unqualified he is, and in doing so, forever tarnish the reputation of his uncle, whom he idolizes. Consistent with his general obliviousness, though, Jerry doesn’t realize that both of his fears are increasingly coming true.
Bertram “Born-Again” Ardoin
Born: 1988
Sphere: Church
Status: Televangelist show •
Former meth-head who served a few stints in the Orleans Parish Prison for possession, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. He then did a nickel at the Farm after lighting a police car on fire in protest of the NOPD arresting his dealer. Angola was less than kind to the middle-class junkie, but his time there brought about a rabid conversion to Evangelical Christianity via a televangelist’s show being regularly broadcast in the Farm’s TV. Following his release, he sought out the Southern televangelist and pledged his life’s service to the fiery preacher. Since then, Bertram has become a largely sober roadie and all-purpose lackey for the televangelist’s lucrative broadcasts and far-reaching ministry. Bertram is the son of a Tulane nurse, Pamela, with whom he is estranged as a result of his drug and legal problems and her belief that the televangelist is a hypocritical sham.
The Batifoles
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• 1. Sterling Batifole (b. 1957) + Mariángel Batifole (née Blanco) (b. 1963) |
Sterling Batifole
Born: 1957
Sphere: High Society
A once highly respected local art dealer and talent scout amongst New Orleans’ artistic circles and their nouveau riche patrons, Sterling’s profits and prestige took an abrupt dip in the early 2000s when his wife Mariángel cuckolded him with a busker and was later gang-raped and hospitalized by that same busker’s criminal friends. Sterling attempted to salvage his reputation by divorcing his wife, only for their inebriated college-age son Francis to drive his car off the Chef Menteur Bridge during a rainstorm several years later. Consequently, Sterling’s hair has since turned to his namesake’s silver—at least in the patches he hasn’t torn out from chronic stress and sleepless nights searching for increasingly rare clientele. Such labors and tangible desperation have only worsened his repute, and rumors suggest he has turned to specious investments, illicit dealings, and unsavory partners to maintain the resources necessary to maintain his dwindling art studio, gallery sales, and talent agency office on Julia Street.
Mariángel Batifole
Born: 1963
Sphere: High Society
A once-avante garde Honduran painter in the 1980s who has become a traumatized recluse following her husband’s divorce and son’s death.
Francis Batifole
Born: 1985
Deceased: 2003 (age 18)
The only child of Sterling and Mariángel Batifole. Died in a car accident while inebriated and caught by a midnight rainstorm that caused him to crash into and off the Chef Menteur Bridge.
The Bellamys
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• 1. |
Carol Bellamy
Born: 1943
Sphere: High Society
One of the biggest names in contemporary horror fiction, Carol Bellamy and her sister Ruth were the bestselling authors of Lives of the Damned, a horror novel series published from the 1970s through the 1990s that is credited with almost single-handedly redefining the vampire genre. Before Lives of the Damned, vampires were monsters and villains: Lives, however, recast them as sensual and sympathetic antiheroes struggling to reconcile their consciences with their predatory natures. As one critic for a major newspaper described, “The Bellamy sisters turn vampire conventions inside out. Because they identify with the vampire instead of the victim (reversing the usual focus), the horror for the reader springs from the realization of the monster within the self. Moreover, the Bellamys’ vampires are loquacious philosophers who spend much of eternity debating the nature of good and evil.” Generations of authors owe a creative debt to the Bellamys for recasting vampires from adversaries into protagonists. Although Lives of the Damned and its debut novel The Vampire’s Confession (featuring a vampire who confesses an eternity of misdeeds to a priest) sold poorly during the ‘70s, the books exploded into popularity during the ’80s, saw several TV and movie adaptations, and made the Bellamy sisters millionaires. They wrote additional horror, historical fiction, and erotica novels, only for their career to be cut short by Ruth’s early death from cancer in the 1990s. Carol thereafter lost much of her motivation to continue writing and today she’s largely retired. She usually spends her springs and summers in Hawaii, describing the weather as “heavenly” next to New Orleans’ dismal hottest months.
Prudence Bellamy
(née Underwood)
Born: 1974
Sphere: Corporate
Executive at New Orleans & Company, a marketing organization that promotes tourism in New Orleans. She and her husband Norland have an unhappy marriage and have long since fallen out of love, but since they’re Catholics, they won’t divorce and continue to live in the same house essentially as roommates.
Lily Bellamy
Born: 2005
Sphere: Academia
10-year-old only child of the Bellamy family. Lily’s parents are devout Catholics and borne-and-bred Southern aristocrats who expect their little girl to grow up into a delicate Southern belle. Though her life appears perfect on the surface, it’s all for appearances—behind closed doors, her parents long ago fell out of love and spend their nights either fighting or ignoring each other. This animosity has only gotten worse as time has gone on, but since good Catholics don’t divorce they’ve refused to separate. As a result, Lilly is often reduced to a status symbol to show off to their friends or a weapon to use against each other in arguments.
The Cherrys
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• 1. Noelle Cherry (née Robins) (b. 1959) + Francis Cherry (b. 1960) |
Noelle Cherry
(née Robins)
Born: 1959
Sphere: Politics
Status: Louisiana State Senate ••••
Democratic state senator for Senate District 4, Senate minority leader, and former Tulane professor who ran a strong campaign against Nathaniel Malveaux in 2012 for national office but was ultimately beaten out by prevailing political winds, Malveaux money and influence, and a last-minute scandal involving her daughter Hillary’s medical records being leaked to unsavory news outlets. Prided herself during the campaign, right up until her daughter’s privacy was so grievously violated, on running a relatively principled campaign. Now deeply regrets doing so and is still nursing a bitter grudge over both the election results, events surrounding it, and the harm done to her daughter, holding the Malveauxes responsible. Well-off but not wealthy, she rubs elbows with the upper class mostly as it relates to the donor class, and is frequently found in high society functions trawling for donations for her next campaign on the state level, and eventually on the national level. Works at the statehouse in Baton Rouge, but typically returns to New Orleans during the weekend and on holiday recesses.
Edward Cherry
Born: 1987
Sphere: Academia
Wheelchair-bound son of Noelle and Francis Cherry, older brother to Hillary Cherry, and now-TA seeking his master’s degree at Tulane, Edward joined the Marines out of college and commissioned as a second lieutenant. He was sent to Afghanistan, where he was maimed by an IED and discharged after less than a year. He tries to keep upbeat and focused on his future without letting his disability impede him, but he’d always been athletic and is privately enraged by his newfound physical weakness. He’s now fiercely anti-war and a strong advocate of withdrawal from forward deployment by U.S. forces, though that cause has lost political traction over the years. He has a strong influence on his mother’s politics with regards to foreign policy and eventually hopes to go into politics himself, perhaps from a policymaking perspective. He’s missing his left leg below the knee but is much more impeded by the spinal damage he suffered.
Hillary Cherry
Born: 1989
Sphere: Hospitality
Hillary was 17 years old when she made a single poor choice: sleeping with her then-boyfriend without using protection. She had an abortion three months later, with her mother’s written permission per state law. That was that for six years until the height of the 2012 election cycle, when her medical records were leaked to the public in a staggering breach of privacy. Word that her mother had signed off on the abortion tanked her numbers only days before the election. As hard as Noelle took the defeat, Hillary, then a senior in college, took it harder. The political scandal combined with the harassment she received led to a nervous breakdown when she attempted suicide by slashing her wrists. She was placed in a recovery program and eventually rejoined society, but she has avoided her mother ever since. That was several years ago. She now works as a waitress in the French Quarter and Commander’s Palace, hoping to fade into obscurity. Her parents frequently attempt to reach out to her, but she believes she’s been nothing but a burden on them. She’s still damaged and has slipped into a pattern of destructive and abusive relationships, often with her coworkers. Her two dogs and four cats lend what emotional support they can’t.
The Dyers
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• 1. |
John Dyer
Born: 1927
Sphere: Corporate
Status: Saints •••••
Owner of the Saints football team and the richest man in Louisiana, with a net worth of approximately $3.1 billion. Father to Vera Malveaux and father-in-law to Matthew Malveaux.
Vera Malveaux
(née Dyer)
Born: 1957
Sphere: High Society
The Dyer family was old money in the state of Louisiana even before their oldest daughter married Mathew Malveaux, now CEO of the family’s multi-billion dollar oil company. Today Vera is an icon of high society and well-known patron of the arts who spends lavishly on herself and her five daughters. Less well-known is her dependency on opiate painkillers since the attack she suffered a decade ago (wrongfully believed to have been at Hippolyte “Big Mon” Broussard’s hands) that left her face scarred. She allegedly needs painkillers because of a severed nerve. The prolific mother of six children, five of them girls, her husband has never forgiven her for not giving him a second son. She in turn has never forgiven him for Adam’s entry into the clergy. She rarely speaks to her son these days and has drifted away from her faith. Her relations with her brother-in-law Orson remain extremely cold.
Rosalyn Kelly
(née Dyer)
Born: 1959
Sphere: Corporate
Status: Whitney Hancock Bank ••••
An executive at Whitney Hancock Bank and Dyer Financial, Rosalyn grew up in the shadow of her uncle’s takeover of the Dyer family and has never been able to take its wealth for granted: John made clear he hated his siblings and was willing to cut off their children if they displeased him. Rosalyn’s spent much of her life earning the old man’s favor, and has been the most successful of her generation to do so. She was a driving force behind the 1996 sale of Dyer Financial to Whitney Hancock and has led an active career on both financial institutions. She’s worth over $100 million, but that’s only a pittance next to her uncle’s $3.1 billion fortune—which, to her chagrin, he’s refused to name her (or anyone) the principle heir to. Marrying Bob Kelly was supposed to be a step towards that by tying the Dyer line to a political dynasty, but it clearly hasn’t been enough for John. Rosalyn’s marriage has also soured over the years, as she’s grown increasingly irked by her husband’s lack of drive and would-be spendthrift ways. She regards the prenuptial agreement she made him sign as one of the wisest decisions of her life, as it’s given her control over their marriage—Bob can’t bear to live without her money. She’s carried on discreet affairs with other men he’s seen little alternative but to accept (the news would also damage his career more than hers), and which has only made her lose even more respect for him. Outside of work, she spends much of her time devising new schemes to inherit her aged uncle’s wealth or at least discredit his other would-be heirs. Friends with Thalia Ocampo.
The Fernandezes & Levoises
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• 1. (Rickey’s, Brielle’s, and Clarence’s parents) |
Clarence “Doc Chops” Levois
Born: 1970
Sphere: Street
Maternal uncle of Dontell Levois and Francis Levois. Runs a salvage yard/auto repair shop in the lower Ninth Ward that serves as the illicit chop-shop for the RidaHoodz. Takes pity on his youngest nephew Mercurial Fernandez and sometimes asks him to draw car designs for his shop.
Dontell “Big Dawg” “Papa Spenda” Levois
Born: 1984
Deceased: 2016 (age 32)
Sphere: Street
Leads gang of car-boosters in the lower Ninth Ward, known as the Lil’ Red RidaHoodz. Former low-budget porn “star” and frequent patron of the ward’s plentiful, but cheap streetwalkers. Wears gold-plated grillz caps that spell his street-name. Alleged informant of the NOPD, earning him his other behind his back sobriquet: “Tell-Tell.” Recently took over the Rosebush Apartments and prostitution ring of the now-deceased Papa Slinga. Deceased himself as of 2016, following his arrest and a jail fight in Orleans Parish Prison.
Francis “Fizzy” Levois
Born: 1989
Deceased: 2016 (age 27)
Sphere: Street
Founding member of the RidaHoodz, cousin of Dontell, and older brother to Mercurial “Mouse” Fernandez. Recently released from the Farm. His pull and leadership has suffered from his absence. He hopes to regain it. Deceased as of 2016, following his arrest and a jail fight in Orleans Parish Prison.
The Freneaus & Mauriers
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• 1. |
Patricia “Pat” Maurier 
Born: 1928
Sphere: Bureaucracy
Status: Parish Clerk •••••
Parish clerk of Orleans Parish. Dried-up octogenarian spinster who claims she is the bastard daughter of William Faulkner. She’s sharp as a whip and with a mind like a steel trap despite her age. She’s a consummate clerk, wielding political power from behind the castles of paperwork. She binges on old bourbon (her family is old money) after every election she oversees, and quotes liberally from her “old man.” She claims she’s named after a character in his book Mosquitoes (or the character is named after her). Likes puzzles and riddles and writes gaudy mystery-romances under a pen name. She’s “decided” that she will live to 90, then retire and die. Likely in that order, she laughs.
Sebastian Freneau
Born: 1972
Sphere: Hospitality
Owner of the Boomtown Casino & Hotel New Orleans in Harvey. Sebastian has a somewhat unconventional background for a casino owner: he was born to old money and worked as a statistics professor at Tulane University before he went into the gambling business. He likes to joke that he only did so because his incredible “luck” (which he insists is no such thing, but merely a superior understanding of probability to most gamblers’) got him banned from playing at nearly every casino in the state. Sebastian is retired from teaching these days, but sits on the Board of Tulane and has a real knack for raising money.
Rachel Freneau
Born: 1998
Sphere: Academia
Great-great-niece of Patricia Maurier, the city’s parish clerk, and daughter of Sebastian Freneau, a casino owner. Rachel has a morbid streak and fascination with the dark and macabre that made her an avid fan of Amelie Savard’s idea to spend the night in the LaLaurie House. The more popular girls subtly put Rachel down and belittled her strange interests, but she seemingly still sided with them against Amelie during the “prank” they were determined to play. When Rachel and the other girls were arrested by NOPD in the disastrous “sleepover’s” aftermath, her father and several-times-aunt helped secure her release.
The Greers
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• 1. Stanley Greer (b. 1960) + Lisa Greer (née Kadwell) (b. 1962) |
Stanley Greer
Born: 1960
Sphere: Legal
Senior partner at Ware & Lebowski, one of the city’s larger law firms. Mildly annoyed that the other partners don’t want to change its name, but enough of them prefer the simplicity of just using their two founders’. Outside of his job, Stan is contently married to his wife Lisa, but has a taste for Hispanic women. He’s had affairs with at least several, and fathered a daughter on his Mexcian housekeeper during a period of separation from Lisa earlier in their marriage.
Angela Greer
Born: 1993
Sphere: Academia
Dorm supervisor at Josephine Louise House. Philosophy major and active participant in a number of student organizations, including the Tulane Philosophy Club, Queer Student Alliance, and SAPHE (Sexual Aggression Peer Hotline & Education). Angela comes from an upper-middle class family—a lawyer father and artist mother with a home in Uptown. Older sister of the more trouble-prone Summer Greer, who her parents insisted she share a dorm room with to “look after” (much to Summer’s resentment). Member of the semi-secret society Pi Alpha Kappa.
Summer Greer
Born: 1997
Sphere: Academia
Younger sister to Angela Greer, Summer has had a turbulent freshman year at Tulane so far, with two arrests for underage drinking and public intoxication. Dorms in the Josephine Louise House with her big sister and is forbidden from attending parties without her. The daughter of an affair with the housekeeper during a separation between her father and stepmother, Summer has always lived in her sister’s shadow.
The Jamesons
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• 1. Jim Jameson (b. 1933) + (half a dozen assorted women) |
Jim Jameson
Born: 1933
Sphere: Politics
Colorful and womanizing former governor famous for his sexual escapades and publicity-seeking antics.
Evelyn Jameson
(née Keating)
Born: 1992
Sphere: High Society
Jim Jameson’s latest wife and recent college graduate nearly 60 years her husband’s junior. Pregnant with his latest child. Evelyn is amply aware of her husband’s past and doesn’t mind; the two have a more or less open marriage. Briefly had a starring role in his one-season reality TV series, whose cancellation she remains disappointed by.
Arabella “Bella” Roberts
(née Jameson)
Born: 1963
Sphere: High Society
The First Lady of Louisiana and wife of current Governor Bill Roberts, Arabella is the daughter of former Governor Jim Jameson and couldn’t be more pleased to be back in the governor’s mansion with her husband. She was a tomboy and “wild spirit” in her youth who worked as a horse jockey and state trooper before settling on a career as a nurse. Like most first ladies, she promotes issues that more or less everyone can agree are good things, or at least aren’t especially contentious. Her pet initiative is encouraging fitness among children and reducing childhood obesity rates, though she’s said she hopes to do more while her husband is in office than “getting some tykes to lay off the O’Tolley’s.” Close partner to her husband and involved in many of his political decisions, and has cultivated a positive media image through her irreverent sense of humor. She’s also on good terms with her father and regards the “stepmother” who’s almost 30 years her junior with dry amusement.
The Landreneaus
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• 1. |
Ronald “Ron” Landreneau
Born: 1953
Sphere: High Society
Status: Tulane University •••
Philandering movie director and owner of Zodiac Productions, the city’s biggest film company. Maternal uncle to Emmett “Em” Delacroix.
Tanya Delacroix
(née Landreneau)
Born: 1955
Sphere: Academia
Status: Tulane University •••
Former Civil Rights activist and sociology professor. Sister to Ronnie Landreneau, mother to Lena Merinelli and Emmett Delacroix, and on non-speaking terms with her son.
Jermaine Landreneau
Born: 1985
Deceased: 2007 (age 22)
Sphere: Street
Status: BloodHound Gangstaz •••
Son of Ronnie “Ron” Landreneau, cousin to Emmett Delacroix, and former member of the BloodHound Gangstaz. Largely neglected by his father, who considered himself generous enough for paying child support to his mother after knocking her up. Treated by Ron more like a business associate than a son, who would make use of his gang ties for various criminal purposes (such as purchasing drugs and beating up “problematic” film workers). A sometime rival with Carnell Washington, Jermaine might well have gone on to lead the gang had it not been for his murder in 2007 at his cousin’s hands.
The Longs & Stines
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• 1. |
Mark Stines
Born: 1949
Deceased: 2008 (age 59)
Sphere: Corporate
Status: Malveaux Oil ••••
Director of Malveaux Oil’s sprawling legal department, Mark Stines cuts a dashing and charismatic figure. A brilliant legal mind, Mark might be a better business manager. A devoted husband and father, he’s a true believer in the ‘good’ of industry, and truly hates environmental activists and others that regularly try to shut down or stymie his business. A former JAG officer, he treats lawsuits like battles and the ongoing struggle against environmentalists and liberals like a war. His lawyers are his officers, his paralegals and assistants are his soldiers, and for his enemies there is no mercy. This militant attitude has built a fierce camaraderie within the department and generated a highly competitive—and successful—environment. Originally from Texas, Mark’s father was an oil field worker, and it was his bull-nose attitude and experience with the industry deep down to his bones that led Matthew Malveaux to bring Mark on board. His life would otherwise be perfect if he weren’t gay and deeply closeted. He’s only rarely been with other men, always discreetly, and almost never for anything longer than a one-night stand. Deceased as of 2007 in a highly publicized murder.
Caitlin Long
(née Stines)
Born: 1989
Sphere: Corporate
Status: Malveaux Oil ••
Married to her college boyfriend but career-focused, Caitlin works in personnel and human resources at Malveaux Oil and has enjoyed a great deal of success since she graduated from Tulane four years ago, rising to middle management in her department despite her relative youth. Rigidly professional at work to the point where many of her subordinates describe her as “that bitch” or “that cunt,” but much more laid back outside of it. Majored in organizational communication in college and a former sorority head heavily involved in extracurricular activities at the school. Still goes out semi-regularly with girls from her sorority, with whom she has remained close. Comes from an upper-middle class background. Does want children “eventually,” but not a priority right now. Makes significantly more money than her husband at present, which is creating some conflict in their marriage. Ambitious, with a reputation for being able to get things done when under pressure and being capable of playing the political game at work at a high level. The rumor is part of her rise to power is because she has some kind of dirt on someone higher up in the company.
Jackson Long
Born: 1989
Sphere: Media
Struggling journalist four years out of Tulane who hasn’t quite hit it big and is mostly regulated to writing boring stories. Concerned that he’s going to be laid off sooner rather than later due to the struggling finances of most print publications, and has already taken a pay cut to keep on, which he is extremely self-conscious of. Long comes from a deeply conservative background and still clings to notions that he should be the primary breadwinner, which has not helped him in a profession that is increasingly relying on freelance workers. Vastly out-earned by his corporate wife, Caitlin, and his own morale and self-esteem have been battered, leading to increasing conflict with his wife, mostly instigated by himself. Almost desperately wants a break, but also principled and disgusted by what he perceives as immoral actions within the industry.
Jackson Long was second after David Joffe to report on Mercurial “Mouse” Fernandez’s death in prison, which he was glad for, as he didn’t want a police hit piece to be his break. When his wife Caitlin pointed out he could have spun a more neutral cast on events, he went to bed in a foul mood.
The Paxtons & Plantaines
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• 1. |
Lucilia Plantaine
Born: 1972
Sphere: Legal
Long-time receptionist at Ware & Lebowski with her fingers in all the firm’s business. Once young and beautiful, with age has come obesity, and now she gets by mostly by virtue of habit and knowledge of everyone at the firm’s dirty laundry. She paints her nails during her lunch break and rarely leaves her desk except to seek out her Diet Coke (to which she will explain she’s on a diet). Formerly married to Joseph Paxton, a recently deceased ex-FBI agent.
Rowan Paxton
Born: 2002
Sphere: Academia
13-year-old daughter of Lucilia Plantaine and Joseph Paxton, a former FBI agent in Orson Malveaux’s employ who was murdered by Caroline Malveaux-Devillers shortly after her Embrace.
Zachary Paxton
Born: 2003
Sphere: Academia
12-year-old son of Lucilia Plantaine and Joseph Paxton, a former FBI agent in Orson Malveaux’s employ who was murdered by Caroline Malveaux-Devillers shortly after her Embrace.
The Roberts
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• 1. William “Bill” Jay Roberts (b. 1960) + Arabella “Bella” Roberts (b. 1963) |
William “Bill” Jay Roberts
Born: 1960
Sphere: Politics
Status: Louisiana Governor’s Office •••••
The current governor of Louisiana, Bill Jay Roberts was elected to office in 2013 on a wave of backlash against Fred Pavaghi’s corruption. Bill campaigned heavily on a platform of restoring dignity and public trust to the governorship. He is one of the last Democrats to hold statewide office in the Deep South, and the first Democrat elected to statewide office in Louisiana since the GOP takeover in 2010. Much of Bill’s strategy involved building crossover support from white rural voters, since the state’s African-American population is always in any Democrat’s pocket. Bill himself is a pro-life, pro-gun, pro-capital punishment, anti-gay marriage military veteran and former Army Ranger who enjoys recreational hunting and is proud of the fact that he’s closed down all but two abortion clinics in Louisiana, something even Fred Pavaghi was unable to do. Despite these positions, Bill’s support of the Affordable Care Act led the Malveaux attack machine to characterize him as a flaming liberal, and not without success. Before being elected to the governor’s mansion, Bill served on the Louisiana Public Service commission, and ran against Maxen Flores to represent the state senate’s District 9 in 2003, which he lost. Bill is of no relation to Christina Roberts, but it hasn’t stopped his opponents from implying that he is. He owns a home in Audubon Place but currently lives at the governor’s mansion in Baton Rouge.
Arabella “Bella” Roberts
(née Jameson)
Born: 1963
Sphere: High Society
The First Lady of Louisiana and wife of current Governor Bill Roberts, Arabella is the daughter of former Governor Jim Jameson and couldn’t be more pleased to be back in the governor’s mansion with her husband. She was a tomboy and “wild spirit” in her youth who worked as a horse jockey and state trooper before settling on a career as a nurse. Like most first ladies, she promotes issues that more or less everyone can agree are good things, or at least aren’t especially contentious. Her pet initiative is encouraging fitness among children and reducing childhood obesity rates, though she’s said she hopes to do more while her husband is in office than “getting some tykes to lay off the O’Tolley’s.” Close partner to her husband and involved in many of his political decisions, and has cultivated a positive media image through her irreverent sense of humor. She’s also on good terms with her father and regards the “stepmother” who’s almost 30 years her junior with dry amusement.
Ian Roberts
Born: 1984
Sphere: Legal
A paralegal with ten years of experience working in the bitter industry that is family law, Ian steadfastly swears he’ll never marry or have a family. He’s seen the ways in which that goes all too many times. He’s content instead with his long-term girlfriend Chelsea Donaldson and their fairly uncomplicated lives. Nosy but also discreet, Ian greatly enjoys learning secrets and details about people simple for the sake of being ‘in the know.’ In that curiosity, he is greatly satisfied with his job and its ability to pry deeply into people’s lives on a deep and intimate level. He comes from a ‘normal’ middle-class nuclear family himself, including a mother and father who have been married for more than twenty years, and two younger sisters (one of whom he is deeply frustrated with for her recent marriage without a prenuptial agreement). The Roberts family as a whole is old money, though Ian’s immediate family is only distantly related to Bill Jay Roberts and has fallen out of the primary line of succession. They remain comfortably middle class, which each child (including Ian) inheriting a small six figure number worth of stock in the old family company (which his parents used to help pay for his sisters’ college). Ian himself, in turn, is relatively financially stable. His co-workers consider him likable in a self-deprecating, hard-working, humblebragging way.
2-Entry Families
The Browns
|
• 1. (Jared’s mother and father) |
Jared Brown
Born: 1985
Deceased: 2015 (age 30)
Sphere: Health
Status: Tulane Medical Center ••
Resident physician at Tulane Medical Center. Though his bedside manner is relentlessly cheerful, Dr. Brown has a somewhat shadier reputation among his co-workers. Even this, though, falls short of the reality: he regularly drugs and takes sexual advantage of his patients. Recently deceased.
Paige Brown
Born: 2007
Deceased: 2015 (age 8)
Sphere: Academia 0
Young sister to Jared Brown, a resident doctor at Tulane Medical who raped unconscious patients. Lavine kidnapped Paige as part of a scheme to avenge herself on the amoral physician after he raped her. Though Lavine had intended to spare the child’s life after she slew Dr. Brown, the results saw Doc Xola sever Paige’s hand before Lavine slew her in a frenzy.
The Browns
|
• 1. Hubert Brown (b. 1961) + (Hubert’s wife) |
Hubert Brown
Born: 1961
Sphere: Transportation
Shipyard owner with major contracts related to the US Navy’s merchant marine fleet. Third-generation yard worker now in his mid-50s who bought his way into the industry with his father’s life insurance policy. Ugly rumors have circulated that he killed off his old man for the money, as he died quite young. His years of manual labor have taken their toll in the form of crippling arthritis, but his forearms are still coiled steel ropes. Married to a white woman who his mother still doesn’t approve of. Hoped to leave his business to his son, but the young man would rather pursue his rap career as Douglas “Dougy Two-toes” Brown. Has a chip on his shoulder despite his success.
Douglas “Dougy Two-Toes” Brown
Born: 1992
Sphere: High Society
Young local rapper of marginal talent with a small following. Claims to have lost three of the toes on his right foot in gang-related violence, though in truth they were lost in a yard accident when he was seven. Wannabe tough guy who attended private schools and came from a stable home. Son of Hubert Brown, though he wants little to do with his father, other than a steady supply of money to spend on his plush lifestyle and crappy beats.
The Cahns & Garrets
|
• 1. Hannah Cahn (b. 1984) + Megan Garrett (b. 1983) |
Megan Garrett
Born: 1983
Sphere: Military
Ex-Marine who now works for Blackwatch in a relationship with Hannah Cahn. Works on floats with her at Southern Decadence and other festivals. She fractured the skull of Joseph Beaumont while drunk during 2014’s Fourth of July, earning the enmity of the musician and and his sister Penny.
Hannah Cahn
Born: 1984
Sphere: Academia
Status: Tulane University ••
Assistant art professor. Described by Alice Guillot as “mousy and awkward, knocks stuff over all the time, but nice.” In a relationship with Megan Garrett, who she works together with on floats for Southern Decadence and other parades.
The Christians
|
• 1. Marianna Christian (née Browan) (b. 1971) + |
Marianna Christian
(née Browan)
Born: 1971
Sphere: Hospitality
Single mother, worker at one of Larry Simpson’s hotels, part-time community college student, and widow. Hospitalized in 2015 after an assault by a home invader. Her fellow employees and eventually employer contributed to a GoFundMe campaign to help pay her medical bills, something that was arranged behind the scenes by Caroline Malveaux-Devillers for reasons of her own.
Brandon Christian
Born: 1998
Sphere: Academia
Black Pearl resident and high school senior. Son of Marianna Christian. Caroline Malveaux-Devillers convinced her mother to get a friend to write him a college letter of recommendation as part of her atonement for nearly murdering Brandon’s mother during a botched hunting attempt.
The Dills
|
• 1. (Amanda’s and Lacye’s parents) |
Amanda “Big Pickle” Dill
Born: 1990
Sphere: Industry
Amanda knew from an early age that she wasn’t at home in her skin. She never liked the sort of things little boys should and felt stifled by the social norms she was expected to adhere to. By the time she was a teenager Amanda had spoken at length to her family about being more at home as female than male. They were surprisingly supportive of her desire to transition. The rest of the world wasn’t. Mocked for her large size and chosen name (some classmates made snide “a man, duh” quips about it), she would have spiraled into depression and self-harm if her sister hadn’t stepped in. Lacey was suspended multiple times fighting on Amanda’s behalf and eventually angrily told Amanda that she could sit around feeling sorry for herself or she could “do something about it." So Amanda joined Lacey at GroundBorn and the rest, as they say, is history. Amanda teaches conditioning classes that build endurance, strength, core stability, mobility and flexibility.
Lacey “Little Pickle” Dill
Born: 1991
Sphere: Industry
A firecracker since she learned to walk, Lacey came to GroundBorn with her younger sister when she was just a teenager. They were a year apart in high school and Amanda had just come out as trans; Lacey overheard some girls in her grade making fun of the newly-announced female and was suspended for three days when she slammed their ring leader ‘s face into her locker. Two weeks later she was suspended for another five days when she kicked a boy so hard in the crotch after a derogatory comment that his ability to have kids was put into question. Her dad suggested anger management; her mom suggested the gym. So Lacey started at GroundBorn and took to the classes with relish. She got faster, she got stronger, she got tougher; and she isn’t afraid to go toe-to-toe with people twice her size. She couldn’t get into Tulane University (the only local college with an exercise science degree), but moved back home to New Orleans and started work at GroundBorn once she had her degree in hand. She fights in local circuits and teaches boxing, kickboxing, and HIIT classes. Lacey has a large following on her personal training Instagram.
The Downs
|
• 1. Alec Downs (b. 1956) + |
Alec Downs
Born: 1956
Sphere: High Society
President of Lakeview’s Southern Yacht Club. He and his wealthy circle of friends, also yachters, sit on the neighborhood’s NA council.
Bentley Downs
Born: 1991
Sphere: High Society
Alec Down’s daughter. Bored college graduate and perennial daddy’s girl who still lives with her father. She recently decided it would be “fun” to try being a talent agent, which her father has indulged and paid the licensing fee for.
The Eriks & Montagues
|
• 1. (Elaine’s and Kathy’s parents) |
Elaine Montague 
Born: 1979
Sphere: Bureaucracy
Status: New Orleans Health Department ••
City health inspector who is struggling to make it on her own after splitting from her husband, Brandon Eriks, last summer. Has a three-year-old daughter with him and is fighting a protracted legal battle for sole custody, but often leaves her daughter with her ‘stay at home mom’ sister Kathy. Struggling at work due to what she suspects his harassment by police further up the chain, though she can’t prove it. Although her looks make her frequently hit on, she has no interest in a relationship at this point—not the least of which because she’s afraid that Brandon would kill any other man who touched her.
Brandon Eriks
Born: 1980
Sphere: Police
Marine scout sniper turned NOPD SWAT sharpshooter, Brandon is one of very few living men with a confirmed kill at over one mile. When he can be grudgingly convinced to tell the story, he’ll tell you it was 1.2 miles actually, and into the sun. Twice divorced and fighting for visitation rights with his three-year-old daughter with his soon-to-be third ex-wife, he spends long hours after hours at the range, trying to forget about the troubles of his life behind the recoil of his rifle. While he came back with only moderate PTSD, his best friend and spotter shot himself in the head last year and ended up in a vegetative state. As with his fellow SWAT members, Brandon is assigned to Tactical Platoon 1, under the Special Operation Bureau, and does regular proactive patrols in the slums of the Eighth and Ninth Wards.
The Ferrises
|
• 1. Roger Ferris (b. 1973) + Dawn Reynolds (b. 1976) |
Roger Ferris
Born: 1973
Sphere: Military
Ruthless ex-CIA agent who serves as the Malveaux family’s chief of security.
Miranda Ferris
Born: 2003
Sphere: Academia
Pre-teenage daughter of Roger Ferris and Chicago transplant who dislikes New Orleans and claims there’s nothing to do in the city. Miranda hasn’t weathered puberty well and is an unattractive girl with mousy features, acne, and few friends.
The Gallaghers
|
• 1. Caleb Gallagher (b. 1944) + Dorothy Gallagher (née Miller) (b. 1947) |
Caleb Gallagher
Born: 1944
Sphere: Politics
The chief of staff for Senator Nathaniel Malveaux, Caleb is an old breed of Southern snake, a cottonmouth with a terrible temper and a vicious bite. While Malveaux is charming, Caleb is terrifying, the stick to his boss’ carrot. He’s a mean old man who walks with a cane and has strict Southern values that include closeted (and sometimes less than closeted) bigotry. Caleb has been with Nathaniel for more than twenty years, and before that served his uncle, Senator Carter Malveaux, in a similar capacity prior to the senator’s untimely death in a plane crash. He likely knows more about where the bodies are buried in Louisiana politics than any man still alive. He prefers to communicate face-to-face, and hates email and text conversations, which he considers impersonal and rude. He rarely even uses the phone, and considers it a favor when he does.
Mackenna Gallagher
Born: 1998
Sphere: Academia
Granddaughter of Caleb Gallagher and senior at the McGehee School for Girls.
The Galloways & Irvings
|
• 1. Wayne Galloway III (b. 1953) + Donna Galloway (née Thompson) (b. 1956) |
Wayne Galloway III
Born: 1953
Sphere: Church ••
Minister of a Southern Baptist congregation in the Lower 9th. Grew up and remains friends with Fred Luter, current president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Father of Rhonda Irving, wife of Shawnte Irving.
Shawnte Irving
Born: 1976
Sphere: Politics
Lifetime resident of the Lower 9th who previously played for the New Orleans Zephyrs, the local Triple-A baseball team. After Katrina, he resigned when the team played the very next season while their city was still in shambles. Afterwards, he became a local political figure known for his advocacy of reconstruction, racial integration, and institutional change. In 2007, he helped organize several thousand NOLA residents to march through the city streets and gather at City Hall for a rally demanding police and city leaders tackle the city’s rampant crime. He obtained significant grassroots support when he ran for city council in 2008 and 2010, but lost both times by a narrow margin. He ran again in 2012, and seemed poised for victory until he was arrested for beating his wife’s alleged lover with a baseball bat. Rumor has it that the DA dropped Shawunte’s charges—but only after he promised to suspend his campaign and never run again. Currently runs a soup kitchen in the 9th and runs summer baseball camps for urban youth. Despite their marital scandal, Shawnte remains married to his high school sweetheart, Rhonda, and the pair have two sons: Trayvon and Shawnte, Jr.
The Giaconas
|
• 1. |
Benedetto “Fat Benny” Giacona
Born: 1959
Status: Mafia ••••
Position: Underboss
Underboss of the New Orleans Mafia and local porn kingpin with life-long weight issues. Socially awkward, but organizationally and economically shrewd grandson of Corrado Giacona, the Black Hand’s don during Prohibition.
Dino “The Horse” Giacona
Born: 1985
Died: 2007 (age 22)
Status: Mafia •
Position: Caporegime
Underboss Fat Benny’s son. Had double the looks, but less than half the brains of his father. Liked to do “volunteer work” for his father’s films when not idling his time with his own goon squad or throwing lavish parties. He fancied himself a real capo, but it’s a fantasy no one else shared. He was killed in 2007 during a dispute between the Mafia and the BloodHound Gangstaz.
The Halls
|
• 1. (Stephanie’s father + mother) |
Stephanie Hall
Born: 1986
Deceased: 2016 (age 30)
Sphere: Military
Stephanie Hall was the first woman accepted into the prestigious LAPD SWAT Division six years ago. She jokes that it took her four years to get in and four months to tire of their shit. On her way out the door (officially terminated for insubordination), she burned every bridge she had left in the department. The scorched earth campaign, however satisfying, effectively ended her police career. She ended up working in the private sector working for Blackwatch, and drifted to New Orleans along that dark current. Though her field record is good, her inability to keep her mouth shut has strained relationships there as well, and relegated her to a boring night shift when she is least likely to interact with personages of note. Deceased as of 2016.
Sadie Hall
Born: 2002
Sphere: Academia
Stephanie Hall’s and Emil Kane’s daughter, born by accident when her teenage parents neglected to use protection. Her relationship with her father is strained, but her mother has been able to provide a relatively comfortable life for her on a Blackwatch contractor’s salary.
The Jacobsons
|
• 1. |
Kelly Jacobson
Born: 1988
Sphere: Academia
Elementary school teacher at Benjamin Franklin and widow of Brian Jacobson, a patrol officer recently killed by drug dealers in the line of duty. Though relatively well-off between her salary and her husband’s pension, she has taken a leave of absence from teaching following his death. Brian’s precinct captain, Marco Rizaffi, described her as a “really nice lady” who’d baked cookies for their police station.
Brian Jacobson
Born: 1990
Deceased: 2015 (age 25)
Sphere: Police
Status: NOPD •
Young officer killed by drug dealers in the recent Mid-City raid. He had recently earned his associate’s degree at Delgado Community College and was hoping to make detective. As an officer who died in the line of duty, his funeral was attended by police throughout the city, and sparked an upsurge in Mid-City police violence that saw two black youths shot dead and numerous more badly beaten. Survived by his widow Kelly Jacobson, an elementary school teacher at Benjamin Franklin.
The Lancasters
|
• 1. (Vincent’s grandfather + grandmother) |
Vincent Lancaster
Born: 1971
Sphere: Politics
Status: U.S. House of Representatives ••••
Congressional representative for Louisiana’s 2nd district, which includes New Orleans and Baton Rouge. An easygoing and somewhat lazy man by temperament, Vincent once harbored ambitions of running for mayor, but has proven much happier cruising to an easy re-election every two years in his bluer than blue D+25 district. Currently the sole Democrat in Louisiana’s congressional delegation, and likely to remain such.
Margaret Lancaster
Born: 1999
Sphere: Academia
Vincent’s only child. Attending school at McGehee.
The Lavits
|
• 1. (Smokey’s parents) |
Peter “Smokey” Lavit
Born: 1976
Sphere: Street
Treasurer of the Halfways OMC gang and T-Bone’s uncle. Despite his disheveled exterior, Smokey is probably the most highly educated member of the gang, hence why he is responsible for their finances. Were it not for his patched jacket and beard, his jovial demeanor would make it easy to forget he’s a gang member.
Sam “T-Bone” Lavit
Born: 1985
Sphere: Street
Smokey’s nephew and president of the Halfways, a biker gang based in Mid-City. He supplies most of the drugs in the Mid-City and University area. Known to be loud and brash, and most suspect that his VP is the one who really runs things.
The Lewises
|
• 1. Bill Weeper Lewis (b. 1941) + |
Bill Weeper LewisBill Weeper Lewis
Born: 1941
Sphere: Politics
Retired attorney, popular speaker in the tax protester movement, and longtime promoter of of various tax protesting schemes. Bill claims that there is no law that makes individuals liable for income tax, and has been trying since 2006 to get out of paying his taxes. He also runs a Time Cube-esque website called The No-Lies Zone that outlines a variety of disproved and rejected theories for the illegality of the federal income tax, as well as assorted conspiracy theories and, in the words of one of his detractors, “bizarre pictures of dragons, Abraham Lincoln, and huge amounts of CAPSLOCK.”
Miranda “f0xx[DR]” Lewis
Born: 1994
Sphere: Academia
Conspiracy-spouting gray hat hacker who seemingly never attends class or leaves her dorm room. How she’s made it through Tulane (or managed to stay in the dorms past her first year) is a question of some curiosity to her dormmates, who regard her room as a black hole on the floor that nothing sentient enters or leaves—including light.
The Malones
|
• 1. Bette Malone (b. 1975) + (Ricky’s father) |
Bette Malone
Born: 1975
Sphere: Industry
Bette is a single mother to 17-year-old Ricky Malone. She’s the Italian part of her half-Italian son, and has raised him alone since three months into her pregnancy when his father skipped out on them. She didn’t bother trying to track him down for child support and instead committed herself to raising the best kid she knew how. She received moderate assistance from the rest of her family until their falling out when Ricky was five over an incident at his school. She currently works three jobs to pay for her son’s boxing needs, be they private lessons, gym memberships, or other assorted gear. Unfortunately the fact that she’s out of the house so much means that she isn’t around to keep her son from getting into trouble, so she doesn’t realize how deep he’s in with the mob for his gambling debts (or even that he gambles). Hasn’t dated since her son knocked out her last boyfriend in a “friendly” sparring match when he was thirteen, though she’s had a handful of discreet lovers that she doesn’t bring around the house. Works as a cocktail waitress and cashier when she isn’t handling the phones at LegalWings.
Ricky Malone
Born: 1999
Sphere: Industry
Status: Boxing Circuit ••
Half-Italian up and coming Golden Gloves boxing prodigy from the worst projects of the city with Olympic ambitions. Ricky is a local celebrity on the verge of greatness, if his gambling habits don’t destroy him first. Currently in deep to the mob, who have begun to threaten him. Son of a single mother that worked three jobs to pay for his training and education, and who could not be more proud of her “boy.”
The Moutons
|
• 1. |
Delron Mouton
Born: 1957
Sphere: Police
Commander of the 8th District, whose appointment only occurred (and persists) because Delron understands that his station and staff (and their jurisdiction over the CBD and Quarter) exist solely to keep the money rolling. Consequently, he holds three things sacrosanct: profitable property, the perceived (versus actual) safety of tourists, and the favor of politicians whose power rests on both of the latter. So long as a person—be they a mobster, con artist, or drug dealer—doesn’t threaten any of the above, Delron is amiable, laid-back, and libertine. Those who cross that line, however, rarely get a chance to repeat their mistake. Cops in his district quickly learn that “justice” isn’t on job description, and those that can’t stomach Delron’s interpret ion of law and order are quickly reassigned to another description (if they’re lucky). Whenever possible, Delron replaces such morally upright personnel with the physically handsome and comely, as he has learned that the good-looking often have looser morals (and tend to keep the tourists happy). Despite such predilections, Delron himself is an over the hill blimp, bloated by his frequent ‘working lunches’ at Cafe Du Monde and other culinary hot spots.
Ricky “Cash Money” Mouton
Born: 1978
Spheres: Police, Underworld
Status: Mafia ••, NOPD •••
Plainclothes detective and thoroughly dirty cop in bed with the Black Hand and Dixie Mafia. Owns multiple VICE-related properties in the Quarter. Nephew to District Commander Delron Mouton.
The Pierces
|
• 1. Charity Pierce (b. 1992) |
Charity Pierce
Born: 1992
Sphere: Academia
Charity is a twenty-three-year-old escort who has worked for Christina Roberts for more than five years—a near-benchmark in the business. Beautiful, with full lips, excellent proportions, and smooth skin, she and her sister Chastity are two of Roberts’ most sought-after girls—especially as a pair. Many men are entranced by the idea of bedding sisters at the same time. Born into poverty, orphaned, and repeatedly failed by the social welfare state, Charity is fiercely financially practical and committed to breaking out of the cycle of poverty. She’s invested the bulk of her earnings, lives relatively modestly, and has been pursuing community college courses on the side in anticipation of the day when she gets out of the business. Extremely close to her sister Chastity, she’s not particularly pleased that she followed in her footsteps but is willing to “overlook” it as long as she finishes her degree and gets out of their line of work. Doesn’t believe she can make a relationship work while she works in “the business,” and isn’t attracted to men in any case. Not religious.
Chastity Pierce
Born: 1995
Sphere: Academia
Chastity is a twenty-year-old pursuing a degree in engineering that happens to work on the side as a second-generation prostitute. Dusky-skinned, long-limbed, well-proportioned and professional, she’s worked for Christina Roberts for very near on two years, having been introduced to the business right out of high school by her sister Charity. Their mother was a hooker until she was strangled and dumped in the Mississippi when Chastity was nine years old, landing her and her older sister in the foster care system where both were molested both multiple foster families right up until Charity turned 18, moved into her own apartment, and was able to adopt then-15-year-old Chastity with the money she made working for Roberts. Insisting on a future for her outside of the “family” business, she held Chastity’s feet to the fire and forced her to focus on her academics, the result of which was her scholarship to Tulane. Not particularly religious and very busy between her job and schooling. Very intelligent, but somewhat awkward among her peers: she’s never been on a non-work related date.
The Ratcliffs
|
• 1. Sheryl Ratcliff (b. 1948) + |
Jordan Ratcliff
Born: 1987
Spheres: Police, Underworld
Status: Mafia •, Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office •
Position: Deputy (OPSO), associate (Mafia)
Officer who works in Orleans Parish Prison. Long-limbed, lanky, and not particularly intelligent, Jordan has unfortunately become quite ensnared by the local mob and now regularly smuggles contraband for them, sets up victims for beatings, and provides special treatment to members of the mob spending time in lockup (Silver Penny Sal most prominently among them). Jordan is in truth quite lonely and was easy pickings for the mob, which lured him in with female companionship. Lives with his aging physically and emotionally abusive mother (Sheryl) who constantly berates him for his lack of ambition and success in life.
Susan Ratcliff
Born: 1989
Sphere: Industry
Her mother used to say that she was “born middle-aged and gets older every year.” Susan always thought that was a blessing, since it meant that she was more mature than most people her age and had a good head on her shoulders, but it turned out to be less of a blessing than she’d thought when her father got sick and Susan had to pick up a job at 15 to start helping with the bills. He’d already left her mother and there was no one else to turn to. She put her dreams on hold until her father finally passed, glad that she’d had the foresight at least to not take on any of the medical debt herself. But the life insurance didn’t go far, and Susan was left in a bad spot when she had to pay for funeral costs. She took out a loan. Then another loan to pay that one back. And a third. With interest rates skyrocketing, Susan got a little bit desperate. At her half-brother Jordan’s advice, she started stealing and fencing shit for the mob, but she got sloppy. She was picked up, arrested, and finally released on bail, which is where she met Regina Dufresne. Regina took one look at the girl and knew that she had a smarter head on her shoulders than she was given credit for. She brought her into the LegalWings family and has been a mentor of sorts since, training her in the biz and pushing her through undergrad and now finally law school. Regina’s investment has paid off: Susan will be a hell of a lawyer as soon as she finishes this next year, and she fully plans to take Regina’s offer of staying on and serving as a consultant of sorts for their clients. She’s also secretly dating the much-older John Michael Flynn behind his wife’s back, whose daughter she goes to school with.
The Rattis
|
• 1. Adriano “Rat Face” Ratti (b. 1964) + |
Adriano “Rat Face” Ratti
Born: 1964
Sphere: Underworld
Status: Mafia ••, Ratti’s Flowers ••
A squat, bug-eyed Italian florist. Adriano’s flower shop is rumored to be used as a front for many illegal dealings and fencings of contraband, like unmarked guns. The man’s voice is often said to be the most annoying in all of New Orleans.
Amelia “Doll Face” Ratti
Born: 1992
Sphere: Underworld
Status: Ratti’s Flowers •
The imperious, pretty-faced bookkeeper for her father Adriano’s flower shop. Her mother died when she was young. The young woman’s good looks are only matched by the haughty miasma that encompasses everything she does, everything she wears. She gives off a peculiar vibe that’s scared off many would-be suitors.
The Riveras
|
• 1. Diego Carlos Rivera (b. 1988) |
Diego Carlos Rivera
Born: 1988
Sphere: Street
Leader of the Cottonmouths gang in Terrytown.
Carla Rivera
Born: 1991
Sphere: Industry
Bartender, maid, nanny, community college student, and single mother, Carla tries to do it all. Born in Mexico, she came over the border with her mother when she was only five years old. The family moved from Houston to New Orleans as part of the mass exodus in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to get away from the abusive influence of the coyote who got them across the border. Carla barely remembers Texas, let alone Mexico, but her illegal status makes it difficult to obtain legitimate employment. A devout Catholic, she has a large tattoo of Jesus Christ on her right shoulder, and another of the Virgin of Guadalupe on her left. Uncertain what her future holds, she prays frequently for her three-year-daughter: as an American citizen, she’ll have opportunities her mother never will. Carla remains willing to do almost anything to ensure that the little girl grows up to be successful, but it’s only a matter of time until her own past catches up with her. Though she makes a respectable living working as a bartender, and makes more on the side with her own small business with a maid service during the day, the trail of off-the-books money she depends on is eventually going to land on someone’s desk, and when it does INS is soon to follow.
The Reffetts
|
• 1. |
Bruce Reffett
Born: 1955
Deceased: 2013 (58 years old)
Family: The Reffetts
Status: Monument Law ••••
Founding partner at the firm of Hailey, McNamara, Hall, Larmann & Papale (which no longer bears his name), Bruce was one of the city’s most successful and highest-profile defense attorneys in his day. He secured the release of Hippolyte “Big Mon” Broussard from Angola after exonerating evidence came to light amidst larger DoJ investigations into the notorious prison’s inmate conditions. For all his professional achievements, Bruce was also a sadistically controlling man for whom nothing his son Dustin did was ever good enough. He was killed in a 2013 freak car accident along with his wife. Bruce was known to enjoy a stiff drink after work and driving under the influence was suspected by some of his associates.
Dustin Reffett
Born: 1983
Family: The Reffetts
Status: Monument Law •••
Founding Partner at the firm that survived the transition to Monument Law, Dustin was a work-addicted criminal attorney thought “un-parternable” after he checked into a psych ward in 2013 after following a nervous breakdown. He proved his detractors wrong in his success at Monument as the lead on their criminal law division and has been a force within the firm as the partner most frequently available on their ‘day’ shift. It’s not uncommon for Dustin to work 12-15 hour days at the firm, coming in before sunrise to start his day and keep tabs on others. While his focus is criminal law, he can’t resist sticking his toe in almost every other aspect of the firm’s business. Has a fantastic win rate when cases go to trial, but frequently slips into bouts of intense self-loathing requiring intervention by other partners following a rare loss. The rest of the office knows to keep their distance.
The Watts
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• 1. Dennis Watts (b. 1958) + Deborah Watts (née Smith) (b. 1958) |
Dennis Watts
Born: 1958
Sphere: Corporate
Status: OrthoSynthetics ••
Long-time accountant at OrthoSynthetics, a Metairie-based dental practice management firm, and little-known father of Samantha Watts. Despite many attempts to reach out to his daughter, she considers him a banal, ambitionless man emblematic of the equally banal suburban life she left behind, and is utterly uninterested in him. The two haven’t spoken for close to a decade.
Samantha “Sami” Watts
Born: 1989
Sphere: High Society
Near-infamous honeypot who took Robert Argabrite III for half of his fortune in 2012 when she convinced him to marry her and then divorced him after the honeymoon. She now lives the high life in a downtown penthouse. Regarded as a usurper by most of the city’s elite, but money talks, and she’s had significant success integrating herself into social circles. For her part, Samantha lives for the thrill of the seduction, the chase, the game. She’s a near-irresistible flirt and few would guess she grew up in a middle-class suburban home in Metairie. Particular taste for Mezzo-American art, and has strong ties to the Latin arts community in New Orleans.
The Whites
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• 1. Isaiah White (b. 1979) + Jada White (née Hutchinson) (b. 1980) |
Isaiah White
Born: 1979
Sphere: Media
Thirty-six-year-old local news anchor known for his “investigative reports” into largely trivial matters such as food poisoning at a given restaurant, or an individual landlord’s policies. Carved out a name for himself among the bored older crowd that actually watches the local news, who hail him as a hero for exposing the “dangers” of the city. In truth frustrated by his work and inability to break a real news story, but afraid to take a chance or make it big because he feels it would endanger his comfortable life. Has his children on the weekends, and tries to schedule fun events and trips for them. Formerly married to Jada White.
Jada White
(née Hutchinson)
Born: 1980
Sphere: Bureaucracy
Status: Louisiana DMV ••
A fifteen-year employee at the New Orleans DMV, Jada White gets about half of its work done by herself. Her line is the only one in the que that seems to move, and it’s not uncommon for her to juggle five or six phone calls along with a face-face interaction at once. Overweight but not obese, she’s an aberration in government work: genuinely cheerful at work and kind to those that interact with her. Her two children, both middle school-aged, attend a charter school. She shares custody with ex-husband, with whom she has a polite, if not warm, relationship. Kept his last name for the kids. Refers to those she interacts with at work as “babe.”
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by:
False_Epiphany