home home news news columns columns features features

<-- Back to places

A Shadowtourists Guide To New Orleans

by William Monroe Ashe (wma6617@tam2000.tamu.edu)

* Ok. chummers here’s the scoop. I pilfered this off a Mafia system last week so I know its current. They generated this for some Don who was going to visit N.O. I thought that since people who do our kind of biz travel more now this might come in handy. It’s short and to the point. As far as I can tell it looks pretty much right on. But, what do I know? I’m just a decker.
* FlyGirl

New Orleans

This datafile is to inform you of some of the major points of interest concerning your upcoming visit to New Orleans.

Historical Overview

New Orleans was one of the earlier cities built in the U.S. It had a prominent role in both the U.S. revolutionary war, and the first U.S. civil war. “The Big Easy” was and is a major transshipment point for good of ALL kinds. The awakening brought surprisingly few changes to “Nawlins”. New Orleans has survived wars, hurricanes, and the awakening. It will continue to be a major hub of our activities in the CAS

Racial Makeup

According to the last census N.O. has approximately the following distributions

Human = 58%
Ork = 22%
Troll = 19%
Dwarf = 2%
Elf = Less than 1% (reasons follow)

Reasons for racial distribution:

  1. Night of Rage;
    On that night the mobs of norms that were hunting down metahumans were unable to penetrate the “French Quarter” (for magical reasons that I will elucidate later). When news of this went out over the trids many metahumans sought shelter from the mob inside the quarter. In the years following; metahumans from all over the deep south moved to New Orleans because it was considered to be one of the most tolerant cities in the CAS.
  2. Expulsion of Norms from Tir na nO’g;
    Back when the norms were fleeing the newly created Tir, those without money just went to England. The people with money came to America The section of the city known as the Irish Channel was once again receiving thousands of Irish immigrants. But, now these Irish had money. The Irish channel is now one of the wealthiest section, second only to the “Garden District”. But one of the things these Irish brought with them was an almost pathological hatred of “The Fair Folk”. Thus these two racial groups are dramatically underrepresented. Note; orks and trolls, whom the Irish believe to be “trod upon” by the “Fair Folk” are welcome.

Financial

New Orleans is still one of the largest ocean ports that the CAS has. Without question it is second in wealth only to Atlanta.

* What? you’re out of your pasta eating mind. DFW is much better off than the city in the swamp
* Cowboy Jim

Organized Crime

Our control of intrastate shipping in Louisiana. is secure. We must share the pie in N.O. itself with the Yakuza, and two different Chinese Tongs. The Yakuza and the Black Tiger Tong have been locked in a vicious turf war over intracity trucking for the last two weeks. You will find a hardcopy proposal of our plans in that regard waiting for you when you arrive.

* Well Flygirl, where is it?
* Tonythetiger

* Sorry; that goes by real live courier. They don’t trust the matrix for that kind of info . If you want it. Go and get it.
* Fg

Sprawl Data

None: New Orleans is very limited in the amount of useful land it has available for construction. Simply building the causeways into the city through the swamps, and lakes was an engineering feat not easily rivaled. As a consequence the actual boundaries of the city remain as they looked in the last part of the twentieth century. The city is very densely packed though. Another consequence is the N.O. retains much of its old architecture and “charm” in the old parts of town

Law Enforcement

Law enforcement is provided by Lone Star. It is their standard contract except in one regard. They will only go into the French Quarter if requested by the magical establishment. The French Quarter is ruled solely and completely by the Voodoo King (or Queen).

Voodoo

Organization and Politics

The proper name is Houngan. There are several excellent texts describing their beliefs and society, a bibliography is included. By mutual agreement they have taken total control of the French Quarter. They use their powerful ritual sorcery skills to keep the French Quarter “Special” (more follows). Currently there is both a voodoo king and queen. We do not know the real name or SIN of the V.K.. The V.Q. is called “Marie Laveau”. This is not her real name. This name comes from a historical figure. The original Marie Laveau was an African descent slave. According to the Houngan she used her magic to control the city and elevate herself to a position of authority well above any African descent person of that time. The more mundane texts say that she used a vast network of spies and assassins to rule the city.

Currently the V.K. and V.Q. are on good terms. The V.K. is in nominal control over the French Quarter. Open warfare between the followers of the V.K. and V.Q is discouraged by their religion. When they have conflicts. They are usually resolved through magical means. They are a proud pair. They expect to be treated like kings and queens. n the whole, we have found that they are a reasonable group to work with. The Yakuza and Tongs do not consider their friendship to be an asset.

Tourist Points of Interest

The cemeteries;

Since most of N.O. is actually BELOW sea level nothing can be buried. As a consequence the people have created marvelous above ground cemeteries. Day tours exist for the more famous ones. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ENTER ANY CEMETERY AT NIGHT.

French Quarter

Introduction

The French Quarter is one of the oldest parts of the city. It retains much of pre awakening architecture. Some buildings go back to the eighteenth century. Many bars, and exquisite restaurants are in this part of town. As I have noted before the Houngan control this part of the city. They have declared it to be a firearm free zone. They use very powerful ritual sorcery to maintain it.

Borders

The French Quarter is bounded by Canal St. on the west, Esplanade on the east, the Mississippi river on the south , and Rampart St. on the North. The actual border is painted on the street in bright yellow paint.

Firearms

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES BRING ANY AMMUNITION ACROSS THE BORDER. A large Houngan sorcerer cadre maintain a constant spell over the entire area. Any ammunition that is brought across the border WILL SPONTANEOUSLY DETONATE. We maintain a group of highly skilled martial artists for forays into the quarter.

* That’s the Truth I ga-ron-tee. I was chased by a really nasty out of town street sam once. Dumb as a stump, but armed to the teeth. Anyway I tricked him into crossing the border and BOOM!!! They needed to vacuum him up.
* Jimmy the Shiv

Gun Checks

We, the Yakuza, and the Houngan leadership maintain various facilities on the borders of the Quarter. Anyone may safely store their firearms there for a reasonable fee with no questions asked. It is not uncommon to see a Mafia Bodyguard, a Lone Star Detective, and a Yakuza Legbreaker talking “shop” at one of these establishments. No one but an idiot would break the Gun Check truce. Outside of the shop is another matter. We make a small profit on the shops we control. We value the truce more than any temporary gain we could achieve by breaking it. Besides you can’t bring guns into the quarter anyway.

Cyberware

The problem
The ritual magics employed have an unexpected effect (I presume) on cyberware. Anyone with cyberware will feel a horrible burning sensation as long as they are in the Quarter. Note; this effect appears to be proportional to the amount of cyberware. Someone with just a chipjack will only have a mild headache. A rigger or heavily chromed sammy could be almost incapacitated.

The Solution
The Houngan have constructed special medallions that can be purchased that will counteract MOST of the side effects.

* Getting really drunk helps too
* Gator Boy

The Dancers

Please note that I am not a magician. My knowledge of things magical is quite limited. What I will say is correct as far as it goes. The Houngan are very secretive about their rituals. We value our relationship with them so we do not pry.

Inside the Quarter the ritual magics that maintain the firearm ban are “grounded” to the streets by six or seven groups of dancers. I believe the correct term is “Serviteurs”. These groups vary in size from five to twenty and are always present in the Quarter. The actual dancers come and go as needed. The dancers usually wear ritual clothing and dance without musical accompianment. They have quickly become part of the ambiance of the Quarter. Many tourists join in with the dancers as part of their Quarter experience. I have never done it.

It seems very unlikely that a visit to the Quarter can be accomplished without running into a group of dancers. I will describe briefly the procedure when this happens. The dancers expect to be tipped. Usually a young child or elderly person accompanies the dancers. The accompanieur will either ask for a donation, or for you to join in the dance for a while. We recommend that you pay. The accompanieur will take all but the most exotic currencies.

Stiffing the accompanieur is STRONGLY DISCOURAGED.

* Yeah don’t do it chummers. I stiffed them once. I woke up two days later running naked through the Garden District yelling ‘Where’s the Donkey? Where’s the Donkey?’
* Anonymous

* I remember that. It was all over the news trids. That was pretty funny.
* Gator Boy

Restaurants and Bars

The Quarter has one of the highest density of first class bars and five star restaurants anywhere on the planet. I could upload almost a gigapulse of information just on that. I will mention only several.

Eating:

  • The Court of Two Sisters:
    Established in the eighteen hundreds this is fine dining at its best. Formal Dress Required
  • Tujaques (sp?)
    Equally as good, Suit and Tie req’d
  • Gallatois
    My personal favorite

Drinking:

  • Pat O’Briens (spelling is correct):
    A requirement for the first time visitor
  • O’ Flaherty’s
    An excellent old fashioned Irish style pub. Elves and Dwarves are VERY UNWELCOME here.
  • Mammy’s
    This bar is relatively new. It replaced “The Hog’s Breath Saloon” which burned down. It is only forty years old. This is where the locals come. This is where the V.K. holds “court”. They also have an excellent gumbo.

Irish Channel

As was mentioned previously this is mostly upscale living. Private security is also present.

Garden District @#*!!

* TRANSFER INTERRUPTED
* System

* Ouch! I hate dump shock. Well that’s all I could get chummers hope it helps
* Fg