From: [p f strack] at [gibbs.oit.unc.edu] (Paul Strack)
Newsgroups: alt.games.whitewolf
Subject: Alternate New Orleans: Glossary and Stories
Date: 9 Jun 1994 16:12:59 GMT
WARNING: Lots and lots of little bitty spoilers
ALTERNATE NEW ORLEANS
by Paul Strack and Stacey Lawless
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: GLOSSARY AND STORIES
LOCAL SPEECH
Banquette: (bawn-KETTE). The sidewalk.
Krewe: A social club that puts on functions during Mardi Gras. Many
are quite exclusive.
Crawfish: The New Orleans spelling and pronunciation of "crayfish".
Praline: (PRAW-leen). A candy made from cane sugar and pecans.
Gris-gris: (GREE-gree) A Voudoun spell, amulet, or talisman.
Rex: The King of Mardi Gras. Also, the krewe associated with Rex.
La Ville: "The town"; Cajun nickname for New Orleans.
Lagnappe: (LAWN-yahp). More, a little more. Used to ask for something
that one has neither paid for, nor deserves, like the 13th doughnut
in a baker's dozen.
Some Place Names and their Pronunciation
Metairie: (MET-ree) An autonomous suburb of New Orleans. Also, one of
the graveyards.
Conti Street: (CON-teye)
Burgundy Street: (Bur-GUN-dee)
Carondelet Street: (Car-ONDE-let)
Calliope Street: (CAL-i-ope)
Chartres Street: (Charters)
Iberville Street: (EYE-bur-vill)
Orleans Street: (Or-LEENS); however
New Orleans: New OR-lyuns, New OR-luns, or NOR-luns
Kindred Speech, Common Parlance
Creole: A Toreador or Ventrue, particularly an elder, many of whom were
Creoles in life.
Gris-gris: A generic term for spells, talismans, and amulets. Kindred
may encounter many more kinds of magic than humans often do, but
since the Tremere in this city are mostly former Voudouns, the term
is often appropriate.
Houngan: A Voudoun with power. Used indiscriminately of gender.
Kaintuck: A Gangrel, Brujah or Caitiff, rarely Nosferatu. The term was
first used by (mortal) Creoles as a generic term for the American
flatboat crews who plied the Mississippi before steamboats came
about. The Kaintucks were notorious for being brutish, crude,
obnoxious, and violent, and the Creole Kindred thought it a fitting
term for the Gangrel and Brujah. The term has filtered into the
common parlance, and some of the Kaintucks themselves use it proudly.
The Krewe of Janus: The Krewe of Janus, an organisation of Masquerade
police. In keeping with mortal krewe traditions, they keep their
membership a secret. Although any vampire who has a good grasp of
the city's population can easily figure out who is in The Krewe and
who isn't, many of the young Kindred, especially the Anarchs, have
not yet had the chance to find out. Many weird rumors fly about The
Krewe, and to the Anarchs it often seems like half-bogeyman, half-Big
Brother.
'tite krewe, or Krewe: A coterie.
Loup-garou: Lupine. (the plural form is loup-garoux.) Oddly, few if
any of the city's Kindred are aware how close this word comes to the
Lupine's own name for themselves.
Mosquito: A Caitiff. (They're little, annoying, and they suck blood,
right?)
Storyville: The Rack. Storyville was New Orleans' famed quasi-legal
red-light district, closed down by an officer of the Navy in 1917.
It was the birthplace of jazz and, of course, a major hunting ground
for the elders of New Orleans, who got into the habit of using the
name and kept it after Storyville closed down. It trickled down
through the ancillae and into general Kindred usage.
Vieux Carre: Elysium. Actually the word is another name for the French
Quarter. The buildings along Jackson Square, plus certain others,
are Elysium; the rest of the Quarter has been reserved by the elders
for their own use, but is not actually Elysium. (though heaven help
the Anarch who gets caught hunting there).
Vulgar argot
Cottonmouth: A Setite
Crashing the party: Hunting along Bourbon Street, which is the
exclusive preserve of the elders.
Crawfish: Kindred who spend a lot of time in the bayous, where it is
assumed they must sleep in the mud. Gangrel and Nosferatu.
Hoodoo: Weird magic, supposed wierd magic, strange and mysterious
occurrences. Not to be confused with Voodoo or Voudoun; hoodoo is a
generic term, while Voudou is a specific religion and magic system.
Lestats: Blood Dolls and other vampire wannabes.
Loops: Lupines.
Ol' Muddy: The Mississippi River.
Praline: A particularly tasty, attractive, or alcoholic Vessel.
Rex: The Shadow Prince.
Ricers: Blood Dolls and other vampire wannabes.
STORY SEEDS
The following are a random assortment of story ideas. They range from
the least disruptive to the campaign to the most.
The Prince's Ball: Every year at the end of Marde Gras, the prince of
the city holds a magnificent ball. Nearly all the vampires of the city
attend (even the Anarchs), and there are many guests from other cities
as well. It is a cosmopolitan event, much anticipated each year. A
truce is strictly enforced by the Janus Krewe, who police Mardi Gras in
general.
The prince, unfortunately, always seems to be busy during ball, but he
is represented by Lieutenant, Accou. Traditionally, the assembled
vampires choose a King and Queen of the ball to preside in the princes
absence. The royalty are always important vampires from another city,
often Princes in their own rights.
Another tradition is that new kindred are presented to the King and
Queen of the ball, in the absence of the prince. The royalty require
the neonate make the usual oaths to uphold the laws of the Camarilla.
Accou then welcomes to the city, as the representative of the prince.
There atmosphere of the ball is very lavish. The vampires rent an
entire large hotel, specially prepared so that any guests can sleep
through the next day. There are many Dominate vessels available. One
large room is set aside for this purpose, with two sections: Alcoholic
and Non-Alcoholic. The Alcoholic vessel are commanded to drink various
liquors, while the Non-Alcoholic vessels are forbidden to do so.
Every year the Krewe of Janus presents a new artistic piece, usually a
performance of some sort, and often based on Kindred history. The
performance are usually somewhat controversial, and occasionally
scandalous, but the Toreador would not dare to miss it.
All in all, this is an excellent opportunity to meet the Kindred of New
Orleans. Many elders are more accessible at this time that they are for
the rest of the year. It would make an excellent introductory scenario.
A Little Help From Their Friends: The characters run into a pair of
friendly Kindred who do their damnedest to get in good the group. These
vampires are actually young Setites, and they will do whatever it takes
to get the characters in their debt and corrupt them. They are under
the control of the Tonton Macoute, and will try to use the players to
whittle away at Lafitte's power base.
Wrecking Ball: The Wrecking Krewe attempt to recruit player Gangrel,
and possibly Brujah as well. Anyone who joins the Krewe will be up for
wild nights of wrecking equipment in safe, eco-friendly ways ("Don't
smash that panel. You'll dump all the sludge out!"), dodging police,
workers and security, and breaking into corporate plants and labs to
scout them out. They'll also be stretching the Masquerade to the
breaking point, but hey, it'll be fun. You never know what you might
find at those Pentex-owned factories.
Snakes in the Grass: The Snake Hunters attempt to recruit the players,
perhaps just after the group has had a nasty run-in with the Setites.
Anyone who joins will find themselves up to their ears in detective
work, ambushes, subtle maneuvers and desperate midnight battles. There
are many forces at work here, and the players might well be enmeshed in
a three way battle between the Sabbat, Camarilla and the Snakes, with
plenty of internally bickering on each side to keep things messy.
Rice-a-Roni: A group of Ricers notice a character during Mardi Gras and
realizes the character is a vampire. The Ricers follow the character,
and soon learn the identity (and possibly havens) of some of the others
in the group as well. The Ricers just want to find out as much as they
can about these wondrous creatures, and may eventually approach the
group to ask for the embrace. If the group treats the Ricers badly, or
the Ricers see the group do something brutal, messy or heinous, they may
decide to make the vampires' unlives difficult. Blood Dolls can make
extremely effective hunters, since they can easily get close to their
prey, and few vampires take them seriously at all.
Deep Waters: A character is out on the Mississippi in a small boat one
night (perhaps disposing of a kill), when something rams the boat and
the character is thrown in the water. A large shark then attacks the
character, and takes a few chunks off before the character can escape.
If there is an NPC vampire with the character, perhaps they are killed,
causing more problems.
It becomes clear that the Mississippi is swarming with sharks this
spring (yes, there are some sharks who can live in fresh water), and
people are warned not to swim in Lake Ponchatrain. Any Kindred who make
their havens on or near the water are having problems with random shark
attacks. Is something in the water attracting all the sharks? Perhaps
too many bodies are being dumped in the river. Is some vampire
controlling the sharks as part of a strange plot? Rumors are flying
that this or that vampire hasn't been seen for several nights, and they
were last seen near the docks. Is someone taking advantage of the
situation to eliminate some enemies?
Are the Rokea (were-sharks) involved, either controlling the sharks or
attracted by the same thing? How will the Rokea and the kindred
interact? What will the other shifters in the Bayou think about the
situation?
A Wolf In The Fold: Beagle has the last pair of Tasmanian wolves in the
world, whom he preserves by feeding them his blood. Unknown to him,
they are both Bunyip kinfolk, a lost tribe of werewolves. Were the
Garou to learn of this, they would be desperate to recover the wolves.
If the two wolves were to mate, their child would have a good chance of
being a Garou, the last of the Bunyip tribe. What effect the century of
vampiric blood would have on the young werewolf is uncertain.
A Visitor from the North: The Brujah Tyler (from Chicago by Night)
somehow finds out Alejandro is still alive. She remembers him from his
days with the Sabbat. She travels to New Orleans, and either calls in a
favor or blackmails him. Tyler is having problems with the Sabbat
herself, and want Alejandro to send a few expendable pawns upriver to
eliminate an annoying pack. Could this all be a ploy on the part of
older vampires to draw New Orleans into the conflicts of Chicago?
Homecoming: Along the lines of the above, there a pair of vampires in
Chicago that are originally from New Orleans: Raymond and Nathaniel
Bordruff. Were either of them to return, the city would swarm like a
hornet's nest. Many other vampires travel through New Orleans as well,
and there are many cross-over possibilities.
Return of the Iron Fist: The Camarilla decides for a second time to try
to bring the city under control, and sends another Justicar, one with
more political savvy. This time there are no Anarchs to balance him.
The elders of the city jockey for position, trying to best take
advantage of the situation. To complicate matters, the old Gangrel
Alexis also returns to the city. Though he is no longer a Justicar, he
is still powerful. Is he out for revenge, or is he loathe to see
another Justicar succeed where he had failed?
The Walls Come Crumbling Down: Someone is moving about the city,
revealing the secrets of the kindred. The city is moved to the verge of
open war, as things best left hidden are unearthed. Is it a ploy of
Alejandro to take over the city? Is it a move by the Setites? Is it
the work of some as-yet-unrevealed Methusalah? Regardless of who is
spreading the rumors, the city will never be the same afterwards.
========================================================================
Voila! There it is! The last of it. Some (brief) commentary to follow.
--
paul strack <[p f strack] at [email.unc.edu]>
"Angst is the mandate of our generation."