Other Orleans

## Description:

Other Orleans is a Locked Parallel Hinterland that mimics the real city of New Orleans, Louisiana. Other Orleans is an almost identical copy of New Orleans contained within a spatio-temporal anomaly anchored to various places across New Orleans; primary differences exist in certain key areas, including modified representations of city monuments, reversed or altered names of streets and districts, and changes in architectural style. Other Orleans was created by [REDACTED] in 2040 CE as a haven for the many supernatural entities and anomalous individuals that flocked to New Orleans shortly after the Fracture.

A majority of the public is entirely unaware of Other Orleans due to its magical nature and Locked aspect; only mages and the city's inhabitants are aware of the city's existence, and may only know of one (1) of the Hinterland's many entrances. Other Orleans maintains positive relations with the JPCU and reluctant relations with the CBPA, who enforces their jurisdiction on the "free city-state of Other Orleans."

### Geography, & Climate:

As stated previously, the city is almost identical to the real city of New Orleans, save for some architectural details and differences in local monuments. Architecture in Other Orleans has been changed from its source material to fit the building style of the city's inhabitants; i.e. many of the buildings are constructed in a Goblin or Elven style to represent the city's paranormal population. The rivers that run along and through New Orleans, along with the Gulf of Mexico, are also copied in Old Orleans; the water is dark and murky, and shallow for the first few hundred feet (~500) before suddenly dropping off into an "ocean" of unknown depth for another two hundred (200) feet before ending in a wall of mystical fog. The rivers are also dark and murky, but the rivers' depths more closely resemble those of New Orleans. Should one attempt to leave the city itself, they will find themselves suddenly driving down an incredibly misty road; once the mist obscures all vision, the user will exit the fog and find themselves on the opposite side of the city, now entering instead of exiting. The city's sky and atmosphere extend an equivalent amount to Earth's atmosphere, at which point the "vacuum" is instead a black shadowy void (The Unbeheld); the stars in the sky are false, produced as part of the Hinterland's *Hutton Algorithm*, and replicate a day and night cycle complete with false sun and moon that matches the day/night of the real New Orleans.

The city's climate matches that of New Orleans, although Other Orleans is generally five (5) to ten (10) degrees (Fahrenheit) colder than New Orleans. Additionally, Other Orleans experiences higher levels of average yearly precipitation than New Orleans but does not experience hurricanes or similar monsoons like New Orleans; rather than experience floods, Other Orleans has the Lecerf Flooded District, which exists in a permanent state of flooding to house the sentient/humanoid aquatic races/spirits of the Realms.

### Organization:

Other Orleans is led primarily by its City Council in a system similar to Three Portlands; City Council members are chosen via direct elections every five (5) years. City Council handles allotment of the city's funds, acquired via taxes and rant paid by inhabitants, police and other emergency services, education and infrastructure, etc.; the city owns all of the land in the Hinterland, and all citizens simply rent the properties for extended periods of time. The city also elects a Mayor every five (5) years; the Mayor handles communications with the CBPA , SCP Foundation, and JPCU, and the maintenance of positive relations with external groups.

Other Orleans has its own dedicated police force, the Other Orleans Police Department (OOPD), comprised of cops from New Orleans that discovered the Other city or trained volunteer residents of the city. With Magic and personal liberty so heavily emphasized in Other Orleans, police have little work to do in the city, working to prevent petty crime, protect key locations and services, and enforce punishments. The city has a few courthouses, all of which are presided over by CBPA-approved Judges, although locals are allowed to be jury members, bailiffs, support staff, and lawyers; the CBPA handles extradition of any criminal within Other Orleans that commits a felony to actual New Orleans, where their trial is handled by the CBPA and FBI.

Like Three Portlands, Other Orleans is loaded with Magic. Runic carvings and Enchantments have been placed in most public spaces and on most buildings to prevent the casting of truly dangerous Magic; the city's Enchantments aid repair workers by having the buildings naturally regenerate over time; Chronomancy and reality-bending is dampened in most areas of the city and outright impossible in/near some, like the JPCU Branch and city police stations.

#### Transportation & Infrastructure:

Other Orleans has magical subways, a great number of private taxi services, a public street-level trolley system, and a public bus service on offer for public transportation. Unlike Three Portlands, Other Orleans is built for automobile use, and has streets that accommodate such modes of transportation; a majority of the city is constructed in a grid, with much of the older sections being organized in winding and uneven roads and blocks made to fit the surroundings. Some streets of Other Orleans are different from New Orleans to compensate for building differences and for efficiency's sake; far more of Other Orleans operates off of a grid than New Orleans does.

Other Orleans receives its electricity from the power plants that correspond to those present in actual New Orleans; unlike their originals, however, the power facilities in Other Orleans run off of portals to the Elemental Realm of Storms which draw power directly from the Realm's infinite electrical source. Other Orleans receives its plumbing from similar facilities that tap into the Elemental Realm of Water. TV is pulled from the main Material Realm via dedicated portal-connected cables owned by the City Council, and the city has its own dedicated phone lines and cellular "satellites" that sit towards the top of the Hinterland's sky. Other Orleans has its own private intranet that is free of CBPA and JPCU censoring, as well as a couple intranet-connected social media apps that are also free of said censorship; access to the global internet is provided by a JPCU subsidiary at an expensive rate and all outgoing messages are heavily scanned to ensure that the city's secrecy is maintained.

#### Education System:

Like Three Portlands, Other Orleans lacks a public education system as a result of consistent backlash from the local inhabitants; worries of government indoctrination prevent the establishment of public education, which leaves the market open for private institutions like [REDACTED], the JPCU, and [EXPUNGED]. Many of these private schools are operated for-profit, with the JPCU's subsidized community schools being the rare exception; the several Magic Colleges operated in Other Orleans are also entirely for-profit, and compete intensely with one another in academics and in Other Orleans's special Magic intramural sports brackets. All of the schools offer both mundane and magical sports for their students, and are open to all kinds of potential students (including Undead). None of these educational institutions are allowed to compete or interact with schools outside of Other Orleans.

Special schools are offered at the pre-K, kindergarten, elementary, and middle school levels that offer programs for non-humans and Sorcerers; the JPCU either owns/operates or financially supports many of these establishments and makes use of them frequently when training new members, the children of employees, or young Subjects that wind up in their custody.

#### Economy:

Other Orleans does not have a dedicated currency, and conducts trade in USD, Suffers and Souls, Pigs' Blood and Blood Diamonds, and all manner of other supernatural/paranormal currencies, including those currencies from nations residing on the Continent of Pilbo. The city also operates using a barter economy maintained by Magic; binding rituals, blood pacts, Contracts, etc. are all commonplace within Other Orleans to ensure an equivalent and fair bargain that each of the deal will uphold and receive. The use of Contract Devils as lawyers and legal advisors within the city is also incredibly common, both for individuals and for groups (JPCU included). This barter economy has many issues with regulation from the CBPA's perspective, which cannot regulate these financial agreements or tax them; the JPCU's encouragement and active use of these unregulated methods has caused friction between them and the CBPA many times in the past.

Other Orleans's labor economy is managed almost solely by mindless Undead or the poorer classes of the city's residents; these mindless Undead are created by Necromancers within the city and rented by factory owners and business owners to replace standard workers, although these Undead must be truly mindless and incapable of even basic tasks in order to prevent breaking the city's Undead Citizenry Act of [REDACTED] CE. More advanced menial tasks like garbage disposal, waste disposal, etc. are all handled either by Arcane Androids or other poorer members of the community.

A majority of the city's economy comes from tourism, trade, Magic items/Spell-selling, and the patronage of several major corporations/organizations that operate freely within Other Orleans. Mages and mundane alike visit Other Orleans almost constantly through the various entrances to the Hinterland, using the taxi service or other means of transportation to visit marketplaces, voodoo shops, magic item boutiques, occult shops and Spellbinders (i.e. magic librarians and book-makers), fortune tellers and Diviners, Golem builders, arcane forges, etc. The city is bustling with Magic-related activity at all times of day and night, and is home to many legal and illegal businesses. The city's lax economic regulations and emphasis on personal liberty make Other Orleans home to many businesses that would otherwise be very illegal most anywhere else, including narcotic dealers, arms dealers, thieves' guilds, etc.

Several large companies put lots of resources into Other Orleans, using it as a resource of unfiltered arcana and a source of employees. The largest of these is the JPCU, which employs an estimated twenty percent (20%) of the city's dedicated population; JPCU employees that live in Other Orleans may work in Other Orleans or may commute to New Orleans via Hinterland entrances/exits. Other groups like [REDACTED], [REDACTED], and [REMOVED] also employ large numbers of people in the city.

### Miscellaneous Locations:

#### House of the Setting Sun:

One of the main centerpieces for Other Orleans is the "House of the Setting Sun," the JPCU's branch within Other Orleans. The House of the Setting Sun looks identical to the House of the Rising Sun, the JPCU's HQ Branch in New Orleans, but the interior is different and the complex is missing the hidden subterranean chambers.

#### Jexan Home for Troubled and Orphaned Youths:

A large orphanage/pediatric care facility located in Other Orleans designed to care for any children born with Sorcerer powers and the children of families who died in supernatural or anomalous incidents. The facility is state of the art, employs the finest pediatricians, Mages, and child psychologists, and is also the JPCU's second largest means of recruitment; the children are taught by JPCU teachers, indoctrinated into the JPCU's ideology, and trained to become the JPCU's Personnel of various specialties, from foot soldiers to researchers to Investigators.

## Culture:

The culture of Other Orleans is influenced greatly by it geographical location, its inhabitants and their cultures, and the political situation of the "free city-state." The city's culture is one of independence and personal liberty, valuing the importance of individual thought and choice over anything else.

Like all cities, Other Orleans unofficially divides its racial population by neighborhoods, with the architecture of buildings changing to represent the race that inhabits the area. Neighborhoods exist for humans, Goblins, Orcs, individual subraces of Elves, Helltouched, and more.

The city practices many of the holidays of actual New Orleans, including Mardi Gras and Christmas despite the Catholic Church being barred from Other Orleans. Other holidays exist as reminders of historical events or to mock the holidays of the wider world.

### Religions:

Other Orleans practices religious freedom in a more extreme way than the mundane United States. The city has dozens of churches, temples, shrines, and religious sites belonging to dozens of different religious groups and cults; Other Orleans is one of the few areas of K2 with a Great Spherical Church presence. Additionally, all of the Judeo-Christian religions (Catholic Church, Islam, Judaism) are banned from Other Orleans under the declaration that they have enough converts and influence in the wider world and so do not need to spread their hatred into Other Orleans. Many of the city's residents are also non-religious, atheist, or antitheist (recognize existence of gods, refuses to worship any of them). Religion is not a critical aspect of the city as it is for New Orleans, and is instead a background element to a bustling and bright social culture of supernatural creatures and humans interacting.