New Orleans

## Description:

Often referred to as "The Sinking City" or the "City of Sin," New Orleans is considered Atlanta's smaller, dirtier, and poorer sister city. New Orleans is known for its strange geography, destitute population, incredibly high crime rate, and geopolitical importance; notably, most of New Orleans is either underwater or floating on the ocean's surface, with only the wealthiest citizens able to purchase property on dry land thanks to the Supercity's longstanding issue with coastal erosion.

New Orleans is a critical through-line for shipping, and is responsible for tracking shipped goods that run along the Mississippi River and through the northern Gulf of Mexico; as such, New Orleans serves as a necessary evil for Megacorporations and other Supercities. New Orleans is responsible for providing much of the export goods purchased by Supercities in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and southern North America, and as such maintains suspicious but outwardly friendly relations with them all; similarly, New Orleans maintains a disgruntled friendly relationship with Atlanta and a close friendship with Lone Star.

### Geography & Climate:

Prior to the mid-2040's, New Orleans was a mundane city located in a swamp; after the mid-2040's, due to climate change and severe pollution combined with overpopulation and heavy industrialization, much of New Orleans was flooded in Hurricane [NAME]. The storm ensured that much of coastal New Orleans was put underwater and that it would stay submerged for the foreseeable future; this sudden shift in geography forced New Orleans to rebuild on top of the water, where the Mississippi River Delta now expanded considerably. As such, much of modern New Orleans is floating on top of the ruins of the old city, with only a few rare exceptions; dry land is a premium commodity within New Orleans' Wall, and only the wealthiest and most famous people can afford it. Canals between the floating prefab building blocks allow for movement through the floating sections of the Supercity, and underwater/underground subway lines connect the floating to the dry. New Orleans is now an even less habitable swampland, filled with ruins, pollution, insects, Mutants, and shipwrecks.

New Orleans' climate is subtropical and very warm, with short, intense winters followed by much longer, wetter summer months; temperatures can rise to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and can drop to around 25 degrees Fahrenheit. More pressing, however, is the intense tropical storms, hurricanes, and floods that are known to hit New Orleans on a yearly basis; the intense precipitation causes more flooding and erodes more of New Orleans' already scant landmass, forcing residents to live on the water to remain safe. Erosion remains a constant problem for the Supercity, as is water pollution and air pollution.

### Organization:

New Orleans is a Supercity of contradictions and power struggles, often amongst the poorest of society. While it is true that Megacorporations own and control New Orleans, the populace is expected to handle themselves; crime is rarely investigated or punished by official Megacorporate groups unless it harms business. Synthetichem owns around 50% of New Orleans, while Megacorporations like Kodian Enterprises and Hermes International Transport Solutions own the other half; Hermes and Synthetichem remain the largest players in New Orleans. Megacorporate politics rarely affect the lives of New Orleans' citizens, and most barely recognize their corporate overlords at all; most people are too busy fighting for survival to worry about the Megacorporations.

New Orleans is policed primarily by 2 groups: the KPD, and Synthetichem's Ranger Police Services Ltd. New Orleans' very high crime rate and police corruption prevents effective crime-fighting, and the lack of funding from Megacorporate interests continues to hinder improvement; as long as business works, crime can be allowed to occur without major intervention. That being said, when a police response is warranted, it is brutal, disproportionate, and often lethal; intimidation tactics, psychological warfare, siege tactics, and public executions are all common methods employed to keep New Orleans' population relatively docile. Megacorporate infiltration of local crime syndicates also ensures that business continues unimpeded. Corporate Districts of New Orleans are surrounded by large Walls of their own, and movement into these areas is highly restricted. Furthermore, ownership of firearms is tightly controlled, with every legal firearm purchase running through both the KPD's and Rangers' systems; however, illegal firearm ownership is incredibly common, and most crimes are committed with these illegal, untraceable weapons.

#### Districts:

##### Dry Parish (Corporate District):

The largest District on land, Dry Parish serves as New Orleans' Corporate District, fitted with a massive Wall separating it from the rest of the Supercity and towering skyscrapers marking different Megacorporations' territories. Also referred to as Corpse Parish or Mummy Parish, The Dry Parish is where a majority of the Supercity's business occurs. This section of the Supercity is on all of the travel brochures and is maintained to an obsessive degree by the Supercity's administrators; Dry Parish is the cleanest and nicest section of New Orleans, managed 24/7 by drone cleaners and janitors sourced from the other Parishes. This District is used as a blinder for local Megacorporate executives, to keep them from having to look at the destitution beyond the District's walls. Ecologies and similar structures poke up above the wall, designed to shield the corporate leaders from the Supercity's extreme weather patterns and pollution.

##### Downtown (Industrial District):

The industrial hub of New Orleans, Downtown is where a majority of the Supercity's pollution comes from. Due to lack of Megacorporate oversight and brutal policing strategies, factories and labs are allowed to dump toxic chemicals and byproducts into the sea and ground with little repercussions, meaning that those Supercity residents nearby are often poisoned and mutated; affected Districts include Coven Parish and Jetsam Parish. The factories pump smog into the air and oil into the water, infest the ground with waste and toxins and kill the wildlife with wanton abandon; these factories are responsible for the fuel refining and production necessary to keep New Orleans' shipping lanes open 24/7 365 days a year. Any decrease in efficiency is met with violent retaliation from the Megacorporate managers and their oppressive security teams. Despite a great desire to remove the factories from the Supercity's proximity, many New Orleans residents have no choice but to work in one or more of the facilities in order to survive.

##### Port of New Orleans (Dock District):

Usually referred to as Auction Parish or Middle Passage Parish, the Port of New Orleans is the hub of activity for the Supercity. Broken up between the docks themselves and the supporting infrastructure and facilities, the Port is the most important part of New Orleans, and as such is the most heavily secured. Drones and patrols of KPD ensure that everyone in the area is meant to be there, and trespassers are met with immediate and violent force. Whoever controls the docks controls the Supercity, and Hermes controls a majority of the shipping space; Kodian Enterprises and Synthetichem come in at a close second and third, and both spend tens of thousands of Kollars investing in the security of their assets at the docks. A majority of the Supercity residents that have legal jobs work in the Docks, toiling away to ensure that someone in Lone Star or Chicago gets their tshirt or new gaming console from the factories in Asia or Europe. Being on the very edge of New Orleans' coast poses problems for the Port, however, as the intense storms often damage container storage yards and moored ships, forcing local Megacorps to invest heavily in coastal infrastructure to improve the protection against natural disasters and damage from hurricanes and floods; to prevent flooding, coastal levees were constructed in the early 2050's which can be raised and lowered by Port employees to stop tidal waves or debris; to prevent storms from disturbing transport on a floating platform, the Port is built on an artificial island separate from the mainland, connected to the rest of the floating Districts by canals and advanced suspension bridges designed for vehicle use; in case of local infrastructure collapse, the Port is directly linked to the Hyperway, allowing for immediate evacuation of container stores and warehouses in the case of an emergency.

##### Soul Parish (Entertainment District):

Previously the neighborhood of Algiers, the Soul Parish is the center of the Supercity's entertainment. Derived from a culture of jazz, blues, and speakeasies, Soul Parish is roughly equivalent to the Deco Districts of Ryanstown and Chicago, in that it embodies aesthetics and attitudes from an older, happier time. Soul Parish is home to a majority of New Orleans' clubs, bars, concert halls, theaters, and cinemas, and serves as the home for all of New Orleans' most famous bands and musicians. The Soul Parish never sleeps, constantly filled with the sounds of music coming from the floating clubs and drifting theaters. Soul Parish's long musical history means that many of its musicians use real instruments as opposed to electronics, with some pioneering experts combining the two to form something even greater. Most of New Orleans' residents agree that Soul Parish is the pride of the city, the most joyous and pleasant it can be, where buskers and street performers clog sidewalks and groups of dancing passerby express their appreciation of the sounds.

##### Sinners' Parish (Redlight District):

One of the other mainstay tourist attractions for New Orleans is Sinners' Parish, a massive Redlight District of debauchery and hedonism. Despite being in a poorer area of the Supercity, Sinners' Parish attracts everyone from local gangsters to Megacorporate executives to lonely vacationers just passing through New Orleans for a night or two. Ownership and operation of many of the Parish's brothels, clubs, drug dens, and hideouts is left to local criminal syndicates, many of whom rule with an iron fist; tourists are urged to rely on guides when traveling through these poorer parts of New Orleans to avoid accidentally insulting a gangster or disrespecting an establishment and ending up in a gator's stomach or drowned in the canals. The crime rate is, unsurprisingly, very high in this District, and local police hesitate to enter the District without backup or permission from local criminal groups.

##### Jetsam Parish (Residential District):

Previously the neighborhoods of Bayou St. John, Gentilly, Lakeview, etc., the Jetsam Parish refers to the entire floating section of New Orleans that serves as residential housing for the Supercity's residents. One of the most impoverished communities in New Orleans, Jetsam Parish is also one of the largest, spanning most of the Supercity. Jetsam Parish is home to a large majority of the Supercity's population and is also home to a majority of its criminals; crime and violence are incredibly common, and few people in the city are spared some form of tragedy or pain. Jetsam Parish was constructed over the flooded ruins of the original city, providing a sense of haunting and ancestral worship in the locals that permeates all matters of life and death, from funerary rites to marriage ceremonies.

##### Coven Parish (Religious/Residential District):

The heart of New Orleans' Voodoo revival, Coven Parish is often nicknamed "Witching Street" for the sheer number of Techno-Witches that live there. New Orleans' Voodoo community is centered here, in the second poorest neighborhood of the Supercity; residents often turn to Voodoo to ease their suffering and find hope in their desperate situations. Several local crime groups are also headquartered out of this District, including the Bokor Boys. The Coven Parish is also where many graveyards can be found, in stark contrast to the standard burial practices of K4, which revolve around involuntary cremation of all corpses; the residents of Coven Parish have fought the Megacorporations for the right to build and maintain cemeteries and graveyards to venerate their ancestors, and eventually the citizenry won. Palm readers, clubs and drug dens, gang hideouts, churches and temples, and lots of run-down slum neighborhoods can be found in Coven Parish, inhabited by the Supercity's most impoverished people.

#### Crime & Corruption:

Crime is rampant throughout New Orleans, and ranges from common muggings and street crime to corruption at the highest levels of administration. Street crime is the most common, with pickpockets pilfering passersby and con men scamming tourists for everything they have. Organized crime serves as the primary source of protection and authority for most residents of New Orleans, who must rely on criminal elements when the KPD decides not to respond to emergency calls; as a result, organized crime syndicates in New Orleans are surprisingly well-managed, and many deal with local Megacorporations in matters of business. The syndicates are, however, considered some of the most violent and brutal in North America, with preferences for beheadings, putting heads on spikes, drownings, and torture; gang violence is unchecked and often conducted in broad daylight as a result, and most residents know when something is going to go down. Many syndicates are drawn along ethnic or cultural lines, in stark contrast to organized crime found in other Supercities like Chicago or Ryanstown.

New Orleans is also plagued by internal corruption. Megacorporations are forced to work with criminal elements to ensure a steady supply of workers and peaceful residents, and as such are forced to get their hands dirty more often than not. Many Megacorps like Synthetichem Solutions and Kodian Enterprises send rising executives for deployments in New Orleans to test their mettle in both diplomacy and warlike strategy. Most Megacorporate officials are forced to take bribes or give them out in order to get anything done, and most street-level employees have no choice but to bend the knee on occasion just to stay alive and off the gangs' hit lists.

##### List of Criminal Organizations:

1. Bokor Boys
2. Dive Gangs
	1. The Driftwoods
	2. [REMOVED]
3. Barrenderos
4. Crimson Crescent
5. Brigadiry

#### Transportation & Infrastructure:

Entrance into New Orleans is possible in a number of ways. The Hyperway and its Skylanes have several access points into the Supercity; the Docks provide both private and commercial access to the coast and the nearby Districts; rail lines run through and under the Supercity, connecting the Docks and Corporate Districts to the outside world; New Orleans' airport is built on a manmade island in the Dock District, and is used almost solely by Megacorporate employees or wealthy tourists. Due to the canals which run through most of the Supercity, New Orleans' primary means of internal transportation centers around boats. Large canals allow for both civilian and industrial-sized ships to maneuver through the "streets"; similarly, large bridges connect the various blocks of floating buildings, and residents of New Orleans are encouraged to walk or bike wherever they need to go, to keep the canals as empty as possible for Megacorporate use. Skylanes crisscross the airspace above New Orleans, used by Megacorporate employees and executives to get places fast and without having to see the destitute masses below.

New Orleans' infrastructure centers on the ocean. Electricity is produced by tidal generators, wind generators, and oil platforms out in the Gulf of Mexico; water is taken in and purified from the Gulf's water and the Mississippi, much of which is polluted by Megacorporate activity; and the Supercity's internet and telephone systems are wired through underwater cables, many of which are sabotaged or hijacked by the Dive Gangs. LSSI only has 1 hospital in New Orleans, which is located on the edge of the Dry Parish Corporate District; the rest of New Orleans' healthcare is provided by LSSI's cheaper competitor, [REDACTED], and RipDocs.