BARATARIA BAY :STYGIAN OUTPOST : NEW ORLEANS  

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BARATARIA BAY: THE SKINLANDS.

Barataria Bay is a bay that is 40miles south of New Orleans. It is about 15 miles  long and 12 miles  wide. It is separated from the gulf of Mexico  by two barrier islands, Grand Isle and Grand Terre

The bay takes its name from the Spanish novel Don Quixote, in which the insula Barataria, or Barataria island, appears as a fictional territory governed by Sancho Panza.

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Barataria Bay was used in the early 19th century as the base of pirates, privateers, and smugglers led by the pirate Jean Lafitte. They were referred to as the Baratarians.

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Today the bay is a notable source of shrimp and sulphur, as well as of muskrat fur, natural gas, and petroleum.

Until Hurricane Betsy made landfall in 1965, Barataria Bay was home to Manila Village

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BARATARIA BAY: THE UNDERWORLD

As with all things, Barataria bay has a reflection in the underworld. The underworld version of Barataria Bay is a STYGIAN OUTPOST. 

Significantly smaller than its Skinlands reflection, as most underworld locations are, it serves as an outpost to watch for mirror land activity. (The underworld of Caribbean)

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GEOGRAPHY:

One half of the bay is a fortress town and consists of the Docks, The Slave Market, The Train Station, Maison Rouge the Governors Mansion, The Guild Tower and The Seat Of Charon : an impossibly high rock formation.

The other half of the bay is a ruined and unkempt shanty town leading to a park.

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TRANSPORTATION:

Wraith that make it through the shadowlands to this location can Catch the Midnight Express To Stygia or to the New Orleans Shadowlands.

The Midnight Express as it is currently known was created on August 10, 1887 when a train crashed into a culvert. The second engine of the train, No. 13, its engineer Gabriel McClintlock, and its conductor J.W. Stillwell, were put into service by the Ferrymen when the wraiths and the relic engine arrived in the Shadowlands.

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The physics of the actual train defy conventional description. The train arrives at each stop at exactly 12:00 a.m, and departs three minutes later. If there is more than one stop in the time zone (such as New York City and Atlanta), it manages to stop at both of them anyway at the same time. At each station, only one car is accessible for boarding and disembarking; the other cars can be seen, but only faintly as though they barely existed. As long as a wraith is on the platform at midnight, they will be allowed on board.

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There are also thin areas of the shroud where a wraith can walk into the shadowlands.

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COMMERCE:

Barataria Bay is a REAPERS paradise, The main commerce of Barataria Bay is slaves. The newly dead of Louisiana can end up here if caught by Reapers, and then straight to the slave auctions. Those slaves that fail to find a buyer are soul forged into Obolus.

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Jean Lafitte's famous ship 'The Pride' regularly anchors at the docks.

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Guild representatives can be found harking their Acanos to those interested in guild membership, though there are no Guild Houses In Barataria Bay, there are plenty of representatives found in the Guild Tower. Even the outlawed guilds operate safely in Barataria Bay. In some of the Taverns hushed whispers speak of those knowledgeable in the forbidden arts that can lead to one becoming RISEN, however, even in Barataria Bay pursuing such rumours can lead to intervention from the Legions.

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GOVERNANCE:

Barataria bay is officially a Stygian outpost and there are Hierarchy Members present, though these tend to be less harsh than the Stygian Hierarchy as a whole, they tend to punish ONLY the most grotesque violations of the Dictum Mortuum, this is largely due to the Governor of the bay being one Jean Lafitte, the famous pirate captain of old. In Death, as In Life, Lafitte strikes deals to maintain a degree of independence from mainland Stygia, the slave commerce and the considerable naval power he commands offers him, and therefore the citizens of Barataria, a degree of freedom from the more crushing aspects of Stygian Life... unless of course you are unfortunate enough to arrive there in the hull of one of Barataria Bay's Slave Galleys.

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UNDERWORLD RULES

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The Underworld is not -just another part of the umbra- the metaphysics are slightly more complex.

• Mage player guides, VTM 5th Edition, Werewolf :The Apocalypse. Speak only of these realms from their own point of view. Non of their assumptions are correct.

• We use Wraith: The Oblivion, Demon: The Fallen, to understand the Dark Kingdom of the Dead.

• These sources are more reliable than entries in books that only fleetingly deal with the realm. (v5  lasombra do not -control- the power of oblivion. Lasombra with -actual- oblivion, makes no sense at all metaphysically and its more likely they skim their powers from the labyrinth ) What they in character -believe- does not change the mechanics of game play. Even the Euthanatoi have a lot of stuff wrong.

• For Clarity The SHADOWLANDS is not the UNDERWORLD. Wraith in the Shadowlands can be affected by physical phenomenon in the SKINLANDS, wraith in the UNDERWORLD cannot.

• There are some rules that may hinder non wraith from entering the underworld. It'd not supposed to be welcoming, nor a place you'd WANT to visit.

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ACCESS TO THE UNDERWORLD

The first obstacle non wraith have to deal with, is accessing the Underworld in the first place. It's not a "Simple application of SPIRIT 3" for mages. The underworld requires understanding, understanding that does not pass easily between paradigms or traditions. For example, even the mage 'experts' in the underworld, the Euthanatoi don't fully understand the underworld or the forces present there, they believe incorrectly that Oblivion is a gateway to reincarnation, instead of the absolute -end- it is, Sharing such opinions is downright dangerous in the underworld, if not ILLEGAL. Underworld social politics aside, Below are the ONLY viable entry methods to the underworld

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IF IMMERSED IN SPIRIT USE THE FOLLOWING PROFILE:

INTELLIGENCE: for attacks   WITS: for defence   COMPOSURE + RESOLVE  as health.

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​ALTERNATIVE ROTES:

There are alternative secret rotes from ages past, (Sorcerers Crusade)  though to learn these a mage needs OCCULT 5 and will need to add them to their custom rotes section of sheet. You cannot under any circumstances -duplicate- rotes of other factions or rotes here to access the underworld. 

Understanding is KEY, and understanding cannot be an improvised effect. Have fun with tracking down these obscure rotes, make it a quest, make it part of your characters journey, encourage self development beyond the dots on your profile.

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The Gate of Culsu
Spirit ••••, optional Correspondence ••••
By drawing a representation of a doorway, the Mage can open a gateway to a point in the Underworld. Correspondence is needed to go anywhere other than the same Shadowlands reflection of where the door was drawn. 4 successes required.

Going Under the Cloak
Life ••, Mind ••••
The Mage enters a trance, suspending themselves between life and death, and projecting their mind into the Shadowlands as an astral form.

Follow the rules for Astral Projection, apply it to the shadow lands.4 successes required.

Wings of the Lasa
Life •••, Spirit •••
When in the Underworld, this rote grows wings on the back of the Mage, made from the local ephemera. This rote can only be performed after a successful application of Deaths Passage / the Gate of Culsu or Agama Re Sojourn. It does NOT work with "Going under the cloak", as this is an astral projection and not Ephemera. 3 successes required.

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Death’s Passage

Entropy ••••, Spirit •••, Life ••An extreme technique for bypassing walls, this allows the Mage to step into the Underworld in order to get around. Of course, travel through the Underworld isn’t safe, and the Mage still must get across and return. The Mage also acquires Jhor from this trip. 4 successes required.

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THE UNDERWORLD AND NON WRAITH

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Overall because of metaphysics and the way species functions, there are going to be characters who function well in the underworld and those who don't. There is no equality in the splats as far as this goes. Garou and Changelings and Mages will no doubt find the Underworld the most cruel. While Demons are likely to have less of a hard time comparatively speaking. However ultimately the wraith setting favours ONE species above all, and that is, as you might expect, Wraith.

Vampires and Wan-Kuei are generally treated with open hostility, though they don't have any metaphysical restrictions upon their abilities, but do have social and -practical- ones.

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The underworld has survived eons even if its denizens have suffered greatly at the hands of other species. It endures and persists. It's a cruel, harsh reality, it is not a wonderful happy place like the dreaming, it's actually the very last place you want to end up, and it usually -is-

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Barataria Bay exists as part of the underworld, trespass by species other than wraith is considered a gross  breach of the Dictum Mortuum, and as relaxed as Barataria Bay maybe with some things, such a violation can not go unpunished.

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NOTE:

Generally the following rules are generally suspended -until- aggressive actions are made, or an attempt to try to master the sandbox of the host species is underway. Mages, Garou, Changelings who wind up in the underworld should respect the home turf of the wraith and in character ACKNOWLEDGE, this isn't their turf at all. The underworld is -not- just another area of the umbra. ,much like the dreaming , the underworld has its own rules. Those who enter with out respecting the home turf are subject to the "Nah Brah..that's not gonna happen cuz.." rules below.

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MORTALS :

The Living flare up instantly to all wraiths life sight, meaning that all eyes would be upon them. This is likely to trigger a feeding frenzy as wraith (and their shadows) try to indulge in their passions. Projectors or victims of "Harrow The Mortal" flesh are the most frequent non wraith visitors.

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GAROU & OTHER FERA

From Werewolf 20th: UMBRA: The Velvet Shadow.

Few Umbral travelers really know how to enter the Dark Umbra. The Silent Striders have a rite to enter, which they have shared with the other tribes, but other than the single rite, the Dark Umbra seems an impenetrable fortress. For this reason, few Garou feel the trip is not worth taking, unless absolutely necessary. Some travelers have convinced particularly powerful Banes or spirits of Death to open ways in the Dark Umbra. While this affords them a way into the Shadowlands, these spirits have little to no information about the Dark Umbra as they refuse to travel there them-selves. This leaves the travelers with no reliable way out. A few Umbral travelers have found themselves drawn into Dark Umbra after getting trapped in the Gauntlet while attempting to shift sideways into the Middle Umbra. The life force attracted ghosts who then pulled them into the Dark Umbra. Little is known about the fate of these travellers, as none have ever returned from the harrowing trip.

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The underworld serves only one cosmic Entity. OBLIVION.

WYLD, WEAVER, WYRM have ZERO presence. (The Wyrm isn't present where Oblivion is, nor is it the same thing, SEE: LORE)

• GNOSIS: GAIA is LIFE and LIFE has no presence in the underworld at all. Garou have ZERO ways to regain Gnosis here. Once it is spent, the Garou are out of Gnosis period.

• FETISHES: may not be used. As stated in Velvet Shadows umbrood (What garou call spirits or banes) REFUSE to travel there. (This is for a damn good reason..) As fetishes depend on bound umbrood spirits, they may not be used, as the bound spirit refuses to activate there, it does not want to show its face, for oblivion is the -ultimate- end to an umbrood, it will not simply respawn else where. If the spirit is destroyed in the underworld, so is the belief that created it. That's it, period... This would cause a psychic schizim across the world of darkness. UMBROOD never enter the low umbra for this very reason.

• RAGE: Rage gifts may be used normally.

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VAMPIRES:

Wraith generally despise Vampires due to those with Necromancy having abused countless of their numbers. As Necromancy is the ONLY way for a vampire to enter the underworld, the local wraith are not going to take any chances! In wraith lore, there is no such thing as a FRIENDLY Necromancer. Fortunately, due to possessing no "Life" spark, most vampires can -keep their head down- and not draw attention to themselves. However do expect a hostile reception if a vampire decides to throw its weight or opinions around. The other more immediate problem vampires face in the underworld is BLOOD ECONOMY. There is no blood for a vampire to feed on unless he brought a couple of blood bags or persons to feed on.

WRAITH: Do not have blood, so combat feeding on them is impossible.

 

DEMONS AND THRALLS
Demons and those under their power have a passive ability to pass unnoticed like undead, despite having living bodies. The Elohim of the Sixth House  established HAVEN During the WAR OF WRATH, A lot of their backdoors, secret pathways and outposts still exist within the underworld, So long as Demons and Thralls do not draw undue attention to themselves within the underworld they may socially interact with wraith there and as the abyss lay directly under the underworld, the only way demons could pass to the skinlands was via the underworld, tempest and all.

 

CHANGELINGS:

• Changeling souls can not survive the underworld at all, the crushing banality of Oblivion is too strong for them. Changelings automatically acquire 1 point of BANALITY per turn in the underworld, this will reset to its default level upon leaving the underworld. This means changelings who accrue 10 banality , become as regular human visitors to the underworld, forgetting their fae selves until they leave the underworld and gain an infusion of dross.

• ALL CANTRIP DIFFICULTIES ARE MADE AT DIFFICULTY 20+ (The area banality of the underworld is 10!, Aint nothing more banal than death)

• The fae soul was not meant to ever encounter such sights as the afterlife., if they BOTCH while in the underworld before accruing 10 Banality, they gain a permanent derangement of the phobia nature, this phobia can be anything related to death, decay, entropy.

• While Slaugh can perceive the shadowlands through the shroud, and interact with wraith who are in the shadowlands or skinlands with no penalty,  the shadowlands are NOT the underworld. 

• Wraith aren't generally Banal unless OBLIVIONS servant has hold of them (Angst)

• Only one type of Dreaming creature is able to survive in the underworld, The NPC Keremet Adhene.

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MAGES:

• Directly from "Mage : Book of Wolds" the following rules apply.

• All magic is coincidental (except Life & Prime)

• Arete Rolls are made at +2 difficulty, this means

• Coincidental = 12+Highest Sphere   

• Vulgar = 14+ highest sphere  

• This ALSO applies to ROTE effects, just add +2 to the difficulty of the the rote.

SPHERE LIMITATIONS

• Life & Prime effects are always Vulgar

• Matter ,Forces,  Correspondence & Time  DO NOT WORK*

• Entropy effects are rolled at -2 difficulty but are TERRIBLE ideas as it automatically causes wraiths shadows to become dominant.

• Only Mind & Spirit works as desired in the underworld.

PARADOX

• Paradox backlashes cause BREACH WITNESS, but instead of wraith, Spectres take to the fight.

• Large effects can cause Nhils to appear in the tempest which also summons specters 

RECEPTION:

In addition ,Wraith don't particularly like mages. A smart mage will try not to draw attention to themselves. Mages who die in the underworld cause mini maelstroms , and Xeres Jones caused the sixth great maelstrom, so wraith have no particular desire to tolerate mages in their domain.

MAGES WITH FETISHES : Unless the fetish is a bound Wraith , other bound spirits refuse to activate in the underworld, this is for precisely the same reason as mentioned in the werewolf entry.

 

*Book of worlds states Matter & Forces don't work and Cor & Time are ineffective, ineffective = has no effect, the difference is , there is no matter or forces in underworld to work with and time and correspondence has no effect on the geographical or time properties of the underworld

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WAN KUEI

Wan Kuei ARE  RISEN. (In essence it is practically the same, with some difference in the process involved in rising)  Their presence is seen as a breach of the Dictum Mortuum for their risen status. 

WAN KUEI who have have NOT evolved past the blood drinking phase suffer the same problems of BLOOD ECONOMY as vampires do. Wan Kuei who have evolved breath feeding can take CHI from wraith in the same manner as any other type of being they may feed on.

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BREACH WITNESS: UNDERWORLD

(only applies to supernatural non wraith interlopers in Bataria Bay)

The key to avoiding the breach roll for non wraith visitors, is to keep a low profile and conduct your business discreetly. It is said that Lafitte and his lieutenants do discreetly have dealings with non wraith, but these visitors are warned ahead of time, to wear a mask, try to blend in and not draw attention to themselves.

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SYSTEM:

• Only one breach roll is permitted per scene.

• If more than one regular human is in the scene ,Highest fame ranking (see backgrounds) decides which regular human makes the one roll.

• A breach roll MUST* be made when a supernatural character breaks the masque/veil/etc.

• Breach rolls are NOT permitted in private residences, nor are they permitted in alley ways.

• The human who makes the breach roll MUST report it to the relevant Supernatural species lead or storyteller. (They will deal with the breach too)

• ONLY blatant effects count (Invisible actions are invisible, mind powers do not matter) Super speed, shooting lightning, throwing cars etc are clear breaches.

• Delerium/Mists/Shroud still have an effect on the individual players and requires a roll as normal, but they have no effect on the crowd, so a breach roll is always made!

ROLL: MEMORIUM  + CHARISMA + 1 per WRAITH player character within the scene.

DIFFICULTY: 12+

SUCCESS

Each success represents an NPC wraith member of the public. NPC wraith of the public act as a gestalt entity in much the same way swarms and packs operate. This "Crowd" will have its attack and defence rolls made by the Wraith who rolled the breach roll.

The crowd gains the following attributes.

• Health 5 x Successes rolled.

• Attack 5 x Successes rolled.

• Defence 5 x Successes rolled.

• Willpower 5 x Successes rolled. (For resisting social/mental feats and supernatural commands)

• The crowd does Lethal damage, However 5 successes means the crowd does Aggravated damage as they better arm themselves.

• The crowd loses 1 point from attributes per point of health lost.

• The crowd only rolls a single attack each turn, every member of the crowd ganging up on the target of their ire.

• Further more, each success adds +2 difficulty for vulgar magic attempts by mages and +2 difficulty to changeling art attempts. (So Five successes would add +10 difficulty to vulgar mage effects and changeling cantrips) 

• ADDITIONALLY: The crowd will have access to all Arcanoi in dot value equal to successes rolled and roll all such Arcanoi at ATTRIBUTE + ARCANOI RANK = to successes rolled.

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