Does Golarion have a 'New Orleans'?

[Eric Hinkle]

I've been reading a lot about the Big Easy of late, and of my favorite stretch of Avistan, the River Kingdoms. And I noticed that Gralton seems in some ways to be an awful lot like 18th-early 19th century New Orleans. Was this intentional?

I admit there are some big differences, like Gralton not being a major river port (or is it?) and a lack of voodoo, but the idea of a swampy city that is home to a lot of scheming exiled French I mean Galtan aristocrats and their filibuster mercenary sidekicks looking for loot, as well as a general lawless feel, carries a strong NO vibe to me.

I personally like to think there's some rougarou living in the nearby swamps as well as the Avistani version of the Cajuns, but that's just me.

Does anyone else see Gralton as being even slightly New Orleans inspired, and if not, would they say there's any city in the setting that is?

[djdust]

Sinaria sounds like a gothic Anne Rice take on Cajun Country, with Karkau resembling more like venice, but could be new orleans too.

[Azten]

My first thought was that there used to be, but the Eye of Abendago stopped that.

[Steelfiredragon]

aah yes one of the darkest cities in the world....

I want to say Sandpoint.

[Klorox]

Isn't Sandpoint far too small to be Golarion's Big Easy? from what little experience of it I've had, it's got nothing like N'awleens

[W E Ray]

My first thought is Ilizmagorti.

[Sara Marie]

Removed a post. Let's steer clear of negative derails. Thank you.

[Thunderlord]

Does earth have a new orleans anymore

[djdust]

It was still there when i left it 2.5 yrs ago

[Steelfiredragon]

dumb side question.

does Golarion have an Orleans type city???

just in case anyone was curious

orleans, france

Thunderlord wrote:

Does earth have a new orleans anymore

it was still there after the last hurricane, still there now.( even though it is not my favorite city in the world)

[Steelfiredragon]

W E Ray wrote:

My first thought is Ilizmagorti.

hmmm no that would be Golarion's Port Royal and of which both are pirate cities

[Eric Hinkle]

Sorry I entered this in the wrong section of the forums. And thanks everyone for the responses.

[Coidzor]

Daggermark would probably be more in line with the whole former murder capital angle, IIRC, what with the place being run by a bunch of murderous halflings in the two murder-centric guilds of the city.

[Zhayne]

Two Qs ...
1. Are you the GM?
2. Do you want it to have one?

If both answers are 'yes', then one is there.

[Daw]

I think Korvosa has about the right balance of decadence and vitality to be New Orleans, pre Katrina. If you are looking at 3PP, if you could get a good fit with Freeport. Geographically, Cassomir is a perfect fit, but isn't nearly decadent enough.

(Post Katrina New Orleans is starting to show too many signs of Corporate infection killing off the old riverfolk culture.)

[DM Beckett]

While not New Orleans specifically, Karcau, Ustalav has a lot of aspects in common with Cajun Country, La in general, and wouldn't be too hard to make more similar to New Orleans, by dropping the Opera aspect in favor for other music and dance styles.

There is also a large tension between the proper citizens of the area and the "swampers" local barbarians and country folk that live out in the swamps, that are looked down upon by the city dwellers, but have a knack for curses and witch-doctory.

[Steelfiredragon]

Daw wrote:

I think Korvosa has about the right balance of decadence and vitality to be New Orleans, pre Katrina. If you are looking at 3PP, if you could get a good fit with Freeport. Geographically, Cassomir is a perfect fit, but isn't nearly decadent enough.

snipped

funny thing, when I said sandpoint, 2 other cities also came to mind. one was korvosa and the other is magnimar .

sad but true part, when I put sandpoint in my post 3rd post under the op I was thinking the cyphergate but was ina hurry and put in the wrong city.

Riddleport for the new orleans of golarion

[Daw]

Riddleport is a pirate haven, mostly, very rough and tumble. It has none of the easy, decadent gentility that is the soul of the "mythicality" of New Orleans. Also, it is completely separated from the nearby swamplands, so you don't have the decay that is just under nearly every surface.

[Yakman]

Okeno, with its slave markets, genteel gnolls, and numerous pirates isn't far off from at least parts of New Orleans' culture in the French period.

No giant river or endless plantations though.

You get the endless slave plantations, debased gentry, pirates, and edge of civilization look in Eleder in Sargava, but you don't get the giant river.

Katapesh might serve?

[Cpt_kirstov]

I think it really depends on what part and time period of NO history you are looking to portray. Bourbon street it would be mostly different location from historical murder capitol, might be different from the Voodoo... its one of those things that it's easier to take parts of several locations to create one new location than it is to steal a location whole-cloth.

Several of the themes in NO are also more likely to be fleshed out now in a post horror adventures environment than they were prior to horror adventures being published.

[djdust]

i think the OP is referring to colonial period New Orleans. The modern/contemporary conception of the city would be hard to fit into this campaign setting. Take it from someone who lived there for 8 years, the popular stereotypical romanticized conception of New Orleans ("N'awlins") is nothing like the actual city. It's a hard place to live, with deep rooted racial tensions, mass inebriation, archaic infrastructure, major income disparity, rapid gentrification, and the inevitable back-lash, crime, and violence that comes with all that. A veritable font of music and culture, sure, but a hot-bed of old smoldering wounds. The practice of quarantining off sections of the city to be sold to tourists doesn't help to alleviate the atmosphere of colonial subjugation, either.

[David knott 242]

From the way you describe modern New Orleans, just about any major city in Cheliax could represent it.

[rkotitan]

I ran Vyre (in Cheliax) as being a mix of New Orleans and Vegas.

[Yakman]

djdust wrote:

i think the OP is referring to colonial period New Orleans. The modern/contemporary conception of the city would be hard to fit into this campaign setting. Take it from someone who lived there for 8 years, the popular stereotypical romanticized conception of New Orleans ("N'awlins") is nothing like the actual city. It's a hard place to live, with deep rooted racial tensions, mass inebriation, archaic infrastructure, major income disparity, rapid gentrification, and the inevitable back-lash, crime, and violence that comes with all that. A veritable font of music and culture, sure, but a hot-bed of old smoldering wounds. The practice of quarantining off sections of the city to be sold to tourists doesn't help to alleviate the atmosphere of colonial subjugation, either.

all that sounds pretty stereotypical as well ;-)

there's lots of parts of New Orleans, a truly unique place in the world. Lots of stuff... which is probably why there isn't a cookie-cutter New Orleans written into the Inner Sea Campaign setting.

But there's a couple of places you can patch up with minimal effort to "New Orleans-ify" them.

[KahnyaGnorc]

djdust wrote:

i think the OP is referring to colonial period New Orleans. The modern/contemporary conception of the city would be hard to fit into this campaign setting. Take it from someone who lived there for 8 years, the popular stereotypical romanticized conception of New Orleans ("N'awlins") is nothing like the actual city. It's a hard place to live, with deep rooted racial tensions, mass inebriation, archaic infrastructure, major income disparity, rapid gentrification, and the inevitable back-lash, crime, and violence that comes with all that. A veritable font of music and culture, sure, but a hot-bed of old smoldering wounds. The practice of quarantining off sections of the city to be sold to tourists doesn't help to alleviate the atmosphere of colonial subjugation, either.

It also doesn't help that New Orleans competes with Chicago for the title of most corrupt city in the U.S.

[Steelfiredragon]

KahnyaGnorc wrote:

djdust wrote:

i think the OP is referring to colonial period New Orleans. The modern/contemporary conception of the city would be hard to fit into this campaign setting. Take it from someone who lived there for 8 years, the popular stereotypical romanticized conception of New Orleans ("N'awlins") is nothing like the actual city. It's a hard place to live, with deep rooted racial tensions, mass inebriation, archaic infrastructure, major income disparity, rapid gentrification, and the inevitable back-lash, crime, and violence that comes with all that. A veritable font of music and culture, sure, but a hot-bed of old smoldering wounds. The practice of quarantining off sections of the city to be sold to tourists doesn't help to alleviate the atmosphere of colonial subjugation, either.

It also doesn't help that New Orleans competes with Chicago for the title of most corrupt city in the U.S.

I'd like to ad LA to that list for other "red flag" reasons of an opinion that may or may not be that accurate......

how about Port Freedom?