Editing Supernatural Law: New Orleans (section)

====Vampires====
Physically powerful and capable of enduring damage that would kill a human twice over, vampires can still die of injuries other than decapitation and a stake through the heart, although anyone who has faced one can understand where the rumors about their unkillability come from. Vampires also eat food just like anyone else, but they also need a daily diet of fresh blood to keep from wasting away. The blood needs to be from a human and freshly drawn from the veins. Animal blood is useless to a vampire and stored human blood rapidly loses the mystical qualities a vampire needs.

Vampires are also vulnerable to sunlight and certain symbols. Particularly holy symbols. And this does not in any fashion depend on the religious views of a vampire or the person brandishing the symbol. An atheist vampire would be repelled by a Buddhist waving a crucifix. In fact, the symbol does not need to be brandished by anyone. Stepping into a house of worship or a cemetery would be impossible for a vampire. At least a young one, for they build up resistance as they age. A young vampire would suffer burns at sunlight and recoil hissing from the sight of a cross, but an old vampire would merely suffer extreme discomfort at sunlight or within a church.

Vampires do not breed in normal fashion but they can create new vampires by draining a human of blood and then infusing the victim with some of the vampire's own blood - and a hefty amount of the mystical power that courses within a vampire's veins. The process is taxing, but even a single vampire can eventually repopulate their numbers. Despite this, they are rare creatures. Largely because their vulnerabilities make it difficult for vampires to hide if people become aware of them. Yet they cannot live far away from humans either because of their daily need for human blood. A single vampire needs a herd of several hundred humans to feed from without adversely affecting their health. For a long period of history this made vampires solitary creatures, because another vampire in the area meant competition for the blood source. So they lived far apart, either as warlords ruling over a territory and exerting a tribute in blood, or as champions of primitive tribes, protecting their people and being supported by them. The spread of civilization largely brought such arrangements to end. Either vampiric lords and protectors were no longer needed or wanted and they perished in uprisings, or they died defending their territories against more numerous and better armed opponents.

One might perhaps think that the era of large cities would have led to a population boom of vampires, but that was not the case. The large number of human residents can in theory support a large vampire population but it also brings a threat of discovery. A single vampire needs a herd of several hundred, and the members of their herd come in contact with countless people. The more vampires, the greater the risk. Younger vampires, with their more blatant weaknesses, are especially prone to attract notice, so in the era of cities, few were created. To add to the problems, the authorities are perfectly aware that vampires exist, even if they contribute to keeping it secret. So assuming that vampires are even allowed residency, in the cities they usually have to live under highly restrictive laws.

So it is actually rare to find vampires living in cities. Mostly they live as they always have, in small communities. Either they find a remote small town or village where they can build a personal relationship and deal with the human authorities, or they form their own communities, such as by setting up a cult compound.

In New Orleans, there are two registered vampire inhabitants.

'''James Alexander''', a former Confederate soldier, went to Civil War as a living man. And returned to his family as a vampire. Initially shocked, his family then came to hide and aid him. And as he aged and his tolerance to vampiric weaknesses grew, James came to aid his family in turn. Today the Alexanders are a very well off family, and the true nature of Uncle James is a family secret.
James feeds by prowling the nightclubs. Tall, dark and handsome, with the manners of a gentleman and vampiric charisma, James can show a man or woman a good time. And being exhausted the next morning is just a sign of a night well spent, right?

During the day, he tends to wear fully covering clothes with a cowboy hat and sunclasses, but can otherwise move about. At night he dresses in a more leisurely and revealing fashion.

The vampire known only as '''The Count''' came to New Orleans during the era of Spanish rule, but he may be even older than that, and is definitely the eldest vampire in the region. On the surface he seems to be the archetypal brooding vampire, residing in a historical plantation house outside the City and receiving few visitors besides the ever changing number of call girls he feeds from.

The Count is less anachronistic than the appearance tells though. He has known to have remarked that he ''got into computers back in 1945 when ENIAC was still hot''. The Count owns a number of businesses that he runs from his home, he has quite a patent portfolio in electronics and computing, and he haunts several local online forums under a variety of pseudonyms. And the user ''KikUr4ss99'' who just pwned you in a FPS match, that you are sure is using cheats, may just have vampiric reflexes.