Currently the lycanthrope population eclipses that of any other supernatural in New Orleans. However, this does not mean you can't find a host of other groups that are both something more and less than human. You've got your voodoo practitioners, witches, wizards, animators and more than a few psychics. The area is notorious for its spirits, hauntings and general feel that make it a premier magical mecca. Creatures of legend lurk in the swamps and there are a few immortal beings that use New Orleans' popularity to shroud themselves in obscurity.

Anyone can find somewhere to belong here (so long as your heart beats and you don't suck blood for a living). It's a wonder that there is any room left for your average human being.

Animators

Once feared nearly as much as vampires or werewolves, animators are normal folks who just happen to have an innate ability to raise the dead from their very graves. This power is a natural one, much like those with psychic abilities. Most animators use ritual to assist them in raising zombies. Of course, most animators also try to deny their power, so there's that as well.

Animating is coming into vogue as a useful skill, and over the past few decades actual animating firms have sprung up in select cities. The skills of these animators are used most often to settle the estates of the recently deceased. Although using the testimony of a zombie in a court case does not actually count as evidence, it's also becoming increasingly common for murder cases to have their victims resurrected for one last chat.

Because of their unique tie to the dead, animators are not as fashionable as vampires. On the flip side, they're still not prone to nearly the same amount of discrimination as your average lycanthrope. All things said and done, it's not a bad time to be raising a few zombies for a living. New Orleans has its own animating firm. Post-Katrina it is not as prestigious as it once was, but time is seeing it recover.

Corax

(Not currently accepting applications.)

The corax are one of those shapeshifters which you hear about more often within the lycanthrope community itself than, say, myths and legend. Even then, they are oftentimes mentioned and infrequently seen. Although not as rare as a kitsune or lamia, you're not likely to see these were-ravens in numbers approaching those of the rodere or the lukoi (and that's probably for the best). They always appear in pairs, and it's not unheard of for a handful of pairs to reside in the same area, although it is certainly not common.

Corax possess a longer lifespan than average, and usually max out around 150 years. They are born either as corvid, starting life out as ravens, or as homid, where they grow up as humans. Together these two make up a corax pair; pairs are assigned (presumably by some kind of corax council that there is talk about but never proof of), designated via messenger who then places the two together. Their task is to learn from one another, and to amass information overall before passing it on. Corax are clever, talkative sorts who never seem to stop squawking and yet always manage to hear what's going on.

Capable of transforming from one form to another -- bird to man or vice versa, depending -- they do have a "half" form. It is large, terrifying at first glance, and so awkward as to be hilarious once you look twice. Catching a corax in their half-form will lead to severe embarrassment on their part, and they'll make your life unbearable for awhile as payback.

Kitsune

(Not currently accepting applications.)

Not a lycanthrope in the traditional sense, a true Kitsune is rather rare. Kitsune are identified at birth as they are born with one or more features that may include fox ears, a tail or fur. This is passed along family lines and depending on the story may be a blessing or a curse. Their changes are not tied with the moon, and while they can shift to an in-between or full fox form they cannot shift select parts of their body nor can they get rid of or shift away the marks they were born with. A Kitsune's half-form is not your stereotypical anthro form; they look like foxes standing on their hind legs, and are capable of bipedal walking. They are able to use normal human speech in all three forms. Over a Kitsune's lifespan, they will develop multiple tails (kind of like rings on a tree).

Tricksters by nature, they tend to be difficult children and turn into very clever or devious adults (sometimes both). They have a slight affinity for more wild magic and every so often a Kitsune is compelled to throw off its human skin and run as a fox for a night.

Normal Humans

Surprisingly, New Orleans is full of them. People who simply work at the post office or sweep the streets, ultimately they are what make the city and keep it running. Just because you don't have psychic abilities, worship a dead god or turn furry once a month doesn't mean you aren't interesting. Everyone has got a story and we'd like to hear it.

Psychics

These people can be anyone, anywhere, at any time. Psychic abilities run the gamut of the common, easily hidden clairvoyance to the showy, rare and much more dangerous pyrokinesis. People who have these gifts are often thought to be sensitive or using parts of their brain that everyone else has forgotten about. The range and strength of these gifts are as varied as spots on a leopard. New Orleans is home to plenty of psychics, some who know what they are and others who have feelings that they just believe to be "lucky".

RPIT

The Regional Preternatural Investigation Taskforce runs country-wide and is made up most commonly of officers who have seriously pissed off their superiors. The work these "spook squads" do are dangerous, and the RPIT team is considered by law enforcement to the lowest of the low, at the bottom of the totem pole. As New Orleans is more or less a hub for all things preternatural, a way station for the weird, New Orleans' squad -- smaller than that of their St. Louis cousins -- should actually be based somewhere a bit more prestigious, but they are where they are because the work is needed. Theirs is an awkward position, trying to keep the peace in a city that runs in part due to the influence of shapeshifters. Their jurisdiction does, in some places, butt up right against that of St. Louis' RPIT.

Witches, Wizards & The Occult

You'll find plenty of these in Louisiana. Whether it be the backroads witch or the ever-popular voodoo priests, people come from all walks of life to worship and practice as they see fit. These people tend to take power from ritual and sacrifice, and much like psychics, their abilities are endlessly varied depending on the practitioner and the pantheon from which they worship. Occasionally these people may tie themselves to a pack of lycanthropes as their clan witch, also called a vargamor (for the lukoi) or a vizier (for the rodere). These people are usually quite spiritual, and invoke a kind of therapeutic counsel as much as magic.

But witches always must remember to be careful. Truly powerful practitioners are considered to be just as dangerous as a vampire or a lycanthrope. If someone convinces a person in authority that you've committed a serious crime with magic, that's it. No trial, no appeal, just an execution within 48 hours. Witches ought to step lightly.

Vampires

(Not currently accepting applications.)

Although technically undead, vampires have been given legal rights within the United States. Because of this, they enjoy a freedom heretofore unknown by any other non-human creature. Vampires are usually found in groups -- their social structures are much like yours or mine -- which are headed by a master vampire (usually the "Master of the City", depending on location). Moving up the food chain, all masters owe their allegiance to a vampire council located in Europe. They are, not entirely unsurprisingly, completely banned from committing any crimes in the U.S., and so it's not unusual for a master vampire to have several of his own vigilantes to keep any vampiric crime null and void (or at least off the map).

They are fast, strong, and fully capable of clouding the average mind, thus enabling them to perform a variety of "tricks". While younger vampires still retain much of their humanity in regards to personality (even if they don't necessarily look it), it's the older ones who start losing these traits even while they gain the ability to fake appearing normal. Master vampires manage to come ahead with even more abilities, including the ability to call animals, use their voice as a tool of manipulation, rise and walk before the sun has set, etc. Messing with a master vampire is not advised.

As a rule, vampire politics are horrifying, cruel and bloody. Like it or not, these creatures will never be human again, and it shows when vampires deal with one another. They're perfectly capable of showing emotion, but it is rarely with the depth of feeling living humans experience. That said, they are masters at self-preservation, and have taken their new legal status in stride; seeing vampires with active businesses within the living world is becoming more and more common.

Just not in New Orleans. For now, at least.

Everything Else

Sometimes something or someone can defy classification or exist in a class wholly their own.