Los Angeles is big. It's huge, in fact. Griffith Park is bigger than Central    
Park, and Los Angeles County is almost twice as large as the state of Delaware, 
even if you aren't counting the unincorporated areas. Prince Emerson's domain of
"Downtown" is also known as "Greater Downtown", and consists
of much more than just the cluster of skyscrapers and courthouses that makes up 
the Downtown Core. It includes the business districts stretching west along     
Wilshire Boulevard, the neighborhoods of Eagle Rock and Silver Lake, the city of
Pasadena to the northeast, the vast expanse of Griffith Park, and of course     
Hollywood, with all of its plastic glamour and faded glory (See +map/list). If  
the West Side is wealth, and South Central is squalor, then Downtown is where   
they come together in a chaotic, heterogeneous mish-mash. Nowhere are there more
homeless than among the glimmering skyscrapers of the Downtown Core, and no area
has at once such a collection of wealthy socialites and destitute degenerates as
Hollywood.
 The Domain of Downtown is ruled by Prince Emerson of Clan        
Malkavian, who is generally recognized to be the most powerful vampire in the   
entire city. He is rarely seen, working instead through his underlings. Few even
really know what he looks or sounds like. His rule is capricious - sometimes lax
and then suddenly harsh, but neonates are advised not to mistake this for       
weakness. Emerson once ruled the entire city, and even now he is said to wield  
more power than any other Prince.                                               

The rules of the Domain are vague. Some nights it is enough to be presented to  
one of the Wardens or Primogen, some nights the Sheriff demands that you see the
Seneschal himself. It is considered both foolish and dangerous to challenge the 
inconsistencies of this approach. However, two dictates have been in effect for 
several years: first, the Chinatown area (A10) has been declared off-limits to  
feeding and influence mongering; the reason for which is unknown, but just to be
on the safe side, most vampires also avoid traveling in or through it. Second,  
the Church of Empiricology's various sites, especially its main complex near    
Barnsdall Park (D1), are likewise forbidden to interference. Penalties for      
violation of either dictate have never been codified, but it is assumed that    
Final Death could certainly be one of them.
 There are supposedly three      
Elysium sites in Downtown, although the best known is the "citywide"  
Elysium at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on the western end of Miracle   
Mile (C5), where vampires of all eight Domains are welcome to gather. Emerson   
also at times extends Elysium rights to certain events like the annual Academy  
Awards ceremony in Hollywood.
 Hunting protocols largely seem to be a matter 
of not getting caught, but then again, serious violators seem to always be      
caught. If the Domain appears to trust to self-regulation, this may only be     
because the rumors that Emerson sees all and knows all are true. Certainly there
is an undercurrent of paranoia to that effect amongst the vampires living there.

The racial and social make-up of Greater Downtown is extremely eclectic.        
Chinatown and Little Tokyo are obvious ethnic enclaves, and are each somewhat   
self-sufficient, not having a great deal to do with the rest of the city.       
Koreatown has all but annexed the nearby neon streets of Mid-Wilshire. The      
African-American population of South Central bleeds into parts of the Downtown  
core, while there is a heavy Latino presence around Silver Lake, a Jewish       
community near the Miracle Mile, and the area of Hollywood just north and west  
of L.A. City College is known as "Little Armenia". And those are only 
the more visible ethnic enclaves. But racial prejudice is less of an issue than 
social prejudice. The wealthier parts of town, such as Los Feliz and South      
Pasadena, usually do not care what race you are (though they are predominantly  
white). If you can afford to live there, and keep out of trouble, you are       
welcome. Hollywood, of course, is the city's melting pot. Everyone comes to Los 
Angeles for Hollywood (See +news theme/hollywood).                              

The domain of Long Beach occupies the mortal communities of San Pedro, Long 
Beach, Seal Beach, and Harbor City. The Port of Los Angeles is one of the       
busiest, most productive ports in the world. It is a center of trade and        
commerce, and endless are the streams of trucks traveling in and out, carrying  
goods to and from the population of the Southland. The area also has a Naval    
Base on Terminal Island (closed in real life but open on the MUSH), as well as a
Naval Weapons Station in Seal Beach. The northern reaches of the Domain of Long 
Beach are contiguous with South Central, and share many of its less charming    
aspects. As you get closer to the water, the areas improve some, with the       
Belmont Shore and Naples Island being quite expensive real estate. Downtown Long
Beach and its immediate environs are typical Los Angeles urban zones: commercial
zoning with apartments, crime and drugs, and people driving BMWs in and out of  
secure parking structures. The area immediately south of the Civic Center -     
Shoreline Park and adjacent areas - is quite a tourist attraction and includes  
the Queen Mary. Long Beach has a great deal of Los Angeles's heavy industry as  
well, including major oil refineries and processing plants. Like the rest of the
city, it's a clustered mix of different ethnicities, languages, and religions.  

Compared to the rest of the city, the Domain of Long Beach is a fortress.   
Prince Elaine Pruitt of Clan Ventrue rules the area firmly, decisively, and     
brooks no interference or insubordination from anyone. She maintains tight      
borders with heavy mortal security, and ruthlessly punishes those caught        
trespassing. The borders of Long Beach are the most often closed in the city.   
Hunting grounds are said to be at a premium, with punishments ranging from      
dismemberment and cauterization to final death for infractions. The vampires of 
Long Beach often participate in the politics of the other domains, and can often
be found in Elysia. Once a year, Prince Elaine throws a gala ball on the Queen  
Mary, to which all vampires of reputable standing are invited.
 This is the  
only time outsiders are welcomed in the domain save for official business. As   
Long Beach does not offer persistent Elysia, Elaine has instead employed a corps
of ambassadors to represent Long Beach in the other domains. These Ambassadors  
carry similar status and responsibility of Keepers in the more open domains. The
two most prominent ambassadors are Amelia Atherton, Minister of State, Chief    
Ambassador, and assigned to the Downtown Core, and Acriella Demars, Ambassador  
to South Central.
                                                           

Orange County is at once a continuation of Los Angeles sprawl, and an       
entirely different part of California. The political divide between the two     
areas is known as the "Orange Curtain." Orange County is one of the   
most politically conservative areas of the entire United States, and it takes a 
certain pride in not being Los Angeles. Within Orange County, the divide between
South and North county is almost as distinct. While South County is new and     
filled with exclusive housing developments, fashionable malls, and quaint       
stretches of expensive beach front shopping, North Orange County reflects the   
region's older, rural roots. There was a time when North Orange County was      
nothing but Orange Groves and small Spanish-style homes scattered among small,  
Spanish-style townships. Santa Ana grew to be the center of the county, then    
Disneyland opened up and the area would never be the same. Today, North Orange  
County still remembers its orange grove origins, but the balance of power has   
shifted from Santa Ana - still the county seat - to Anaheim, Disneyland, and the
tourism industry. The areas to the north, Fullerton, Placentia, Brea, are still 
quiet, easy-going places to live but they are quickly becoming gentrified. Santa
Ana itself is becoming more of a barrio, with rising crime rates. While there   
are ethnic enclaves, including Little Saigon in Garden Grove, those enclaves    
have neither the prominence nor political clout that their counterparts in Los  
Angeles County enjoy.                                                           

The vampiric Domain of North Orange County is under the purview of the most 
powerful Tremere in the Southland, Caulden Davidoff. He takes a relaxed view    
towards his rule, for the vampires of North Orange County present few problems  
for him to solve. The vampiric population is low, and quite well-mannered. There
are few vampires who could even be considered as anarchs, and those that could  
would be considered a joke by their South Central counterparts. If the mortal   
population enforces Orange County's isolation from Los Angeles through heavy    
policing and Nimbyism, the vampires of Orange County use that isolation both as 
a shield against encroachments from the other domains as well as a cloak for    
their own schemes. North Orange County is comprised mostly of Tremere, Gangrel, 
and Ventrue, with a scattering of Toreador and Nosferatu. Brujah and Malkavians 
are a distinct minority in Prince Caulden's domain, though not from any animus  
on the part of the Prince.                                                      

When most people think of Los Angeles, they think of two places. The first  
is Hollywood, the second is what natives call "The West Side."        
Stretching from Malibu, to Beverly Hills, all the way down to the Los Angeles   
International Airport ("LAX"), the West Side is the trendy, stylish   
part of the city. In this World of Darkness, the West Side is almost entirely   
contained in the Domain of Santa Monica, and the Domain of Santa Monica is ruled
by Prince Acton of Clan Ventrue. Prince Acton is, by all accounts, an ambitious 
vampire, with a keen mind for politics and money. He is by far the wealthiest of
any of the Princes, and perhaps is the wealthiest vampire in the city. The      
Domain reflects that, and anything you can get for five dollars elsewhere, can  
be had for eight dollars plus a valet parking fee here.

The Domain of    
Santa Monica is fairly extensive, and includes: Brentwood, Westwood (and UCLA), 
West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Century City, El Segundo, Venice, Malibu, and the
City of Santa Monica itself. (See +map/list.)
                               

However, the territories within the Domain are not entirely trendy and      
overpriced - there are pockets of economic humility here and there, apartment   
buildings in Culver City, and the "slums of Beverly Hills" to the     
south. Nor are all the occupants of this part of the city wealthy, tall, and    
blonde - though it may seem like it. Thousands of Latina nannies and            
housekeepers take the bus in from the other parts of town to walk babies, walk  
dogs, and perform all the domestic chores which the wealthy cannot do while they
are at the gym or at work. Thousands more entirely average people live in       
apartments and work in the stores, hoping for a bit of the wealth, the style,   
the freedom, that the West Side represents.
                                 

The rules governing the vampires of the Domain are fairly well known: (1)   
All vampires who are not simply driving through or traveling to or from a       
designated Elysium must present themselves and obtain permission before spending
any time in the Domain. Prince Acton is fairly strict about this, and does not  
lightly treat with loiterers. (2) All vampires are forbidden under penalty of   
Final Death from hunting anywhere on the UCLA campus. (3) There is to be no open
violence in the commercial markets at the Third Street Promenade (I7), in       
Century City Plaza (M2), Getty Center Drive (L9), or the Beverly Center (N1).   
The person to contact for night to night affairs in the Domain is the Prince's  
Seneschal, Dominiani, though one of the Prince's other officers can sometimes   
suffice in a pinch for minor issues, if you know who they are.

No        
vampires are known to live in Beverly Hills, and Acton leaves the area more or  
less alone. There is something strange about the place that makes Vampires who  
linger uncomfortable. (OOC Note: A vampire who sleeps through the day in Beverly
Hills must confront a Frenzy Check, per +news systems/frenzy, to avoid a fear   
frenzy upon waking. This OOC note is just out-of-character knowledge, so use it 
responsibly.)
                                                               

(NOTE: You MUST read +news Theme/anarchs)

 South Central. Straight out of
Compton. Livin' in the 'wood. Diez y ocho. Blood Stone Pirus 30's. Ducky Hood   
Compton Crips. Get yo' ass strapped, 'cause South Central ain't no place to be  
steppin'.
 Unless, of course, you're an undead predator, in which case you   
should be just fine.
 South Central is the worst part of Los Angeles.        
Compton, Paramount, Inglewood, Florence, Watts, and East L.A. all make up the   
vampiric Domain of South Central, which in our World of Darkness is a much more 
dangerous place than it is in reality (and that's saying something). The mortal 
population, mostly Black and Latino, lives in fear of the gangs that prowl the  
streets. The gangs are bad, and crime is bad. But there are worse things in the 
'hood.
 Chance Marshall, Ancilla vampire of the Brujah line, claims Praxis in
South Central under the Treaty of La Cienega. Word on the street is that she's  
sympathetic to the anarchs, but no one in the domain works harder to keep the   
peace and enforce the Traditions than she does.
                             

 South Central is home to a number of "anarch" gangs - coteries of
vampires who, to one degree or another, buck the system, flaunt the traditions, 
and hold the power of the Princes in contempt. It's a careful balancing act     
between causing enough trouble, and causing too much. No one wants to roll over 
like patsies for the elders, but no one wants another war like 1965. In 1965,   
under the cover of the Watts Riots, the anarchs of the city rose up, coming     
together in a rare showing of open defiance. Prince Rodrigo - as well as dozens 
of others - disappeared in those riots. South Central has always been violent,  
and outbursts are regular. Most recently in 1992, the populace, undead and      
mortal, rose up against real and perceived oppression and laid waste to vast    
stretches of the city. Although not nearly as destructive as 1965, at least a   
handful of vampires again reportedly disappeared in those chaotic nights. But   
the domain is not all rebellion and violence: there are several                 
Camarilla-aligned "gangs" as well.
                                

 Cora Fleece rules the domain of South Central quite firmly. Although not   
excessively harsh, she is certain to ensure that someone caught breaking the    
rules remembers their infraction. She has several Sheriffs who assist her with  
this. Although she is one of the Eight Princes, Cora achieved her position at   
least in part because of the esteem in which she was held by the anarchs of Los 
Angeles. There are even rumors that she was once an anarch herself.
 Four    
other vampires of note in the Domain are Alvin Forrester -- a Brujah who has    
claimed Inglewood as his own -- and Don Arturo de Leon, the Primogen in charge  
of most of East L.A. Alvin is known to have a short temper, and a penchant for  
violence, and is by all accounts the most powerful and vicious anarch in the    
city. Don Arturo has a much more sophisticated reputation, and is known to some 
as a "thinking man's anarch." A Nosferatu of some power leads a       
coterie of vampires out of Bellflower - his name is Cortez and it is said he's  
fairly firmly positioned in support of the Traditions and the Principate.       
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the Ventrue known as Benedict serves as  
both the Primogen of Baldwin Hills and as Prince Cora's Seneschal. He wields a  
great deal of power in the domain, and handles much of the Principate's night to
night affairs.
                                                              

Orange County is at once a continuation of Los Angeles sprawl, and an       
entirely different part of California. The political divide between the two     
areas is known as the "Orange Curtain." Orange County is one of the   
most politically conservative areas of the entire United States, and it takes a 
certain pride in not being Los Angeles. Within Orange County, the divide between
North and South county is almost as distinct. South County is the new, the      
exclusive, and the gentrified. The beach communities have seen property values  
soar, and from Dana Point to Lake Forest to Huntington Beach, housing           
developments are creeping ever more quickly across what was once wildlands,     
wetlands, and foothills. Newport Beach, Irvine, and Laguna Beach form one of Los
Angeles's three largest business districts. Only downtown L.A. and Century City 
are centers of greater finance and commerce. South County is crisscrossed by    
large, wide roads: Alton, Mouton, Jamboree, Irvine Ave. and MacArthur Blvd. The 
communities were designed, by and large, after people discovered what a traffic 
nightmare the Los Angeles area was turning out to be. Parking is available in   
abundance. But all the same, there is something sterile about South County.     
Irvine has some of the most draconian Homeowners' Associations in the country,  
with regulations limiting the colors a person can paint their house to a small  
palette of inoffensive pastels. There is money and style, from Fashion Island to
the Costa Mesa Performing Arts Center, but there is also a lack of soul.        

The Domain of South Orange County is a Toreador haven, and is a popular spot
for vampires of status visiting from other places to stay while in Los Angeles. 
Prince Gillian Ventriss is a great patron of the arts, and together with a      
sizeable number of progeny, has worked to create something of a haven for       
Toreador in the Western United States. Where the mortal tendency to isolationism
from the rest of Los Angeles works as a cloak for the vampires of North Orange  
County, it works as a pure aegis in the South. Many vampires in the greater Los 
Angeles area refer to Newport Beach and its immediate vicinity as "The     
Ivory Tower," a term meant to deride the perceived head-in-the-sand        
attitude of its residents. Toreador are by far the most abundant of the clans,  
with the balance being composed mostly of Ventrue and cultured Brujah. Those    
anarchs that exist in this domain are not really anarchs at all, but social     
progressives who hold their own salons discussing the possibilities of freedom  
within the vampiric condition.                                                  

Torrance is the smallest of the eight domains. It's tucked away between     
Santa Monica and Long Beach, the missing piece of what some neonates call the   
"Ventrue Coast." It consists of, obviously, the City of Torrance, as  
well as the surrounding areas of Hawthorne, Rolling Hills, Gardena, and the     
three "Beach Cities" of Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Hermosa   
Beach. Torrance also boasts what is probably the most expensive real estate in  
Southern California, in the form of Palos Verdes Estates; and then again, the   
domain includes Hawthorne and Lawndale - hardly considered to be safe           
neighborhoods after dark. The Beach Cities house huge numbers of young people,  
living sometimes three to an overpriced aparment, working as coffee Baristas and
pool cleaners, or living off of Daddy's trust fund while living the             
"Bohemian" lifestyle. Parking is atrocious near the beaches, and      
parking in Palos Verdes is impossible unless you are a resident or a guest: the 
gates keep you out. Certain parts of Torrance border on South Central, and bleed
into the crime and poverty that characterize that domain.

In the final   
analysis, Torrance isn't really a domain of its own. It's what was left when    
Acton, Elaine, and Cora took their share. It is caught in the middle.           

The Prince of this leftover Domain is Andrew McQueen of Clan Ventrue. He is 
the third of the Ventrue Princes, and is barely an elder by that Clan's         
standards. Nevertheless, he holds the respect of many for his firm but gentle   
manner and his sense of justice. The vampire population of Torrance is much     
smaller than the others', despite the Prince's liberal attitude towards the     
Traditions. What undead conflict it has is primarily in the poorer              
neighborhoods, between the anarchs of Inglewood and Lennox and the ancillae and 
neonates of Hawthorne.

Although Prince McQueen and Prince Elaine of Long 
Beach have a close relationship, and although there is a great deal of          
cooperation between the two Domains, Torrance has a feeling of separation. From 
a purely practical standpoint, the domain has some of the best hunting grounds  
in the city (the beaches and their immediate network of clubs and bars). There  
isn't a great deal to the domain in terms of civil or government influence -    
only local police and court systems. It seems the perfect place for a vampire to
hide away and live in safety.                                                   

"All the vampires walkin' through the valley move west down Ventura    
Boulevard."
 -Tom Petty, "Freefallin'"

The San Fernando
Valley: home to porn, valley girls, tract housing, and a very, very large       
portion of Los Angeles's population. The vampiric Domain of the Valley tracks   
the mortal conception of the area: a sprawling combination of territories       
stretching from Glendale in the southeast, north to La Crescenta and Sylmar, and
West as far as Canoga Park, and includes Burbank, Encino, Woodland Hills, North 
Hollywood, and Northridge. The Brujah Prince Julian Fletcher rules over this    
Domain filled with mortals of every ethnicity and social class, although the    
Valley is most commonly seen as a never-ending series of mostly-white suburbs   
filled with split level tract homes such as the one seen in the Brady Bunch. The
Valley is, in some ways, the periphery of Los Angeles, a large annex of bedroom 
communities. In some ways, it is a different world entirely. Frank Zappa's      
valley girls lived here, and it was once described as a place where "one   
may find a glamour starlet in imported gabardine chatting earnestly with a      
chicken farmer in jeans." In recent years it has become less homogeneously 
white, and more a patchwork quilt of ethnicities, but it is still the less      
stylish cousin to the rest of Los Angeles - an address in the San Fernando      
Valley just isn't as fashionable as saying that you live in Silver Lake or      
Pasadena. The Valley is, in the words of a famous columnist, "home of a    
hundred King Bear Auto Centers, a thousand Yoshinoya Beef Bowls, and ten        
thousand yard sales."                                                      

The Valley is home to the second greatest number of so-called               
"anarchs" in Los Angeles, although many elders have remarked that the 
anarchs of the Valley are comprised of "whelps who have decided that it is 
their own choice to do what they are told." The Valley is probably home to 
more vampires of any persuasion than any other Domain, but one would be hard    
pressed to tell by watching the vampire social scene. The vampires of the       
Valley, like their mortal counterparts, seem to primarily wish to be left alone 
to pursue their interests and feed off the extensive herds of suburbanites at   
their disposal. There are some, particularly in the Glendale and North Hollywood
areas, who regularly participate in vampire politics, but the predominate mood  
seems to be "you leave us alone and we'll leave you alone." Prince    
Fletcher rules harshly when he needs to, but is known for allowing those in his 
domain great latitude and discretion. The anarch gangs - such as they are - in  
the Valley tend to be larger, better organized, and less violent. Although there
were some flare ups during the 1992 riots, these were quickly brought under     
control.