Born in July of 1692 in the city of Rouen, Normandy, Roman Baudelaire was the third son of a Norman baron and a self-professed founder of New Orleans. Raised Catholic under the Jesuit order, he was scheduled to receive his First Communion at the age of twelve, however, drawn to a life of adventure, he became a cabin boy on his uncle’s ship, trading fur between France and Acadia. Several years later, he became quartermaster on one of his father’s ships.
As part of the French expansion, seeking to forge an empire and cast the English out of America, the minister for naval colonies and affairs tasked Roman’s crew with finding the mouth of the Mississippi River, something previous explorers had failed to achieve. At the age of twenty-two, he set off with three ships, sailing along the Florida coast and into the Mississippi Delta.
During his travels, he made a brief return journey to New York City where he sold nine thousand furs, granted to him by French-Canadians in exchange for being hauled up the river. Convinced of its potential as a trading route, as well as offering full control away from Spanish and English settlements, he joined other French traders and explorers in founding La Nouvelle-Orleans in Spring of 1718.
A far cry from his regal upbringing, the majority of the population at the time were considered to be the dregs of humanity - deported galley slaves, trappers, con-men and sex workers. However, this failed to deter Roman, who, convinced he’d done enough travelling for one lifetime, chose to remain behind on the colony, enticed by the riff-raff and a life of debauchery.
During this time, he caught the eye of Matteo Solderini, a four-hundred year-old vampire of Florentine nobility. Solderini believed that his purpose was to spread his brood to all corners of the earth, creating a world of immeasurable darkness and sin to appease the Ancient Ones. Sensing a kindred spirit in Roman, having noted his work for the French expansion, he offered up eternal life, love, as a reward for his efforts, and, after a night of spectacular passion, transformed him into a vampire.
Unlike most with a preference for the innocent, Roman, through Solderini, found there to be a particular kick in the blood of sinners, and, together, began gorging themselves on the Orleanian colonists. For over a decade, his life consisted only of feasting and sex, travelling up and down the Mississippi by the side of his sire, turning the river red. However, with the break of the Anglo-Spanish War, Solderini found himself called elsewhere, and left Roman behind to continue his work.
While Solderini may have been working towards a larger goal, Roman didn’t fully share his sire’s vision. Much like him, he yearned for an era of vampiric domination, and viewed humanity as little more than cattle, but, having inherited a possessive streak, he came to regard New Orleans as his own fully-fledged territory, and all the people within. While this didn’t directly clash with Solderini’s plans, it laid the groundwork for Roman’s own rise to power and an obsessive claim to the land.
Following Britain’s victory in the Seven Years’ War, the French colony along the west of the Mississippi, including New Orleans, was ceded to the Spanish Empire in 1763. When the Spanish governor eventually arrived in 1768, Roman, having subtly sewn seeds over the years, manipulated the populace into forcing him out in what became known as the Bloodless Rebellion. When he returned a year later with armed forces, Roman tore through the army single-handedly, though seduced one of the soldiers to his line of thinking.
In the Spring of 1788, with Spanish influence at an all-time high, Roman set fire to the city, hoping to burn the Empire out of the colony and rebuild New Orleans in his image. All of the buildings were rebuilt with bricks, replacing the simple wooden constructs of Spanish reign, and he’d bricks shipped in from Normandy to construct the French Quarter, including the still-standing St. Louis Cathedral.
