Months have passed since the Mega Shard broke. The energy wave reached Baton Rouge to the west. Mississippi's Gulfport to the east, and claiming half the state's coast in the process. It swept past Venice in the south. And crept a few miles beyond the Louisiana-Mississippi border in the north.
Entrepreneurial mythics and animal-kin almost immediately sent out a call for independence. A formal proposal was then delivered by a flight of dragons. And, in the interest of trying to figure out what the fuck was going on, the United States federal government agreed. They also set up military checkpoints along the major routes together with their NATO allies. Perhaps owing to the peculiarities of the transformation, most of the immediate destruction came from accidents. At least on the New Orleans side of the quarantine.
Those changed embraced who they were, which significantly eased the initial transition. Though everyone distantly understood that they should've been panicking like those outside. Within a week, the first packs of were-creatures had left the bounds of the cities and roamed as the wild as the animals they hunted did. A few humans broke through the cordon to join them and were inducted and transformed in impromptu ceremonies. They were welcomed by the dryads, treants, and other nature spirits, at least those who hadn't taken it on themselves to make the New Orleans's Garden District a literal description.
Not that everything has gone smoothly with so many mythics and animal-kin finding ways to co-exist, but all things considered, it could be going worse.
Remnants of the ancient arcane orders have crawled out of the woodwork and scouring their fragmented texts for answers. But, if they have any, they are so far keeping them to themselves. Meanwhile, scientists are clamoring for a chance to experiment with the shards uncovered at archaeological dig sites like those in New Mexico. Lab accidents ensure the New Orleans intelligencia is growing at a steady pace.
Life is returning to a new normal in New Orleans.