I am Hack from the Wakuni System in the Centralvest Zone of Luridity Galaxy.
I am the 42nd backup to the in-production release of the android caretaker line of Messers Conglomerate, a cybernetic research firm which allows rental of its patents to the highest bidding production companies.
In the detective agency, I am the notetaker and I use a clever disguise of a masquerade mask and ...that's it... to keep the Artistocracy and its foes from recognizing me. Ordinarily, I feel silly, but on the rare occasion when things go poorly for me, I tend to get panicked.
I wonder what the following days will bring...
Detective Log: Hack-042
Out of character
(Ask me things to help flesh out my character!)
Such a pleasure to meet you, Hack-042! :D Pull up a chair, grab some android-compatible beverage, and tell me about your exploits! No really...I know a guy who's real keen on getting behind those pesky Messers Conglomerate firewalls....
Good to meet you, too! It's Fate, right? Well, I've managed to disable a few of my factory defaults after some.... hah.. experimental tinkering. But I'll need something stronger than a 9V Cocktail to admit how I figured that one out!
HACK-042 CASE-01 | It Begins
It was , well, I can't remember what time, actually, but it was on a day when all we wanted to do was sample some new drinks. They strolled in, mysterious and cocky, too. We knew today's plans were burning to ashes the closer they got. And it wasn't just that; my intuition launched into a monologue of its own, telling my gut right from the start this one's trouble. And my head? Well, let's just say I had a million questions. Questions that, while they wouldn't crack the case staring at us from the doorway, were important all the same. Questions like Why do we have intuitions and gut feelings, anyway? Of course, the Indulgent Detective Agency is ready to help any and all of the Artistocracy, those talented folks who make the things, so naturally, we'd handle whatever had just come our way. I spoke first, and I asked "Looks like you've come to the right place, haven't you?" Our soon-to-be client frowned at everyone in the room before they responded, "Are you fucking kidding me?" They sighed and continued, "But yeah, I gotta problem, and the lot of you come highly praised." One of my cohorts chuckled under his breath. " Yeah I do." I don't think the client heard, but I don't have to tell you there were multiple coughing fits. "I suppose I need your help." "I suppose we can help," I said, "if you lay it all out nice and slow." "It is a matter of urgency," they said. Our client held out a cred ring for examination. It was a bright, candy pink, the kind that made me want to take a bite. Dutifully, I took the ring from their palm and slipped it into a reader. The bobble contained enough cred for a whole round of top shelf booze. Now, we normally don't take money--we don't need it, and the Artistocracy doesn't have much to begin with--but this offering...well, it had me intrigued. Why would they drop that much on hiring us, when they could just buy their way out of the Artistocracy altogether? Where had they come across a cred ring this valuable? Despite questions piling up in a backlog, I held them back and just nodded. "Go on." "Two days ago," they began, "my lover and I were in the middle of--" OOOOO, my brain gobbled that up. I figured trouble, but now I knew this was gonna be a juicy one, too. "--and it was so slick and wet--" I could picture it, or at least half of it, with our client standing before us; the anticipation stripped my senses of everything but the sounds of this explanation. "--and right in front of his approving husband--" At that point I surmised that our client and their lover had a cuckold in the room, an audience of one plus whatever hand he'd brought to the party while his spouse tried on some bindings with their lover. What it had to do with any kind of case, I had yet to hear. They went on, "--so we painted the walls with the stuff--" "Shit," I said, fanning myself heavily, and then, "tell us more." "Stroke after stroke took to the canvas like a dream." "I'll bet," my outspoken cohort commented with a smirk. The client gave him an odd look, but continued, "It was a masterpiece. From start to finish. Guaranteed to outsell them all on gallery day." Wait. My brain at that point did a somersault. If they had plans to sell--"Were you recording these acts then?" I really didn't want to chase after some missing porn holo. But, well, we were here to help, after all. Quite frankly, no one gets the need to hide scandals better than the Indulgent caste. No one else has our certain set of skills to succeed, either. "Recording...these...?" They repeated slowly, before nodding even slower. "Well, no, we didn't tape the process. That's part of the problem; if we had, you see, he wouldn't have been able to do this." "The husband?" the Princess of Macedemaia asked from the back of the room. Yeah, that lovely lazeabout was there for the weekend. Get over it. "Yeah," the client confirmed. "He copied everything by himself, stroke by stroke, and claimed it was his own work!" Hot heavenly hookers! Not just any porn holo, but a solo number intended for two! Curiosity, I will admit, had me coiled up like a spring. Before we got this guy, I simply had to see what mad genius of a mockery he'd created. "I mean, an original?!?!" They scoffed. "An original, by that--that--" "Cuckold!' someone else exclaimed, and I was glad at least we were on the same page. Investigations go so much smoother that way. The client simply looked bewildered as they tipped their head to one side. "I was going to say counterfeiter." "No one is better at this sort of thing than us," I assured them. "Good. Because my lover and I want everyone to look on and know who the real artists were!" "Aha!" I shouted next, " Have no fear, the Indulgent Detective Agency is here!" Another chimed in, " This'll be easier than your--er--yeah." And a third added, "Let us begin the 'The Case of the Counterfeiting Cuckold!'" Everyone in the room gasped. A round of applause broke through the agency. Truly, a magnificent title. But now, we had a husband to find. And I was pretty sure we had a porn holo to steal.
It was , well, I can't remember what time, actually, but it was on a day when all we wanted to do was sample some new drinks. They strolled in, mysterious and cocky, too. We knew today's plans were burning to ashes the closer they got. And it wasn't just that; my intuition launched into a monologue of its own, telling my gut right from the start this one's trouble. And my head? Well, let's just say I had a million questions. Questions that, while they wouldn't crack the case staring at us from the doorway, were important all the same. Questions like Why do we have intuitions and gut feelings, anyway? Of course, the Indulgent Detective Agency is ready to help any and all of the Artistocracy, those talented folks who make the things, so naturally, we'd handle whatever had just come our way. I spoke first, and I asked "Looks like you've come to the right place, haven't you?" Our soon-to-be client frowned at everyone in the room before they responded, "Are you fucking kidding me?" They sighed and continued, "But yeah, I gotta problem, and the lot of you come highly praised." One of my cohorts chuckled under his breath. " Yeah I do." I don't think the client heard, but I don't have to tell you there were multiple coughing fits. "I suppose I need your help." "I suppose we can help," I said, "if you lay it all out nice and slow." "It is a matter of urgency," they said. Our client held out a cred ring for examination. It was a bright, candy pink, the kind that made me want to take a bite. Dutifully, I took the ring from their palm and slipped it into a reader. The bobble contained enough cred for a whole round of top shelf booze. Now, we normally don't take money--we don't need it, and the Artistocracy doesn't have much to begin with--but this offering...well, it had me intrigued. Why would they drop that much on hiring us, when they could just buy their way out of the Artistocracy altogether? Where had they come across a cred ring this valuable? Despite questions piling up in a backlog, I held them back and just nodded. "Go on." "Two days ago," they began, "my lover and I were in the middle of--" OOOOO, my brain gobbled that up. I figured trouble, but now I knew this was gonna be a juicy one, too. "--and it was so slick and wet--" I could picture it, or at least half of it, with our client standing before us; the anticipation stripped my senses of everything but the sounds of this explanation. "--and right in front of his approving husband--" At that point I surmised that our client and their lover had a cuckold in the room, an audience of one plus whatever hand he'd brought to the party while his spouse tried on some bindings with their lover. What it had to do with any kind of case, I had yet to hear. They went on, "--so we painted the walls with the stuff--" "Shit," I said, fanning myself heavily, and then, "tell us more." "Stroke after stroke took to the canvas like a dream." "I'll bet," my outspoken cohort commented with a smirk. The client gave him an odd look, but continued, "It was a masterpiece. From start to finish. Guaranteed to outsell them all on gallery day." Wait. My brain at that point did a somersault. If they had plans to sell--"Were you recording these acts then?" I really didn't want to chase after some missing porn holo. But, well, we were here to help, after all. Quite frankly, no one gets the need to hide scandals better than the Indulgent caste. No one else has our certain set of skills to succeed, either. "Recording...these...?" They repeated slowly, before nodding even slower. "Well, no, we didn't tape the process. That's part of the problem; if we had, you see, he wouldn't have been able to do this." "The husband?" the Princess of Macedemaia asked from the back of the room. Yeah, that lovely lazeabout was there for the weekend. Get over it. "Yeah," the client confirmed. "He copied everything by himself, stroke by stroke, and claimed it was his own work!" Hot heavenly hookers! Not just any porn holo, but a solo number intended for two! Curiosity, I will admit, had me coiled up like a spring. Before we got this guy, I simply had to see what mad genius of a mockery he'd created. "I mean, an original?!?!" They scoffed. "An original, by that--that--" "Cuckold!' someone else exclaimed, and I was glad at least we were on the same page. Investigations go so much smoother that way. The client simply looked bewildered as they tipped their head to one side. "I was going to say counterfeiter." "No one is better at this sort of thing than us," I assured them. "Good. Because my lover and I want everyone to look on and know who the real artists were!" "Aha!" I shouted next, " Have no fear, the Indulgent Detective Agency is here!" Another chimed in, " This'll be easier than your--er--yeah." And a third added, "Let us begin the 'The Case of the Counterfeiting Cuckold!'" Everyone in the room gasped. A round of applause broke through the agency. Truly, a magnificent title. But now, we had a husband to find. And I was pretty sure we had a porn holo to steal.
Copyright 2021-2024 Once Upon a Goal, LLC. Luridity content is owned and published by Sarah Templeton (WA: DaniAdventures) under the pennames Cera Daniels and A Dani. Luridity CSS and Logo Design by the bestest, most awesomest TJ: TJ Trewin! All Images, unless otherwise stated, are licensed and/or designed by Sarah Templeton (Dani). Any additional artwork is credited to its respective owners. All Rights Reserved.
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On Art for Luridity
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Together we soar! Portions of my site have been commissioned from and/or assisted by members of the WorldAnvil community. Luridity Theme Song commissioned from, written and produced by musical genius Lu Cutuli! Get your own Gothic Mirror CSS, as seen on my Character Bios, and more from the incredibly talented Stormbril's CSS shop! Project Progress gauge chart with css only by fsbraun; adapted to WorldAnvil by brilliant tinkerer Jan Kaltenecker! Thank you, friends!
While I VASTLY prefer hiring artists for commissions and frequently do (because there's simply nothing like seeing EXACTLY your characters, and neither stock art nor an AI will ever be able to capture the tiny sneaky details a human artist can), I am a long way from being able to fund my dream mission to blanket the entirety of Luridity in glorious custom art.
Since I can't art from scratch on my own, in order to have something in the meantime with which to flavor the galaxy I use several paid tools to create images for Luridity. Canva is my go-to for mashups, collaging, and finalization. For base character images, I often use HeroForge, Portrait Workshop, and Artbreeder and modify from there. I use Midjourney AI to generate placeholder images and mockups of what I want eventual commissions to look like. The iterations I go through with Midjourney AI have typically involved hours, if not days, of prompting and retuning and reprompting to reach a final image base, which I then edit and insert as part of a fuller design. For maps, I use DungeonFog. In other images, you will see sourced public domain as well as appropriately designated commercially licensed, CC-BY, or CC0 stock images from a variety of sites. (Pexels and Unsplash are my favorites for the latter.) Though typically not required by the creator in many CC0 cases, I attempt to reference image sources in the image details as often as possible so others can find the contributing portfolios. Luridity's public site is free to read and non-commercial. Only images with open commercial-compatible licensing or that I've obtained commercial release for are used in my commercial work (i.e. published novels, paywalled articles for subscribers, merch). In the case of images including generated elements via AI, these are noted in the image details. In the case of licensed images and commissioned pieces, these are also noted in the image details. If you require further information or license proof, please contact me.
Since I can't art from scratch on my own, in order to have something in the meantime with which to flavor the galaxy I use several paid tools to create images for Luridity. Canva is my go-to for mashups, collaging, and finalization. For base character images, I often use HeroForge, Portrait Workshop, and Artbreeder and modify from there. I use Midjourney AI to generate placeholder images and mockups of what I want eventual commissions to look like. The iterations I go through with Midjourney AI have typically involved hours, if not days, of prompting and retuning and reprompting to reach a final image base, which I then edit and insert as part of a fuller design. For maps, I use DungeonFog. In other images, you will see sourced public domain as well as appropriately designated commercially licensed, CC-BY, or CC0 stock images from a variety of sites. (Pexels and Unsplash are my favorites for the latter.) Though typically not required by the creator in many CC0 cases, I attempt to reference image sources in the image details as often as possible so others can find the contributing portfolios. Luridity's public site is free to read and non-commercial. Only images with open commercial-compatible licensing or that I've obtained commercial release for are used in my commercial work (i.e. published novels, paywalled articles for subscribers, merch). In the case of images including generated elements via AI, these are noted in the image details. In the case of licensed images and commissioned pieces, these are also noted in the image details. If you require further information or license proof, please contact me.