if you saw the original plz rb this one instead. this was originally written for those that dont know the game as a TL;DR (a really long one whoops) for the game's current story "as we know it" - on a private blog. since it seemed popular and breached containment, i'm reuploading it now. again - please reblog it from here and not the other source if you see it floating around. thank you.
regarding the "lore as we know it" thus far.
this will be as comprehensive and condensed as i can make it! i will do my best to be concise and explain the lore so that anyone, even those who haven't played the game, can understand it. to those that have played it - if i miss something crucial or if i misremembered something, please feel free to message me so that i may correct it. the information may also be a bit skewed to what i've interpreted things as! warning for mentions of no/ncon, and sensitive themes expected from the game.
The game's download page describes it as thus:
"Degrees of L/ewdity is an erotic game. You play an 18-year-old in a town full of people with lewd intentions. Go to school and find honest work, turn to a life of crime, or sell your body in more carnal ways."
The introductory paragraph when you start a new file states thus:
"You enter Bailey's office. "I know why you're here," he says, running a hand through his dark hair. "You want me to release you from my protection, so you'll be an independent citizen. I could do that. But there's a problem. You've been living under my roof without giving anything in return. You owe me. Until you pay me back, I'm not letting you go."He lifts an envelope from his desk and thumbs through the contents. You glimpse your name. He smiles as he hides your identification documents in his jacket. "£100 should do. To start with. I don't care how you get it. Knock on doors and ask for work. Rent yourself as a footstool. Steal it even. Just have it a week from now. Or I'll find a way to extract value from you." "
this is set up for the game and the only information new players have: you're 18, you're an orphan, and you need to find a way to pay the orphanage caretaker, bailey, back for the many years that you were in his care. it's completely unfair and seems at a glance to be a simple and silly premise for a porn game; what else would there be? you've been given a goal and now the sandbox world of d.ol is your proverbial oyster.
in the beginning, you'll spend your time adjusting to the town and the schedule. you'll meet new characters, experience wacky hijinks events and smutty encounters, and for many people this surface level is all they need to be content. but even at this surface level, you'll begin to find hints that something isn't right.
D.ol as a mundane crime story :
you'll find that things within the town are very unfair and that fighting back against the way of the grain will net you more hardships than not. strangers will constantly try to assault you and if you fight back you'll be reported to the police, who will begin to make a file on you. the police are obviously corrupt, and will also take advantage of you. there is seemingly nobody within the town in an authority position that isn't a sleazeball.
with some further exploration and digging, you'll learn that there are a handful of characters that are portrayed as the "main villains" of the game.
bailey is the first notable villain, who is actively withholding your personal documents and extorting you. he is the current orphanage caretaker, and thus in charge of all of the orphans under his roof; he extorts all of them at 18.
leighton is the next villain you may come across, as he's the headmaster of the school you attend. he is a vile sexpest who brazenly lusts over the student body.
avery will be met around the town as you naturally progress and explore. he's described as "the business person" and will act as a sugar daddy/mommy (gender dependent) to the pc. though he seems charming at first, he has a wicked temper.
quinn is the mayor of the town, and has less opportunity to be randomly met. he's mostly tied to other events and characters. he presents as a bumbling person, but it's clear that he's in on all the dirty secrets of the town as well.
remy is perhaps the last major villain of the group, and one that you may be able to meet in the kinder setting of his horse riding classes - or within avery's route, or (if you're unlucky) in one of the "bad end" routes. it will be revealed through gameplay that remy, the nobleman, owns a farm that uses humans as livestock and he is also the current leader of the cult of auriga. put a pin this for now.
these villains more or less run the town. notable npcs that are also "bad guys" with influence in town include: briar the brother owner, harper the doctor, zephyr the pirate. "bad guys" without any real influence could include: eden the hunter and morgan the sewer dweller.
these characters are important to note (with exception of eden and morgan) due to the power they hold over their respective parts of the town and the interconnecting roles they play within the story. on a surface level, one could view the world of d.ol as a purely criminal one - which in of itself would be quite frightening! you have the top level politics happening in the daytime and the underworld criminality happening in the background. there are some players that prefer to stop there and only include these themes, but it really does only scratch the surface.
D.ol as a paranormal cult simulator :
as you progress through the story, if you keep pushing for answers you'll eventually get them: at the heart of the crime and the unfettered horniness of the town, is the supernatural. remy is the current leader of the cult of auriga; while the other major bad guys may or may not be "in" the cult, they still have dealings with remy and must navigate around the power his cult holds. everyone in town is playing a very intricate web of politics both seen on the outside and behind closed doors.
the pc's perception of what is and isn't real will be messed with every bit of the way, and there are some ill-meaning npcs that will try to convince you that everything you've learned up to now is only in your head. while i love the psych horror genre!! this has already been proven to not be the case: the paranormal is real within the story of d.ol.
with all of this information now laid out, i can paint a better picture for you. . .
the story as we know it thus far :
in the fourteenth century, january 361 ; the events of "the schism" occur. in this event, a horrible ritual was performed upon the members of the current temple's ancient founders. this event seems to be the beginning of the tear in the veil of reality, with the cult doing the ritual having been trying to summon their dark god.
the ivory wraith was once the acolyte from that year, who was to be the final sacrifice in that ritual. their god intervened and beat back the other - though the acolyte still perished in the aftermath. it's hinted that the current wraith is both the acolyte and an amalgamation of their fallen brethren. its exact make up is unknown, but it seems to have awoken only now and then for different events from the time of its death up to the time of the game's events. the mention of the wraith is important because:
the cult of auriga and the temple of virgo are both major players within the d.ol story in the present time. the cult, led by remy, is making monthly sacrifices to their god (seemingly - much is still unknown about their motives and actions). the temple is in direct opposition of them and tries to work in the shadows to thwart them, training their monks and nuns to combat the corruption in its spiritual and physical forms.
being as this is a centuries old issue, many of the current npcs of the story are just along for the ride - or trying to work on their own agenda outside of that struggle. the current most "third parties" seem to be gwylan the shopkeeper, who is hinted to be from a long line of self-reincarnating witches who seeks to keep the corruption away from the natural world (fauna, flora, etc) & bailey, who seems to be working on his own agenda against both the cult and the temple - his reasons and end goal are currently unknown but hinted to be in connection to his past.
the pc (player character - in my case, this would be eris) is time and time again hinted to be special. it's heavily taken into community hc through in game hints that the pc is somehow related to the events of the schism : either as a distant relative to a temple member, or as a direct reincarnation to the acolyte's cherished initiate. personally, i find the idea that the pc is a reincarnation to be on brand for the game's theme of cycles & take this into account with eris' own lore.
in any case, the pc is often at the epicenter of current day events and through the story they can learn more and more about the past, about the present, and they can actively try to ruin the cult's plans or spread more corruption.
unfortunately, a lot of information is also stated outside of the game through Q&A's. since this game is still updating and has been since it's conception, there are no definitive answers or resolutions yet. there's still much that we don't know and that we've been told we'll either have to wait for or some information may not even get into the game. such as:
the previous orphanage owner is hinted to have been a very awful person. something traumatic happened in the attic of the orphanage - bailey will refuse to go up there. it's also hinted that due to their traumatic event, or an event related to it, that he began to heavily invest in warding off the supernatural and taking extra care to shield himself against the effects of the town. it's hinted that these events have something to do with his childhood crush, who has no concrete names but is called "green eyes" in Q&A and in the community due to the one feature she canonically has. it's also mentioned that whatever this event was, bailey considers eden (who is his bestfriend and was part of the trio with bailey and green eyes) to have betrayed his trust in some way - although eden doesn't feel the same about that. eden is also said to have left the town and lives in the woods because of these events, and bailey prefers it that way because it's "safer in the forest than in the town".
bailey's mentioned to be something of an up and coming crime lord within the underbelly of the town. he is well known and feared, but still has to put up with and make nice with the other villains - even though he hates them. the money he collects from the orphans seems to be going directly to whatever project or end goal he has but what that is has been extremely vague for years. it is at least confirmed at this point that bailey is not working with the cult nor the temple, and it's strongly hinted that there is a third godly entity that he may be connected to instead.
the mention of witches are a newer addition to the game but gwylan the shopkeeper has been a part of the game for a very long time - only in the capacity as a vague npc with no story hooks. within the latest patches, much lore has been given to gwylan and the witches of the town; namely, that it seems that they are not apart of either the cult or temple and that they seem to have a way of rebirthing themselves and that's how they've lived throughout the ages. the details are still unclear on that aspect, but most people assume that's what the story is hinting at.
only recently has the witches story/gwylan become an integral part of the lore and the power struggle in game: as the pc's masked ally, during the events of living with avery and his project of building a skyscraper for the express reason of joining the cult as an inner member - gwy will assist the pc in thwarting avery's attempts and thus striking a blow to the cult itself. we're finally getting some in game choices to actively fight back against the corruption in more ways.
other note worthy tidbits :
though not fully integral to the plot (as of now, from what we currently know) here are some notes that i feel are important in their own right.
kylar and sydney are childhood friends. kylar's parents were scientists who got too close to the occult and were thus punished by the temple. sydney's parents were apart of the temple of virgo, and it's strongly hinted that one of them died or disappeared during this punishment; we don't have the details as of yet. due to this event, kylar and sydney's friendship was strained and they stopped seeing each other. kylar went on to live by himself in his mansion, trying to take care of his parents who were changed into monsters. it's a bit ambiguous still but it's hinted that the temple were the ones to have changed them, if not directly then by leading them to their change. while kylar struggled alone, sydney was institutionalized and had his mind messed with by an up and coming dr harper; from that point on, he was unable to recall what happened that day and also can't parse any of the paranormal happenings around town. it's strongly hinted that the event with their parents and sydney's subsequent hospital stay caused him to form DID, with at least 2 alters in addition to his host personality.
harper is a significant character once you begin to dive deeper into the lore; as a doctor, you may run into them at the hospital after passing out in the streets. they seem nice at first, but if you're unlucky enough to be sent to the mental hospital that they oversee, you'll soon find out that harper has a twisted complex. his main shtick is hypnosis - while at first this can be handwaved as just a kink thing, it's clear that it also has plot relevancy (see, the above with sydney). his legitimacy within the hospital is even questioned in QnA, though you can probably take that with a grain of salt. other than using his patients as guinea pigs, he works directly alongside many of the major villains of the game - chief among them, remy. if he's not a core member of the cult, he's at least a very close ally.
the theme of cycles and repetition is a pretty important part of the story. through the flashbacks to past events we witness, we can see the theme again and again: the cult hurts the temple, the temple hurts the cult, the cycle of violence and degeneracy marches on as both sides of the conflict inflict transgressions upon each other. we're presented with the idea that there's a third way, which rejects both sides - but this seems to be a still developing plot angle. as of now, the main power seems to be the temple of virgo who has motifs of a multilimbed angel, and the cult of auriga which bears a likeness to an elk... we have also gotten a lot of imagery of a snake, which seems to relate directly to bailey, and many people speculate this to be an allusion to a third god / entity that takes a more neutral stance. this is currently just speculation.
it's important to note that while the cult and the bad guys seem to run the show and present our story with firm antagonistic forces; the temple is not wholly absolved of evil. the temple has very questionable means of combatting corruption and doles out rather contradicting punishments upon its own members when they fail to meet their high standards. ie - if you break your vow of abstinence (willingly or not), they punish you by... having you fucked..? obviously this is partially just a kink thing but on the other hand it's very absurd and paints the temple in a light that isn't much different from any of the other unsavory factions of the game. in addition to their strange methods, the bishop and the 'shadow guard' (essentially is what they are, though they aren't called that in game) have very questionable motives and make equally questionable decisions. ie - it being strongly hinted to have been them that changed kylar's parents into monsters, as punishment for dabbling in the occult. the temple, while presenting itself as "the good guy", is not much different from the corruption than seek to prevent. they're just better at hiding it.
it would be remiss not to mention landry - who's title is "the criminal". despite the scary title, they're one of the most helpful npcs: you sell stolen goods to them, they can clear your record, you can purchase pepper spray from them, and they're the go-between for you and the brown fox. landry seems to have a wealth of underworld knowledge and a solid reputation as somebody reliable. they also make mention during certain events that they are not caught up in the temple-cult conflict, nor are they on team bailey (instead, they seem to heavily disapprove of bailey's methods) and are instead on (what we can assume) a more neutral side who wants to stop the corruption both human and paranormal. this is all to note that while we're given the jist of a two sided struggle in town, there are actually quite a few people with varying agendas. it really is a complex web of politics!
thus concludes my very long winded crash course into the events of d.ol and what we know so far!
despite being a sex sim (and a pretty raunchy and potentially triggering one at that), d.ol has a lot of lore to discover. i think what's most fun about the game is that players can play the game however they want, since it's got a pretty sandbox type feeling to it, and two players could have wildly different experiences based on the choices they make! for me and my playthrough as eris, this is the story that i've uncovered. to me - d.ol is a horror game first, and a sex sim second. that isn't the case for everybody! some people just like the slice of life & crime aspects without any of the paranormal or temple-cult conflict. personally, i'd find that to be a very boring story. i've stayed hyperfixated on this game for so long because of the occult secrets we keep finding. it's a fun little cookie crumb trail and i've been feverishly pecking it up every sine i picked the game up - and the trail just keeps on going, on account of this game not being complete and always having updates.
i would also like to note that while i enjoy the game, i acknowledge that the devs are ...... like that. without getting into it or pulling up receipts; there is constant drama surrounding the mods and the creator + main writer. it's really a shitstorm of their own making. i don't like them or what they do (or don't do, in instances of ill timed neutrality) & while i acknowledge that they're the ones who created the base game and it's lore + characters : i really do feel like the fandom has done A Lot of the heavy lifting in terms of getting this thing off the ground & making the characters so lovable. i've really enjoyed my time chatting to those in the fandom, who made up their own ideas and interpreted the story in their own way! who made really fun player characters and shared how differently they interacted with the story vs how my eris has.
although the game gave us the basis of all of the above, i'd also like to note that i'm the one who's interpreting the story for you in this post. i'm the one who's calling this game a psych + stalker horror with erotic elements. this is how i've played the game and how i'm presenting it. if it were just a mindless sex game i wouldn't have played it for this long, nor became so invested in it. some people like and choose to play d.ol as just a "rape simulator" and that's fine if that's what they want. but i enjoy the lore and expanding upon it. (plus, lbr, i don't really play it for the n.oncon as a kink element - i'm going into every encounter strategizing a way to beat the shit out of assailants. FUCK WITH ME. lmaooo). anyway :) hopefully this helped paint a better picture for you of the game and what's happening (thus far). as i've stated, the game is not finished and there's an update every few months - some big, some small. it's still worth playing the game to experience it for yourself if you're interested and it really is a different game for every player. there's a lot of different choices and stats that can affect the story you experience.
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