"Hello!"
-- Prologue --
A man stared at a computer screen, glass of apple juice to his mouth as he looked at numbers and patterns pass by. He sat in a centre with likeminded individuals, lights dimmed so nobody could make out who sat with them. What they represented was just one of many security operations centre within the city. Who they exactly worked for was not important, nor their exact address was relevant. What mattered is that they were brought in to analyze and watch numbers. They checked for anomalies and strange occurrences. For this city and for recent times, it was absolutely necessary.
This city had undergone major changes both politically and physically recently. To the monitors it all began with Operation Teardown, a classified special operation that was executed in one rainy evening in mid-summer of last year. On the surface it was just a special operation, meant to subdue and defeat The Dearest Family. Though the operation was successful, it's fallout caused a greater impact than expected.
The lords of the criminal underworld, The Dearest Family were gone. All of a sudden extortions, organized crime, counterfeiting and more were open season, a massive vacuum torn open from the Family's absence. They had their hands in everything and with their arrest, meant everything was rife for the taking.
Politically things weren't much better. The mayor and police chief were killed in the Operation. Accidental casualties, this threw the municipal government and police force into turmoil. Mass corruption and cover-ups were exposed, forcing an old guard into retirement and a new class of politicians and police to crop up.
Tricky, the scourge of the city and architect of the Madness Wars that levelled the city over a decade prior had appeared during the operation, frightening many. It reactivated dormant wounds, reminding people of the carnage that tore the city apart. Even though he was gone again, many demanded to know how he came to re-appear.
And worst of all, that operation saw the creation of some kind of technological-eldritch abomination. A new race of black-eyed psychopathic beings referred to as EXEs now stalked technology, scaring children and frightening adults. In a sad turn of a events, VR became just as dangerous as real life.
And even though Operation Teardown was localized to the city, its fallout was felt elsewhere too. The planet of Mobius was destroyed, unbeknownst to the monitors, a direct result of Teardown. Even Hell underwent changes. Some even questioned Lucifer's leadership now. How could she let that family run around unabated so much? Many questioned how the Family were able to free Tricky from the bottom of hell. Did the Family have loyalists and supporters in Hell against Lucifer? A bout of paranoia caused the shift, a special office in Hell set up to begun hunting down loyalists and those that sought to go against her leadership. Spillover from that caused some demons to flee, deciding to take their chances on the surface to avoid her wrath. The city's recent turmoil presented an opportunity for many demons to escape there.
Such a change would've frightened even the hardest general. However, the average joe was blind to this. All they knew was that an explosion rocked the Dearest Compound once and the police chief and mayor were killed. Only those past censored lines and classified documents that knew the truth. To the regular citizen, crime was overall down and as long as you were street smart you'd be fine. No different from any other metropolis, they would think.
It was a game, and so long as you didn't play it you were blind to the civil wars and conflicts raging across the city. But, many citizens couldn't deny that things felt...different. Even the name was in question. Was this always called Lumiere City? All records indicated so but many could feel it had a different name just a year ago.
It feels like we're in an interbellum. There are conflicts all over the city but nothing compared to what used to rule it. But just because things are calmer doesn't mean the city is peaceful. There are paramilitary organizations, amateur demon-slayers, professional thieves and scorned titans seemingly rising from the ashes, all converging on the city.
The following records were compiled by an unknown archivist known only by the alias of Ludgren. They detail events experienced by several different characters.
These are The Ludgren Files.
-- Explanation --
So what is this?
At the end of Operation Teardown I mentioned how writing that series got me deeper into 3D modeling. Since finishing the book in 2024 I've been modeling a LOT. Here we are over a year later. In case you don't follow my Bluesky or seen any of my social media I've gotten WAY better at 3D modeling. I've modeled 30 different characters, landscapes, images, animations and more.
Now, as I model characters I tend to think about them a lot. I started to daydream about them, eventually coming up with short stories about them. And then I wondered how they would fare in the Turnabout AU? You know, that clusterbomb of a story with all sorts of characters from Friday Night Funkin' to Poppy Playtime to Madness. That world is already a mess, why not just add EVEN MORE characters? And thus, the The Ludgren Files were born.
This book is a collection of short stories starring any and all characters I model. It is set is in the same world as Turnabout Teardown. It however has nothing to do with those books other than taking place in the same city and setting. With how chaotic things got at the end of that book the AU is rife to take in practically any direction I want.
Of course, not every character I've modeled will have a file. The Avenger won't. Her file is actually Job 1 of Pop Goes the Balloon. I've modeled other peoples OC's (Yakumono) who I don't intend to write anything for. Same with my Corsola and pokemon trainer models. While I've found the concept of adding more and more stuff to this AU, adding Pokemon would only severly complicate things. (Plus, I already have a whole Pokemon story planned).
If you're wondering who might have a file here go check my website and just assume mostly everyone in the group photo is gonna be present here.
There is no order to posting the files. I'm going to post pieces when I feel like it. There's also no overarching plot and each story is supposed to be digestible on it's own. The book will end with The Battle of Lucier Field, an event that triggers DreamSpire (the next big fanfic I want to write). As I'm still writing my original novels, these files are purely for fun, to indulge and to give me an excuse to make more renders of stuff I model.
You're not expected to have read any of my previous books. Just being vaguely familiar with each character is good enough.
So who is Ludgren? He's all over my website. I'm sure you'll figure it out. :)