Gremory
Gremory (pronounced /ˈgrɛməri/) is an infamous hacker of the Multivirt, dwelling in the neighborhood of Corley in Eversky. The name is self-chosen; whatever his original name was, it seems to have been excised from all available records and memory, probably by Gremory himself.
Appearance
Although he still thinks of and refers to himself as male (and apparently was originally male, if his own account can be believed), Gremory actually usually takes female shape—though thanks to his morphic hacks he can change his form if necessary, and sometimes does appear as male in front of close associates. His female form is more than superficial; whatever he may be mentally, his normal form is physically female in every particular. Nevertheless, Gremory takes exception to being addressed as a woman, and anyone careless enough as to refer to him by the feminine pronoun in his presence will become a target of his malicious mischief.
Gremory's usual form is that of a beautiful, brown-skinned woman with a round face, large eyes, and a pouty lower lip. He dresses in colorful robes and diaphanous headscarves that reach below his waist, and on his head he wears a crown like a turban with a tassel on top and taurine horns on the sides. Gremory often shows up riding a camel.
On those occasions when he does take male form, Gremory usually appears as a dark-haired, brown-skinned teenage human with a sharp nose and a triangular face, and bearing on his back large membranous wings. (He certainly is not chronologically a teenager, but, again, his morphic hack lets him take on nearly any form he wishes.) In this form, he wears a heavy coat with plenty of pockets (which his wings somehow pass through unimpeded as if they were immaterial), and nothing underneath it but a pair of knee-length shorts.
Hacks
Gremory specializes in hacks involving the ability to find information, see through obstructions and concealment, and locate hidden things; he's very good at getting around encryption and finding things out that he's not supposed to find out, and in giving others the tools to do the same. He also has a smaller sideline of psychological hacks, particularly emotional hacks that deal with enamoration. Although he makes considerable personal use of morphic hacks—both on himself and on others—they aren't his area of expertise, and he may refer those interested in such hacks to some of his colleagues.
Gremory also distributes a publication called "Gremory's Grimoire", a large tome the contents of which mostly comprise classified information he's ferreted out from various sources. Of course, not all of the secrets he discovers go into the Grimoire; it's more of a teaser to demonstrate his capabilities (and a venue for distributing as widely as possible the secrets of people and organizations against which he has a particular grudge).
Headquarters
The entrances to Gremory's headquarters shift frequently, the better to avoid his being found by those he doesn't want to be found by. He actually makes his home in a small hackworld of his own creation that he calls the Doleful Desert, which is accessible through portals in Corley, but the portals are moved around. There are some indications that in fact there is more than one Doleful Desert, and that Gremory either migrates between them or makes his home in one and keeps the others around as deliberate blind alleys to mislead seekers.
In either case, within the Desert, Gremory lives within a large tent, or at least a structure that appears to be a large tent from the outside; inside, it's much larger than its outside dimensions would indicate, and complete with all the standard amenities, and quite a few unusual luxuries as well. Gremory occasionally takes close friends or lovers in and allows them to stay with him for a while, sometimes for up to almost a year at a time, but he has no permanent cohabitants.
Those wishing to contact Gremory are best able to do so through an intermediary. Gremory has a number of confidantes within Corley with whom he entrusts the locations of the portals to the Doleful Desert. Many of these contacts, however, are nearly as elusive as Gremory himself. The only one with a fixed base of operations is an artist named Asteria who lives in a labyrinthine studio she calls Cnossion. However, Asteria requires any new visitors to pass a series of tests before she will deign to speak with them.
Personality
In person, Gremory is almost invariably cordial and cheerful, though his humor often tends toward the puerile. He almost never raises his voice or seems to lose his temper, and treats everyone as if they were close friends. However, he never loses an air of smug superiority, and has a tendency to talk down to people that many find infuriating. Aside from that, his apparent amiability conceals a venomous vindictive streak; he may be holding down an apparently congenial conversation even as he inwardly devises revenge upon his interlocutor. People who particularly offend Gremory he morphs into camels—numerous such camels wander the Doleful Desert, and it's likely that whenever Gremory appears riding a camel his mount is the morphed form of someone who had annoyed him.
Gremory often likes to inscribe on his works and at the sites of his escapades his personal sigil, an elaborate design involving circles and whorls and a large cross in the center. (This symbol is not actually his original invention, but is taken from an ancient book called the Lesser Key of Solomon, which may have also been one source of inspiration for Gremory's name and for some of his mannerisms.)
