Tomebound GDD Universe Characters and NPCs - robblofield/Tomebound-Docs GitHub Wiki
Tomebound GDD - Universe - Characters and NPCs
Characters
Quill
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Background
Quill, born Quilian Espadrillian IV, was once a minor archivist at the Grand Repository of Mechano-magical Studies. Though technically brilliant, he was largely ignored by his peers. He produced a landmark paper on flux-bound energy theory, described as “visionary” by some, “lengthy” by most, and “just tall enough to fix the wobble in the tea room table” by all.
Frustrated, he reinvented himself as an “adventurer-scholar,” borrowing liberally from pulp stories and silver age comic books. He legally changed his name, dropping eight syllables and nearly all of his social anxiety in the process.
He eventually found his way to the Lost City, chasing fame, recognition, and a magical Tome he'd hoped would set him up financially. If not for life, then at least for a few deluxe hardcover editions of Alan Moore comics. You know, the ones that transcend the medium and are admired by intellectuals (read edgelords).
Skillset
Quill specializes in interacting with the mechanical puzzle systems of the Lost City: ancient circuits, rotating seals, arcane gearlocks, and long-dormant crystal relays.
His role is essential in rerouting energy flows, activating forgotten machinery, and overriding defensive protocols in puzzle encounters. His background as a tinkerer and academic gives him the knowledge (and ego) needed to brute-force long-lost systems into cooperation.
Personality
Quill is eloquent, pedantic, and deeply allergic to being wrong. He masks his insecurities behind verbosity and polished goggles.
He sees his cursed companions as a failed group project from which he cannot escape. His disdain for improvisation is rivaled only by his hatred of poor labeling systems.
Relationships
- The Tome: Mutual disdain. Quill attempts to outwit the Tome at every opportunity.
- Nyx: Everything about Nyx and their outward appearance is utterly baffling to Quill.
- The Lost Civilization: Quill reveres their craftsmanship but cannot forgive their UX design.
Nyx
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Background
Nyx was raised deep in the Fen Reaches, a region where the line between nature and nightmare is thin and frequently crossed. Their early mentors were bog witches, root-singers, and vinebound revenants—many of whom were at least partially imaginary.
Initially studying magical biology, Nyx showed promise in symbiotic spellcraft and occult botany, before veering hard into the forbidden and theatrical. Their university thesis was described as “a bold integration of theory, ritual, and something we’re still trying to clean off the lecture hall walls.”
Nyx leaned fully into theatrical druidism, ritual glamour, and deliberately unsettling fashion choices. Their wardrobe appears curated by a sentient thrift store ghost.
Their obsession with “primordial patterns” led them to the Lost City—not for wealth or glory, but because they became convinced the coordinates were hidden in the liner notes of a limited-run concept vinyl they bought at the merch table of a basement gig.
Skillset
Nyx interacts with elemental and organic puzzle systems throughout the Lost City. This includes regrowing collapsed bridges with rapid-growth spores, coaxing vines into pressure switches, and animating swamp-creatures to serve as temporary platforms.
Personality
Nyx is cryptic, theatrical, and unshakably convinced of their own spiritual insight. They speak in ominous fragments, quote unknown grimoires, and regularly reference events that haven’t happened yet.
They take their persona seriously. You can tell because they’ve never once broken character, even while eating noodles, slipping on a wet tile, or being set on fire.
Tthey rarely explain anything. If you ask why they’ve drawn a summoning circle in the middle of the hallway, they’ll just say “You'll see,” and walk away.
Nyx believes everything is a message from something older, deeper, and vastly more tired than the gods. Their goal is to listen harder than everyone else.
Relationships
The Tome: Nyx treats the Tome like a misbehaving deity—alternately placating, mocking, or outright ignoring it depending on the celestial alignment. The Tome, in return, finds Nyx unsettling but occasionally useful.
Quill: Their opposite in nearly every way, Nyx views Quill as a walking library fire. Useful, brittle, and entirely too loud.
The Lost Civilization: To Nyx, the Lost City is less a ruin and more a wounded memory. They are more likely to mourn it than study it.
The Tome
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Background
The Tome was forged in the final years of the Lost Civilization—part arcane record, part cosmic operating system. It was imbued with fragments of the alien monolith that now destabilizes reality, granting it a form of sentience from the moment of its creation.
In essence: a magical construct bound to a decaying alien AI core, tasked with preserving knowledge and evaluating worth. Unfortunately, its standards are impossibly high—and its patience, impossibly low.
When Quill and Nyx attempted to steal it, the Tome did what any jaded hyperintelligent entity would do: it cursed them with co-op.
Functionality / Skillset
The Tome acts as the narrator, level gatekeeper, and cosmic judge of the game. It offers commentary, lore and passive-aggressive encouragement.
It teleports players into key locations within the Lost City—Plazas, Battlegrounds, Gauntlets, and Observatories—each a chamber of trial designed by the long-dead civilization and now repurposed by the Tome.
- In Plazas, it seals the rune gate, locking players in until they collect the correct runes and arrange them in the right combination.
- In Battlegrounds, escape is barred until players survive a minimum number of enemy waves.
- In Gauntlets, the exit only opens when a player physically reaches it—if they survive the platforming trials.
- In Observatories, players must solve complex puzzles to proceed - or forfeit and take a damaging upgrade card.
Personality
The Tome is omniscient, theatrical, and deeply disappointed in you. It speaks like the smartest person in the room, because it is. Not just this room, but across all rooms in the entire multiverse.
It never yells. It doesn’t need to. Its words are precise, stylized, and delivered with the kind of calm confidence that suggests you’re doing everything wrong.
It especially enjoys poeticizing your mistakes, and has developed a sophisticated taxonomy of failure it updates between runs.
Relationships
Quill: Sees Quill as the most punchable entity to have ever stepped foot int the lost city. Alas, despite the omniscience it posseses - arms and fists it does not.
Nyx: Finds Nyx fascinating, confusing, and frustratingly immune to its sarcasm. Generally creeped out by the whole ensemble and would rather not have further encounters with them.
The Lost Civilization: Blames them for nearly everything.
Sample End-of-Run Remarks
“Your bravery was noted. In pencil. Lightly.”
“A bold strategy. Experimental. Let’s call it... interpretive.”
“Technically you made progress. Emotionally? That’s between you and the mirror.”
“Death was foretold. I just didn’t think you’d make it so easy to underline.”
“Some say failure is the best teacher. Others say it’s me.”