Brother Tomlin

Source Record

Campaign: Under the Bus
Folder: Characters / NPCs
Status: Established NPC
Source Base: Campaign correspondence and recaps

Overview

Brother Tomlin was the head of the history division of The Chosen and one of the organization's principal historians. He was a tall, thin human in his mid-40s with the appearance of a classic librarian.

The party first met him at the Tower of Plinth, where he explained the history and organization of the Chosen and their mission to preserve and recover accurate historical knowledge.

Role in the Campaign

Tomlin primarily served as a historical and scholarly resource for the party.

Smah Tepants and Dunno Mename trained under him in the history division while the party remained at the Tower. Smah focused particularly on lost technology.
After the Chosen were attacked by the werewolves, Tomlin helped direct the party's investigation into the source of the attack and sent Marcus with them as their tracker.
When the party recovered the mysterious ceramic disk from Deskin, Quentin brought Tomlin and two of his scholars in to research it. They determined that it contained a formula written in an ancient language probably related to the language of Pythia the Mad Prophet.
Tomlin identified the symbol of the fist eclipsing a sunrise as belonging to Filtiarn, and the Chosen's research established that Filtiarn had previously attempted to ascend to godhood.

Historical Knowledge

Tomlin was responsible for explaining much of the Chosen's known history to the party, including the Founders of the Chosen and the organization's various divisions.

He also introduced the party to the Chosen's knowledge of Pythia the Mad Prophet and her prophecies.

His explanations represent the Chosen's historical knowledge at the time, not necessarily the complete truth. This is particularly relevant to the Chosen's understanding of Samos and the interpretation of Pythia's prophecy.

Characterization

Tomlin was primarily a scholar, teacher, and historian, rather than a field adventurer. He was useful to the party when they needed to understand ancient records, languages, artifacts, or historical events, but he was not a major figure in the campaign's later events.

Established / Unknown

Established:

Head of the Chosen's history division.
Historian and teacher.
Tall, thin human, approximately mid-40s when encountered.
Taught Smah and Dunno.
Helped research the plague disk.
Identified Filtiarn's symbol.
Provided historical information about the Chosen and Pythia.

Unknown:

Full personal history.
Class or level.
Chosen abilities.
Ultimate fate.
Anything suggesting he remained an important figure into the later history of the world.