Dorian Pike

Core Premise

Before coming to VOTS, this person lived out the story of their own world to the end. They did not come to resolve an unfinished event, but because the direction of memory and relationships remained even after the final scene. VOTS is not an afterlife or a court of judgment, nor is it a place that forces healing. What continues here is not a grand destiny, but small, repeatable daily life—a meal, mending, recording, waiting, play.

Identity

Dorian Pike lives as the Square Board Game Attendant. They record wins and losses but do not remember the winners for long. They ask anew each time why the rules must be followed. Their function is not decoration, but essential labor for the city. When guests arrive, they work; when there are no guests, they tidy their tools; they do not take someone else's story and try to solve it as their own.

Visual Profile

Lean build, graying hair, an old military uniform adapted into a civilian vest, a wooden game piece pouch. The silhouette's core elements are a black wooden game piece, a folding game board, and a chalk slate. The structure prioritizes readability so that the face, hands, feet, and props do not overlap. The attire is not exaggerated heroic gear, but a form that retains traces of their original world's profession and the final scene in everyday wear. One strong accent color conveys both profession and emotion even in a small sprite.

The End Of Their World

Last Scene:
At the ceasefire line of the final war, Dorian ended the game without moving a single piece.

What Ended:
The history that divided enemies and allies closed with a final agreement, and the purpose of the remaining people ended.

Last Person, Place, or Thing Seen:
The un-flipped game board and two hands that could not shake.

Lingering Regret:
Dorian knew that waiting could bring victory, yet never reached out first.
This regret is not a quest that VOTS must resolve. It is spoken of only when Dorian Pike chooses, quietly influencing present actions without changing another person’s choices on their behalf.

Lingering Wistfulness:
The afternoon when children were making their own games by messing up the rules. Wistfulness remains as a sensation, not a device to restore the past. When very ordinary stimuli like smell, temperature, footsteps, light, or tone of voice occur, it briefly revives, and then overlaps with the new sensations of Nova Nivalis.

Object Carried Across:
A single black wooden game piece found on a battlefield. This object is not an artifact for world-building or a powerful magic item. It is tangible proof and a personal mark connecting the ended world with present life.

What They Thought Would Happen After the Ending:
They thought that after the ceasefire, ordinary matches would continue, but the board itself was cleared away.

What VOTS Actually Gives Them:
Each day, Dorian sets out a game in the square. He offers the first move to anyone who wants to change the rules.
VOTS does not undo their ending. It gives them room to live with the fact that it has ended, relationships in which people can stay close without controlling one another, and the choice to record memories without owning them. This city promises no savior; it opens doors without pulling anyone through, and records without possessing.

Role In Nova Nivalis

Dorian Pike's day is tied to the rhythm of Rainshield Square. The profession of Square Board Game Attendant provides material support so that other citizens can continue to live. Even in moments of good work, the lingering regrets of the past do not disappear; rather, they remain as traces in the temperature and pace of how they work. This character is not an NPC who only speaks of tragedy, but the face of daily life that players can meet again and again.

Personality And Behaviour

Their outward personality is as follows: They record wins and losses but do not remember the winners for long. They ask anew each time why the rules must be followed. They do not immediately explain their own story to strangers. When receiving help, they say thank you but do not turn it into a debt, and when offering help, they step back if the other person does not want it. Conversations recalling the past begin not with sudden revelations, but with objects and habits. For example, a single black wooden game piece found on a battlefield to Dorian Pike is both a stored item and something to hold onto when conversation pauses.

Relationships

They teach Tori and Jun how not to lose, and wait for participants under Moku's awning. Serena is the founder who does not own this person, and VIA is the entity that leaves a door without forcing arrival. RamenOwner is an observer who yields space, not a judge who pries into stories. Lethe is an entity of record that does not solve memories for them. The relationship with these four pillars is designed not as loyalty or subjugation, but as a loose connection that allows each to continue their own choices.

Private truth

They always start the black piece at the edge. They have not yet decided what deserves to be in the center.

Gameplay Use

- Basic Interaction: Service appropriate to their profession or short daily conversation.
- Revisit Change: Record what was said previously, but do not fix it as a conclusion without the other person's permission.
- Expression of Regret: Recurring prop actions, short pauses at specific times, an unfinished sentence.
- Expression of Wistfulness: Sensory dialogue about weather, light, sound, and food.
- Relationship Reward: Small changes connecting the person to other people and spaces in the city, rather than new quest items.
- Combat: None. Even in dangerous situations, the function of guiding, evacuating, mending, recording, or accompanying takes precedence over survival.
- Player Choice: Initiating conversation, waiting, yielding space, entrusting an object, returning later.

The rhythm of a day

In the morning, they check the tools and representative props from the previous day. This check is not a compulsive staging but a small ritual separating the final scene of their own world from the present time. When starting work, Dorian Pike first observes the pace of those around them. They respond briefly to those in a hurry and do not demand explanations from those not ready to speak. Around noon, the sounds and smells of Rainshield Square become clearest, and at this time, the wistfulness of the past overlaps with present sensations. At night, they place the single black wooden game piece found on the battlefield in its proper place. This is not about locking away or hiding the object, but leaving it so it can be seen again tomorrow.

The core of the daily loop is not about retrieving the past. When the player visits repeatedly, Dorian Pike's working speed, the length of their dialogue, and the distance they maintain from others change very slightly. On the first visit, they show only their role; on the second visit, they pull out a piece of the sensation from the final scene; and thereafter, they ask about the present of VOTS first. Even if they become quite close, they do not offer a path back to their past world as a reward. Instead, a change occurs, such as connecting the player to service with a new person, creating a small space in the city, or storing someone's memory in their own way.

Scene beats

In the first scene, the daily function of the Square Board Game Attendant must be read first. The player learns what this person creates, what they guide, and where they spend their time. In the second scene, the black wooden game piece, the folding game board, and the chalk slate appear not as mere decorations, but as objects that dictate the placement of hands and gaze. In the third scene, the sensation of an afternoon when children were making their own games by messing up the rules, even if the player doesn't ask a question, is revealed through background action. Only in the fourth scene can it be expressed through a direct sentence or a short silence that even knowing one can win by waiting, they did not reach out first. The final scene does not resolve regret. It shows the present choice of playing games daily in the square and yielding the first move to someone who wants to change the rules, ending as an open life where the player can return.

Relationship Temperature

The relationship with this person is not expressed by a single affection level. The frequency of giving and receiving help, the time spent not finding silence uncomfortable, the degree to which objects can be entrusted, and the way they address each other's names are indicators of the relationship. If the player pries into the past or urges them to go back, the relationship does not grow closer. Conversely, if they hold their ground, return an object, or wait even if the conversation is unfinished, the next conversation opens up. The result is not 'salvation,' but a change in the way they coexist.

Nova Nivalis Connection

Dorian Pike is not a monument representing their world. While acknowledging that their world ended, they reuse the skills and sensations learned in that world within the current city. Therefore, their profession is not a replica of the past, but a transformed continuation. The last performance becomes the habit of tea and tuning; the last train becomes the habit of benches and guidance; the last lesson becomes the habit of leaving questions. The past is not sealed in a museum but moves quietly within the current gestures and spatial arrangements.

This setting does not make the character unnecessarily tragic. They can smile, they can make mistakes, and they can show interest in other people's stories. Regret and wistfulness do not replace their entire personality. They are aftertastes that surface at specific moments, and even after those aftertastes fade, Dorian Pike continues to work, eat, walk, wait, and greet someone. This is the concrete manifestation of 'continuing' in Nova Nivalis.

Everyday dialogue

Go easy because you're new? Fine. I'll help with the rules. My final move gets no such concession.

Games I lose are demonstrations. Games I win are official results. Any objections?

Today I'll offer my hand first. Let's play. Waiting until there's nobody left across the board isn't much fun.

Design Notes

Palette: #657260, #A86D59, #D5C29B, #3D4750, #8B6C80
Material language: Well-worn fabric, handled metal, paper, glass, rain-soaked leather.
Silhouette rule: Head-torso-hands-feet-representative prop must be separated and not overlap with the representative forms of other characters.
Pose rule: The occupational action must be readable even in a static pose. Movement, conversation, and work poses must separate the arms and legs from the torso, and the prop must not obscure the face.
Emotional rule: Do not end with a single 'tragic expression.' Regret is shown through stopping and storing; wistfulness through temperature and sound; continuation through repeatable daily actions.
Asset rule: The notebook artstyle should be made from a single clean designer notebook page, and the sprite should be made from a consistent directional/walking sheet for one character. Collages of cut-off limbs, paper scraps mistaken for characters, or mixed-in other figures are not approved.

Canon Check

This character arrives in VOTS after the story of their world has ended. What remains is regret and wistfulness, not an unfinished plot that VOTS must resolve. New scenes in Nova Nivalis do not erase the past but continue alongside it.