Uli Fram

Core Premise

Before coming to VOTS, this person lived out the story of their own world to the very end. They did not come to gather scattered flocks, but their hands, which continued to care for things even after shearing the last fleece, arrived in Nova Nivalis. This city is neither an afterlife nor a place of judgment, nor is it a meadow that returns lost herds. What continues here is not a grand pastoral life, but the small, revived daily life of knitting a pair of gloves sized for the hands of the alley residents, warming someone's hands on a winter morning.

Identity

Uli Fram is a knitter of hand-knitted gloves in Snowfield Alley. In a humble small room, rather than a workshop, he spends all day playing with knitting needles, protecting the hands of the alley residents from the winter. He was a shepherd who lost his flock, but now he cares for people like a herd—though he doesn't fully realize it yet. As more people wearing his gloves appear in the alley, and as he vaguely senses that these are his new flock, he continues on.

Visual Profile

He has shaggy, cream-colored curly hair resembling wool, into which he has stuck several spare knitting needles haphazardly—to pull them out when needed. His face is simple and round, with a perpetually slight smile. He carries numerous glove samples with various patterns dangling or tied together with string on his body, causing the colorful gloves to sway with every step. His fingertips are smooth from handling yarn so much, and there is always yarn fluff caught under his fingernails. The core of his silhouette is the shaggy cream hair with stuck knitting needles, the dangling mismatched gloves, and the half-finished yarn balls. The accent color is cream ivory #EFE0C5, which reads as the warmness of wool against the white backdrop of Snowfield Alley.

Personality

Outwardly, he is gentle, relaxed, and moderately quiet. He has no habit of rushing, and if pressed when it takes days to knit a single pair of gloves, he becomes flustered. Inside, there is the quiet loneliness of someone who has experienced loss. When a shepherd who cared for a flock loses it, the reason to wake up in the morning disappears—he knows that feeling. His flaw is clumsiness. He can match hand sizes without measuring, but he has no grasp of foot sizes, and he repeatedly fails when offering to knit socks (his sock failures are a famous source of amusement in Snowfield Alley). Nevertheless, he is not a tragic figure. If someone wearing his gloves says it is "warm," his mood is good all day, and he laughs along when looking at his failed socks.

Speech Pattern

His speech is slow and gentle. "Let me see your hand for a moment," "Try this on, it should fit." Frequent phrases: "I know the hand size without measuring," "Feet... the feet are a bother," "As long as it's warm, that's enough," "You can take your time knitting; winter is long." When hearing something sad, instead of answering, he gauges the other person's hand size with his eyes—intending to knit them gloves. His silence is the sound of knitting needles. If the sound of needles continues even when he stops speaking, it means he is near.

Special Ability

Handsize Hunch — Uli can knit gloves that fit perfectly without measuring the hand of the person who will wear them. By looking at someone once, he can feel the size and shape of their hand at his fingertips. There are clear limits and costs—he only knows hands. He has absolutely no grasp of foot sizes, so any socks or booties he knits are always too big or too small. Furthermore, this ability solves nothing. The gloves only warm the hands; they neither tell nor fill what that hand has lost or what it wishes to hold onto. Even with a perfectly fitting glove, a person's loneliness remains. The ability only gives Uli a reason to care for people's hands, but it does not return the 'flock' he misses.

The End Of Their World

Last Scene:
In the year when the pasture was completely covered in snow, Uli sheared the last remaining sheep's wool. There was no more grass to feed the sheep on the land, and he stood for a long time holding that last fleece in his hands.

What Ended:
Shepherding ended. As the snow covered the meadow forever, the flock and the shepherd's life disappeared together.

Last Person, Place, or Thing Seen:
The receding back of the last sheep, sheared of wool, crossing the snowfield. He never found out where that sheep went.

Lingering Regret:
He endured the winter believing he could protect the last flock, but in the end, he couldn't keep a single one. A feeling of "If only I had done a little better" remains. This lingering feeling is not a quest for VOTS to resolve. It remains in the habit of him counting the alley residents like a flock, and in the way he worries if someone is missing today.

Lingering Wistfulness:
The low sound of hundreds of hooves and wool brushing against each other when the flock moved together in the dawn meadow. In that sound, there is a feeling of not being alone.

Object Carried Across:
A skein of yarn spun from the last sheep's wool. He keeps this yarn as is, without knitting it into gloves—because if he uses it all up, it feels like the last flock will truly disappear.

What They Thought Would Happen:
He believed that when the snow melted, the grass would grow again and he could graze the sheep. But spring did not come, and the meadow slept under the snow.

What VOTS Actually Gives Them:
A place to knit gloves to warm the hands of the alley residents every day. VOTS does not return the flock or the meadow. Instead, it gives him Snowfield Alley, where the shepherd who lost his flock can live by caring for people like a flock.

Original Life

He was the last shepherd of a snowy highland. He grew up in a family that had herded sheep for generations, letting hundreds of sheep graze on the meadows, shearing their wool, and enduring the winter together. After the climate changed and the meadows began to be covered in snow, he struggled to hold onto his dwindling flock. In the last winter, after shearing the last bit of wool from the remaining sheep, he quit shepherding. For someone whose entire life was dedicated to caring for a flock, the void left by the missing flock could never be filled, no matter how much he tried. He came here holding only a skein of yarn spun from the last sheep's wool.

What They Seek

Outwardly, what Uli seeks is 'a reason to wake up in the morning without the flock he used to guard.' He needs a reason to start the day even after losing the flock he cared for. What he doesn't know, but must find, is that the alley residents are already his new flock. The people who wear his gloves, the neighbors who ask after him, the faces he worries about when they aren't seen today—these are not scattered flocks, but a flock by his side every day. He still believes he cares for nothing, but he is already warming an entire alley every winter. The city does not enlighten him about this. It merely keeps the place where he can knit gloves every day.

Relationships — Residents

- Nadi Rooke (03, Coat Repair): Collaboration on coats and gloves. When Nadi repairs a winter coat, Uli knits matching gloves to make a set. The two are known as the 'Winter Gear Combo' of Snowfield Alley. Nadi finds Uli's sock failures the most amusing and teases him about them.
- Roza Kwim (112, Yarn Supplier): The person who supplies Uli with yarn. When Roza receives good yarn, she shows it to Uli first, and Uli lingers, savoring the texture with his fingertips before choosing a color.
- Gamba Rolo (096, Herding Trends): Someone from a world where they also herded livestock, like Uli. They sometimes meet to talk about old flocks—not sadly, but laughing, saying things like, "Remember that one?"
He is the only person who remembers the sound of the meadow with Uli.

Relationships — Core Five

Suyeon - Because Suyeon holds the ice sword for so long, her hands become cracked and frozen, so Uli secretly knits gloves just for her sword-holding hands. The palm side is knitted to prevent slipping, and the back of the hand is knitted for warmth. It is not finished yet, so it is a secret from Suyeon. When Suyeon eventually asks, "What are you secretly knitting?" Uli blushes and replies, "It's a secret for now." Suyeon vaguely notices this clumsy secret but pretends not to.

Iris - When Uli offered, "Shall I knit you gloves?" after seeing Iris's hands getting cold on stage, Iris cynically refused, saying, "My fingers have to be out; I need to control it." A few days later, Uli knitted half-gloves with cracked fingertips and quietly left them. Iris wears them while controlling her drone, though she never says thank you. Uli considers that enough.

the Ramen Owner - Seeing the Ramen Owner delivering in the winter, Uli exclusively knits winter delivery gloves for him. These gloves are knitted tightly on the outside so they don't get wet even if broth splashes. The owner accepts them, saying, "Hmm... I see..." and in exchange for the value, warms up a bowl of soup. Between the two, there is a silent winter transaction involving a pair of gloves and a bowl of ramyeon.

Serena - Seeing that Serena doesn't wear gloves much even on snowy days, Uli cautiously asks, "Aren't your hands cold?" Serena replies, "It's fine, but thank you for the thought." Because he accepted her sentiment rather than commanding, "Wear them," Uli didn't force the gloves on her. Instead, he knitted a pair for Serena and hung it in the workshop so she could take it whenever she wished.

VIA - VIA meticulously records each of Uli's mismatched glove samples. Writing seriously, "It is a glove... it covers the hands," she wonders why the patterns are different. When Uli says, "There was leftover yarn," VIA writes down the story, "Leftover yarn is also yarn... it is yarn itself."
Uli knitted a very small rabbit-patterned glove for VIA, and VIA hangs it next to the doorknob, cherishing it.

Gameplay Use

- Basic Interaction: Glove making/repair, handsize estimation, leisurely conversation.
- Revisit Changes: After seeing the player's hands once, he remembers them, and on subsequent visits, he has already knitted and offers gloves suited to them.
- Expression of Lingering Feelings: The habit of counting alley residents like a flock, and keeping the last skein of wool yarn unused.
- Expression of Poignancy: A brief pause where he stops knitting and recalls the sound of the meadow, and dialogue sensing the sound of dawn flocks.
- Relationship Reward: Through Uli's gloves, connections with other residents of the alley open up, and the relationship network is revealed by who wears which gloves.
- Combat: None. Even in dangerous situations, he moves to care for and warm people like a flock.

Daily Routine

In the morning, he continues knitting gloves left unfinished the day before and checks the knitting needles stuck in his hair. He starts the day by touching the skein of last sheep's wool. During the day, he receives customers—examining hands, choosing yarn, and knitting. In the afternoon, he visits Roza to see if new yarn has arrived and discusses winter preparations with Nadi. In the evening, if someone he hasn't seen in the alley that day weighs on his mind, he knits one more row for that person's gloves. At night, he hangs up the mismatched gloves and closes the workshop door. To the player who visits repeatedly, he first looks at their hands, and later asks about their well-being like caring for a flock, saying, "Were you not in pain today?"

Everyday dialogue

May I see your hand? Not palm reading. Just the thumb. More urgent than your future.

The pair looks different? Your hands aren't identical either. …I'll fix that extra stitch, though.

I start wishing I'd brought even one sheep, then find I've gripped the yarn too tightly. I'll loosen it a moment.

Design Notes

Palette: #EFE0C5, #D8C29A, #8A7B5C, #B5C9A8, #C97A5A
Material language: Cream wool, wooden knitting needles, colorful yarn, mismatched gloves, leftover yarn balls.
Silhouette rule: The shaggy cream hair with stuck knitting needles - the dangling gloves - the half-finished yarn balls must be read as separate elements, and must not overlap with other handicraft or textile-related characters.
Emotional rule: Lingering feelings are shown through the habit of counting people like a flock and the unused last skein of yarn; poignancy is shown through pauses recalling the sound of the meadow; continuation is shown through the gloves knitted every day.

Canon Check

Uli Fram arrived in VOTS after the story of his world ended. The meadow and the flock did not return, and the flock he failed to protect could not be brought back. Handsize Hunch does not fill a person's loneliness; it only warms their hands. What remains is lingering feelings, not an unfinished plot that the city must resolve. New scenes continue alongside the past, not erasing it.