Born: Quilliam Theodore Cogglepotts

OCCUPATION: Toywright, Tinker-Mage & Keeper of Nogglepotts’ Oddity Workshop

Quilliam Theodore Cogglepotts—affectionately known simply as Coggle in the countryside village of Nogglepotts—is a tiny, bright-eyed inventor whose creations are as peculiar as the man himself. A master toywright, he crafts living marionettes, self-whistling whistles, spring-legged jackhoppers, and storyboxes that retell tales in their own embellishing voices (sometimes too embellishing).

In his youth, Quilliam apprenticed under the famed woodcarver Master Pipwhistle, learning to coax personality out of gears, springs, and bits of leftover brass. He later traveled the countryside performing as a “mechanical troubadour,” showcasing clockwork puppets that danced, argued, and occasionally formed labor unions.

Though never interested in grand machines or explosive experiments like his son Thaddeus, Quilliam’s genius lies in small wonders—gizmos that fit in a pocket yet spark joy in anyone who winds them. His workshop, perched on a hill just outside Nogglepotts proper, is a friendly chaos of half-finished toys, tinkering benches, and walls lined with jars labeled things like mostly harmless springs, giggle dust, and spare marbles from questionable sources.

Quilliam is known throughout Gearinthia as the grandfather of whimsy, a gentle soul who believes every child deserves a toy that feels “alive with imagination.”