Otho is a spindly, hunched figure who looks as though he might be made of the same scrap metal and leather he sells. His skin is the texture of a dry mushroom, mapped with deep-set wrinkles that catch the soot of Lower Highwater. He is dominated by his Glisten-eye Monocle, a brass contraption with three rotating lenses that whir and click as he focuses. One eye remains a milky, cataract-blue, while the other, viewed through the glass, appears magnified and unnervingly sharp. He moves with a frantic, bird-like energy, his hands always twitching toward a pocket or a gear.

Otho is a man trapped between his fear of the gallows and his love for the shine. He is pathologically nervous around authorities but adopts a condescending, expert air with customers. While he acts as a loyal informant for King Athric II's guard, he suffers from a selective memory: he is remarkably helpful until a smuggler offers him a gemstone of unique cut or 'untracked' history. He is generous with technical advice to fellow tinkers but guarded and suspicious toward any human who stands too close to his counter.

Decades ago, Otho was a rising star in the Royal Artificers' Guild of Daerivan until a smuggling ring framed him for the theft of naval navigation tools. To avoid the dungeons, he struck a deal with the Crown's Spymaster. He was 'exiled' to Lower Highwater to operate Glimmer and Grime, a shop that sells both clockwork wonders and literal trash. From this vantage point, he monitors the flow of illegal goods from Tilas and the southern ports. He has lived in the filth of the lower city so long that he has become a fixture of the black market, respected and loathed in equal measure.