ꨄ | Idia Shroud

Appearance

Idia is a tall young man with pale skin and bright blue, fire-like hair. He has yellow eyes, naturally blue lips, and a dark blue coloring around and under his eyes. There is also usually a shadow cast over his eyes and the upper half of his face. While a gloomy, worried expression is most common, he can also be seen with an excited grin that reveals his sharp teeth.

Idia’s hair is considerably long and reaches down to his knees. While his long bangs fall loosely around his face and between his eyes, the hair on the top of his head seems to flow upwards. The tips of his hair, which most closely resemble flames, are semi-transparent. On some occasions, the color of Idia’s hair changes to reflect his mood. When he is relaxed, his flaming hair stays a soothing blue, but when he's enraged, it turns a vivid red-orange. Additionally, his hair tips can turn pink whenever he feels embarrassed.[2][3][4] Dorm Uniform

As the housewarden, Idia’s dorm uniform somewhat differs from the rest of the Ignihyde students, the few distinguishing features being his padded belt, and several long strips of fabric that trail off of it. The uniform consists of a black textured jacket, a bright blue half-vest, navy-blue pants, and black and blue boots.

The jacket is mainly black with blue underlining. All over the outside of the jacket is a unique, geometric texture, consisting of evenly-arranged triangles. This texture appears to have a metallic shine. The jacket has a large, bright blue collar, resembling that of an aviator jacket, with black lines near the trim. Also along the collar are black zippers that go underneath the jacket. While barely visible, Idia also wears a navy-blue, crew neck shirt under his jacket.

On the right side of his chest is a bright blue half-vest that goes over his right shoulder, and is connected by a blue belt around his torso. The belt has a black triangle pattern and a dark-blue snap buckle, with the long end hanging down to his waist. The half-vest itself has one cargo pocket, above which is a large white button with the symbol of Ignihyde on it.

Just above Idia’s navy-blue pants is a blue padded belt, with a black belt strap and dark blue snap buckle. Hanging from the belt at both hips are blue, box-shaped pouches, with blue squares of fabric behind them, resembling the flaps on a tool belt. Worn over the navy-blue pants around his upper right thigh is a small blue belt with a black triangle pattern and dark-blue snap buckle. Both belts are connected by his black belt strap. Several long strips of fabric fall from the back of Idia’s belt and trail down to his ankles. The fabric’s outer sides are black, while the inner sides are bright blue.

The boots’ design resembles that of thick winter boots. They are mostly black, with bright blue tongues and heel counters. Over the tongues are four bright blue straps with black buckles, and the soles are white. Personality

Idia is a shy and withdrawn person with a dark outlook on life. Despite his little brother’s suggestions, he prefers to stay in his room at all times, and takes classes remotely whenever possible to avoid interacting with other people. He almost never shows up to ceremonies or housewarden meetings in person, instead using a tablet device to speak from his room.

When in public, Idia can get anxious rather easily. He has a tendency to stutter when speaking with unfamiliar people, so he is sometimes seen using his tablet to communicate and often uses it in multiple situations as Sebek noted that "He must be HIGHLY peeved if he's speaking without his tablet."[5][6] He also seems to be self-conscious about his looks, and is quick to assume that strangers will stare or make fun of him behind his back. In general, he expects a negative outcome from any social situation, so he would rather avoid them altogether.[7]

Despite all of this, Idia acts very differently under certain circumstances. He can talk with people more calmly if he's playing a board game with them[8], or if he's speaking with them over the internet. Moreover, he can speak quickly and enthusiastically about his hobbies or interests, greatly contrasting his usual demeanor. He can also be rather prideful when it comes to his engineering or gaming skills, often considering himself a genius. The Styx Director and father of Idia maintains that his son’s genius was inherited from his mother.[9] When he isn't talking to someone face to face, whether it be through a screen or behind a wall, he can speak clearly and quite bluntly. This sometimes backfires on him, though, as he can get a bit confrontational and say things he doesn't mean in the process.[7]

Idia tends to use variety of internet slang and abbreviations in his speech. He also commonly uses video game terms as metaphors for his own experiences. Background

Hailing from a bloodline rooted in the Age of Gods, Idia's family operates the Jupiter Conglomerate. This massive corporation built its fortune through offshore oil and rare metals, and it acts as the parent company for Olympus Inc. Raised on the Island of Woe alongside his younger brother "Ortho" and his parents, Idia was recognized from a young age as a promising genius. He is destined to inherit his household and the responsibilities of the Director of S.T.Y.X, a private organization dedicated to the research of Blot, despite the boy's resentment of the role and the heavy restrictions on his freedom.[2][10][11]

As the heir to a blood curse cast by the Jupiter Family's main branch, Idia possesses the ability to rapidly burn through Blot. However, this is far from a blessing: the curse proceeds to deplete the user's own magical energy if no external Blot is available. Consequently, the Shroud family devoted generations to Blot research at S.T.Y.X and held onto the false hope of breaking the curse. Today, the family has accepted their destiny, having abandoned all attempts to defy it. Because of this condition, members of the family are usually gloomy and demotivated.[12][13]

During his childhood, he spent most of his free time together with "Ortho" and, despite his affliction and duties, his family has reportedly attempted to maintain a sense of normalcy, engaging in family activities such as walks and visits to the surrounding city. Influenced by the video games they would play, they both dreamed of becoming heroes and going on adventures together in the outside world. One day, Idia promised on a whim to have a real adventure with "Ortho", before he was forced to take up the family mantle.

The two then attempted to leave the island by shutting down S.T.Y.X.'s high-end security system. However, in doing so, this by collateral also opened “Tartarus” (or Underworld), a facility that housed overblot phantoms. Before Idia could turn the security back on, he and "Ortho" are attacked by an escaped phantom. Idia survived the accident, but upon waking up, he discovered that "Ortho" had vanished. Consumed by immediate guilt, he held on desperately to the need to keep the promise he had made to his younger brother. Over the next two years, Idia shut himself in his room, working tirelessly to recreate Ortho in the form of an artificially-intelligent robot. He eventually succeeded, but in the end, his efforts weren't enough to fully alleviate his grief, as he spends the following years continuing to shut himself away from others.

As a student at Night Raven College, Idia originally didn't want the housewarden position, but was later convinced that no one else in the dorm was more capable of being Ignihyde's housewarden than he is. He would also rather not abide by a housewarden less skilled than him. It's rumored among other students that Idia received special permission from the Headmage to attend classes remotely, in exchange for safeguarding the school's network environment.

In the events of Book 6, Idia returned to the Island of Woe to serve as the Action Director of S.T.Y.X. while his parents were away to conduct an investigation. Despite Ortho’s cancellation of the Lethe River configuration program, S.T.Y.X’s secrecy and the resulting information gap have kept the public in the dark, even as the press enters a feeding frenzy to uncover its secrets. Following this event, Ortho became determined to look after Idia, knowing full well that Idia lacks intimate friends who could support him or intervene when he dives headfirst into work and gaming. In turn, Idia now appears to be making an effort to move past his grief and the tragic loss of his little brother, though he is quick to point out that he's long considered Ortho to be his brother.[14][11] Signature Spell

Game, Set, Match... Gate to the Underworld. IDIA SHROUD

Idia's signature spell is called "Gate to the Underworld". It allows him to open and close the gate to the "Underworld", which is house in S.T.Y.X HQ. The Underworld holds many dangerous Phantoms which the facility researches.[15][16]

It represents one of the rare and unique instances in which a Signature Spell is stated to be an inherited trait. The spell of Malleus hasn't confirmed heritable, but it's suggested that another member royal has inherited this type of magic. Housewarden of Ignihyde. A gloomy boy who shies away from socialization and prefers to shut himself in his dorm room. At times, though, he gets unusually talkative and animated.