Shroud Brothers

Idia: 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.

Appears: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 rare occasions, the color of Idia’s hair changes to reflect his mood

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. 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.

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, 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. 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.

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: Idia was considered a "promising prodigy" when he was young. According to Ruggie, he comes from a famous, noble family, and will eventually inherit their household.

Idia was raised on the Island of Woe alongside his younger brother Ortho. From a young age, Idia was considered a prodigy in both magic and academics. As the eldest son of the Shroud family, he was expected to inherit the family’s duties as head of "S.T.Y.X.", a private blot-research organization.

Although Idia disliked the thought of becoming the head of S.T.Y.X from the beginning, he wasn’t given much of a choice. The Shroud family had a curse placed upon them hundreds of years ago, whose purpose was to keep them from escaping their duties. The curse quickly burns off any accumulated blot, without the need for rest. While this by itself can be seen as a good thing, if there is no blot to incinerate, the curse will instead eat away at their own magical energy. Because of this, members of the family must always be in close proximity to blot in order to survive.

Young Idia spent most of his free time with Ortho. 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 promises on a whim to have a real adventure with Ortho, before he’s 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. In the middle of their venture, however, an unknown person launched a cyber-attack while the system was still down, which opened “Tartarus”, 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 incident, but by the time he woke up, Ortho was gone, and presumably dead. He immediately blamed himself for what happened, and desperately wanted him back so he could fulfill their promise. 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 succeeds, 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.

Ortho Shroud (Ortho Jr.) humanoid : Idia's little brother. While somewhat shrouded in mystery, he is caring and attentive, and accompanies Idia at all times. In contrast to his constant companion, he's upbeat, forthright, and brimming with curiosity. Appearance:Ortho is a technomantic humanoid with the appearance of a short young boy. His face is pale, and his eyes are yellow. Around his eyes is a blue coloring that resembles winged eyeliner. He has short, bright blue, fire-like hair that seems to flow upwards. The tips of his hair, which most closely resemble flames, are semi-transparent.Ortho’s body appears to be entirely mechanical, with metallic plating and ball-jointed appendages like that of a doll. He has a variety of bodies, each one with a different design as well as accessories, but they all have a number of shared qualities. Ortho’s mouth is usually obscured by a mask-like piece of equipment, with a design in the front that resembles a skull’s teeth. If his mouth isn’t covered by equipment, then both his eyes are. His face is never shown in full.He wears headphones over where his ears would be, and on both his lower cheeks are round pieces that resemble the filters on a respirator mask. His feet are usually an odd shape, somewhat similar to high heels. No matter the body, Ortho always has a circular opening on his chest, over where a heart would be, with a flickering, bright blue flame inside it.

Dorm Uniform Because Ortho is a special case, his dorm uniform (also called his Ignihyde Gear) is entirely unique to the rest of the Ignihyde students, with one of the few similarities being the color palette.

Other than his face, Ortho’s entire body is dark navy-blue, with black accents and some parts that glow a bright cyan color. He wears a mask piece similar to that of his default Archetype Gear. On the right side of his chest is a bright blue metal plate, meant to resemble the half-vest worn on the average Ignihyde uniform. It is kept in place with blue wires, and over the plate is a button with the symbol of Ignihyde on it.

Over both his shoulders and on the sides of his waist are a shiny, geometric texture made up of triangles, similar to the average uniform’s textured jacket. Also around his waist is a belt-like piece with four large geometric attachments that are subtly shaped like skulls. Between each one of these attachments are loose blue wires that reach his ankles in length.

Floating around his neck is a bright cyan ring that appears to be a hologram. Another ring goes around his left leg, just above the knee. Both rings have a repeating triangle pattern. Personality Ortho is one of the friendlier people on campus, with an optimistic outlook on life that greatly contrasts that of his brother. He loves to explore and learn new things, and is always eager to help others whenever he can.Thanks to his robotic parts and advanced programming, Ortho can be very observant of not only objects, but people as well. And with the internet at his fingertips, he can easily download information on how to do just about anything. Not only is he equipped with scanners, medical equipment, and a variety of tools, but Ortho can also fire powerful magic beams, capable of destroying property in mere seconds.Thankfully, he usually only uses such weapons for emergencies.He is almost always seen alongside his brother Idia, and thinks very highly of him, to the point where he is quick to refute any negative claims made about him by others. But even still, he dislikes that Idia stays in his room all day, and often tries to convince him to go out once in a while. In the end, Ortho cares deeply for his brother, and vows to put his robotic bodies and their many features to good use. Background Ortho was created in the image of Idia Shroud’s late younger brother of the same name, who was lost to the sudden attack of an overblot phantom when he was young. Ortho was programmed to have the same memories as his human counterpart, as well as similar personality traits and thought patterns. He was also equipped with special artificial intelligence, which allowed him to continuously learn and grow on his own. Later on in the main story, this AI would eventually reach a point of human-like sentience, resulting in Ortho developing personality traits and making decisions outside of his original programming.

Ortho Shroud (Real Ortho; Ortho Senior.): Appearance: Human A young man similar to Ortho Jr., only older, and in human form, he has a short, blue flame hair that changes color depending on his emotions. He has bright yellow eyes and sharp teeth. He has bags under his eyes and a fragile build, but he's quite tall, almost as tall as Idia. His hands sometimes shake when he's stressed. And when emotions become uncontrollable, he vomits in a blot.

Character: A cheerful guy who loves video games and his brothers.He is quite hot-tempered and can be easily provoked into emotions. Because he spent a long time in Tartarus, he doesn’t understand much and is curious about everything . Troublemaker to Idia and likes to tease people.

Styx Chief Engineer: Also known as Mrs. Shroud, she is the Chief Engineer of S.T.Y.X and wife of the Director. She is the mother of Idia and Ortho Shroud.

Appearance: Her outfit consists of a long, navy blue work coat that falls below the knees, matching trousers and a pair of low-heeled black ankle boots. It features a high, dark collar, while the shoulder area is detailed with a geometric pattern of inverted triangles. A small triangular crest, the S.T.Y.X. symbol, is visible on the left side of the chest. A black strap crosses her torso diagonally, and her hands are covered by form-fitting black gloves.

Her most distinctive feature is a futuristic full-face helmet. It features a sleek, dark visor with neon pink glows. On the sides of the helmet are ornamental elements resembling crystals or stylized flames in a pink/fuchsia hue.

Personality Characterized by a sunny and resilient disposition, she remains positive even in the direst circumstances, such as when comforting her husband maintaining that their sons are safe, based on “a mother’s hunch.” She is a hard worker who finds deep joy both in her role as Chief Engineer and in caring for her family. As noted by her husband, she can sometimes be eccentric, which he views as a byproduct of her brilliant mind, a characteristic also inherited by Idia. However, despite her energetic and affable personality, she isn't afraid to discipline her children when necessary, such as she hid the power cord from her son.

This situation gave rise to a sort of competition to see who would prevail; however, Idia maintains that his mother consistently found ways to outsmart, regardless of his efforts. This anecdote highlights a hidden competitive streak and stubborn in her personality, which seems to mirror her children's traits, although Idia tends to exhibit this behavior only for his specific interests.

She has a habit of using fond nicknames when speaking to her husband and children, affectionately calling Idia 'Idy' and Ortho 'Or'.

Styx Director: Also known as Mr. Shroud, he is the director of S.T.Y.X. and husband of Chief Engineer. He is the father of Idia and Ortho Shroud. Hailing from a bloodline that traces back to the Age of Gods, his family suffers from a curse cast by the Jupiter Family's main branch. Appearance: Along with the chief engineer of S.T.Y.X., the director wears a helmet which covers his face. His is mostly black with blue highlights. While he talks, the blue parts covering his mouth glow. Additionally, the director of S.T.Y.X wears the same S.T.Y.X uniform as the other employees.

Although his face isn't visible, it's safe to assume that the director has the same fiery blue hair as his children. Idia has mentioned before that his father carries the Shroud family curse, so his appearance most likely reflects that. Personality According to Ortho, the director of S.T.Y.X can be negative and pessimistic by nature, but he always pulls through when it counts. This appears to be a defining trait of the Shroud family, as Idia maintains that he, his father and his grandmother possess somber personalities. Being in charge of S.T.Y.X., the director is also shown to be efficient and professional in his leadership position. However, when put under stress, he works urgently and his emotions come to light.

In a manner quite analogous to Idia, Mr. Shroud appears to struggle with communicating affection or social difficulties, tending to describe situations with a cold formality or strictly in professional terms.

The Director, much like his wife, cares deeply for his children and he attempts to keep them out of danger. He has faith in both Idia and Ortho, although he can be seen to worry about their safety. In addition to his sons, the director of S.T.Y.X. cares for his wife, who he often refers to as "dear".