The Shroud Family

Idia and Ortho’s Mother: The Chief Engineer

Idia’s father, the Director, inherited his position of Head of the Shroud family from his mother, Aidne, so it is possible that Idia’s mother was an outsider who married into the Shrouds. As the flames of Idia’s hair are the manifestation of the Shroud family curse/blessing, it is possible that his mother, the Chief Engineer, is not burdened with the curse.

Idia explains, “If all the curse did was burn blot as soon as it accumulated, the Shroud family would be an upbeat band of merry heroes, bursting with magical might. But Dad and Grandma supplemented their magic with technomantic devices. And they were ultra-negative and depressing to be around.”

The “magic supplementing technomantic devices” that Idia’s father and Grandmother use(d) are possibly the helmets that we see both of his parents wear, but Idia does not say anything about his mother needing or using one, so perhaps her helmet is different? Or the technomantic device is something else, and the helmets are a different thing altogether? As of this writing it has yet to be explained.

Idia says that people who are born into the Shroud family are the ones who possess a blood curse that burns blot and are born with a unique magic that opens and closes the gate to the Underworld. Assuming that the Chief Engineer is not a distant cousin or otherwise blood-related to the Shrouds, this might be insinuating that she does not have the blood curse and cannot open or close the Underworld gate? As that ability is a Unique Magic, it might be possible that the Chief Engineer is not even a mage, though her mage-status is unconfirmed as of this post.

Much like the Director is the head of the family, he also seems to be the Head of STYX: Idia says that, after his overblot, “a lot of places have been hounding them to take responsibility for things…and by them, I mean the director—my dad,” without any reference to his mother.

Idia comments on his dad being “ultra-negative and depressing to be around,” and when the Director is worrying about Idia and Ortho at the start of Book 7 the Chief Engineer tells him, “being pessimistic isn’t exactly productive. Let’s try and keep a positive mindset.”

The Chief Engineer may be more expressive than her husband, with the Director asking her to “rein it in” after she reunites with Ortho (who has just escaped Malleus), and to keep “personal chitchat to a minumum.”

After Ortho asks her to create gear that will enable him to infiltrate Malleus’ domain the Chief Engineer immediately leaves the room to do so, briefly confusing the Director, who asks, “Must geniuses always be so eccentric?”

It is the Chief Engineer who makes the connection between communications satellites launched for testing being accessed by an unauthorized user over the past three years (since Idia enrolled at NRC) and the only route available for Ortho to escape Malleus’ domain in Book 7, and she is proven correct, saying that she knew that Idia would absolutely think he needed access to the internet to survive and would hack into their communications satellites to do so.

It is also the Chief Engineer who devises the method that is ultimately used to take down Malleus, by approaching the structure of Malleus’ magic like source code that can be hacked to allow for unauthorized access from the outside: “Just you watch. I’ll identify every dreamer’s IP and build my own unauthorized admin system! Heh heh heh heh heh…!”

The Director says, “She’s been like this ever since she viewed the logs of your contact with Malleus,” and Ortho observes, “Times like these remind me of how much Idia takes after her.”

In Book 6 Idia comments that “always prioritizing efficiency over people’s feelings” is “classic mom and dad,” but that is not what we see happen in Book 7: after they intercept Lilia’s mage arm in order to disassemble it into the sword needed to cut down Malleus, Idia is delighted, but the Chief Engineers pauses to approach Silver for permission, saying, “This is your father’s treasure, right? One with lots of sentimental value? In order to modify this magearm, we’ll have to completely dismantle it. Are you okay with that?”

Silver approves, and the Chief Engineer says that she will take full responsibility for the modifications.

Idia does not seem fond of interacting with his mother—at least not in front of his people from his school right after she has been through his personal computer—asking if he can hang up on her the moment that she calls him.

The Chief Engineer seems undeterred, however, saying that her eldest son on a blastcycle is reminiscent of “a prince riding to everyone’s rescue on a white horse…well, a metal one.”

In his 2021 birthday vignette Idia is asked about being trapped on a deserted island and he responds, “What if someone hacks into my PC while I’m gone?! I mean, l’ve got it locked down super tight. But on the incredibly remote chance someone got a look inside…if any of those files were leaked to the public…NOOOooo!”

This is exactly what happens in Book 7, when Idia’s mother gets through “Idia’s super-ultra-ironclad security program” to access a copy of Ortho’s gear schematics. She assures Ortho, “I didn’t peek into any password-protected folders!,” but also asks him not to tell Idia.

This is one of the first things Idia reacts to upon being awoken from his dream: “I understand everything now. Or at least, I wish I did. But learning Mom’s seen everything on my PC was too much of a shock to my system.”

Ortho assures him that the Chief Engineer didn’t make any comments about anything she saw, but this seems to make things worse. 

Later in the story we learn that Idia has blocked his mother’s account and refuses to @ her in communications along with STYX staff, saying, “In what world would I want to face my mom after having everything from my PC’s contents to my dreams laid bare for her to see?!” She responds, “…I didn’t look at anything. Honest!,” in small font.

Idia says, “If you achieved that level of perfection with Ortho’s gear without even looking at any of my stuff, that’s just as despair-inducing. Please, this is way too much for me to deal with, so let me leave you blocked for both of our sakes!”

Idia threatening Malleus with the worst of his wrath for exposing the contents of his computer to his mother is a running theme in Book 7, with Idia saying, “If this mess didn’t lead to my mom seeing the contents of my PC, I might not have been nearly so bent on revenge.”

Idia mentions a time when, as a child, he had power cables taken away as punishment for “gaming too much” (Ortho: “You immediately turned around and made your own power cable, and just switched the game back on”), and upon seeing the Chief Engineer for the first time Cater responds, “This is the mom who hid the power cord to her son’s game console?!”

Idia explains that, in response to his mother taking away his power cord, he tried to make a game console power cord that could never be hidden, as she also hid all the materials to make one.

He said that after “a whole bunch of trial and error” he created a transparent power cord that only recognized its registered owner, but “(he) was goin’ up against a real genius. Any technology (he) developed, (his) mom could counter almost instantly,” and they went back and forth with one another for months until he realized he could just rig the console to be powered wirelessly, but his victory was short lived: “‘Cause then the final boss showed up in the form of this horrendous device that could neutralize all wireless power in a 10-meter radius,” presumably developed by the Chief Engineer.

Early on in Book 7 Ortho volunteers himself for the task of infiltrating Malleus’ domain in order to gather data, asking the Chief Engineer to construct him gear that will enable him to do so.

When she responds that it is too dangerous Ortho seems to pretend to be losing contact in order to escape the lecture, and threatens to “permanently activate every sprinkler on the Island of Woe” if the gear isn’t ready by the time he has downloaded himself.

Ortho arrives 48 hours later to an unhappy Chief Engineer, who is not pleased with having been threatened, but she immediately accepts Otho’s apology and presents him the Cerberus Gear of her own creation.

Ortho says, “Mom is definitely the strongest member of our family. She’s normally nice, but she gets scary when she’s mad. Nobody can outmatch her there.”

On the subject of his Cerberus Gear Ortho says, “This drive system is astoundingly efficient, and so is its energy consumption.Mom’s engineering skills are out of this world…”

The Chief Engineer sets the strict rule that Ortho is to not be reckless and leave the moment he becomes scared, saying, “You really do take after your brothers.” Ortho thanks her for treating him like a real member of the family and she assures him, “You’re one of our beloved sons too,” and the family shares a hug.

It is the Chief Engineer who orders Ortho out of Malleus’ domain, even as Idia is being actively dragged into an abyss.

Later, Ortho apologizes for losing the two robot dogs that she’d made for him inside of Malleus’ realm, and she says that they can retrieve their components and fix them up again as soon as Malleus’ barrier is down, but “What matters most is that (Ortho) made it out safely,” and they share another hug (though Ortho is a hologram at the time).

The Chief Engineer creates Ortho’s Cerberus Gear within 48 hours, along with “the entire tech dev division pulling all-nighters,” calling it “anti-magical disaster gear” that is “specialized for combat within areas affected by magic, and it can defend against system contamination caused by Malleus’s spell.”

She says, “Isn’t it the coolest? I’ve always thought sharp, angular gears were the way to go for you,” and Ortho says “the exterior does have a different vibe from Idia’s designs.”

She gives Ortho the rundown on his special mission into Malleus’ domain, and orders the CHARON into termination mode when it looks like he may not escape in time. Later, she again oversees the deployment of the CHARON when awaiting for Idia to arrive to receive the equipment that is to be used against Malleus.

She also oversees the creation of the armor and shield made from mystium received from Briar Valley, going to Idia for instructions on who is to wield them and then announcing, “I hereby designate you as the wielders of the anti-dragon decisive battle weaponry and will begin work on them.”

She also oversees the calibrations to the armor and weaponry, which she then submits for Idia’s approval.

Idia and Ortho’s Father: The Director

coming soon

Idia and Ortho’s Grandmother: Aidne Shroud

coming soon