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.
In-game Album
Appearance
Ortho is a technomantic humanoid[1] 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.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4]
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.
Trivia
- Ortho's name may has its origin in the greek word (Greek: ὀρθός, -ή, -όν "unharmed, safe, prosperous, righteous, upright, correct, genuine"). This may be related to Idia's desire to protect him and their backstory.
- His surname, Shroud, from (Latin: sudarium "a cloth or handkerchief used to cover the face of dead people, to show them respect"), which has relation to the story of Hades (or Pluto) being the God of Death and taking care of the dead.
- Prior to the events of Book 6, Ortho was technically not a student of NRC. He was accepted into the school with Idia and accompanied him to classes.
- Idia designed and built all of Ortho's bodies, each one with different functions.
- Each of Ortho's bodies have a title associated with them that differs from the outfits of the other students. This is reflected in the names of his in-game cards.
- Ortho's hair is real fire programmed to look like that of his brother. He claims that he can change its color at will by altering the gas mixture.[5]
- Ortho once recalls memories from eleven years ago, from when he was five years old. This supposedly means that he (or rather his human counterpart) would be 16 years old in present time.[6]
- Ortho is referred to by members of Styx as a "technomantic humanoid"[1], implying that his creation involved both technology and magic.
