Illum Nairo

> "*There's no room for error this time. The new world may not survive it.*"
> ― Illum Nairo
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Illum Nairo is a character in *Origin Stories* introduced in Killerjoy. He was a former caval and an instructor at Delmontpelier's Academy teaching students shooters and rifles.

## Appearance

Nairo is described as having a bald head, the only amount of hair being that on his chin, this is done to hide his true age. He also wears thick glasses with faded lenses for the same effect.

## History

### Early Life

Nairo was a caval under Gentin Rove Harspin's rule. When Gentin Harspin passed the order for the cavals to hunt down the masques, pressured into it by the lords, Nairo followed orders dutifully. Instead, he found the masques scared and vulnerable and made a different choice. He elected to help these masques and employ them to help him meet whatever ends he had in mind. These masques included Ember Spin, Wander Soul, and Dreadlam among others.

Sometime after his tenure as a caval, he went to Carver and became an Instructor for Delmontpelier.

Nairo's masques had discovered Vermon and his family at Eckle Lake. He had put the gargoyles under masque protection, but that didn't do much when prowlers attacked the beasts. Silver One arrived at Eckle Lake and slaughters the prowlers. Something that Nairo initially wanted to punish. But he had Ember follow him and she saw him go to Three Hands in his hiding village. There Silver One took off his mask and revealed that he was actually Attle Bowman.

### Killerjoy

Nairo was sent to collect Attle from his job at the railings by Proctor Allen. Nairo went to the railings, grabbed Attle, and brought him to Brandishier before sending him on his way to treat with the Proctor.

Later, after Silver One was arrested by the lords of Carver, Nairo sent Ember and Wander to break Attle out of the Sky Hall. They fled the hall in a chop and went to Brandishier for Attle to treat with Nairo. Nairo explained all that he knew of Attle and much about the masques of Carver. He told Attle their plans to stop the next Annihilation at any and all costs. He made the offer for Attle to join the masques, something that Attle turned down quickly after having it revealed that it was the masques who summoned the wicker at the summit. Nairo let him leave with his life under the condition that he stopped gallivanting around as Silver One to not bring a bad reputation to the masquerade. He also managed to place a tracker in Silver One's masque to keep an eye on Attle and find out if he activated the suit again.

With Attle mostly dealt with, Nairo went to Three Hands to enlist his help. Three Hands agreed to aid the masques in return for Carver itself.

With Vermon on his side, Nairo had little left to do in Carver. He went to a hideout beyond the city's walls to enact his plans. He also used Vermon as leverage against the revivalists to keep them in check and control their movements and actions throughout the city.

Demaro Jun used the round that Ember had given Attle to find his way to Brandishier. He came face to face with Nairo, but not in person. Nairo spoke to the lord via a screen and revealed a great deal about himself and the masques to Jun. He explained how they could have at any time chosen to kill all the lords, but they didn't want or need to. However, since Jun now knew the truth, Nairo certainly didn't want him wandering around Carver with that knowledge. He made Jun's chance of escaping the round that was meant to kill him very difficult, nigh on impossible. But Jun punched through the screen itself escaping the room and the round.

Not long after, Attle, Jun, and the other lords of Carver learned of Nairo's plan and his hideout. They attacked the hideout just as Nairo intended to activate the device he'd created using Vermon. Many revivalists and masques died during the fighting (including Dreadlam at Jun's hands). The final showdown happened when Attle came face to face with the former caval.

Nairo instructed Ember to kill Attle and be done with it. But Attle disabled the barrier that kept the lords and proxies from entering the fight. Ember was knocked unconscious leaving Attle and Jun to take on Nairo. Instead, Three Hands revealed himself to be the final masque at Nairo's side. He stepped forward and took them all on. Three Hands cut Jun's arm clean off, killed Blite and Black Ox, and he would've have killed Lovis too if Attle hadn't stopped him. Nairo and Three Hands gave Attle a choice: Kill Jun and be pardoned, or die with the rest of them.

Attle instead had Jun remove his capacitors and unleash all his gage mettle on Three Hands, punching a hole through his chest and knocking the lord out in turn.

While the fighting happened, Nairo activated his device and looked into the Whirle hoping to find out what caused the last Annihilation and a way to stop the next one. He was excited by what he saw at first, whatever it was, but soon he only saw Exa through the Whirle. Something he was very confused at.

The device, which was unstable, began to backfire. A light came from the device and it engulfed Nairo killing him instantly.

## Quotes

> "*Our plans are for the good of the dominion, not a reaction to human pride and past mistakes. That is why you are alive right now.*"
> ― Illum Nairo
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> "*The first step is finding out what is coming.*"
> ― Illum Nairo
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> "*I faked the deaths of almost every masque I came across. Not a hard thing to do when dealing with natural fighters who'd rather die than go to the prison on Everess.*"
> ― Illum Nairo
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> "*We will ruin you before you have the chance to tarnish the reputation of the masques.*"
> ― Illum Nairo
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> "*I find the words of a lord to be empty swill.*"
> ― Illum Nairo
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> "*The horrible thing is that none of this is necessary.*"
> ― Illum Nairo
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> "*It's a simple gesture, really. And a great way to avoid your unnecessary death.*"
> ― Illum Nairo
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> "*... [It] only costs a single, albeit glorious creature's life.*"
> ― Illum Nairo
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> "*It's already done. And to be blunt, it’s not the riskiest gamble I’ve ever taken.*"
> ― Illum Nairo
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