Ilos
The Dead Prothean World
Ilos was a ruined Prothean colony hidden behind the secret Mu Relay, home to the Conduit and the buried truth of the Reaper cycle, reached by Commander Shepard in the race to stop Saren Arterius.
Ilos was once a verdant jewel of the Prothean empire, a world of magnificent cities devastated long ago and left a rust-colored ruin. Hidden behind the secret Mu Relay, it concealed the Conduit and the records of the Reaper cycle, and in 2183 it became the final destination in Commander Shepard's pursuit of the rogue Spectre Saren Arterius.
A fallen golden age#
In the golden age of the Protheans, Ilos had been a verdant world dotted with the spires and arches of magnificent cities. By the modern era nothing of that splendor remained. The planet had been devastated by means unknown, its entire surface changed to the color of rust, and its atmosphere showed heightened levels of oxygen. Wildfires, presumably ignited by lightning, burned on its dark side, evidence that most if not all of its respiring animal life had long since died off. Its surface gravity remained a comfortable 1.17 standard G. According to the reawakened Prothean Javik, the world had been home to the extinct inusannon before the Protheans discovered and colonized it for themselves.
The hidden world#
Ilos lay beyond reach for most of galactic history because it could be approached only through the secret Mu Relay, whose location had been lost. The quarian Migrant Fleet had once expended considerable effort searching for the world as a possible settlement, without success. Saren Arterius required the relay's coordinates to reach Ilos, which was why he sought that information elsewhere, and the asari researcher Liara T'Soni, who had studied the Protheans, recognized Ilos as the place shown in Shepard's vision.
The Conduit and the race against Saren#
Once the warning vision recovered from Virmire was complete, it pointed Shepard to Ilos. The world held the Conduit, the key Saren sought, and reaching it first became the final stage of the hunt. Beneath the ruined surface lay archives that had survived the catastrophe, carrying the Protheans' hard-won knowledge of the Reaper cycle and the means by which one civilization after another had been harvested.
Aftermath#
In the years that followed, Ilos drew the attention of scholars and governments alike. Salarian researchers came to study its relics, and depending on how the Battle of the Citadel had ended, the Systems Alliance was reported either to be safeguarding their work or to be using its dreadnoughts as an intimidating presence in the Attican Traverse. The batarian government, for its part, pressed for access to the relics recovered from the dead world. Liara kept a painting of Ilos in her quarters, a reminder of the world that had unlocked the truth about the Reapers.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Ilos in Mass Effect?
- Ilos was a ruined Prothean colony world, once a verdant planet dotted with the spires and arches of magnificent cities. It was devastated by means unknown, leaving its entire surface the color of rust, and it held the Conduit along with archives of the Protheans' knowledge of the Reapers.
- Why could Ilos only be reached through the Mu Relay?
- Ilos lay beyond reach for most of galactic history because it could be approached only through the secret Mu Relay, whose location had been lost. Saren Arterius needed the relay's coordinates to reach the world, which was why he sought that information.
- Who lived on Ilos before the Protheans?
- According to the reawakened Prothean Javik, Ilos had been home to the extinct inusannon before the Protheans discovered the world and colonized it for themselves.
- How did Commander Shepard find Ilos?
- Once the warning vision recovered from Virmire was complete, it pointed Shepard to Ilos. The asari researcher Liara T'Soni, who had studied the Protheans, recognized Ilos as the place shown in Shepard's vision, and reaching it became the final stage of the hunt for Saren in 2183.
- What happened to Ilos after the Battle of the Citadel?
- Salarian researchers came to study its relics, and depending on how the Battle of the Citadel had ended, the Systems Alliance was reported either to be safeguarding their work or using its dreadnoughts as an intimidating presence in the Attican Traverse. The batarian government pressed for access to the recovered relics.
Gallery
Images via Mass Effect Wiki
Sources
- WikiIlos — Mass Effect Wiki entry
- WikiBattle of the Citadel — Mass Effect Wiki entry
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Related entries
Javik
Javik was the only known survivor of the ancient Prothean race, an Avatar of Vengeance preserved in stasis for over fifty thousand years, who was revived during the Reaper War to wage one final campaign against the enemy that had exterminated his people.
Prothean
The Protheans were an ancient race who ruled a galaxy-wide empire before mysteriously vanishing some fifty thousand years ago, harvested by the Reapers. Long credited with building the Citadel and mass relays, they secretly nurtured younger species, leaving ruins and technology that shaped the modern galaxy.
Virmire
Virmire was a lush, tropical frontier world in the Terminus reaches where Saren Arterius built a secret research base, and where Commander Shepard learned the true purpose of the Reapers before destroying it.
Asari
The asari, native to Thessia, were among the most influential species in the galaxy, renowned for their elegance, biotic talent, and millennium-long lifespans. A mono-gender people able to reproduce with a partner of any species, they founded the Citadel Council and stood at the heart of galactic society for two thousand years.
Battle of the Citadel
The Battle of the Citadel was the climactic engagement of 2183 in which the rogue Spectre Saren Arterius, guided by the Reaper Sovereign, attempted to seize the Citadel and open a path for the Reaper invasion. Commander Shepard and the Citadel and Alliance fleets stopped the attack at great cost, and its outcome shaped galactic politics for years afterward.
Commander Shepard
Commander Shepard was a Systems Alliance N7 marine who became the first human Spectre, exposed the rogue agent Saren Arterius, and led the galaxy's resistance against the Reapers. Shepard's gender, history, and many of the choices that shaped the war were never fixed, and the final fate of the cycle turned on the Commander's own decisions.
Mentioned in22 entries
Battle of the Citadel
The Battle of the Citadel was the climactic engagement of 2183 in which the rogue Spectre Saren Arterius, guided by the Reaper Sovereign, attempted to seize the Citadel and open a path for the Reaper invasion. Commander Shepard and the Citadel and Alliance fleets stopped the attack at great cost, and its outcome shaped galactic politics for years afterward.
Citadel Council
The Citadel Council was the executive committee that governed Citadel space from the Citadel Tower, composed of representatives of the asari, salarians, and turians, and was the ultimate authority over Council law, interspecies disputes, and the covert Spectre agents.
Commander Shepard
Commander Shepard was a Systems Alliance N7 marine who became the first human Spectre, exposed the rogue agent Saren Arterius, and led the galaxy's resistance against the Reapers. Shepard's gender, history, and many of the choices that shaped the war were never fixed, and the final fate of the cycle turned on the Commander's own decisions.
David Anderson
David Anderson was a decorated Systems Alliance officer, the first captain of the Normandy, and a mentor to Commander Shepard. When the Reapers invaded Earth, he stayed behind to lead its resistance, and he stood at Shepard's side in the final hours of the war.
Geth
The geth were a race of networked artificial intelligences built by the quarians as laborers. When they gained sentience and questioned their makers, the quarians tried to exterminate them; the geth won the resulting Morning War and withdrew behind the Perseus Veil to build their own future.
Geth Prime
Geth Primes were the largest and most powerful geth infantry platforms, heavy units that served as command and control nodes on the battlefield. Sheathed in armor and heavy shielding, a Prime carried a punishing pulse weapon and a combat intelligence that sharpened the fire of every geth around it.
Inusannon
The inusannon were an ancient spacefaring race that existed at least 127,000 years ago and were wiped out by the Reapers. Tens of thousands of years later, the ruins of their civilization gave the Protheans the knowledge to develop mass effect technology.
Jeff "Joker" Moreau
Jeff "Joker" Moreau was the Flight Lieutenant and helmsman of both the SSV Normandy and the Normandy SR-2, a brilliant pilot whose brittle bones never kept him from the cockpit. He flew Commander Shepard through every campaign of the Reaper War and formed a close bond with the ship's artificial intelligence.
Karin Chakwas
Dr. Karin Chakwas was the human physician of the Normandy across both of its incarnations, a calm and devoted Alliance major who stayed at her post out of loyalty to the soldiers she treated. She regarded the crew as her family and counted Commander Shepard and the pilot Joker among the truest friends she ever had.
Legion
Legion was the name taken by a gestalt of over a thousand geth programs housed in a unique mobile platform, sent beyond the Perseus Veil to find Commander Shepard and the first of its kind to speak and reason as an individual.
Liara T'Soni: Asari Researcher and Shadow Broker
Liara T'Soni was an asari archaeologist and expert on the Protheans who joined Commander Shepard's crew in 2183. Driven by the loss of her mother and the betrayal of a friend, she later seized control of the Shadow Broker's network and turned it against the Reapers.
M35 Mako
The M35 Mako was a Systems Alliance infantry fighting vehicle designed for rapid deployment from frigates onto any world. Compact, environmentally sealed, and famously rugged, it served as Commander Shepard's groundside transport during the hunt for Saren.
+ 10 more
Get new articles in your inbox
No spam. New lore drops, canon conflicts, and deep dives only when they’re worth reading.
Some links on Lore Fortress are affiliate links. If you buy through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.