Location: Milky Way / Crescent Nebula / Tasale System / Second planet
Description
Mass Effect 2
Illium is a classic garden world, developed to serve as entrepot between the Terminus Systems and the Asari Republics. To abet this trade, the normally stringent customs laws of Council space on product safety, proscribed materials, and sapient trafficking are relaxed. Officially Illium is not an asari world; it is colonized and operated by asari corporate interests. This gives it the same legal latitude enjoyed by the human corporate research enclaves of Noveria.
Illium is one of the youngest asari colonies settled during the 7th Expansion Wave. The first child born on the world is only now reaching her middle-age. The world is hot and massive; ground settlement is only possible at the higher polar latitudes. In more equatorial locations, the population is housed in arcology skyscrapers to escape the heat of the surface.
Mass Effect 3
Illium is a classic garden world, an entrepot between the Terminus Systems and the Asari Republics. To abet this trade, the normally stringent customs laws of Council space on product safety, proscribed materials, and sapient trafficking are relaxed. The world is hot and massive; ground settlement is only possible at the higher polar latitudes. In more equatorial locations, the population is housed in arcology skyscrapers to escape the heat of the surface.
Reaper forces met a surprising amount of resistance at Illium. Its leaders were paranoid about keeping their fortunes, and were influential in both Terminus and Citadel space. They acquired a large defense fleet and a high number of fission weapons, and in the brief space battle, used them on the Reaper fleet's troop transports rather than their near-impervious capital ships. As a result, the inevitable ground invasion has been slowed to a crawl as the Reapers manufacture more troops.
Codex Entry
A regional hub of asari commerce awash in riches, Illium is infamous for its abusive labor practices and legalization of nearly everything except murder. As such, Illium is the preferred production site for weapons and pharmaceuticals that would be illegal nearly everywhere else, made even more lucrative by legal indentured servitude. Among the biotics-related pharmaceutical producers is the Dantius Corporation, a rising star in galactic commerce.
Despite the dangers of its products, Illium is renowned for glamor, luxury, and safety (provided by near-total surveillance), making it a favored tourist destination. Countless celebrities maintain palatial estates on Illium and in its capital, Nos Astra. The sole obstacle to business on Illium is its extensive bureaucracy, tolerated only for its provision of security.
Regardless of the character of its economy, Illium's self-congratulatory media exalts its own society with the provincial arrogance of "new money," glorifying in "sexiest CEOs" and "ten richest residents" lists.
Additional Information
Illium is a commerce planet, and sees many new cultures and goods due to its proximity to the Terminus Systems. New visitors are advised to avoid signing anything due to the world's lax legal regulations, necessary in order to stay competitive with the Terminus Systems. As such, drugs are legal as long as they are labeled properly, and one can buy any kind of weapon, technology, or even indentured servants. At the same time, it is still an asari world and far from lawless. Very few quarians visit Illium as it does not allow the Migrant Fleet to enter the star system.
Known locales on Illium other than Nos Astra include the Manjoros Plaza and Saefos Valley.
Missions
- Mission: Dossier: The Assassin
- Mission: Dossier: The Justicar
- Mission: Illium: Liara: Systems Hacking → Illium: Liara: The Observer
- Mission: Lair of the Shadow Broker (mission)
- Mission: Miranda: The Prodigal
Assignments
- Assignment: Illium: Blue Rose of Illium
- Assignment: Illium: Conrad Verner
- Assignment: Illium: Gianna Parasini
- Assignment: Illium: Indentured Service
- Assignment: Illium: Medical Scans
- Assignment: Illium: The Assassin: Salarian Family Data
- Assignment: Illium: The Justicar: Smuggling Evidence
- Assignment: Illium: The Justicar: Stolen Goods Found
- Assignment: Illium: The Prodigal: Lost Locket Found
Mineral Deposits
Illium is a mission world and cannot be mined.
Search and Rescue
- Main article: Search and Rescue
Trivia
- Because it is an asari colony, conceptual designs for Illium had to capture the beauty and serenity of the species.
- The skald fish, which is available for purchase at Citadel Souvenirs, is native to this world.
- Several humorous ads for various forms of entertainment can be heard on Illium.
- Next to the stairs which lead up to Liara's office, rapid-moving elevators may be seen. If one steps outside and looks above them at the top of the building, from time to time an elevator can be seen flying up and out of the roof.