CAMILLE

THE STEEL SHADOW

Clan Ferros understands sacrifice.

Most of the family’s wealth came through harvesting a rare crystal from the brackern,
a creature native to Shurima. These hex-crystals—or “first crystals”—contained power
normally only wielded by those born with innate magical ability. After Camille’s
great-great aunt lost an arm during an early expedition, her sacrifice inspired the
Ferros family motto: “For family, will I give.”

The brackern were a limited resource, and Camille's family had to augment the
crystals they’d accumulated. Utilizing shadow investments in chemtech and runic
alchemy, they developed less powerful, but easier to make, synthetic hex-crystals.

Yet there were consequences—synthetic crystal manufacturing has long been rumored
to heavily contribute to the Zaun Gray. Furthermore, it was only through espionage,
intimidation, and murder that Clan Ferros held its monopoly on this priceless
commodity, and ensured its uninterrupted production in Zaun, maintaining the
family’s place in Piltover’s illustrious Bluewind Court.

As the eldest surviving child of Clan Ferros’ masters, Camille received every
educational advantage. She had exceptional tutors, learning to speak several foreign
languages and play the cellovinna at a concert-master level. Camille also learned to
read and write Ancient Shuriman while assisting her father on digs in the Odyn Valley.

Traditionally, one of the younger children would become their family's principal
intelligencer, working with the clan master to secure their family’s success by any
means necessary. However, Camille's younger brother, Stevan, had a weak
constitution, and so Camille took his place. He jealously watched her embrace her
additional training, and she became quite adept in combat, reconnaissance, and
interrogation.

When Camille was twenty-five, augmented Zaunite thugs attacked her and her father,
intent on stealing lucrative trade secrets. Camille’s father succumbed to his wounds,
and in anguish, her mother died soon after. Stevan became clan master, and he
doubled the clan’s research in human hextech augmentation, eager to prove himself
as a strong leader.

After a year of mourning, Stevan oversaw the induction of Hakim Naderi—a promising
young crystallographer from the Shuriman coastal city of Bel'zhun—as the family’s
lead artificer.

Camille requested hextech augmentation from Hakim to push her beyond her human
limitations. Hakim was instantly enamored with her, and they bonded over the
preparations and late night stories of Shurima… and eventually, Camille returned
Hakim's feelings. Their affair grew reckless, as they knew the surgery would conclude
their time together. Hakim would move onto other projects, and Camille would once
again be fully committed to the principal intelligencer’s duties. More than that,
Hakim worried that in carving away Camille's heart, he might remove her humanity.

Days before Camille's operation, Hakim proposed marriage and begged her to run
away with him. For the first time in her life, Camille was torn.

Stevan had no such conflict, as he needed Camille to execute his vision. When he
learned of the secret proposal, he devised a plan—the next time Camille and Hakim
were together, Stevan set himself up to be attacked. When she saw her brother
bruised and bloodied, Camille recognized what could happen when her attention was
divided.

Hakim pleaded with Camille, but she wouldn’t listen. For family, she would give. She
ended her relationship with Hakim, insisting her surgery go forward.

He was the only one who could safely perform the operation, and so he excised
Camille’s heart and replaced it with hextech—then resigned. When she awoke, the lab
she and Hakim had shared was abandoned.

Camille focused on her work. She took on further refinements, including bladed legs,
grapple-spindled hips, and other, minor hex-augmentations, leading some to wonder
how much of the woman was left. And as Clan Ferros amassed more power and
wealth, Camille’s missions became darker and more deadly.

Thanks to her hextech heart, she did not age—but the years were not so kind to her
brother. Yet even as Stevan's body grew more frail, his iron grip on the clan remained.

Eventually, Camille uncovered the depth of Stevan's betrayal, and realized his
machinations were no longer in the family’s best interests. In that moment, she
discarded the last sentiment she felt toward her brother.

After installing her favorite grand-niece as clan master, Camille now runs the family's
public affairs as well as its more shady operations. As a solver of… difficult problems,
she embraces her more-than-human transformation and the cutting judgment it
affords her—but a strange, mournful keening in her hextech heart may yet prove a
troubling portent.

Regardless, Camille refuses to sit idle, and gains invigoration from well-executed
industrial espionage, a fresh-brewed cup of tea, and long walks in the Gray.