Nemesi (Nem-es-i)
Midnight dreams of a childhood accident cross a young man's mind in the weary hours of the night. Loss preventing rest as he is forced to relive the memory over and over in an unending cycle of torture.
A widow sits sullenly by her home's front window, staring out to nothing in particular as the tree where she saw her husband's hanging body a mere week ago waves silently at her in the warm afternoon breeze.
A rugged adventurer sits alone in the corner of the tavern, one hand nursing a drink while the other holds a dagger. Would it be worth it to continue living now that her party of long years has died? If only they had died in the pursuit of glory or adventure, like they had joked in the long hours of many campfires, but instead they had each ingloriously perished to one accidentally sprung trap. Leaving only her somehow alive.
Unknown to each of these individuals is that despite seemingly coming from different backgrounds...all of their stories are the same. Each has been haunted by a creature known as a Nemesi. Aberrations drawn from the despair of sapient individuals, these creatures attach themselves to their victims for one purpose alone. To draw their prey deeper and deeper into despair via the use of constructed accidents, mimicked loved ones and strangers, and being a gnawing voice in the back of their victim's head deriding them for their inability to help themselves or others.
Appearing as emaciated corpses wreathed in shadows, these creatures are capable of physically mimicking others, turning invisible, and telepathically communicating with their chosen victim in order to press them deeper into negativity as a means to feed and eventually create more of their own.
Choosing victims seemingly at random, they will stalk their prey for years, slowly driving them towards despair with every new tragedy. Once the victim has been sufficiently incapacitated by their own grief, they are violently consumed and a new Nemesi is born.
While these creatures do not appear to possess a home region of their own, they can be found throughout Refuge where ever despair lays thickest. It should be known, however, that the Nemesi are not undead and do not take damage from typical sources of divine magic such as hallowed ground or symbols of religion. While these monsters do hesitate when presented with these elements, they do not receive harm from them.
What the creatures do take great harm from is purified copper. It is thought that this metal was somehow considered a solid foundation for order in the universe that the Nemesi came from and therefore was antithetical to the aberrations from there.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Nemesi can have a wide range of anatomies and appearances based on what creature they were spawned from when they were created. Generally, however, these creatures will take on fairly typical humanoid shapes which allow for easier manipulation of their environments and helps them to escape detection in urban environments.
Genetics and Reproduction
These creatures reproduce via the consumption of a sapient creature that has fallen into extreme despair after being manipulated over a long period of time by the original Nemesi. Upon killing and consuming their chosen victim, a new Nemesi will spawn nearby from the shadows and viscera of the murdered victim after a period of several hours. At this point, the newly created Nemesi will immediately begin to seek out their own victim to prey upon.
Ecology and Habitats
While Nemesi can be found in many different environments, they prefer environments with low levels of light as bright light can burn away their protective shadows and make it easier for these creatures to be seen. As such, they can be found in dark woods, smoke-filled cities, and shards cast permanently into dim light. Once it has established its territory, the creature will begin to sweep for sapient victims, especially those vulnerable to despair, in order to begin its gruesome cycle. Otherwise, it generally ignores what's going on in its environment unless it can be used to send their victim into deeper pits of despair. Such as causing the murder of a beloved family pet.
Dietary Needs and Habits
While Nemesi do not need to eat, they are driven to consume negative energy from their victims, steadily gaining strength for their final strike against their prey wereupon they will devour their spirit and body in a bloodbath of horror. From this final consumption of despair are new Nemesi created.
Behaviour
Incredibly intelligent, the Nemesi are patient creatures capable of waiting years before they rise up again to cast further despair upon their chosen victim. How they choose their victims is unknown, but what is known is that once chosen the creature will not abandon its prey until either it or their victim dies. When confronted, they will attempt to attack their revealer in order to silence their knowledge and allow the Nemesi to continue goading its prey into despair.
Additional Information
Social Structure
This creature, preferring to hunt alone, will actively avoid others of its kind, often claiming a large berth of land as its territory until it can find a sapient creature to attach itself to. As such, it's considered nearly impossible for a single victim to have more than one Nemesi attached to them.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Nemesi can be found in locations all over Refuge. While no one can determine what region first spawned these creatures, they have been shown to spawn more frequently in darker regions where despair is a common commodity.
Average Intelligence
These creatures have been known to possess a keen intellect. Able to manipulate a victim and those around them for years using a variety of different mimicries, behaviors, and evil deeds. Often the only means that Nemesi are discovered comes from those who either know about them beforehand or who are able to see through the complicated web of deceit that the creature constructs.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
These creatures have average sight and hearing with a notable exception in that they can easily see in the dark regardless of what their original species was capable of.
Origin/Ancestry
Exotic
Lifespan
The average lifespan of the Nemesi is unknown. Some speciments have been known to live for several hundred years.
Conservation Status
This species is considered to be rare throughout Refuge as noted by its slow means of reproduction and long consumption cycles.
Average Height
The creature's height can vary depending on what species it was originally created from. However, the creature generally has a height between 4 and 7 feet.
Average Weight
The average weight of Nemesi is around 10 to 30 pounds depending on the species that they were created from with larger creatures creating heavier specimens. That said, all Nemesi are light on their feet and barely make any sound as they move.
Average Physique
Looking much like an emaciated corpse of the creature they were before, these creatures are often seen as thin, skin-drawn beings with horrifying skeletal features that cast an almost mirage-like appearance to their bodies. Bearing little physical strength when compared to other monsters, these creatures rely on their intelligence to successfully stalk and consume their prey.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Seemingly weaved in shadows, these creatures appear like greyish-black shades of the species they were before with distinct white bones occasionally peeking through their dark wisps.
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