NEMESIS

PLAYED BY: Emma

TITLE: Head of the Satinamuh

RACE: Human/Unknown/Immortal

KNOWN ALIASES: Kaia St. Claire, The Whispering Death, Mavis Anasazi

HANDS OF POWER: Perception, Fortitude (The latter is only available to Nemesis through Genhai – by drawing upon it, she sacrifices a portion of self control for the time it is in use)

MERITS: Awareness (Nemesis has a natural 6^th sense that is enhanced by the presence of Genhai), Linguistics (In almost two millennium of life, Nemesis has learnt dozens of languages), Leadership (A born leader with centuries of practical experience), Martial Art – Muay Thai (Nemesis is also versed in Muay Thai variations such as Savate and San Shou) Streetwise (Nemesis is connected to dozens of informers across New York) Disguise (Nemesis has kept her true identity secret for centuries) Subterfuge (Centuries of spying have made Nemesis adept at manipulation)

FLAWS: Possession (Nemesis and Genhai share a sometimes difficult relationship), Driving Goal (The overthrow of the Chimaera), Hunted (Dozens of PIs, bounty hunters and assassins actively search for Nemesis every day), Notoriety (Her true name is dark legend) Dark Secret (Nemesis keeps the presence of Genhai hidden)

THE LEGEND: For almost 2,000 years, an implacable enemy with a name that sends chills down the spines has hunted the Chimera. That name is Nemesis. A shadowy figure with a past stained in blood, barely any know her true identity. On no less than 7 separate occasions, it has been claimed that Nemesis has been slain, yet still she haunts the dark edges of Chimera consciousness, an unseen enemy who destroys and undermines.

There is a cumulative reward amounting to over $50 billion on her head, dead or alive. No one has been able to claim it.

Nemesis heads an organization known as the Satinamuh, a secretive underground human army that lurks in the recess of the world the Chimera have built. Its kraken like tentacles reach out into the night, twisting and breaking the shackles that hold down the persecuted human race. The organisation has a thousand faces across the globe, from hate filled Neo-Nazis and ideological terrorists, to the papal authority of the Catholic church, to the single human who stands alone in a night filled with terrors and refuses to be afraid. The support the organization commands is alarming for the Chimera, even if much of it done in secret. And at the head of it all is that name again – Nemesis.

THE TRUTH: Nemesis was born in 85 BC under a name that has been forgotten, youngest daughter of a wealthy merchant in Persia. Naturally gifted with sharp senses and a keen sight that defied mortal ability, she benefited from an education and was content with her life. Her exact place of birth remains unknown.

At the age of 24, something happened to her that not even she could remember. It left her previous life utterly destroyed, replaced instead by a permanent companion, a phenomenally powerful entity known only as Genhai. Her mind shattered by the experience and her body near death, she drifted away into the desert night.

What the calamitous event was is still debated by those who wish to know more of Nemesis. However, what happened next is known. A single –apparently human – woman who declared herself to be their Nemesis wiped out a party of high-ranking Kindred in a villa outside Rome. The kindred societies of the city were thrown into a wild panic that intensified as a succession of brutal murders picked off several of their most prominent members. A huge search put many innocents to the sword but could not stop the attacks. Furious and paranoid, the kindred turned upon each other and by the time the slaughter had subsided the murders had stopped. The kindred licked their wounds and assumed that whoever the murderer had been, they were long dead now.

It may have been a single curious incident in a world filled with mysteries, had it not begun to repeat itself across the globe. It was not only the kindred who suffered, as the attacks spread to other Chimera. The attacks destabilized the rule of the Chimera wherever they fell, spreading chaos and violence in their wake.

The patterns continued for decades, then centuries. More references emerged to a female referring to herself as Nemesis, increasingly accompanied by other apparently human companions who dedicated themselves to the work of destroying Chimera. The organization acquired a name – Satinamuh or more simply Hunters. Powerful Chimera were soon offering staggering bounties on the heads of these deadly foes, the largest price of all being reserved for their leader, the shadow player Nemesis. Assassins and killers of all types vied for honor and reward of slaying this hated figure. Some claimed to have done so.

Most famous of these claims was made by Braxus Redtalon, a renowned Shifter bounty hunter with a dark reputation. He claimed to have battled Nemesis in a furious fight to the death across the rooftops and ramparts of Constantinople, finally slaying her by flinging her from the walls to her death. Although no body was recovered, Braxus claimed the bounty. Two weeks later his mutilated corpse was found hanging from the same stretch of wall where he had claimed to thrown the Satinamuh leader. Despite his grisly fate, more assassins were glad to risk all for a chance at the ever-growing bounty on the head of Nemesis.

Times changed. The Satinamuh had grown from a handful of individual killers into a fearsome organisation a match for the most cold-blooded of Chimera clans. In cities across the globe cells of resistance were formed. The Chimera battled them with determination, hate and fear, sometimes succeeding in destroying the Hunters, stringing their corpses from the battlements as a warning to others. But with an inevitable creep, new Hunters replaced the old and battle was rejoined.

Nemesis was at the forefront of the greatest successes. Whenever Chimera rule was shaken or fell, her name seemed to be mentioned. Chaos and slaughter followed in her wake, consuming chimera and human with equal measure, the killing caught in an endless cycle of attack and reprisal across almost two millennia.

Then something happened. After the unprecedented destruction of the Second World War, the activities of the Satinamuh subtly changed. Nemesis had been caught up in the war, finding herself fighting Nazi Germany at the head of the Soviet Red Army. In quiet woodland in Poland, 1945, she came across the first of the Nazi Death Camps and was confronted with the stark reality of industrial genocide perpetrated by humans upon humans. The event stunned her and shook her confidence in the violent crusade she had led for almost two thousand years. She realized that things had to change.

The Satinamuh evolved quickly. Acts of violence against Chimera continued, but now the emphasis had moved from simple destruction to the liberation and protection of the human population. For the first time, the Satinamuh acquired an image beyond that of violent killers. Now they had become freedom fighters, challenging the dictatorial Chimera monarchies from within in the name of human freedom. The Chimera were quick to brand them as mere terrorists, still the same murderers in different clothing. But the change was significant and had far reaching consequences. The Satinamuh claimed to defend humanity from the depredations of the ruling Chimera, a seductive message that saw them gain diverse and significant support. The Satinamuh of the 21^st century is larger, better funded and better equipped than at any time previously. And at the top of it all stands Nemesis, the same woman who started the fight back in the villa in Rome two thousand years ago.

Of Genhai’s role in this, little is known. Genhai is a powerful spiritual creature that somehow came to be on the mortal plane, far from its home. How it came to be here is known only to Genhai, and it has refused to tell even Kaia of the truth. One thing is certain, however – Genhai has a consuming, absolute desire to destroy Chimera. Its goals are obscure and mysterious, with one exception – the total destruction of the Chimera system of rule. Not until their empires lie in ruins will Genhai be satisfied, and even then, only the Gods know what further lengths it will demand in its eternal crusade.

None except Nemesis is even aware of the being’s presence. Possibly in the darkest, mustiest tomes, perhaps on ancient scrolls or carved on the walls of black tombs there may be clues as to what Genhai truly is, but they are yet to be found or understood. Genhai has clashed with his host more readily in recent years since the change of the Satinamuh from simple destroyers to protectors. The battle of wills between the two symbiotic companions may continue, and the winner of that contest could be humanity’s saviour….or humanity’s doom.

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