Overview
Nero of Theryssa and Thiravos is Nerissa's wave-shard wielder, a powerful water-and-earth mage, and a chief defender of Theryssa and Thiravos. He begins as a talented young mage from Pelagia, becomes Nerissa's chosen in 5208 AX, and is pulled into the island nations' hidden diplomacy with mainland Valrindor.
Nero is Nerissa's mortal agent in the secret Blackcrag heir bargain, the investigation of Rahmavir and the source, and Nerissa's Invasion of Xalmyrra. After Lucilla unmakes Nerissa during Nerissa's Invasion of Xalmyrra near Erenmyr, Nero survives as a former shard wielder with the wave shard dimmed.
Appearance
Nero looks like a man in his forties by the time of Nerissa's Invasion of Xalmyrra, though he is far older than he appears. He has ocean-blue hair and light brown or rock-brown eyes. Renneth senses immense earth and water magic from him, similar in kind to Nerissa's own power.
Nero wears navy-blue clothes early in his work around Zarephon and often wears navy or ocean-blue robes. The wave shard marks his palm while his pact with Nerissa remains active.
Personality
Nero is dutiful, polite, cautious, and uneasy with politics. He accepts Nerissa's pact shortly before Blackcrag reaches Pelagia. The pact pushes him into diplomacy, fatherhood, secrecy, and attack on Xalmyrra before he has settled into his own life.
He is protective of Theryssa and Thiravos and repeatedly favors keeping the island nations out of mainland Valrindor. He acts in defense and field work: he confronts George's fleet, trains Maric, infiltrates Rahmavir, guards the source mission, and still follows Nerissa into attack on Xalmyrra when Gabriel and Raphael's faction threaten the island nations.
Magic and Abilities
Nero wields water and earth magic at ocean and battlefield scale. With Nerissa's wave shard amplifying him, he can ride and shape enormous waves, cross oceans quickly, move through or under water with protective bubbles, reshape earth beneath cities and battlefields, and manipulate dense rock under extreme pressure.
His magic is strongest at large scale. During the Rahmavir mission, he and Maric rely on essence suppression and stealth because neither excels at speed. At Zarephon, Nero carries Alice through the crushing lake, reinforces a rock enclosure around them, reshapes the lakebed, and holds the pressure long enough for her to cross the breach.
In battle, Nero combines waves, earth walls, dense rock cages, divine shielding, and Nerissa's power. He is weaker in close combat: Orin incapacitates him with a touch during the first confrontation on Erenmyr's shore and later defeats him again while Nerissa and the island fleet attack Xalmyrra.
History
Nerissa chooses Nero as her wielder in 5208 AX, only days before King George brings Blackcrag's fleet to Pelagia. Nero meets George at sea, threatens the fleet with a massive wave, and escorts George, Ulrich, and Bastian to the Pelagia Consulate when diplomacy becomes possible.
The meeting ends with a hidden bargain: Blackcrag teaches Theryssa and Thiravos better essence-engine construction, while Lucilla bears an heir for George's line. Nero fathers the child and later carries him to Omberion, where George names him Prince Garrik; in Blackcrag's public succession, Garrik is the queen's son. Nero's paternity remains secret.
After the Blackcrag arrangement, Nero travels through parts of Valrindor with Nerissa, including Morindel, Kalendros, the Calthorpe Ocean, the coasts of the Plains of Eternity, and Rahmavir. Nerissa teaches him fragments of Malverand history, and he travels through more of the mainland than most people from the island nations.
When Renneth and Maric reach Theryssa and Thiravos, Nero teaches them the island nations' hidden history, Nerissa's part in it, and Renneth's past as Pyragos. He then travels with Maric and Nerissa toward Rahmavir, where they investigate Raphael, origin magic, and the source-centered politics around Zarephon.
At Zarephon, Nero joins Maric, Alice, Severin, Zorath, Ravira, Eliona, Azarion, and later Eira, Kaelion, and Xarion around the source. He remains behind to guard the cave entrance while Eira, Kaelion, and Xarion attempt to close the source. When Alice secretly triggers objects planted in the cave and destroys the mountain, Nero survives by burying himself underground, raising earth defenses, and fleeing through the ground after Nerissa orders him away and channels power into him.
Zarephon's destruction falsely makes Nero and Nerissa easy targets for blame. Nero returns to Pelagia, denies causing the destruction, and joins the consulate debate over whether Theryssa and Thiravos should side with the Order, Raphael, or no one. Gabriel arrives in Pelagia, threatens the city with unnatural cold, and pressures the island nations into an attack on Xalmyrra.
During Nerissa's Invasion of Xalmyrra, Nero approaches Brynor and Orin first and asks for surrender. Nero denies causing Zarephon's destruction. He accepts that Brynor has little reason to believe him. Orin incapacitates him, Nerissa retrieves him, and Nerissa's coalition escalates the confrontation into a full strike on Xalmyrra's coast. When Lucilla later unmakes Nerissa, Nero's wave shard dims, and Lucilla carries the unconscious former shard wielder away from the battlefield.
Relationships
- Nerissa is Nero's goddess, patron, and closest supernatural partner. Their pact gives him the wave shard and draws him directly into Theryssa and Thiravos's divine politics.
- Lucilla is Nero's political ally, sparring partner, and the mother of Garrik through the Blackcrag bargain.
- Garrik is Nero and Lucilla's biological son, though Blackcrag raises him publicly as George's heir.
- Maric trains and travels with Nero during the Rahmavir investigation, and both wield large-scale water-and-earth magic backed by shards.
- George, Ulrich, and Bastian negotiate the Blackcrag arrangement with Pelagia, while Astrid later teaches Garrik.
- Brynor and Orin oppose Nero during Nerissa's Invasion of Xalmyrra.