Nero

The Great Prophet

To many he is a saviour, a man who raised billions from tyranny and oppression, and gave them freedom and wealth like they had never seen before. To others he is the worst mass murderer in history, a tyrant who is singlehandedly responsible for the biggest and bloodiest conflict in human history since the System War.
Whatever ones stance on Nero, none can deny his importance in human history. Nero was the founder of the Neroan faith, and later the Neroan Unity. Beginning with a mass uprising of millions of impoverished souls Nero would not only forge a new faith from a world with a long history of secularisation, but also carve out the most powerful nation in human history since the end of the Old Nations.
His life is extremely well documented, by both Nero and his followers, and later by his enemies as they struggled to piece together just who this mysterious man was. However between the sheer number of different accounts on his life, and the inherent bias of those who documented him very little of this information is considered reliable, there are many conflicting accounts form all sources, and the works written by Nero himself where damaged in the Neroan civil war, what survives of his first-hand accounts are precious treasures of the Priesthood, rarely shared with outsiders.

People who inspire nearly equal amounts of love and hatred rarely go quietly into history. Whatever side of that divide you're on it's hard to imagine a Solar System today without him.

Appearance

For most of his life Nero was never seen in anything other than a full bodysuit, complete with a hood and gasmask, completely encompassing all of his features, and so to most his appearance was always synonymous with his clothing. In most of his appearances Nero wore a fully enclosed suit, with a flowing cape over the back and a helmet complete with a gas mask style faceplate. This suit was typically coloured simple grey and black patterns, while his cloak was usually a bright green colour, though it was not always consistent.
Aside from the suit there seemed very little remarkable about his appearance, for most foreigners Nero was just a small man in an enclosed suit, and some believed that he wore the suit precisely because his appearance beneath it was so unremarkable. Even among his own followers, none except his closest advisors ever saw Nero without this signature apparel. It wasn't until 2537, during his now infamous Call to Crusade that Nero would for the first and only time, remove his mask in public. Though this reveal would be somewhat overshadowed by the contents of his speech, it was the only time the wider public would ever see his face.

Life

Prophet

Nero was born in the small secret research station known as Neo-Genesis base. The base managed to survive the System War one of several secret research bases that survived the conflict in isolation. The details of what the base was for and what happened to the rest of the inhabitants are something known only to Nero himself, even his exact age remains a mystery to this day. According to Nero, the Neo-Genesis base was a bio-research facility, which certainly aligns with the technology he emerged with, but as to what kind bio-research was going on in the base that he never shared.
Whatever the case Nero emerged in 2492 as a wandering prophet speaking to the masses, already declaring himself a Prophet he seemed to possess a great deal of knowledge about Mars for someone who had lived in isolation, and his name soon spread. Nero was a skilled orator, and his message was one most people could appreciate, the idea that they had a place in society, that their struggles served a higher purpose beyond making someone else rich, and that those in charge should be removed resonated with much of the Martian lower classes. It didn't take long for his cult to grow and as he recruited more followers his faithful grew exponentially, the most talented among them sent out to spread the word of Nero further and further.

Uprising

By 2524 the Neroan faith had spread far across Mars, but it had found by far the most success in the territory known as the "Xadia Sphere" where divides along class lines where the most stark and unforgiving across the Red Planet. What specific event finally triggered the uprising is unknown, some say that one of the hidden weapon caches had been discovered, others that a follower had defected, some even claim there had been an attempt on Nero's life. Most likely Nero simply felt that his people where finally ready.
Whatever the case, in 2524, Nero sent out a call to arms, and his followers answered.
At what point Nero had begun militarising his followers is unclear, but when they rose up, the Neroan's displayed a level of skill and coordination that completely stunned their foes. In just the first two months most nations of the Xadia sphere had been nearly completely overrun, their armies scattered and the few government holdouts desperately clinging to life. It was then that Nero delivered his killing stroke, as he and a handful of his followers managed to sneak into the city of Lasonai, the Headquarters of the Xadio Corp located on the moon of Phobos. His forces managed to fight their way into the cities atmosphere control centre, where they proceeded to fill the city with poison gas, killing everyone inside.
With their leadership decapitated the rest of the Xadia Sphere collapsed, while some pockets would hold out for some years, by-and-large by 2526 a large swath of Mars had been conquered by Nero, and was reorganised into the first Neroan unity.

The Crusade

The new state was quick to isolate itself from the rest of Mars, refusing to enter the Martian league, which in turn would treat it with suspicion but also non-interference, an ultimately fatal mistake. Nero spent the next eleven years consolidating power and turning his new state into a military juggernaut, and in 2537 he was ready to unleash this force upon Mars. Declaring the rest of Mars as guilty of stagnation he unleashed the armies of the Unity in a holy war that would turn into the bloodiest conflict seen since the System War.
Throughout the war Nero spent most of his time in his capital, coordinating his forces in yet another shockingly successful campaign across Mars. But after initial successes the campaign began to slow down, and Nero seemed to become more and more reclusive as the years of war ground on, though he continued to spur his followers on with fiery speeches from his Grand Temple. Until one fateful day.
In 2572, Nero arrived at the city of Novosarc, which had just recently been captured by Neroan forces. The ruined city was meant to be used as a staging ground for a further assault into the northern tip of Arabia Terra, and secure the continent once and for all. However ODA Intelligence had realised that Nero would likely visit the city after its capture, in fact they had been counting on it, and desperate for a way to hold back the Neroan's they had done something unprecedented.
On the fourteenth day of August, as soon as ODA managed to confirm that Nero was inside the city, they detonated a 500kt Thermonuclear bomb inside the city, vaporising Nero and the entire army. Nuclear weapons had been explicitly banned across Mars since the System War, both legally and through cultural precedent, and the knowledge of how to make them had been largely lost. It was a rule that had been unbroken for hundreds of years but to kill Nero, ODA broke that rule.

Death

The political ramifications where immediate, Nero had made no attempts to create a clear line of succession, and despite initial calls for united vengeance the Unity broke apart into dozens of smaller warlord states. Though a new Unity would eventually be formed, it was not until much of what had been won under Nero was lost.
For the faith, Nero's death had immense changes. Under Nero the Neroan creed had a single head who kept its doctrines consistent, and who violently stamped out any of what he saw as misinterpretations of his words. Since his death the once monolithic tenants of Neroism have fractured, now all across the Solar System there are many smaller religious sects, each with their own specific tweaks on Neroan Doctrine. Even the primary Sect headed by Valerius has downplayed some of the more militant aspects of the original faith, and while none have so far denounced Nero outright, many of the more extreme sects have publicly declared that they believe Nero was wrong in certain aspects of his belief.

Age

??

Date of Birth

??

Date of Death

9th of October

Year of Death

2572

Gender

Male

Eyes

Pale Blue, Glowing

Hair

Bald

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Pale/partially transparent, blue-green veins

Height

1.5m

Belief/Deity

Neroism

Aligned Organization

The First Neroan Unity

Other Affiliations

• Neroism

Personality

In public Nero was an excellent orator, one who presented himself as a liberator, saviour and prophet. He was not afraid of public confrontations, and often made a show of debating his points to both followers and sceptics alike, even those who disliked him often found it hard to disagree with what he would say. His public persona was that of a kind, reluctant but devout man. He often said he had no wish to lead, or to wage the wars he did, but that his revelations left him with no other choice.
There are scant few sources as to what kind of person he was when he wasn't in front of a crowd, those few records that do exist present a very different picture from the reluctant hero he presented himself as. Those few who where ever close to him often spoke of him as a highly paranoid, secretive individual, rarely sharing his thoughts with even his closest followers. He also often seemed to go though dramatic mood swings, making light-hearted jokes one minute, then demanding total silence the next.
One thing that was constant between his public and private personas was his drive. Whether or not he truly believed his cause was holy, he most certainly believed it was necessary.

Legacy

Nero's sudden rise to power, and the dramatic way in which he shook the world have seen him become a figure of much public debate outside of the Unity. Without a doubt Nero was a man of great cunning and charisma, who knew how to motivate people on a grand scale, and who possessed an understanding of warfare, economics and politics that has rarely been seen elsewhere in history.
While most non-Neroan's have a negative view of Nero and see him as little more than a manipulative, mass murdering tyrant, the facts remain that for the people of his realm his rule brought a great deal of social and political change that was quite welcome. He improved the living standards of his subjects with his reforms and built a much more meritocratic state with a great deal more social mobility than had existed previously, in fact up until his declaration of Crusade his rule had largely brought nothing but prosperity for his people. However by the time of his death discontent had been quietly growing for some time, and not every Neroan was quite so distraught to hear of his death.

Ashday

The date of Nero's death is a public holiday, a day of mourning for all Neroan's known as Ashday, were Neroan's will cover their faces with ash to remember Nero and the thousands who died with him on that fiery day. It is a mandatory event across most Neroan states, and one which attracts millions of mourners each year, serving to remember not just Nero, but all who have given their lives for the Neroan cause.
Ashday was first officially commemorated by Valerius in 2581, to celebrate the end of the war, though it had become something of an unofficial practice across many Neroan states even before then. Every official Ashday has been accompanied by a publicly broadcasted speech from Valerius, which has also often been used to announce the Unity's current and future goals.
Over the last few years the Ashday speech has contained increasingly hostile and militant rhetoric, which has caused no end of growing concern for the potential of a new Neroan Crusade in the near future.