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"Now now, how would you like to end?" |
| “ | "A VeSSEL needs no will. Obey. Abandon thy will before the poWeR of the Keepers."
-Nerva to Yuwan |
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Nerva of Purgation is a Keeper and one of the main antagonists of Shadowverse. Her current Vessel is Lydia.
Personality[]
| “ | "But that's Nerva. Purgation's in her name, but she's hardly pure. She plots, she manipulates, and she loves it. That's what she is."
-Yuwan to Erika |
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Nerva's defining trait, according to Yuwan, is her sadism. She sees herself as greater than mortals, and even other Keepers, and thus believes she can do whatever she pleases, including toying with innocent people, manipulating them, and relishing their pain. She speaks to Yuwan purely to taunt and enrage him, and his powers sometimes cause him pain, which her other known former Vessel Maisha does not seem to experience. This arrogance does have some basis to it, as she calls Nexus "the weakest Keeper of all" and is able to cause considerable pain to the eight heroes with merely a look.
Like Nexus, she speaks in an archaic and Shakespearean way, but her text in the English localization also alternates between capital and lowercase letters (and in the German localization, numbers as well). This is perhaps an indication of her inhumanity; she is so far removed from mortals that she does not even speak in a way they can comprehend. She also tends to call people "fools" and "broken", especially her own failed vessels.
Nerva eventually develops an admiration for the potential of mortals, seeing that their emotions can lead them to transcend to best even a Keeper, so Nerva seeks to obtain those same emotions to transcend to something higher.
Story[]
History / Whispers of Purgation[]
Nerva's story began in Sully's world, where many of its inhabitants revered her as a deity for providing them with an energy called Kathar, which was actually the "Light of Purgation" that ended up turning them into monsters without being suspected. Nerva used the Kathar to expand her influence across the world for centuries, causing all kinds of misfortunes that led many to end up resorting to her veneration to save themselves.
A village of followers would regularly hold the Fest-ér-Venar and the Rite of Ordination, which after a hundred years would lead to the selection of the perfect vessel for Nerva and a "chosen hero" who would be the "invoker". Many potential vessels ended up dead in failed rituals after failing to withstand the Kathar, whose true purpose was to find the right vessel.
Despite the intervention of a group known as the Legion, who sought to prevent Nerva's arrival, the actions of the two vessel candidates, Elena and Lydia, culminated in the completion of the ritual and Lydia as Nerva's vessel. The Keeper continued to destroy that world and thus began her path of Purgation.
In the past she destroyed the worlds of Yuwan Gilfrei and Maisha Laforge after taking them as temporary vessels.
Nerva also sought the destruction of Aiolon and Naterra by coming into contact with Belphomet Ardelyte and Viridia Magna respectively. Although she did not turn him into a vessel, Nerva gave Belphomet the knowledge and power that led him to take control of Aiolon. Through Nerva's influence, Viridia Magna became corrupted and trapped in her memories of being experimented on as the Virgo Mechanism, and created a blight to destroy Naterra for what happened to her.
Gears of Rebellion: Uprising[]
After Belphomet is pushed to the brink of defeat, infuriated and desperate Belphomet calls out to Nerva.
Despite his hatred of Nerva due to her unknowable nature, Belphomet beckons her to give him more power. Nerva's voice rings through the room as she gives Belphomet the power to fuse with his machines. Nerva watches the scene and declares that even though Belphomet refuses to become her vessel, he still has a role to play in destroying worlds.
Invasion of the Worldreaver[]
After Belphomet fully transforms into a mechanical being, he teleports away seeking unlimited knowledge. He enters Nerva's realm and she orders him to travel to Naterra and destroy Viridia Magna in exchange for unlimited knowledge. During the battle in Naterra, Belphomet commands Nerva to transfer the Furies to this world.
When Belphomet was in the brink of defeat, Nerva appears and offers Belphomet to become her vessel in exchange for power. At first Belphomet seems to take Nerva's offer, but rejects her. He realizes that Nerva sent him to Naterra in order for him to be defeated again so he would take her offer of vesselship. He expresses his hatred for the unknown and Nerva, the embodiment of the unknown in his eyes, makes him sick. Belphomet takes his own life in one last act of defiance of everyone, but Nerva escapes.
The Final Loop[]
In the space between dimensions, the remaining essence of Nexus waits to regain her strength and resume her mission. She is found by Nerva and floats toward her in hopes the latter will give her the strength to recover, but Nerva instead absorbs Nexus. Nerva reveals she has developed her being outside of being a keeper and plans to go after Yuwan, her former vessel.
The Empyrean Inn[]
After absorbing Nexus's power, Nerva seeks to gain understanding of the power memories have over people to further her own goals. To this end, she manipulates Taketsumi and Saito into taking control of the world of Ametsuchi.
After Taketsumi unleashes chaos with the Great Spider, Nerva gives him some of her power so that he could create and rewrite memories, thus turning Ametsuchi into a "paradise".
Nerva observes the actions of the heroes of Ametsuchi and notes that the fate of Ametsuchi was changed by Itsurugi. She contemplates the failure of Taketsumi to keep Ametsuchi in a state of ignorant bliss but sees it as a chance to collect more data for her experiments. She realizes Yuwan played a part in Taketsumi's defeat and notes his influence wherever he goes, even recruiting a group that led to the defeat of Nexus. She looks forward to seeing what actions he takes next.
Lessons from Lainecrest[]
Continuing her path of Purgation, Nerva sends her Seraph, Weiss, to the world of Lainecrest in search of a suitable vessel. This vessel turns out to be the young Sibyl, Castelle.
During the pitched battle that breaks out at Lainecrest Academy, Castelle reveals her power as a vessel to her sister, Verdilia. However, with the help of her students Lyelth and Amaryllis, Verdilia uses every last bit of her Goddess powers, leaving only her own, but that frees her up to channel a new power and takes half of Nerva's power from Castelle. The duel ends with Nerva's power completely exhausted and Castelle free of her influence.
Through the events of Lainecrest, Nerva has come to understand the mortal concept of "happiness." Despite failing to make Castelle a complete vessel, she has acquired the knowledge she sought for. The joy of blind faith she observed from Castelle, the fury of loss observed from Yuwan's quest of vengeance, the bliss of ignorance Taketsumi sought, and the sorrow of regret her current body has experienced. Believing the reason Nexus failed was because she lacked a dynamic understanding of the spectrum of emotions mortals feel, Nerva plans to bring all worlds under her power.
Whispers of Purgation: Last Words[]
In between dimensions, Nerva reflects her observation of emotions and decides to test out what she has learned. She revives her former vessels, Belphomet, Maisha, and Taketsumi, along with Nexus, who is now under her control, and imbues each of them with a different power based on the emotions she's learned: Joy, Fury, Sorrow, and Bliss. However, she is unable to summon and control Castelle since most of the power she held as a vessel was depleted. Nerva's servants awake back to life under her complete control and their master gives them an order to eliminate all who would stand in her way. She assigns Belphomet to destroy a special artifact in Isunia, Taketsumi to Naterra to destroy Viridia Magna, Nexus to Rivayle to destroy its three Titans, and Maisha to destroy Vellsar.
When her servants are defeated, Nerva decides to use the power of emotions she gained to purge all the worlds herself. There, Yuwan appears in her dimension to confront her. However, Nerva releases an endless amount of Shades, Sootspawns and Tentacles that keep Yuwan at bay while she leaves to fulfill her objective.
When she was about to achieve what she set out to do, Nerva is caught up to, this time by Elena, who had spent countless time jumping between the worlds Nerva destroyed. Nerva manages to demoralize her by revealing that the power in the sword that Kratos gave her could only defy Sully's destiny, erasing all her experiences and leaving the other worlds destroyed. Elena still finds the resolution to continue fighting even against Nerva's beliefs about human emotion. When Nerva's power proves to be more than Elena can handle alone, Arisa, Yuwan, Rowen, Urias, Erika, Luna, Isabelle and Eris arrive to help her; exposing to Nerva the error in her way of thinking about mortals.
Cornered, Nerva uses all of her power to breach the fabric of reality into the void above creation, seeking the destruction of her "creator." However, she encounters an empty realm and a higher being who reveals to her that the Keepers do not have a creator since they are the manifestation of the multiverse to avoid the excess of realities and possibilities. Making it clear to her that there is nothing more for her, neither transcendence nor power, this being returns her to where she was, where Nerva is finally defeated and destroyed by the heroes.
Gallery[]
