Nemeios

**Nemeios** (pl. **Nemeia**), also known as the **Nemean Lion**, is a race of lion-like monsters native to Nemea, Greece and are known for their impenetrable golden fur.

## Summary

The Nemeios Lions were created by Selene, the Titan Moon Goddess, thousands of years ago in the beginning of the Greek Dark Ages when the Mycenaean civilization perished due to the Dorian invasion and the attacking "Sea Peoples".

The monsters themselves were created by a former wielder of Annihilation Maker, using the combined DNAs of Othrus and the original Chimera, as well as the original Nemean Lion's as the template.

Originally, they were created to be the guardians of her sacred grottos across Ancient Greece, protecting them and the rare floras and faunas living within them from hunters, smugglers, thieves, and the like.

However, as the Greek civilization began to crumble and the Olympians began to merge with pre-existed Roman gods to form the Greco-Roman Pantheon, Selene started to lose more and more followers in favor of Artemis, and with them, gone parts of her sanity.

In a fit of madness, she actively conspired with Echidna to change the nemeia's characteristics, changing them from peaceful protectors to vicious beasts that terrorize mankind, especially those in the northeastern part of the Peloponnese, where the original Nemean Lion once dwelled.

According to Apollo, they were terrifying and powerful beasts that, had the Hunters of Artemis not been blessed by their divine mistress' divine power, they would have no chance of defeating them. Even then, when the beasts first appeared, it took over a hundred experienced huntresses just to capture and imprison the monstrous lions within the Nemea region, in a battle of nearly ten days and ten nights.

When the Greco-Roman Pantheon moved alongside the spirit of the western civilization, so do the monsters associated and featured in their mythology, though the nemeia remained in Greece, chained to the ancient lands through a complex combination of ancient wards of Titanian and Anatolian origins.

In 20XX, in preparations for the Second Titan War, several nemeia were secretly transported to the United States by Epimetheus and some bastards from the Vapula Clan for their impenetrable fur to be used as weapons against the Olympian gods. However, after Epimetheus were defeated and captured by the Hunters of Artemis, they were transported back to Nemea courtesy of Hermes.

## Appearance

Nemeia are giant Asiatic lions the size of a pick-up truck, with shining silvery claws, fangs that gleam like stainless steel, and thick, glittering, metallic golden fur. Newly-born nemeios cubs are the size of an already grown lion, with silver fur and jet-black eyes.

## Characteristics

Nemeia are known for being one of the most difficult and dangerous Greco-Roman monsters to kill due to its metallic fur, which is impervious to damage and acts as a natural armor capable of deflecting any weapon that isn't imbued with divine power. Because of this, whenever fighting against nemeia, hunters would ask for a god's divine blessing on their weapon so that they can pierce through the nemeios' impenetrable fur.

Other than that, however, there aren't many differences between them and ordinary lions, both in terms of behavior and their inner biology. According to Artemis, they are nothing more than genetically modified lions created by "an alcoholic wannabe-mad scientist", which is the main reason behind why she and other Olympians chose not to eradicate them.

## Spoils of War

The nemeia's spoil of war is their pelt, which still possesses the same abilities of it being immune to all forms of damage when worn. The pelt is worn around the wearer's shoulders like a cape, with the beast's scalp serving as a hood, but due to the effects of the Mist, it resembles a full-length golden-brown duster to mundane humans.

## Trivia

* The name, Nemeios, means "of Nemea".
* According to Apollo, they are an endangered species and Nemea has recently be recognized as a conservation area.