Nei

Biography

After Neifirst escaped from the scientists that created her and began to create additional Biomonsters, a part of her psyche rebelled against the thirst for revenge that had consumed Neifirst. This part of Neifirst physically and mentally separated from her, manifesting itself as a new being. Taking the name Nei, the new being, also a mixture of human and animal or biomonster DNA, fled and began to wander from town to town on Motavia.

In her early wanderings, Nei had the appearance of a young child. At one point she was taken in by a middle-aged couple that displayed kindness to her. The family was torn apart due to mob violence, possibly due to Nei's unusual appearance. Around this time, she met Rudolf Steiner and was attacked by Darum. Rescued from Darum's attack by Rolf, Nei moved to Paseo and began to live with her savior in the role of a younger sister.

Seven months later, Nei had grown to adulthood and insisted on accompanying Rolf on his investigation into the biomonster outbreaks. When their group encountered Neifirst at Climacontrol, Nei's origins were revealed to the group. They also learned that Nei could not survive without Neifirst, due to having once been part of Neifirst. Both of the sisters perished at Climacontrol, leaving a heartbroken Rolf in their wake.

In Phantasy Star II, that was the end of Nei's story. Unlike other characters (including Nei herself, prior to those events), Nei can no longer be revived at the Clone Laboratories common through the game. Her death was part of the story, giving it more finality. However, in the remake Phantasy Star: Generation 2, it is possible to revive Nei if an intricate series of events had been previously completed. In either case, Nei's spirit came to rest in the Cavern of the Sacred Sword below Esper Mansion after her demise.

The word "Nei" is also an ancient word of power that can be used to imbue weapons with the strength needed to defeat powerful foes like Dark Force. Rolf and his friends recovered such weapons later in their journey. The heroes of the Alisa III were also able to have weapons empowered through the use of the word of power.

The Newman races seen in Phantasy Star Online and Phantasy Star Universe are based on the character concepts of Nei and Neifirst, but are not otherwise related. Nei is sometimes considered to be a member of the "Numan" race, even though Rika is the only official Numan.

Sources