Nei

Nei (ネイ) is a recurring character of Phantasy Star original series. She is part of the origin of the Numan species.

Appearance
Nei has the appearance of a slender young woman with long purple hair, and a pair of distinct cat/elf like ears. She wears a violet unitard, matching violet long sleeved gloves, a purple choker and a pair of knee high violet boots with metallic kneepads. She often wears her 'Animal Claw' gauntlets on her hands.

Her eyes are red and are described as being very expressive by Rolf.

When she was in her child like form and travelling the wasteland, Nei wore a brown tattered, a red scarf around her neck and very basic peasant clothing.

In Phantasy Star Generation 2 Nei's hair is a pinker shade of purple, her unitard has a white trim, her boots are now high heeled and thigh high, and her choker has become a lace one tied in a black ribbon. Her ears have also become wider and start from lower down her head.

Past
Nei was created in a laboratory on planet Mota by three scientists as part of an experiment to create a biomonster with human emotion and intelligence. However, she split herself in two becoming Neifirst and Neisecond.

Neifirst went off seeking revenge, stealing DNA and research as she fled, whilst the half of her that was a scared little girl, Neisecond, was adopted by two of the scientists who were a husband and wife, and she became their daughter for a few months. The couple resigned from their position, content to live out their life as a happy family with Nei.

The third scientist however could not let this slide. Important DNA research had been stolen that was leading to new biomonsters terrorizing the planet, the experiment had been deemed a failure and he had lost his two co-workers. In a fit of desperation he hired a mercenary known as Darum to hunt down Nei, kill her and hopefully retrieve the stolen DNA samples and put an end to the new waves of biomonster creation that was ravaging the towns.

Darum eventually found Nei, and chased her to her home where he and an angry mob of fearful citizens set the house ablaze. Whilst Nei's adoptive parents managed to get Nei to safety they perished in the fire and Nei, scared and alone was forced to wander the wilderness constantly looking over her shoulder, terrified of the world around her.

Six months passed for Nei before she arrived at the city gates of Paseo. Upon entering the city gates she was, as per usual feared by the civilians who deemed her a monster upon seeing her large ears. Through good fortune Nei met a soldier who gave her a silver bullet pendant. She used this as a bargaining chip in the local weapons shop and was able to obtain a weapon to defend herself with, a set of 'Animal Claw' gauntlets once wielded by the legendary musk cat hero Myau, modified for human hands.

This fortune was not to last however as she ran into Darum once again, who was still contracted to kill her. To escape Nei had to hide in a trash can and escape into the sewers and barely escaped with her life. When she resurfaced from the sewers she happened upon the home of the very scientist that originally put the bounty out on her. He was arguing with Darum, who was demanding money for the amount of biomonsters he had killed under his contract, before Darum snapped and shot the scientist.

Nei, terrified waited until Darum left, and then went to check on the injured man. He revealed to Nei everything, apologising for putting the bounty on her, for believing she was a failed experiment, for what happened to her adoptive parents. As way of recompense with his dying breath he gave Nei a vial with an important ingredient to the creation of Numans like her. Nei, sells it to a lab researcher, and used the money to upgrade her Animal Claw once more.

She eventually encounters Darum once more, who informs her that although he is no longer under contract to kill her, he'll gladly do it for free as he see's her as an eyesore. Nei, having watched Darum be responsible for the deaths of every one who had a part in her creation and being threatened with certain death yet again finally snaps and lunges at Darum, engaging in combat. She manages to strike a solid blow against the experienced mercenary and he seems to fall to the ground. Nei, injured and exhausted turns to leave when suddenly she is pushed out the way by a young man who blocks a killing blow from Darum. Nei, completely overwhelmed and having exhausted the last of her strength in the battle passes out after the young man promises he'll protect her.

When Nei regains conciousness she awakes with a start to see the young man smiling at her. She is in a bed, in a home for the first time in six months. The young man reveals himself to be Rolf, an agent who works for the government. Since he is also an orphan and he realises Nei has no where to go he offers her to come live with him so they can both be each others family.

Nei, now no longer constantly fearing for her life and feeling a sense of gratitude to Rolf, grows both physically and mentally in the next six months. Her child like body grows into that of an adult woman's in just six months, and her confidence and hope for the future grows.

Phantasy Star II
Six months of blissful familial life later, Rolf is given a dangerous mission from his commanding officer. Rolf is to investigate the continious outbreak of biomonsters at the Biolabs that are causing the planet's protector, a super computer called Mother Brain, to malfunction. As all life is controlled by Mother Brain, this mission could save the world. It will take a considerable amount of time, and Rolf may never return.

Fearful of losing her only family once again, Nei pleads with Rolf to let her come along on the mission in which she will aid him in any way she can. Rolf eventually reluctantly agrees although he is very concerned for Nei's safety.

Upon arriving at the Biolabs, they discover Darum is the one guarding it. Not wishing to engage in battle with Darum again and risking Nei's life, Rolf decides the duo should take a detour to the once sleepy town of Arima to try and gather intel on the biomonsters only to discover it's been destroyed by bandits.

Here they discover that Darum used to be a good person, but the very same bandits that destroyed Arima, took his daughter Teim from him, and held her hostage for a very high ransom. Unable to pay it, Darum became desperate taking all manner of mercenary jobs and even killing innocents in order to get enough money together to save his daughter.

Nei and Rolf decide to infiltrate the bandits hideout and save Teim. Along the way they pick up Rudo, the very same soldier who had given Nei the silver bullet pendant that led to her obtaining her legendary weapon six months prior. The trio sneak into the base, taking out bandits and manage to climb Nido Tower where Teim is being held. Rescuing her, Nei and her party disguised Teim in order to prevent vengeful attacks from civilians who had their loved ones killed by Darum.

Returning Teim to Darum in disguise, Nei watches on as Darum demands money from her to pass. Teim saddened by what her father has become refuses, and in a fit of rage Darum strikes her down with his blade. Her disguise slips off as she dies. Darum, heartbroken and angry at himself, blows himself up with a grenade to join his daughter in death. Nei watches on as the man who caused her so much suffering now takes his own life in a tragic turn of events.

Upon investigating the biolab, Nei and the party retrieve the data recorder and head over to Oputa where Amy joins the party. Eventually they also meet up with Hugh, Anna, Kain and Shir with Nei being surrounded by friends for the very first time.

The groups quest eventually leads them to Climatrol, the central system responsible for climate control. If Climatrol ceases to be, the planet Mota will return to being an inhabitable dry desert plain once more. Inside they come across every type of dangerous biomonster imaginable and dangerous traps set that slow their progress but eventually come face to face with Neifirst, who reveals that she and Nei had once been one and their very souls were interconnected. If Nei or Neifirst should die, the other one would perish too.

Neifirst also reveals her hatred for those who deemed her a failure and attempted to end her life, and how she was currently consumed with vengence. Nei can understand Neifirst's disdain for being treated as a monster, but cannot understand Neifirst's hatred for all of humanity because of it. She points to Rolf who had been a positive influence on her life and tells Neifirst she will not allow her to harm humans.

Neifirst doesn't take Nei seriously, stating there is no way she can be defeated by her double, but insists Nei try if she thinks she can. Rolf attempts to stop the two from fighting not wishing to lose Nei, but Neifirst strikes first. Nei fights back in a one on one battle. If she's strong enough she dies regardless due to the link between her and Neifirst. If she's not strong enough, she dies in Rolf's arms and he and the other party members must avenge her by killing Neifirst themselves.

After the battle Rolf takes Nei's body to the clone labs in hope of reviving her, but due to the destruction of Climatrol during the battle and Neifirst's own involvement in tampering, the non-human parts of Nei's body cannot be revived.

Rolf, distraught, buries Nei's body in the plains above Paseo and has to force himself to continue on his quest to avoid more tragic deaths like Nei's.

Trivia

 * Nei levels up twice as fast as the other party members.
 * Nei appears as a scorecard girl in the Nintendo Switch's Sega Ages line. Neifirst also appears as one.
 * Nei is the first unlocked scorecard girl in Sega Ages' Columns II Jewel Case.
 * Nei appears in the Sega Gals Collection Vol.1 as a collectable figure alongside Ulala, Arle Nadja, Ramaya, Sarah Bryant and Red Ring Rico.
 * Nei appears in Segagaga as one of the many characters Tarō Sega comes across and allies with.
 * If all party members die apart from Nei prior to the Neifirst fight, a bizarre series of cutsecenes happen which culimate in NOBODY walking back to the Clonelabs to revive the other party members.
 * Phantasy Star Generation 2 has it possible to save Nei. To do this they must have a completed save file for Phantasy Star Generation 1 and beat Phantasy Star Generation 2 once before and have them both loaded in. From here, Nei can avoid her fate, although she has no further plot relevance after the Neifirst battle aside from an added image at the end of the game with her in it.
 * There is a third Nei in the Phantasy Star Memorial Drama CD 'Sealed Memories known as NM-2011. Nei also fights her in the drama CD, but overcomes her in battle.
 * The Nei Claw is given away as a first time login bonus weapon for Windows users of Phantasy Star Online 2. Note this doesn't include Steam users, who get their own seperate first time bonus weapon.