Nemean

"Have you ever eaten a human heart? Neither have I, but your incompetence is making me positively famished."

The Nemean is a Thyrsus Silver Ladder mage who was the Hierarch of the Boston Consilium before he was deposed.

History

The Nemean originally went by the Shadow Name of Savham, but before that, he was Mark Long, a high-school dropout who came of age in the late ‘60s^[1]. Mark cleaved to the hippie stereotype, experimenting with drugs and exotic spirituality. He was, however, more than a dilettante. Frequent hallucinations made it impossible for him to hold a job, and drove him to seek spiritual comfort. He bounced between new religions and drugs to keep the voices out. The result was occasional work as a small-time dealer; he carried over a thousand hits of LSD with him to Boston.

Mark had discovered Wicca and hoped the drug money would fund an extended stay in Salem, where he hoped to join the growing neo-pagan community. His plans changed when bikers nearly beat him to death for selling on their turf, triggering his Awakening. Mark climbed the Thyrsus Watchtower from a bloody curb in Boston, and returned as Savham, a mage flush with Life magic and a brutal temper. He made it to Salem, after all, and wasted little time virtually enslaving a handful of Wiccan Sleepers. Threats and miracles made him their living god.

The Ebon Noose cabal quickly apprenticed Savham. His voices were made little more than whispers, and he could devote his full concentration to the Arcana and associated lore. He grew powerful enough to be the right hand of the cabal, an acted as Consilium Sentinel by 1982. Savham spent a decade terrorizing mages who disobeyed the Consilium. Finally, he attained Life mastery and challenged the leader of the Ebon Noose. The then-leader lost and left Salem, and Savham became the Nemean, the 22nd leader of the cabal. He claimed the Hierarch’s chair without controversy.

In his time as Hierarch, he has led a secret struggle against the Cult of the Red Word, cannibal cultists who worship the Prince of 100,000 Leaves^[2]. Some believe (among them Angrboda the Scelestus) that the Prince is one of the signatories of the Secret Concord^[3].

Sentencing

The Nemean prefers simple, violent solutions. He does not encourage proactive efforts to improve relations between mages. He prefers Awakened Boston to be a fractious place where his cabal’s power is hard to challenge. For the most part, he intervenes little unless there’s a serious threat to regional security, but he is fond of influencing affairs with threats.

This leadership style has made him many enemies both within Boston and within the wider Silver Ladder Convocation. After a bloody struggle with his rivals in Boston, his mind was invaded by a goetia that was able to subdue him. He was brought before his peers in the Ladder and put on trial. He was sentenced to rehabilitation within his own mind^[4]. By continually witnessing a memory of his Awakening, it was hoped that he would teach his younger self to be a better mage, which would rewrite his own memories and eventually, his own personality.

He was allowed to retain the position of Hierarch, with his rival in the Illuminated Pentad taking provisional control of the Consilium until he was reformed.

Current Status

The Nemean somehow escaped the mental trap he was placed in and fled Boston. Eventually he wound up in service of one or more Archmage Ententes as an agent upholding the laws of the Pax Arcana^[5].

He manipulated events surrounding the attempted theft of Khonsu's soul by a Libertine Archmage who sought to use it to extend his own life.

He is on a first-name basis with the Old Man of the Abyss, and has entered his hut, suggesting he may be a Scelestus^[6].

Abilities

The Nemean is a twice-Master and has demonstrated great skill in both the Life and Spirit arcana. His Nimbus appears as a pack of predator animal spirits, prowling and growling around him, ready to leap upon any threat.