Nemean

(his details are probably the most subject to change, especially due to his story significance! Also, HE GOT A REDESIGN! It's slight but the topmost ref without the bunny ears is the most recent. His post skip design will be edited as well as his lion redesign getting a whole revamp (I don't like it at all)

Nemean is charismatic, jokingly flirty, and curious. He loves learning all about people, what makes them tick, and simply observing how they act. He's well versed in the world from travels and although he acts dumb, he has a very sharp mind. He keeps his secrets and past well guarded behind his smiles.

He is thrown into Abyss after arriving at Gareg Mach, and makes friends with the Ashen Wolf gang. He eventually joins their house.

He has a strong interest in Byleth, because he can feel the energy of the goddess from her (in the au Byleth is female). He is also just fascinated by her behavior, especially in contrast to others.

He can come off as callous sometimes, watching people suffer a little before jumping in. He's also very unapologetic about his mannerisms in general- neither shying away from his differences nor his animalistic behaviors. He transforms freely and whenever he wishes. 

Nemean has a fear of rabbits, despite having an (oddly large...) Rabbit fur cloak. He refused to even be near a cooked one, and actively tries to run away from them when they cross his path. This is due to past trauma. He tries to pass the lie that he had a nightmare about a "killer bunny" when he was a child to hide the true reason he is so fearful of them. 

lore/backstory

(Spoilers ahead! This is all still being hashed out so this isn't final! It's also crapily written bc it's late as I write this and I'm tired lol. )

Nemean is one of many sons sired by a dark dragon god Jotnar, a rivaling force to Sothis similar to Naga v Grima.

 Jotnar was cursed and banished from Fodlan long ago, and he holds contempt for the Nabateans long after his essence fled to distant lands. He was too weak to manifest his physical form again, and so hid away until one day a weak near death traveler stumbled upon his hiding spot. He was able to posess this form, but found his energies quickened the death of his host body. He began to hop from body to body, trying to find one that could maintain him, but they never could hold him for long.

He decided to try experimenting with passing his infected blood down through birth. Hundreds of years of trial and error pass, with him hopping body to body. 

Eventually he finds those with beastblood can negate or hold his essence for much longer than humans, so Jotnar sets his sights on a vessel of a beast race. He continues looking for the best vessel- one that is strong enough for him to get to where he needs to go, and one that doesn't die slowly from his presence. He fathers the children then forces them to fight eachother at a certain age, judging their strength.

Nemean was one of these children, born to a lion tribe far away in the Savannah. His tribe was killed by bandits, but he survived. Jotnar decided to save himself more time cultivating another child, he took another one of his children who had been orphaned (but just a little older) and took him to help Nemean. The two grew up together, but once they were older every night the Taugel was possessed by Jotnar and forced to fight his half siblings to the death.

The Taugel managed to try to predict a time when Jotnar would be busy, and thought he could try to escape somewhere with Nemean so they couldn't be found. He never told Nemean about what was happening, so it was a shock when he was woken up one night by his adoptive (and literal) sibling and told they had to flee. 

The two only made it so far. Jotnar knew all along what was going to happen, as he could see the memories and feelings of those he inhabited. He followed them in secret and planned to execute the Taugel in Nemean's body as punishment.

However, when he tried, he found he was not able to control Nemean. Nemean appeared to have an unusual amount of his power in his blood, perhaps fueled by the lion tribe he was born to, and while this meant it was hard to get control of Nemean, it would mean he would be the most compatible as a host.

Jotnar possessed the Taugel instead, and forced the two to fight to the death. This was the first Nemean ever learned about the true circumstance of his life, and the trauma of watching his adoptive brother and best friend try to murder him while begging Nemean to kill him in return haunts Nemean deeply.

Nemean was forced to kill his Taugel brother. For days he sat at that spot, refusing to move and feeling hopeless. However, this gave Jotnar an opening to take his body, and so in a desperate act Nemean stood up and began moving with a purpose, the purpose of destroying this dark god before he could hurt anyone else. 

Jotnar was obsessed with Nemean, and always lingered over him. Nemean tried to find any way to kill the god, but he couldn't do anything to the multidimensional, unphysical being. 

Nemean decided, in a bold move, it would be best to take the god to his home turf: Fodlan. Instead of allowing him time to regenerate in a body and plot, he'd go to where there was mosy likely a way to kill the god and hopefully, the goddess who opposed him so long ago. 

This poor dude is very mentally fucked, having major PTSD and having to live with this evil demon and immense burden on his shoulders. He knows if he succumbs to these feelings in dispair it'll just make it easier for Jotnar to posess him, so he doesn't really give himself time to be sad or heal over anything, and this can sometimes influence or spur on his behavior.