NEK0s

For the last few decades, many people have fantasized and joked about this idea, even in the narrow reality. What most people don't know is that genetically engineered catgirls and catboys actually exist. If you know the right people with the right connections in the black market, and you have enough money, you can purchase your own cat-person to own as a pet.

How it started is a mystery. What we do know is that it involves stolen alien technology and one or more rich people based in Japan, where "NEK0" brand cat-people first started appearing on the black market in late 2013. Each yearly generation is given a number designation, with NEK01 being those made in 2014, NEK02 being made in 2015, and so on. Each NEK0 also has a serial number marked on the inside of their wrist like a birthmark.


When NEK0 were first put on the market, their stock primarily featured attractive teenage catgirls, which were the most desirable and sold most easily. This is still the case. However, as the labs that create the NEK0 became more familiar with the technology and began to experiment more, they developed more and more ways to fulfill custom orders.

Currently, NEK0 are made in secret underground labs around the world, which communicate very little with each other to confound the scouts' efforts to track them all down. As such, different labs often have different capabilities when it comes to fulfilling customer orders.



While NEK0 usually don't age physically, their 'mental age' (as determined by Manta Carlos's benchmarks) can change rapidly.


Every NEK0 comes with a difficult-to-remove collar that is designed to kill the NEK0 and annihilate its body remotely. This is primarily meant to maintain secrecy, but can also be used as a threat by some NEK0 owners to ensure their property doesn't escape. Older models of the collar don't always work perfectly -sometimes the entire body isn't disintegrated, and on extremely rare occasions they might not even kill the NEK0. different labs have been known to incorporate different mechanisms into their kill collars.

Some NEK0 killing collars come with expensive deluxe addons. These can include buttons with functions that put the NEK0 to sleep, paralyze them, or cause substantial amounts of pleasure or pain. This can aid the owner in training their NEK0, or otherwise keeping them under control. Some NEK0 with such collars can become addicted to the 'pleasure' function, and become very distressed if their collar is removed (even though doing so is necessary to rescue the NEK0 from slavery.)


NEK0 are made in special vats, from which they emerge fully formed. They are pulled out unconscious, cleaned, and sometimes dressed up before they awaken. When they do awaken, they know how to speak, and they already understand very basic concepts; otherwise, they blank slates, and they are boundlessly curious, with childlike innocence. Some are awakened and given some basic amount of behavioral training before being shipped out to their owners, while others only awaken for the first time in the home of their new owner.

Most NEK0 are sold off to be owned by rich, well-connected criminals, who can generally do anything they want to them with impunity. Even when faced with serious abuse, it's not uncommon for them to love their abusive masters, who are the closest things they have to parents, and are sometimes the only other sapient beings they get to speak to. Their lives can be as pleasant, or as cruel, as their owner's means and inclinations would entail. Some NEK0 owners are themselves supernatural; others are effectively normies whose first taste of what exists beyond the veil was the existence of NEK0.

Not all NEK0 can be sold off, however, but that won't stop their makers from turning a profit on them. NEK0 that are never sold are usually rented out for various purposes, or else kept in a kind of NEK0 brothel. The same often applies to reclaimed, pre-owned NEK0 that their previous owners somehow lost access to or fell behind on payments for, though pre-owned NEK0 can often be resold successfully. Such NEK0 are occasionally introduced to prospective buyers and sold at a significant discount, compared to their initial sale price.

Different labs, brothels, and trading posts for NEK0 generally have different standards for how well they treat their NEK0 merchandise. NEK0 are rarely allowed to keep much personal property, except for different outfits and sometimes makeup and perfume (which generally add value to them). Because NEK0 don't require sleep, they only get their own rooms with beds in certain brothels; otherwise they would be lucky to have even a small closet to call their own. NEK0 that regularly interact with customers are generally expected to behave cheerfully around them. NEK0 that don't are often kept in cages or locked in small rooms and rarely interacted with except for feeding.

Harsh punishments for misbehavior are typical. Some employees have even been known to use or mistreat NEK0 for their own fun. Sometimes this is considered entirely permissible - there are no well-defined standards for employee behavior between NEK0 trafficking establishments.

Most strains of NEK0 have blood and organs that are compatible with humans, which can sometimes be sold on the black market. This has allowed some labs to recoup some of their losses. This is just one of the terrible fates that have been rumored or confirmed to be in store for unprofitable NEK0. The criminals who run the NEK0 trafficking ring have been known to use stories about such grim fates to terrorize or motivate the NEK0 in their care.


The first wave of NEK0 on Manta Carlos came in early 2019, when the scouts knocked over one of the larger NEK0 trading posts and rescued the NEK0 within. Before 2019, the scouts did now know that NEK0 existed. There were a couple of news cycles dominated by the NEK0 once the Scouts had successfully knocked over their first lab and trading post. The identities and weaknesses of these NEK0 are, of course, not a matter of public record.

Some of these NEK0 found it difficult to adapt to their new lot in life. NEK0 who had been treated well, or who were particularly well-trained, found it very difficult to accept that they would not be getting a new owner. Therapy has generally proven helpful for them, and owing to their traits, the vast majority of them have been convinced to go to therapy.

Since that initial wave, more NEK0 have very occasionally been found, rescued, and brought back to Manta Carlos by the scouts. The vast majority of NEK0 are given free room and board at Starlight Academy and enrolled as students - if for no other reason than to complete Remedial Classes. Due to their swift rate of learning and tireless nature, most NEK0 complete remedial classes fairly quickly. Some are now given the opportunity to take special coursework to finish school at an accelerated rate. Others are encouraged to take normal classes, more for the sake of socializing with the other students than anything else.

It is possible that one or more currently enslaved NEK0s might exist on Manta Carlos. Owning a NEK0 is extremely illegal, so obviously their owners would want to keep this a secret.


Since early 2020, some of the same labs that have been making NEK0 have begun branching out into other kinds of animal-eared, bioengineered slaves. They are collectively called "KEM0" (pronounced "Keh'-moh" as in "Kemomimi" not "Chemo" as in cancer drugs - they don't have a brand marketing team). These animal-eared servants could include wolf-girls, fox-girls, rat-boys, or nearly anything else the labs think would sell. Some different strains often have their own brand names, which can be inconsistent between labs. For example: D0-GE, SH1Ba, and 1NU were all developed independently.

With few exceptions, these are usually made to order. They virtually always have the same unaging, quick learning, and polyglot abilities as NEK0, as well as a similar vulnerability to persuasion. The vast majority of them also come with kill collars just like the NEK0; those that don't still have similar devices either worn or implanted.