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Do we know what Nero's status in regard to Garlamald is? Is he MIA after the end of 2.0 or do you think he managed to somehow report what went down? Do we know how many weeks or months went by between the end of 2.0 and when he shows up in the Crystal tower story? What do you think the Garleans do to those who don't report back after a campaign goes south? Because if they know Nero is alive he'd be AWOL as I'm sure as an officer in the army he'd had to rejoin someone's platoon or something.
The entire XIV legion was declared heretical when Gaius elected to invade and takeover Eorzea after Project Meteor. This means that Gaius (and by extension other members of the XIV Legion like Nero) are basically to be imprisoned or killed on sight if they ever tried to return to Garlemald. That's why the remnants of the XIV Legion are camping out in Eorzea rather than return home. I believe Nero himself mentioned that he would be killed if he went to Garlemald, hence his decision to find other ways to sate his ambitions. It's part of why he elected to join the Ironworks. It's one of the few ways he can continue to use and progress Magitek now that he's cut off from the Empire.
Nero can't return without immediately getting court-martialed because Gaius had received orders to quit trying to invade Eorzea and kept at it anyway. Since Gaius is presumed dead and Nero was his second-in-command he's now the obvious target to make an example of.
(Honestly I don't think he'd return even if he could. What if he got deployed to Dalmasca? How would he torment Cid then?)
Makes me wonder what Gaius' plan was. Did he plan to rule Eorzea on its own, or did he think the Emperor would forgive him if his plan worked and he conquered Eorzea?
4.4 spoilers.
And if Solus was an ascian why was Lahabrea helping him? Was it part of a long con to make Gaius desperate enough that he'd trust Lahabrea knowing he wouldn't be getting help from home? There have been hints that Lahabrea had his own ambitions and wasn't loyal to the cause like Elidibus but seems a bit odd to have ascians opposing eachother like that. Or maybe Gaius split off and then Lahabrea was sent to make the best of a situation Solus couldn't stop?
Ugh, I really hate this Solus reveal. The empire was more interesting to me as a well meaning institution that had flawed methods of achieving its goal than being a tool for the Ascians all along, plus the hints that Allag was a similar creation. Come on SE not EVERYTHING has to tie back to the freaking Ascians.
What's interesting is the reason Nero even joined the military to begin with. Originally he was offered a research position at the Magiteck Academy, but he didn't take it. The Garlean organization that has first dibs on Allagan technology is the military, not the Academy. Nero decided he didn't want to settle for the left over tech the military didn't want, so he joined the military instead. And managed to become the second-in-comand of a legion.
So Eorzea's Allagan ruins must be the funnest thing ever for Nero. There's so many of them no one knows where to start researching them and he's got a lot better idea of how Allagan technology works then most people do. He's got the prefect opportunity to go on research binges and no one is looking over his shoulder asking for reports or expecting him to find anything specific. And by this point, he's got to know that Cid and the Ironworks and the WoL will take him seriously if he tells them there's something they should prioritize researching.
Garlemald might have forced him out, but this is probably the closest Nero's gotten to doing what he actually wants to do. I can't see him willingly go back to Garlemald where there's so many fun toys for him to play with in Eorzea.
Huh, I must have forgotten about the fact Gaius went off the books. So, unless his friendemy ends up going to their home country for whatever reason Nero's not stepping foot inside. It must feel like his name day every time he or Cid finds an Allagan artifact. Especially for someone who has risen to such heights from the country. Always needing to do better than Cid. It's why I love their little spats.
To be honest, there are two elements that now intrigue me regarding Nero's current situation:
One, how much does he really know regarding the activities of the Shadowhunter? Many of us are still calling it that after the events of 2.0, he wandered back to the smoking ruins of the Praetorium and pulled "Daddy" from the fire. He can't go back home to Garlemald (neither can the rest of Gaius' troops) but he now has unlimited freedom to explore Allagan ruins to his heart's content... but how much is this guy really hiding? And did his experiences in the Void show him... something?
Two, did anyone catch the look of sadness and worry on his face while he was talking to Cid (at the end of the Alphascape arc?)? The heck was that about? Guilt that he's been keeping mute about Gaius' activities all this time?
Nero is one of the few characters who I think really understands how powerful the WoL is. Not only did we beat him back in the Praetorium, he's watched us beat the worst the Garleans, the Allagans, the Void and now Omega can throw at us. He's got every reason to not want to get on our bad side since he knows what we do to people who really do need to be defeated. He's also one of the few Garleans who I think doesn't disrespect magic/aether. He's too practical for that. We're honestly really lucky he's got no reason to go back to Garlemald. If anything, the end of Omega makes it sound like he's planing on involving Cid and the Ironworks (and us) on whatever next big Allagan thing he finds.
What I could see Gaius doing is leaving Nero "in charge" of handling the major Allagan tech problems correctly. Gaius knows the WoL and the Scions are going to handle any Eikons and Ascians that crop up. Cid is more then capable of handling whatever Allagan shenanigans happen, but he's really bad at taking the initiative. He will get involved if he thinks tech is going to be misused and he thinks Nero is going to misuse it. So Giaus might as well use that to get Cid involved. That leaves the major threats to Eorzea covered so Gaius can focus on figuring out what the Ascians are doing in places the WoL and the Scions can't easily get into, but that he knows very well, like Ilsabard...
As far as Nero's guilt goes, it might be guilt that he's misjudged Cid for so long. By this time, Cid has made it obvious that he never wanted to put Nero down on purpose, and that in his own way, he does respect the work Nero does. Which is what a lot Nero's inferiority complex stems from. Finding out everyone back in Garlemald blew it out of proportion seems to have helped a lot in the long run.
But I can see Nero's guilt being about Gaius too. Midas nan Garlond eventually got so wrapped up in the Metor Project that Cid became Gaius' ward (Midas and Gaius were good friends), so they were probably close on some level. One of the reasons Cid is so antagonistic towards Gaius in both 1.0 and 2.0 is because he feels betrayed that Gaius turned out to be like everyone else when it came to exploiting Cid's mechanical genius for the Garlean military. People generally don't feel betrayed like Cid does if they didn't think the person betraying them really cared about them. So I could see Nero feeling guilty that he's not telling Cid one of the people he probably saw as a parental figure at one point is still alive.
Hmm. I wonder if we'll have to deal with this once the raid comes out during the next expansion. Unless there is something outside of their homeland that I'm unaware of that Cid, Nero and friends can science the crap out of so that neither of them would have to deal with court marshals ect. Though depending on how things are at the end of 5.0 we could have a more sympathetic ear that nothing really bad happens if they do return to their homeland.
Nero doesn't respect power and strength, he respects intellect and ingenuity. He has disdain for us because our might is given to us by external beings like gods and crystals. He probably also thinks we're mindless brutes who just axe our way to victories. He very much reminds me of Victor von Doom and his frienemy/rivalry with Reed Richards (Cid).
There might have been some disdain for us at the start, but I feel that we've worn away at that. Also how can he not like power? He remade his hammer just to test what it could do. He knows we can't be too stupid if sempai has noticed us in a shorter time than it took for him. Then there's the liking us just for the fact we tend to find all sorts of Allagan tech.
Yes of course he adores power... he craves it, lives for it, and I would even argue that he deserves a measure of it.
This guy's ambitions go hand in hand with his intellectual prowess and his "grudging" respect towards Cid also exhibits this. He understands the value of innate ability which is also why he eventually warmed up to us... and yes, also because we keep finding Allagan tech for him to swoon over.
I'm actually looking forward to his next innovation. Speaking of which, I really like the new Scaevan set of gears and how he designed it with a distinct Garlean Military theme. By the way, I found it very humble of him to name it after himself, innit? Typical Nero, through and through.