Nera - Guardian of Cloud

Nera is one of the Guardians that reside in the world of Alanoth, her element and based around Cloud. She travels around the land alongside Petra, and the rambunctious Fang Posse, the gang often getting into various shenanigans.

She can be described as a soft and playful creature, but not unwilling to get dangerous if things get tough.

Appearance
"I am literally made of clouds, so your defense is meaningless."

She is a large wyvern, standing at 40 feet in size, with a body made out of white cloudy fluff, with a tuft of light blue fluff near her neck, thick enough that anyone caught within will be stuck for a good while. She's only got two hindlegs, nothing in the front as is the case with many wyverns. Her eyes are blue like Swedish ice. Losing energy or being in a state of heavy emotion turns her cloud stormy grey, the tuft of neck fluff becoming a dull grey-blue..

When she was once victim to the The Pitch Plague, she had lost all color, turning both her body and clouds into an inky shade of black, with her neck fluff turning pure snowy white. Her once soft blue eyes turning into an unnatural glowing white, as is the case with all the infected.

In her younger years, aged at 10,000 years, she used to be 6 ft in size, before undergoing her transformation that fateful day and growing into the 40ft in size she is now.

Personality
Nera carries an attitude as soft as her cloudy form, caring for all life on Alanoth and reacting with animosity toward those who threaten that, or attempt to spread the ever destructive Pitch Plague that she was once a victim to. She is a compassionate creature who cares for a lot of life throughout Alanoth, even seeing species like humans as creatures worthy of protection. Often very maternal too, particularly for The Fang Posse, the lightning bean Salama in particular, as well as the abstract and absurd Derpblock, often letting them hug her cloudy fluff or petting them with her light and weightless wings.

She is comparatively less knowledgeable compared to Petra, but she's a very empathic, Guardian, being more understanding of various social problems. She also has a much less graceful and more sarcastic tone to her compared to her stone based soulmate, using more casual and sometimes harsher language, particularly if she's dealing with someone troublesome.

She's also a very playful creature at times, particularly around Petra and and The Fang Posse, often doing things like trapping them in her massive blue neck fluff or spritzing them with spray when they're near bodies of water. She's also naturally curious at times, such as when Petra mentioned the continent of Nuo, something Nera had never seen before.

She's not the best with dealing with loss however, given her more emotional and tenderhearted nature, losing Petra in particular throws her into a nasty state of grief, letting her feelings over take her sense of logic, if someone you loved for thousands of years was about to become a shadow of their former self, you might just lose your sense as well.. She doesn't anger easily but she can be vicious when it does happen.

During her time infected by the Pitch Plague, she was a more somber and restive, trying to keep her mind intact before it could lose herself completely and fall to the corrupting plague, hearing voices telling her to kill anything she can find. All that plus the physical pains like gurgling and spitting black spittle meant this was a very miserable time for her.

Abilities
"If they do, they've got a living tesla coil to deal with." - Nera describing herself.
 * Clouds and Lightning

Her main power is turning into a gaseous substance, such has clouds, fog, and mist. She can move swiftly as gas or in her physical body, reaching speeds of up to 150 mph (241.4 kph) in her physical body. Her greatest offensive power is the ability to generate lightning from herself. Her newest power is zipping around as a lightning bolt, which allows her to travel remarkably faster but is a bigger drain on her energy. Her innate elecrtokinetic powers can even be seen when she's idling or under emotion.

She is also capable of creating clouds, both normal and storm clouds, alongside being able to float a distance off the ground given walking requires exerting more energy. She is also capable of generating fog and creating water from it, one usage for this being filling a troublesome foes lungs with fog then turning that into water to choke them out. She can also form shapes from said clouds, most commonly a hand.

"Nera grins, then starts drifting towards the oasis. "''C'mon then! No point standing out here in the hot nothingness''!" She opens her wings again and pushes back towards the water, turning into it and falling into the oasis."

'''Nera starts having a bit of fun with the Posse. She splashes them with herself, moving her liquid body to spray all the members. Nera now focuses energy into her spray, spritzing Glacies with the equivalent of a super soaker.'''

Alongside this, she is capable of turning her whole body into water, being able to form herself within the bodies of water, forming shapes and spraying people with it. She can also trap heat in her feathers and make rain via condensation.

Given she is made out of cloud, she's very light and very soft, however she lacks as much weight compared to someone like Petra, so she's not as capable of pushing things around, since even though she's very big, Nera prefers to not fight physically because it puts more strain on her, since she needs to make sure she can exert the force she needs and actually exert the force, she can harden herself slightly in order to better move things around, but overall she's significantly less solid and weight compared to someone like Petra, as such she usually prefers fighting with either her electricity or else turning into water when applicable.

Her cloudy fluff is also thick, her body being solid enough to stay on and not sink all the way through, the blue fluff around her neck in particular being thick enough to wander in and get stuck for a decent while, something Nera's known to use a few times, about as soft as a giant pillow.

The lighter weight also allows her to run fairly fast and with a more graceful run, especially in comparison to the heavy and clunkier Petra.

One minor side effect of being made out of cloud is being in the intense heat makes her evaporate a little, laying down in the hot sands of the Elyorian desert in particular tends to have this effect, though not enough to kill her outright.

She is also weak to lava, in her liquid form, it solidifies her into obsidian/rock. this however doesn't keep here there, as Nera's energy would leave and find another host.

''"Ah, sorry, that's on me.." She gives a sheepish smile. "I can read minds; though don't let that worry you. I only read what's on the surface, or what you're thinking right at that moment."''
 * Mind Reading

Like all Guardians, Nera too is capable of reading minds, specifically the surface thoughts that one naturally has, she's not as good at that as someone like Petra, but she's very capable of reading peoples minds down to their deepest desires, however this capability makes her more vulnerable to any form of mental attack, particularly the corrupting Pitch Plague that's known to twist your mind and drive you to insanity.

Early on, she had to deal with the onslaught of thoughts all rushing her at once, nowadays can channel the thoughts without thinking, much like Petra, she generally doesn't like randomly reading peoples memories and secrets. "Your still in your body, but I'm linking my eyesight with your mind, thus allowing you to see through my eyes. If you want to test, try moving your arm."

Shiro attempts to move his arm, It does in fact move, and he can feel the soft, downy fluffof her head.

"And wait till you see yourself through my eyes when we land." She chuckles at his awe, neck fluff ruffling in joy.

She can also link her eyesight with someones mind given her skillset, allowing them to see things through her eyes instead, which can often be a surreal experience given the size difference, not to mention the natural flickers of energy that Guardians can see. Finally, she's also capable of diving into someones mind to try saving someone from a comatose state, particularly Shiro, peering into their subconscious and using a Vos-based light magic to help wake them up.

Relationships

 * Petra

Nera and Petra are very close, their time together going way back to before the days of the Proto Polemo.

In her younger years, Nera happened across a small village with another creature just like her, a rather small and unknown guardian named Petra, who traveled on Alanoth at a time where nobody knew or cared about the planet. Nera learned some basic guardian lessons under her and at first saw her as a hero, Petra went off to fight in the Proto Polemo, leaving a much more capable Nera alone on Alanoth, She actually liked Petra as a childhood crush she knew she couldn't have.

Petra eventually returned, the now 40ft in size and grown Nera had seen Petra as a flattering, kind, and humorous personality, thus making the small crush into attraction and adoration, Petra liked her back and from there they spent a lot of time together in a romantic relationship.

Nowadays they travel the land of Tanzanite together, they share a lot of fluff together and deal with the problems they come across within these harsh and strange lands,

The two often spend their days flying together, getting on Nera's back, hugging, and generally just enjoying each others presence. Being the playful wyvern she is, Nera tends to trap Petra in her enormous blue neck fluff, as she is known to do. One thing they do is mind meld, where they leave each others bodies and enter their minds, enveloping each other and mixing around, their consciousness becoming one for a brief moment. "Well that's just it, Petra will never be able to re-form her body! She'll never be able to get her own because she doesn't have enough energy to do it. Basically, she will never be able to fly, or get on my back, or hug Salamii, or do anything physical again.." Nera starts tearing up. -An alternate timeline where Petra had fallen.

That said if one died before the other, neither of them take that loss very well, with Nera in particular taking it the hardest, often letting her pure emotion overtake her sense of logic, leading her to make hasty decisions.


 * Derpblock

Derpblock waddled over to Nera, handing her a small basket, containing a small drawing of Nera and a batch of Kiwi Macaroons

'Nera picks up the kiwi macaroons with the solid cloud and eats only one, which compared to her height was like eating a flee. She smiles anyway.' "Wow, that was pretty good. Did you make them Derp?"

''"Mhm, Happy surprise party! With cookies! Like when a cloud is sad, but then they become happy!, And Bubbles, So many bubbles! And we can fly a kite! It'll be fun!" Derpblock sounded as cheerful as he usually is, Nera gave a warm smile in return. - Derpblock handing Nera a small gift basket.''

Nera is very protective of the green derpster, ever since encountering him awhile after the Proto Polemo had ended, he never fails to make her smile with the odd things he says or the small gifts he gives her, including a basket full of Kiwis at one point. The two get along well, with Nera treating Derpblock like they're her adopted child, much like she does with Salamii and the Fang Posse. She's got her own nicknames for him, among them being Bubble Prince given Derps abilities to blow bubbles. ''"She looks confused for a second, then smiles. "That gives me hope... At least the virus isn't completely part of me. Yet." She takes on a somber tone.''

Derpblock's natural ability to see ones true colors is part of what gave her gleams of hope when she was infected, letting her know that the virus hadn't overtaken her completely, she gives her thanks to the green derpster for helping her through those harsh times, much like she does for Petra.

"Nera starts having a bit of fun with the Posse. She splashes them with herself, moving her liquid body to spray all the members. The cloud guardian now focuses energy into her spray, spritzing Glacies with the equivalent of a super soaker. Nera would soon form some of her body into a solid wisp and starts darting around the oasis. 'Betcha can't catch me!' she proclaimed." - Nera playing around near an Oasis with the Fang Posse.
 * The Fang Posse

Much like Petra, she gets along with the Fang Posse decently well, often traveling the land of Tanzanite with them, getting themselves out of various dilemmas or just having fun in small Oasis around the deserts, or in the small village of Noxalna that the Fang Posse often visit. Nera is known to be a playful creature and nowhere is this shown more than when she travels with these reptilian wanderers.

"Nera!" Salama ran toward Nera ready to give the big wyvern a hug, Her hug was just Salamii falling into her snout fluff.'' "Good to see you too!" Nera responded.''

She gets along the best with Salama the lightning drake, granting her the nickname of "Salamii", giving the little drake boops on her small snout. She feels a soft joy for the little bean. The lightning bean often runs toward Nera to give her a hug, often ending with her slamming into her soft cloud fluff.

She doesn't get along the best with Glacies, the frost dragon. His abrasive attitude and brutal honesty often getting on her nerves, that being said, she knows he's not totally incapable of compassion, particularly in regards to Shiro. That being said she's not above messing around with him either, especially if he's acting rude.

And as for Shiro himself, reading his surface thoughts she can tell he's a troubled creature, reading into dreams or memories making her tear up a little given what the poor thing went through, she gets along with him well enough given he's the most level headed of the Fang Posse, for the most part. In the hot Elyorian desert where heatstroke is a daily occurrence, Nera at times tends to scoop him in her mouth, it's both cool and in the shade so that helps him stay chilly.

There's also the the hapless Komodo Dragon known simply as Cryll, he's a very shy creature and often doesn't know what to say, especially to a guardian like Nera, but she gets along with him well enough.

"''You're going to make a lot of enemies, spewing insults like that." Nera speaks, glaring down at the floating wyrm with eyes fiery with lightning-yellow malice."'' - Nera encountering Jewel Queen.
 * Jewel Queen

She doesn't get along with the incandescent wyrm very well, even beyond the faction she used to align with., Jewel's haughty and vain nature often getting on her nerves, a fast way for Petra to call Nera over is to claim Jewel is more beautiful than she is.

"Jewel, this shouldn't just be about physical beauty. I'd hate to be rude to anyone but you, but I'm just nicer than you." Nera smirks.

Whether out of jealousy, pride, or just finding the Runic wyrm to be highly irritating, she generally sees herself as above Jewel, mostly given she's far nicer and more compassionate compared to the haughty and vain wyrm.


 * Pali

"That's not the point. You cannot continue hurting creatures like this, even if it's your tendency. There are wars you can fight on if you need to let it out."

Given Nera's protective and caring nature toward the various living beings of Alanoth, it comes as little surprise that she doesn't get along with the sadistic and perennial killer Pali, threatening those that are closest to her (The Fang Posse, Derpblock and Petra to name a few) is one of the fastest ways to receive a lighting bolt to the face and Pali has done her fair share of that.

There's also the matter of her pet, the lightning dragon Beryl, while Nera would normally feel pity for a creature like her, but between being Pali's pet and Beryl's known high-strung and lacking in intelligence, she's not inclined to feel bad for her.


 * Itha

In one depiction of Nera, she and Petra have a daughter named Itha, Guardian of Smog, a little baby, by Guardian estimates, who only speaks Greek in peoples minds, she and Nera get along well, with Itha hiding and ruffling in her cloudy fluff.


 * Others

Much like Petra, Nera is familiar with the wandering adventurer known as Edgar Page, an obscure researcher who wrote journals about the Guardians and elements of the world. She's got a decent amount of respect for him, learning a lot from his writings.

She has a strong dislike toward the dragon king Kaze, the monarch of the Gales Order who seeks to eliminate all humanity from the land of Tanzanite, given both Nera and Petra see life as precious, including and especially humans, they intend to stop his crusade.

At one point, she and the Fang Posse had run into a gang known as the Komodo Rose, a small group of five Komodo Dragons who seeked to cause trouble throughout the Elyorian Deserts and the Zaon Canyons, albeit they were not as well armed as the other, larger factions, they were essentially bullying and attacking Cryll for wandering into the ravine they inhabited, this encounter ended with Nera devouring them whole, given the Komodo Rose thought that they could attack a large wyvern with only stone weaponry to work with, it's a miracle they lasted as long as they did.

There's also Kapnos, and while she doesn't turn up very often in Alanoth given she's on another planet, she is a precious baby and would definitely be protected by the P&N team, she and Nera getting along fairly well when she does show up.

She also had a chance encounter with Cécile Bellerose, where the rabbit wanted to learn about the guardians and their anatomy after reading Edgar's journals, she performed a mind meld and nearly merging her soul into her own, but feeling woozy and distressed she flew to Petra seeking comfort, she was worried she had lost some of her love for Petra due to that process, fearing her soul would have been drawn in, the stone wyvern comforting her and mind melding with her as well.

She finds the rabbit to be a strange and curious being but seems to mean well, she'd hardly be the worst creature she'd ever encountered by a long shot.

Backstory
Aged at 2,134,270 years old. Nera has had an interesting life starting from creation to her life on Alanoth.

In her younger years, around 10,000 years of age, Her adoptive parents, a typical thing for guardians) were possessed by the Skotati and abandoned her in a cave on Alanoth, her parents wanted her to visit multiple planets as a before-school experience.

Left alone in a new body, she had to fumble around, but at first there was only an inkling of fear and sadness; the longer she walked the more it grew

She eventually found a small farmhouse closer to Stea Valley, with a young child with a single mother, and she stayed with the child as his 'pet', but she learned English quickly, so it went from 'pet' to friendship.

The child grew into an adult, but died young from a disease, leaving Nera alone and wracked with sadness at the first death in her life; and due to the grief she wandered into the world again. She happened across a small village with another creature just like her, a rather small and unknown guardian named Petra; Nera learned some basic guardian lessons under her and at first saw her as a hero.

Petra went off to fight in the Proto Polemo, leaving a much more capable Nera alone on Alanoth, She actually liked Petra as a childhood crush she knew she couldn't have; from here she befriended another human.

During the 300 Year War near the end of the Proto Polemo, the human's life was in danger, and the only way to save her was to go into dynami mode. Her dynami mode made her grow 40 feet tall and have a command of lightning, which she used to smite her human's attackers and had saved their life. This increase in height being a permanent transformation. The human ended up dying at the old age of 102, which the human thought was because Nera gave off an aura of health, the

When Petra returned, the now grown Nera saw Petra as a flattering, kind, and humorous personality, thus making the small crush into attraction and adoration. "Nera's head twitches, and standing straight again, she takes two steps back while glancing around rapidly as if fighting something."

Some time in her life, she ended up being infected by the corrupting Pitch Plague,the Sko slowly overtaking her, draining her of all her color, driving her insane as the twisted infection overwhelms her, Petra had ventured out into the world to seek a mythical healing crystal, capable of healing all but the most grievious of wounds, including the sickly Pitch Plague. She eventually finds it, healing the cloud wyvern and bringing her back to her old senses, reminding her cloud wyvern that she's more than a twisted beast, reminding her of who she was to save her from the infection.

Nowadays she mostly resides in the continent of Tanzanite alongside Nera, traveling with a group of rambunctious reptiles who christen themselves "The Fang Posse", journeying all across the lands, Nera often traveling with the gang watching over folk like Salama and Shiro, the group often stopping at small places like Xerinov Springs.

Trivia



 * There is also an alternative form that goes by the nickname of "SealNera" or often just "Sealra", which is Nera but with the appearance akin to a giant seal creature, this isn't canon to the actual timeline for U1-GA itself though.


 * She originally had feathers on her neck, something that can be seen on older artwork, but this was eventually changed to a fluffy, cloudy fur, given she's supposed to be super airy due to the way she got so big.

Gallery
The various pictures of Nera.