NEK0s

For the last few decades, many people have fantasized and joked about this idea - even the unveiled population. What those people didn't know is that this was, until fairly recently, a reality.

"NEK0" brand cat-people first started appearing on the black market in late 2012. They were being created by a secretive organization known as “the NEK0 Group.” NEK0 production ended in the spring of 2024, when a raid on the main facility in Japan was conducted by a band of former nek0 and their allies. Now, what infrastructure the company had is being used by those nek0 for the liberation of their people.


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

Most NEK0 were sold off to be owned by wealthy and unscrupulous people, who could often do anything they want to them with impunity. All NEK0 owners are either supernatural beings or awakened humans; the veil causes anyone else to wave off the existence of NEK0 as a strange hoax or a weird fetish roleplay. With absolute authority over their enslaved 'property' and few consequences for doing so, many owners have been abusive in one way or another.

Some NEK0 are created alongside documents such as forged birth certificates or passports, making traveling with them or taking care of them a simpler affair. As time passes, NEK0 typically do not age - this can be worked around with newly forged documents. The NEK0 group also sells medications that rapidly (and painfully) increase a NEK0’s apparent age overnight.

Not all NEK0 could be sold off to owners, but that didn't stop the NEK0 group from turning a profit on them. NEK0 that are never sold are usually rented out for various purposes. The same often applied 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 were occasionally introduced to prospective buyers and sold at a significant discount, compared to their initial sale price. If all else failed, the company used to turn a tidy profit selling NEK0 organs on the black market.


The company was founded by a man named Takeo Fujita. Believed to be a super-genius for the kinds of technology he was using and claimed to have invented, he was really just using alien technology, including a shipboard AI he somehow managed to remove all the safeguards from. This AI was doing most of the actual problem-solving for him; he was just ordering it around.Crimse against parahumanity aside, Takeo embodied many of the worst stereotypes about otaku, and was an embarrassment to nerds everywhere.

Business operations were managed by a former Yakuza member named Kachi Mori. He was indispensible to making the operation as profitable and widespread as it ultimately became before its end. Mori had plans to take over the company from right under Takeo's nose, pivoting its output towards more lucrative (and debatebly more ethical) military contracts. He took a liking to Maple, who continues to claim after his death that he wasn't really so bad.


Most NEK0 were engineered to always obey their masters, thanks to a mechanism known as "imprinting." When a new nek0 owner received their new genetically engineered property, they could use an included imprinting kit to register themself as the nek0's master, forcing their obedience to any given commands. These imprinting kits included a special auto-injector, and a device meant to extract a pinprick of blood to 'prime' the injector.

NEK0 who do not have masters, but are susceptible to imprinting, have occasionally been known to spontaneously imprint on other people they spend a lot of time around, especially if that person is in a position of authority. This rarely came up while the company existed, but is now somewhat common knowledge among those nek0 who survived and became free after the company's fall.

There are auto-injectors which can undo the effects of all previously administered imprinting injections. Such "De-imprinting" injections will cause flu-like symptoms for days after being administered, especially if not followed by an imprinting shot. They often came packaged in imprinting kits.

Lily Tsubasa, a friend of the NEK0s, used information gathered about the imprinting mechanisms to create a special type of "De-Imprinting Mint" as an alternative to the autoinjectors made by the company. The mint has less severe side effects than the injector, causing only minor lethargy/drowsiness after a dose. It can be consumed directly in leaf form, or as part of a tea. It must be taken daily for about a week to fully wipe out an active imprint.


As a paid add-on, NEK0 owners could have their NEK0 fitted with special microchips. At their most basic, these chips allowed NEK0 owners - and the company - to track the location of their property. The chips could also come with advanced functions, such as:

• Delivering painful shocks when the NEK0 leaves a pre-defined area - sometimes called 'geofencing'
• Inducing pain or pleasure at the push of a button
• Making the NEK0 extremely sleepy at the push of a button

NEK0s which were rented, or which were paid for in installments, may have had these chips installed with or without the owner's awareness.

After the fall of the company, Artemis Lind and his associates have taken control of the tracking system and deactivated all geofencing-related shock functions, enabling any still enslaved nek0 to more easily escape.


When NEK0 were first put on the market, their stock primarily featured attractive teenage catgirls, which were the most desirable and sold most easily.However, as the lab that created the NEK0 became more familiar with the technology and began to experiment more, they developed more and more ways to create NEK0 that match the desires of their future owners. NEK0 can be any apparent age, gender, shape, color, or size within reason. Some even came with special features. However, unusual orders were typically even more expensive. NEK0 with no cat features that had other kinds of animal features instead were sometimes referred to as 'KEM0,' from the term 'Kemomimi.'


Prior to the death of its former president Rose Wiley, Polaris Pass was home to a secret social club for NEK0 owners, which some referred to with tongue-in-cheek as the "Nek0 Owners' Association," or NOA. Not all of their members lived in Polaris Pass, with some commuting even from neighboring states to occasionally attend meetings, socialize with other owners, and allow their "property" to socialize with one another while under supervision. They would also share tips on the finer points of owning what was essentially a bio-engineered slave. The group was founded by the late Ture Lind, Artemis's former owner.

Though not the only cause, the death of Rose Wiley, followed by revelations of her reckless behavior, was the final nail in the NOA's coffin. While informal relationships still exist between some formal members, these slave-owners' meetings and networking activities have officially come to an end.