The Nemesis Saga is a series of six kaiju thriller novels written by American author Jeremy Robinson, featuring the massive Goddess of Vengeance Nemesis. Robinson noted that various classic kaiju films especially those featuring Godzilla and Gamera (the latter he has said is his favorite kaiju) were big influences on the series.Jacob Lyngle, October 25, 2023, Interview: Jeremy Robinson, Kaiju United
Premise
Nemesis is the ancient Goddess of Vengeance, a massive kaiju that has been dormant for millennia. Once awoken she seeks out justice for the tormented, destroying all who stand in her way. When she becomes inhabited by the tortured consciousness of Maigo, a little girl brutally murdered by her own father, Nemesis seeks to make the world pay, starting with large cities filled with crunchy people.
Characters
The following are principal or recurring characters in the Nemesis Saga:
Jon Hudson Ashley Collins Maigo Katsu Endo Mark Hawkings Lilly Rich "Woodstock" Woodall
Kaiju
Terminology Gestorumque - The species name of all Kaiju. Mashintorum - The species name of a giant mechanical weapon built to fight the Gestorumque. Voice - Depending on the situation, this is either a pilot or advisor to the Gestorumque or Mashintorum. The Voice can be human or alien so long as they are small enough. Aeros - A warmongering alien species filled with dictators. Ferox - An evolutionary deviation from the Aeros species. They are smaller and possess shapeshifting abilities. The Aeros deem them impure and wish to exterminate them.
The following kaiju appear in the novels.
Nemesis Prime (Corpse)
Nemesis Prime was the first Gestorumque (species name) to land on Earth as far as the books are concerned. The corpse of Nemesis Prime is found in a cave in Alaska by Katsu Endo, who becomes infatuated with the being from then on.
Due to the recognition that early humans showed the beast, it can be inferred it was on Earth for some time before engaging in its true mission which was to destroy Atlantis and kill all people with Atlantean genes. This mission was given to it by the Aeros (one of two warring alien races). Its masters and their trait of hunting down those with Atlantean bloodlines can be somewhat seen in the present-day Nemesis. Nemesis Prime was killed during the assault on the city by Hyperion, a mecha-kaiju sent by the Ferox (the second warring alien race) to defend Atlantis.
Nemesis Prime is considerably bulkier than Nemesis, while still retaining all of its traits. Its skin is a darker black and more jagged than the current Nemesis. The kaiju has three trident-tipped tails as opposed to Nemesis's one. Like all the kaiju of its kind, it possesses orange membranes containing a liquid that explodes on contact with air.
Ashtaroth, a being composed of many kaiju species, has a secondary form not dissimilar to the Divine Retribution form of Nemesis. It is unclear whether or not Nemesis Prime and Neo Prime possess a form like this, nor is it clear if Nemesis Prime or Neo Prime have the ability to regurgitate and project the orange liquid like the present Nemesis can.
Neo-Prime
Nemesis
Not a kaiju born through natural means. Nemesis is the genetic clone of Nemesis Prime based on the human DNA of Maigo Tilly, later Maigo Hudson. Because of this unique mixing of DNA, Nemesis is quite unlike its brethren.
As soon as she was born and free to move around, Nemesis began eating people to stave off its insatiable appetite. This rapidly progressed to eating whales to satisfy the creatures vast hunger. Nemesis grew at an astonishing rate before slowing, if not fully stopping, at around 350 feet tall.
Due to being killed by her stepfather, Maigo had an understandable rage towards the man and this rage drove Nemesis to seek him out through what was later explained as sensing an Atlantean gene. It would continue to seek out this gene, but only for the purpose of killing people worthy of her wrath, unlike its ancestor who sought it out merely to kill. Maigo gave Nemesis a conscious, making it humanities defender rather than executioner. Its lust for vengeance was so great however that this often meant stampeding through a city to reach its target.
Nemesis is able to be controlled, in part, by a pilot or "Voice". While Maigo took on this role, Nemesis's eyes were a human-like brown reflecting Maigo's own. Once Maigo left Nemesis and was reconstituted in human form the kaiju'''s eyes reverted to the same glowing orange seen in the other beasts. When Katsu Endo became Nemesis's voice later in the story arc, her eyes retained the orange glow.
Nemesis seems able to remember all the torture Nemesis Prime was subjected to and as such her Voices also experience these memories. Due to these memories, Nemesis initially had an immense hatred for Hyperion, the mecha-kaiju that killed its ancestor.
In terms of appearance, it is a significantly lighter kaiju than Nemesis Prime or Neo Prime. Its skin is black in color and has been described as fungal, meaning it is an entity separate from her and can grow back independently and at alarming rates. It possesses the orange glowing membranes like those in its family group. Nemesis, Nemesis Prime, Neo Prime, Karkinos, Typhon, Scylla, Drakon, and Scrion all appear to have this distinguishing attributes separating them from other kaiju like Lovecraft or Giger, implying there are many races inside the kaiju species.
Nemesis has razor-sharp claws and teeth, sharp enough to easily tear through the flesh of other Kaiju. The claws on Nemesis do not appear to have a solid design pinned down, the books describe the claws as two giant fingers fused together, while the comics and concept art show the Kaiju as having five separate fingers with claws at the end. It has a long trident tipped tail, the end seemingly composed of the same material as its claws.
Nemesis has two skills seemingly unique to other Kaiju. It can spit out a globule of the combustible orange liquid that is covered in a layer of its own saliva to ensure it doesn't explode until it reaches its target.
Its second ability, while similar to Ashtaroth's, is still quite unique. When necessary, Nemesis excretes a mucus-like substance that allows it to shed its skin, which can later grow back, to reveal a form with gleaming white skin underneath. This Divine Retribution form, as it was later named by Jon Hudson, while more fragile reveals two pure white wings. These wings aren't designed for flight. Each "feather" is a highly reflective mirror. When all the feathers are aligned correctly, the sun's light is refracted through to create a beam of pure heat energy, powerful enough to punch through Kaiju and buildings alike. These feathers fall off shortly after using the form. Nemesis is weakened and extremely vulnerable in its post-Divine Retribution form, so much so that even conventional weapons like missiles can injure it.
In the book, many believe the dust made from the mirrors have some sort of healing property, however, it is never addressed and is likely that it has no purpose other than refracting light.
Nesmsis's wings can also be used for additional defense and they seem to hold up extremely well against the Self-Immolation attacks, the name adopted for the exploding membranes, as witnessed in the final battle of Washington D.C. and the massive self-immolation of Ashtaroth that appeared to kills Nemesis.
Nemesis is extremely resilient and has survived all manner of attacks from a GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast MOAB strike to the Kaiju Self-Immolation seen in any book whose blast rivals that of several nuclear explosions, to every type of physical attack the Kaiju can throw at her. Despite this, Nemesis has been presumed dead twice, the first time revealed her to be alive shortly after, but the second time was in the battle of Project Legion and as of now, the humans are unaware of her survival.
Oceans are where she feels most comfortable, probably due to the lesser gravity on her incredibly heavy body and her current residence is under the ice of Europa, where she lives out her days swimming around the secret ecosystem.
Karkinos
Karkinos is the offspring from a brood of five eggs laid by Nemesis Prime just before it died and is considered one of Nemesis's siblings.
Its appearance is the closest to Nemesis Prime or Nemesis herself. It is larger, spikier, and slower. Arguably the strongest of the five born from Nemesis Prime and possibly stronger than Nemesis herself.
It has three large claws and a tail with a single spike at the end. Aside from its overwhelming size and strength, Karkinos has no unique powers. It can likely be confirmed that it has no secondary form since in Project Legion when it was split in half, there was no mention of a white skin underneath. Its thick skin was enough to repel the diamond-tipped drill of the Zoomb control devices. It, like all of its brethren, has a Self-Immolation attack.
Karkinos has three separate book appearances, once in Project Maigo as the final Kaiju enemy in Washington D.C., once in Project Hyperion as a Voiceless clone, and again in Project Legion as a Kaiju clone piloted by Ashley Collins. Its first death was partially its own fault, General Gordon, who was controlling the five at the time, commanded Karkinos to Self-Immolate right next to the White House, intending to kill Jon Hudson in the process. Just in the nick of time, however, Nemesis stepped in front of the blast, using her wings to reflect the blast right back at the Kaiju, killing it almost instantly. Its second death was after being implanted with the Aeros Voice from the Nemesis Prime corpse. Its third death was at the hands of Ashtaroth, the final Kaiju enemy in Project Legion. As mentioned earlier, it was piloted by Ashley Collins and during the fight, it was stepped on and ripped in two. Technically the cloned Kaiju had no conscious at the time, so it was more Collins experiencing the death.
Typhon
Typhon was one of the five eggs laid by Nemesis Prime just before it died and is considered one of Nemesis's siblings.
It is the most humanoid of any of the Kaiju in the book, having five fingers and toes at the ends of black-armored arms and legs. It has no tail and a small number of defensive spikes on its elbows and knees. Under the control of Mark Hawkins, it was able to inflict considerable damage on Kaiju larger or stronger than it. This can be attributed to the fact that Hawkins was a trained hunter and has taken down opponents much larger than him before. It was also armed with massive stone knives at the time, giving him a huge advantage.
Typhon has been deemed the smartest of the five. This is probably because it swatted away the Zoomb control device, despite already tanking multiple missile swarms. While the Kaiju alone never displays any advanced hand to hand tactics, it is inferred that under the control of an experienced fighter the Kaiju would be incredibly powerful against an opponent that was relatively close to its size. In fact, any Kaiju being piloted by a battle-worn human is shown to be much more effective in battle. As shown with Katsu Endo inside Nemesis and later on with the five cloned Kaiju, Karkinos, Scylla, Scrion, Typhon, and Drakon being piloted by five respective humans.