Nerve is the son of High Navarch Fedorin, Ultimo’s elder brother and the head of the Tavaran Navy. This position afforded the young man privileges availed to few others, even other elites, within the Tetrarchy — privileges matched only by his family’s expectations.

Much of his childhood was spent outside the public limelight due to a substantial stutter that caused his family — and Ultimo, in particular — great embarrassment. Eventually, he overcame his impediment and proved his worth in a variety of roles, including briefly serving as a Tribune in the legions near the end of the Titus Rebellion. But unlike his father and Uncle, Nerve did not possess a natural martial prowess. Instead, following the end of the Rebellion and Ultimo’s ascension to Margrave Tetrarch, the young man focused his energy on advancing himself through the political ranks of Precentor society. 

For a time, he served in Tetricus’ court on Alba Longa Prime, learning from the Comital Tetrarch and expanding his political wits and connections. As Nerve’s power and prestige grew in the capital, however, he found himself increasingly distanced from his family’s own expanding power base on the Tetrarchy’s periphery. Realizing the benefits of joining his growing influence with his uncle’s dynasty, he leveraged his own independent network to gain an appointment to the Precentor Senate as the representative of the core Tavaran systems. Impressed with his nephew’s rapid ascent and service to the family dynasty, Ultimo appointed Nerve to serve as his chief political advisor on his governing council.

Although he has aspirations beyond his current station, by all accounts Nerve has fully calibrated his ambitions to align with his family’s interests, even going so far as to leave Alba Longa Prime and return to live in the imperial palace on Veda VII.