ORAKIO'S THEORY:

"Nei is the word of ultimate power." says "one of the old men", dressed in white robes. He nods sagely at this new revelation.

"Use the Nei weapons to destroy Dark Force." adds another. And thus begins the final assault against Dark Force on the Alisa III, one of the hundreds of worldships that escaped from the destruction of Palm. Rhys's grandson, who is one of four possible Protectors, along with his party equip themselves with the now-transformed legendary items, and go to end the evil, once and for all.

This turning point in Phantasy Star III left some seasoned veterans startled. After all, had the Nei items not been in Phantasy Star II, also? How did they end up on the Alisa III? What is their true nature? There has been much discussion about this, and I'd like to present my theory here.

It is best to begin at the beginning, which I believe to be when Dark Force in disguise presents the machinist Orakio with a gift -- a black sword. Leeching a little from Second to Final Meeting, let's say that the sword, was in fact, a Desrona, a blade from the nether realms embodied by the spirit of a demon.

The demon threw leaves into the burning fire in Orakio's soul, fueling his hatred of Laya, and thus allowing the Devastation War to occur. After the two finally come to their senses, they went and defeated Dark Force temporarily, sinking his temple into one of Landen's seas. Orakio's sword trapped the Darkie, constantly sending rifts of energy that barred him from retreating into his own dimension.

Now, let's jump forward to the third generation PS3 hero, who releases DF from his prison by taking Orakio's sword. After all six legendary weapons are collected, and the word of power ("Nei") is revealed, the weapons are turned into the Nei items by the Skyhaven Council. So Orakio's black sword, the Desrona, was purified in that act, and became the Neisword.

Along with it, the Protectors wielded the Neislicer, the Neishot, the Neiclaw, and the Neibow. They take the six legendary items and do their best to kill Dark Force, but he escapes.

When the Alisa III goes through a black hole in one of the game's possible endings, it had gone backwards in time, also, as an anomalic celestial event. They wind up near Earth, in the not-so-distant future (perhaps a few centures ahead of our time). Now, drawing upon ideas used in Phantasy Star Ultimate and Dark Millennium, let's say the Alisa III is severely damaged after that ordeal, and crashes on the moon. The Earthmen, who have realized their planet is trashed, and they must abandon it, salvage the high-tech space travel technologies from the Alisa III. They take about a century to build a ship, that they intend to use to find a new home for them, and call it the Noah. They take the Nei items with them when they leave their solar system, which they regard as relics from the alien civilization (the Algoians).

Unbeknownst to them, Dark Force, who has nursed his wounds throughout the years, slips on board. He makes the remaining Earthmen bitter and forlorn, creating an intense void within them. Centuries later, the Noah ends up in Algo, before PSI, as a result of the time paradox. The Earthmen, now nothing more than marionettes, eventually corrupt Lassic, introduce Mother Brain, etc. Meanwhile, sometime during the millennium or so between the time the Noah arrived in Algo and the events of Phantasy Star II, Lutz somehow obtains the Nei items, and hides them all across Dezo, knowing that when the Darkness comes again, someone will have to step up and defeat it.

So basically, the Mei items Rolf and friends carried in PSII were actually created in PSIII, which takes place 1000 years after PSII. Take a minute to let that sink in.

Now, one common argument against this theory is that the two sets of Nei items are different. The Protectors only had the Neislicer, Neiclaw, Neishot, Neisword, and Neibow. What about all those Nei armors? And what happened to the Neiclaw and Neibow? The answer to the latter is simple: they were lost when the Alisa III met its doom, or the Earthmen simply did not find them.

The answer to the first question is a bit trickier. Let's say that someone, most likely a member of the Skyhaven Council, recorded the secrets of the Nei items, and their creation. In my opinion, the transformation of the legendary weapons into Nei items was more than a simple utterance of the word -- otherwise, anyone could've empowered them. It was probably a lengthy ritual, but it was just shortened for our convenience.

When the Earthmen explored the Alisa III after its demise on the moon, they found the instructions for the ritual, as well as the ancient word of power, and enchanted their own equipment. These new Nei items were lost, as well, to Lutz, somehow, along with the remaining weapons. And if you think about it, all the pieces of the puzzle fit in. The only confusing part is all the time travel stuff.

There we have it -- my complete stance on the nature of the Nei items. So in conclusion, there existed only one set of those powerful items, but perhaps several variations of it at one time. (For example: Laya may have her slicer during Phantasy Star II, but it's spiritually and maybe even physically different that Anna's Neislicer, which is in fact her own, only several thousand years older, and much more powerful.) One final note: don't dwell too long on this subject if you're prone to headaches. ^_^