The Merry (and Not So Merry) Merfolk
The Merfolk are one of the original mortal races created during the Great Diversification when the water goddess, Aqua, chose the mortals who lived by her coasts and reshaped them into her children. Granting them the ability to breathe water and know the ocean’s currents, she made the vast aquatic world their eternal home. As an ancient race, Merfolk possess a perspective as deep and patient as the sea itself, viewing the fleeting struggles of the land with a detached wisdom. All Merfolk have an innate affinity for water magic, and their powerful, enchanting songs are said to hold sway over the tides and the very creatures of the deep.
Primary Features
- Lifespan - Between 300 and 500 years
- Language (Aquish) - Aquish, named after the Embodiment of Water, is a fluid, song-like language that even incorporates the sounds of aquatic creatures. It is one of the hardest languages to learn as Merfolk vocal chords and mouths work in a unique fashion. Of course, different types of Merfolk speak modified versions of Aquish and dialects differ based on the dialects and languages spoken by the nearest land dwelling races. Due to this and limited encounters, Nyxian and Pelagian varieties are typically believed to speak the purest version of Aquish.
- Primary Deities - Aqua, Nereia, Amenodaea, Cernun, Tenebrae
Major Communities
- Coralia - The de facto capital of the Corallian Merfolk, named after the Firstborn Merfolk Coralia, is located in the Serpent Sea off the coast of the island human kingdom of Sangkoh. Coralia is the largest of the Merfolk cities, famed for its breathtaking towers of living, magically-sculpted coral. It serves as the primary hub for Merfolk diplomacy and is home to the Great Council where chieftains gather.
- Port Alcyon - A bustling Corallian trade hub situated within the Sunken Isles archipelago, a major piracy and mercantile hub. More cosmopolitan and chaotic than Coralia, Port Alcyon is renowned for its massive pearl farms and thriving markets where goods from both land and sea are exchanged.
- Veyun-sol - The largest known settlement of the Fluvial Merfolk, located at the great confluence of the Malina and Vortian rivers on the continent of Avaloth. It is not a city in the traditional sense, but a sprawling network of submerged lodges and grottos that serves as the cultural and trading heart for the otherwise scattered freshwater clans.
Merfolk Subspecies
Corallian Merfolk
The most well known and sociable of their kind, the Corallian Merfolk serve as the bridge between the worlds of land and sea.
- Appearance - Corallian Merfolk possess scales in the brilliant, vibrant colors of a tropical reef such as shimmering turquoise, warm magenta, and lustrous gold. They have elegant features and lithe, graceful bodies built for fluid movement. Their most remarkable trait is the unique ability to magically shift their tails into a pair of legs, allowing them to walk on land. This transformation is a shimmering, graceful process, and even in their terrestrial form, subtle hints of their aquatic nature remain, such as a faint iridescence to their skin or exceptionally fluid posture.
- Society - As the primary ambassadors to the surface, Corallian society is the most sophisticated and diplomatic of all Merfolk. They are organized into a confederation of tribes, each led by a chieftain. The process for choosing a chieftain is a unique blend of hereditary and democratic principles. This means the title often passes to a chosen heir, but this successor must be formally approved by a council of elders that represents the will of the tribe. This council based governance complements their diplomatic nature, and their culture highly values beauty, art, and knowledge. Their ability to walk on land has made them skilled traders who establish coastal enclaves to interact with other races. They are masterful artisans and enchanting singers, allowing them to exchange the riches of the deep for the craftsmanship of the land.
- Habitat - The Corallians make their home in the sun drenched, shallow waters of the world’s tropical coral reefs. Their magnificent cities are built directly into the living reefs, with structures magically sculpted from the coral itself to form breathtaking spires and open air pavilions. Their proximity to the coastlines is essential, facilitating their frequent and vital interactions with the terrestrial races.
Nyxian Merfolk
Considered little more than a dark legend by surface dwellers and Corallians alike, the Nyxians are an enigmatic race molded by the crushing dark of the ocean abyss.
- Appearance - Having adapted to a life of absolute blackness and immense pressure, Nyxians have skin that is pale, translucent, or the color of oil. Their eyes are large and sensitive, often possessing a faint, silvery luminescence. They communicate through shifting bioluminescent patterns that stripe their bodies, and their long, eel like tails are built for powerful and energy efficient movement through the frigid depths.
- Society - The Nyxians are an extremely reclusive and insular people. They live in small, tight knit communities where the collective survival is paramount, and their culture reveres silence and patience. They practice a form of primal water magic unknown to their cousins, drawing power from pressure, cold, and the profound darkness of their home. They are deeply suspicious of the sunlit world and its inhabitants.
- Habitat - Nyxians thrive in the lightless, high pressure environment of the ocean’s abyssal plains. Their settlements are sparse and utilitarian, often carved into the rock of undersea mountains or clustered around the life giving warmth of geothermal vents. They are a people of the deep, completely isolated from the politics and sunlight of the upper world.
Pelagian Merfolk
The terrors of the open ocean and the source of sailors’ darkest legends, the Pelagian Merfolk are nomadic predators who treat the high seas as their personal hunting ground.
- Appearance - Built for speed and the hunt, Pelagian Merfolk are leanly muscled with sharp, predatory features. Their skin and scales feature oceanic countershading consisting of dark blues, greys, and blacks on their backs blending down to pale silver or white underbellies, providing perfect camouflage in the open water. Their tails are long and powerful, ending in a crescent-shaped fluke like that of a tuna or shark, designed for incredible bursts of speed. Their beauty is wild and dangerous, and their voices are their most hypnotic and terrifying feature.
- Society - Pelagians are nomadic and live in tightly knit hunting parties known as “pods.” Their society is a brutal meritocracy where leadership belongs to the strongest and most cunning hunter, a role that is constantly being challenged. They have no interest in art or diplomacy; their culture is centered entirely on the thrill of the hunt. Their enchanting and dissonant songs, often called the “Siren’s Call”, are not for art, but are a sophisticated hunting tool used to lure prey, disorient victims, and coordinate attacks within the pod. They view settled Merfolk with contempt, seeing them as weak and stagnant.
- Habitat - The Pelagians claim the entirety of the open ocean as their domain. They have no cities or permanent settlements, instead constantly roaming the high seas, following major ocean currents and the migratory patterns of their prey, which includes large fish, sea mammals, and unfortunate ships that stray too far from established routes. Their “home” is the endless, unforgiving blue expanse.
Fluvial Merfolk
A uniquely adaptable offshoot of the Merfolk race, the Fluvials have left the saltwater of the oceans to serve as the guardians of the world’s great rivers and lakes.
- Appearance - Adapted for freshwater, Fluvial Merfolk have smoother skin with fewer, tougher scales than their marine cousins, often in earthy tones of bronze, copper, and mud brown to blend in with their environment. Their bodies are more slender and serpentine, perfectly suited for navigating shifting currents and the narrow confines of river systems. However, in some of the crystal clear rivers and lakes, they share coloring with their Corallian cousins, if a bit more dull.
- Society - The Fluvials are pragmatic and often live in small family units or even as solitary individuals protecting a stretch of river. They are the most connected to the land races, sometimes engaging in quiet trade or acting as enigmatic sources of ancient lore. They are the keepers of the stories of the land and the water, understanding the cycles of flood and drought as no other race can.
- Habitat - Fluvial Merfolk make their homes in freshwater environments, from the headwaters of mountain springs to the sprawling deltas where rivers meet the sea. They live in submerged lodges cleverly woven from reeds and mud or in natural underwater caves along riverbanks. Their domain is the vital, flowing link between the heart of the continents and the endless oceans.
